[D9EE] The oral history of the Moto tribe (Expecting)
Posted: Thu Aug 26, 2021 9:34 am
Two riders make their way into the depth of the forest. One, on a big gaijin horse, is talking a lot, and is unmistakably Mitsuki.
"One cannot understand the history of the Moto, material and spiritual, without starting with horses. That's it's a cliché does not make it any less true."
Mitsuki stroked the head of her own mount.
"The Sands, as well as some of the lands bordering them, are not welcoming to anyone. With a very few exceptions, the places where one can live, where water, food, respite from the sun are available, are few and far between, spread through a gigantic territory, and with only so few resources that can only support that many people and beasts during so much time, and only at a certain period of the year.
The solution to this conundrum? Always be on the move. Leave before the pasture is fully drained, and return the next year, or after a couple of years, when it will have grown back. The Sands are thus frequently traversed with migrating herds, one or more tribes going from one of their safe spots to the other.
The issue is, one simply cannot walk the Sands. Have you tried to walk, to run, on sand? On a Crane beach maybe? Far more exhausting than on solid ground isn't it? Now imagine if you had to travel the whole Crane shore in these conditions, while only being allowed to drink the water you were carrying on your back. That's the definition of impossible for normal humans.
Here come in the domesticated animals of the desert people. Goats, cows, camels, that have both naturally evolved and be bred especially for the purpose of walking tirelessly in such dire conditions.
And of course, horses.
Horses are your lifeline in the desert. You only live because they allow it. The horse can survive without. You cannot survive without them. In the desert, murdering a horse is a crime as grave as murdering a human, because killing the mount is akin to killing the rider.
To take a less gloom example of the importance of horse, one of the legends of the Moto tell what when one of the Ujik tribes saw Shinjo approaching, they look at her with disdain in spite of her being a literal god, a giant among humans, radiating with the power of heavens. But when they saw the steed Utaku Shiko was riding, they prostrated themselves."
"One cannot understand the history of the Moto, material and spiritual, without starting with horses. That's it's a cliché does not make it any less true."
Mitsuki stroked the head of her own mount.
"The Sands, as well as some of the lands bordering them, are not welcoming to anyone. With a very few exceptions, the places where one can live, where water, food, respite from the sun are available, are few and far between, spread through a gigantic territory, and with only so few resources that can only support that many people and beasts during so much time, and only at a certain period of the year.
The solution to this conundrum? Always be on the move. Leave before the pasture is fully drained, and return the next year, or after a couple of years, when it will have grown back. The Sands are thus frequently traversed with migrating herds, one or more tribes going from one of their safe spots to the other.
The issue is, one simply cannot walk the Sands. Have you tried to walk, to run, on sand? On a Crane beach maybe? Far more exhausting than on solid ground isn't it? Now imagine if you had to travel the whole Crane shore in these conditions, while only being allowed to drink the water you were carrying on your back. That's the definition of impossible for normal humans.
Here come in the domesticated animals of the desert people. Goats, cows, camels, that have both naturally evolved and be bred especially for the purpose of walking tirelessly in such dire conditions.
And of course, horses.
Horses are your lifeline in the desert. You only live because they allow it. The horse can survive without. You cannot survive without them. In the desert, murdering a horse is a crime as grave as murdering a human, because killing the mount is akin to killing the rider.
To take a less gloom example of the importance of horse, one of the legends of the Moto tell what when one of the Ujik tribes saw Shinjo approaching, they look at her with disdain in spite of her being a literal god, a giant among humans, radiating with the power of heavens. But when they saw the steed Utaku Shiko was riding, they prostrated themselves."