Samar

Overview

The Samari are a culture of shepherds and riders, wandering the steppes and striving to preserve their people in the aftermath of war and deicide. Their Archon, the great plant spirit Preica, is a casualty of the war with the Dominion, and their way of life died with him--without the influence of Preica to promote growth, the steppes are barren once more. The great capital city of Tikong lies in ruins, crushed by the boot of the Dominion and the fires of rebellion, and the fields have withered and died.

Modern Samar has two somewhat distinct parts: the pastoral areas, separated geographically from the Dominion's influence by the vast steppes, and the border settlements, fighting a guerrilla war with the Dominion to avenge their dead god and the way of life he brought them. As a result of this split, the modern Samari are a rapidly changing society, torn in several different directions.

Many of the Samari wish to return to the pastoral ways, forget the death of Preica and live simply in the steppes once more. Others wish to adopt the powers of spirits on a wider scale by using the knowledge of spirits to make their own lives better, rebuilding their cities without the power of Preica. The most radical among the Samari seek to eradicate the Dominion in its entirety, attacking military and civilians alike without distinction, using a variety of brutal and unethical tactics to accomplish their goals.

History and Religion

The Samari have long been the inhabitants of the western steppes, keeping primarily to small, fairly mobile settlements that followed the movements of herds of sheep and goats. Their folk traditions spoke of a garden, hidden within the steppes, waiting until the Samari had wandered long enough for its liking. The tradition dates back before the spirit world was introduced, and the more modern variations often say that such a place came into being when spirits first began appearing. The Samari searched endlessly for such a place, until a small tribe wandering in the eastern regions of the steppe came upon a small and fertile oasis by a riverside. They settled down to rest for the night, and set up their tents along the shore.

The apocryphal story tells of how the first Samari to bathe in the river that night, a young hunter, was struck down and writhed in the water as the great spirit Preica entered his mind. Preica used the hunter as a mouthpiece through which to address the tribe, stating that this was his domain, and they were welcome to stay if they were willing to tend it. The nomads took this as a sign that their search for the garden of legend was over, and that they had found their deity.

The city sprang up quickly around the oasis, and the spirit was more than happy to lend his power to those who wished to cultivate the land. Within several centuries, the city of Tikong was a sprawling patchwork of fields and colleges, and agriculture was becoming more and more central to Samari society. Futher to the west, the steppe-culture still prevailed, but the Samari as a whole found that they had time to congregate together, spending time in study and craftsmanship.

War and Deicide

As the city grew, it began to draw the notice of the Dominion nations to the east. A growing nation with a powerful Archon at its head, Samar seemed an obvious candidate to join the Dominion. In the year 2374, a Dominion envoy paraded with pomp and circumstance into the capital city. The retinue carried chests full of precious metals and gemstones, and were flanked on both sides by a Dominion honor guard bearing the blood red banners of The Silhouette of Stars. They strode into the main square of Tikong, and requested a grand meeting with the elders of each of the Samari tribes, and the Archon Preica himself. The Dominion diplomats offered the Samari a choice: Join the holy, powerful, and wealty nations of the Dominion, or accept that they would be swept aside and trampled under the Dominion's obvious military superiority. The Samari council of elders deliberated for two days before deciding to reject the offer. They delivered their statement to the envoy, claiming their own Archon as the only true authority, and directed the Dominion diplomat to leave immediately.

The Dominion, true to their word, returned within a year with an army. They were met at the border by an ambush force of Samari mounted archers. The Samari, badly outnumbered and outgunned, relied on skirmishing tactics to harass and annoy their enemies, hampering their advance through the vast steppes and raiding Dominion supply convoys whenever they could.  However, the Dominion army was too massive to be repelled, and  Preica's influence was little help in war. Before long, several Samari settlements had fallen, and Tikong was on the horizon.

The citizens and elders of the city conferred with Preica for guidance. After seeing the Dominion's force on their doorstep, they decided they had little choice but to surrender to occupation. A Dominion-sponsored governor from Bhakhtar was installed, and Dominion forces were quartered and fed by the unwilling Samari. However, an insurgent campaign against the conquerors began in earnest. Lone guards were found in alleyways with throats slit, the emblem of Preica carved or painted nearby. Martial law became the norm, and strict curfews were enforced. The insurgency of Tikong culminated in the public assassinatin of the Dominion governor in the year 2432.

With the governor's assassination, the Dominion forces began to lose control of the population and many lashed out violently to regain their hold. The Samari began to riot in response, and open fighting broke out once more in Samar as looters with improvised weaponry swarmed over the vastly outnumbered soldiers and tore them to pieces. Many of the Dominion soldiers in Tikong were killed in their sleep, as were any Samari who were seen as sympathizers. As night fell, more than half of the city was burning. The following day, the rest of the Dominion army returned from the countryside and attacked wholesale, slaughtering any followers of Preica they could find and imprisoning any they didn't kill outright. As his followers fell to the sword and the flames, Preica's power waned, leaving him crippled and vulnerable. The following day, the Silhouette of Stars himself trapped Preica in the river flowing through the city, and the Archon of Samar was executed by dozens of the Silhouette's Scions.

The burning of Tikong and the death of Preica sparked the fire within the people Samar once more, and a holy war began under the common name of the Sangkram Tished, or Holy War. Zealous Samari in towns under Dominion control began using more and more radical methods of opposition, spilling Dominion blood wherever possible. They began to practice forbidden arts, binding spirits to themselves and dealing with spirits that western Samar refused to even speak of. The most radical  even going so far as to allow themselves to become chimeras in Dominion-held cities, wreaking massive property damage and killing dozens before they could be put down. These practices fuel the growing separation between western and eastern Samar, and are a continuing source of headaches for the Dominion occupiers to this day. [Re: Dominion's army:

[7/2/13 5:52:46 AM] Byron Pepper: Just a heads up, according to Tim, this "avatar of war" is now the archon known as the Silhouette of Stars. He is a bloodthirsty tyrant with a horrid temper to the point where the other archons think he's a liability

[7/2/13 5:53:05 AM] Byron Pepper: But his 200 avatars are the source of his power, and his shock troops

[7/2/13 5:54:05 AM] Byron Pepper: Twice and large and powerful as a normal man, they are covered in twisted black armor, carry large halberds and have his battle standard on their backs, a blood red banner with a black ring in the middle

[7/2/13 5:54:30 AM] Byron Pepper: If one of them dies, it takes 2 weeks to replace him.  ]

Magic: The Spirit-Journey and the Servants of Preica

The Samari tradition holds that spirits are guides and mentors, and the western, 'old' Samari believe that only the most dedicated and perceptive among the Samari have the ability to successfully go out into the wilderness on a spirit-journey, taken at their coming of age. Alone and without supplies in the steppe, the seeker would mix a variety of herbs to allow themselves to see into the spirit world, and would demonstrate their capabilities and dedication to the spirits around them in hopes of securing a pact with a helpful one. Those who return with a familiar by their side are greeted as an equal to any elder member in the tribe, while those who return empty-handed must wait five years before they may try once more. The eastern Samari, however, are a rapidly modernizing group. Their understanding and attitudes towards spirits has grown to closely mirror that of the Dominion, although the majority still believe that Preica was by far the Archon most worthy of worship, and bear a grudge for his death and the deaths of their kin. The western Samari have no compunctions against binding, pacting, or even devouring and becoming twisted, malformed masses of angry spirit and flesh, as long as it means they may spill Dominion blood.

While radicals prefer to bind or devour spirits affiliated with the Dominion, they are not terribly picky.

Brainstorm Stuff

>Heavily agricultural in the past, possibly with an Archon/equivalent being of some kind in the past focused on agriculture/plants, killed by the other Archies; reason Samar has been so devastated and possibly the reason they keep fighting instead of just leaving. Heavily infantry-bred culture (a la Fremen from Dune) based around fighting a war.

>Been locked in war with the Dominon since before the Falmoran Rebellion/Shattering of the Bridge. The Rebellion distracted the Dominion from the Samarian conquest, leaving the Samari a broken and bloodied people, with little of their former culture surviving.

>Transitioned from peaceful farmers, merchants, and craftsmen to bloody-minded guerilla fighters, becoming more and more of a grudge war fought by nomadic bands of people with deep-seated hatred of the Dominion

>War crimes? Destruction of Dominion spirits in retaliation for their Great Plant Love Spirit's death?

>Heavy Assyrian influence in language/naming conventions, possibly religious aspects as well.

>Astronomy influence as well, allows for tracking of seasons/navigation.

>Large mudbrick structures due to little/no local stone quarries. Agriculture in steppe region made possible by the aid of the great plant spirit (now dead), forcing the Samari to adopt a warrior/nomad culture to survive.

>Nomadic culture? Reconcile with agricultural history/current state of affairs (i.e., hunter/gatherers, livestock, rapid spirit-assisted agriculture, or what?)

>May be reaching out to one of the Dominion's Archons to undermine the War-Archon's efforts, possibly only a separatist movement within the Samari as a whole. Divided culture?

>Attitudes toward spirits? Binding? Pacting? Focus on plant/agriculture/fertility spirits within the culture, or transition away from those?

>Tech level? Past tech vs present tech?