Talinin

The Talinin were a tribe of the Northeastern Threshold, allies of the Linowan and tributaries of the Realm. Their domain was not large, and their tribal culture considered rather primitive by most in the Realm, but they were renowned for their fervent dedication both to battle and to hospitality.  When the tribe faced war, all men fought and raided, while women and children retreated to a central valley where they would camp and engage in crafts & agriculture until victory was gained.

A satrapy of the Realm, the Talinin paid a tribute of Truffles and the feathers of Oscillated Seven-faced Birds, valuable but never gathered in great quantities. By tradition, strangers in the land were welcomed, so long as they did not carry weapons into the light of the tribal campfire… those who did were engaged in combat as attackers. Guests were treated well, offered the finest furs and tents for rest, sought as lovers by the men and women of the tribe, and feasted with a roasted Seven-faced Bird.

When the War with the Bull broke out, the Talinin were on the front lines, facing attack from Haltan forces and their Icewalker allies. While the strongest attack struck against the neighbouring Rokan-jin, the Talinin tribesmen armed for war and rushed to the front, fighting savagely to hold off the attackers. Support arrived first from Linowa and then the Legions of the Realm, and the Talinin men marched north en masse as auxiliaries to the Legions, eagerly taking on the most dangerous attacks.

And then the Bull brought about the end of the Talinin. Demons bombarded their capital camp with stone and flame while their armies were in the field far to the north. Because the Talinin civil populace congregated in a single area during wartime, the destruction wreaked was absolute: Without exception no Talinin woman, and no Talinin at all below the adult age of eleven years, was left alive. The men of the tribe, when news reached the front, lasted only a few months in the aftermath, breaking rank to charge into the Haltan forests on suicide attacks, committing suicide when strategoi Tepet Arada ordered them confined to stop the efforts… until he relented and let them go on to their deaths in battle.

In the wake of the war, there is no more Talinin… no country for it is now under occupation by the Bull of the North, and no tribe for they are all dead. Amongst local tribal leaders and some of the more focused scholars of the Realm, this absolute genocide of a people places true horror in any visions of future conflict.