Umera's Shepherds
The Great Herd
The Great Herd is the migratory herd of the nearly 50,000 mammoths that travels from the Great Northern Plains and splits inot the southern wintering herds east and west of Tantir Marsh. These animals and their annual migration are at the center of life for Umera's Shepherds. The large wooly mammoths are rarely targetted by predators, other than humanoids, but they are not immune to troubles relating the geography of their range and there are many who are not above poaching the large creatures.
Each mammoth has a name carved into their tusk in a druidic rune. This is done when the animal has reached a year and a half old, as this age means they are beyond the size that most predators will be able to easily target the animal. Once the name is etched into the tusk the animal is marked and when they are poached their tusks will turn red when they are killed.
The Shepherds
Umera's Shepherds have the task to accompany and protect the mammoth herds and they take their task seriously. The tribe is one of the largest in Shov Stril, and has set up relay points and camps along the migration trail. These relay points are populated permanently by the elderly members of the tribe who pass their knowledge and skills along to the younger druids who will spend a season at each camp over the years as they guard The Great Herd. The elders teach the young how to carve the runes in the tusks of mammoths, and they will recommend hunters from the tribe who are then called to the Grand Elder who then decides who among the Called will become Hunters. Hunters are instructed in the rituals and methods to hunt mammoths and granted permission to cull problematic animals. Those who lawfully hunt the mammoths are the only ones who have access to white tusks. Tusks of mammoths that are hunted by packs of predators will turn red as well, leaving them off limits and placed in a pile maintained and guarded by an order of the druids who enshrine these tusks as being stolen by Zythis.
Permanent camps are constructed with wooden houses and a community field and garden to provide food, while the migratory camps are composed of tents constructed with mammoth skins, collected and passed down through the generations. The Shepherds are held in high esteem in the druid courts and most young druids will choose to join their number and mark their calendar by the migratory patterns and life cycle of the mammoths.
Views of The Shepherds
In the eyes of Umera's Shepherds, mammoths are one of the most important creatures to have been sent from the diety. Their skins, bones, and tusks are used for the tents of the migratory camps, decorative charms, weapons, and religious rituals. Living animals are responsible for long tracts of land that would have been swallowed by forests. Their waste is nourishment for the land, and their weak and old were nourishment for the predators that migrated down from Dirmand Tundra. Every aspect of the mammoths is viewed as a piece of Umera herself, and revered.
Sitting Through Lessons
Vi'layna had never understood the appeal of joining Umera's Shepherds. She didn't mind sleeping outside, but tasked with carrying heavy tents and memorizing all those rituals, they were only slightly better than The Druids of The Stones. So far her time at the academy in Virstas had left her less and less enamoured with the rest of the druids and their tribes. Endless days of ritual and worship, punctuated by testamony painting the other countries to the south as villains. Her shoulders slumped as she tried to pay attention to the lecture on mammoth anatomy but the instructor's voice was starting to sound like a summer cicada.
Farewell
Pasht'ov had known the mammoth who's body had been ripped apart by the clouder of sabre-toothed leopards two weeks ago. He had been the one to carve the runes into Mist's tusk, which was glinting red in the early morning glow. Tears dripped down his cheeks as he pulled the red tusks from the body, gently running his fingers over the rune. Mist had been suffering, he reasoned, she had been falling behind on the last two migrations and recently she had lost a lot of weight. It would fall to Pasht'ov to carry the tusks to the shrine, to say prayers to Umera and lay the tusks to rest atop a pile that made his heart ache. He cursed Zythis under his breath as he strode to the shrine on the northern edge of the plains.
I like the idea of naming animals that have reached a "safe" age and honoring their untimely deaths. Making the tusks unattractive for poachers by changing their color is a clever idea, too - it makes sense that those hunting responsibly are the only ones entitled to white tusks. The story excerpts in the side bar are lovely to read, especially the farewell scene conveys a lot of emotion.
Creator of the Kaleidoscope System, an alien star system shaped by a colorful radiation source.
Thank you. I really enjoyed writing this prompt, more than I thought I would, in fact. I'm glad you enjoyed the snippets on the side. :)