The Ranchers of Balian

[TreeSmoothie 4899]

Spoiler

 

 

 

vicious summer heat beat down on the refugees as they fled the Brother’s War, following the Star of St. Lothar all the way to a rock in a desert which they built around. The deserts and the rolling plains were brutal, and the nobility that did follow the crowd scarcely wanted to work outside in such conditions, nor did the peasantry or commonfolk. Devoid of anyone to tend to their livestock, which too were suffering from the change of North to South, they sent out for help and came back to the Frontier with folk from all across the deserts, Savoy nationals to Lurinite ranchers.

 

t  isn’t known exactly when the meld occurred, but eventually as the Balianese grew accustomed to the harsh weather, they too began to work as ranchers and cowhands, and passed that tradition onto their children, too. Over the years as they became used to the work and the routine, then, traditions began to be made – entire new forms of art, kinds of food, and much more.

 

An excerpt from John Augustus Galbraith, a pioneer in modern Rancher culture:

“I remember my first pair of spurs … they were bronze, with the star of Lothar on them. I felt bad, it seemed to hurt it [the horse]. But my first bronc was wild, he was untamable - and they seemed to help, sort of. You need to learn to use them right - it’s an art of its own.”

 

 

Beading

By heating sand from the desert into globs and then winding it around a rod, beads were made to string together for various reasons; some uses were to create hat bands to tighten hats atop ranchers’ heads to keep them from blowing off, other times they were largely for display. It was a much-needed outlet for creativity, especially for Ranchers who already had skills in forging. Sometimes, one person or many would work together to weave them onto canvases to depict an image of legend or something great that’d happened. Many beaded works of the Necromantic Incursion of Balian occurred after the ordeal.

 

Another use for beading, more prominent in Nobility than Commoners, was a House’s own special pattern they had to denote who was in their house. These were usually necklaces, hat bands, or cuffs, though smaller pieces would be made to give to close associates of the family. These were often loosely based on their Coat of Arms, mainly using its colours more than anything else. 

The Galbraith Beading Pattern

 

Aside from beading patterns restricted to Noble Houses, some patterns of beads and even some specific types of crafts meant more depending upon who made it. Netting-style necklaces such as the one below were often used as gifts to signify courting, rather than a ring, and sometimes strayed from the Kolora Lingvo/Color Language to include that person’s favoured colors, and also included shells, dried berries, feathers, bits of gemstone/gold, etc.

 

 

Songs & Ballads

Whilst cooking over the fire, telling tales, and even whilst riding at times Ranchers would play music to entertain themselves. Sound carried far across the plains & deserts and many more would come to join in, accidentally forming bardic troupes that performed for mina during periods where there were no cattle to manage (namely during harvest season). 

 

Some Ballads even became popular tavern songs, to name a few:

“Sweet Home Balian”, by Sir Dante DeNurem

[ https://youtu.be/RrmWFjnAP2E ]

 

“Tribute”, by Kris Darkwood

[ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lK4cX5xGiQ ]

 

“Iblees Went Down to Balian”, by John A. Galbraith

[ https://youtu.be/sh7BZf7D5Bw ]

 

“Bad to the Bone”, by Unknown Artist. Heard during Necromantic Incursion.

[ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqgUG_JVzCs ]

 

 

Chalk  Painting

Using chalk found along the drained sea in the desert and grinding it down, alongside dyes & porridge (of all things), a cheaper form of paint was made. Murals on the sides of cliffs would be painted for a variety of reasons; sometimes to remember a fallen cowhand, to depict a folktale, to act as warning of something in the area (like Skinwalkers), or simply as a creative outlet much like songplaying. Chalk painting murals typically also used the Color Language (‘Kolora Lingvo’).

 

 

Ponchos

Worn by the first settlers of the frontier and created by skilled weavers, Ponchos were used to keep warmth in but still have a good range of motion during the harsh nights on the desert. Eventually as things settled, these ponchos became more decorated and were used as an elaborate fashion piece by some, including complex patterns, rare colours (like purple), embroidering, and even tales told entirely by picture.

 

There was a vague order to how Ponchos were decorated: the more elaborate it was, the higher your class and standing within Balian. Commons would have colourful, but plain, quilted ones; whilst nobles could afford to either learn or pay someone to embroider theirs, and then Peers stepped it up a notch by adding tassels and employing the use of Stepped Diamond patterns, alongside fur woven into the poncho.

 

 

Skin  Culture

Perhaps inspired by Orcish ranchers, Modern ranchers put great emphasis on the honours of scarring & tattooing. Using the clusters of Redstone they’d find in quarries out in the sand, they’d line each scar they had with the material, which would in turn faintly glow and ebb with their heartbeat. Each scar they had meant a battle they’d survived, be it with a rowdy horse, a rabies-afflicted dingo, or another man, and felt no shame in showing them off. Similarly, many would get tattoos of creatures they’d fought and felled as a sign of respect, or of one creature in particular they aligned themselves with.

 

 

Colour Language [‘Kolora Lingvo’]

Dyes were difficult to come by and finding colour in anything was rare in the desert, a blanket of tan sand & blue skies. By using different flowers, minerals, and parts of animals (such as blood or snail goop), dyes could be made for various reasons: tattoos, poncho-dying, paint dying, et cetera.

 

RED: Passion, battles, warfare, love (in general)

ORANGE: Travel, ‘the journey’, understanding, familial love

YELLOW: The sun, heat, feasts, sand, platonic love

GREEN: Forests, animals, hunting, hope, achillean love

BLUE: Oases/bodies of water, the sky, birds, sapphic love

PURPLE: Royalty, envy, luxuries, unrequited love

PINK: Blood, setting sun, night, birds of prey

BROWN: Beasts, power, sincerity, bravery

WHITE: Death, bliss, peaceful, silence

BLACK: Life, chaos, joy, loud

 

 

Lasos, Bolas, & Spurs

To properly do their job as ranchers & cowhands, they created a variety of different tools to use. Younger hands would be given hand-me-downs until they could make their own, where they would cut the mane hair from their steed, skin a cow, and create their very first lasso. The same was done to create ropes for their Bolas, a rope with multiple steel or wood balls used for catching cattle (or people). 

 

Spurs, on the other hand, were usually created by a nearby blacksmith, though typically included the star of St. Lothar somewhere on them. Learning to use one’s spurs properly was of great importance as to not damage your own steed, since misuse could lead to large gashes, cuts, infection, and depending on the temperament on the horse, getting bucked off and possibly dying. They symbolise finding common ground & understanding with the animal.

 

 

The bond between a steed & its rider is not to be underestimated; a rancher depends on his horse for everything, from transportation to his own livelihood. The very first riders came from the old Orenian Empire’s ‘3rd Brigade’ in the Imperial State Army, who then taught and trained incoming ranchers how to ride.      Rather than using domesticated steeds, many cowhands would instead find a wild horse colony and attempt to tame one, whichever looked the toughest and meanest. Younger male & female ranchers were often told off from attempting this in fear of them being fatally wounded by the wild animal, and as such, it became a right of passage for those 16 years of age or older.

 

- Hats. ‘Don’t place your hat on your bed, it’ll bring misfortune – or even death.’ Hats are thought to defend the ranchers from foul spirits out in the desert, and by laying it on your bed - or on a casket - it invites them into you. And, because Ranchers didn’t shower much, they also had … head lice.

 

- Horseshoes.  ‘Hang a horseshoe above your door and get good luck’. It’s unclear where exactly this came from, though it’s thought that because they’re made of Iron (believed to ward off evil spirits), they also bring luck. An upside-down horseshoe above a door, however, means the opposite.

 

 - Horse’s Mane.  ‘If your steed has knots in its mane, fairies rode it at night’.  A sillier superstition, ‘good spirits’ - also called fairies or lesser angels - are rumoured to search for horses at night to ride around in order to grant blessings to those dwelling near. After being ridden, the horse is also thought to have been blessed with speed.

 

- Horse’s Name. ‘Don’t change a horse’s name; it’ll confuse the fairies’. Changing the name you gave your horse upon taming it is thought to erase all of its luck and protection from good spirits, inviting bad ones - such as imps & skinwalkers - to curse them after the sun falls. A horse that changes its name, or has no name, is thought to have a short life ahead of it.

 

- Pockets.  ‘Don’t ranch with change in your pocket; if you do, that might be all you take home from the job’. Self explanatory, it’s thought that if you work cattle with spare mina in your pocket, compete at a rodeo, et Cetera, you won’t get paid or win a prize and leave with only that spare change. It’s likely this developed to quell robberies that took place on lone ranchers.

 

- Singing.  ‘Don’t sing or whistle at night, or look too far into the treeline’. Whistling, singing, or otherwise ‘taunting’ evil spirits by acknowledging their presence in the dark is thought to invite them to you and your steed - or, worse, everyone else around you. 

 

- Animals.  ‘Animals are our kin re-born; sometimes they’re scared, sometimes they’re angry. Leave them be’. Animals of all kinds, from cattle to deer to fish in the sea, were to be treated with respect even after their lives had ended. Some believed them to be other ranchers that’d reincarnated into the critters, others simply had a great deal of respect for the land. Many ranchers had one animal (including insects, and fish) in particular they aligned themselves with – such as a certain bird for their freedom and speed, or a boar for their hardiness and strength.

 

Brought to you by TreeSmoothie Productions.

[teeylin 999]

YEEHAW

[TreeSmoothie 4899]

10 minutes ago, Burnsider said:

No love for Kris Darkwood, first cowboy of Balian? 

he's in the post!!! (had no idea what else to put, unfortunately unsure of who played him/what he was like)

[teeylin 999]

[Burnsider 4542]

36 minutes ago, TreeSmoothie said:

he's in the post!!! (had no idea what else to put, unfortunately unsure of who played him/what he was like)

My humblest apologies. Missed it entirely! 

[Vilebranch 280]

A minotaur stands vigil atop its massive Ugluk bull, looking far over the many hills and jungles of the East. The creature lights up a cigar, hearing word of fellow cowpokes amid the thick jungle canopy. "Well ain't dat a kick in da head."

[Orphvius 430]

C-cowboy bebop 

[Imperium 3301]

What the ****

[Toodles6 86]

yEEhAW pARdnERs