Gýbakk

Gýbakk was the first Hyvamto-Maðúšýï of the Maðúšýï Tribe from its establishment in 25019 AYM to his death in 25001 AYM. He is responsible for the early expansionary growth of the Tribe and the writing of the Tžý-Gýbakk, which was a first step in defining the raison d'être of the tribe. After 15 successful raids on both Varhoŋïð-Khalúš and the Hýyo-Wýðúr, Gýbakk would die in battle in the Ambush of Šahr-Óðlýn and Öðma-Amakoð, and was succeeded by his protégé Úvremk.

Biography

Little about Gýbakk during his time in the Ïlýrhonid Tribe is known, including the exact family that he was in. This lack of evidence could point to an origin in the Fýr-Hŋýtor, but there is no proof that supports that theory. It is, however, known that Gýbakk was not born until after the establishment of the Second Wave of Žötó-Žimiara, which had begun in 25080 AYM and only truly flourished from 25075 AYM onwards. Their contributions to the cultural landscape of the Ïlýrhonid Tribe would be a tremendous impact to Gýbakk, and the cessation of these contributions was one of the main factors behind his departure.

The Hayïdic Expedition of 25032 AYM was the first of the five Yarpalïŋ-Ýmïlýrhonid and the event in which Gýbakk took part. It traveled westwards into the southern Amoŋot Desert, founding the cities of Óm-hayïd, Tý-hayïd, and Yuževhït amidst the windstorms that were prevalent there. Despite the harsh conditions, he and the majority of the population decided to settle in the city of Óm-Hayïd. which was not only sheltered from the winds but offerred direct access to resources of the Nuzowli Mountain Range and Volain Forest.

The 25019 AYM takeover of Óm-Hayïd by the Varhoŋïð-Khalúš resulted in the expulsion of the local citizens of Óm-Hayïd, who subsequently settled in Hayïd-Entëž, Žënhðwör, and Varand. This included Gýbakk himself, who was living in Žënhðwör when the Úrïsic Expedition came to the city mere months later. The Expedition, which was sent from the Ïlýrhonid Tribe, was looking to raise up allies to fight against the Khalúšians, and in that respect used the vengeful sentiment of the community, as well as the provisions of various weapons, to secure the creation of the Maðúšýï. A central figure in the tribal deliberations was Gýbakk himself, and in the closing days of 25019 AYM, he was crowned as the first Hyvamto-Maðúšýï. Among the first actions he would do was to accept the proposition of the Ïlýrhonid Tribe, thus adding the Maðúšýï Tribe as the third member of the Pact of Kairn (alongside the Ïlýrhonid and Kairn Tribes), all of whom would jointly work to contain and weaken the Khalúšians.

Reign

The reign of Gýbakk stretched from 25019 to 25001 AYM and constituted 15 raids. Although he recognized the mandate that the tribe was bound to, the initial years of Gýbakk's reign were focused on the dilemma of resource gathering and distribution. Given that Óm-Hayïd was taken, they had no more access to the plentiful resources of the Volain Forest and the Nuzowli Mountain Range, and thus stood in peril of starving to death. Fortunately, the western cities, with their proximity to the Arbin Watershed, had created a vast mining and distribution system, and from 25018 to 25016 AYM worked on the expansion of this distrbution system to cover the entire width of the Desert and provide desperately-needed sustenance to the eastern cities.

Concurrent to this were the first raids of these eastern cities. Each raid consisted of the entire able-bodied population moving en masse towards their target, subduing resistance, and looting the city of useful resources. Driven by their vengeance, these raids targeted the city of Óm-Hayïd before incorporating several of the Hýyo-Wýðúr as additonal targets starting in 25015 AYM. In return for making the arduous trek and supplying the eastern cities (now the Maðúšýïan armies) with food, Gýbakk would allow these western cities to abstain from the task of raiding. Instead, he would name them the Hýhïd-Tëžem (Western Hýyó-Hayïd) and gave them the responsibility of gathering resources (which they had already been doing in abundance) for both themselves and the eastern raiding cities.

With these raids generating plentiful returns, and the inconvenience of the distribution system looming larger, Gýbakk immediately saw the potential necessity of the raids as the tribe's forefront means of sustenance. However, he also predicted that the satiation of vengeance that these raids provided would very quickly cause the tribe to lose interest in raiding. Having little confidence in these distribution systems' ability to support the growing population, and obligated to the service of the Ïlýrhonid Tribe through the Pact of Kairn, he desperately needed to establish a tribe-wide philosophy that would motivate further raids beyond the initial few.

Tžý-Gýbakk

The Tžý-Gýbakk was Gýbakk's solution to the earlier dilemma. It was a three-point manifesto that put in stone the purpose of the tribe and its operating system.

At its core, the Tžý-Gýbakk established the act of raiding as the paramount means of sustenance and the 'lifeblood' of the community. This 'lifeblood' was exemplified through the following three points. That is, one raids and must continue to raid for the following reasons:

1. Given the Hýyó-Hayïd's less-than-ideal geographic situation, one must get the majority of their resources from the outside. To raid is thus to ensure the survival of oneself, one's descendants, and those around oneself in a location that is unflinchingly brutal to the Ibrófeneð species.
2. Both due to the violent means of raiding and due to the nature of Ibrófeneðs in general, one generates significant enemies in the real world, and the frequent act of raiding weakens them to the point where they cannot harm the Maðúšýïan populace or those of its allies.
3. The Tribe is obligated to the continued act of raiding due to the Pact of Kairn, which specifies repeated assaults against the Khalúšians for the purpose of weakening them, ideally to the point where they do not pose any logical threat to any member of the Pact.

Crucially, these three tenets strongly implied that raiding was fundamentally related to the idea of 'protection'. Through raiding one's enemies, which even Gýbakk would admit was a violent act, one would ensure safety and longevity for oneself, one's community/tribe, and one's allies as well.

The spread of the Tžý-Gýbakk seems to have had a measurable effect on the perception and identity of the tribe; to raise their devotion to a near-fanatical level, Gýbakk would tie the identity of the tribe itself with the identities of each individual person in a manner akin to the concept of Žömëp-Fýtaŋ. In simple terms, this meant that each individual was an integral part of the tribe to the point where their identities were inseparable from that of the Maðúšýï Tribe. In practical terms, this reduced the guilt felt by any sole person; in organizational terms, this tied the well-being of the people with the well-being of the tribe as a whole. For any person, they began to perceive their own death as meaningless, perhaps even an objective good, if it ensured the continued existence of the tribe.

Later Events

Crucially, Gýbakk placed no restrictions on the manner in which one raided. Each operation was a highly chaotic manner, leading to widespread murder. According to later leaders, namely Úvremk, such factors would lead their enemies to abandon these frequently-raided cities in favor of ones further away, forcing the Maðúšýïan army to travel further from their tribe lands to attack them. This would be the case around 25010 AYM, when the Khalúšians abandoned Óm-Hayïd to settle in the newly-formed twin cities of Šahr-Óðlýn and Öðma-Amakoð. Crucially, Gýbakk placed no restrictions on the manner in which one raided. Each operation was a highly chaotic manner, leading to widespread murder. According to later leaders, namely Úvremk, such factors would lead their enemies to abandon these frequently-raided cities in favor of ones further away, forcing the Maðúšýïan army to travel further from their tribe lands to attack them. This would be the case around 25010 AYM, when the Khalúšians abandoned Óm-Hayïd to settle in the newly-formed twin cities of Šahr-Óðlýn and Öðma-Amakoð to the north. Due to the longer distances required to reach them, the Maðúšýï were leaving themselves open to flanks and ambushes, which was precisely what would occur in 25001 AYM.

Death

Despite the growing restlessness and resistance of the Khalúšians, Gýbakk did not change the way he conducted these raids. Historians generally accept that he was not a wartime strategist, having no affinity or interest with assuming such a role. Instead, he had always been more aligned with that of an ideological leader, who had done wonders to galvanize the Maðúšýï Tribe but not necessarily scrutinize their methodologies.

Around 25008-25005 AYM, the Khalúšians began to covertly send some volunteers to the still-abandoned Óm-Hayïd. By 25001 AYM, this population had reached around 2,000 individuals, and the trap was set for Gýbakk and his army. Later that year, during one of the many raids on Šahr-Óðlýn and Öðma-Amakoð, the Maðúšýï would fight bitterly with the inhabitants of Šahr-Óðlýn and Öðma-Amakoð when, from Óm-Hayïd, this approximately-2,000-strong force sprung upon them. The two Khalúšians forces thus acted like a vice, squeezing the Maðúšýïan army from both sides. Having no prior experience with being in this situation, a substantial portion of the army, including Gýbakk himself, was slaughtered. His to-be successor, Úvremk, would be seriously wounded and lay unconscious on the battlefield for several days before finding the strength to limp back to the Maðúšýïan territory.

Gýbakk's death was mourned throughout the Maðúšýï Tribe, who through him had found a true purpose. In an act of retaliation, one of the first acts of the Tribe after Gýbakk's death was to conduct a full razing of Óm-Hayïd, which the Khalúšians had been trying to rebuild.

Legacy and Historical Image

Gýbakk was widely deified by the Maðúšýï for his leadership, which was itself notable for defining so much of the Maðúšýïan 'status quo'. Indeed, much of what Gýbakk did not change for the entire of the Maðúšýï Tribe's existance, including but not limited to, the political alliance and sociocultural division between the Hýhïd-Tëžëm and the eastern raiding cities, the establishment of Žënhðwör as the definitive headquarters of the Tribe, and the rationale of raiding, and war in general, as being one built solely upon the notion of tribal protection and political fulfillment. Being more of a persuasive and charismatic leader than anything else, his ideas and beliefs, especially those put forth in the Tžý-Gýbakk, would persist far beyond the Maðúšýï Tribe and play important roles in the identity and ethos of other organizations like the Ðú-Üdarr, Ïlýrhonid, and Ardunioz. It stands to this day as one of the foundational documents of the Heta-Alšewharžar, although its short length (pamphlet-sized) has often caused it to be left out of the Gaðërïŋ-Heta-Alšëwharžar.

However, in later years, his achievements would be overshadowed by those of his successor Úvremk, who continued and strengthened the prosperity that originated in Gýbakk reign through his own philosophy, the Tžý-Úvremk. While it did not compete with the Tžý-Gýbakk, instead concerning the manner of raiding rather than the motivations behind it, it still did overshadow the perceived simplicity of the Tžý-Gýbakk and caused Gýbakk's name to fall into obscurity. This continued under the reigns of Ökkúš and Ažohr, who, even in the tribe's darkest moments, saw Úvremk, not Gýbakk, as the strongest and most heroic of the rulers. This was not entirely undeserved; Úvremk, in addition to possessing a true passion for the Maðúšýï (even dying in battle during the First Varhoŋïan War) and the mental capacity to formulate rules and guidelines upon which the Maðúšýï rested, was a phenomenal battle-tested commander, having served under Gýbakk for the entirety of the latter's reign.

The name of Gýbakk stayed in obscurity before becoming synonymous with resistance groups like those that opposed the Artal megatribe during the Varonian Civil War of 24538-33 AYM. This was tied to Gýbakk and the Maðúšýï's initial vengeful spirit towards the Khalúšians' takeover of Óm-Hayïd, for which it began the raids that would define its identity. For the resistance groups, they saw their identity as being similarly borne from the loss of something valuable, and thus emulated the ideological unity, brotherhood, and sacrifice of Gýbakk's Maðúšýïan vision.