Here's a bit more lore. Frankly my most favorite part of doing this
Besides playing of course.
The History
When dragons roared and gods contested, together came my people.
When kingdoms forged and magic shone, paths unseen saved my people.
When Winter ruled and blizzards swept, winds strong blessed my people.
The world reborn and freedom kept, what fate awaits my people?
- First verse of Wind Rose, Astreotreib memory song.
Sometime during the Age of Dragons, bands of people started appearing traveling from one place to the next, sometimes just a family, sometimes a few families carrying their garb on pack animals or on their own backs. These people never stayed in one place for too long, which was not uncommon in these trying times. What was different about them, is that when most moved out of sheer necessity, these people seemed to revere the journey and take pleasure in it. They called themselves Ambulnati and are known to others as The Walking People. They were in those days bringers of news and goods from far away places. Their tales of grand battles and gods' armies witnessed by them in thier travels to this day are remembered in many old songs and legends. As Gods retreated from open combat and the Compact was signed The Walking People still traveled the roads of the newly formed kingdoms, but now more often were confronted with disdain and hostility from the new rulers for not pledging alligiance to any one king.
Rumors spread and more and more often Ambulnati were accused of theft and soon enough it became a crime in most lands to be Ambulnati. This was the time of the first Great Gathering. For seven years a message has been passed in secret for all the treibs to meet in a far off corner of Erebus. Treibs from every corner of the world have gathered for the first time, many knew each other from similar smaller gatherings, but never before there was a need for the affair at hand. Elders of every treib were now sharing same disturbing story - there was an unseen war waged upon their people. What was to be done to preserve the freedom that they for so long have held so dear? Some suggested fighting, some hiding, and yet others from lands that were kinder to them saw not the reason for any change. The most numerous treib at the time was Astreotreib - they have lost many people to judgements of local rulers and much gold to new taxes. Eshia of Astreotreib argued her point for weeks. She suggested that to preserve their way of life all of the people need to hide their origins in other lands. She failed. The council of elders has decided to keep things as they were. So happened the great split of The Walking People - the few treibs that sided with Astreotreib have left the gathering and went into hiding, and the rest left to traverse familiar paths.
Things were the same for a while after the gathering and most have come to have a hearty laugh at Astreotreib, who now were not seen on any open roads and certainly were missing profits of the trade and new emperial roads that were fashioned so well. New laws were mostly fair and treibs fared well, with losses one might expect when fiesty youths get into trouble. Herding treibs have breeded magnificent beasts wanted for sale across all lands, tinkers fashioned intricate devices for royal courts, trade caravans did well by selling spices and dyes. No one suspected any trouble. Yet it came. Some sixty years after the gathering. A magistrate of Saakel accused a passing treib in theft of emperial property. No one can say with certainty whether the treib in question has commited the crime or not, some say that the magistrate did the stealing himself, but all the same - the treib has escaped the city with a fight. It is said that the report of this event has reached Kyorlin and he has sent the order to halt all treibs in empire lands until the treib in question is found. The sentance for defying authority was death. A mass slaughter ensued. Every old wrong was unearthed, every jealousy acted upon and soon not a single wagon was seen in the empire. The Walking People soon became a fleeting memory and something a farmer would scare his kids with - "Do well, or The Walking People will eat you."
The ages turned, and the Compact was broken. The Winter came. Once proud cities reduced to mounts of decaying ruins in icy plains. People turning savage. Great knowledge lost. Yet there were still travellers in the cold. Most often then not these man and women said very little, exchanged all manner of things for furs and left. Nothing set them apart - they could have been Doviello in Doviello lands, or Amurites in Amurite lands. Their wagons posessed no visible distinction, and were gone before anyone thought twice of them. Those who tried raiding these wagons and lived to tell the tale have reported fierce fighting. Ambulnati lived through wise choice of Eshia. They hid their ways, and hid their treibs in vast expanses of the world. To all they seemed as merchants, adventurers or refugees from far off lands, but certainly not a nation. They were. They shared their own language and unwritten code of conduct, while empire faltered they prospered as well as one could through blizzards and snow storms. Unknown to the world they have perfected travel both on land and ocean. Their wagons fast and well constructed, their ocean rafts at times joining together to form islands in a midst of water filled with life. Some treibs have saved great herds from times before - the animals through winter grew sturdier and stronger, well cared for. When Mulcarn was slayed - not many humans could claimed they fared better than Ambulnati treibs.
What does the future hold for them? Will they be exterminated as before by new empires? Will they confront the settled lands and pillage them? Will they keep their traditions or fall into newly reformed world?
Blown in by the Wind.
Tali plays, Tali rages, Tali lives
I will play, I will rage, I will live
- Windfinder's rhyme.
Across Erebus many send their words to Tali. Some asking for protection on the road, some hoping for the same freedom, some hoping to avert his playful wrath. Many settled nations are favored by Tali - Hippus for their love of wind in their faces in the wild ride, Austrin for their curious spirit, but Ambulnati have long been a safe and welcoming haven for those choosing Tali as their patron. These man are known by many names - windfinders, windchangers, Tali's breath - none really suit them for they are not a single entity. The most in common they have is their will to live life in spirit of Tali - unpredictable, unavoidable, strong and gentle at the same time. They have no temples, short of a few unkempt shrines in remote mountains, and some tokens that remind them that they were once blessed by Tali's will. Most of them study winds and know its habits, some can change winds with few well chosen words of power, yet others have given themselves completely to the air, loosing some of their humanity in the process and gaining an insight into Tali's purposes and power. Most treibs of The Walking People will have a windfinder among them, raft-dwelling treibs might occasionally give their thanks and gold to a windchanger who predicts the coming storms and works his weather magic for them. But all treibs can seek protection by Talirogha - a small order of warriors who live to server Tali's purpose and an instrument of his will. They are like their god, unpredictable and powerful, sometimes the price for their protection is so unforeseen, that it may very well could have been better not to ask for it. However most of them take origin in Ambulnati treibs and still have ties to them and will come to aid in most terrible circumstances. Expert griffon riders, it is said a band of Talirogha could overtake a dragon in flight, dirty and expert fighters they use air magic to aid them against demons and angels alike. They share Tali's dislike of Kilmorph and are known to raze Temples of Kilmorph and fighting with those in service.
The Great Raft
The current is my road.
The fish I herd.
To water and wind
I trust my raft.
- Rafting song
After the great split of The Walking People, Eshia has convinced most of the river and coastal rafting treibs to go into hiding. Marikantreib at the time was a small band of timber rafters that made their living by traversing a great river, selling timber in one of long forgotten sea ports. Every season they would raft the timber down the river and walk up the stream for more to sell. They were the first to create an oceanic raft. To an observer such a raft looks more like a small island made of timbers and seaweeds, but what an observer does not know, is that it is well protected from the storms, and is guided by unseen rudders, and can be moved with help of magic, muscle and tame sea creatures. Most of the time these rafts follow the currents in the ocean - people farm fish, dive for materials in shallows and at times raid passing ships by pretending to be an actual island with fresh water source. Some of these people have never seen land, yet their ways and traditions unite them with their land-traveling brothers, and sure enough most goods across the oceans are passed on by rafting treibs, entire land treibs are transported by these rafts to far off lands. Tali is said to have had a friendship with Danalin, so these man who live on water are blessed by the God of Air and are often spared the worst storms the sea can furnish, as they remind Tali so much of Danalin's beloved Aifon. It is a hard live still. Lanun pirates will not miss a chance to raid a raft, Octopus Overlord demons are often seen, giant krakens, sea serpents, and other monsters could easily doom a rafting treib. It is said that the ocean is twice saltier by the tears of Danalin, and trice by blood and tears of rafting people.
