Origin of the Tulgarian clans

The Children of Gar

Every clan tells their own version of these myths, however all agree that a young man and woman fled to the Mountain Gar. They slept on the top of the mountain and drank from the river. Some say that they were fleeing, other that they were wandering. Some of the myths say that they settled on the mountain, other that they lived by the foot of the mountain.

All agree that they had children, but the names and number of children depend on which clan is telling it.

The children are collectively known as the Children of Gar. Some clans elect to not include children who acted are against the moral teachings of the clan telling the myth. All of the Kangar clans, and some Quaz clans claim descendance from at least one of them.

When the Children of Gar reached adulthood, the travelled from the Mountain Gar to their mothers brother-sister who rode the sunhorse. The brother-sister picked a horse from their herd for each of the children based on their personality and taught them the way of the horse.

Different myths have the children arriving either all at once or one by one, when reaching of age. In all versions of the myth the brother-sister sends each to different parts of the steppe,

Where they encounter witches. Usually there are 7 witches that live various places, but some myths have more, up to 33, while other have less than 7. One version of the myth, told by a Quaz clan under the rule of the 4 Rivers Kangar clan, have them instead being tested by a frog-spirit a snake and a lizard.

The 7 witches teach the Children of Gar various skills, in some of the versions they teach magic, while in other they teach skills like shooting with bow from horseback or pottery. The Sunrider clan holds the witches to be a good sage of Svarog, an evil cultist of the Black Serpent, a water witch, a fire witch, an earth witch and an air witch. The final witch is Yaga, the goddess of death in human form. The Black Goat clan on the other hand tells the myth as all of them going to Yaga and learning to kill, before offering to the ice witches to serve as their warriors.

In the land of the Sun-people

All myths then tell that the Children of Gar travelled to the north to the land of the Sun-people. Since the Sun-people were gone before the Ice Witches came to the land, and they both inhabited the north, various explanations have been given to maintain this as a consistent myth.

In the land of the Sun-people they were given gifts and seated with honour by the chief of the Sun-people. In versions of the story by clans that put emphasis on strength or rank they were first tested in feats of strength, cunning, endurance and wisdom, while in stories of clans that put more emphasis on hospitality, there are no tests.

The chief of the Sun-people asked them to join hands with her and fight on her side in the war with the Great Serpent. Some versions claim this to be the Black Serpent, while other claim it to be a different serpent, a nature spirit or a different god.

The myths are very unclear on what happens next, but all tell that the Children of Gar were divided. About half accepted the proposal and joined hands with the Sun-people, while the other half instead took the side of the Great Serpent. Those that joined the Great Serpent are often called the White Clan. It is said that this clan still exists in hiding and has great and terrible magic.

A great battle happened between the Sun-people and the White Clan. The myths claim that most or all of the Children of Gar die in this battle and that the remnants of both sides fled south. The Flying Swords clan claim there to have been two gods fighting and that both gods were killed in the battle. They also claim that neither of the gods was a serpent and that the survivors of the battle carried with them great magic as they travelled southwards.

The Zakhar empire

At this point the timeline differs in different versions of the myth. Some clans tell how the Children of Gar then founded the Zakhar empire. Other claim that they together with the Ice Witches overthrew the Zakhar empire. Others again tell that they joined the Zakhar empire, serving as light cavalry.

Most clans claim either descendance from Zakhar heroes or pride themselves of tales of how their ancestors fought the Zakharians. The only exception is the Sunrider Kangar clan, which claims to be a part of the Sun-people, and that claims that another clan of the Sun-people travelled west over the mountains. They claim this clan will be known by their fealty to the Sun-horse of the brother-sister of mother of the Children of Gar.

The Zakhar language seems to have had similarities to the current spoken Tulgarian and they use variants of the same runes, so it’s clear that Tulgarians at one point lived in the Zakhar influence sphere.

While little is known for certain about the Zakhar empire, it is known that it fell through a war between two brothers who differed in their view of magic. It’s unclear how those that later became known as Tulgarians were divided in this war.

Excavated Zakharian texts mention light cavalry tribes that could be the peoples the Tulgarian clans descended from, and the earliest Khans claimed to be rulers of Zakhar, not Tulgar.

After the fall of Zakhar the once fertile land turned into steppe. Sviatagorian sages claim that this happened before the fall of the empire and was the cause of it. With Tulgarians worshipping both the Black Serpent and Svarog, few take heed of what the old sages in the mountain think of the matter.

With the emergence of steppes, only a few cities from Zakhar remained: Sunduk, situated in a marshland where 4 rivers meet, Bazaar by the sea, Oitosyros near what now is the Kardomirian border and Esarhadon, later renamed Zubr in the north.

The rise of nomadism

Most people went from a sedentary lifestyle to becoming nomads. Working the fields was exchanged for tending herds and the traditional round wood and dirt huts that can still be found in the northern wasteland and in Drevnedub was replaced with Yurts.

This led to the rise of warlords that gathered riders under their command and plundered either their own kinsfolk or their neighbours. To protect against such warlords, the nomadic communities gathered together in clans. However the clans themselves soon found themselves in wars against each other, with many clan leaders wanting to rule all of the steppe.

At this point, the major clans, the Kangar clans, had formed and claimed land. Several of them had also made the old Zakhar settlements or neighbouring peoples like the Trimanians and the Mountain peoples in the west pay tribute to them.

Several of the Kangar clans had tried to rule all the steppe, but it led to nothing but slaughter that weakened the Tulgar people.

The unification of Tulgar

Seeing the division of the Tulgarian people, a Gardarkan named Bulat called all the Kangar clans for a gathering at the foot of the Mountain Gar and told them of the Children of Gar and their common origins. He then tried to convince the clans to live in peace. This made a lot of people angry and he was slain on the spot in a sacrificial ceremony held by the one that wanted to take his place as Gardarkan.

His clan was angered by this, but their Ish-Kan was not brave enough to declare war on all the offending clans. Bulats daughter Guzel killed the Ish-Kan and demanded a new one to be elected. However no one dared to try the trials of the Ish-Kan, as Guzel was known as a fierce warrior. In the end, the people called for the Sha-Kan and demanded Guzel cast out. The Sha-Kan then revealed a prophesy: if Guzel became Ish-Kan, she would conquer all of the steppe from Uru in the east to the river Trim in the west. However, the Sha-Kan said: the clan would be forgotten in 7 generations.

The clanspeople thought that it was impossible to be forgotten and that they should go to war.

Guzel was made Ish-Kan and had a great sacrifice made to Bahkam, the god of war. This sacrifice gave her good fortune in battle and in 7 years she had slain all of the leaders of the other clans. She then called the clans back to the Mountain Gar and proclaimed herself as great Khan of all the steppe and that the clans should from now live as one people to be known as Tul Gar, the People of Gar. Putting swords where her father had appealed to reason made the rest of the clans follow her words.

She also proclaimed that all great clans should meet every 3 year at this spot and that any clan failing to do so was not honouring their ancestors, was not great, and therefore could be subjugated by a great clan. War between great clans would however be banned.

Guzels reign is a short, but great time in Tulgarian history with the clans being strong enough to take on any foe and peace reigning on the steppe. She proclaimed several controversial laws, amongst them prohibiting theft of brides, making all genders equal on the steppe and outlawing worship of the Black Serpent.

Many clans rebelled at her laws, however her clan was strong enough to withstand any other clan. 3 times the clans allied to bring her down, and 3 times she called allies for the Bear-people from beyond the western mountains to fight on her side. They would come in the night with great axes, or shape change into bears and wolves and slay the horses of the attacking clan, something that was seen as very dishonourable. For the sin of bringing dishonourable foreigners she was slain by her own son. He then proclaimed himself a great Khan, however the other clans demanded a new law, where the Ish-Kan can only rule a set amount of years, and then is killed, to prevent a new ruler claiming the steppe and then sitting on the throne for many years.

Most of Guzels laws were reversed, however all genders are still equal on the steppe.

While many tried, there since Guzels time not been a ruler powerful enough to unite all of the steppe for more than a few years. The clans form alliances to go to war against Damas, Triman or the Uru empire, however these alliances seldom last more than a summer or two. For that there is too big difference between the beliefs, the goals and the strength of the clans.

Guzels clan fought many wars since the rule of Guzel, but lost more than they won, and was gone in a few generations. Then there was a war with Triman, that the Tulgarians lost. And the clan was forgotten. Most believe that the clansmembers were assimilated by other clans, however some believe that they still exist as a secret clan, ready to rise again if the Tulgarians stray too far from the Tulgarian ways.

The last attempt to unite the clans was by a Gardarkan that got great and terrible magic from the Black Serpent. He was however defeated by the witch Kembish from Zubr, who is the current Gardarkan.