Magor People



= The Magor People =

The Secret History of the Magors
The ancient Magor people are said to have originated from a world called Artaxa. There they started their humble beginnings, as simple tribes of hunters and gatherers. Around the year 7900 BGS (This follows a calendar used only by the Magor and Carvan peoples) most of the tribes united into a confederacy, these being called the United Peoples of the Steppe. Soon after this, the tribes who didn’t agree to join, formed what was known as the Carvan Horde. The two powers would spend centuries fighting over land and wealth. The innovation of nomadic herding was discovered shortly after the formation of the Peoples of the Steppe by one of the ruling Khans, Barast the Strong. Over time, the United Peoples would begin to gain the upper hand, eventually defeating the Carvans and absorbing them into the Confederacy. The rudimentary government of the United Peoples was reformed into the Magor Khaganate, and T’midun (almost all surviving Magors can trace their lineage back to him), a Khan of the early confederacy, took the throne as the first Magor Khagan.

Then, three-thousand years before the Great Schism, a simple Magor farmer made a discovery that changed the peoples forever. This discovery would be the only reason for their survival to the present day, and the same reason for the destruction of their soon-to-be Interstellar Empire.

A farmer was tending to his herds at late night, but then stopped to watch the northern aurora for a time. After a while, he noticed what seemed to be golden particles falling from the aurora, so he journeyed to the end of his family’s land, and found something absolutely unimaginable for the primitive Magors. The particles were said to have been glowing all around him, and then in front of him, seemed to be what was described as “a ripple in the air”. The farmer, completely unaware of what was about to happen, walked into the “ripple”. He was said to have found himself on a desert island in the middle of the sea. As soon as he regained his senses, he said he located the rift on the island and immediately ran back to his home. He then rode a whole day to the village of the Khagan and requested a meeting with the ruler in his yurt. The current ruling Khagan, Ar-Xumond (Over time it became tradition that the Khagan adopt a ruling name which included the prefix ‘Ar’ in front of the main name to grant the Khagan a long and prosperous life, with his closest friends and family being the only ones allowed to call him by his birth-name), launched an expedition to the farmer’s house at once with the entire company of Royal Horsemen. Ar-Xumond began experimenting with the rift himself, passing back and forth through the rift. Once he concluded it was ‘safe’ he ordered all his scholars and priests to begin studying the ‘dust’ as it was called, knowing the great wealth it would bring the Empire if he were able to harness its power. The farmer who had made this discovery was almost immediately made into a Khan of the Empire by the order of Xumond.

Discovery of Jagdas
Almost three-thousand years later, fifteen years before the Great Schism, Tar-Volkerion (The traditional prefix Ar had eventually evolved into Tar as the Magor culture became mixed with others) was the first Magor Khagan (and the last) to set foot on the world of Jagdas. At this time, the Magors had grown into a vast empire, spanning across multiple worlds, using the magical properties of the dust. They had successfully harnessed the dust to a point where they could summon rifts at will, and predict where they would land. The rifts became known to the Magors as the ‘Infinite Steppe’ as it granted them access to the farthest reaches of the universe. Tar-Volkerion and his company were greeted first by a tribe of Elves, or ‘Numokôt’ as they were called by the Magors. The Elves had miraculously created technology that had allowed them to watch the travels of the Magors through the northern aurora of Jagdas, but had never been able to pass through the rifts. The Magors began to settle on the world and established a trade route through the dust with their homeworld of Artaxa, and the many other worlds under the banner of the Khagans. Peaceful relations with the Elves and Human tribes were established, and for the next fourteen years, the empire would continue to prosper until the second emergence of the Black Idol. An extraterrestrial deity described by the Magor Khagan Ar-D’romand, as a goddess of eternal bloodthirst and war. (This claims resemblance to a similar deity known on Rathnir) It is stated in book XII of The Secret History of the Magors, that “First, the dust began to disappear, and that the rifts were corrupted. Leaving the only way to travel back to the homeland is the dust in the mechanisms which we had created, which will soon run out. I am fearful, for I believe the Black Idol has awoken again, and has come to seek revenge on us. The others do not listen to me, they say that this will be easily solved, and that our scholars are already coming up with a solution. Little do they know that our scholars lay dead, killed by a mysterious force.” Soon after this entry, made during the year of the Great Schism, the world of Jagdas began to collapse. As it was described by the Magor Khan Bӧlgi, “Earth was split, entire mountains collapsed in on themselves, and the black clouds in the distance draw nearer everyday, bringing with them world-ravaging storms.” The Magors used the last of their precious dust to escape the dying world, to get the farthest away from that part of the universe, to travel further than they had ever attempted. And a small portion of the Magors, numbering around nine-hundred (Including the last Khagan, Tar-Volkerion), the Elven tribe, and a human tribe who called themselves the Yimmu-Audal, traveled through the largest rift ever created, to the world of Rathnir.

Though the Elves and Humans were quick to adapt to life on Rathnir, and had soon re-created their settlements and civilizations, the Magors experienced hardship with the absence of the rifts. They finally felt alone in the universe. For years, no word from Artaxa came, and the last surviving alchemists were finding difficulty in re-discovering the dust (All the sacred texts regarding the dust and how it works resided in the Khagan’s palace on Artaxa) The Magors began slowly dying off to an unknown disease, and their lone settlement was haunted by wraiths, possibly sent by the Black Idol. After two years living in exile on Rathnir, Tar-Volkerion locked himself and his wife away in a citadel to continue research on the dust, sending away their only son to some human friends who would take him in and raise him completely unknowing. The last Magor prince, the heir to the throne, remains lost in time. After Tar-Volkerion locked himself away, the last of the Magors, numbering less than one-hundred, scattered. Roaming the wilderness, taking up meager work as herders, craftsmen, and farmers.

Today, the Magors are no more. If there are any survivors of the Great Schism, they would have to be over five-hundred years old. Even when accounting for the extended lifespan of the Magors, this seems extremely unlikely. It seems, that they were simply assimilated into the other races and cultures of Rathnir, forgetting everything about themselves, and who they were.

Government of the Khaganate
The government structure of the Khaganate was relatively simplistic, with the Khagan at the top of the hierarchy. The Khagan had absolute power and was usually a blood relative of the last Khagan, though there was an exception, where if one of noble blood had a large base of influence and support, they would be allowed to challenge the Khagan’s rule in a match of single combat. This combat would usually occur on foot, but sometimes the combatants would fight on horseback. The Khagan’s inner circle would consist of three-to-six Khans, or lords. These lords would be selected from the most powerful and influential clans, or families. Each Khan would rule over their territory and report all happenings to the Khagan’s grand vizier, personally selected by the Khagan. Under the Khans, the nobles and leaders of the smaller clans. These would hold barely any real authority, but would still represent their clans in summonings and govern their people. There was no standing army in the Khaganate, save for the Khagan and Khan’s personal bodyguards. But when the time required it, it was tradition that each household would have to provide at least one able-bodied man for conscription. Women were allowed to serve in the military forces, but it was usually discouraged. There was no surefire  way for a commoner to gain influence and status besides serving in an influential Khan’s bodyguard. All in all, individuals and minorities had fairly little representation in the ‘government’, with the Magors and Carvans being the dominant ethnic groups.

Personal Rights & Freedoms
The average citizen had a few basic rights. Such rights included: Freedom of assembly, right to bear arms, and freedom of religion (though citizens who were not of the national religion were usually treated differently). These rights did not protect a citizen from cruel and unusual punishment, and their homes being searched. Freedom of speech was reserved for only those of noble birth and clan leaders. Few formal laws were needed as of how the Khaganate functioned. There was no formal ‘citizenship’, if you were inside the Khaganate’s borders, you were expected to be acquaint with all the traditional rules and costumes. However if one did choose to live within the Khaganate, they would have no say whatsoever in the government as they were not born into any family or clan. There was the rare case however, that a wealthy Khan or noble would adopt an outsider into their family after a display of heroics (to the benefit of the Khanate).

The Khaganate never developed any formal source of healthcare or legal system, nor education.