"As is the generation of leaves, so is that of humanity. The wind scatters the leaves on the ground, but the live timber burgeons with leaves again in the season of spring returning. So one generation of men will grow while another dies."
-The Iliad
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It was in the second year of the reign of Ephkar that the names were named, and an accounting of the peoples was made.
In this year the clouds were seen to gather in the East, and a great rain swept down from the mountains of Askhet. Through the foothills of these mountains had the ancient people of legend, the Satar-Ai of the spoken scrolls, passed with their flocks and their herds, their wheeled wagons and their spears of bronze.
The rain that swept the dry plains had not been seen for years, and it was seen as a sign from Taleldil, High King of the heavens, that the wall of mountains was to be broken by men as the clouds had broken through.
It was a good sign, for the horses and tribes of the Satar were well fed with green grasses, when came the great gathering by Phaxes the still watered.
This was decreed by High Prince Ephkar, man of the Scroll. By his hand were the red peoples of the northern countries slain, and by blood the peoples had acknowledged his dominion. The Rath Satar was swept like the ground is swept of dust before a birthing tent, and all the Satar came at the messengers of the High Prince.
In that year, the able-bodied men of the tribes were tallied.
Of the men of the Scroll, there were eleven thousands.
Of the men of the Sword, there were twelve thousands.
Of the men of the Shield, there were eight thousands.
Of the men of the Spear, there were nine thousands.
Of the men of the Wheel, there were four thousands.
Of the men of the Star, there were five thousands.
Of the men of the Arrow, there were three thousands.
So it came to be that the able bodied men of the Satar were measured to be fifty two thousands. It was measured that the horses of the Satar numbered ninety thousands. And this was good.
When this gathering was complete, Ephkar spoke to his people. And his words were written in the ancient tradition, as so:
I speak in plain words, as a man of the saddle. Each man among us was born upon these dry fields, the Rath Satar. So we are named.
Within the ancient legends, it is spoken that the Satar-Ai of the past times once ruled a land of wealth and power. It was made so by Taleldil King. But the Satar-Ai grew weak, and were driven from their homes to dwell in the endless beyond. Their princes swore in defeat that this would be a time of trial, to harden their people for the great reckoning.
Taleldil has shown me through many signs that this time has come. We have conquered the empty lands and once again become men of blood and earth. Our time has come to reforge what High King Taleldil once took for his people before rising to the heavens. As a man of the Scroll, Te'esh, once betrayed the Satar-Ai for the wicked peoples of the ocean, I shall undo his injustice with the blood of mine and of my sons.
And the people were glad that this was to be done, that the Satar might avenge the ills done upon their ancestors. And the sounds of the hooves of the Men of the Rath were as thunder upon a forest. They let out a great cry, and the cry was heard in places of the world where the freshness of the sky was lost, and the smoke of the campfire absent.
And the cry struck fear into the hearts of idle men.
Ephkar, the Warrior who was First Prince, laid eyes upon the golden fields of Rath Tephas, homeland of the Satar from lost legend. He placed his youngest infant son upon the grass, and gave an offering of his own blood, vowing that this sacred land would never be forsaken again. And Taleldil High King struck a lone tree with lightening from above, a mighty sign that the warriors of the heavens were pleased with his valor.