The True People

The True People are a race of nomadic warriors, dwelling on the Steppe and in the Great Desert, and hence they are also known as the Steppe and Desert People. It is now becoming clear, largely thanks to the work of my friend Ellendar, that they are in fact the descendants of an ancient race, whose origins are lost in the mists of time. They are a hardy, well-built people, typically with dark eyes, bronze skin and raven black hair. They rarely run to fat, and the men have no facial hair. Their language is quite unlike any other, and has numerous dialects, seemingly one for every tribe; there is traditionally no written script. They travel in groups of 20 to 100 lead by the noyan, each group a part of a much larger tribe, commanded by the buiruk.

Despite its image, the desert is not a dead place of limitless sand. Animals do survive there, living on the sparse vegetation, and the True People are skilled in the trapping and hunting of these creatures, riding the toghrul (beasts of burden, resembling giant llamas) that survive there. Much of their diet and goods are derived from the yak, their powerful bows, for example, being a composite of yak horn and bamboo. They live under canvas, large round tents called gers that can be put up or taken down in under an hour. Their clothes are quite simple, of undyed yak-hair, but adorned with brightly coloured jewellery, generally ceramic in nature. The jewellery is usually symbolic, one piece may be a charm against snakes, another represents some great deed in the warrior’s past.

Traditionally they had very little access to metal, and as well as the bow, excelled in unarmed combat of a similar nature to the monks of Chaukad. Their eating implements were made of bone, the pots and pans of pottery. A number of tribes indulged in trade with the nations bordering the desert or steppe to obtain lesser items, and this trade might even include a limited period of servitude for one of the members of the tribe.

This was the situation until about fifty years ago. It was then that the Desert People attacked all the lands that bordered the desert, choosing to give up their nomadic lifestyle, and become instead argriculturalists and so on, taking the lands they felt were theirs by force if necessary. For a nation scattered and isolated by miles of desert, this change occurred in a remarkably short time. Numerous rumours swept the civilised world as to why these invasions occurred. It now appears that the movement had a religious basis.

It is also surprising how quickly the Desert People learnt the tactics of war, and the best example of this was the siege at Teickedi. None of the warriors who attacked that city had ever seen a fortified city or even a port a month before the attack, and yet the siege was performed with the tactics of a master strategist. How much of their newly-acquired skill was due to the training of Karads, Eulac Lietna's loyal retainer, one can only speculate.

Though the Desert People were clearly dominant in the war, their culture has not been so in the peace that has followed, and to varying extents they are becoming subsumed into the existing cultures of the land. This is most evident in Teickedi, where Jüta, the present lord, has become embroiled in Keit politics and even married his son to a Keit noblewoman.

Lower down the social strata, many of the Desert People have adopted the trades left behind by the fleeing Keits, and after two generations can claim to be just as proficient üas ever the Keits were, though they seem best suited to pottery, for which they do have a tradition.

The loss of culture is perhaps best illustrated by the language, which has been forced to adopt a range of Keit words for objects and concepts that the True People have not encountered before. Some are subtle classifications: they only had a single word to mean track, path, route and road, for example. Others are completely new concepts, such as insurance, interest, administration, and whole areas of which they know nothing, the most obvious being nautical terms. A written script has begun to emerge, using the phonetic Keit script. Spelling is idiosyncratic to say the least, with each author using his own conventions for those sounds not in the Keit language.

Perhaps it is the women of the True People who have benefitted the most, as in their traditional culture they have a very subservient role. For instance, it was common for a woman to be passed from one tribe to another tribe as a peace token. The tribe was essentially the men who were a part of it, the woman belonged to the tribe in the same way that the toghrul belonged to the tribe. Nowadays the women are far more equal members of society, sharing the same rights as everyone else, as is the way in Keit-Cyndig culture.

A cultural amalgamation might seem to be a most peaceful solution to the war, but troubles are brewing from two quarters. Many of the young Keits, those who have never known the Desert People as fierce warriors, would like to claim back their stolen lands, and feel resentment at being ruled by ‘barbarians’. As for the desert people, it is the elders and shaman who wish to see change. They can see their culture disappearing month by month, as the young folk become more and more interested in material things (alcoholism in particular is a problem). Some mutter that this was the plan of the Keits and Kallazin (people of the Great River Nation) all along.