#Lore24 – Entry #162 – Wild West Month #10 – The Orc People of the Great Frigid North

As told by Kumiko Stalks-Amongst-the-Stars, shaman of the Midnight Panther tribe of Kerra-Kerra

To the north of the Plains Which Stretch Forever, where trees grow taller and taller, and the winters are harsher than even the worst we have experienced here, where some places are covered in snow and ice throughout the year, this is the region which the tribes of the Orc People have claimed as their domain.  There is much bounty to be had amongst the Frigid Tall Trees, but the dangers there are even greater than the middle regions of the Bitter Frontier that we inhabit.

The Orc People are a strong and powerful people, building strong homes of wood and stone found amongst the rugged and cold forests, and have opened some small parts of their lands to outsiders, in the form of walled cities used for trade and for expeditions into the wilderness, for the outsiders to look for the stones and Black Blood of the Land that they deem so valuable.  However, many of the Orc People have grown mistrustful of outsiders, keeping them out of their sacred territory with axe and bow and Thundering Weapons, leaving behind the mangled corpses of the foolish as warnings to others.  There is said to be a great Orc chief who gathers their tribes together, seeking to drive the outsiders from their lands, perhaps even to take over new lands.

In recent times, the Orc Peoples have begun to travel further south, into the Plains Which Stretch Forever and beyond, for trade and for hunting, but some have taken to attacking the Howling Steel Chariots used by the peoples from the Cities Beyond the Great Walls, for there is much wealth to be taken.  It is these bands of the Orc People that have joined with bands of the Red Fang tribe that have caused much strife for the tribes of the Kerra-Kerra, the Horse Peoples, and for those from Beyond the Great Walls who live within the Bitter Frontier. 

#Lore24 – Entry #161 – Wild West Month #9 – The Horse People of the Plains Which Stretch Forever

As told by Kumiko Stalks-Amongst-the-Stars, shaman of the Midnight Panther tribe of Kerra-Kerra

Though they are called the Plains Which Stretch Forever, these lands are bordered in the east by the mighty River Before the Great Walls, and in the west by the Peaks Reaching to the Sky, and only take many weeks of travel to cross.  These lands are pleasant, yet as part of the Bitter Frontier, they hold their own dangers.  Powerful winds and storms frequently rage across them, and the Expanse of Calm Grasses that Kill have claimed many of the unwary.

Upon the Plains Which Stretch Forever roam the mighty Horse People, Equinari as they call themselves, for they of such size need the vastness of such a place to flourish.  It is here that their tribes roam free and trade with the Kerra-Kerra of the Sprinting Horse and Sly Fox tribes, working with our cousins to hunt the mighty herds of antelope and bison that travel the plains.  Their tribes rarely travel beyond the plains, though the borders of these lands, as with most of the Bitter Frontier, can change at the whim of the Great Spirits.

The Horse People are usually peaceful with our kind, though they often must fight with the Northern Orcs and the Travelers from the Cities Beyond the Great Walls who try to steal their ancestral lands or threaten their hunting.  One would be wise to reconsider any anger towards one of the Horse People, for they stand half again as tall as most others, and are built powerfully, like the plains bison.  Tales are many of those who have angered one of the Horse People who have been crushed beneath their mighty hooves or thrown as easily as if they were one of our spears.  Their shamans are powerful and friendly with the many spirits of the Plains Which Stretch Forever, and can call upon them to drive off those who would dare cross them if the offense is great enough.

For now, the Horse People tolerate the People from Beyond the Great Walls and their Bands of Wood and Steel that carry their Howling Steel Chariots to the far west, and have granted them passage through certain areas of the Plains, but I fear that soon there could be conflict, for they seek ever to expand and stretch the range that their Bands of Wood and Steel cover, and the Northern Orc tribes have taken to attacking these Chariots, for those aboard often carry much of great value.

The spirits and the visions of the Great Mother tell us to be wary, for such troubles will fall upon us sooner rather than later.

#Lore24 – Entry #160 – Wild West Month #8 – The Dangers of the Bitter Frontier

As told by Kumiko Stalks-Amongst-the-Stars, shaman of the Midnight Panther tribe of Kerra-Kerra

The dangers of the Bitter Frontier are all around us.  It is a place of great bounty for the land is full of plants and animals which sustain us.  It is a place of great hardship, for it too is a land which is barren and filled with vast stretches which animals will not go, or which are filled with nothing but poisonous plants and beasts and abominations alike which seek the blood of any who are unprepared to face them. 

It is only by respecting the spirits of the Broken Cage that Still Imprisons that we can understand these dangers and where they are, for the very landscape of the Bitter Frontier can change within the span of a moon, perhaps less, if the Great Spirits are angered. 

While many of the animals which roam the Bitter Frontier can be dangerous, they can at least be reasoned with if one is keen to observe and respect them.  There are many abominations which roam the Bitter Frontier, however, that cannot be dealt with the same.  These must be avoided, or, if one encounters them, they must be fought or driven away through might and magic, for they seek only blood and destruction; a sacrifice may be accepted, but these foul things warped by the dark sorcery of the Devil-Wardens are greedy and will most likely seek additional blood if it is there.  The packs of Wolf-Bears are such an abomination, for these are possessed of the foul nature of a normal grizzly but travel in packs as large as a dozen, seeking to fill their ever-empty bellies.

Only the Red Fang tribe seems to have some affinity with these creatures, but we do not follow their ways, for their ways are brutal and foul; we will speak of them at another time.

But do not think that the only abominations are animals, or like animals.  The very plants of the Bitter Frontier can be filled with the dark sorcery, and even the spirits which we revere can be corrupted by these foul magics and may seek to do us harm.  Many are the tales of the unwary who are drown in by Plants That Are Not As They Seem, seeking nourishment only to have their very lifeblood drained from them, or of the corrupt Wind Spirits which roam the expanse of the Desert that was Once a Sea which use the very sand as their weapons, tearing flesh from bone.

As the Peopel from Beyond the Great Walls continue to try to tame the Bitter Frontier, they are discovering why it is we of the Kerra-Kerra do not go into certain regions at certain times, but they seem not to learn these lessons, and continue to venture where they should not seeking their treasures from within the earth.  Their actions have drawn the abominations from their usual places, and perhaps caused them to breed faster; this is a problem we must deal with, though we of the Kerra-Kerra do not have a good answer; we must simply adapt and survive.

#Lore24 – Entry #159 – Wild West Month #7 – Places Forbidden by the Devil Wardens

As told by Kumiko Stalks-Amongst-the-Stars, shaman of the Midnight Panther tribe of Kerra-Kerra

The Kerra-Kerra tribes have places we consider sacred.  The Tribes Who are Not Kerra-Kerra have places they consider sacred.  Perhaps even the People from the Cities Beyond the Great Walls have sacred places.  However, there are places which we do not go, places our people rarely speak of.  Places which hold great evil spirits, places which are still possessed by the power once controlled by the Devil-Wardens.

The Valley of Mists that Never Fade is one such place.  No matter what the sky, water, and wind spirits may decide in the lands surrounding this valley, the mists always remain.  From the distant mountains looking down upon this valley, you can see the mists swirl and writhe as if some great beast lies hidden below them.  We do not go there.  Those of the Bitter Frontier who are not of the Kerra-Kerra do not go there, for none who do ever returns.  It is a place of great evil and suffering, for it was once of the Devil-Wardens and their foul sorcery.  Those who dare to venture close tell of strange sounds, like those made by the Howling Steel Chariots, of metal and steam, but coming from deep within the very earth.  Many have there been of the People from the Cities Beyond the Great Walls who have sought treasures from the valley, and none of them have returned either.

It is said by our ancestors that this place is still haunted by the spirits of the Devil Wardens, that they seek new souls to imprison and use their foul magics upon.  It is said that should the Mists that Never Fade ever clear, a great calamity will befall our people and all peoples of the Broken Cage that Still Imprisons; even those beyond the Great Walls will not be safe from the spirits of the Devil Wardens should they be released from this place.

Yet, it must come to pass, for that which is sought by the Golden Star Serpent may indeed lie within the Valley of Mists that Never Fade, and it is fated that the Golden Serpent will break the world.  The Kerra-Kerra and other tribes of the Bitter Frontier must remain resolute and prepare for this.

There are other places that are forbidden, still held by the angry, vengeful spirits of the Devil-Wardens, but we shall not speak of these now.

#Lore24 – Entry #158 – Wild West Month #6 – The Golden Star Serpent Which Breaks the World

As told by Kumiko Stalks-Amongst-the-Stars, shaman of the Midnight Panther tribe of Kerra-Kerra

Our Great Mother Saressh, in her divine wisdom, gifts her most faithful children with the gift of the Sight, of visions of futures that may or may not come to pass.  It is with her guidance that we have found our way, alongside the many spirits of the land and seas and air that dwell upon the Broken Cage that Still Imprisons. 

Yet, all that he has shown us does not bode well for our people or for those who are not of the Kerra-Kerra or the Other Peoples who Roam the Bitter Frontier, or even the places within the world we do not travel.  For there exists a prophecy that has not come to pass, but has been shared by the shaman of all tribes, that I have experienced myself.

One day, there shall be a great Golden Serpent from the Stars beyond the Broken Cage that Still Imprisons who shall fall upon our world.  This Golden Star Serpent shall seek truths that we ourselves do not know, buried in the deepest and darkest of secret places within our world.  We know that what this Golden Star Serpent seeks lies within our sacred lands, within the Bitter Frontier.  This much Saressh has shown us to be true, though when it shall happen, we cannot know for certain.

She has also shown us that should this Golden Sky Serpent find what she seeks, the Broken Cage that Still Imprisons shall be changed forever, the very nature of our world torn asunder.  This will scatter our peoples amongst the stars themselves, not only the Kerra-Kerra, but those dwellers in the Cities from Beyond the Great Walls and even in lands far beyond our own Bitter Frontier.  The very nature of life upon our world will be changed forever.  Our world will be broken; this we cannot prevent.

And yet there is hope, for the Great Mother has told us that not all is lost, for even in the darkest of times, the spirit of our people shall continue to thrive through and beyond this Breaking of the World.  Though we of the Broken Cage that Still Imprisons may be changed forever, we will not allow our spirits to die, cannot allow our ways to be forgotten.  We must adapt to whatever changes may come, for that is the life we have always lived upon our Bitter Frontier.

#Lore24 – Entry #157 – Wild West Month #5 – Life and Death Upon the Bitter Frontier

As told by Kumiko Stalks-Amongst-the-Stars, shaman of the Midnight Panther tribe of Kerra-Kerra

The Bitter Frontier is our life.  The Bitter Frontier is our death.  To live as a free people, we Kerra-Kerra must accept that freedom is first dangerous, but preferable to the life inside the Cities Beyond the Great Walls that lie in the direction of the sun’s rise.  Though filled with many dangers, the Bitter Frontier is where we live our lives, thriving in ways those not born of the wilds can never understand.

The Bitter Frontier’s bounty is plentiful until it is not.  If the spirits are not respected, then they will see to it that we suffer for our disrespect; when we revere them as they should be, our lives are simpler and filled with good hunting and good growth.  Some spirits may see to it that we suffer for our lack of action in defending them as well, for there are many of the peoples from the Cities Beyond the Great Walls who venture into the Bitter Frontier and now have many settlements in lands they have claimed from the Many Peoples who are both Kerra-Kerra and those who are not.  They do not understand our ways, and this leads to conflict, which upsets the natural order.

They seek what we do not, ripping stones they desire from the bowels of the earth itself, sucking the very lifeblood of the land to burn and turn the skies black with smoke, to expand their claims upon the land, attempting to bind it with their Bands of Wood and Steel so that their Howling Steel Chariots may travel swiftly across the Bitter Frontier.  They bring their Thundering Weapons to bear against us, killing us from afar, so it is with great reluctance that we have been forced to adopt their ways of killing, lest we ourselves be killed.

But hope still springs for the Kerra-Kerra, for the spirits hear our cries, and make cries of their own.  Those from the Cities Beyond the Great Walls are not welcome within the Bitter Frontier, and venture here at their own risk.  Many have been the Lesser Uproars of the spirits, sundering settlements that grow too large, scattering its peoples to the wind and ripping free their binding bands upon the earth, removing the precious things they seek to claim from within the shifting rock.  Entire landscapes have been changed by the fury of the spirits.

I fear that this will be an eternal struggle, for that is the nature of the Bitter Frontier.

#Lore24 – Entry #156 – Wild West Month #4 – The Ways of the Spirit World

As told by Kumiko Stalks-Amongst-the-Stars, shaman of the Midnight Panther tribe of Kerra-Kerra

Though we will always owe much to our Great Mother, the goddess Sarresh, it is in the home of the Great Spirits that we dwell, and to them we must always show much respect and deference, for it is ultimately they who will allow the Kerra-Kerra to continue to live upon the Broken Cage that Still Imprisons.  This is why we must learn of the many spirits that live within this world, for we must know and respect and fear them, lest we suffer another Great Uproar and be scoured from the very face of this world.

Greatest of the spirits are the primal sprits, those of the most basic and elemental forces that have the power to shape the land itself, those which determine where we may live, where we may hunt, and whether our people may live or die.  Spirts of Earth, Fire, Water, and Wind are the four most primal elements which make up all the others, and it is these spirits we must always strive to revere and offer our thanks, for it was they who caused the Great Uproar when they freed themselves from the Devil-Wardens.

Next are our most sacred spirits, the totem animals which our tribes revere and have taken as our guardians and guides.  For our people, it is the midnight panther, a powerful and cunning hunter which stalks its prey by night.  It is the great spirit of the midnight panther, Munkuro Tsume, which we revere most, and who grants us our spiritual magics and, for the shaman of our tribe, our ability to take on their forms so that we may travel amongst them.  This is like the other tribes of Kerra-Kerra, and those who are not of our people who still hold to the ways of revering the spirits. 

Then there are the many spirits of nature that dwell within all aspects of the world.  They are made up of pieces of the great primal spirits and are found within everything upon the Broken Cage that Still Imprisons.  These spirits are of the plants and trees, of the rain and snow and drought, of the earth which grows our food, of the animals who are not our totem spirits, of the mechanics used by those who are not of our people…everything.  It is not important for those who are not shaman to know all their names, but it is vital that they continue to acknowledge their presence within and without, for we must always strive to live in harmony with them.

#Lore24 – Entry #155 – Wild West Month #3 – Spirits of Nature Arise

As told by Kumiko Stalks-Amongst-the-Stars, shaman of the Midnight Panther tribe of Kerra-Kerra

So, it came to be that the Devil-Wardens’ power would come to wane, and ruin would follow soon after.  Our ancestors say that the Devil-Wardens had imprisoned the very spirits of land and sea and air, had used foul sorcery to shape the land itself to their dark desires.  However, the spirits of nature would not take well to such treatment, and soon enough would prove that they were more powerful than even these sorcerers and their Ships that Sail the Stars.

It would come to be that one day, the bound spirits of nature would tear free of the great devilish device that the Wardens had created to contain them, had used them to reshape the world as they saw fit.  Then, without the dark sorcerers knowing, for the Many Spirits are more cunning than we can fathom, they gathered their power and begin to dismantle the evil spells which bound them.

In a Great Uproar, the spirits of nature would break the sorcerous chains that bound them and bring terrible destruction upon the Devil Wardens and their Fortresses of Stone and Metal.  In great torrents of wind and water, of eruptions of earth and fire, with fury that rent the very earth beneath us, they would tear down the walls of the fortresses that once imprisoned our ancestors and drive the Devil-Wardens from the Broken Cage that Still Imprisons.  They would flee in their Ships that Sail the Stars, and, for a time, even the future of the Many Peoples would be in doubt, for the Great Spirits were angry, and their fury would not end for many moons. 

Though the Fortresses of Stone and Metal once imprisoned the Many Peoples, some would find safe shelter within them during the Fury of the Spirits, while others, our ancestors, would follow the guidance of our Great Mother goddess, Sarresh, and embrace the will of the spirits who had freed them, to learn to worship and appease their volatile moods, to find harmony amongst them, and so we would prosper in the wilds beyond the Fortresses.  And this is how the many tribes of the Kerra-Kerra came to be, of how each tribe learned of its sacred totem spirit, and how the Broken Cage that Still Imprisons came to be as it is now.

But do not think that the Great Spirits are tamed.  Never assume such!  For the Great Spirits still hold memory of their own imprisonment, and they will lash out with their rage and fury, just to remind our people, and the Many Peoples who are not of the Kerra-Kerra, that the spirits are to be respected and feared, for it is they who hold the true power of life and death upon the Broken Cage that Still Imprisons.

#Lore24 – Entry #154 – Wild West Month #2 – The Devil-Wardens

As told by Kumiko Stalks-Amongst-the-Stars, shaman of the Midnight Panther tribe of Kerra-Kerra

The Night-Skinned People and their Devil Wardens…our ancestors know that they came from the Many Worlds Beyond the Sky just as they once did, but for whatever reasons, they hated those not of their own kind, and sought to terrible things to them.  We know that they held great power, could change the very nature of the Broken Cage that Still Imprisons, could change the very essence of what makes one’s flesh. 

They are called the Night-Skinned People because their own flesh was the color of night, black as the obsidian stone, or perhaps slightly lighter, with a bluish hue, like that of the night skies.  They were known to have unearthly white hair, though some of the ancestors say that a few of their Devil-Wardens had other shades, like that of blood or the sun itself, though this had little bearing on how they would treat those they brought to the Broken Cage that Still Imprisons.  Their ears were as knives or spear-tips, long and narrow, not unlike the Elf-people who prefer the forests and rivers of the lands far beyond the Bitter Frontier, and it is said that their eyes shone like flame, their gazes cowing any who would dare oppose them.  It is told that they possessed strange magical weapons and mechanics that would render even the massive Horse People or the mighty orc warriors helpless before them.

Those we call the Devil-Wardens were rulers of the Night-Skinned People, directing how their lesser followers would treat those they held within their Fortresses of Stone and Metal from their High Towers, their eyes all-seeing within their walls.  They always knew what their prisoners were doing and would bring swift and harsh punishments upon them.  The Devil-Wardens had the power of life and the power of death, and wielded it upon their whims, which could change as does the wind.  Their command of great sorceries and foul rituals meant that even the sacred flesh of those they held within their Fortresses were not safe, for our ancestors tell of many horrible abominations born from the whims of the Devil-Wardens, that entire peoples were changed into monstrous things that now roam the Bitter Frontier. 

Their reign over the Broken Cage that Still Imprisons would come to end in time, however, for their sorcery, while strong, was not all-powerful, and the very spirits of our world would rise up against them.

#Lore24 – Entry #153 – Wild West Month #1 – Prisoners from the Many Worlds Beyond the Sky

As told by Kumiko Stalks-Amongst-the-Stars, shaman of the Midnight Panther tribe of Kerra-Kerra

We Kerra-Kerra are born into this world, and yet none of our people who walk upon it now or who have ever walked upon it are of this world, for all were brought here from stars far beyond.  Each star in the sky is perhaps a world unto itself, perhaps multiple worlds, and it is from these Many Worlds Beyond the Sky that our people come.  Even those not born of the Kerra-Kerra tribes are from these Many Worlds Beyond the Sky, for they were brought to this world with us, not willingly, but as prisoners.

Many, many moons ago, this was the Time of Chains, when all peoples who were not allied with the Wardens of the Night-Skinned Peoples were subject to their rule, were forced onto Ships that Sail the Stars and brought here, to our world we call the Broken Cage that Still Imprisons.  Upon the land that was once barren, made livable by the great magic of the Night-Skinned Peoples, our ancestors and the ancestors of those not of the tribes, were held in great Fortresses of Stone and Metal, not permitted to leave, forced to follow the will of the Devil-Wardens less they be punished. 

It is told by our ancestors that the Devil-Wardens would perform foul sorcery and strange rituals upon the many peoples they held within their evil fortresses, warping the very flesh upon their bones, turning them into the many abominations that roam the Bitter Frontier to this day.  None remember why they would do such things to those they brought here, only that the Night-Skinned People were as devils and demons, using their magic and machines upon those they had deemed to be less than they.

Who were the Night-Skinned People and these Devil-Wardens, you ask, and what do we know of them?  Well…