Following the Skywolf

[SoF]

Birth of the Raiders

It's said that, when our people were lost, exiled themselves from their old homes and wandered in the endless deserts, they followed a wolf in the sky and passed through a mythical gate. The wolf brought them to a harsh land, and said to them "one day I will be back, and I will bring with me the heaven,". With that it was gone, and this was how the Samarrans were born. The wolf never came back.

All my life I lived on this barren world... seamlessly extending dry deserts, hot by day, freezing by night. People here squabble like vultures, fighting over food, water and limited resources. Tribes and their leaders called the Great Sheiks make wars to gain control of these, they kill or be killed. People on Samarra are born into castes, and live their lives as slaves to this cruel and, for some, fair system. While the priest caste steps on all the other castes, the slave caste is stepped on by every other, with nearly no hope of freedom and salvation.

But I have seen the Skywolf. He descended on the castle, looked at me, called for me... I woke up in my tent, my hair was wet with sweat... I lost no time, I rushed to the castle, and I saw an attendance of a hundred men or so, three of them in the front were speaking with our Great Sheik Darius.

One of the trio started, he said that they are caste-less thugs, bandits, thieves... stealing and murdering to survive. They had come to offer their help to Sheik Darius in his war. Even though this was something to be ashamed of - being caste-less, being thieves and bandits - there was no shame in his voice or in the manner he acted. You would think that he thought of himself even higher than the Sheik.

Normally they would be killed on spot, but these men looked dangerously strong. Especially one of the trio looked off, an otherworldly fire was burning in his gaze that no man could dare to meet. Not that he looked excessively strong, but it is excessively hard to explain... I saw that the Sheik was avoiding his direction as well, and the guards training their guns to the trio were shaking in fear.

Another reason they were not shot was that the Sheik needed all the help he could get. His tribe was losing the fight. The bandits probably counted on it, and hoped to win their castes as raiders.

They were right. The Sheik accepted their help and from that day onward they were called raiders.