[Under construction]

Western Nomads–The smallest tribes among the three major groups of nomads, with little unity between the tribes; their area of plains once composed the western provinces of the Tiberian Empire, but during the Collapse, all imperial control broke down in the newest provinces. With the decline of the towns and trading outposts, the entire region returned to a nomadic way of life.

Eastern Nomads–The aggressive tribes to the east of the Tiberian Empire and the Free Cities are a constant threat to the frontier, but they number less than the southern nomads; similarly to the western nomads, incessant infighting and skirmishes with the Empire and the Order of the Righteous Blades suppress their numbers of available fighters.

Southern Nomads–The most numerous of the nomadic populations; approximately 1 million nomads, with about 100,000 fighting men; despite incursions of pokkirs from the western forests and migrations from the deep south, their control of the Great Plains is essentially uncontested, even though they must keep significant numbers available to fight threats from the west and south; Paradise, Promise, and the other villages and towns of the south all limit their settlement activities to a strip within about one hundred miles of the coast because they lack the manpower to push back the nomads any further; War Leader Veki is able to take his son and 6,000 hotheads north with Duke Aidan because of the loyalty of his brothers and close friends, who serve in his yurt and as his leaders of the ten-thousand units. Early indications are that War Leader Veki plans to give the contingent to his son as the core of a new horde that will seek to establish itself on the Western Plains after the war.

Battle Formations

Many of the nomad groups fight under the banners of their clans. But Veki is steadily transforming the organization of his warriors based on his learning among the northerners. His new model intermixes men from all clans and tribes into elite units. The arban, or ten-warrior unit, contains six light horse archers and four heavy lancers. The zuun, or hundred-warrior unit, is ten arbans. The mingghan, or thousand-warrior unit, is ten zuuns. The tuman is ten zuuns, or ten-thousand warriors. The standard tactic is to disorder and exhaust the enemy with the light horse archers, and then when the time is right, the heavy lancers press home a charge against the enemy’s main body.

Marching Formations

Any large group or army of nomads would move in a similar formation. If the nomads are actively at war, an advanced vanguard would range far ahead of the main army.

But the main formation would consist of all the gers (collapsible tents on wagons), tens of thousands of family members, a large number of infantry, and oxen or camels in the center column, with rows of remounts on each side, and several layers of mounted men in units of 100 on each side. A large vanguard and rear guard each would have about one quarter of the available cavalry in large units with a scout screen.

Loot/Plunder Practices

The most successful leaders provide ample opportunities for plunder, and they redistribute their own loot via wedding gifts, herds sharing, and campaign rewards.