Glade Runners

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Overview and Game Details
A green forest dwelling race with quill hair. It’s alas hard to know if they’re looking at you as their eyes don’t have an iris or pupil, just solid green. they largely travel in nomadic tribes, but are slowly re-building a long lost empire.

''Racial Ability: summon 3 tiles tightly woven root walls from the ground. Each tile can take 30 damage each before crumbling.''

Post War History
Following the Gladerunner Genocide in what would later be called the Burning War, the fractured Elvendom, scattered after the loss of Emperor Neo Lancis, signed a peace treaty with the Glade Runners that returned much of Glade Runner land to the race. The Ashen treaty as it was called, would see the Elves retreat from their invasion in horror at their atrocities. Keener and more critical minds would later see that, whether the Elves were genuinely remorseful or not, it was a critically strategic choice. As Elven Grand Earls (rulers of large counties along the borders of a nation, responsible for maintaining professional standing armies to defend the borders of said nation on the behalf of their monarch), Monarchs, and even different sects and members of the Imperial family began to vie for power within the ElderGleen, any attempt to actually consolidate their conquests would have been an impossible thing, and everyone needed their soldiers back home to protect them and their interests. Eventually, the Elven Grand Earls would rise up against the Imperial family in a united effort, but were crushed in battle and their entire rank and class abolished from Elven society. Today, Elven border provinces are split among countless fiefdoms run by Barons, so that there would never again be a handful of elvish lords strong enough to challenge the Imperial Family.

The Gladerunners themselves were left few in number. Their fields had been ravaged and their sacred forests burned. Winter was only months away and they had no food stores left. Much of their leadership had fallen in battle, along with most of their military. All that was left were those too old or too young to be thrown into battle. The Elves offered no aid, even the few that were willing, they were too involved with their own affairs to spare the manpower and wealth. Other nations and races dared not risk the displeasure of the Elves by aiding a very recent enemy. The Glade runners were truly, and utterly alone.

Knowing that the local land around the Great Tree did not hold the necessary resources to maintain even the small population that was left, the Gladerunners divided themselves into tribes of family clans to wander all of their former lands and the wilds beyond. The list of tribes (Veldjarinvē) and clans (Dalmgoruvē) is as follows:

 

Original Four:

The Northern Tribe (ətmidveldjarin):

Clan ­­Watcher (Ūtodonak)

Clan Stormfist (Kilorijēde)

Clan Greenborn (Verdūērinak)

 

The Eastern Tribe (əddirveldjarin):

Clan Farwalker (Nəftgungjarnak)

Clan Treeborn (Ormdūēriak)

 

The Western Tribe (ətjorveldjarin):Clan Root (Holt)

Clan Ironwood (Lungəormdalm)

Clan Ashenwake (Ətmāvādagātung)

 

The Southern Tribe (әtkūdveldjarin):	Clan Bowstringer (Varvēlivak)

Clan Earthmover (Mohotandorūmak)

Clan Widower	 (Dimākjo)

Clan Windsinger (Hohodirēhonak)

Later Tribes:

 

-Clan Root and Clan Ashenwake, being smaller than Clan Ironwood and finding their clan leaders in strong disagreement with Clan Ironwood’s leadership over matters of tradition (Can Ironwood seeking to abandon all tradition and completely abolish all teaching of Gladerunner history due to the shame of defeat, a practice adopted by the all the clans of the Northern Tribe), split off to form the Oldspoken (Vuriojnivitak) Tribe

-Later on, the Oldspoken tribe splits again when part of Clan Root and Clan Ashenwake decide to settle in the south-eastern territory of the Gladerunners, which saw the least destruction during the Burning War. Half of Clan Root sees this as an unnecessary provocation of the Southern Tribe and also a doomed attempt by overzealous students of history to reclaim the civilization that the Gladerunners have lost. This half of Clan Root splits off and becomes the small Rootbearer (Holtdonak) Tribe and wanders consistently West and Southward, even crossing out of Gladerunner lands at times. The Oldspoken tribe’s attempts at settlement are unsuccessful and eventually, discouraged and disheartened, the tribe resumes their wandering in the northern stretches of the western Gladerunner territory, careful to avoid the new Tribes of Stormfist and Watcher. This tribe does however establish numerous permanent dwelling places that they rotate between, as the skill to work the land is forgotten to them and they must constantly move their herds and follow the packs of wild animals that they hunt.

 

-The Northern clans fell into rivalry and conflict with one another over the sparse resources of the Northern swathes of the Gladerunner lands which were the most devastated by the war and the looting of the retreating Elves. The Northern Tribe falls apart and each clan becomes a tribe unto itself with little ties to other Gladerunners and in constant competition with the other, large Northern clans. New tribes: The Stormfist Tribe, The Watcher Tribe, the Greenborn Tribe

 

-Clan Farwalker and Clan Treeborn eventually merge after centuries of intermarrying, becoming one large, unified Eastern Tribe that has a regular wandering path, following prey animals. Recently, however, the Eastern Tribe has begun to fracture over religious matters, with three different factions vying for power.

 

-The Southern Tribes were some of the smallest, but due to the plentiful bounty of the Southern lands, grew in size to rival the Northern tribe, and then the Northern tribes. However, their size proved difficult, as they were given the least amount of land at the meeting and formation of the clans due to their size. In order to branch out, Clan Bowstringer and Clan Windsinger formed a new tribe, the Newlander (Nēvotanjonak) Tribe. The Newlanders left the Gladelands to wander deep into the Southern reaches of the land, often into the Southern coasts and the lands of the Birdmen, known by their own tongue as Faravahar. Clan Widower and Clan Earthmover then fell into conflict over what paths to follow in the south and what land technically belonged to what clan. This resulted in three tribes, with the Widower tribe taking the west half of the south and the Earthmover tribe taking the east. A third tribe consisting of members of Clan Widower and Clan Earthmover who sought peace ended up taking residence in the far southern reaches of Gladerunner territory, naming themselves the Peacewalker (Iolagungjarnak) tribe

 

After nearly 600 years of war and conflict between the Gladerunners, the forests had mostly recovered and stood tall and high once again, though the splendour of the ancient trees would never again be attained. A revival in Gladerunner unification began and conflict between the even greater number of tribes increased, with some tribes having multiple tribal groups they had grown so large, while others had lost size and stature in the conflicts. The Rootbearer Tribe, for instance, grew in stature since its split from the Oldspoken, and formed three different traveling tribal groups, while the Stormfists had lost many of their northern wars and were now a small clan and tribe without any real territory of their own.

But with peace came complications. Some Gladerunners looked back Northeast at the Elven Kingdom, still suffering from internal divisions and power vacuums created from internal disputes and wars. There were those who desired revenge, to bleed elvendom just as they had bled. Others could care less about the Elves and were focused more on expanding Gladerunner lands, to formally lay claim to many of the wildernesses that the tribes had already been wandering through as sojourners for generations now. Others still wanted to re-establish the settled life of farmers and builders, as the Gladerunners of old had been.

These views struggled with one another for nearly a hundred years as the tribes grew used to the peace and old blood-feuds were slowly, meticulously allowed to die out. The tribes would all meet at the stump of the great tree once every decade to discuss what was next. But so many centuries of bloodshed and rivalling ideologies and tribal pride did not make such meetings easy, uneventful things. Instead, there was often a need for certain tribes to be separated due to threats of violence breaking out between them.

It was at one of these meetings that the Great Bloodletting happened. Several tribes claim different things about how it began and who the original belligerents were, and even clans within those tribes disagree on the details. Suffice to say, some members of some clan or clans decided to attempt creating a military dictatorship amongst the Gladerunners in order to go claim territory in the Northeast and perhaps even make an attack on Elvendom. They did this in the dead of night toward the end of the determined time of meeting (usually some four to six days). When other clans or members of other clans heard of this, they confronted the warmongers immediately. Different accounts say different parties struck the first blow, but a blow was struck, and soon the whole gathering of the Gladerunners was soaked in bloodshed as tribe turned on tribe, clan turned on clan, family turned on family. Nearly 40,000 were killed in a matter of hours before all the tribes fled to their various lands.

No meeting was called for another 200 years, with only a gravely uneasy peace to keep the tribes from going to war once more and devolving into the horrid tribal conflicts that had plagued them following the Ashen War. Some minor wars did occur, and several times various Gladerunner tribes made treaties with one another, some which lasted and continue to be in practice today, and others which fell through almost immediately.

However, 820 years after the fall of the Great Tree, 76 years before the present day, something changed. Curio Hilson, the son of one of the many Gladerunners who left the Gladelands to find life and adventure elsewhere, away from the ruins of a dead civilization and the warring factions of its fallen remnants, returned to the Gladelands at the head of the returning Newlander tribe. The Newlanders had grown in size, strength, wisdom, and technology away from their brethren, but had never forgotten the old ways or the traditions of the Gladerunners. They were also not part of the Great Bloodletting, and so remained in the good graces of all the tribes, though some considered them with hesitation as foreigners to the Gladelands.

Curio Hilson also aroused much uproar, having no proper Ver Gant name but rather having taken on a name in the common speech. However, Curio was a man of great words and powerful visions that swayed even the most cynical and vengeful of his people. His response to the Gladerunners who accosted him due to his heritage and name was often, “You say my name is common, why should it not be? What have you, the Gladerunner people, done that is extraordinary? Do not speak to me of your fathers or your mothers, for they were mine also. My name is common, but I will not be. What say you?”

Opposition crumbled beneath Curio’s words, which roused both great shame and anger in those who heard them, but those who listened were not shamed or angered by Curio, but by themselves. Curio’s words struck a chord in the Gladerunner people as he called upon them to rise up out of the barbarism that had plagued them for so long.

“These Glades once rang with song and culture, not the screams of the belligerent and the drunken laughter of the defeated! Our blades were once greatwood and steel, not crude iron and sticks! Our feet once danced and ran, now they trudge. What say you?”

Members of every tribe went to meet Curio as he and the Newlander tribe made their way to the stump of the Great Tree. And everyone who asked him what he meant to do Curio answered with the same story of the Gladerunner people fallen from grace and glory and finish with the same question, “What say you?”

He did not answer that question until at last he stood before the old stump of the Great Tree, the land around it void of any trees but rich in soil and foliage that had grown from the thick, black ash that had made the land one of the most fertile places in all the continent. Curio turned to address what was now the first gathering of the clans and tribes in 200 years to the day, “We were burned here, our fathers and mothers perished in flames in this very grove. But look! Now the Glades have reclaimed these ashes. The land grows green once more. What say you? Shall we regrow, or shall we remain ash until the day comes when the Gladerunner people awake again and remember that we are strong?”

The tribes grew divided over Curio’s message. But over the next few decades Curio would only continue to grow in influence over the Gladerunner people. Now, every year, the Gladerunner tribes that remain gather at the Great Tree to begin to rebuild their once hallowed city around the stump, where Curio has planted a seedling which he claims to be from the great tree itself, having been plucked from the fire by his forefathers and passed down to him. Still the tribes wander, but as they wander they rebuild. Old walls have begun to shed moss and earth and see the light of day, old roads find themselves trod once more and their paths made clear again. It is only the start of a process that will no doubt take the better part of three centuries, but Curio watches its progress with a burning passion that ignites the hearts of many of his fellow Gladerunners. His goal is not expansion or empire he says, though he certainly admits that is the goal of many of those beneath him. When asked why he has chosen this path for the Gladerunner people, he often simply smiles and says, “It is the nature of the Glade to die in the winter’s ash. And once dead, to regrow, to live and shine in the spring. My grandmother waited long for winter to end, as did her son, my father. But both of them passed before they saw it come to its end, because winter has clawed its way into the heart and mind of my people, such that they cannot perceive anything else no matter how often the seasons change. Winter would not end for them, so I ended it. I haven’t seen spring yet in its fullness, but as I watch my people together, watch the Glade grow around them and their hearts return to the warmth and strength that our ancestors knew… I get a glimpse of it. All I do, I do for a simple reason. I want to see the spring of my people.”

As the Gladerunners rebuild, there is great debate amongst them over whether to remain nomads or return to their settled way of life of almost a millennia before. But rather than great arguments that tear apart the fabric of peace between the tribes, these debates are now governed over and considered by the assembly of tribes, with Curio and his strongest followers acting as mediators. Curio himself takes no position on the matter both in public and in person it seems.

But while the Glade rejoices, eyes begin to drift back to the Gladelands. The Gladelands’ natural resources have again grown bountiful, and in a time of great cities and enterprise, they are well worth their weight in gold or blood. Moreover, the Gladerunners have lost none of their prowess in battle, nor their remarkable fervour and zeal for their people and their tribes. Their numbers are nearly as great now as they were back at the height of their power, their warriors are battle-hardened and their commanders well tested and groomed since childhood. The dangerous life of nomads within the wilds, facing the trials of nature in both the environment and the predators within, have made the Gladerunners a hardy people. Not a few nations have looked on their slow movement to unification with concern. Not a few have looked to their own forces, left meagre in size and with little experience from centuries of peace, and not felt a twinge of fear.

Even the Gladerunners do not know what to expect of their people, or what to expect from a revived, unified Gladerunner state. And so, fear and doubt works its way into the hearts of those around the Gladelands. How far it will go, time will tell.

Contribution by Dylan Grant

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