ChevalinWanderlust

History

It was not long after the Great Judgment Day that created the Exile herd, where the Bachelor’s history began.The exile of the criminals brought upon a new era for the horses of Chevalin. For so long, the mortal equine had lived unquestioning of the Great Compromiser and his unicorns for they had provided them with security, compassion, and leadership. Now, not all were so sure. It made them ask a question: if the Great Compromiser had sent away the criminals, what would stop them from doing the same to others who misplaced their hooves? A young stallion named Horod was one of those who had his doubts. Once an unquestioning follower, the tall stallion had served the Great Leaders every need. Yet he saw the unicorns scorn of the criminals as unjust and unnecessary; for banishment surely meant death to them all.

Still wanting to think the best of the unicorns, Horod confronted the Great Compromiser with his concerns. He pleaded with him to allow them to return and repent their sins once again. Yet the anger the now exiled horses had stirred within the Great Unicorn Leader was far too great and he accused Horod of blasphemy, challenging his leadership. In what is said to be a crazed fit, the Great compromiser marked an X on Horod head, and claimed that this mark would forever label him a traitor. So Horod left the Isle of Olde.. seeking refuge in new lands.  Several stallions followed Horod, looking up to him as a mentor and powerful role model, in hopes that they too would not be subject to the unicorns rule. In celebration of their breakaway they marked eachother's heads with the infamous X.

Over the course of Horods life, he and the stallions traveled the two south most isles sharing the land with the banished criminals. The days were tough, fighting for food and land with those who refused to band together to survive. Yet slowly, the group of stallions began to grow; their skills ever improving. The fighting made them strong, young warriors and their noble deeds were well known among the nomads.

It was Horod’s successor and son, Rehmal, that set the band of horses apart from the exiled. A much stricter and more demanding stallion, Rehmal was revered for his great power. Yet among his herd, he was known for his kind heart; especially his softness for his daughter. His rule changed drastically after his daughter was found murdered. Fueled by grief, Rehmal lead his horses across the land in an attempt to find his daughter’s killer and nomads who did not belong to his band were often driven off or killed. The band of mostly stallions spread fear in their wake and few began to whisper the name of the small group: bachelors. The name stuck to the horses that traveled with Rehmal and his successors; the Bachelor Herd. Still, the group was small in number and as Rehmal died, so did his desires. Time passed and Cezeer became leader, a weak and lazy stallion who brought glory to no one - and thus through smoke and mirrors, Cezeer's second in command Ghangis was named leader.

It was Ghangis’ rule that changed the whole of the Bachelor herd. Far from noble, he seized control from Rehmal’s son, driving him off. A power hungry Ghangis leading his new band of ever growing horses to war with a desire to rule the Eastern Isle. His conquest was swift and cruel, taking in slave mares to do his bidding. They were subject to his every desire yet none barred him any sons to succeed his throne. That is until he lead a raid to capture an Olde herd queen. Her first foal was indeed a colt who would grow up to instil the most lasting and well known tradition of the Bachelor herd.

Ghangis’ son, Fungus, was raised under the laurels of his father but still he was always inadequate to the power hungry stallion. A sickly foal from birth, Fungus struggled to live up to the expectations. Thrown into power after his father’s sudden death, the well spoken stallion made a point of enforcing the laws his heritage laid down but drought crippled the land, sending the herd into starvation. Desperate, Fungus took it upon himself to weed out all those who were not strong enough, marking each foal that dropped with an X shaped scar the founder Horod once bore across their face. If the foal was strong enough to survive, they were worthy of living within the herd. Noticing that fillies often died after the marking, Fungus called a halt to the tradition deeming the mares too weak and casting them to the outskirts of the herd. Those that followed Fungus's rule kept the tradition, even as the drought ended, creating the Bachelor herd that is well known today.

Fungus, sickly as he was, did not manage to sire any colts, leaving the herd leaderless upon his death. His two highest Elites, one of the Scavenger faction and the other of the Infantry faction, decided that they would have a fight to the death to determine which would rule in Fungus' absence. With the Infantry commander lying dead at his hooves, Titus claimed the throne, so to speak, and was thus first to establish the 'fight to lead' tradition in the Bachelor herd. Titus was extremely misogynistic, and realized that females born to their herd were dying in droves due to the 'X' marking. He called for the ritual to be preserved only for males, as it was them that were strong enough to fight through the pain and make it. This further caused division between stallions and mares, as mares began tumbling rapidly from favor and their lives worsened. 

Jacob, Titus' son, continued this tradition when his father passed warring with a nomadic herd of Loners that were passing through unbidden. Jacob's rule was one of the longest in the history of the Bachelor herd, and it was under him that many of the current traditions and customs of the herd were created. One such custom is the Moon Risen Rolic, which Jacob implemented when he realized that in spite of the lack of marking, the female population of the herd was dwindling. In an effort to get the female numbers back up, so the stallions had mothers for their offspring, the first Rolic was had and it was at that time that Jacob stole himself an Olde queen, much like Ghengis long before him. As one would imagine, this was the start of war between the Olde and Bachelor herds, though it was settled quickly due to the standing infantry that the Bachelors maintained, and the fading of the land bridges.

Current Happenings

Klaus, the lone son of Gemini, was raised in tumultuous times, with a father that was suspcious of him and a mother that certainly made it that way. A lifetime of paranoia and a little too much intrigue seemed to catch up with Klaus, as whenever the land-bridges would rise, the stallion felt compelled to check them to ward off any intruders on Bachelor land. Klaus took it upon himself to take half of the herd to the Northern landbridge, while he assigned his most trusted adviser, Vladek, to take the other half south. 

Upon reaching the northern shore, he found the Olde herd there lurking, in his mind alerted from the lack of smoke rising from the Southern Isle. Convinced that the Olde herd was intending to traipse through his territory, Klaus stood firm. For days they waited and watched as the Olde refused to budge from their station on their shores, and finally the land bridge began to rise.

Klaus and a few of his most trusted horses walked out onto the land bridge to confront the Olde herd and the messengers they sent. One stallion overstepped his bounds but managed to capture two of the other herd's mares before Klaus encountered the Olde king, Vasska, and his bizarre fortune-telling companion Obscura. War was declared as the landbridge started to shatter below their hooves and the herds were forced to go back to their own islands, the Bachelors with two new members in tow. 

Meanwhile, Vladek and his half confirmed that smoke ceased to rise from the Southern Isle, and Vladek had every intention of scouring what was left for survivors. Little did they know that while they were searching, the Exiles had already made their way over. Once discovered, the Exile captain Kanu made a deal with Vladek for the safety of the Exile herd, now that their island was burned to ash. Seeker was thus traded to the Bachelors in exchange for their stalemate. The deal required one mare or colt be traded every full moon, as long as the Exiles decided to remain on Bachelor territory. With their new aquisitions, the south-searching party returned north and met with Klaus', the herd rejoined, and war preparations began. 

Klaus was plagued by his paranoid thoughts, and started more and more to seek isolation from the herd. He would leave hours at a time, talking to no one at all. Slowly these jaunts became longer, and he would leave the herd for days. Eventually, Klaus stopped returning, his deevolution complete. After being left in limbo for some time, the mysterious loner Cain asserted himself as their new leader in Klaus' absence. 

Not a herd that was welcoming to outsiders, or to change, Cain's rise to power was a rocky one to start. He was inscruitable, and spoke to no one for long periods of time, however he ruled justly and began to name his few elites. Grudgingly, he kept Vladek at his side, and continued the preparations for war. He dispatched a few training parties to allow newer, younger stallions to hone their skills, and another party to take the mares to the Summer Fields where they would be safe from harm while chaos unfolded around them. Cain himself took the loudest of dissenters to the Riddle Mountains to force a talk between them, so they could understand what he was about, and he could get a feel for their own concerns. While no one was harmed on this venture, it was a difficult trek and trust continued to falter. Upon Cain's return to the main herd, he realized that the two captives of the Olde herd had been recaptured, however it did not seem to be of any concern to him. His entire mind was wrapped around the war that he had decided to claim as his own.

With none allowed fully into the confines of the new leaders' mind, Cain summoned his elites to accompany him to parley with the Exiles that continued to live on Bachelor territory. He asked for their leader Cael in exchange for their safety, allowing the Exiles to trade one important mare for indefinite time of the Eastern Island, rather than forcing them to keep giving up their own herd members. 

As Olde marched on the East Island, and the Exiles were turned away from the Isle of Olde, the Bachelors found themselves allied with the Exiles against Olde, and Cain finds himself somewhat indebted to their assistance. Though the war ended in a stalemate, and Cain himself gravely wounded from the experience, the Bachelor herd has chosen to regroup and prepare for the next round of attacks from the north. He remains ever vigilant for the inevitable return of the former bachelor leader Klaus, and waits for the day that the black stallion comes to reclaim his herd.