[Volume 1] Chapter 17: Life On The Plains
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(Morgan Pov)

According to Hassar, surviving on the plains by yourself is possible, but you need a great deal of strength and skill to do so. On the plains, you have to not only contend against the elements, but with the people as well. This is due to the absence of a formal government in Sacae.

The vast open lands of Sacae is home to many major and minor tribes, but they are scattered and always on the move. There is also no surefire way to tell if a tribe will be friendly or hostile upon meeting them. As a result, there is a lack of communication between the tribes.

When combined with the lack of a formal government, this makes Sacae a haven for various types of criminals to gather and thrive. There are raiding tribes, brigands living on the outskirts of the mountains, notorious killers on the loose, and other types of criminals inhabiting the land.

Looking at it from a more positive perspective, the qualities that make Sacae potentially dangerous also make it very attractive for certain people. One word that is often associated with the nation of nomads is freedom.

The beautiful ever-expanding open sea of grass, the cool gentle winds, and the roaming wildlife, all convey that idea of freedom. The environment of Sacae beckons people that want a fresh start to it. For whatever reason a person might have, Sacae is the perfect place to seek refuge.

Due to the isolated nature of the people and tribes, the likelihood of people discovering your past is slim. That is very attractive to those who want to forget about their past or escape their troubling circumstances.

This is why Sacae is a popular destination for eloping couples or new families. However, one thing these new families have to consider, and that is their survival strategy. They have to judge whether or not they have the strength and skill to contend with the dangers of the plains.

For those not strong enough, their best bet is to join or to form a group. Joining an existing tribe is hard, most tribes have a stigma against outsiders. You never know what sort of intentions a person might have, and when it comes to family it's better to be safe than sorry.

From what I learned, the events that lead to the founding of our tribe were nothing short of miraculous. Families with similar backgrounds and motives found one another at the perfect time. And each of these families fell into one of the three following categories.

They were either couples looking to start a family, young families looking for support, or couples that felt ostracized in their previous group. With similar backgrounds, they were able to take the first step into working together. Which was understanding and empathizing with one another.

At the time, each family made the risky decision to entrust their lives to strangers. But the hope for a better future for their children drove each of them to make that decision. We are still a relatively new tribe within the plains, having existed for about 6 years at the time I'm writing this.

At the start, the tribe did not have many of the resources available to the major or older tribes. Slowly but surely, the adults are improving the tribe's overall wealth and access to resources. It's a very enjoyable experience, witnessing the tribe reach certain milestones in its development.

We have major and minor victories here and there, but we still have a long way to go. We still have goals like improving the status of the tribe. In Sacae strength is the thing valued most, and by extension, our status is dependent on our power. That isn't to say we are weak, far from it.

Due to our focus on resource acquisition, we haven't interacted with other tribes or made our presence known. Doing so would put us at risk while we were still in the early stages of our development, but right now we have reached a relatively stable period in our growth.

_______________(AN:Just to remind you, this means the end of a diary entry)

"Morgan, what are you doing?"

"I'm just writing about Sacae and how the tribe was started. I learned a lot of things about the tribe, and I don't want to forget any of it. If I do forget, I am writing this to explain the things I learned. At least what I know and understand right now."

"Well it's getting late, you should finish writing that last sentence down. We have a long day of work tomorrow, so I need you to be well-rested. It's our turn to herd the sheep and the goats, you already know what that means. Right?."

"We wake up at dawn, and our day finishes an hour before sunset. I guess I have to do my routine throughout the day, and my run before I go to bed."

"As long as you do your job properly I don't mind what you do. What food do you have stored away in that spell of yours? Don't lie to me, I know you always have food hoarded away. I don't feel like eating dry sausage all-day tomorrow."

"I think I have some marmot meat and leftover cheese from the winter. I can take a closer look tomorrow. I just finished writing down my last thought, I can go to sleep anytime you need me to. Do you have anything else for me to do? Or should I go to sleep now?"

"Let's go back to the yurt and sleep. We will have plenty of time to talk tomorrow."

----------------

Out of all the chores I have to, herding the livestock is the one I hate doing the most. It's not that hard of a job, but it's a very mundane job that requires my undivided attention. We can't afford to lose any one of these animals. Much of our livelihood depends on these animals.

While the animals are still alive and young, we can use their milk to make various cheeses, yogurts, and other dairy products. In fact, in the summer and fall, our diet predominantly consists of eating these dairy products and whatever animals we can hunt down.

If the animal dies of natural causes, we try to use as much of it as we can. We use the blood and organs to make sausages. Depending on the animal we use the bones to create all sorts of things. The point is, we can't afford to lose any of them, and if we do we have to make the most out of our loss.

In my opinion, the sheep are our second most important resource. We use sheep wool for many things, we use it to make clothes, rugs, blankets and we also use it to insulate the yurts. Whatever wool we have leftover we either trade away or sell depending on the circumstances.

Speaking of wool, I have to ask Hassar something.

"Hassar, when are we shearing the sheep?!"

"We are shearing them 2 days from today! And before you ask me! Yes, you are one of the people who have to help out!"

"Okay, thank you for answering!"

Dammit, I have to spend another one of my days with these assholes. They are pretty docile animals when I have to herd them, but when it comes to shearing them it's a whole different story. For some inexplicable reason, they want to bite me when I attempt to shear them.

They don't do that to anyone, and I don't know why. I don't want to brag, but I am one of the top 5 shearers in this tribe. At least that's what they tell me, they could just be feeding my ego. But then again, despite the issues I have to deal with, the quality of my work is consistently great.

Crap! While I was too busy thinking about things, I lost sight of one of the sheep. And it's not just any sheep, it's Scott. He's my favorite sheep, I even bothered to give a name. The reason why I like Scott so much is because he is the only sheep that likes me and cooperates with me.

Hang on Scott, I'm coming to find you.

-----------------(A few hours later)

"Did you run into any issues on your end."

"Nope, I had everything under control."

"You lost a sheep didn't you."

"Before you judge me, I brought it back immediately. And just to be sure, I counted all of the sheep and goats. We still have 150 sheep and 50 goats."

"Morgan, you are a lot of things, but there are two things I can count on you being. I can always count on you being very diligent in your work, and I can also count on you being crazy enough to do what is necessary for the good of the tribe. I'll take your word for it."

"Thanks?"

"Some of the sheep are napping and some are just resting. Do you think we should eat now or a little later?"

"I think we should eat now, I'm getting bored just watching them. If they start to be more active, I have enough magic to create an animal to herd them while we eat."

"You make this boring job so much easier when you're around."

"Please don't put me on herding duty more often! I can handle doing this job twice a week at most, anything more and I might go mad from all of the pressure! Don't forget our deal, don't tell the others I can use magic to herd the animals!"

"Calm down, I won't tell the others you can do that. You know the rule, every family has to take turns being responsible for herding the animals. One family is responsible for the cattle and horses, while another is responsible for the goat and sheep.

The rules specifically say family, so that means if you are put on herding duty more often then I'm also put on herding duty more often. We both don't want that to happen, so your secret is my secret."

"You never told me about that rule. Also, what do you want to eat with your sausage? I have goat and sheep cheese, I recently ran out of horse cheese. Or do you want some marmot meat?"

"I have told you about that rule, you just don't listen when it matters most. I'll take the goat cheese, you're still growing so you need to eat the sheep cheese."

"Here you go."

"Thank you."

"My pleasure."

"I can't believe how quickly 3 years have gone by since the time I found you wandering the plains. You have been part of my life for such a short period of it, but after thinking about it for some time I realized how quickly you became an irreplaceable part of it."

"How did you come to this thought process."

"You know how it is, when you are bored you just start to think of random things to pass the time. I thought about all the things in my life that I find important, and you were on that list. When that happened, I started to think about the reasons why that happened and it just made sense to me"

"Are you going to tell me the reasons why?"

"No. I think it will be more fun to see you try and come up with an answer. I know how much you like to overthink things, but the answers are very simple. I expect to hear an answer the next time we have to herd the livestock."

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