On the eve of the wedding day when the great warlord Kabul Ach Khüü Khan would have taken to wife the envoy of his greatest rival, she slipped out of his camp in the dead of night, evading handmaidens and sentries alike, that she might come alone to the shores of the sacred lake, Deed Tusgal Nuur. She communicated her intent to no one in either camp, for she went to the lake not as an envoy, nor as the betrothed of a mighty Khan, but as a matter of her own faith, deep and vast and sure as the lake itself. She bowed low by the lakeside and offered up a prayer to the holy spirits in whose guidance she trusted above all the mortals of the earth, heedless of the chaos that she caused in the camps of the two competing Khanates. For when morning came and she was nowhere to be found in or about her tent, the fury that rose in Kabul Ach Khüü Khan burned so high that some of his retainers sought drinking-skins filled with water lest their Khan should burst into flame.
"Where is my betrothed?!" he bellowed, demanding answers perhaps from Tengri, for his shouts could be heard to echo across the sky. And shortly answering his own question, hardly softer than before, he declared, "It's that accursed Tului Ni Shizu! He has taken her away, that he might win a ransom and hold ascendancy over me! The crafty little coward must have planned this all along! Well, he shall have a ransom that he did not bargain on: To arms, my men! To arms! Tului Ni Shizu shall pay for this betrayal with his blood!"
If he was expecting to catch Tului Ni Shizu unprepared, Kabul Ach Khüü would have been greatly disappointed: Not only had Shizu taken no hostage, still less made the mistake of imagining that one would suffice to either earn him a ransom or protect him from the coming battle, in fact he had placed other agents than his beautiful envoy close to Kabul Ach Khüü Khan, and soon received word by secret signals of what had passed in his rival's camp. "Curse him - and curse me," Shizu cried out to his closest advisors. "I underestimated his battle lust! I thought his fascination for dear Saikhan, or his people's if that failed, might bring peace between his clans and ours; I had not thought even he would go so far as to turn his people's love for her against us by murdering her and pretending that we took her away! Her blood must not go unrepaid - and were we cowards enough to let it, he would give no peace to our people anyway! We must prepare to meet him on the battlefield and try if my tactics and our numbers can outmatch the fury and the hatred in his blood!"
![[Image: Zhuge_Liang.jpg]](https://startingplayer.com/wp-content/uploads/Zhuge_Liang.jpg)
The interesting design on that flag in the background is totally just a picture. Millenia later, when writing was invented, there would be pictographic characters patterned after some of Shizu's scribblings, but only because everyone thought they looked cool. This is 1000% legitimate history! ...of the imaginary Mongol people in this story.
Though hardly capable of fighting on his own behalf, Shizu led his men in person, rolling forward on his wheeled throne while his clansfolk marched behind. They formed up when they saw the enemy approaching and heard Kabul Ach Khüü call out across the full breadth of the field, "Kidnappers and traitors, you shall have no ransom of me but the ending of your lives! And if you should do harm to her, I shall do worse to you and to your bodies when you die!"
Across the plain, Shizu called back, "I throw the lie back in your face, you who have wronged your own betrothed merely to turn your people against mine! We hold no hostage, and I love my Saikhan like a daughter, and cannot abide your doing her such harm!"
In answer Kabul Ach Khüü Khan shouted back at him, "You lie! You lie, and I shall prove it in your blood and on your bones!" and so saying, he charged forward with all his men, issuing a terrible battle-cry. Shizu motioned, and his own men charged, the two armies converging with blood and flame and murder in their eyes. The two armies rushed together with such speed and such grim purpose that nothing in the world could have stopped them in their mutual charge or saved the lives of any but a few - except, at last, for what actually did.
![[Image: 13th+century+mongolian+queen+2.jpg]](https://static1.squarespace.com/static/51cb2bb0e4b028e0e0b7ed46/5575cc0fe4b0992cf8975881/5575cc36e4b0cc5117753c6d/1433783362175/13th+century+mongolian+queen+2.jpg)
Some say she rose out of the waving grass before them, others that she materialized from Tengri's sky, and others that she merely strode forward, stately and majestic in her bridal gown, arms raised for attention as if to separate the charging warriors, calm and impassive in the depths of her faith as the spirits themselves, until the soldiers of the advancing armies saw her. Then they slowed, and they paused, and they gaped. Even Kabul Ach Khüü himself was nonplussed for a moment, seeing his betrothed not only free of captivity but apparently on her own, and for all intents and purposes countermanding his latest orders to his men.
As for Shizu, he sighed with relief and mopped his brow as both armies came to a stumbling halt, almost surrounding his envoy, until at last, gesturing broadly, her voice carrying across the plains, she spoke: "Last night, I was drawn by the holy spirits to visit the sacred lake, and there I received this vision: Krill Gamefinder, who in seeking game for their tribe first led Mardoc Earthshaper and his people to this land, raised a challenge to Mardoc himself in their realm of immortality!"
![[Image: universe_in_my_hands_by_twrabidmonkey.png]](http://pre03.deviantart.net/719e/th/pre/f/2010/036/2/c/universe_in_my_hands_by_twrabidmonkey.png)
I know that isn't a toroid, but neither is the map we're on: A toroid with our map dimensions would be much further around along the outer edge than the inner edge. There's no mathematical shape for our map apart from "cyllinder with a magic wormhole connecting the top to the bottom."
Mardoc held within his hands a shimmering image of the world, and Krill cried out against its reflections like Deed Tusgal Nuur's of old, and he went to shatter the image with his fist, that it might be remade anew. But Mardoc protected the heart of the reflection-world he held in his hands, where the lake and its surroundings could be seen, and how much more he was able to shield beyond that I could not say.
Then Krill was rebuffed, for no others among the tribe would join with him in speaking against the new reflection, but he cried out that rather than walking again into more of Mardoc's echoes and reflections, he would go out to the world himself, and by the agency of the living make the whole of the world his own."
![[Image: a_life_of_ravens__cover_by_giadrosich.jpg]](http://orig03.deviantart.net/2733/f/2007/178/8/6/a_life_of_ravens__cover_by_giadrosich.jpg)
This is a prophetic vision or something; it can totally look into the future where Boudica has access to iron equipment. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!
"I saw a terrible warrior-maiden like an Amazon," the envoy went on, gazing still into the distance, rapt in her vision, "mighty in battle and a deadly leader of men, and I saw the spirit of Krill recruit her to be his emissary in the world: He promised her his guidance and the gift of immortality itself if she would lead her people in accordance with his will, and whether she knew the power and the vision of Krill Gamefinder for what they were, or whether she was merely tempted by the promise of eternal life, or whether her desire for destruction accorded with his, she swore to follow his guidance and to take his pact. So he sent her to the sources of the Amazon river, there to lead the people of that land with their climbing terraces, and prepare them to conquer all the living world. But even as he did this, I saw others of the ancient, deathless tribe go out to other lands - eight lands in all that shone alike as reflections of the heart of Mardoc's world, all urging their chosen peoples to follow their words and ascend to power over all other living peoples. And so I prayed to the holy spirits for our people's salvation in the face of all these new-rising enemies - and my prayers were answered!"
![[Image: if_god_is_with_us____by_tuikkis-d8rscfs.jpg]](http://pre09.deviantart.net/88d1/th/pre/f/2015/121/f/3/if_god_is_with_us____by_tuikkis-d8rscfs.jpg)
Also remember, this is a legend. In some versions of the legend, the vision appears to everybody instead of just the envoy. In other versions, I didn't feel like digging up a marginally better image after I found this one.
Spreading her arms, she called, "Know the spirits who guide us, and know them by their mysterious names: JR4, Spirit of Patience and Deep Strategies, called unto me to offer me his guidance! RefSteel, Spirit of Silly Stories and Overplanning, said unto me, 'Sure; sounds fun. Guess I'll join in!' Then shallow_thought, spirit of Enjoying the Ride and Keeping Us Sane, offered to join our cause as well, so long as Ref doesn't fall down on the job! And who knows? Maybe still others will contribute encouraging words, for are we not the people of Mardocin Toli? Are we not the guardians of Deed Tusgal Nuur? Are we not, in the cryptic words of the Spirits themselves, 'poised to wreck face with hordes of keshiks and highly-promoted riders of every variety'?"
She lowered her arms. "We are. For the holy spirits have granted me that same immortal gift that the spirit Krill Gamefinder offered to the Amazon queen, so that under my leadership and their guidance, we might challenge her and all the other peoples being led to prominence by the deathless spirits of Mardoc's tribe! Join me now upon the hilltop overlooking Deed Tusgal Nuur and the lower lake, and we shall consecrate ourselves to our holy mission in my name: The name of Izabyella, immortal guardian of our people forevermore!"
All the people of the steppes were moved by her words, and the poet-general Tului Ni Shizu beamed upon her. "You shall be a great leader," he predicted, and looked around at the warriors gathered on all sides. "And now, aware at last of the implacable enemies beyond our borders, we need not fight each other anymore!"
"Wait," said Kabul Ach Khüü, plainly appalled, and the voices of all the gathered warriors were added to his own. "
Not fight each other???"
---
That night, as the stars came out over the blood-drenched battlefield below, the Eternal Empress Izabyella prayed once more to the holy spirits, and thanked them for their aid. To be sure, the warriors of her people had all perished below in joyous battle, but the women and children, together with the elderly, the infirm, and the slightly-less-recklessly-suicidal all had willingly followed her to the crest of the hill, where they met with the one surviving military scouting division whose wily leaders had arranged to arrive at the fight just a little too late for a glorious death. It was a beginning, and that was all that Izabyella Khatun needed. So she prayed through the night as her people prepared for the coming dawn.
![[Image: Dawn.JPG]](https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OPO-R69BB5w/WPrHekEEg7I/AAAAAAAADM8/6d0E_NIz038Z-PT8RlAB7CYU41KxB4q7ACLcB/s1600/Dawn.JPG)
The test of time is right. This game could last a year or more!
To be continued ... in the game, when it begins!
