Madnestan
21-09-2006, 21:58
The Land
Madnestan stretches from the Lake Balhas (the banana-like lake east from Aral) to the Northern banks of Indus in the Karakoram-Kashmir region. It covers nowadays Kirgisia, Tadzikistan and the North-East "peninsula" of Afghanistan, Pakistan's Kashmir and China's westernmost mountains, those that border the Uigur Desert.
In short form: somewhat triangular area, about Balhas-wide (the lake being the Northern border) and spreading towards South, Southern border being the Indus from the border of Ralish Empire to the sources of the great river.
The greatest (and pretty much the *ONLY* city in Madnestan) is Durruti, located at the Southern bank of Lake Issyk-Kul (the one South from Balhas), but it can't really be called as capital - it's actually little more than a great market place and a massive mountain fortress.
The People, it's culture and the way of living
~2 million people and nineteen tribes of Madnestan, three of them nomads from the steppes and the rest men of the mountains, live in a clan-based society. They raise cattle - mainly sheeps - and hunt in the mountains. The main source of revenue is however the beautiful art of warfare. It's the thing these grim and violent "Wolfmen" (as they're called by most of their neighbours and enemies) are best at. They harras, deprive and loot their neighbours, selling them in the slave markets, but first and foremost: serve as fiersome mercenaries of the Ralish Empire.
Because of this, Madnestian culture is a violent one. Their originally pantheistic religion has slowly moved towards a monotheistic one, as Veksir The War Of God has become clearly the most known, feared and respected of all the gods. Veksir requires sacrificing blood, both that of his worshippers (nearly all of the rituals include cutting one's own flesh) and that of the enemy's, in form of prisoners/slaves. Madnestians don't practice these rituals on daily basis, but when they do, the blood streams like booze (which they drink quite a lot). Madnestians do not however have any specialized class of priests. Different warrior cults do however have a rather important role in their social life.
Madnestians appreciate two things above everything: skills in martial arts, weapon handling, leadership et cetera, and the ability to sustain pain without showing any signs of suffering. This has made them quiet, stoic and incredibly tough. They also practice all the time - when not fighting their neighbouring tribe or clan, marching with the Imperial Army or looting some Southern Dwarfs (which is the name they use for the people's of India) they're duelling eachother.
Raising cattle (and children to the age of 10) are women's job.
The small class of nobles lives pretty much like the common clansmen. They're "nobles" because they can afford big horses and expencive cavalry equipment that the title requires, and are thereby taken to Tribe Kings' and Clanfathers' castles to serve as their escorts. They're called Utagais 1.Castlemen because of this. Utagais try to keep themselves somehow separated from the others, but aren't really succesfull in this. They're not respected because of their ancestors or titles, but because of their personal skills and courage, and anyone can become Utagai if he gains enough prestige and property.
Appearance
Madnestians are generally very tall, strong and musculous, and have messy black beards. They have black hair and dark brown eyes, and their skin is usually very light brown. Blonde and rather pale types aren't however can however be found also, mainly from the Southern tribes.
Madnestians wear simple but enduring clothes made of sheepskin and cotton, and the men carry their weapons everywhere. Seing people wearing full armour made of chainmail and strengthened leather with no obvious practical reason is very common in Madnestian villages.
Women wear quite similar clothes, except that they rarely carry weapons (if they don't belong in some women's warrior cult).
War
Madnestian "Wolfmen" usually wear quite well made armour - strengthened leather, chainmail - and use massive battleaxes and claymoreish swords to cut their way through the enemy ranks. Besides these they usually have short yet incredibly stiff composite bows (copied from their Northern cousins who live in the steppes between Balhas and their mountains) to use before the melee begins.
When in battle, they fear nothing, and aren't really as ill-disciplined and unorganized one could perhaps suppose because of the fact that they fight in the unit that their clan is through their whole lives. They are excellent in units of 100-300 men, and their leaders know exactly how to use them, but have usually difficulties in handling armies of thousands of men. As individuals, they are however propably the toughest and most flexible infantry in the known world.
Three steppe tribes act as light cavalry, and the Castlemen form a small yet respectable force of extremely skilled middle heavy horsemen.
Current situation
Madnestians aren't really lead by anyone. They don't have a Great King at the moment (in fact they have only had less than 10 during their whole history of more than 2 thousand years) but an exceptionally skilled and powerful clan leader, someone who has succeeded as a mercenary general and gained prestige among other clans too when leading their warriors in foreign armies (=The Empire's), can always manage to gain enough power to claim the throne of The Great King, and even temporarily unite the country. When he dies, the "country" falls back to the usual state of "organized chaos" as it could perhaps be described.
Strongest Tribes at the moment are White Blades, Bloodskulls and Seven Hawks, whose alliance (with few other minors) controls almost a quarter of the country, including Durruti.
There are some 18-25,000 thousand Madnestians, from all clans, serving in the Imperial Army of The Ralish*.
Tamtam Fire-Eye of the Black Blood Brotherhood's warrior cult (http://www.pvkii.com/images/artwork/berserker.jpg),
King Shutar of the Wide Blade's clan, (http://www.therebelution.com/uploaded_images/viking_warrior-765290.jpg)
Romer, famous Utagai of the Sabreteeth clan. (http://www.propstore.com/images/products/638/battle.jpg)
*NOTE - When serving as mercenaries, Madnestians forget all the hatred and grudges that they have because of the clan/tribe wars. They're left behind when they join foreign armies. This is essential, for they would otherwise be fighting eachother instead of the enemies of their hirers, and would be of no use.
EDIT: Aridis, the similarities in our facbooks are rather surprising! Yet I can assure you that I hadn't read that of yours before writing this of mine... especially the religion-part is quite the same. I think it makes IC:ly sense though - our people's aren't, after all, so far from each other.
Madnestan stretches from the Lake Balhas (the banana-like lake east from Aral) to the Northern banks of Indus in the Karakoram-Kashmir region. It covers nowadays Kirgisia, Tadzikistan and the North-East "peninsula" of Afghanistan, Pakistan's Kashmir and China's westernmost mountains, those that border the Uigur Desert.
In short form: somewhat triangular area, about Balhas-wide (the lake being the Northern border) and spreading towards South, Southern border being the Indus from the border of Ralish Empire to the sources of the great river.
The greatest (and pretty much the *ONLY* city in Madnestan) is Durruti, located at the Southern bank of Lake Issyk-Kul (the one South from Balhas), but it can't really be called as capital - it's actually little more than a great market place and a massive mountain fortress.
The People, it's culture and the way of living
~2 million people and nineteen tribes of Madnestan, three of them nomads from the steppes and the rest men of the mountains, live in a clan-based society. They raise cattle - mainly sheeps - and hunt in the mountains. The main source of revenue is however the beautiful art of warfare. It's the thing these grim and violent "Wolfmen" (as they're called by most of their neighbours and enemies) are best at. They harras, deprive and loot their neighbours, selling them in the slave markets, but first and foremost: serve as fiersome mercenaries of the Ralish Empire.
Because of this, Madnestian culture is a violent one. Their originally pantheistic religion has slowly moved towards a monotheistic one, as Veksir The War Of God has become clearly the most known, feared and respected of all the gods. Veksir requires sacrificing blood, both that of his worshippers (nearly all of the rituals include cutting one's own flesh) and that of the enemy's, in form of prisoners/slaves. Madnestians don't practice these rituals on daily basis, but when they do, the blood streams like booze (which they drink quite a lot). Madnestians do not however have any specialized class of priests. Different warrior cults do however have a rather important role in their social life.
Madnestians appreciate two things above everything: skills in martial arts, weapon handling, leadership et cetera, and the ability to sustain pain without showing any signs of suffering. This has made them quiet, stoic and incredibly tough. They also practice all the time - when not fighting their neighbouring tribe or clan, marching with the Imperial Army or looting some Southern Dwarfs (which is the name they use for the people's of India) they're duelling eachother.
Raising cattle (and children to the age of 10) are women's job.
The small class of nobles lives pretty much like the common clansmen. They're "nobles" because they can afford big horses and expencive cavalry equipment that the title requires, and are thereby taken to Tribe Kings' and Clanfathers' castles to serve as their escorts. They're called Utagais 1.Castlemen because of this. Utagais try to keep themselves somehow separated from the others, but aren't really succesfull in this. They're not respected because of their ancestors or titles, but because of their personal skills and courage, and anyone can become Utagai if he gains enough prestige and property.
Appearance
Madnestians are generally very tall, strong and musculous, and have messy black beards. They have black hair and dark brown eyes, and their skin is usually very light brown. Blonde and rather pale types aren't however can however be found also, mainly from the Southern tribes.
Madnestians wear simple but enduring clothes made of sheepskin and cotton, and the men carry their weapons everywhere. Seing people wearing full armour made of chainmail and strengthened leather with no obvious practical reason is very common in Madnestian villages.
Women wear quite similar clothes, except that they rarely carry weapons (if they don't belong in some women's warrior cult).
War
Madnestian "Wolfmen" usually wear quite well made armour - strengthened leather, chainmail - and use massive battleaxes and claymoreish swords to cut their way through the enemy ranks. Besides these they usually have short yet incredibly stiff composite bows (copied from their Northern cousins who live in the steppes between Balhas and their mountains) to use before the melee begins.
When in battle, they fear nothing, and aren't really as ill-disciplined and unorganized one could perhaps suppose because of the fact that they fight in the unit that their clan is through their whole lives. They are excellent in units of 100-300 men, and their leaders know exactly how to use them, but have usually difficulties in handling armies of thousands of men. As individuals, they are however propably the toughest and most flexible infantry in the known world.
Three steppe tribes act as light cavalry, and the Castlemen form a small yet respectable force of extremely skilled middle heavy horsemen.
Current situation
Madnestians aren't really lead by anyone. They don't have a Great King at the moment (in fact they have only had less than 10 during their whole history of more than 2 thousand years) but an exceptionally skilled and powerful clan leader, someone who has succeeded as a mercenary general and gained prestige among other clans too when leading their warriors in foreign armies (=The Empire's), can always manage to gain enough power to claim the throne of The Great King, and even temporarily unite the country. When he dies, the "country" falls back to the usual state of "organized chaos" as it could perhaps be described.
Strongest Tribes at the moment are White Blades, Bloodskulls and Seven Hawks, whose alliance (with few other minors) controls almost a quarter of the country, including Durruti.
There are some 18-25,000 thousand Madnestians, from all clans, serving in the Imperial Army of The Ralish*.
Tamtam Fire-Eye of the Black Blood Brotherhood's warrior cult (http://www.pvkii.com/images/artwork/berserker.jpg),
King Shutar of the Wide Blade's clan, (http://www.therebelution.com/uploaded_images/viking_warrior-765290.jpg)
Romer, famous Utagai of the Sabreteeth clan. (http://www.propstore.com/images/products/638/battle.jpg)
*NOTE - When serving as mercenaries, Madnestians forget all the hatred and grudges that they have because of the clan/tribe wars. They're left behind when they join foreign armies. This is essential, for they would otherwise be fighting eachother instead of the enemies of their hirers, and would be of no use.
EDIT: Aridis, the similarities in our facbooks are rather surprising! Yet I can assure you that I hadn't read that of yours before writing this of mine... especially the religion-part is quite the same. I think it makes IC:ly sense though - our people's aren't, after all, so far from each other.