Kallik
In the icy tundra of the Northern Reaches, people have survived for millennia through cooperation, cunning, strength, and endurance. Among these people are tribes of what some would call “barbarians,” people who exist outside of civilized society in scattered tribes. These people, known as the Inumo, have survived in the farthest northern areas of the Northern Reaches through cooperation between the tribes, as well as trade with the other peoples of the area.
The Inumo, on the whole, place a heavy emphasis on the unity of a tribe. They believe that a tribe is just an extended family, and all members of the tribe are family members to be treated as such. They also believe in harmony and community, for no one can survive for long by themselves in the harsh cold. Because of this, everything is shared between members of a tribe, and the whole community comes together should someone face hardship. Finally, tradition is of utmost importance to the Inumo, with people worshiping the gods in the same way that they have for thousands of years.
One tribe, the Nanurjuk, prides itself on having some of the physically strongest people in the Northern Reaches. This strength comes from years of training, mental and physical, that all members of the tribe undergo, regardless of what they choose to do with their lives. Some Nanurjuk tribespeople continue their training to push their bodies even further, to the point where they can hunt and kill the native polar bears with their bare hands. Some legends say that these warriors have magical powers, and can even transcend death itself.
Kallik is one such member of the Nanurjuk tribe. Undergoing the most rigorous training the tribe could provide, including lifting anvils, spending hours in freezing-cold water without getting frostbite, and studying the long-storied history of his tribe and memorizing the great heroes of all the Inumo tribes and their noble deeds.
One fateful day, one of the soothsayers of another Inumo tribe sent a message to the elders of all the other tribes, telling them of a vision she had foreseen of foreigners coming to the Northern Reaches and bringing death and destruction to the Inumo. All of the elders hurried to the Great Lodge, the meeting place for the leaders of the Inumo, and discussed what would be done. Eventually, they came to a consensus — they would uproot their villages and leave nothing but snow behind, living as nomads as their ancestors had done until the foreigners left. The mightiest warriors would act as a rear guard, purposefully lagging behind to try to kill as many foreigners as they could to deter them from going further. Whoever they did not kill, the cold would.
Kallik volunteered to be part of the rear guard, as did the rest of the Nanurjuk warriors. Their devotion to their people would be their shield. As they gathered near the point where the soothsayer said that the foreigners would come, watching their now nomadic tribes walk off into the horizon with whatever they could carry, they readied themselves for the battle ahead.
When the defenders finally saw the invaders, they saw that the hundreds of them were equipped with chains and nonlethal weapons. Though the defenders fought hard, they were ultimately defeated by the invaders. The defenders were promptly put in chains and taken back to the foreigners’ ships, which set sail with their new shipment of slaves. The defenders realized to their horror that the Inumo had uprooted for nothing. The foreigners had gotten the slaves that they wanted and were leaving to sell them on the market.
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