Shenzi’gwa
It is a common misconception—one repeated in taverns, classrooms, and, regrettably, published academic circles—that the Shenzi’gwa are a lesser offshoot of the more populous and widely spread Gisherva branch of the Orkäen people. This notion, while persistent, is utterly false. In fact, it is so incorrect that it borders on offensive, assuming one is easily offended by the collapse of basic historical literacy.
Let us be perfectly clear: it is not the Shenzi’gwa who splintered off from the Gishərva, but rather the reverse. Despite the latter’s larger numbers and their tendency to build settlements in just about every climate short of the ocean floor, the Gishərva are the offshoot. The Shenzi’gwa are the root, the originators—the trunk from which the rest of the Orkäen branches grew.
This is not conjecture. It is not poetic theory. It is evidence-backed fact.
One need only visit the Ogino Tøru Caves , located just east of the so-called ‘lost’ Tower of Heron Kav, precariously perched on the rim of the Barren Dim. Within those caves lie carvings—ancient, hauntingly precise, and utterly unambiguous—that date back to the early First Age. These etchings depict the daily life of ancient Orkäen: scenes of hunting, gathering, complex tribal rituals, and what appears to be a rather sophisticated game involving throwing bones at a flat stone (the rules of which are tragically lost, though I remain confident I would have excelled at it).¹
Most striking of all, these carvings place the early Orkäen—specifically the Shenzi’gwa—at the heart of a once unified, frostbound realm, sprawling across endless tundras and ice-laced plains, and anchored by immense cities built of froststone, packed snowbrick, and stubbornness. This was the golden age before the Great Rupture, that epoch-defining cataclysm which shattered their singular homeland into the fragmented wastes we now refer to (with unnecessary melodrama) as the Desert of Shadows.
So no, dear reader, the Shenzi’gwa are not an afterthought. They are not an offshoot. They are the beginning, buried beneath layers of sand, assumption, and the loud confidence of scholars who never bothered to visit a cave.
¹ I have personally visited the Ogino Tøru Caves—twice, in fact. The second time was to retrieve my boots, which had melted slightly during an ill-advised shortcut near a volcanic vent. Still, I maintain it was worth the risk to confirm the accuracy of the carvings, which are far more compelling than Professor Vildrem’s “cloth-based dating theory,” which I shall not dignify further in this footnote. —OM
This is not conjecture. It is not poetic theory. It is evidence-backed fact.
One need only visit the Ogino Tøru Caves , located just east of the so-called ‘lost’ Tower of Heron Kav, precariously perched on the rim of the Barren Dim. Within those caves lie carvings—ancient, hauntingly precise, and utterly unambiguous—that date back to the early First Age. These etchings depict the daily life of ancient Orkäen: scenes of hunting, gathering, complex tribal rituals, and what appears to be a rather sophisticated game involving throwing bones at a flat stone (the rules of which are tragically lost, though I remain confident I would have excelled at it).¹
Most striking of all, these carvings place the early Orkäen—specifically the Shenzi’gwa—at the heart of a once unified, frostbound realm, sprawling across endless tundras and ice-laced plains, and anchored by immense cities built of froststone, packed snowbrick, and stubbornness. This was the golden age before the Great Rupture, that epoch-defining cataclysm which shattered their singular homeland into the fragmented wastes we now refer to (with unnecessary melodrama) as the Desert of Shadows.
So no, dear reader, the Shenzi’gwa are not an afterthought. They are not an offshoot. They are the beginning, buried beneath layers of sand, assumption, and the loud confidence of scholars who never bothered to visit a cave.
¹ I have personally visited the Ogino Tøru Caves—twice, in fact. The second time was to retrieve my boots, which had melted slightly during an ill-advised shortcut near a volcanic vent. Still, I maintain it was worth the risk to confirm the accuracy of the carvings, which are far more compelling than Professor Vildrem’s “cloth-based dating theory,” which I shall not dignify further in this footnote. —OM
