ASAWNE KUBORA 1
T
he Asawne Kubora tribal range lies between the River Denia and the Scarlet Ribbon making them near neighbours of both the Earl of Tormau and the Warriors of Mameka, at Bedenes. The tribe has suffered regular raids by the Warriors for a generation but took revenge in 718, harrying the Agrikans as they retreated from their failure to take Kustan.
ORIGINS & HISTORY Tribal myth says the tribes that became the Asawne first settled on the banks of the Denia in the time of Nebran, when the Corani legions were finally pushed back across the river in 480. The Asawne, like the Uld, made their peace with the surviving Corani around Emesa establishing a mutually beneficial trading relationship. More than a century later Hugai Lynnaeus, a minor Corani landowner fleeing the persecution of the Theocracy of Tekhos, approached the Asawne Kubora through Emesan intermediaries. The Kubora had no sympathy for the Morgathian regime and supported Hugai as he slowly eroded its support around Tormau. Together with a band of renegade outlaws, Asawne and Suyari warriors and Emesans who had not forgotten the skills of the legion, Hugai took Tormau in 588. He swore friendship to the Kuboran tribes that had aided him, a pact that saved his successor Henail when Arlun swept south in 629. Convinced by the Asawne that he could trust the holder of Caer Tormau, Arlun sealed his pact with clan Lynnaeus by marrying Henail’s daughter. The Asawne stayed on good terms with the Lynnaeus when Arlun died even though they returned to the forest disenchanted with the ‘civilised’ life he had offered them. Though Rethem descended into blood and war the tribe continued to trade with Tormau and has offered logging rights in return for metal wares and weapons. Today the young men of the Asawne Kubora make up more than a quarter of the Kuboran mercenaries maintained by Denyl, Earl of Tormau, and may well fight beside a Lynnaeus against despotism once more.
The Asawne Clans The four clans of the Asawne Kubora, like most Kuboran clans, adopt the name of their current Hanuhn or Druhn, whichever is longest established. The clans are spread evenly through the tribe’s range but only the clan of Hanuhn Gomas ‘Straight Arrow’ maintains a fixed village throughout the year. The clans of Derel ‘the Tall’; Arain ‘Half Deer’ and Roncan, called ‘Tree Strong’ are more seasonally nomadic, settling only during the Autumn, Winter and early Spring. Arain is the Asawne Druhn and can field a warband of some 80 warriors in their prime, along with nearly 20 youths to support them. However conflict is more often on a smaller scale, between hunting bands setting and clearing trap lines or in pursuit of deer and wild cattle. When hunters are away the ‘Hearth Guard’ of older warriors protects the villages and camps; though Kuboran women will fight to the death in defence of their children. Clan Roncan hosts a small lodge of the Uthriem Roliri at the western end of the tribal range. The Kubora have no special respect for Siem but have welcomed the Brotherhood of the Forest and their plan to disrupt the activities of miners sponsored by the Warriors of Mameka in the hills east of Emesa Hundred. The Asawne recognise Gomas as their primary leader. He fears that his tribe will be caught between a civil war in the south and intertribal conflict to the north fuelled by the rivalry of Ryler Iorzu and Arbrega Obodu.
Clan: Gomas Derel Arain Roncan Total
Population 122 91 100 87 400
Warband 37 27 30 26 120
WRITER Alun Rees MAPS Alun Rees CONTRIBUTORS Dan Bell Neil Thompson Playtesters at HarnCon 8 & IviniaCon 2 HârnWorld
© A. Rees, N. Robin Crossby & Columbia Games Inc., 2009
ASAWNE KUBORA 2 The Warband of Clan Gomas
CLAN GOMAS The village of the Asawne Hanuhn, Gomas, called ‘Straight Arrow’, is home to 19 households and almost the same number of unmarried warriors. The extended households occupy larger round-houses but by tradition the unmarried warriors live separately from their father’s household in smaller huts around the periphery of the village’s stockaded redoubt. There they act as the first line of warning and defence against attack from the forest. Within the village’s protective ditch and bank boundary are well tended vegetable plots that supplement meat gained from the hunt. They comprise orderly rows of beans and gourds and some cereals, from which a portion of seed is collected annually for sowing the following year. During most days in the growing and harvest seasons the able bodied women and their daughters are to be found tending these plots, watched over by the clan’s Hearth Guard. This is as organised as Kuboran agriculture gets and the only skill gained during its sojourn in ‘civilisation’ with Arlun that is still valued. Across the stream on which one flank of the stockade rests is the cleared forest in which the clans semi-domesticated cattle graze. Hogs forage beyond the ditches of the vegetable plots. Both are watched over by the younger boys who will raise the alarm and run to fetch the Hearth Guard if danger threatens. As the Asawne, like even the most settled Kubora, practice no crop rotation the yield from their cultivation can decline quickly. Then the village is moved onto the cattle grazing area where their dung has improved the fertility and cultivation begins afresh. All along this stretch of the Denia abandoned village sites can be found dating back to Arlun’s invasion and the Asawne return. They sit in clearings that have been absorbed back into the wilderness. The most recent previous site is in what is now the cattle grazing and was abandoned about 5 years ago. The foundations of roundhouses can still be found there. Nearer the river is a stout 5’ wooden palisade on a bank above a flooded ditch. The palisade has two gates: the main one to the southwest and a smaller ‘stranger gate’ to the north. In time of attack the clan will seek shelter within this palisaded redoubt. If sorely pressed the warriors would buy time for the women, children and the old to escape onto the river. Hanuhn Gomas ‘Straight Arrow’ STR
11
EYE
12
INT
15
END
12
STA
11
HRG
12
AUR
15
MOV
11
DEX
12
SML
12
WIL
15
Ini
73
AGL
11
VOI
12
MOR
15
Dge
55
Skills Awareness Foraging Oratory Ritual (Kuboran) Survival Tracking Combat Unarmed 63/1b Strike Locations Standard
70 45 78 105 73 67
Climbing Jumping Physician Rivercraft Swimming Weatherlore Hand Axe 76/6e Dagger 67/5p
55 65 59 53 66 78
Folklore (Kuboran) Mental Conflict Rhetoric Stealth Throwing Psionics (Foresight)
88 79 76 75 77 65
Javelin 62/7p Round Shield 77/2b
Armour Cloth Coif / Cowl / Hood +2; Cloth Tunic, l-s +2; Leather Vest +3; Cloth Hose / Leggings +2; Leather Shoes +2
© A. Rees, N. Robin Crossby & Columbia Games Inc., 2009
The Druhn of clan Gomas is Rytog ‘the Blade’ and as well as being the clan’s war leader he also oversees the clan’s hunting. However, as his sobriquet indicates, this big man lives for the opportunity to lead his clan in war. He relies heavily on Acurdin ‘the Guide’, who knows the clan’s range better than anyone else living, to help deploy the warriors for the hunt. Some say Acurdin knows where every animal and bird nests, burrows or roosts. Certainly the trap lines he sets have a remarkably high success rate. Rytog doesn’t fear Acurdin, realising that the thoughtful younger man is more likely to succeed Gomas than him. There are usually hunting parties of between 10 and 15 warriors as far as a day away from the village. The others remain within an hour or so of the village, able to return quickly if the Hearth Guard calls for them with the village’s signal drums. It is the older men of the Guard who routinely oversee the grazing beyond the ditch and the river approach. Those youths old enough to be given duties beyond cattle watching will be divided between the hunters and the Hearth Guard depending on their skills, talent and how close they are to their Dynoldeb (manhood) ceremony. However close they are to that important rite of passage they remain armed only with short bows and knives until they earn the right to bear the arms of a man. Because Gomas ‘Striaght Arrow’ is the tribal Hanuhn the other clans send a much lauded warrior to form his honour guard of 4 warriors. They live in his round-house as members of his household and travel everywhere with him. Unusually the warrior from clan Derel is meinirhyfel; a woman who has put aside her femaleness and chosen the path of the warrior and hunter. Sytari is an attractive woman in her 20’s who Acurdin ‘The Guide’ wishes to marry. Unfortunately to earn the privilege of courting any meinirhyfel the man must subdue her in combat. That is something Acurdin is none too sure he could achieve. Instead he pays Syarti careful respect as a fellow hunter and looks for any sign from her that his advances wuld be welcomed.
HârnWorld
ASAWNE KUBORA 3 The Worship of Heneryne
VILLAGE OF CLAN GOMAS 1. Cattle Grazing When the Corani came to Peran in the 5th century they brought hardy Dunir Charred cattle with them. Their subsequent defeat and withdrawal left many cattle to wander into the forest and now small herds graze the more open areas of the Denia and Perath river valleys. The local tribes, including the Asawne, have re-domesticated small numbers for the milk and cheese the Kubora came to appreciate during the time of Arlun the Barbarian’s invasion of the south, nearly a century ago. The cattle are free to wander where they will but habit keeps them within a few hundred paces of the ditch and bank. If they do wander it is considered high adventure for the boys that watch them to ‘hunt’ them in the forest.
2. Hogs Copse Over the last 5 years this cleared area has been allowed to run wild and trees and shrubs have begun to cover it. The outlines of old vegetable plots can still be seen and many of the plots still have food crops running wild over them. It is therefore ideal foraging for the village’s hogs. These are semi-domesticated Peran boars and provide some of the best quality meat reserved for feasts and celebrations. Meat for the daily pot is brought in by the hunters.
3. Heneryne’s Glade The goddess of the Kuboran Hearth is Kemlar’s wife and brings fertility, health, good harvests and fine weather to those that honour her. All Kuboran settlements have an area dedicated to her but few compare to the glade that clan Gomas has established. Their sedentary life means that they have used the same clearing for a generation. It consists of a cleared area around a single ancient oak. It is here that sacrifices of flowers, food or textiles are left for Heneryne and in return she smiles on those leaving offering for her. The gifts of food and drink left by mothers to propitiate Crador, or the Old Ones of the Forest, at certain times of the month are not left here lest the goddess be disturbed by her mad son or the original inhabitants of the Peran forest wilderness. The only inhabitant is Relatan, the village’s ‘Crone’. She is regularly consulted by the womenfolk and is very skilled with herbs. Her often noxious potions are believed capable of curing many ills. She is also honoured by being able to invoke Heneryne in times of need, particularly in her role as the village’s mid-wife. ‘Heneryne’s Crone’ is usually the oldest unmarried woman or widow in any clan and that is certainly true of Relatarn who chose never to marry. Every Crone may choose a young woman as her apprentice so that were she to die suddenly her lore would be preserved. 17 year old Fasiria has fulfilled this role for 2 years but is considering whether she should accept an offer of marriage made this winter by one of the younger warriors. Relatarn considers her enormously talented and is seeking to influence her decision having seen two previous apprentices ‘waste themselves’ on a man.
There is no priesthood among the Kubora to enforce any theological consistency in the worship of their gods. While most clans and all tribes will have a shaman and a ‘Crone’ who can call upon the Kuboran trinity of Kemlar, Heneryne and Crador the Blind there is little uniformity of worship. The individualistic Kubora are not suited to formal religion and usually honour their gods as they see fit. The role of the Shaman is more about the practice of Shuntul, and that of the Crone more about mid-wifery and herblore than organised worship. They oversee certain rites but are not ordained clerics in any sense that would be recognised in more civilised lands. Heneryne, though, is a complex goddess with many aspects, some of which are bloodthirsty and vengeful. She is known to jealously guard her privileges and is not above visiting those who would ignore her needs with disease or barrenness. She is also said to pursue those that harm children or pregnant women unto death wearing the body of a Harnic Harpy. ‘Heneryne’s Glade’ is, therefore, something that every Kuboran settlement will ensure is maintained. Few are as established as that of Clan Gomas, or the intricate pattern of mounds and plantings that constitute the Shawls of Kemlar a few leagues east of Kustan. In smaller or more transitory settlements the ‘glade’ may be no more than a ring of shrubs within which offerings are left. When travelling, women will put down a simple ring of kindling in imitation of a glade before laying a fire atop them and setting camp. Even men will do this when away from their village as without Heneryne’s blessing no camp is likely to prosper: the food will be tasteless; the nearest water tainted; and prey will scent the danger the hunters present.
By tradition the two must live apart from the village lest they are sullied by too much contact with men. However it was Relatan who saw the signs of declining harvests five years ago that others had yet to notice and convinced Gomas they should move the village to its new site.
HârnWorld
© A. Rees, N. Robin Crossby & Columbia Games Inc., 2009
ASAWNE KUBORA 4 4. Hunters’ Path
The Worship of Crador
By tradition hunters leaving the village hang small offerings of food or simply trinkets in the form of game animals on the branches overhanging this path. Their hope is that the forest will aid them in their quest for meat for the table and bone and skins for utensils. The path divides repeatedly within a league of the village until it disappears into the forest.
Each Kuboran tribe has its own view of Crador. The Asawne throw small gifts into the trees or river for him to find when they have good luck as they prefer to think he does not bring bad luck or nightmares. Gomas believes that his people should celebrate success but not blame any other being for failure. This code of self-reliance means Crador is less important to clan Gomas than to almost any other Kuboran clan. This is in marked contrast to the view taken by Gomas’ predecessor, Dirtak, who once agreed to the sending of a ‘gift’ upstream to the Denal Kubora in the hope of gaining Crador’s favour. The young boy selected by lot was never heard from again. This was among the actions that led to Gomas challenging Dirtak and becoming Hanuhn.
5. The Village Redoubt a. Stranger’s Beach The Kubora have strict rules of hospitality and any visitor arriving at the village who is not known and recognised as a friend must arrive here, either by boat or by making themselves known to the village from the other side of the stream and being invited to swim across. They will then be admitted through the ‘stranger gate’ which is otherwise kept barred. Those wearing the earl of Tormau’s colours are privileged to arrive by the dock’ near Ardo’s trading post.
b. Trading Post This is home to Ardo of Guil, the Earl of Tormau’s trade representative to the Asawne Kubora, and his Asawne common law wife, Nebra. She is strangely devoted to him despite having lost all status within the clan through her involvement with him. The round-house is perhaps 20 feet across with the centre pole rising almost 10 feet above the floor. Half the hut is crowded with bales of skins, other products of the forest and trade goods of one kind or another, the other has a low pallet and a table. Ardo receives seasonal deliveries of trade goods from the Earl, including much prized metal utensils and weapons handed over in return for Gomas’ agreement to logging along some of the Denia’s tributaries just upstream from Quyn manor. He is visited once during the Spring and Autumn months, twice during the Summer but not at all during the Winter. Apart from the woman he lives with he has made no friends among the Kubora who view him as a pathetic example of southron manhood good only for the trinkets, gifts and trade goods he dispenses. Behind his back the call him ‘the Leech’.
c. Shuntul Lodge The Kuboran practice of Shuntul is only open to warriors who have completed the transition to manhood. A female who has chosen the way of the warrior is counted a man for the purposes of the Shuntul ceremony. The lodge is in the care of the clan’s Shaman, Dirtak. He was once the clan’s Hanuhn and still harbours some ill will against Gomas despite the decade since the complex debate and riddling contest that led to his loss of the role. He is more traditional than Gomas and less willing to agree to change.
d. Hanuhn’s Round-house Hanuhn Gomas Straight Arrow, Clanhead and one of the two chiefs of the Asawne Kubora, lives here with his immediate household and the warriors sent from other clans to protect him. There is a less than 20% chance that Gomas is in residence during the Spring and Summer months as he travels from clan to clan taking counsel; and giving advice or guidance to other clanheads. He is never here during Larane when he and most of the tribe travel to the Kuboran Moot at Kustan. He spends much more of the Autumn in the village and almost all of the winter, though if his presence was required at one of the other clan villages he would not hesitate to attend. © A. Rees, N. Robin Crossby & Columbia Games Inc., 2009
Kuboran honour While Rethemi see all Kubora as no more predictable than dangerous wild animals the tribes have complex rules of honour. During the annual Moot warriors recount their actions which are weighed by their peers. This will determine how the warrior and his household are viewed through the year ahead. While strength and success in the hunt or battle is always valued so is hospitality and generosity to the less fortunate. This sometimes explains the unpredictability with which strangers are received among the tribes. While killing and mutilating an intruder is an act in keeping with Kemlar’s wishes, offering a stranger hospitality also carries honour.
Disturbing news … Kuboran shaman form an extended network that transcends tribal and clan boundaries. Hunting parties may exchange messages from the Shaman when they meet. In this way messages flow, slowly, through the forest. The inevitable transformation of a message through repeated re-telling does not seem to be of concern; it is the way that the forest and its gods can bring clarity. This informal network has recently brought disturbing news to Dirtak which he is considering sharing with his Gomas. The message said that ‘Crador will rest’. To a traditionalist like Dirtak this means that the end of the world may be near and it is time to settle debts and complete Kemlar’s tests before the end of times arrives.
HârnWorld
VILLAGE of CLAN GOMAS
GM MAP
3
4
a 1
RIVER DENIA
1
c d
5 b
2
LOCAL SCALE FEET 0
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REDOUBT of CLAN GOMAS
GM MAP
a 95 2
c 95 1
d
95 2
95 2
b N
SCALE IN FEET 0
5
10
15
20
COMMON MAP
RIVER DENIA
VILLAGE of CLAN GOMAS
LOCAL SCALE FEET 0
50
100
200
REDOUBT of CLAN GOMAS
N
SCALE IN FEET 0
5
10
15
20
COMMON MAP
