Long years of fighting between the steppes clans in the Sarmatian area got to an end. The leaders of the clans, the kings, chiefs and eldest were sitting together. It was a great convention, the greatest meeting of the steppes tribes in living memory.

The most honorable warriors of the martial Amazons and the wild Horsemen sensed: This autumn evening would lead all of them and their tribes to a new era. They all were unified in the desire to end the eternal feud.

Eadgil, one of the most veteran eldest, quethed:

QUOTE:
Brothers in fighting, Tribes of steppe.
If we go on fighting each other Sarmatian Tribe, nobody will survive.

Yes, the deities welcome us died in an honestly fight. But why should I kill my brothers and sisters?

We are surrounded by Barbarians, disbeliever, strangers. We should – We have to join our forces to defeat this grave danger.
Let’s be unified in one powerful Sarmatian tribe. Let’s build up, as a sign of our fortitude, a well-fortified castle, in honour of our ancestors. And welcome all Sarmatians to build up a great Sarmatian Nation!

This is the dream I have.

This is the dream I want to share with you.

Sometimes, it feels good to come back home.
It has been a long journey for the small group Sarmatian warriors, taking them far away from their new home.

Rhusz greeted the chieftain: "Did we found, what we are looking for?"

Eadgils nodded almost imperceptibly: "A tribe of our bloodline settled in the North... but in the deep West, where it is much more warmer than here and the lakes are incredibly large... There we found, what we are looking for. Later we will discuss about it. Are the young warriors prepared to expand our borders?"

"They are. As ordered we will march tomorrow. A word by the chieftaint would be good for our young warriors..."

"Why? We are going to slaughter some farmers - This won't be days for heros. But... anyway"
Eadgils turned to the formed troops.
"Sarmatians!
In the next days, most of you will have their first fights - no battle, no war - just fights.
You will see blood spattering and people dying. You will get the first taste, what it means, to be a Sarmatian.
Remember the words of a wiser man than me:
When on the battlefield, if you try not to let others take the lead and have the sole intention of breaking into the enemy lines, then you will not fall behind others, your mind will become fierce, and you will manifest martial valor. This fact has been passed down by the elders. Furthermore, if you are slain in battle, you should be resolved to have your corpse facing the enemy."

When Rhusz saw the province Belovodsk has been conquered by the glorious Royal Sarmatins army he looked towards Eadgils: “Mission completed! The Barbarians are defeated. All the provinces which you ordered to take as the Sarmatians homeland are pacified, my Xaya. Now the families can settle here in peace and properity.”

Eadgils stared into the distance. Thoughtful:” That’s the beginning only.”

Then he turned towards his Shaman:”You are right, Rhusz, and you are not! Nothing is completed. This is the beginning of something what should have been done generations before. Now the Sarmatians own here own homeland.”

He looked into the distance again with a huge voice he continued:” For the future I see a lot of work and fighting, we will have to immolate a lot of blood to defend our homeland. But it is worth to risk it. And nobody from the other tribes in the world should ever raise to question our claims!”

He cleared remains of blood from his almighty Romphaia:” Now we should expressly return to our castle to tell all the Sarmatians the good news, that a new Nation, the Sarmatian Nation is established. Order the Chiefs, the Amazones and the Horsemen quickly to return to our castle to celebrate the rebirth of our Nation.”

The god given balance was disturbed...

Eadgils was aware of the changes beyond the Sarmatian borders. It has started with some rumours, picked up by the border patrols, with the hearsay of some travelling hawkers and the visions of the shamans.

It was hard for the Xaya to define the menace, which was suddenly there - like a snake in the grass.
Under the glimmering shine of gentleness and peaceableness, something dark and rotten was rising...

Eadgils entered the yurt of Rhusz, the wisest of the Sarmatian shamans.
"Rhusz... I need... hmm... we need a sign! We can't wait til this menace will blow us away like a steppe storm. We need to do the right thing ... NOW. Ask the gods - they stopped talking to me, so be my ears -or better- be my mind, my sanity. We can't wait any longer.
We will gather the chiefs after the tournament - til this time we need the sign..."

The deities spoke to me:

QUOTE:
As long as the opprobrium of the not fulfilled wedding between Aurich and Skadi is not revenged, the Sarmatians tribe is still living in squalor!

Aurich, the betrayer, who was bespoken to our Amazon Skadi, has in famous broken his promise. Now it is up to us to find him and to punish him. This order is given to us by our deities.

I will send out our scouts and armies to search for him. This has to be our first task in all our doing! Nothing is in a higher priority.

"Thank you, Shaman. I like lean orders by our deities...
Shouldn't be that hard ... A community which is as rotten as the betrayer, they are giving shelter can be smelled miles off. I call the amazons and the horsemen. We will march soon!"

After the successful battle against the Romans, Rhusz walked through the battle field. He was singing his prayer to th deities, thanking them for the victory against those who granted a hide out to Aurich the traitor. Soon he found Aurichs beaten body in the boggy ground of the killing field.

He was killed by a brother from the Samoyed tribe. He has been one of this tribe before his treason. Now he was killed by one of his former tribe. Who even-handed the deities could be!

He talked to Eadgils:

The guilt is avenged now. The deities are satisfied. Let the Romans live in peace now. The payed enough for Aurichs fault. It is not the intent of the deities to bring undue hardship to these people, even they are not believing in our deities.

My dear Eadgils. Lets go home. We did what had to be done.

... one battle later ...

"Rhusz..." Eadgils stepped aside the Shaman, while scrubbing dried blood of his bone harpoon "... hm... we have a serious problem. It seems that the deities have just overlooked that Aurich is still alive - and he is still with the Innumberables. By the way... Innumberables... This cue brings me to our second problem:
Maybe you've missed the fact that we just had a battle against three of their so called Legions - Most of us missed it also, because the Samoyeds slaughtered them away, before it really has begun. But they did some damage and we will need some silver to work this out..."
He narrowed his eyes
"Shaman, I need a clear sign of the deities concerning to this Aurich incident. Meanwhile we will repair our weapons and armor and we will search for some things that we are desperately needing.... So, why wander around in the distance, when good things lie nearby... We will stay here for a while!"

... the different messengers reported the news, they have seen and heard around the Sarmatian borders, to the council of chiefs. The chiefs had a short discussion - now it was up to the Xaya, to take a decision:

"Chiefs... this here is going to be juicy. Reportedly the slave nations of the Innumberables are on the move... We have the Teutons in the north, who attacked our tournament squad twice. Epic!
As you know, Butch, Nesseia and me have been mercenaries for the Teutons - We learned so much there and we know them - The Teutons just move, if the victory is guaranteed.

In the South the Egypts are still alive and threatening the Phrygians - The Egypts are more or less some Innumberables living a bit more southern... They never do a step without order of their masters.
Their mission is to keep the Phrygians at their homelands...

So... slave nations in the north and the the south... Put together the mosaic... What's missing? You can smell it in the air......"
He tooked a deep, pathetic breath...
"Yes - the Innumberables are on the march. And they aren't man enough to face us alone. They are accompanied by another servile dog - By the way: A dog that we could have disembowelled a few weeks ago. That's for sure.
Sarmatians! This will be the time of our lives! This will be fun - This will be epic! So many enemies on free home delivery. The deities must love us!"
........ after a while....
"We have to fight many...So remember that according to what one of the elders said, taking an enemy on the battlefield is like a hawk taking a bird. Even though it enters into the midst of a thousand of them, it gives no attention to any bird other than the one that it has first marked....
Be prepared!"

The Xaya joined the group of young warrior - he examined the frustrated faces of the Amazons and Horsemen...

"Sarmatians! What is the reason for this evil mood?"

"Xaya....... they laughed at us while we had to fall back.... This pain is more intensive than a fatal hit on the battle field.............."

"... I feel the same, young warrior... it hurts really bad. But it is the right of the winner to behave like he wants to. Sarmatians, with these north-roman Teutons we fought the best army of the known world - and we lost. It was a good battle - I am proud of any of you!
When I look in all of this young faces, when I see the improvement of your experience and condition day by day, I don't fear the future. We will keep on fighting and keep on learning - That's the way of the Sarmatians"

"Xaya, besides the north-roman Teutons, we have the central-roman Etruscans and the real Romans at our front door - we are totally outnumbered!"

"Yes! There will be fiveor more enemies for each of us - Epic! Honestly, I know what you are thinking, but there is something to be learned from a rainstorm. When meeting with a sudden shower, you try not to get wet and run quickly along the road. But doing such things as passing under the eaves of houses, you still get wet. When you are resolved from the beginning, you will not be perplexed, though you will still get the same soaking. This understanding extends to everyhting."