Chapter 5: The Melting Pot

A  late  bloomer,  Dorag had grown tall like the majority of hunters in his troop, but by no means was he the most powerful, his lean body possessing  nowhere near the brute strength of the burly others.   Still he had become a proven hunter, more cunning than most, so much so that stories of his exploits made it to the campfires of the ruling clan.  As young and ambitious as Dorag was, there were those equally as ambitious among the Reindeer hunters of the Mammoti who vied for up and coming Bahr-Bahr hunters worthy of joining their high ranking clan.

As to the true history of the Bahr-Bahr Clan, much of this was lost, believing themselves as always having been a part of the Hinter-lander tribe.  The truth was that they were a melting pot of peoples that had come about  many generations before when the Bahr-Bahr were slaves, possessions of the Hinter-lander's who had migrated from the Northeast, a powerful and  aggressive group who eked out a new existence on the Southern land bordered by a range of mountains, a shimmering sea, and tidal river that at  the time was the home of two other peoples-- the River Tribe and the Southern Hinter-landers.

There was a time when the Hinter-landers lived only in the North East where they had prospered for many thousands of winters, but that was when it was balmy year round, and well before the great deluge of snow and ice that progressed over the 75,000 winters that followed.  The progression of ice being slow had enabled them to adapt, as did  their preferred prey -- furless mega beasts equipped with long tusks and snout, features that changed as the face of their land had changed with the ever growing cold.  Finally, the great white serpent of ice that encroached on their land had grown to the extent that undue pressure put on man and beast alike had brought about a major change.  

The stresses built up on the Hinter-lander's caused a rift, one that resulted in to the weaker clans being forced out.  Banished from the tribe they moved westward across a great mountain chain where the land at the time was less desirable -- drizzly wet, fog entrenched lands.   At the end of the forced migrations only one clan of Hinter-lander's remained in the Northeast for many thousands of years-- the Mammoti... the strongest of the lot.   

Finally the day came when the stresses proved even too great for the Mammoti to contend with, a stress brought on when the receding ocean had opened a new pass large and flat enough for the great hulking mammoth to traverse, passing over to the other side of the mountain chain and to the lands of the Hinter-lander clans who had been banished there a long time ago.  

So much time and environmental differences separated the two Hinter-lander groups that they no longer remembered or recognized one another.  The Northwest Hinter-lander's had lived in a predominantly cool foggy habitat for so long that they evolved a much lighter skin, large round pale blue eyes circled by white, their short hair a mix of blond and red, their face, nose and limbs long and their stature tall,  while their counterparts to the Northeast whose habitat had been colder and drier, lands that for much of the year had been encrusted with deep layers of snow, had evolved them into hairier darker skinned individuals with black-brown almond shaped eyes circled by a light brown, their hair short black and tightly curled and noses so stubby that they all but disappeared into fat laden cheeks, their short muscular limbs protruding from a broad trunk.  Any resemblance between the two Hinter-lander groups had all but faded over time.

The Mammoti had no other choice but to pack up and follow the Mammoth, an attempt that proved futile due to the Northwestern Hinter-lander's having become such a powerful group in their own right and in a land that they knew like the back of their hands. They would not give up their land to the foreigners without a fight. After many generations of bloody clashes, the Mammoti were forced to retreat, leaving only one route for them to follow.

When it became apparent that they couldn't follow their prey of choice to the northeast, the Mammoti sent out scouts in hopes of finding an alternative.  What they found, was a vast herd of reindeer on a migratory journey, venturing along the eastern side of the mountain chain and heading south.  Out of desperation, the cold, hungry and battle fatigued Mammoti headed south in pursuit of the herd.  For them, hunting the reindeer was a step down, but unless they were prepared to starve and freeze to death, they had little choice but to swallow their pride.

After a long and treacherous journey, they arrived at the reindeers migratory limit,  a land that the Mammoti found too hot for the most part and so the cool dark caves was a necessary reprieve and home to shelter their young.   

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Of all the herd animals, only the reindeer were able to withstand the rigours of a  migration that extended from North to south resulting in many of the Mammoti perishing along route as they struggled to keep up with the swift moving herd making their way while the land and rivers were still barely frozen.  It was no wonder then, that when the Hinter-landers finally arrived they made the decision to  stay even as the reindeer returned to their northern migratory limits in the fall.

The reindeer was the most prolific of all the herd animals, well equipped to survive in both worlds.  In the south the abundantly rich pastures and an accessible sea that satisfied their craving for salt, was their true Eden-- a place where they calved and gained a reserve of fat to sustain them for a good part of the winter.  Their northern land being a bare refuge in winter, a land that becomes pure hell with the onset of spring and as their most fearsome predator comes back to life -- hordes of biting, blood sucking, disease bearing insects that make wolves, lions and bears of the southern land, pale in comparison.  The insects forcing the herds into a panicked frenzy that served as part of nature's clock-work ensuring a timely migration before early summer rains broke the ice from rivers and the great swath of land became impassible. Even the recent introduction of the two legged predator wasn't enough to deter the reindeer whose way of life was so hard wired that with the first signs of fall their fur thicken atop a great accumulation of fat, both of which created  unbearable heat that drove them once again in frenzied droves racing to greet the welcoming arms of the north wind until  arriving at their northern limit-- a vast land encrusted with lichen... fit to be eaten by only a few creatures, the reindeer being one.     

The Mammoti soon realized that they were not alone in their new land.  Two  other groups had migrated here long before they -- a small off shoot from their enemies in the Northwest who referred to themselves as the Southern Hinter-lander's, and then the second group who were even stranger than the first, were known as the River People.  The Southern Hinter-landers were more similar in appearance to the Mammoti, but still, the differences were enough that each consider the other foreign.  The River People were vastly different than either Hinter-lander tribe, their tall lean bodies weighing nearly half that of the average Hinter-lander.  

The River People and Southern Hinter-lander's had lived in near proximity to one another for over two hundred winters before the arrival of the ones from the Northeast, keeping their distance for the most part except for once a year during early summer, they came together to make a single trade.  The River People trading  finely honed obsidian daggers for the right to venture on Hinter-lander territory in order to capture a handful of reindeer that had just calved.  It was essential for their survival in this new land that was lacking in the intense sunlight that they were used to from their ancestral home. During the first few years of living on the new land, many of their people died from lack of sun, but then they learned that supplementing their diet with oily fish was a  means of staving off the deficiency, as did the rich milk of reindeer a supplement they reserved for their babies and  younger children.

Other than that, the territories of the two peoples were vastly different.  The reindeer preferred to stay away from the swampy salt marshes that could bog them down, and so the Hinter-landers who hunted the reindeer had no reason to venture to this land that was also the domain of the River People.  The fact that the two peoples didn't compete with one another, and that they even benefitted from trading, meant they could live in peace and so prosper.   

Many of the creatures in their new land and waters were no more native than either of the two peoples who had come to live there, having been forced to immigrate out of necessity.  Such was the case with the salmon that had fled their now permanently frozen Arctic waters, a fish that  leapt along the shallow banks of the river having come to spawn in adjacent marshes that became inundated by sea.  

For the River People, and except for the hardship brought on by the lack of warmth and diminished sunlight, the new land was a reprieve from a once bountiful homeland that became ravaged by drought... from a once vibrant ancestral river now stagnant and poisoned by rotting death that in turn fostered a breeding ground for disease bearing insects that preyed on their people relentlessly.  Finally it was with the disappearance of a main source of food that forced them  out.  The ancestral  People relying heavily on the eggs of birds and water fowl that had migrated back and forth from winter lands further south in order to nest in the spring lands along a great river lined with once bountiful mangroves that that had made up the ancestral home of the River people. 

With the decline, the great migratory flocks began to pass by their usual nesting grounds, continuing their trek over the mangroves and to a new nesting ground somewhere across the inland Sea that lay to the north.  And so it came to pass that the ancestral River people finally moved, following the flocks, crossing along a chain of volcano's that divided the sea in two, the eastern sea land-locked as a result while the other opened to a channel that emptied into a vast open Ocean.  It was a long migration, one fraught with lava flows that forced them to precariously weave their way in and around each volcano, so that by the end of it, their provisions were completely gone as were many of the people.  Only the strongest and luckiest survived.  

Having arrived on the Northern shore of the twin seas, the survivors scouted along the shore line for miles, hoping to find the migratory flocks ... somewhere along one of the many rivers.  And find they did,... at least in part.  Many  miles to the west of the chain of volcano's and running adjacent to a great string of mountains  was a tidal river  surrounded by marshland as far as the eye could see, and a bounty of nesting waterfowl. 

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The South- Hinter-lander's relied on the herd animals-- namely the reindeer as their staple source for all their needs.  They were primarily meat eaters, with only ten percent of their diet consisting of various plant foods.  Every spring they waited for the reindeer to make their migratory return, a time when they could swiftly and safely travel across still frozen land and rivers.   

   

And then the fateful day had come when the Mammoti followed the reindeer, a move that would come to break the fragile balance of peace and prosperity enjoyed so long by the other two groups.  The Mammoti were intent on hunting the reindeer and thus put themselves in direct competition with the Southern Hinter-landers who were not nearly as powerful as their close relatives that had lived in the Northwest.   Numerous clashes ensued as each struggled for dominance over the rich but limited area, and in short time the Southern Hinter-landers were overwhelmed, with the invaders slaughtering the men and taking the  women as slaves.  The Northeastern Hinter-landers claimed the new land as well as the name of the conquered people, becoming the Mammoti of the Southern Hinter-land tribe.  

The River people were aware of the war being waged by the two groups and the slaughter of the ones they considered friend, and they feared for themselves with  many of their own people having disappeared, presumably killed by the ruthless Mammoti.  For this reason the River People sought a particular place of refuge… a place where they could remain hidden and safe right under the very noses of their enemy. 

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The conquering Mammoti had been aware of the River people on their arrival, but hadn't concerned themselves with what appeared to them as a weak, sickly lot, focussing their attention instead on the more formidable tribe that looked more like themselves ... the ones that positioned their camps near the herds of reindeer that they wished to hunt for themselves.  

Once the Southern Hinter-landers were conquered, the attackers turned their attention to stalking the small groups of River People, although not to kill them as the River People believed, but to capture as slaves that their women folk could use to make living in caves more bearable, not to mention a means of guaranteeing a continual supply of the beautifully honed obsidian instruments and weapons that the River People were so skilled at making.

The remaining River People had made their escape in the nick of time, given that the Mammoti had planned a final raid that was thwarted when they found the villages empty, believing that the much diminished tribe had packed up and left for good.  Little did the Mammoti know that the River Peoples were not that far away, but managed to keep secret the fact that they were nestled in the middle of what from the mainland appeared to be flat islands situated in the mouth of the tidal river, islands that were in fact coral encrusted volcano's long asleep, an ancient chain that had worn over a great period of time when they had been inundated by a much higher sea.  It all came about with the River People discovering that their huts of tightly bound reeds coiled around in similar fashion to making their baskets, could also float well when upside down.  The coracles boats enabled them to make their way to their new island homes.

Within a few generations after their move, the sea changed-- slowly but steadily rising, forcing the River People to busy themselves with building supports for the otherwise crumbling walls surrounding their villages, and as with anything new, the industry was given a name, and so important did it become to the people that they changed the name of their tribe to reflect this, and so from this day forward, they were known as the Dyke-landers.