Of Mail and Men

**gamegeek2** · 03-03-2008, 07:38

Sleep in the saddle. Ride hard all day. Drink nothing but man's sweat, sheep's milk, and horse's blood. Such is the life of a nomad at war. Or so my father taught me...

Born and raised in the saddle, like any other steppe nomad child, except for the fact that I was raised as a son by my father - I was his only child before his horrible battle wounds neutered him. He wanted a son badly, so he raised by as one, and after my mother died, he had no choice but to continue doing so.

And so I was raised among the boys, who had absolutely no qualms with that; everyone was taught to shoot and ride. Early on, it seemed awkward to others that I went hunting for food (not sport), but this became normal as the years dragged on.

Until that fateful day...

The legendary Hina-Bayai, "Sapalbizes" as they called him, rode into camp, proclaiming a crusade against the Yavanas of "Baktria" (some odd land to the south, I hear), telling stories of their magnificent wealth, mines, forges, statues. We were convinced immediately; by the time father returned from the nobles' war council, I had packed the tent and all it contained. For a moment, I was worried about the horses and how they would take their new burden, but then I remembered the fact that my family's horses were no geldlings like my 'commoner' (every bit the same as us except for our having fancier stuff) friends': we possessed fine steeds, supposedly a cross of Nisean and Ferghana breeds ('Tian Ma'). Not only did they sweat blood, but they were strong beings like those of our Pahlava rivals.

The future beckons... I'm already falling behind Father...

271 BC - Baktria

Today, the Yavanas arranged to meet us in battle at high noon. I can't fight in battle yet; the armour doesn't fit. At least I can draw the action, especially of my dad (he's in the king's bodyguard)...

Funny, how it says that the Yavanas outnumbered us 7 to 3; the Hina-Bayai said we outnumbered them (in soldiers) by about 600 to 0.

[NOTE: In actuality, they outnumbered us 4 to 1; I went back a save since felt like taking the full 2500-man Baktrian force.)

Nobody won that day. Three of their four generals were killed, and so were 2000 of their men. We lost 400; it ended as a draw; both sides quit the field as night fell. But there will be another day, Baktria... and your last prince won't survive it!