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Notes on Waha

Posted on July 3, 2024

Waha has the second biggest cult in Prax (after Eiritha). Now he’s an unusual god, in that he doesn’t appear until after the defeat of the Devil by Storm Bull.

Waha was born, and he tamed the world and returned it even more to order. He made the earth be still and tamed the wild fire god, Oakfed. He dug a great canal and ordered it to digest the foul body of the Devil which still lay there. He freed the Protectresses and liberated the Founders. He taught men all these skills too, so they could survive without his immediate presence. Then he taught men the Peaceful Cut, which would send an animal’s soul home to the Mother of Beasts when it was butchered. Finally, he taught men weapons work, so they could protect their herds. In those ways he taught them how to survive in the harsh world and established the customs of the tribes.

Even with this help, only eight of the original twelve tribes survived to the Dawn. Waha continued to reign upon the earth until his people had reached sufficient strength to maintain themselves, and then he retired to the Paps with the other deities.

In civilized lands, he is little more than the god who taught men the Peaceful Cut and the skills of butchery, but in Prax he is revered for showing how to survive in Prax.

Although the cult was always important to the Praxians, he became even greater when the Animal Nomads expanded into the Genertelan Wastes in the Second Age. An anonymous song called “The Long Lonely Growth without Heroes” describes the Praxian perspective about this phase of their history.

Jaldon Toothmaker was the main hero of the Praxian peoples to rise among them while in the deserts of Genertela. His rise to power was probably connected with the great troubles in the east at the time, but the major role of his lifetime was against the Empire of the Wyrms Friends. He united the Animal Nomad tribes, grown large since their retreat into the Wastes. At the head of several immense armies, Jaldon conquered Prax first, then led the nomads again and again against the Empire of the Wyrms Friends. During these invasions he was slain and reborn again, and slain time and time again until the empire was crushed.

In 1120, Jaldon led the Animal Nomads against the dragonewts in the disaster that became known as the Dragonkill War. Following that disaster, Jaldon waited alone atop his altar, bereft of worshipers to lead into Dragon Pass and beyond, until the coming of Egratine Ash, centuries later.

Civilization came once again. Settlers from Sartar arrived, trying to escape the doom foretold for their kingdom. Then appeared refugees from the Lunar invasion of Sartar, when Boldhome was sacked and the Lunar Empire triumphed over its long-defiant foe. Then came the Lunar army itself.

When the actual invasion began, the nomads were embroiled in one of their usual fratricidal conflicts. Despite pleas from the priestesses of the Paps who gathered all the Khans together, only the Bison and Impala Khans would lead their warriors against the invaders. In fact, the Sable Riders refused even to come to the gathering and showed up on the right flank of the Lunar army. None of the tribes realized that the famed Antelope Lancers of the Lunar Army were Sable Riders with close clan ties to their Praxian cousins.

In 1610, the nomad host met the Lunars on the edge of the Good Place, near the Moonbroth oasis where the Lunar army was assembling. The Bison Riders and Impala Riders had gathered Rhino Riders, Pavis Survivors, the Agimori, Newtlings, the Basmoli Berserkers, and the Bolo Lizard people to their side, along with some medicine bundles, a shaman-controlled Oakfed, and even a contingent of Broos.

Despite the power of this coalition, it had no coherence, and the Lunar army used its heavy infantry to break the charge of the bison and rhinos. The nomads were surprised by the use of caltrops by the Lunar army; the sharp spikes slowed down the assault so the Lunar infantry could slaughter the oncoming hordes. The skirmishing Impalas and Pavis Survivors were met by the Sable Riders and Grazelander and dragonewt mercenaries and scattered to the winds. Agimori, Newtlings, Broos, and Berserkers were crushed by the march of the hoplites after their mounted allies were driven from the field. Oakfed could not withstand the Lunar magics; his shamans died again and again.

With the disaster at Moonbroth, all opposition to the Lunars ceased. The Impalas and Bisons were driven over the River into the Wastes; the Morokanth and High Llama withdrew beyond the Paps, and the Sable Riders were supreme between the Paps and the River, and occupied all the choice parts of the Good Place.

In the wake of the Lunar victory, the defeated tribes were sullen and lost until in 1616 a young Sartarite named Argrath made peace between the Bison Riders and the Arinstoli Sable Riders by calling upon the White Bull. Argrath tracked down and captured the White Bull, and they all swore upon it to help each other. The White Bull brothers rode on many different types of beasts and while mustered, they obeyed no rules but their own.

In 1624, Argrath mustered the White Bull brotherhood to him and together they summoned Jaldon Goldentooth and an army of Praxians. But instead of attacking Dragon Pass, Jaldon followed Argrath east towards the Lunar city of New Pavis.

Once again, the nomad host met the Lunars and their Sable Rider allies at the oasis of Moonbroth. The White Bull Brotherhood had gathered Bison Riders, High Llamas, Impala, Pol-Joni, Pavis Survivors, and Sartarite adventurers and exiles; this time it was the Lunar army that was defeated. The Sable Riders submitted to Argrath White Bull; the Lunars retreated to Pavis and prepared to defend their city.

The Lunar defenders fought hard, and levied such terrible losses that the only survivors among the assailants were heroes that day. But the few successful warriors had planted the seeds of defeat upon the wall, and the next day the eating things had cracked a segment in the north wall so that it nearly all fell to dust.

The Granite Phalanx charged through the gap but were destroyed by Argrath’s new Sable Rider allies. The proud Praxians charged through the breach. All of the Lunars were executed or enslaved by order of Yazurkial Blue Llama. Argrath White Bull was proclaimed Prince of Pavis.

He reigned on the plains, despite or because of the absence of rain, after the Dawn? Was Waha not part of the Great Compromise?

All the sections says is that “Waha continued to reign until his people had reach sufficient strength.”

and

“Even with his help, only eight of the original twelve tribes survived to the Dawn.”

There’s nothing in here about the Compromise or whether Waha still reigned at the Dawn. Waha upholds the Compromise, whether it is because he was one of the gods that held the net or because he upholds what his parents swore to do. Doesn’t really matter as it is the same effect.


Jeff Richard

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1120 ST, 1610 ST, Battle of Moonbroth I 1610 ST, Battle of Moonbroth II 1624 ST, Bison (Praxian tribe), Egratine Ash, Genert Wastes, Granite Phalanx, High Llama (Praxian tribe), Impala (Praxian tribe), Jaldon, Pavis Survivors, Pol-Joni (Praxian tribe), Prax (homeland), Sable (Praxian tribe), Waha, Yazurkial Blue Llama

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