The Minotaur race is a nomadic people, they seldom build long term structures, preferring yurts and longships converted to temporary shelters. They herded small herds of oxen but relied heavily on raiding to sustain their numbers. For this reason, they often determined their leadership through combat and for a long age only the strongest minotaur could lead the tribes.
According to the vague histories that have survived the ages, the first traces of the clan split started when some great hero of the minotaur race returned as an ally to the other races of the world after facing a grave threat which threatened to destroy the entire realm. This seems to be a recurring pattern with adventuring parties, something about them unites races in ways that seem illogical. More research is required on this topic.
According to the vague histories that have survived the ages, the first traces of the clan split started when some great hero of the minotaur race returned as an ally to the other races of the world after facing a grave threat which threatened to destroy the entire realm. This seems to be a recurring pattern with adventuring parties, something about them unites races in ways that seem illogical. More research is required on this topic.
This split inevitably turned violent, but the violence escalated far beyond any skirmish or internal feud that had been seen before, after a decade of fighting the war had cost nearly a quarter of the minotaur population, millions lay dead on burnt battlefields. These mass battlefield graves are a favorite lairing place for necromancers who favor minotaur skeletons for their denser bone structure and larger size.
Finally a hero emerged, at the head of another adventuring party and gathered every clan behind his banner in ritual combat. The wise hero, knowing that the ideological differences of the clans could not be resolved split the minotaur race into 4 nations. He then set a yearly time and place for the 4 Minotaur nations to meet and trade goods and information. This gathering became known as the Gathering of Asterion, after the hero who founded it.
These four nations each set out in search of their own lands to roam across. One clan went into the Badlands where they lived as conquerers and slavers, they became known as the Bonehorn clan. Another settled in the vast forests of the Life Cradle to live and hunt the living plants and great behemoths that live there. They became known as the Clan of the Green Axe, after the unique axes they forged from rare materials found only in the Life Cradle. The third, the Stonehoof clan settled in the plains to live a simple life of farming and grazing, the clans' warriors herd great oxen across the central steppe to be sold at the Gathering of Asterion. These herds are one of the few things in the central steppe which are considered above the rule of the Orcish warlords. The final tribe, the Fellhide tribe, went to the Mountains of Madness where they were bent to cruelty and violence. The tribe conquered the local goblins, creating vast mountainside temples to minotaur might on the backs of goblin slave labor. They dwell now in these massive stone temples, raiding the villages below for supplies. Every few years a warlord will lead an army of goblins and minotaurs down to reave through the countryside, returning fat with meat and plunder.
Finally a hero emerged, at the head of another adventuring party and gathered every clan behind his banner in ritual combat. The wise hero, knowing that the ideological differences of the clans could not be resolved split the minotaur race into 4 nations. He then set a yearly time and place for the 4 Minotaur nations to meet and trade goods and information. This gathering became known as the Gathering of Asterion, after the hero who founded it.
These four nations each set out in search of their own lands to roam across. One clan went into the Badlands where they lived as conquerers and slavers, they became known as the Bonehorn clan. Another settled in the vast forests of the Life Cradle to live and hunt the living plants and great behemoths that live there. They became known as the Clan of the Green Axe, after the unique axes they forged from rare materials found only in the Life Cradle. The third, the Stonehoof clan settled in the plains to live a simple life of farming and grazing, the clans' warriors herd great oxen across the central steppe to be sold at the Gathering of Asterion. These herds are one of the few things in the central steppe which are considered above the rule of the Orcish warlords. The final tribe, the Fellhide tribe, went to the Mountains of Madness where they were bent to cruelty and violence. The tribe conquered the local goblins, creating vast mountainside temples to minotaur might on the backs of goblin slave labor. They dwell now in these massive stone temples, raiding the villages below for supplies. Every few years a warlord will lead an army of goblins and minotaurs down to reave through the countryside, returning fat with meat and plunder.
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