WORLD BOOK WORLD BOOK WORLD BOOK 0054 0054
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The other great influence that keeps Kod a major part
of Makadan culture is the closeness of the Krikis Hivelands. Since the Chitin Wars, Makadan have born the
brunt of the Krikis invasions. Thus, martial prowess and
a focus on honing themselves to sharp edges keeps the
Makadan peoples united and strong despite the closeness and power of a nigh-overwhelming enemy.
What surprises most about Kod is that no one outside
a Makadan tribe knows of it, nor can any lore be found
about it. Orally taught and constantly recited and memorized, Kod cannot be traced back to any one teacher or
example or incident. What triggered Kod’s origins shall
remain as unknown as the number of sands in a dune.
Those who know Kod know how to keep secrets just as
they know how to keep ahead of those who would oppose them. One with a loose tongue should expect to be
blinded like a difficult thakal!
Ranks & Types
The most well known quote about Makadan society
comes from the anonymously written Of the Khitan
Tribes and Their Mores, a two-centuries-old tome in
Wani Chereet’s Great Library of Atsrath. “What the Kral
command, the Makadan do without hesitation. What
the Sovetnik demand, the Makadan deliver without
delay. What the Pobornik preach, the Makadan believe
without doubt. ” As noted, Makadan society breaks
along four stratified roles: leaders, administrators, overseers, and all others.
• Kral: “Those who rule.” They are Makadan sociopolitical elites and leaders, what other cultures
might call noble families or major landholders.
Kral is also used as a title for any singular ruler of a
settlement or its surrounding environs. The Bokata
are highborn Kral youth who are given critical warrior training from birth, known by their dark green
cloaks and long spears.
• Sovetnik: “Those who guide and shape.” They are
the administrators and counselors and those who
have established their worth and strengths above
others, rising above their birth stations to high
regard and status. This social rank usually encompasses those at the right hands of others in power—
the long established ones who “actually do the hard
work for rulers.” Thus, those in command of settlement functions, army divisions, or even those in
command of caravans or city subsections. Of slight
social superiority over Pobornik (below), Sovetnik
handle the secular, everyday business of rulership.
Thus, their control over resources and the like give
them more obvious power and status. While most
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military fall under the Pobornik rank, this class
opens to the Ahapst military leaders (those who
control a settlement’s troops), as most answering
directly to a Kral are often of the same social status.
• Pobornik: “Those who watch and defend.” The
overseers are a social role and class on a constant
lookout for tribal purity, conducted personally or
through spies and informants.
Central to Makadan culture are the Sebnikots, Shadazim priests whose brutal knife rituals expose their own
skulls and who advocate Makadan supremacy over all
humans. They believe their scarification and skull exposure opens their minds and souls to the universe and
those powers that speak for it, be they animalistic gods
or simply those who “know” more than others. Some are
also Shadazim, Trakeen, Sarhaks, or Kuad Ahir. Often a
quartet of Sebnikots encompasses the roles of advisor,
healer, sage, and seer for a particular Kral leader, though
some rare Sebnikots can take on two or more such roles
in a diminished settlement with no other available help.
The majority of non-Sebrikot Shadazim and Trakeen
(and the rare sarhaks or psychics) fall under this social
category, but only if they use their gifts and powers to
benefit only the Makadan and no others. Any who do not
use all their strength and gifts for the tribe are deemed
traitors by those Makadans who follow Kod; said traitors spend their lives on the run from warriors seeking
to take them back to their proper places or exterminate
them for failing to help keep the tribe strong. This social
class is the highest to which most military can aspire,
though some officers become Sovetnik if their skills
helped put certain leaders in place and gain appropriate marriages accordingly for their aid.
Makadan military ranks are limited by the reduced
sizes of settlements, thus losing many ranks and divisions due to smaller troop sizes. Now, the always-higher-classed Ahapsht (barons) commands all military
forces through his Opshto (knights) each of whom controls and leads two or more Ranpalt (“fifty-hands”) of
warriors (which, despite the translation, range between
50 and 150 troops, depending on the settlement). Immediately beneath and reporting to the Opshto are the
Kapetan, who may not always be troop leaders but overseers of supplies, resources, and the everyday minutia to
keep an army viable. If they do command troops directly, they ride at the head of their Narpal (“ten-hands”
companies of between five and twelve). Individual
settlements may have greater or lesser military ranks,
but these above are found in all Makadan militaries. An
award or status more than a specific rank, Narednik are
heroes of any rank who win their men’s respect in a triumphant battle.
