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Scourge of the Barren Lands [Historical Character - Asulon]


Ibn Khaldun
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Sauros Alanbaatar

Khagan of the Subudai Confederacy

b. 1333 | d. 1392

 

𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅗𝅥𝅘𝅥𝅯𝅘𝅥𝅮

 

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"His mother conceived him in the most chaotic of times. His mother swaddled him in her arms, fleeing the fire of drakes and the anarchy of the mass migration where those still living left Aegis and entered the Verge. His father died in the defense of the portal from Iblees and his thralls as people migrated through the Wandering Wizard's portal. Sauros spent much of his youth in the great disorder that was the Temple of the Verge as people began to sail to Asulon."

- King Godfrey Horen I of Oren

 

What follows is a biography of one of the most successful Farfolk rulers in human history. The obscurity conferred onto the character Sauros Alanbaatar by the Farfolk ethnonym is further intensified by the historical fact that Sauros Alanbaatar and the Subudai made their impact on early Asulonian history; a period of history marked by disorder. The cause of this disorder is the turbulent manner by which the peoples of Aegis came to eventually settle the continent of Asulon after the success of Iblees in routing the living from their homeland. The difficult times in the Verge further exasperated conditions for all people before finally sailing to Asulon.

 

Sauros Alanbaatar managed to create a polity for the Farfolk out of this situation and ruled over a culturally vibrant assortment of people in early Asulon. The Subudai, a tribal confederacy consisting of nomadic humans and others incorporated by alliance or subjugation, would be responsible for the fall of Seventis and Alras before eventual incorporation into the Holy Orenian Empire. This biography is intended to give a truthful retelling of the story of Sauros Alanbaatar and the dynamics of the Subudai Confederacy.

 

 

Out-of-Character Note: This character, which I played in-game, lived during the Asulon map.

 

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𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅗𝅥𝅘𝅥𝅯𝅘𝅥𝅮

 

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"The utter ruin of our homeland could only be eclipsed by the wicked deprivation forced on us by the necromancers of Iblees and all their thralls. They pilfered every stock kept by town and merchant, burned and salted every arable acre of land, and slaughtered every living being they could wrench from us as we fled through the portal. My son, mistaking foolishness for bravery, traversed the portal a few times with wanderlust and a longing to come to terms with what we all lost in Aegis."

- Saran Alanbaatar, mother of Sauros Alanbataar, remembering Sauros' adolescence.

 

Sauros Alanbaatar spent much of his adolescence as a refugee in the Temple of the Verge. The disarray as the Four Races reconciled themselves with the travesty of fleeing Aegis and the toll on organization and hierarchy that this tumultuous event took meant that the less fortunate would act as little more than background noise as the greater characters planned to set sail eventually to Asulon. The Farfolk, though human, had very little voice in the politics of Man and caused very little consequence on the advancement of Mankind. Farfolks, during this period of uncertainty in the Verge, did little beyond menial labor and scouting for various militaries.

 

Farfolks, including Sauros Alanbaatar, took great risks to scout beyond the Temple of the Verge. Sauros Alanbaatar, even against his mother's wishes, ventured a few times back into Aegis. His nomadic instincts, coupled with his knowledge of the lay of the land, sent him far into the reaches of ruined castles and toppled cities. Wanderlust can be said to be a chief attribute common among the Farfolk and Sauros' wanderlust took him great distances and into great risks. Each time he returned through the portal, he brought stories of what he saw and began to develop a sense of nostalgia for the greatness of Man's advancements.

 

Over the next few years, more and more people sailed from the Temple of the Verge after scout vessels returned with news of another continent - Asulon. Sauros Alanbaatar and his aging mother, Saran, gained permission to sail on a vessel built and manned by the Seventians. The Seventians, belonging to the self-titled Kingdom of Seventis, split away from the Kingdom of Renatus during the Verge crisis and would land in northeastern lands of Asulon that consisted of a vast stretch of plains surrounded by mountains to the west and hillocks to the east.

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𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅗𝅥𝅘𝅥𝅯𝅘𝅥𝅮

 

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"That was their first mistake, permitting us the wide open plain. We began to breed horses and soon, the horizon always looked unsettled like a mirage before a traveler's eyes. Many in our confederacy preferred horseback riding, though my Ulfgar kinsmen were the few who fought on foot exclusively."

- Varin Ulfgar, one of the first Syrmatae of the Subudai

 

While Seventis settled in the knobs northeast of the Cloud Temple; the Sauros and his family chose to roam and set up series of temporary settlements stretching across the plains before the Seventian capital of Sarun. Sauros invited many who were refugees in the Verge to settle the plains along with him. This initial migration of people began to coalesce a confederacy of various tribes and families. This confederacy would be referred to as the Subudai. One of the critical errors in historical reflection of the Subudai is that the Subudai were homogenous in culture or ethnic identity. The early Subudai consisted of various Farfolks such as the Jahvids, Kirvels, Konchaks, Mongols, & Antianeirai as well as a motley of other human families including the Ulfgars.

 

The Subudai grew steadily, attracting the less fortunate from places such as Solace & Sarun. The Subudai began to operate caravan routes connecting Salvus with Seventis and the Orcs with the Dwarves. This trade allowed the Subudai to both build wealth and acquire the natural resources that proved scarce along the plains such as ores and timber. The growth in population and increased political organization fostered more nomadic movement leading the Subudai to encounter more settlements and nations such as Fort Volsung & Alras. The Volsung would become one of the first enemies of the Subudai.

 

The Subudai, with their loosely organized confederacy, recognized Sauros Alanbaatar as Khagan. The Khagan is a title that endowed different powers depending on peace or wartime. The Khagan, during peacetime, would be little more than a ceremonial leader who concerned himself more with his personal tribe than the affairs of other tribes. The Khagan had unilateral power to wage war and, during wartime, could control the manpower and resources of all tribes in the confederacy. Each tribe, referred to as Kotan, had a Syrmatae (patriarch) who ruled over the affairs of his tribe from meeting the needs of his or her people and personal affairs such as arranging marriages.

 

Initially, all kotans (tribes) lived a nomadic lifestyle. This lifestyle consisted of moving their homes from place to place following weather patterns and the growth of grazing grasses for their herds. Eventually, certain tribes such as the Kirvel would settle in permanent settlements.

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𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅗𝅥𝅘𝅥𝅯𝅘𝅥𝅮

 

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"We heard them before we saw them. We heard hundreds of beats against the earth, their horses drummed against the land. Then came the dust, columns of them rose against the horizon like a series of dust devils. Then they emerged from the dust, swarthy enough to blend in with the dirt."

- King Renati of Seventis, after witnessing the horde of the Subudai for the first time.

 

Horses to the Subudai became like the mountains to the Dwarves; they became inseparable and a primary resource for the tribal confederacy. The Subudai, being mostly Farfolk, derived their sustenance from both the horse and other livestock including sheep and cattle. They took their meals from the flanks and shoulders of their livestock, their warmth from the wool of their sheep, their transportation from their horses. They traded leather for worked iron and treated wood and relied mainly on spear and bow for hunting and combat while the wealthiest Kotansmani (tribesmen) had access to swords and shields of varying shapes and sizes.

 

The first instance of the Khagan calling a warpath (declaring war) came early in the history of the Asulonian Subudai. The wide plains which the Subudai inhabited had many settlements and peoples on their periphery. To the east, the Kingdom of Seventis had their capital Sarun and town of Tyr. The unaffiliated settlement of Rienna sat north of the Subudain Plains. The waning Kingdom of Alras withered northwest and the Volsung Fort acted as a junction between the Subudai, Alras, & Solace of the Kingdom of Salvus further west. Most of these nations existed peacefully with the Subudai save for the Volsung.

 

Volsung raiders knew little about the Subudai as they engaged in trade across the water in longboats and wooden barges. The Subudai attempted to hire the Volsung to extend their trade across the water, but to no avail. The Volsung, in response, sent scouts who would be caught spying on one of their temporary settlements. Sauros Alanbaatar, concerned that surrounding nations may consider his people an easy victim for conquest and plunder, called together the various kotans (tribes) and declared war on the Volsung. Early battles resulted in easy victories since the Subudai fought mainly on horseback and could easily execute hit-and-run attacks on contingents of the Volsung on the plains.

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𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅗𝅥𝅘𝅥𝅯𝅘𝅥𝅮

 

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"Little did we know the plague would grace Seventis and leave us empty-handed. Some claimed the disease originated from us and that we blew death upon that hilltop kingdom. Whether we conjured and coaxed this disease out of a cauldron or they called down their own punishment for their treachery; we will never know."

- Vladivoj Kirvel, one of the Syrmatae of the Subudai, describing the plague of Asulon

 

The successful skirmishes against the Volsung were followed with trepidation about how to assault Fort Volsung. The Subudai had no training or education in siegecraft and realized the difficulty of capturing the settlement. Sauros & the Ulfgar tribe first attempted to trick Jarl Dagmir to evacuate the fort, but to no avail. Eventually, the Subudai learned of a labyrinthine cave system that ran underneath Fort Volsung that had an exit tunnel where the inhabitants prospected the caverns for mineral wealth. The Subudai navigated the cave system and entered Fort Volsung at night. By dawn, the Subudai managed to seize the settlement and drive out the Volsung.

 

A plague erupted in Asulon during the Subudain-Volsung War. This plague, characterized by dark pustules covering the body with respiratory distress and fever, first appeared in northeast Asulon where the Subudai roamed. The Subudai and Farfolks in general retained immunity from this disease and enjoyed relative safe health. This plague claimed Seventis as its first victim with the town of Tyr the first to claim victims from disease. King Renati of Seventis accused the Subudai of bringing the plague that affected his domain. With additional charges of banditry, King Renati sent Thork Whitestorm with a contingent of Seventian soldiers to seize Subudai encampments on their border.

 

Sauros Alanbaatar and his tribe managed to repel Thork and sent emissaries to King Renati. Sauros warned Renati against further military action and threatened Seventis with a warpath - noting that Tyr's population has been reduced by the disease and that his men will spread the disease to Sarun itself if Renati did not stop his aggression. Sauros sent scouts to inspect Rienna to the north and found out that Thork and his army stationed there where the plague had not yet afflicted the population.

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𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅗𝅥𝅘𝅥𝅯𝅘𝅥𝅮

 

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"The titular concerns of the remnants of Oren confused the Subudai who were not given to draw borders, to name lands, or to conjure complex hierarchies. The Subudai had a crude hierarchy of their own, of tribes led by chieftains under the direction of a Khagan, but little more formalized ranks beyond that. Godfrey and his growing feudal system perplexed the nomads."

- Reynard Lycian, commenting on the opposing polities of Oren and the Subudai

 

The Subudai's confrontation with Seventis continued for a span of two years. The cavalry of the nomadic Farfolk bested any infantry encounters and the Subudain dahae [horse-archers] provided a necessary counter to the Seventian proto-knights whose opting for heavier armor made them too slow to give chase or counter lighter cavalry maneuvers. The one obstacle that withheld victory from the Subudai were the stone-and-wood fortifications that required siege engines to either scale or to penetrate. A period of relaxed tensions began when the plague of Tyr spread and forced the Seventians to desist from further military engagements. Sauros used this opportunity to incorporate smaller, independent towns and city-states under his control including the city-state of Enismor.

 

Enismor provided important auxiliaries to the Subudain horde; the city-state provided educated logisticians and engineers. Sauros and Torren Strongheart of Enismor concluded an agreement in which Enismor would be part of a confederacy with Sauros being the adjudicator of conflicts between members of the group. Sauros permitted Torren to rule Enismor as he had before being incorporated provided his decisions did not threaten the integrity of the confederation nor endanger the lives of those under the Subudai's rule. The Enismorians provided the craftsmanship and expertise to operate siege engines including ballistas and onagers. This growing confederation made up of Enismor and other Subudain tribes or middling city-states became known to some as Levanthus.

 

A siege of Ascella with the Enismorians and Subudai encircling the city and cutting off its supply ended when news arrived at the camps of Sauros Alanbataar and Torren Strongheart to advise the besiegers to break camp. The messengers, sent by King Godfrey Horen of the newly-formed Kingdom of Renatus, informed them that Lady Ariana Gracchi forfeited her reign and title to Godfrey and that Ascella now belonged to Renatus as the Duchy of Norjun. Sauros and his Syrmatai (tribal leaders) conferenced separately from Torren, trying to understand the manner by which Seventis incorporated into Renatus. Meanwhile, Torren of Enismor secretly pledged fealty to Renatus and instructed the messengers to inform King Godfrey. The Subudai agreed to break their siege and, with a sizeable host and siege engines built, decided to march on the fledgling Kingdom of Kal'Alras which did not look anything like the former and greater state that had existed previously in Aegis.

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