Igni Irae
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent: Expand on the Zaldrani and their society.
Image Credit: Here.
Canon: N/A.
Permissions: N/A.
Links: Stalkers of the Frozen Wastes, Zaldrani, Xioquo, Qadiri, Zhaleh Jai Bijana, Tygara, Firemane Industries, Order of Fire, Young Flames, Elpsis Kerrigan, Zhaleh Jai Bijana.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Tradition Name: Sisters of the Unconquered Ice.
Tradition Type: Decentralised, Shamanistic.
Tradition Focus: Spiritual, Elemental, Sensory.
Influence: Minor
Orientation: Light-leaning, Balanced. Qadiri do not view the Force in terms of light and dark. However, the Sisters have a strict code of conduct and communalist ethics that, while not strictly light side, are antithetical to being a darksider. They would, however, be perplexed by Jedi beliefs.
Influence Area: The Zagrasav Northlands on the world of Tygara.
Symbol: An image of balance. Circle cut in half, bottom white to represent the snow, top dark grey to represent the dark of winter. Also convenient metaphor for balance and judgement.
Description: The Sisters of the Unconquered Ice are an all-female Force tradition whose members serve as priestesses for the Zaldrani. The latter are an ethnic group of Qadiri and, to a lesser degree, Xioquo who live in the far north of Tygara in a region called the Zagrasav Northlands, where a bitter polar climates prevails. They consider this their home and are protective of the 'land of the Snow Mother'.
The Zaldrani are loosely organised in tribal groups. Many live a nomadic existence or on the coast as fishers. But though the tribes feud with each other, they recognise an overarching kinship and are quick to band together in the face of outside threats. This area is sparsely populated by other sentient beings. The Zaldrani do not have big cities. Their settlements are small and adjusted to being packed up and moved on short notice, as they follow their prey and the change of the seasons. There is a strong focus on community, resilience and cooperation. It is a culture that despises wastefulness. Winter comes for everyone, and life in the North is harsh on a good day.
Within this framework the Sisters of the Unconquered Ice perform a variety of roles. They are priestesses, lorekeepers, teachers and mediators. In terms of religious beliefs, the snow Qadiri have a polytheistic religion. Priestesses are said to have the power to commune with the spirits and carry out the necessary rites to placate them and invoke their aid for a group. The Zaldrani worship Kashara, the supreme Qadiri goddess, in her aspect as a solar deity.
They also pray to other Qadiri deities, such as Myrkash, goddess of healing and the deities of the hunt, and sea. If, for example, the sea goddess is not placated by obeying a set of rules, she might drive away the animals that live in her domain. Moreover, they have a local goddess called the Snow Mother, a goddess of ice, snow and winter and the spiritual embodiment of their land, which is why they owe her special respect.
Their priestesses are chosen locally instead of being part of a bureaucratic, top-down hierarchy. Theoretically, the Zaldrani acknowledge the authority of the Saoshyant, the supreme head of the Kashari faith. However, she lives in the far-away holy city of Krolis. As a result, in practice the Sisters only pay lip service to her. The hierarchy of the priestesses is decentralised, which mirrors the way the Zaldrani clans are organised. Thus there is no overarching leader, but gatherings of senior priestesses are a frequent occurence.
Their teachings and rites include shamanistic practices orthodox Kashari clerics would frown on. The families within a clan listen to their priestesses because they consider them to be wise, and because it is tradition. They are mediators between the divine and the material world, lorekeepers, seers, medicine women and mediators. Many Zaldrani are illiterate, though those who learn do so quickly. They are taught the oral history, laws and spiritual traditions of their people by their parents and, in more detail, the priestesses, who fulfil the role of lorekeepers of the community. The Sisters do not use the term Force. to them it is Zari, which is also their word for soul. They treat their Zari as a power that comes from within them rather than an omnipresent energy field that binds all life together. However, they recognise that this power can be dangerous and harmful if misused.
It is the law that all Force-Sensitives must receive training to control their powers. This is not done out of bigotry. Far from being hated, Force-Users are respected, for it is believed that the gifts of the spirits have manifested inside their Zari - or soul. Someone who manifests powers of ice shaping is regarded as blessed by the snow mother. There is no central training institutions. Instead a clan typically has instructors and priestesses to provide instruction. Thus this is another role the Sisters fill. Moreover, they make sure that a child without family or a legal guardian is looked after and cared for.
There are strong social taboos against harming a priestess. To murder a priestess is believed to bring a curse of misfortune upon one's entire clan unless a tribute is paid to placate the deceased spirit. This even extends to a priestess who serves a rival clan. This may seem superstitious, but there is a practical reason for this since a priestess is also generally the healer, and lorekeeper of a clan. Moreover, they often mediate between clans.
In effect, this provides a safety valve because even if two clans are blood enemies, their priestesses will be able to provide aid to the most vulnerable and act as mediators. This has proved crucial in times when the Zaldrani have had to band together against outside threats or faced times of great scarcity during winter but a chieftainess cannot afford to lose face. Likewise, the Zaldrani have strict laws against desecrating the resting place of the dead or a holy place.
The legal system of the Zaldrani is based on unwritten custom law and tradition and very community-centred. Minor problems are dealt with by the elders of a clan. The clan will get involved if a problem is considered especially grave or life threatening. Counselling is done in private, where only the elders and the accused are present. Priestesses may be called upon to act as mediators, or arbiters for serious matters. The Zaldrani do not have written laws, but a set of customs that can be summed up as things that should be adhered to, things that should be done and things that should be avoided. If a Zaldrani breaks such a taboo, a priestess might be called upon to intervene, lest the act of sin have dire consequences for the clan. A Sister is not a ruler, but a psychotherapist, healer, lawkeeper and guide.
SOCIAL INFORMATION
Membership: The vocation of a Sister of the Unconquered Ice can begin early in life, as talents such as clairvoyance or an affinity for healing manifest. A story says that when a future Sister was still an unborn baby, the tribal priestess predicted that one day she would join the sisterhood because she responsed each ime her parents broke a ritual taboo, which apparently happened frequently. Both the pregnancy and the delivery were difficult and the baby almost died at birth, having been almost strangled by his umbilical cord. Fortunately, the priestess was able to save the baby's life. She proceeded to confirm her initial diagnosis and kept a watchful eye on both the family and the newborn child.
However, not all future priestesses embark on their spiritual path early in life. Some join the sisterhood well into adulthood. This tends to happen after life-changing events such as the death of a close family member, a serious accident or a mystical experience such as an encounter with a spirit. More than a few crippled warriors who underwent a spiritual transformation have become Sisters late in life. Moreover, there are cases of Sisters claiming to have been called to the role through dreams or visions.
However, most begin as adolescents, and undergo an appenticeship under one or more experienced elder Sisters. The first step consists of being educated about the spirits and the rituals of the sect. Then they are taught about clairvoyance, healing, the basics of ice shaping and other skills. A Sister will learn to endure the freezing cold while only sparsely clothed, showing that they have been blessed by the Snow Mother, the local deity of the Northlands. During training there is a lot of focus on working as part of a group as well as learning more 'mundane' skills. A Sister cannot just rely on her powers. She must also be able to hunt and dress her game, fish, build a shelter and so on. This is supposed to keep her grounded and rooted in the community rather than turn aloof and haughty.
This is accompanied by periods of isolation and abstinence. They also commune with spirits, which is believed to result in them acquiring a benevolent, helping spirit, such as a mythical figure, a spirit master of an animal species or the spirit of a deceased ancestor. When an apprentice Sister is considered to have completed her training, she will be brought before the clan assembly, where she will be introduced by her mentor.
Motives: Protection of the Zaldrani tribes, preservation of their traditions, history and lore, education of the next generation.
Rules and Teachings: Veneration of the Snow Mother as well as traditional Qadiri deities such as Kashara and Myrkash. Prayer and meditation are part of daily life for a Sister. Each priestess must be loyal to her clan, but also the precepts of the sisterhood and the Zaldrani as a whole. The priestesses do not view Zari in the same manner as Jedi or Sith see the Force. Zari is not light, it is not darkness. It simply is. It can taint and heal. It can destroy and nurture.
It can perform great miracles and acts of destruction. They believe that this inner powers exists to be used for the good of the people. Darkness is simply the result of an individual succumbing to the tempting power of the storm. Corrupt usage represents an aberration that hurts the Goddess' glorious creation. An individual has succumbed to the tempting power, and twisted it to evil. Thus the Sisters of the Unconquered Ice view themselves as utilising this power in accordance with its intended purpose.
Because it was given to them by the Goddess, a fallen priestess who uses it to harm the innocent is not just a criminal, but someone who has broken divine law. Because the Sisters play such an important role in the clans, they are barred from official positions of political power. A Sister cannot be a chieftainess or a warleader, though she may an important role in the councils of either. It is to be observed that not every Force-Sensitive Zaldrani joins the priestesses. For example, the more martially inclined will join the warriors of a clan. However, it is commonly accepted that a Force-Sensitive clan member will undergo a period of tutelage under the guidance of a Sister. Thus they will learn the ways of the sect and live among them for a short while before resuming their normal life.
The priestesses must do no harm against their fellow Zaldrani clan members, and not abuse their powers for personal gain. And they must serve the greater good. If the clans are engaged in a self-destructive conflict, the priestesses have the duty of mediating. They must not seek personal power, but have the obligation to use their moral authority to preserve the Zaldrani. The Zaldrani do not bar priestesses from having children. Bringing new life into the light of the Goddess is viewed positively, though it is considered bad form to do it when on a major assignment or out of wedlock. Non-monogamous relationships are socially accepted. Only women are eligible to join the priesthood, though the Zaldrani are fairly egalitarian otherwise.
In contrast to the Vashyada, the Zaldrani do not revere nature, but they respect it. The far north is a harsh place, and the relationship between the land, animals and sentient beings is an important concern. The beasts of the land provide fur for clothes, sinew as thread, water-resistant boots, as well as bones to create hunting weapons and food. The priestesses are taught to observe a sensitive balance between using nature to survive and respecting it. They teach that it is necessary to respect the animal for giving its life to them, otherwise the spirits will withhold their creatures, produce great storms and scarcity, and then the tribe will starve.
For example, the Snow Mother will become enraged if her taboos are violated. Should this come to pass, the priestess will have to go into a state of deep meditation in order travel in spirit to where she lives, and appease her. The return of the priestess to her people is cause for communal confessions, and celebrations. The Snow Mother is the embodiment of the land, and she commands respect and reverence. Not observing established rituals will cause ill fortune. Tribal representations of the Snow Mother depict the deity as bald, and so particularly devout Sisters shave their heads to show their devotion to her. It is common for the priestesses to forsake their given clan and take the surname Barada, which is the Zaldrani word for snowing, upon completing their initiation. This is a sign that they are part of no tribe and must place the greater good over narrow tribal interests or personal self-interest. Moreover, it symbolically makes every priestess a sister.
The Sisters' views on the afterlife are somewhat heterodox by Qadiri standards. Like all Kashari, they believe that heaven is governed by the chief goddess Kashara, who will judge her children. However, the Snow Mother counsels her and will intercede for the righteous. The virtous will be rewarded to join the Universal Mother in her star-realm. They imagine heaven as an idealised version of the snowlands - without the blizzards, starvation and six months of near darkness. Here, they will be reunited with the spirits of their ancestors and loved ones.
Meanwhile, the wicked will be cast out into an endless wasteland. It is an eerily silent place. Significantly, the Sisters do not believe that those souls who end up here will be physically tormented by demons or cast into burning hellfire. They are not keen on the idea that a compassionate and benevolent goddess would inflict such torture on someone. Nor do they believe that such sadistic practices would teach anyone a lesson. Instead evildoers just face an endless nothingness. Cast out of their tribe, they will wander endlessly. To the communalist Zaldrani, this is a fate worse than death. It is a silent but no less horrible death than those who burn and toil in the bowels of hell. Over time they become mere thoughtless shades. The Sisters do believe in the possibility of atonement for those lost souls who reflect on their deeds and feel honest remorse. But those who will not repent are lost forever.
Reputation: Overall they have a positive reputation among Zaldrani. The families within a clan listen to a priestess because they consider them to be wise, and because it is tradition. Their influence is based on respect rather than might. For this reason, the priestesses are harsh towards fallen Sisters who break this sacred trust. A Sister might also be enlisted by the members of her clan to interpret dreams and omens or for the purpose of divination to ascertain the reason for misfortune that might have befallen her people.
Zaldrani culture has social taboos against harming a priestess. To murder a priestess is believed to bring a curse of misfortune upon one's entire clan unless a tribute is paid to placate the deceased spirit. This even extends to a priestess who serves a rival clan. This may seem superstitious, but there is a practical reason for this since a priestess is also generally the healer, and lorekeeper of a clan. Moreover, they often mediate between clans. In effect, this provides a safety valve because even if two clans are blood enemies, their priestesses will be able to provide aid to the most vulnerable and act as mediators. This has proved crucial in times when the Zaldrani have had to band together against outside threats or faced times of great scarcity during winter but a chieftainess cannot afford to lose face.
Within a Zaldrani clan, a Sister is traditionally entrusted to oversee births and funerals, heal the sick and tend to the resting places of the glorious dead as well as holy places touched by the Goddess. Typically, a priestess is charged with supervising a burial. The body is laid face up and then covered with stones or ice to protect against evil spirits. The whole tribe attends. There is singing and the deeds of the fallen, great and small, are recited. It is custom to bury them with items that were of value to them. It is common to name a child after a great fallen so that a part of them may stay with his or her people. Visiting the grave of the deceased is ritualised. Zaldrani believe that one must visit a grave in a certain way and at a certain time. The Zaldrani will visit their dead friends and family members only one year after their death. In Zaldrani art, the Sisters are often depicted in prints and carvings not only as part animal, but as skeletons. The skeleton is regarded as a symbol of rebirth. Moreover, this depicts them as able to to see beyond the boundaries of the flesh. In addition, they are often depicted with one eye, which symbolises their ability to see beyond the tangible.
Mainstream Qadiri cultures have a tendency to look down on Zaldrani, regarding them as rustic or uncivilised. Conservative Kashari believers from such groups regard the practices of the Sisters as heterodox at best and heretical at worst, believing they have strayed from Kashara's true tenets. This has led to cultural misunderstandings and even violence. However, not all contacts with other Qadiri groups end in violence. Broadly speaking, there has been as much as bloodletting as there has been peaceful contact. Owing to the vast distance between the Northlands and Yarkul, contact with the Vashyada is sparse, the Sisters and Vashyada druidesses tend to be cordial to each other. They have established some tentative contact with the Seekers of the Sky, a lightside Xio religious movement that seeks to lead the Xioquo away from their dark past. Tygara is a remote world and the Zaldrani live in the far north, so the tradition is poorly understood and incredibly obscure beyond its homeworld.
Openness: The Sisters are rather closed off by design. They'll show who they are to others, but reveal little of their inner workings. The Sisters do this because they want to remain impartial. If one clan learns their codes and secrets it would be unbalanced and lead to bad things for all.
SKILLS INFORMATION
Characteristic Equipment: A staff, intricately carved with the laws and professions and experiences of the priestess. It's essentially a complex code like heraldry or computer code which only they understand. It is their symbol of authority and to lose it is a great shame to the priestess. Might or not be Force imbued for added resilience and to assist the wielder. The Sisters are known to wear masks that have been fashioned in the likeness of an animal, and are meant to depict its spirit. These so-called spirit masks can cover a person's entire face. Depending on the priestess, they may be Force-imbued.
Notable Force Skills: The Sisters of the Unconquered Ice are not primarily fighters, though individual priestesses can and have fought the foes of their tribes. Given the Zaldrani homeland, it comes as no surprise that ice and water shaping powers are very common among this sect. Their command of tapas is very potent, enabling them to endure and even thrive in arctic climates. Many are also gifted in Force healing as well as Force Sense powers, and precognition. The latter manifests in farsight, which they utilise in a shamanistic fashion that includes taking auguries from the remains of dead animals. Furthermore, they are very good at predicting weather patterns. In addition, they commune with the spirit world. This is accomplished via séances and incantations, which are often accompanied by singing and drumming. Enchanted staffs may be employed in a ritualistic fashion or to enhance the focus of the adept and aid them in channeling their power.
They can also use a primitive but still effective form of alchemical crafting to fashion protective talismans and enchant weapons and other items. This also manifests in displaying feats akin to what is commonly called Force Weapon, enabling them to empower otherwise mundane items. It is to be observed that the Sisters are not pacifists, and thus do not prohibit lethal Force abilities. Typical light side abilities such as Force Valour, and Force Healing often manifest among this sect. Particularly powerful Sisters can manipulate the weather, such as by summoning a blizzard, though this is generally done in ritualised fashion as a group.
Moreover, it is not uncommon to encounter priestesses who can use the Force to enhance their memory to a point where they have near-perfect recall. This is pertinent because the Zaldrani have an oral history and a senior priestesses is the guardian of a tribe's history, lore and custom law. Old and experienced adepts of this sect have been likened by outside travellers to the living memory of their people. Through employing the Force and shamanistic rites, they can have vivid visions of events.
Notable Force Limitations: The Qadiri do not divide the Force into light and dark, but the dangers of dark sorcery and the like are not unknown to them. Moreover, the priestesses are not supposed to disrupt the natural order or crave personal power...which is difficult when drawing upon the dark side. Thus dark sorcery, Sith alchemy and the like are shunned. Techniques such as using biological alchemy to create horrible monstrosities or otherwise twist life are something they would associate with the witchcraft of the dark Xioquo, and thus ban. The same applies to necromancy and Essence Transfer, as both violate Kashari precepts on life. Fire is the opposite of ice and water, and so elemental fire shapers are incredibly rare among their ranks, though not totally unheard of.
MEMBERS
Narkara Jai Barada - is a Qadiri priestess who helps keep the Stalkers of the Frozen Wastes organised and serves with them when they are summoned. The Stalkers are an irregular force of crack militia of Force-Sensitive warriors. Each clan puts forward their best hydromancers for the common cause, for a while. They come together in memory of the ancient times where they worked together. It goes without saying that there is plenty of behind the scenes politicking between the chieftains.
While trained as a loreekeper, Narkara is focused less on the lawkeeping and guidance side of things and more on being a warrior. Nonetheless, she has a very detailed memory of the history of the Zaldrani and the Stalkers. Her surname is the Zandri word for snowing. It is common for the priestesses to forsake their given clan and take this name upon completing their initiation. This is a sign that they are part of no tribe and must place the greater good over narrow tribal interests. Narkara rarely raises her voice, but is known to intimidate hardened war chieftains with a withering glance. She is also good at healing, including with mundane means. Force wise she summons mist for cover and is adept at shaping ice for fortifications and shelters. Moreover, she can use alchemical talents to enchant weapons and other items.
Ahmadal Jai Barada: one of the foremost seers of the Sisters. She is highly respected yet a little feared by her people. Ahmadal possesses a very strong connection with the elemental ice and supposedly can see from afar on the surface of any ice or icy water. She commands respect with her power whilst at the same time making sure that she is just a little intimidating too. She uses her power of farsight to help guide and safeguard her people from those who wish them harm. Ahmadal is deeply sceptical and suspicious of the sky people. When the Zaldrani first made contact with them, she went on a pilgrimage and spent several weeks in seclusion. Eventually her sisters feared that she had died, and sent out a search party. When they found her in a cave, she was staring in the icy water. She had lost weight and was deeply troubled.
She declared that letting the sky people walk upon the land of the Snow Mother would spell doom for all life blessed by the goddess. As Firemane fracking causes environmental degradation, and overfishing damages fish stocks, and alcohol and narcotics harm families, she finds herself validated. And more and more of her Sisters are inclined to listen to the seer. So grim are the tidings that she has started to support reaching out to the Zaldrani's historical enemies. For they are children of Tygara too. The humans, on the other hand, are not. Ahmadal is implacably hostile to the humans of Firemane, and does not like the Eldorai either. She is a grim woman with a sharp tongue, and does not hesitate to wield it like a rapier against Zaldrani chieftains who are too accommodating or trusting...or so unscrupulous that they would sell their people's future to the humans of Firemane in return for baubles.
Mahrasa Jai Barada: A shipwrecked Amikarese cleric believed she was saved by the snow mother, converted and joined the Sisters after being accepted into her new home. The Kashari priestesses had been sought to 'convert the heretics' and get them to pay homage to the Amikarse monarch, but Mahrasa had become disillusioned with this mission. The Sisters do not like their southron kin much, but Mahrasa had freed a Zaldrani in the south, who vouched for her. Initially her fellow Amikarese priestesses thought that she had been abducted by the 'primitives'...only for it to turn out that she had gone native and was staying with them of her own free will. She still speaks the Zaldrani variant of Zandri with a strong Amikarese accent. She is a bit uptight, but a decent person.
True to her heritage, Mahrsa is especially gifted in the element of fire. This is very unusual for the Sisters, making her stand out a bit. However, it has its uses in the cold climate since she can keep herself and others warm. Much as the Zaldrani would rather be left alone, they must guard themselves against Amikarese and now increasingly Firemane incursions. Mahrasa sees it as her task to protect her new home by helping her people find allies...and discern which allies are false friends.
Kavahda Jai Barada: Kavahda was born a member of the Bijana clan and is Zhaleh's aunt. As a priestess, she is primarily a lawkeeper. A woman of considerable respect and knowledge who is turned to for judgements as she is known to be stern but fair. She famously ruled against her sister Khandana Jai Bijana in a dispute where the sister was in the wrong. Zhandana had angrily struck a rival from another clan. She claimed that she had been provoked and refused to pay the were-gild for the serious injury, expecting her sister to back her up. However, the lawkeeper examined and founds that the sister had herself provoked the fight and then struck first. Thus Kavahda ordered her to pay compensation. Naturally her sister was enraged by this 'betrayal', but it earned a lot of respect for the lawkeeper.
Her own background has strongly influenced her commitment to justice. Kavahda was assigned male at birth, but has a female gender identity. She was one of the warriors and hunters of her clan. Throughout much of her life she had the feeling of being different and feeling uncomfortable in her body, but suppressed it and tried to conform. Until she had a spiritual experience. Lost in the blizzard, she saw a vision of the Snow Mother asking her to look inside herself, to understand the truth she had hidden from herself.
Acceptance within the clan varied. Ironically, Zaldrani are more enlightened about trans people than their Eldorai cousins or even many humans. Broadly speaking, Zaldrani have the belief of right spirit, wrong body. In a nutshell this principle postulates that, for example, a being might be born with a male's body but a female's spirit or vice versa. Kavahda was eventually accepted after explaining her situation to the priestesses, who deemed that she spoke truth. However, she had to put up with latent bigotry when she decided to devote herself to the Snow Mother. Nonetheless, she was persistent, and attained recognition for her even-handed judgements. Her niece Zhaleh initially knew her as an 'uncle', but has become personally close to her aunt. She has inherited a lot of her morals. Kavahda was less radically opposed to the sky people than Ahmadal, but is now clearly opposed to the humans of Firemane now that their dark machinations have been brought to light. Thus, she plays her part in rallying the clans to oppose the foreign invaders.
Naxada Jai Barada: A Xioquo who used to be the slave of a Xio priestess. She was the survivor of an ill-fated Xioquo incursion. Her mistress forced her slave to switch clothes with her in order to escape. However, the Zaldrani noticed that the 'mistress' had calloused hands and scars on her back. Naxada told them about her mistress, and the Zaldrani ascertaned that the supposed 'slave' was manicured and had never worked a day in her life.
The true mistress was killed on the spot, but the slave was spared. At first she was indentured to a chieftain, who gave her tasks such as skinning game, preparing meals and patching up the wounded. The Zaldrani were strict, but not cruel. However, one of the priestesses took an interest in her and advocated for her freedom. Over time she became trained in the arts by the Sisters, and eventually became a full member. Though she has much to learn, she has manifested a high degree of aptitude for manipulating elemental ice and water. As a sign of her new life, she has taken the Zaldrani word for 'snow' as her surname. Xioquo slaves were denied family names, so it is a way of asserting her own personhood that also shows her commitment to her new Sisters.
Aside from her usual duties as a cleric, she has helped Xioquo Zaldrani integrate into the clans. Thus she is often the person who explains Zaldrani laws and customs to them, and helps them when they are confronted with xenophobia or cases of cultural misunderstanding. Naxada has an artistic streak, combining Xio and Zaldrani motifs and themes in her art. Much has changed in the Underealm, and the new Xioquo Queen has abolished slavery and broken up the old patronage networks. But Naxada has elected to stay with her new family. She has married a Qadiri Zaldrani male, and has given birth to a daughter.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
The exact origins of the Zaldrani are a bit difficult to establish. Their clans are scattered across a very remote, sparsely populated region of Tygara. Even their contact with other Qadiri groups was and is limited. Moreover, they have an oral history. Over time, their origin stories have diverged radically, and much of it is shrouded in myth. Two myths are particularly prominent though. The first postulates that there was a great battle at sea centuries ago between the Qadiri and Xio. As the Qadiri tell it their forces were being overwhelmed by their enemies as the Xio had come at night upon their anchorage. Suddenly a great wind and storm blew up and cast the Xio ships onto the rocks, but also shipwrecked many Qadiri. Whilst many survived and made their way home some decided to stay, taking the divine wind as an omen. They took the name Zaldrani after their leader; Zaldrana.
Another myth says that that after the defeat of Myrou, the 'goddess' of the Xioquo and the first of their kind, in ages past a company of Qadiri, warriors of Kashara, swore to watch over the north and defend it against the return of the Dark One. Their leader, also Zaldrana in this story, settled down in the northern lands - helped by a divine sun which melted the snows and provided one of their initial settlement areas in a bay. The blessed rays of the sun were equated with the goddess Kashara, who is conceived as a solar goddess.
The more mundane and probably true story is that Qadiri settlers from the south headed north several thousand years ago, finding a home on the coasts free from the dominion of the queens of the south. They decided to stay and adapted to their home. A bitter climate prevailed in the Zagrasav Northlands. It was a hard, rugged life that bred a hard, resilient culture, but also a cooperative one that had little truck with self-destructive rivalries. Their society was built upon consensus and a harsh, but fair form of justice. Common law, the harsh climate and scattered nature of the clans prevented the rise of a single hegemon. When one clan got too big, others tended to band together to preserve their freedom.
Whatever the case might be, the history of the Sisters of the Unconquered Ice is closely tied with that of the people who birthed this Force tradition. For the Sisters are not a cloistered order of elitist Force magi who live separate from the people, but the Zaldrani's priestesses. Initially, the Zaldrani settlers tried to carry on many of their traditions and organisations. However, the harsh realities of life made it impractical for the clerics to be sequestered. The remoteness of the communities fed into that. Cloistered temples made little sense when clans were small and there was no viable agricultural land. Many clans did not have the critical mass to have more than one or two priestesses.
After a particularly harsh winter, a conclave was called. The clans were fighting over scarce resources, further depleting their numbers. A Zaldrani called Yima Jal Zahak, a talented and brutal warrior-leader, sought to unite the clans into one kingdom under his command. Rumours abounded that he had unearthed weapons of terrible strength left behind by the gods, and made pacts with Djinn. However, the warleader failed. In the aftermath, the tenuous coalition between his siblings, chiefs and lieutenants broke down. Equally, the alliance between the tribes that had banded together to oppose him did not last.
The 'Mighty Winter', as the Zaldrani called it, cost even more lives. Many tribes were effectively destroyed, with the scattered survivors roaming the icy tundra. Priestesses, appalled by the senseless chaos and death, began to meet with each other more frequently to seek counsel. At first it was simply the matter of priestesses taking in children without a clan, or hermits congregating together. Over time many priestesses began to break with tradition, and argue that authority should be consolidated under their rightful guidance, organising havens.
One of them was a semi-mythical figure whose real name has been lost to history. To her people, she is Barada Jai Zaldrani. The lorekeepers claim that she gave up her clan name because she was mourning the decimation of her tribe. For many years she had lived as a hermit, withdrawn from the world, before she heeded the Goddess' call. Barada was sympathetic to the idea of guidance by the wise. However, she soon came to believe that taking power would only make the priestesses another warring faction that would despoil the Snow Mother's land with further bloodshed. Instead she advocated for a system of power-sharing, whereby the priestesses would be distributed among the clans and provide guidance, but not rule. All would be bound by custom and divine law.
This was to the liking of those priestesses, who disliked their more power-hungry sistren. Nonetheless, Barada had to prove herself and her doctrine as being in line with the Goddess' plan, and prove herself she did. Barada strove for over a decade. Again and again, she had to prove herself by undergoing shamanistic rites, and by displaying her fortitude, fairness and theological knowledge as well as her strength as a sorceress. But above all, it was her aptitude for diplomacy that won over her exhausted people. There are stories of her surviving being submerged in icy water, and braving a blizzard to rescue Zaldrani who had been cut off by the storm. It has been claimed that her piety caused berries to sprout in the tundra to help a column of fugitives through the winter, and that she helped the spirits of the unjustly slain cross over into the spirit realm.
It is quite likely that the real Barada was actually an amalgamation of several prophetesses, who over time got merged into one figure. Regardless, she was granted the title of Keeper of Peace and Emissary of the Snow Mother, though not of queen. For the Zaldrani would have neither queens nor kings. But her labours took a toll on her. The stories say that she gathered the Zaldrani tribal leaders and priestesses at a holy place, a ley-line called the All-Seeing Circle. It was a nexus of the Force. By now Barada was a frail old crone. Her hair was white, her skin wrinkled and she walked with difficulty. Her flock feared what would happen once she passed away. Some of her acolytes believed the answer lay in dark sorcery. However, Barada refused to alter the natural order. She gave her final instructions, and bid her people to remain true to the Goddess and the Snow Mother. Then she walked into a snowstorm, despite attempts to restrain her, and was never seen again. Indeed, it has been asserted that she literally vanished into thin air, which would indicate that she became one with the Force. Her followers searched far and wide, but they never found a body. All they found was her parka, her staff, her mask and an otter amulet. In the absence of a body to bury, all four objects were treated as sacred relics by her followers.
Over time, the custom was established that the person of a priestess was sacrosanct. When two clans, the Icefangs and the Waveriders, engaged in a feud that raged for generations, priestesses tried to mediate and limit the damage done by the fighting. However, a priestess from the Icefang clan was murdered. Soon ill omens were reported. This triggered a tremendous backlash, forcing the feuding clans to meet on neutral ground to put aside their differences and punish the perpetrator. Priestesses from across the land forced a settlement, establishing a set of common laws that would be known as the Snow Mother's Peace, which was supposed to limit the scale and the intensity of strife between the clans. Spiritual sanctions were imposed on Zaldrani that violated it. However, while the Zagrasav Northlands were very remote, they were not entirely isolated. Inevitably the Zaldrani came into contact with their southron Qadiri sistren as well as the Xioquo. The Sisters of the Unconquered Ice would be called upon to help defend their people against Xioquo and southron Qadiri incursions into their homeland.
It took over a millennia for the Xio to truly become known and it was around this time that the Zaldrani became known to them. However their lack of big settlements and low wealth made them a poor prospect for raiding. But there was a big expedition which struck during the long winter nights and managed to capture several hundred Zaldrani. This occured about three-hundred and fifty years before the present. Even in this age, the Xio had superior technology. However, hydromancers from several tribes, guided by the priestesses, united to increase the ice to trap the ships. As the Xio struggled to escape warriors crossed the ice, scaled up the ships and butchered the Xio. This served as a deterrent, though only a few hundred Xio were lost.
The southern Qadiri discovered their northern sisters when Markin Jal Vrobashir led an expedition in search of the Strait of Stones. It was the first documented contact with southron Qadiri. Vrobashir's expedition landed on Larak Island. There he came across Zaldrani. Five of his sailors left the ship, under orders from Vrobashir. Zaldrani priestesses maintain that the foreigners lived among them for a few years, until they died in an attempt to leave the island in a self-made boat and disappeared. Vrobashir attempted to find his crew members, whom he believed to have been abducted. He abducted three Zaldrani and brought them back to Amikaron. They were the first Zaldrani to set foot here. Contact with the Qadiri happened at times. Amikaron sent an expedition to the north but found the natives not worth the effort of enslaving. Some trade took place though. By that time the Qadiri cultures had diverged rather radically. The Zaldrani spoke Zandri, but their dialect had become so obscure that the southrons had trouble understanding them without interpreters. Qadiri whalers set up a couple whaling stations.
By and large the Zaldrani left them alone, but raided them during winter time. This gave them the chance to acquire tools and items made of worked iron. However, there was also peaceful contact, with both parties trading. Zaldrani clans traded animal furs and whaling products for irons and other materials. However, trade plummeted due to the spread of infectious diseases carried by the southron Qadiri, since the Zaldrani possessed no immunity. To many priestesses the auguries spoke of doom. Taking this as a bad omen, many Zaldrani retreated into isolationism and parties of foreign explorers and whalers were attacked to drive them away. Relations suffered further when a minor Mirza launched a violent incursion to get some glory and booty, but was repulsed.
Theological controversies also played a role. Over the centuries, the doctrine propagated by the Sisters of the Unconquered Ice had diverged rather radically from the orthodox creed. The Zaldrani were broadly aware that there was a supreme priestess called the Saoshyant, but she was a distant figure. The Zaldrani were angered when southron knights and priestesses burnt their idols, and tried to convert them to the 'true creed' at swordpoint. Moreover, the Sisters found the privileges and cloistered life of the orthodox Kashari priestesses strange and harmful.
However, not all Sisters of the Unconquered Ice were altruistic. Power corrupts - or rather it reveals. One such sister schemed to use her influence to obtain power for her clan, and herself. Her name was Palavana Jai Barada, born into clan Sheval. In public she displayed an attitude of humility and kindness, cloaking her true motives. Like many a Sith, she sought to incite strife between the clans to position herself as a divinely inspired saviour. To that end she also clandestinely worked with Amikarese slavers, while accusing clans hostile to her of collaboration. However, ironically the Zaldrani's highly decentralised nature and lack of advanced technology worked against her machinations. After all, she could not be in more than one place at once, and there was no single government body for her to infiltrate.
Nonetheless, her machinations caused serious harm. Her undoing came at the hands of her acolyte, Anaka Jai Barada, born into the clan of Skythara, who turned on the would-be mastermind. Shaken by what she had done while under the dark lady's influence, Anaka exiled herself and left the Northlands to spend the rest of her life as a hermit. From that moment onward her story is shrouded in mystery. To this day, young acolytes are told the story of her fall and redemption. The story of the excommunicated Palavana, meanwhile, is told to young Sisters as a cautionary tale. The Netherworld Event, as it is known to many in the galaxy, was a time of great distress for the Zaldrani. In some cases, entire camps were depleted of most of their able-bodied members, throwing many clans into a crisis. Some vanished entirely or were forced to merge.
Led by Kavahda and Ahmadal, the Sisters convened a a tribal council for the survivors and had everyone pool resources until those who returned did so. The priestesses were able to carry out a ritual to help guide people back...or failing that provide their loved ones with some closure. However, worse was yet to come. For the Netherworld rifts had weakened the barriers between the material world and the spirit realm. Nether entities that the Zaldrani considered to be fire Djinn manifested. These beings started heating up the land around them. At first this was not entirely unwelcome given the bitter winter. But as Ahmadal foresaw, it represented calamity. The unnatural fire sorcery caused snow melts and fogs, and killed animals. Working with hydromancers from various clans, several priestessed led by Narkara bound the Nether entities and sealed them inside icicles.
But soon the Zaldrani were menaced once more by the Xio, attracted by legends of riches buried in the ice. The Xio had set up a base in the arctic wastes. Their initial motivation for coming to the Northlands was a famed shipwreck carrying loot back from a previous campaign. A winter storm crashed it onto rocks near Zaldrani territory, but they had picked it clean. So the Xio wanted that back, along glory from defeating a new foe. The Xioquo used their cannons and primitive - but by Tygaran standards very advanced - flying machines to bomb Zaldrani settlements and tribespeople on the move.
This threat from a technologically more advanced foe forced the Zaldrani clans to band together. Khandana Jai Bijana was elected as their warleader at a conclave organised by the priestesses, and the clans put forward their best hydromancers for the Stalkers. They received some help from Xioquo defectors, such as Naxada, a former slave who was freed from her cruel mistress. Things came to head in a great battle that ended with a Zaldrani victory after the snow Qadiri managed to slay a kraken summoned by the Xioquo sorceresses. Several priestesses proved instrumental by summoning a blizzard to confound their foes so that the Zaldrani could make their approach. However, victory came at a high price in blood.
This was why people on the fringes of civilisation never get involved in war to the same level. Raids, ambushes, sure. But an actual war crippled the winner as much as the loser. There was little time for a period of mourning. Winter was here. The clans had stocked supplies, but with so many of their members being pulled away from hunting or growing things in order to fight, they had only been able to prepare so much. There was also the matter of the Xio who had been left stranded and were unwilling to return to their mistresses. They rightly feared punishment for their defeat. Outnumbered and stranded in hostile territory, they were hunted by the Zaldrani tribes. They holed themselves up in their rusting ironclad, but were unable to leave. The survivors tended to be former slave-soldiers and so their technical skills were limited.
The question of what to do about them was controversial in the tribal councils, and among the priestesses. When no real consensus was found, Khandan took the unorthodox step of offering an alliance to the rogue Xioquo, even though one of her husbands had died in the battle. The Xio would join their fate with theirs and send a representative to their tribal council. In the end, they reached a compromise. Because the ice elves were not naive, they took some hostages. When the matter was brought before the Sisters, Kavahda sided with her cousin and convinced several other priestesses to at least tolerate it.
This is not to say that the snow Qadiri forgave and forgot, but the struggle to survive the bitter winter superseded rivalries, though these did not vanish overnight. Naxada was the first Xioquo to be initiated as a Sister. Come summer, and the defectors proved helpful facilitating a retaliatory raid on a Xioquo slaver outpost in northern Ajustra. Meanwhile, great changes were taking place on Tygara. The Zaldrani's remote location meant they missed first contact with the sky people. But in time, they received word that people had come from the sky in metal ships. The humans of Firemane claimed to come in peace, and to share the fruits of progress with the natives. But this only masked their greed and desire for power. They would not enslave the Tygarans with a visible iron collar, but the invisible collar of debt.
The one thing that motivated Firemane, and its mistresses was greed. Firemane initiated mining operations after its prospectors discovered large gas resources. Inevitably fracking caused air and water pollution as well as harmful seismic activity. The Zaldrani fought to protect their homeland and the livelihood from the foreign industrialists' harmful activities. At first they resorted to peaceful protests and petitions, though the tribes eventually turned to sabotaging equipment.
Indifferent to the ecological damage, Firemane pushed ahead with the project, and tried to bribe or coerce Zaldrani clans to drop their protests and relocate. Moreover, the company tried to entice Zaldrani to abandon their traditional settlements and work on Firemane mining sites. They offered to 'teach their children about civilisation'. The company recruited the natives at low wages, and gave them access to spice and liquor which they brought back to their communities. Alcohol and drug use became a major health concern for the Zaldrani, and raised alarm bells among the Sisters. Chief among them was Ahmada, who had never trusted the sky people, and Kavahda.
The priestesses wanted a better life for their people, but not at the cost of the environment, addiction, wage slavery and cultural destruction. The distribution and ownership of such addictive narcotics was banned by a conclave, and the priestesses began to organise the local tribal leaders to rally against what was essentially a foreign invasion. Enough was enough when a fuel spill poisoned a river, causing severe damage. The effects were devastating for several Zaldrani tribes, since fishing was their livehood. The ocean was not just a piece of water, but an integral part of the life of the people. Firemane reacted with callous indifference.
Led by Nakasa, a group of priestesses and warriors sabotaged gas mining drills to shatter by super-freezing certain stress-points causing them to crack. Firemane responded by demanding that the 'terrorists' be handed over, and that the clans provide 'reparations' for the damage. Shortly, thereafter word reached a clan that Zaldrani mining workers who had gone on strike to protest against abusive conditions as well as the contempt shown to their customs had been illegally detained and assaulted. A few had died in captivity. One of them was a young priestess who had come to help her flock. The Firemane officials on the spot gravely misjudged the Zaldrani's response. A conclave was convened at the site of Zaldrani war band from various clans burnt down a Firemane outpost. There were no survivors. The sisterhood voted in support of joining Elpsis Kerrigan's rebellion against Firemane.
