In days of eld, before Neglai M'Jiliad arrived across the sea, Brookshire was serene, untouched, traversed only by the vast herds of moose who thundered mightily across its open plains.Benkern wrote:Moose hunter and dog breeder? Noo! It should have been the other way around!
Herds of moose? I thought moose were solitary?
Oh, no. You're thinking of the Great Solitary Moose of Elwynn. A noble animal, in its way, but nothing compared to the Blue Moose of Brookshire. May I continue?
Sorry. Yes, of course.
So, these vast herds of moose were thundering mightily across the open plains. They were pursued by Brookshire's earliest human residents, the moose-hunting nomads best known from excavated sites near Torhan in Modan-Lach, and called the Early Torhanian culture by archaeologists. We don't know much about the Torhanians, except that they lived in yurts, roamed with the moose herds, and worshipped a moose-god.
What makes you think they worshipped a moose god? You can't tell that sort of thing just from an archaeological records.
Ten skeletons, victims of human sacrifices, arranged in a circle around a moose skull covered in gold jewelery.
Oh. That would do it, all right.
Anyway, this pleasant, even idyllic culture was disrupted with the introduction of agriculture. From the south, Yardistani agriculture, whose staple crops were rice and mangoes, arrived in the region around b3300. From the north, Goldshirean agriculture, whose staple crops were rye and barley, arrived around the Elwynn River around b3000 and spread south. Communities of neolithic agriculturalists called the Oryot people took over the most fertile regions and pushed the moose-herders (by now the Late Torhanians) into the interior of the continent. The Oryot people worshipped Khaz and Cedrist gods, and were probably peaceful and egalitarian. The archaeological record shows most of these people living long lives, and some skeletons with wounds or disease show evidence of being cared for or supported by the rest of the tribe.
How sweet.
No, no. This is archaeology. We can't let our personal emotions get in the way of objective description. Anyway, it was all over by b2900.
What happened?
The moose-hunters learned animal breeding. They shifted from hunting to herding and grew strong. And they still held a grudge against their foreign agriculturalist neighbors. Imagine their suprise when great hordes of moose-back cavalry descended from the hills onto their unguarded villages.
Moose-back cavalry? You've got to be kidding!
Nope. So they formed a strict Late Neolithic caste system, became the noble/warrior caste, and lorded it over their subjugated neighbours. All these hordes were pretty independent, but they were under the ceremonial and religious leadership of Maghlot, a sacred site near the confluence of two rivers.
What happened to them?
The same thing that happens to all of these prosperous societies ruled by conquering barbarians. Vedic India, the Mongol Empire, the Golden Horde, you name it. They went native. Became more Oryotian than the Oryotians themselves. Next thing we know, the Emperor of Khaz is sending presents to the leadership in Maghlot and calling them Dukes of Brookshire. We guess they got civilized, and fast, and with Maghlot being acknowledged as the leadership by Khaz, they managed to make themselves the real as well as ceremonial power-holders in the region. The real work came under the leadership of one Fola Helipov, and her consort Neglai M'Jiliad.
Ah!
Yes, you've heard of them. The military caste was dying, fading into irrelevance as the new peaceful society began. It was Raynor M'Jiliad who first gave them direction and turned them against the outer world. It was like something out of Dune. They just conquered everyone in their path.
So what does this have to do with modern Brookshire?
The moose-breeders. They never went away. As Brookshire faded into the Shirerithian Empire, and as farmers and industrialists took away more of their precious land, the great moose herds of Brookshire ceased to roam. As infantry and tanks became more important than cavalry, the moose-riders of Brookshire fought their last few battles and faded into the sunset. But the moose-breeders themselves refused to live any life besides those lived by their fathers and their fathers' fathers. They retreated into their own communities, way in the interior, turned to religious fundamentalism, and rejected outsiders as the work of Balgurd. They would go out in the morning, shooting any stray dogs or cats or children that wandered too close and threatened their prize stock, and caring nothing because they were the dogs or cats or children of those who had fallen into sinful ways. But they were good warriors, as always. Their children took jobs as guards to the noble families of Brookshire, and worked their way into politics. "Think of the moose-breeders!" became a cry heard often in the halls of Brookshirean politics, and they became a symbol of the true, unalloyed Brookshire way of life.
So?
It's backstory preparing the way for one of the Societies! The Blue Antler Company, the guardians of the real Brookshire! The people who know that not every change is a disaster, but every disaster is necessarily a change. The people so religious that even the High Priest down in Mirioth thinks they're a bit creepy.
So this post is about the Blue Antler Company?
No, this is just setting up their backstory. Their real story is long and, I bet, full of woe and wistfulness and a heart-warming celebration of what it is to be human. That doesn't come until later.
Oh.
Sorry. You know how it is.
