The Kyarganiin Guard (K-yar-gan-in)
An exotic rumor to the outside world. But in the south, a true and living nightmare south of The Redveil Mountains. A strange and horrific branch of the military of The Ramian Empire. Yet worth all their legions three times over on the battlefield. The Kyarganiin are the Elite Dread-Soldiers of the Ramian Imperial Military. The last tribe of Humans conquered by the burgeoning empire, and the only one that was permitted to retain its name and culture for one purpose only. The mythic intensity of their warrior culture.
The Kyargans were known and feared through out the south as a culture of killer fanatics driven and united under a warrior cult. It's thousands of warriors tempered by their constant and static wars against neighboring Human tribes, and Orcish Hordes. Their blades bloodied in the name of a God of fire, bones, and blood. Whose name no member of the tribe would ever speak aloud. Even on pain of death.
The Kyargans today form the Terror Troops among the Ramian military elite. Answering only to the Ramian Emperors themselves as their own private army and personal guard. Made loyal to the Ramian Emperors by a manipulation of their religion. Compelling the Kyargans to worship the emperors for centuries as living aspects of their Unnamed God. If The Ramian Inquisition is the Will of the Emperor. The Kyarganiin Guard are the Emperors Wrath. The nightmare that keeps the innumerable cabals of aspiring upstarts and rebels from challenging the empire in any significant way. The same nightmare shared by every citizen in liege to Ramia who has ever seen the ruin and death wrought by these fanatic killers.
The Kyargans were known and feared through out the south as a culture of killer fanatics driven and united under a warrior cult. It's thousands of warriors tempered by their constant and static wars against neighboring Human tribes, and Orcish Hordes. Their blades bloodied in the name of a God of fire, bones, and blood. Whose name no member of the tribe would ever speak aloud. Even on pain of death.
The Kyargans today form the Terror Troops among the Ramian military elite. Answering only to the Ramian Emperors themselves as their own private army and personal guard. Made loyal to the Ramian Emperors by a manipulation of their religion. Compelling the Kyargans to worship the emperors for centuries as living aspects of their Unnamed God. If The Ramian Inquisition is the Will of the Emperor. The Kyarganiin Guard are the Emperors Wrath. The nightmare that keeps the innumerable cabals of aspiring upstarts and rebels from challenging the empire in any significant way. The same nightmare shared by every citizen in liege to Ramia who has ever seen the ruin and death wrought by these fanatic killers.
Structure
The Kyarganiin organize themselves in times of war as they do at home. Functioning as a Tribe turned into a clandestine army of shock troops.
The Kyarghal is the Chieftain of the Kyargans. Whose rule is assured by the strength of their arm and their brutality. The Kyarghal may be challenged, but only when in camp. Under the Ramian Military structure, the Kyarghal is the general of the Kyarganiin. Though unlike the Generals of the Ramian Imperial Military, the Kyarghal joins the front lines and bloodies their blade along side their soldiers. The Kyarghal is also the spiritual leader of the tribe. And is seen as the liaison for their unnamed god.
Though unconventional in the eyes of traditional military doctrines, the closest the Kyarganiin have to captains or lieutenants are the Mayakun. The Priesthood of the Kyargans religion. Dressed in bones and flayed skins. They wait to destinguish themselves on the battlefield. Equipped with not only the destinguishing scalemail armor and slanted swords. The Mayakun also carry a drinking skin full of lamp oil. To be used in a horrific suicide ritual where in they douse themselves in the oil, light themselves on fire, and plunge into the throng of the enemy lines with blind abandon to slay as many as possible before falling in sacred slaughter.
A kind of specialist among the Kyarganiin are the Haalghul, lightly equipped vanguard warriors sent to scout enemy lands undetected, to cause chaos, and death. Many among the social elite of the Ramian Empire fear the night because of the hellish tales told of these ghostly assassins.
The infantry of the Kyarganiin is made up of the Gyamal. The lockstep army that stands ready to destroy entire populations in the name of the tribe, and in the name of the Ramian Emperor.
The Kyarghal is the Chieftain of the Kyargans. Whose rule is assured by the strength of their arm and their brutality. The Kyarghal may be challenged, but only when in camp. Under the Ramian Military structure, the Kyarghal is the general of the Kyarganiin. Though unlike the Generals of the Ramian Imperial Military, the Kyarghal joins the front lines and bloodies their blade along side their soldiers. The Kyarghal is also the spiritual leader of the tribe. And is seen as the liaison for their unnamed god.
Though unconventional in the eyes of traditional military doctrines, the closest the Kyarganiin have to captains or lieutenants are the Mayakun. The Priesthood of the Kyargans religion. Dressed in bones and flayed skins. They wait to destinguish themselves on the battlefield. Equipped with not only the destinguishing scalemail armor and slanted swords. The Mayakun also carry a drinking skin full of lamp oil. To be used in a horrific suicide ritual where in they douse themselves in the oil, light themselves on fire, and plunge into the throng of the enemy lines with blind abandon to slay as many as possible before falling in sacred slaughter.
A kind of specialist among the Kyarganiin are the Haalghul, lightly equipped vanguard warriors sent to scout enemy lands undetected, to cause chaos, and death. Many among the social elite of the Ramian Empire fear the night because of the hellish tales told of these ghostly assassins.
The infantry of the Kyarganiin is made up of the Gyamal. The lockstep army that stands ready to destroy entire populations in the name of the tribe, and in the name of the Ramian Emperor.
Culture
The Kyarganiin are one of the only ethnic groups in the Ramian Empire that were spared from the forced civilization and integration that had befallen so many other lesser developed peoples in the south. Those tribes of Humans too primitive to militarily resist the refined training and equipment of the Ramian Legions. As well as too disparaged by the rigid social engineering to retain their cultural identity. The Kyarganiin are one of the unique exceptions in the Ramian population demographics. The Kyargans were the last tribe encountered by Ramiok Szaengueine. The man who would go on to be the founding Emperor of the Ramian Empire. But submitted to Ramian rule when the battle that had been their encounter endeared Ramiok as the living avatar of their unnamed god. And after witnessing the fierceness of their warrior culture, Ramiok allowed for their ethnic identity to remain intact. So as to benefit from the inseparable tie it held to their prowess as warriors.
The particulars of the Kyarganiin as a culture are widely a mystery. The Ramian Emperors have traditionally kept them exempt from the Imperial Census and guarded them on pain of death from the study of scholarship. So as to nourish the mystique of the Kyargans near alien warrior culture that had taken root in the minds of any who heard of them. Both at home and abroad. However, facts and scraps of information have escaped the Ramian censure and made it into written commentary and biographic literature.
What is known, is that the Kyargan culture became what it is by the cruel and inhospitable terrain of The Burning Tundra's . Their earliest ancestors surviving on the scant plant life and the only wild game that was sure to feed the whole of their tribal groups. The predatory monsters that hunted the weaker animal life that lived there. Scholarship and military historians have determined that it was these contributing factors and the scarcity of drinkable water that led to the Kyargans take up a Warrior culture. Where in the strong live and the weak must die. And the strongest always leads.
The Kyargan social order seems to depend on the assurance of strength. If any weakness is perceived, it is removed at all costs to ensure strength. The dire confines of the land led to the lust and love of strength and brutality among the Kyargans. Similarly to The Skaari in Bulgaard. Yet unlike the Skaari, the Kyarganiin care nothing for honor or honesty. They care only for the spilling of blood above all else. In the name of their unnamed god that was born from the fire and ash of the burning edge of the world. A god that every Kyargan pledges themselves to by the deathly rigors of The Kyalmakum. The scarring of the body from feet to face. And burning of the cuts with white hot blades. Making a consort of pain from the earliest ages.
Kyargan tradition dictates that a Kyarghal lead the tribe. With the council of a circle of Mayakun to advise the Kyarghal and guide the tribe in the bloody worship of their god. At times, a Gyamal commoner of the tribe may challenge the Kyarghal. Either out of ambition to lead, or because the Kyarghal has made a display of weakness in their eyes. The challenge is issued, and the Mayakun will call for the tribe to assemble in witness to The Ghalmokho. A duel for the leadership of the tribe. Similar to the Urmurghaan ritual duel of the Orcs. The duel must end with the death of one or the other. There can be no compromise.
The dream and lust of every Kyargan is the call of The Kyarkara. The formal declaration of war. In this ritual mobilization. The entirety of the tribe is marshalled in a orgiastic anointing of every fighting age member of the tribe with the mixed blood of human prisoners, hunted animals, and slain monsters along with a dusting of the blood painted skin with volcanic ash. Gathered and equipped for war, the Mayakun perform a rigorous and voice damaging litany of chants that they believe attract the eyes of their god. Invigorating the Kyarganiin to the fight that awaited them.
These small facts are the bulk of what is known of the Kyarganiin. All the rest is either questionable or unreliable. Due to the penchant of the The Ramian Inquisition for spreading misinformation and propaganda to counteract even the most miniscule of opposing information and public opinion. Or because the information comes from the terrified and maddening tales of survivors of a Kyarganiin deployment. What is known for a certainty is that the Kyarganiin are zealously loyal to the Ramian Emperor, whom they see as the living aspect of their unnamed god. And that the Ramian Empire is held together in large part due to the fear of them.
The particulars of the Kyarganiin as a culture are widely a mystery. The Ramian Emperors have traditionally kept them exempt from the Imperial Census and guarded them on pain of death from the study of scholarship. So as to nourish the mystique of the Kyargans near alien warrior culture that had taken root in the minds of any who heard of them. Both at home and abroad. However, facts and scraps of information have escaped the Ramian censure and made it into written commentary and biographic literature.
What is known, is that the Kyargan culture became what it is by the cruel and inhospitable terrain of The Burning Tundra's . Their earliest ancestors surviving on the scant plant life and the only wild game that was sure to feed the whole of their tribal groups. The predatory monsters that hunted the weaker animal life that lived there. Scholarship and military historians have determined that it was these contributing factors and the scarcity of drinkable water that led to the Kyargans take up a Warrior culture. Where in the strong live and the weak must die. And the strongest always leads.
The Kyargan social order seems to depend on the assurance of strength. If any weakness is perceived, it is removed at all costs to ensure strength. The dire confines of the land led to the lust and love of strength and brutality among the Kyargans. Similarly to The Skaari in Bulgaard. Yet unlike the Skaari, the Kyarganiin care nothing for honor or honesty. They care only for the spilling of blood above all else. In the name of their unnamed god that was born from the fire and ash of the burning edge of the world. A god that every Kyargan pledges themselves to by the deathly rigors of The Kyalmakum. The scarring of the body from feet to face. And burning of the cuts with white hot blades. Making a consort of pain from the earliest ages.
Kyargan tradition dictates that a Kyarghal lead the tribe. With the council of a circle of Mayakun to advise the Kyarghal and guide the tribe in the bloody worship of their god. At times, a Gyamal commoner of the tribe may challenge the Kyarghal. Either out of ambition to lead, or because the Kyarghal has made a display of weakness in their eyes. The challenge is issued, and the Mayakun will call for the tribe to assemble in witness to The Ghalmokho. A duel for the leadership of the tribe. Similar to the Urmurghaan ritual duel of the Orcs. The duel must end with the death of one or the other. There can be no compromise.
The dream and lust of every Kyargan is the call of The Kyarkara. The formal declaration of war. In this ritual mobilization. The entirety of the tribe is marshalled in a orgiastic anointing of every fighting age member of the tribe with the mixed blood of human prisoners, hunted animals, and slain monsters along with a dusting of the blood painted skin with volcanic ash. Gathered and equipped for war, the Mayakun perform a rigorous and voice damaging litany of chants that they believe attract the eyes of their god. Invigorating the Kyarganiin to the fight that awaited them.
These small facts are the bulk of what is known of the Kyarganiin. All the rest is either questionable or unreliable. Due to the penchant of the The Ramian Inquisition for spreading misinformation and propaganda to counteract even the most miniscule of opposing information and public opinion. Or because the information comes from the terrified and maddening tales of survivors of a Kyarganiin deployment. What is known for a certainty is that the Kyarganiin are zealously loyal to the Ramian Emperor, whom they see as the living aspect of their unnamed god. And that the Ramian Empire is held together in large part due to the fear of them.
Assets
In the beginning, the Kyarganiin fought shirtless with primitive quality bronze or iron swords. But after their incorporation into the Ramian Military, their equipment soon became more sophisticated and standardized.
The Burning Tundra's are their sovereign territory held in trust by the grace of the Ramian Empire. These lands are not only their recruitment zones, but also their training grounds. The harsh terrain, brutal wild life, and scarcely edible plant life harden the Kyargans into a horror on the battlefield. Their morale in combat beaten into impenetrable steel by the rigors of their homeland.
The Kyargan go to war wearing scalemail armor over their torso, arms, and legs. With their heads protected by helmets adorned with burned skulls over their visors. Their weapons range from fine steel wide-blade swords, and longspears with barbed shafts. Beyond their equipment, the Kyarganiin are formidable hand to hand fighters.
Kyarganiin warriors rarely fight on horseback. Preferring to fight on foot to utilize their rabid foot work and frenzied swordsmanship. However, the times have led to the Kyarganiin riding war horses into battle. Though they rarely keep the horse afterwards. As likely to kill the horse for food rations as they are to kill their enemies.
The Burning Tundra's are their sovereign territory held in trust by the grace of the Ramian Empire. These lands are not only their recruitment zones, but also their training grounds. The harsh terrain, brutal wild life, and scarcely edible plant life harden the Kyargans into a horror on the battlefield. Their morale in combat beaten into impenetrable steel by the rigors of their homeland.
The Kyargan go to war wearing scalemail armor over their torso, arms, and legs. With their heads protected by helmets adorned with burned skulls over their visors. Their weapons range from fine steel wide-blade swords, and longspears with barbed shafts. Beyond their equipment, the Kyarganiin are formidable hand to hand fighters.
Kyarganiin warriors rarely fight on horseback. Preferring to fight on foot to utilize their rabid foot work and frenzied swordsmanship. However, the times have led to the Kyarganiin riding war horses into battle. Though they rarely keep the horse afterwards. As likely to kill the horse for food rations as they are to kill their enemies.
History
Precious little is known of the Kyarganiin and their history. Much of what is known of them comes from their bloody encounters with other tribes, the Orcish Hordes, The Ellician Empire, and their present overlords in The Ramian Empire. Though the later will not divulge everything about them, if at all. Preferring to nourish the nightmarish mystique of the Dread Soldiers of the Ramian Emperors in the minds of would-be upstarts and adversaries.
What is known by the brave investigations of those few scholars blessed with a species of luck, is that the Kyargans have lived in the wide ranges of The Burning Tundra's for well over 9,000 years. Corresponding with the myth of The Flight of Ryora and the two-thousand ships from the The Old Songs of The Arteans. Where in the Artean Matriarch, Ryora of the Gulls, led a fleet of two-thousand ships out of Artea and into the east.
Scholarship estimates the Kyargans arrival into the lands of the Burning Tundra's to be around Second Aeon, 4403 E.T. With the persistent theory of the Tundra's former fertility being a pervasive component of the discussion along side the likelihood of their confinement in the region being due to the ferocity of the Orcish Hordes north of the Burning Tundra's who would likely contest the Kyargans presence in their lands. The harshness of the land and the mythic brutality of the predators and monsters in the tundra's are acknowledged to be part of the driving factors of their warrior cult and social order.
Records by the Ellician Empire that tell of the Kyargans are few and far between. The south had ever been a black eye in the Ellician Dream of bringing a harmony of government, faith, and culture. With the Human tribes of Southern Aederos resisting almost any and all interaction from the Empire from well defended sanctuaries nestled in the harsh geography. But there are records from the middle Third Aeon recounting survivor stories from decimated tribes that met the Kyargans in pitched battle. Their tear soaked testimonies painting a picture of a culture of fanatics for slaughter adept in warcraft. Ellician Legion records say that the ancient Kyargans held a contempt for correspondence and interaction with other cultures. That a craven god had commanded them to declare war on the whole world.
The most commonly known story is from the recounting of their integration into the Ramian Empire in Fourth Aeon, 344 A.E. The story of how Ramiok Szaengueine, the founder and first Emperor of the Ramian Empire, had won the affection and loyalty of the Kyargans by facing them in battle and drenching himself in the blood of their fiercest warriors. Taking advantage of a belief of the tribe that held that their unnamed god would present itself in flesh and blood one day, and that this would be made known by the slaughtering of their fiercest warriors. When Ramiok fit the requirements of their prophecy. He won the tribe by becoming the living face of their god. A role that Ramioks heirs would maintain with frantic enthusiasm in the centuries after.
The date of the Kyargans formal integration into the Ramian Military is not known. But what is known is that the Ramian Emperors first employed them as an elite guard. Their savage skill being a supreme boon against the assassins that made their rabid attempts on the emperors life in revenge for the decimation of their tribes. But eventually, it became a major need to employ the Kyargans on the battlefield. Thus granting them a dual purpose. Bodyguard, and Elite Army.
As the Kyargans earned victory after victory for the Ramian Empire. Their training became more and more sophisticated. Employing elite swordsmanship hand in hand with espionage tactics. Their exploits as a Shadow Army became a nightmare for those kingdoms and tribal confederations in the south that dared oppose the Ramian war machine. These combined proficiencies made the Kyargans unstoppable against the unprepared kingdoms they trampled under their dark boots. Entire tribes and nations would simply disappear in their wake. Making them masters at genocide.
The Kyarganiin Guard are said to have slaughtered twelve nations and seventeen tribes. Rumors validated only by the occasional confirmation of trophies kept by the Mayakun captains and some of the Gyamal. Items, weapons, and even belts and straps made of human skin bearing tattoos once identifiable with the tribes they were said to have conquered.
What is known by the brave investigations of those few scholars blessed with a species of luck, is that the Kyargans have lived in the wide ranges of The Burning Tundra's for well over 9,000 years. Corresponding with the myth of The Flight of Ryora and the two-thousand ships from the The Old Songs of The Arteans. Where in the Artean Matriarch, Ryora of the Gulls, led a fleet of two-thousand ships out of Artea and into the east.
Scholarship estimates the Kyargans arrival into the lands of the Burning Tundra's to be around Second Aeon, 4403 E.T. With the persistent theory of the Tundra's former fertility being a pervasive component of the discussion along side the likelihood of their confinement in the region being due to the ferocity of the Orcish Hordes north of the Burning Tundra's who would likely contest the Kyargans presence in their lands. The harshness of the land and the mythic brutality of the predators and monsters in the tundra's are acknowledged to be part of the driving factors of their warrior cult and social order.
Records by the Ellician Empire that tell of the Kyargans are few and far between. The south had ever been a black eye in the Ellician Dream of bringing a harmony of government, faith, and culture. With the Human tribes of Southern Aederos resisting almost any and all interaction from the Empire from well defended sanctuaries nestled in the harsh geography. But there are records from the middle Third Aeon recounting survivor stories from decimated tribes that met the Kyargans in pitched battle. Their tear soaked testimonies painting a picture of a culture of fanatics for slaughter adept in warcraft. Ellician Legion records say that the ancient Kyargans held a contempt for correspondence and interaction with other cultures. That a craven god had commanded them to declare war on the whole world.
The most commonly known story is from the recounting of their integration into the Ramian Empire in Fourth Aeon, 344 A.E. The story of how Ramiok Szaengueine, the founder and first Emperor of the Ramian Empire, had won the affection and loyalty of the Kyargans by facing them in battle and drenching himself in the blood of their fiercest warriors. Taking advantage of a belief of the tribe that held that their unnamed god would present itself in flesh and blood one day, and that this would be made known by the slaughtering of their fiercest warriors. When Ramiok fit the requirements of their prophecy. He won the tribe by becoming the living face of their god. A role that Ramioks heirs would maintain with frantic enthusiasm in the centuries after.
The date of the Kyargans formal integration into the Ramian Military is not known. But what is known is that the Ramian Emperors first employed them as an elite guard. Their savage skill being a supreme boon against the assassins that made their rabid attempts on the emperors life in revenge for the decimation of their tribes. But eventually, it became a major need to employ the Kyargans on the battlefield. Thus granting them a dual purpose. Bodyguard, and Elite Army.
As the Kyargans earned victory after victory for the Ramian Empire. Their training became more and more sophisticated. Employing elite swordsmanship hand in hand with espionage tactics. Their exploits as a Shadow Army became a nightmare for those kingdoms and tribal confederations in the south that dared oppose the Ramian war machine. These combined proficiencies made the Kyargans unstoppable against the unprepared kingdoms they trampled under their dark boots. Entire tribes and nations would simply disappear in their wake. Making them masters at genocide.
The Kyarganiin Guard are said to have slaughtered twelve nations and seventeen tribes. Rumors validated only by the occasional confirmation of trophies kept by the Mayakun captains and some of the Gyamal. Items, weapons, and even belts and straps made of human skin bearing tattoos once identifiable with the tribes they were said to have conquered.
Founding Date
Fourth Aeon, 344 A.E. 16th of Illuvas
Type
Military, Special Operations Force
Alternative Names
The Nightmare of the South
Training Level
Elite
Veterancy Level
Decorated/Honored
Demonym
Kyargan
Leader
Leader Title
Location
Official Languages
Related Ethnicities
Comments