The Brynell Horde

In the stone time, there were only the People, and we roamed the wide world, none to stay us; the plains were covered with bison, horses, and other animals long since departed. We were many tribes, the People, but we spoke a common tongue; we counted coup and stole horses from each other, but we did not war. We had no steel, nor bronze, but fashioned our artifacts of bone and stone and horn. Then came the elvenkind, and they were our enemies. They hunted us as beasts, drove us from the forests, planted cities at which we wondered in awe. But our enemies were our teachers too, for from them we learned the metal arts, and magic beyond our prior understanding. And we learned to war, for war we must to survive.

-- Oral History of the Byeen, Brukos Lord Alkai, Oglai et Cie Publishers, Olukana, 4 IV Age

Ruler's Title: Foremost
National Hero: Haros Break-Fingers
National Wizard: Olukai Shaman
Monster: The Lord of the Herds
Military Units: Boyar, Fire-Horse Devastators, Lancers, Peasant Rabble
Starting Forces: Haros Breakfingers, The Olukai Shaman, 3 Fire Horse Devastators, 5 Lancers
Starting Treasury: 25
Continent: Arethe

History: The Brynell plain was once the very heart of the Golden Empire, a densely populated human land then watered by an enormous river, the fabled Arethe. Its priest-kings became the chief ministers and servants to the Empire, and its wealth knew no bounds. But in the transformation that ended the Second Age, the Arethe became nothing more than a tiny trickle, with catastrophic effects on the agriculture and cities of the land. And in the following world-chaos, nomadic barbarians, the Byeen, swept out of the steppe, overrunning the Brynell plain and making it their own.

In the millennia since, the plain has been strangely transformed. Intermarriage between the conquerors and conquered was common; there is now no distinction between them, although pure Byeen blood is more common among the nobility. The Arethan language is spoken by all; Byeen is preserved only in liturgy and as a court tongue. Despite the traditional Byeen contempt for urban living, cities dot the plain, grasslands disappear every year under the plow, and the leather and horsehide of the ancients have been replaced by chainmail and silk. Still, a Brynell nobleman counts his wealth in horses rather than coins, and prefers to live in a sumptuously appointed tent on the high plain rather than a mansion in the city; and every young Brynell lad or lass dreams of becoming a Lancer, speeding across the plain atop a fiery steed, conquering distant lands for glory and the honor of the Khan.