#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.