Linowa

Overview

‘Linowa’ is a term for the nation of united Linowan river tribes which dominate the Silver River and its tributaries in the Northeastern Threshold. They are known as fierce, frenzied warriors and irksome river pirates across much of the East.

History

The Linowan themselves do not dwell in the past… historians studying the people find their tales and cultural memories begin with the Great Contagion, and the Linowan themselves dismiss efforts to go back further: it is not proper to reflect on the Time Before.

Their origins as warring tribes along the Silver River can be easily identified in recovered Shogunate records, of course, with comments that the area’s villages were agriculturally productive but plagued by violent, warring tribes. These were sometimes conscripted for war by the armies of various Eastern daimyo, where they made for excellent warriors but poor soldiers due to inability to give up tribal rivalries and grudges. In the wake of the Contagion, a wave of refugees including officials evacuating Sal-Maneth and remnants of the 25th Legion of the Shogun poured into the area amongst the weakened villages and tribes. It is from these origins that Linowan society arose.

The key influence on the formation of the Linowan state was Bendaris, a Dragonblooded bureaucrat of the Shogunate who had served in the government at Sal-Maneth. A professional at the delicate negotiations between Terrestrials and spirits, she set about unifying the various peoples in the area. Initial hopes of preserving Shogunate structures were soon abandoned, and it was the boat tribes who formed the majority of the population whose culture emerged dominant.

There would likely not BE a Linowan nation if another state had not been born: the Republic of Halta, a forest realm sharing the river systems inhabited by the Linowan. The tribes of river and forest had long warred, and resources were scarce as the two began to unify, but the Haltans came together first, and achieved great initial success against divided boat people. In keeping with the religious approach of the Shogunate, Bendaris turned to a god worshipped by many in the region, Golden-Eyed Jorst, and begged his patronage to counter that of Caltia the Eternal who was pushing the Haltans to spread her coniferous forests out over top of his deciduous domain. Jorst, though more socialite than war god, agreed, and between them Bendaris and Jorst used the threat of Halta and shared traditions to finally cement the Linowan Nation into being. Bendaris also secured alliance with the distant Scarlet Empress, not accepting vassalage but admitting the Realm’s position as rightful ruler of Creation, and being accepted as rightful ruler of the Northeast in turn. This connection with the woman said to have saved Creation from the hated Fae was another powerful influence.

In RY279, the war with Halta escalated from raid into open battle. Both sides had divine patronage, stockpiles of First Age weapons recovered from their domains, and tens of thousands of soldiers eager for battle. The two armies met between the Silver and Blackwater Rivers, and their clash was one of brutal combat and mass death, which left behind a terrible Shadowland, the Fields of Woe.

A second invasion was launched in RY318, known as the War of Summer Conflagration after the outcaste Dragonblooded Summer Conflagration who served as war leader of the Linowan. The Linowan bred faster than the Haltans, and they took to the arts of war as if they had been born with them, so it was thought their army could achieve victory before the Haltans had fully recovered from their earlier devastation. Alas, Halta had recognized its own difficulties and signed the Treaty of High Order and Wild Roots with the Fair Folk. Instead of facing Haltan troops on the ground, the Linowan invaders faced the Fae, whom they were ill-equipped to battle. Conflagration and her army were wiped out, only a few survivors (most armed with iron weapons) escaping back out of the forest… this terrible defeat only deepened hatred of the Haltans, and introduced a love of iron amongst the Linowan that has never faded.

The Linowan never again attempted a massive invasion of Halta, and though they frequently request the support of their Realm allies in crushing the Haltans utterly such a campaign was never authorized by the Scarlet Empress. The greatest battles they have faced in recent history came in the War with the Bull, which devastated Linowan allies in the region and saw the Legions of House Tepet destroyed by the Bull of the North and his Haltan allies. The sacrifice made by the soldiers of the Realm likely saved the Linowan from being overrun, but the post-war calm cannot last indefinitely, and everyone knows the Bull will surely march to war again soon.

Geography

Linowa is a long, thin country following the Silver River from the lower reaches of its tributaries (the Fallen Leaves, Golden Branches, Black Branches, White Birch, and Blackwater Rivers ) through Lake Sanazala and down the banks of its upper length and smaller tributaries. The climate is cool but not frigid through most of the year: the season of Earth, along with the end of Water and start of Wood, see good weather with short, heavy rains said by the Linowan to coax up the best stocks of fish. The end of the Wood season and entirety of Fire are much hotter and more humid, with vast swarms of mosquitoes tormenting those moving along rivers and lakes. The Air season and start of water are chill, with snow and ice born of cold Northern winds and occasional blizzards.

Linowan settlements tend to be small, with little urban planning leaving them mazes of narrow streets between buildings... they have evolved from temporary tent encampments in areas where the population was somehow enticed to stay put, and are always based around a central Palaver House (serving as meeting house, tavern, government office, and often market). This building is usually built tall, while other Linowan buildings remain closer to the ground, long narrow bunkhouses for residence and storage. Buildings are predominantly made of wood, and Haltan redwood is favoured, as a sign the owners have proven themselves in a successful raid. Conifer lumber is, however, treated with a paste of meadow wildflowers and deciduous leaves to remove its offensive pine-y scent before a building is raised.

Rubylak (11) – Capital of Linowa, located on the banks of the River of Tumbling Garnets as it meets the Silver River flowing out from Lake Sanazala . Rubylak is a large city, though certainly not of the scale seen in the River Province or Blessed Isle. The main city, including the residences of the royal family, government buildings, shrines, foreign embassies, and the local bureaucracy of the Thousand Scales, sits on the western bank, while the eastern bank is home to warehouses, fishermen, and cargo vessels, plus some merchant compounds including the Guild’s factor, and is a much rougher, more violent part of town. Boats and ferries move in a constant stream between both banks, carrying people and cargoes.

Galdtern (10) – Galdtern is a large township on the eastern bank of the River of Golden Branches as it turns southward to reach Lake Sanazala . Due to its proximity to the border with Halta, Galdtern serves as a major supply and launching point for Linowan warbands embarking on raids against the Haltans, particularly younger warriors from southern Linowa seeing their first taste of battle with the tree-buggerers. Galdtern also serves as home to warriors crippled or shamed in battle with the Haltans, who do not feel able to return home. It served as the headquarters of the 9th Imperial Legion for much of the War with the Bull, though when that Legion was devastated the population of cripples swelled with folk of an entirely different sort.

Basten (9) – Basten, located along the western bank of the Silver River as it descends from the north towards Lake Sanazala , is considered by most to mark the northern border of Linowan territory. The large township was heavily fortified during the War with the Bull, serving as a headquarters for the 25th Imperial Legion for much of the campaign. Though Realm troops have departed, their forts and walls remain, and the Linowan now man them, leaders paranoid that attack by Haltan or Icewalker lies just around the corner. Basten also engages in some trade along the Road to the End of the World and Silver River , including with the Guild via their regional factory at River Keep.

Shadowholt (12) – Shadowholt is considered by most to mark the southern border of Linowan territory. It sits on a river harbour off the Silver River, just north of the Shadowland known as the Crypt of the Windrider, surrounded by a wall of grey brick. The river port here serves both as a supply point and market stop for trade ships (almost all from the Guild or Realm) and Linowan whaling and piracy expeditions launching out into the southern Silver River . The clay of its bricks comes from nearby hills, and production of bricks and pottery is a major local industry, which has expanded to ever larger proportions through and after the War with the Bull, Linowan communities finding themselves eager for solid walls and redoubts to withstand Icewalker siege.

Wangler’s Knob (27) – Market village in Linowa, not particularly remarkable.

Religion

The Linowan are a religious people, praying and sacrificing to a number of nature spirits which inhabit their domain and receiving practical boons for their worship. Not quite so actively involved in the country’s course as their peers in Halta, the spirits of Linowa nevertheless wield great influence.

Golden-Eyed Jorst – God of deciduous forests, and god of Linowa. The Linowan pray to Jorst in thanks for the bounty of deciduous trees and river meadows, to bless their storytelling and social gatherings, and to guide their axes in felling their enemies… both people and trees. They also pray to him for protection from the depredations of the conifer god Caltia. The doors of Jorst’s feasts are also open to any of his Linowan worshippers, should they wish to walk amongst the gods.

River Gods – Many of the forest gods of the Northeast are aligned with Caltia and Halta, but the gods of rivers are firmly in the Linowan camp, receiving large amounts of worship and sacrifice… including Haltan prisoners, who by tradition are lashed to crossed birch branches and released face-down into rivers as human sacrifices to the river god which rules there. Anyone embarking on a boat journey, or fishing, or a raid along a river’s banks, will pray to the god of that river as well. The powerful Sudale of the Flowing Grasp, god of the Silver River and lake Sanazala , stands near-equal to Jorst as Linowan patron.

Grala of the Endless Hunt – Sister of Caltia, Grala is nevertheless widely worshipped amongst the Linowan in her role as god of hunters, who offer a small portion of every kill to her (much as Haltans do to Caltia herself).

The Unconquered Sun – The Linowan pray directly to Sol Invictus on a regular basis, both as king of Heaven and as the source of all victory… they beseech his blessing in bringing them victory in combat and in competition. Some have said that the Bull of the North is a ‘Solar Exalted’, elevated by the Unconquered Sun… the idea of such a thing is laughable to the Linowan, for surely if Sol had the wish to elevate great heroes there would not be a Haltan or a conifer in all Creation unfelled by the gleaming heroes of Linowa.

The Five Maidens – The Linowan pray directly to the Five Maidens on a regular basis, begging their blessing for all manner of ventures. While Jorst’s blessing is sought for weapons and Sol is called upon to bless personal combat, the Linowan pray to Mars to bless their individual battles. Mercury receives prayers to bless them when they embark on travel, Venus to bless them when they are wed (or when they prepare to embark on a bout of drinking, to spare them the consequences on the following morn), Jupiter when they must be stealthy or hidden (such as when raiding into Halta), and Saturn to bless the dead so they do not linger on as monsters.

Vata – God of cannibalism, whose worship is hated by the Linowan only slightly less than that of Caltia. The Linowan possess a strict taboo against any form of cannibalism, and say that those who eat human flesh are transformed into Vatal, mad cannibal beasts in service to Vata. They are not entirely incorrect.

Uvanavu - God of Health and Well-Being. The Linowan worship of Uvanavu dates from an agreement between that god and Jorst at one of the Golden-Eyed god's parties, where the God of Health was cajoled into providing minor assistance to Linowan shamans fighting a deadly fever spreading through their land. Prayers to Uvanavu and Realm medical emissaries managed to bring the illness to heel, and Uvanavu has received prayers ever since hoping for similar aid, though he has never been so direct. This has, however, caused a great deal of hatred towards Jorst and the Linowan amongst the gods of disease, key in pushing them to support the supernatural affliction of incurable Hal Fever which spreads over Linowa and afflicts their very souls with a most terrible disease.

Grandfather of Brilliant Jade – Forest walker of the mostly deciduous forest along the southern border of Halta, below the Ironwood forest. Though not an overt patron of the Linowan, Grandfather has found himself in an increasing dispute with Tylokan Root Binder, one of the Forest Walkers of Halta walking the mixed coniferous-deciduous forest of the western Haltan border. Tylokan’s extreme bias towards conifers has caused Grandfather to argue that he is not god of the forest at all, but merely god of part of it, and Grandfather (of course) is the best suited to serve as god of the other half. A growing number of Linowan worshippers pray to him in such a role.

Queen who Lives Forever – Some amongst the Linowan worship the Scarlet Empress as eternal protector of Creation, and invoke her power when they must do battle with the Fair Folk. Her disappearance and defeat of her Legions has tempered much of the enthusiasm once found for such beliefs amongst the Linowan.

Immaculate Order – The Immaculate Order has little direct influence in Halta… theirs is a life where interaction between individual humans and specific spirits is simply reality. The Order has never engaged in a major campaign against the local faiths, for the Linowan are aligned with the Order in many practical ways, including fierce opposition to the Fair Folk and the Anathema.

Society

Linowan society is dominated by their river boats, their relations with spirits, and their eternal war with [[[Halta]].

At the most basic level, Linowan society is organized into ‘Boat Clans’. A boat clan is a group of people who live together, construct canoes and buildings together, raise children together... a family or community. To truly be a member of the Linowan nation, one must be a member of a Boat Clan, and Linowan names include Boat Clan as a form of surname (along with any Boat Clans to which their clan has sworn allegiance). By default, a Linowan is accepted into the clan of their mother, but this is not always the case: individuals might be expelled from their clan, or might be the sole survivor of their clan (a clan is considered dead if it ever has less than 2 members, and dead clans cannot be re-founded). Linowan with no clan, or foreigners who are accepted into their society, must be accepted by a Clan Shaman for adoption into another clan.

Linowan are not chained to their clans, and members of existing clans CAN be adopted into different ones… if the clan of origin does not want to see their member depart, this can lead to violent feuds. Clans can also form alliances, where one clan swears fealty to another. Where clans feud to the greatest extremes, one clan might even absorb another, through killing all the victim clan’s adults and forcibly adopting the children. Some desperate clans have also kidnapped individual children from other clans, though the resulting feuds invariably result in great bloodshed.

Power in a Boat Clan belongs to its shamans. Leadership is largely hereditary, as shamans pass their secret knowledge down to their children, and those children are then the ones qualified for leadership of the clan in the next generation. Amongst this council of shamans, one is acknowledged by the Linowan Queen as ‘Clan Shaman’, overall leader of the Boat Clan. This title CAN be disputed, though not with the usual violence of Linowan vendettas: instead, if the challenger is qualified both she and the Clan Shaman take doses of Divine Red Mushroom… the survivor is deemed to have the blessing of the spirits, if both perish then neither was so blessed and a new Clan Shaman must be appointed by the Queen.

Shamans are responsible for maintaining the complex oral traditions of the Linowan, including their stories, as well as for the culture’s thaumaturgy and theology. It is they who ensure the right gods receive the right offerings at the right times during any venture. It is also they who construct the magical Linowan Masks. Shamans also refrain from direct violence in inter-clan feuds, though they aid their fellows indirectly and invoke the blessings of spirits upon the venture… this restraint allows them to serve as diplomatic envoys and negotiators between clans when such is called for. The family lines of shamans are known for their wisdom and their perfect memories: within Boat Clans shamans keep not only stories but mental records for financial and mercantile dealings (their reasoned neutral stances making them reliable in most eyes), the Linowan turning to written word for inter-clan arrangements and deals with foreigners.

The Linowan do not practice marriage, or even traditional parenting… it is the clan that raises children, not their biological parents. Children know their mothers, and belong to her clan, but the father has no paternal rights and may sometimes not even be named. Where two lovers belong to different clans, it is expected the man will seek adoption into the woman’s clan. In terms of social role, there is little regard for gender save when a woman is with child or nursing: at this time, the Linowan insist the woman remain at home and not join in hunts, journeys, raids, or battles.

To formally reach adulthood, Linowan children are encouraged to undertake a journey in order to prove themselves. Until they are adults, they are not allowed to carry or use weapons other than a belt knife and may not build boats of their own or join raids… the adults become intentionally overbearing to pressure children to take the journey, where they travel with no adult help to reach the settlement of another boat clan and return to tell the tale of the adventure. After that, they are accepted as adults.

The Linowan are a people who value hospitality greatly: if your greatest foe, fists dripping with the heart’s blood of your true love, comes into your home then they are to be welcomed and his request for hospitality granted. For three days and three nights, any visitor must be given food and shelter, their wounds must be treated, any insults towards them must be refused, and they must be defended with the host’s own life. Of course, a host need not offer comfortable shelter or good food, and many Linowan tales tell of creative ways a host repaid a guest’s rudeness. Guests also forfeit any protections should they reject the host’s hospitality… and to the Linowan, nearly any complaint or insult counts as such a rejection. A woman who is pregnant or nursing, however, is excepted somewhat, so long as complaints are carefully phrased to reference that the mother speaks only for her child’s well-being not for herself. Such women are also shown hospitality longer than the three traditional days, with Linowan doing everything they can to convince them not to travel until their child is weaned.

Government

At the top of Linowan society is the Royal Clan, a massive and powerful boat clan which traces its descent from Bendaris, founder of the Linowan Nation. The Royal Clan does not engage in the squabbles seen amongst the lesser boat clans, and indeed its members serve as neutral adjudicators between various boat clans.

The Royal Clan was formed by Bendaris from the ranks of former Dragonblooded Gens and Shogunate officers, whom she convinced to join her new state as part of a new extended family. The Clan still has a strong streak of Dragonblooded Exaltations, averaging some 600 Terrestrials at any one time. Traditionally, boat clans whose members Exalt as Dragonblooded will either see them rise to leadership if they are women, or marry them to the Royal Clan if they are men… a man, after all, does not bring his Dragonblooded children into his clan and might even Exalt the ranks of rival clans who engage in clever seduction!

The Royal Clan holds much secret knowledge passed down through generations, much like the shamans of the boat clans. The women of the Royal Clan in particular keep the secret arts of Shogunate statecraft, which allow them to serve well as tax collectors and arbiters of disputes. The men of the Royal Clan are trained in their own warrior techniques. lines of thaumaturgy, and the Salinan School of Sorcery. Between the two, the Royal Clan is certainly the most powerful family in the Northeast.

It is not, however, a Dynastic House… the Royal Clan of Linowa never sought nor was offered that close status with the rulers of the allied Realm, though some marriages did occur to bring individuals into Houses such as Tepet and Peleps.

The Royal Clan’s women elect the Queen from amongst their number, and she in turn selects a husband from amongst the most accomplished of the men within the Clan.

The War with the Bull hit the Royal Clan hard, though it has cemented their repute for bravely standing ground even in the face of demons… nearly a third of the Clan’s Terrestrials were slain in the war, but they fared better than their allies in the Tepet Legions due to their approach to warfare being more in line with that taken by the Bull. The survivors have learned valuable lessons: training in sorcery has spread even further through the family (some women now learning its secrets), as have coordinated tactics for forming Dragonblooded units learned from House Tepet.

The Linowan Nation is an ally of the Scarlet Empire. Linowa pays tribute and accepts subordinate status, but is not a fully subject satrapy: the Realm’s representative in the country is an Ambassador, and must advise rather than command the Linowan Queen. House Tepet had long held control of the Linowan tribute and ambassadorship, but lost it in the wake of the War with the Bull, when the ambassador perished in the fighting. The replacement named by the Deliberative was from House Peleps… despite the potential economic value of Linowan tribute, even House Peleps was not united in supporting the appointment, as it deprived them of a capable Navy officer to give them a holding none in the Realm think will last long in the face of the Bull.

Queen of the Linowan: Arkasi. A water-aspected Dragonblood, Arkasi is current monarch of Linowan. Losses in the War with the Bull have caused her to look to defense rather than offense, uncommon amongst the Linowan, and she continues to seek Realm support even as she becomes more certain it will never be forthcoming.

Minister of Trade: Suwith. Sister of Queen Arkasi, and primary representative of the Linowan in relations with the Guild. water-aspect Dragonblooded.

Ambassador to the Realm: Sinnethi. Sister of Queen Arkasi, and a water-aspected Dragonblood, Sinnethi resides on the Blessed Isle in the Imperial City, and continues to seek ways of lobbying for Legion troops to rejoin the Linowan.

Realm Ambassador to the Linowan: Peleps Kaizoku Atarove. An air-aspect Dragonbloded, Atarove served for many decades as an officer in the Wood Fleet of the Imperial Navy. Atarove was an expert not as a fleet commander but in special operations and leading strikes against shore installations. She is somewhat uneasy in her new post, an honour she could not refuse but did not want to accept, and is attempting to maintain Realm influence in Rubylak through personal connections as material aid is not likely to grow past a trickle.

Law and Feud

The Linowan do not have a formal code of laws or a judiciary. Personal disputes are resolved between the two parties by a shaman of their clan, disputes between multiple clans are resolved by the nearest member of the Royal Clan. Victims expressing desire for fair vengeance receive the most favourable hearings during such judgments.

Punishments for theft, escaping slavery, and other such crimes are harsh, including public beatings and maiming. Serious crimes such as rape and murder committed by those outside the victims’ clan are punished evem more harshly, through execution (by drowning) after a communal celebration of the accused’s impending demise, including beating of the accused to the point of death… this is because the only ones who would do such things are obviously Haltan spies.

The Linowan are firmly opposed to the Fair Folk, and any business done with them, or any carrying their blood, are also put to death as Haltan spies. Due to the strange sapient animals of Halta, any creatures thought to be suspiciously clever, and their owners, are likewise put to death as spies. This makes Linowa an inhospitable land for most travelling carnivals or falconers.

Many visitors to the Linowan remark that they are a people of hot temper, quick to feud and hold grudges. Slights and offenses are challenged immediately by clenched fists, and blood can be quickly spilt. Boat clans feel that any death must be avenged in kind, so if a member of one clan kills a member of another, one or both may petition a Royal to declare a feud between them.

Under a feud, the feuding clans may raid and battle each other, unfettered by legal constraints, until a Royal declares a feud satisfied. The Linowan believe strongly in keeping children uninvolved in violence, as well as pregnant women and nursing mothers, but all others are fair game. Some clans will attempt to steal supplies and boats, some will kill members of the opposing clan, and some will challenge the whole enemy clan to join them on a raid against Halta to prove whose clan is in the right. After some time, usually when those originally involved have been killed, a Royal will declare the feud settled, though ill feelings likely remain.

Economy

Linowa is agriculturally rich, and many settlements are surrounded by fields of grain and orchards of fruit. The Linowan do not engage in agriculture as intensely as the peasants of Blessed Isle or River Province, but they have corn, barley, and buckwheat, as well as some root vegetables, berries, nuts, and squash. Apples, pears, and cherries are eaten fresh, dried for the winter, or distilled into alcoholic beverages. The Linowan do not domesticate animals, hunting deer and rodents for meat, fur, and skins. Due to their river focus, fish is a staple of Linowan food and commerce, and warbands will often embark on hunts down the Silver River in search of River Whales and Pygmy Orcas.

The Linowan are skilled woodworkers. Due to the difficulty obtaining it and its quality, redwood is most prized for construction and heavier boats, oak standing in where redwood is unavailable. Lighter canoes and buildings employ birch wood and bark, which is also used as a writing material.

The Linowan engage in regular river piracy, and are a scourge along the whole of the Silver River, sometimes reaching south to the Yanaze. Loot from such undertakings adds interesting baubles to the local economy. They do not however prey on vessels flying banners of the Realm or of the Guild, allowing those two merchant fleets to share an essential monopoly along the river.

The Linowan enjoy small decorative items. They produce beads and ornaments of ceramic, wood, and bone, but very little glass or precious metal, leaving these to be imported. The Linowan consume imported alcohol and drugs as well, though intoxication is a social event not an individual undertaking, enjoyed to intensify sharing of stories… this dictates which drugs are popular and which are not.

Slavery is legal in Linowan, with warriors taking slaves on raids and often selling them to the Guild. The Guild has some influence in Linowa, and even maintains a heroin-producing compound in the land, supplying the whole Northeast and some of the North as well.

Military

In addition to the boat clan, a basic social unit amongst the Linowan is the war band. War bands may be drawn from a single clan or several, under command of a war chief, usually a strong and charismatic leader. War bands fight together on raids, until their leader is dead, loses allegiance of his followers, or passes the leadership on to an accepted successor. Each war band is identified by unique patterns of brightly-colored face paint worn by members going into battle.

War bands grow with success, and succeed further as they grow larger, making the position of war chief highly meritocratic… the inept or weak perish and the strong lead on to even greater victories. Most war bands are part of a single boat clan and answer to its Clan Shaman, though those across multiple clans answer to the Queen. Due to the large number of Dragonblooded in the Royal Clan, young Royals often seek to prove themselves by leading war bands.

The average Linowan warrior of a war band is armed with a longbow, an iron axe, and leather armour equivalent to a buff jacket, though not all are armoured and some carry throwing axes or fishing spears. They are individually very capable, strong and clever, masters of skirmish tactics, traps, surprise assaults, and ambushes…. they are the best-regarded amongst the troops to serve as scouts in the Legion auxiliaries, and several Legions recruit war bands to serve them even when deployed far from the Northeast (including the 9th Imperial Legion, 13th Imperial Legion, and 23rd Imperial Legion.

War bands are difficult to control, and raids across the border against the Haltans and other lands are a regular occurrence even when Rubylak has called for a time of peace. Where Linowa faces Halta, additional assets can be found in the form of border forts.

Border forts are bunkhouses and supply depots surrounded by heavy wood palisades, located on hills outside the coniferous treeline. They are maintained and garrisoned by local boat clans, and serve as a mustering point and refuge for war bands attacking into Halta. These provide bases for Linowan artillery, catapults of wood and sinew which are used to attack Haltan trees and structures, and to fire seeds and soil amongst the conifers to spread deciduous forests.

In addition to this somewhat chaotic system of war bands, Linowa also maintains a force of elite troops to deal with the most dangerous threats and to strike deep into Halta. These warriors are part of a war band existing entirely within the Royal Clan, the Band of the Shattered Blade. With large numbers of Dragonblooded, control over most of Linowa’s First Age weapons, and members experienced for many years fighting the Haltans, the Band in some ways parallels the role of the Haltan Commandos.

The Band claims descent from the Gunzosha talon of the 25th Legion of the Shogun, which had been left fighting against the Balorian Crusade and in the end swore fealty to Queen Bendaris when Linowa was founded. The unit served as elite military force for the first years of the Linowan Nation, keeping boat clans in line, until they were lost in the epic struggle that birthed the Fields of Woe. Their armor was painted white some time before the battle, in honour of the noble birch tree, and it is said that their ghosts may still fight on in the Shadowland to this day, though none have recovered their valuable armour.

Members of the Band are trained in arboreal fighting tactics and Haltan practices, and their hair is sometimes dyed to tint it green so they can attempt infiltration of Haltan cities… a dye that will accomplish the goal is difficult to find, and the best source is Haltan hair itself, which must be scalped and treated to extract it.. They favour javelins over longbows, and by tradition carve intricate designs and prayers into the weapons calling down curses upon Haltans and conifers.