Nome of the Waving Blades

The first joint goal of the newly unified Blessed Concordance was to neutralise external threats to the Concordance and its members. Under pressure from the Dambor Dynasty, the first such threat addressed was the raiding bands of Centaurs who occupied the Grass Sea, with the additional aim of securing the Sea and access to the Elysian boundary.
For all the military strength of the Concordance, however, the raiders proved impossible to defeat by force of arms. They were too fast, too mobile, and their knowledge of the Grass Sea too great. Furthermore, the earth Genasi saw the Sea as sacred ground, and so could not commit to anything even approximating the sort of total war that would have tipped the balance in their favour. It was only when – against the protests of the Dambor – diplomatic missions were sent into the Grass Sea that the Concordance realised that the centaurs were deeply in awe of the genasi, and raided their land in an attempt to earn the notice and respect of their neighbours in a style unique to the Grass Sea centaur herds.
Over time, the Concordance diplomats worked to overcome the tensions between herds, and create a sufficiently united bloc to drive a movement to bring the Grass Sea into the Concordance. In CY7.7 (FY63), the Grass Sea became the Nome of the Waving Blades, and the name ‘Elysian Federation’ was coined to describe the whole of the polity of which the Blessed Concordance was the heart.
While they no longer feud incessantly, the centaur herds are far from united, retaining much of their traditional, anarchic social structure. Herds are not ‘led’ per se, but individuals who excel in a particular field will guide others in those activities. The nearest most herds have to a leader are the herdsingers, elders of still robust health who keep the law and lore of the herd and the nome.
The herdsingers meet, from time to time, at Fynring, in a gathering called the Heymoot. Fynring is the only fixed settlement in the Grass Sea, a sprawl of centaur houses – large, open and flat – spreading from the great amphitheatre of the Heymoot in a series of rings, one built after another. Ambitious centaurs keen to devote themselves to foreign affairs or diplomacy gravitate to the city, but most of its residents are older centaurs, or those whose injuries leave them unable to run with their herd. Originally a dumping ground for those considered unfit, as well as the centre of nome government, Fynring is now a living repository of centaur history and experience.
At the Heymoot, the herdsingers elect a centaur – usually from among the civil servants of Fynring – to be the Heyhet, leader of the herds and nomarch of the Waving Blades. When an election is called, the electoral votes are granted to the first seven herdsingers to reach Fynring and present themselves to the Heyhet at the amphitheatre.

Type

Geopolitical, Province