Sky Riders

When the tide of the Wolf receded back across the Ruohom Grass Sea, the bitterness of the defeats at Hjoddsrest and Fort Stalholt lingered in the mouths of many Elk varns. Several of them, whose herds had been most shattered against the fortifications of the Wolf, wandered as do scraps of a shredded banner in the wind across the steppes. Eventually, these scraps gathered where the wind beats itself against the tall mountains, and the Elk varns looked up and saw the clouds scudding free past the jagged peaks. From that pure moment, the Sky Riders were born.

Sky Riders are a faction of Elk herds that take the culture and ideals of traditional Elk society into the seas of winds and clouds that rest atop the rest of the Sjonderwold. The massive eagles and drakes that nest amongst the crags along the border between the Elk range and the Dragon holds were adopted as the mounts of choice by the shattered varns, as those creatures could no sooner be stopped by a hill-and-ditch trap as they would be by a placid stream, and no sooner stopped by a shield wall as they would by a flock of sheep.

Cloud-barges, caught and carefully harnessed, give the Sky Riders the same utility that sledges give their landed brethren. Sky Riders even have something akin to cities, for all the good it does the Wolf jarls that wish for a place to pin them down - the cloud mountains give the Sky Riders roosts, halls, and even citadels that rival those of the Owl and Wolf.

If normal Elk are aloof and unreachable, the Sky Riders are even more so. What need have they to stoop down and treat with the same people that drove them from their steppes? Invariably, however, interest or need for goods that can only be had on the ground sends careful trading parties down to the surface, where they mix and mingle and disguise themselves as any other Elk herd. Sky-climbing and strong flying beasts remain the best means of reaching Sky Riders, and those lucky enough to do so can travel with a speed and style unmatched anywhere in the Sjonderwold.