Rarei's Ghost

"Why stop now? The Marshall fights on!

Following the Tuhran War, Hut Rarei's character was touted as a national icon but suppressed by the Keyrit and Wlitowan governments. Though he survived the war, Hut Rarei himself never left his farm to engage in national dialogue, nor did he quell or inflame the rumors about him. This led to a massive demand and inadequate supply of information around Hut Rarei. What couldn't be found was made up, and the conspiracy theory that Hut Rarei was still fighting the Tuhran War was born.

Summary

The general outline of the theory goes as follows.

When Hut Rarei saw the Keyrit and Wlitowan forces assault Doyog Mountain, he knew that a prolonged siege would not give him the chance to avenge Tuhra. For this very purpose, Rarei had a tunnel constructed into and through the mountain to the river. When the invaders came up to Doyog's front door, Hut and his followers fled out the back. To save face after letting their adversary slip away, the Keyrityi and the Wlitowans declared that the war was over and claimed victory. Meanwhile, Hut Rarei began raiding and ambushing Wlitowan expeditions into the Tuhran southeast.

Historical Basis

Outside of Hut Rarei's presence at Doyog Mountain, the theory is completely baseless and provenly false, spurred on only by the suppression of information on Hut Rarei's whereabouts by the occupying forces. Hut Rarei, at the time of the legend's creation and for a decade and a half afterwards, was cooped up inside his own farm, actively doing business with his neighbors in Yattau. He had surrendered to the Keyrityi and Wlitowan conquerors as soon as they arrived and prepared for a siege. When Wlitowa deployed guards to prevent civilians from ever stepping foot in Doyog Cave ever again, it seemed to give credence to the legend. There wasn't even evidence of a hole on the riverside of the mountain, not that it was easy to tell from how immensely high the theoretical tunnel would be from any onlookers at the river.

This is not to say that the myth didn't have its uses. Because the mountain range in the east of Tuhra was far away from most of Wlitowa's zone of control, small guerrilla forces sprouted in the mountains, harassing the occupiers who dared to venture that far south, continuing the war well after its conclusion. While they themselves knew that Hut Rarei was nowhere to be found, it helped their cause to proclaim that Hut Rarei was still on their side, fighting right alongside them.

Spread

Even though Doyog and the guerrillas surrounding it had incentives to spread the rumor, their closeness to the area led others across Tuhra to believe it as well. Of course the guerrilla forces would know if Hut Rarei was alive; they'd be working with him on a regular, if not daily, basis! So the citizens of Doyog believed the tale. Of course the citizens of Doyog would know what happened at Doyog Mountain! And so the citizens of the City of Five Roads believed the tale. Even a select few on the outskirts of Hut Rarei's native Yattau came to believe the rumor.

Even so, the rumor was strictly limited to Tuhra. Keyrit's freedom of the press, and Wlitowa's traditional lack thereof, ensured that none of Tuhra's conspiracies overrode the information already presented.

Variations & Mutation

As Wlitowa lost its grip on Tuhra during the Great Eastern Uprising, the guards of Doyog Cave were pulled away to work on more important matters. When the Doyog Cave was finally free to be explored, the citizens found one or two areas that might possibly have been good digging sites but no definitive evidence of tunnels. The theory was then adapted; in the new version, Hut had the tunnels destroyed while they escaped, so that no one could follow them or even suspect that they had left.

Cultural Reception

Hut Rarei, whether he surrendered or whether he fought on, was still a national hero to the Tuhrans. Those who knew and experienced the real Hut Rarei knew him as a simple man, who valued his neighbors, his country, and his farm. By contrast, the imagined Hut Rarei was bombastic, and larger than life. This caricature was much easier for the masses to appreciate, and the bombastic nature of Hut Rarei was shared even by those who didn't believe the theory.

Date of First Recording

1540

Date of Setting

1537

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