Chapter 13: The Silent Night
The world is a complex place. There is all kinds of weather and all kinds of terrains.
Temperatures range from bitter cold to searing heat.
Majestic mountain ranges soar into the sky in some places, while seemingly limitless flat plains extend off into the distance in others.
Dark storm clouds soak dense rainforests while, elsewhere, a merciless sun bakes dry, barren desert.
Life thrives in some parts of the world; in others, humans spend each day teetering on a thin precipice between survival and death.
All of this, the weather, the terrains, the place have driven human history
Places offering fertile soil, abundant resources, plentiful water and good weather attract settlers, farmers, miners and craftsmen.
Other areas, with extreme temperatures and little water, remain largely uninhabited and hostile.
And then, there are areas that fall in between the rich and the barren.
Lands that, while they can support human existence, offer their limited resources in such a manner that they force their inhabitants to live constantly on the move, always searching for enough food and shelter to survive, one day at a time.
The harsh grasslands of the Marynku stand out as such a place. These grasslands, or steppes, shaped the culture of the tribes that lives in it