JesseLowe/ShanidarNomads

The Shanidar Nomads

Our agents have had little luck penetrating the society of these barbarians over the last few months, and we have therefore relied more on the prattle of merchants and outcast Shanidarians for information. The Shanidar Nomads roam the praire from the edge of the forest of the East to the Arkos River and the River of Snails in the north and west. This area encompasses perhaps 78,000 square miles.

Matters of Commerce

The Shanidarians trade regularly with the Forest People to the East, with the people of Calrushan and Hunak Woods, and with the free city of Gavederel. They also exact a tribute from merchants travelling along the road from Inaria to Jhuku.

The Shanidarians are not loth to trade the least of their horses, and favor luxury goods, especially alcohol and tea. In return, they supply beef and horsemeat, leather and horn goods, and occasionally strange wonders found in ruins on their plains. Their wealth is in their horses and their cattle, both of which are renowned for their small size and great hardiness. They occasionally trade slaves to the Guild or to other interested buyers; these slaves are typically nomads from tribes other than the sellers', Forest People, or civilized folk who ran afoul of an ill-tempered khan.

Matters of Virtue

The Shanidar Nomads seem to be somehow related to the Marukani of the western Scavenger Lands. Like the Marukani, they are great horsemen, and any Shanidarian who cannot ride is deemed a child – and a poor one. They are generally illiterate, but full of spoken lore. They worship few gods constantly, but pay reverence to the many small gods who govern the landmarks of their prairies.

The Nomads are composed of approximately seven tribes, varying in size and power, who each have ill-defined grazing territories, herds, and water rights. Conflict over these assets is the chief cause of war among the Nomads. Each tribe makes a circuit of its territory over the course of a year. The tribes are:

• Ayagachin, headed by Temur Khan and noted for the clay-and-wicker cups and bowls they trade to Gavederel. Their territory is near that city.
• Baga Dogshin, headed by Chinua Khan and renowned for their ferocity. Their territory borders the Eastern forest near the Noss Fens. They avoid the Fens and take slaves from the forest.
• Bayajikh, headed by Erdene Khan and the wealthiest of the tribes. Their territory borders Calrushan Wood, and they are most friendly to us.
• Dairtan, headed by Checheg Khan and considered the best riders of the Shanidar Nomads. They control the center of the plains and have few dealings with non-Nomads save merchants traveling the Jhuku-Lanybri road.
• Khurlagad, headed by Arslan Khan. They breed the best cattle and horses, and are friends to the Bayajikh. Their territory is along the Arkos River and the River of Snails.
• Tursaga, headed by Burilgi Khan. Of all tribes, they are most feared, for they speak with the dead and sacrifice strangers to their gods. Their territory stretches from Hunak Wood to the Opo River.
• Ulaan Yamaat, headed by Boke Khan. The smallest tribe, they have a long feud with the Inarians and control the southern portion of the Jhuku-Lanybri road.

There were at former times other tribes, but they either died out or departed the plains. They are rarely spoken of and our agents have no information on them.

Matters of War

The Shanidar Nomads are accomplished in intercenine warfare, but have not struck out beyond their own lands in many years. Every Shanidarian is an accomplished horse warrior, but not a soldier. They fight in family groups based on tribe, and most of their warfare is raids against their neighbors – other tribes, Forest People, or civilized folk. This warfare is often retributive. Some feuds among the Nomads date back to before the Great Contagion, if legends are to be believed.

A typical Shanidarian warband consists of twenty-five to fifty braves under a charismatic leader, often accompanied by a shaman. A brave is usually mounted on a war pony and has a string of five to ten replacement mounts. He is armed with a slashing sword, a lance, and a composite bow, and wears a either a chain shirt or a breastplate of hardened leather and wood (or steel if he can get it).

Though they are excellent raiders, they have not prevailed against an organized army fighting on its own ground for over a century; they favor hit-and-run tactics and are often vulnerable to treachery. They are quite amenable to mercenary work on an individual basis, and over the last century and a half the tribes have sometimes hired out entire warbands.

Tribal Adoption

The tribes have a tradition of adopting clans and the like between each other; this usually happens if a clan or small tribe is in dire straits or if the cultures of the adopter and adoptee have intermingled to a great degree. The ceremony of this adoption is being used -- more-or-less -- to swear fealty to the Circle.