Bonus: The Sky that Fell

Great Father is the First Sky, whose arrows are the lightning, whose hoofbeats are the wind, and whose mane is the clear blue sky.

The Second Sky is the Starson, who led the greatest hunt of all. It was he who hunted the Gods and fashioned their bones into his armaments. It was he who gave the Mountains to the People to hunt forevermore.

The Third Sky is the first whose name is not sealed. Mighty Balamber, Lord of Summer, who faced the bloodtide in the west, stirred to madness by the lowlander kings. It was he who met the Red Jungle in war and enforced the Compact of the Crimson Noon.

The Fourth Sky is Wise Metok, Lord of the Spring, whose fury is the flood and whose compassion is the rain. It was he whose wisdom wrought the seasons and bound the Crone to return to her lands of Always Winter each year.

The Fifth Sky is Stolid Sarangerel, Lady of the Night, who brings health to babes and who guides the cunning hunter’s eye. It was she who carved the first mask and she who whispered the secret names of the traitor stars unto the Moon.

The Sixth Sky is Wroth Batu, Lord of War, who led the first host of the People to war and who beat back the Children of Trees. Glory to him, who shattered the Stag Lord’s horns! Glory to him, who kept the People free.

The Seventh Sky… never came.

For many centuries, the people had yearned for the rise of a new Sky to finish the work of Batu. Onward had come the lowlanders, digging like worms into the flesh of the mountains to carve out their hearts. The warriors of the People fought, and yet ever onward, they crept, innumerable as the great locust tide. One year at a time, one valley at a time, the People lost.

He came then, a humble boy of a defeated tribe, taken into the household of his father’s sister. Yet bold was the child Ogodei, and the path of a mere hunter would not satisfy the thirst for glory in his heart. A warrior born, he swiftly dominated the games of boys and earned his wings. There, he earned the favor of childless Mondor, Khan of the Thunder Bearers tribe, and rose swiftly in the esteem of the warriors.

Many trials awaited him. Warriors dissatisfied with the Khan’s favor gave to him deadly tasks, and each one, he conquered. Twice did he fend off ambushes from collaborators of other tribes, seeking his life.

But the first true sign of glory came at his day of bonding. There did Ogodei refuse to accept a Beast-Self of the tribe’s bloodline, even a foal of Khan Mondor’s line. He claimed the Rite of Founding and set forth to establish his claim.

None can say what adventures and journeys the young Khan had in the highest mountain peaks where Father’s storms rage eternal. Yet after ten years, long after he was assumed dead, did Ogodei descend, aback a mighty Dragon Horse whose scales glittered as ice and whose horn was Father’s lightning made manifest. Young warriors flocked to Ogodei, and young women fought for the right to challenge for his hand.

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Once again did the young Khan earn consternation when he chose Sarnai of the Thunder Bearers as his bride, daughter of a simple hunter, a girl he had known in his youth. Alas, when the young Khan left upon his marital quest, tragedy struck. Lowlanders under the name of Li came to the Thunder Bearers’ grazing peak, seeking the wealth in its heart. There was slain the Khan Mondor, his warriors, and gentle Sarnai alike.