Ruenlak

The Ruenlak were a small tribe of humans that settled around the bay in what became Heimmelstang and eventually Bornheim. Their language and xenophobic culture separated them from many of the other ethnic groups that settled near the Rakarian Valley. By 825 AE the Ruenlak controlled the entire valley, killing any others that sought to settle there. Unfornately their culture stagnated within two-hundred (200) years their villages were sacked by the Kingdom of Mladovo.

When their largest settlement was conquered and its people put to the sword in 1092 AE the Ruenlak were reduced to only a few hundred people remaining. Within two (2) decades the Ruenlak ceased to exist.

• Temporal: 670 - 1115 AE
• Population: 0 (as of 1080 AE)
• Species: Human
• Geographical Location: Rakarian Valley

The Ruenlak started as a single gathering of humans led by a woman touched by Mantessi the Storm Goddess. With the power of the storms she destroyed any who opposed her and those who followed her became known as the Ruenlak. Before her death in 681 AE several other women had been chosen to receive the gift of the storms. Each of these women attempted to seize complete control of the Ruenlak, but in the end only fractured the survivors.

By 726 AE the eight strongest of the blessed had solidified their hold over their lands. They agreed to respect the borders of each other, while working to eliminate any who sought to depose them.

The height of the Ruenlak was from 892 - 1006 AE. It began with the founding of the Holy City of Rakar. Dedicated to Mantessi, this city was built where the Zaber River and Doursse River emptied into a deep water bay. The failure of only eight women holding power of the Ruenlak people became evident as more women each generation were blessed by the goddess.

The city was founded by Horenski, one of these more powerful of the Storm-blessed. She gathered any of the Storm-blessed who heeded her call to the bay. Using their power they raised a city in which the Storm-blessed could come and stand as equals. Her vision drew dozens of women who renamed themselves Sturmnik (Storm Wardens).

When Horenski passed in 947 any girl found to have been Storm-blessed was immediately taken to Rakar. The Sturmnik traveled among the various villages and towns of the Ruenlak dispensing justice and killing all heretics. This was the Golden Age of the Ruenlak, the Sturmnik protected them from outsiders and peace reigned in the Rakarian Valley.

By 1006 AE the justice of the Sturmnik had begun to turn into tributes of fear. No longer were only the Storm-blessed taken to the Holy City of Rakar, but skilled craftsmen and children of grace and beauty as well. The city swelled in numbers reaching nearly eight-thousand (8,000) inhabitants.

The vast tributes sent by Ruenlak villages who sought protection from the Sturmnik bred idleness among the Storm-blessed. They saw themselves standing above all others and soon turned to idolatry and other hedonistic arts. For over thirty (30) years a artistic subculture thrived in Rakar as artists sought to outdo each other with their passion plays, statuary, and tapestries.

The artistic boom was simply the last gasp of a dying culture. By 1090 many of the villages were on the verge of revolt, while others had been emptied simply because all of their children were taken. Bestial rituals and drunken orgies became weekly occurrences among the Sturmnik as the people around them wallowed in despair.

The end of the Sturmnik 1081 AE when Mantessi, so enraged over the filth and decay of those she blessed sent terrible storm that lasted for twenty-three (23) days. So much water fell on the Fuldelf Ridge that the surge of the Zaber and Doursse Rivers flooded everything between them. Everyone was washed out to sea for their final judgement, except for the Storm-blessed. Those women were brought into her skies and their soulds bound to the eternal storm. They would remain bound to the storm or all time, their tortured screaming serving as a warning to all that the wrath of the storm is to be feared.

The Mldovia conquest in 1092 was simply the killing of the few Ruenlak that remained.

The Ruenlak never settled beyond the Rakarian Valley nor did they interbreed with other human cultures outside of their own.

The Ruenlak worshiped a powerful Storm Goddess who brought both joy and misery to her people. She tolerated no other people to live upon the lands she gave to the Ruenlak. A few among the Ruenlak she gave the special blessing of the storm. Filled with the power of the raging storm these Sturmnik (Storm Guard) could fly among the winds and cast down the storm upon their enemies. The Sturmnik ruled through fear and domination, each one carving out their own territory and often fighting among themselves.

As no Sturmnik rose to supremacy over the others the Ruenlak never became a united people. So when the Mldovians arrived with powerful magic of their own the Ruenlak were defeated. Even in the last battles the Sturmnik could not put aside their differences to defeat a common foe, so great was their rage against each other.