Discussions/BullOfTheNorth

Okay, my chronicle is going to be messing around in the North for a few sessions pretty soon, and one thing I think they're going to be doing is hooking up with some Northmen who've been driven south by the Bull's conquests. Looking up info on the Bull, though, I find quite a bit of... contradiction. So, how do you deal with the Bull of the North?

Reference points:

• I think the Bull is first mentioned on page 19 of Scavenger Sons. He (or she -- gender is not specified) is described as an icewalker leader uniting the tribes. This is dated as "within the past two years," so between RY 766 and 768.
• The most information we have on him seems to come from Kingdom of Halta, which details the war in which the Bull crushes the Tepet Legions. This takes place between RY 761 and RY 764. The Bull is definitely a Solar Exalted here, and an established power.This raises an interesting question: Since the Empress didn't vanish till Calibration of 763, why wasn't the Bull smacked down by the Wyld Hunt?
• The Bull, aka Yurgen Kaneko, is also one of the sample characters in Castebook: Dawn: pp. 14-15, 24-26, 38-39, 50-51, 85-86. According to this book, he's conquered the city of Gethamane. This may be his first conquest.
• Interestingly enough, the main rulebook has the House Tepet legions decimated in battle against a rogue noble. Where was the Bull first mentioned in connection with this event?

One possible solution: All the Bull's associated events do occur, but starting 765 when he Exalts. That pushes the conquest of Gethamane to sometime in 767 (possibly) and starts the war against Tepet in 768.

Another one: What Bull?

-- JesseLowe, obsessing

Comments

This may just be my personal bias talking, but my preferred method of dealing with Yurgen Kaneko is "destroy him by whatever means necessary, then bury the remains staked at a crossroads." I'm not a huge fan.

But seriously -- is there anything keeping you from just fading all the dates in the background? Unless you have unusually timeline-focused players, just leave the dates up in the air and don't worry too much about it. -- AntiVehicleRocket

It's not them, it's me... >_< -- JesseLowe

I had Tepet Arada kill the Bull of the North - the man personally slew at least one other Solar. I think Dace is ringing for a beating by the Kite Flute too in my campaign. --Xeriar

I finally resolved this to my satisfaction for my chronicles. The Bull is a Full Moon Lunar, maybe with the help of the Silver Faction of the Sidereals or something. Keeps the chronology neat and doesn't necessarily overshadow Solar PCs. Plus, since I'm greatly reducing the power of the Silver Pact as a faction -- now they're one of many, not the only one worth talking about -- the Bull presents an alternate Lunar paradigm, that of the conquering (as opposed to destroying) barbarian. -- JesseLowe

Wow, should we call this the I hate Yurgen Page? FYI, he is also referenced defeating a large group of Dragon Blooded with his amassed army in the novel "In Northern Twilight". And it seems to give him a bit more background than most of the other supliments. -Miles

Alright, in my understanding, the Bull of the North is a Solar whom is consumed by his memories of the Dragon-Blooded killing everybody. He was briefly mentioned in the campaign that I am part of as being a potential ally and someone we should be aware of, but not the main focus of the game. Pretty much, he's an NPC that we intend on utilizing if we storm the Blessed Isle, but other than that... he just kind of does his own thing. ~Kesai

No, you're thinking of Lyta. (Or, possibly, the ST in your campaign has taken the two and merged them). The Bull has no particular dislike for the Dragon-Blooded. The first time Yurgen was linked to the Tepet disaster, IIRC, was Aspect Book: Air, in which Tepet Arada talks about him. - FrivYeti

~Hmm... I am not sure about that, I'll have to go and check. But I'll take your word, considering you know more about it than I do, probably :) ~Kesai

In the new DB book the Bull does seem to want all non-Icewalker Dragon-Blooded dead since his patrols kill any they come across. Enchantress

This also brings up the possibility that The Bull was a Dynast noble whom exalted in the realm
 and left.-Alicrast