Home, Rules, Message Boards, The Parthenon (AIM), The Parthenon (AOL)
Back to World, Ardashir
The Bahaduir
The Bahaduir is the collective name for the desert tribes whose warriors serve as personal bodyguards to the Emperor of Ardashir. They are sometimes also called the Wanderers, the People of the Spear, and the Unwalled Tribes; for they are nomadic, fight with bone spears and thorn-spine daggers rather than steely swords, and do not live in walled towns or cities as most civilized peoples do.
The desert tribes of the Black Sands have always been a special case in Ardashir. Their homeland is too hostile to support garrisons of soldiers, and the deserts are hardly rich enough to be worth direct annexation. Additionally, at varying points over the course of its history, the Emperors have claimed that the desert tribes are the purest expression of Ardasi ideals and bloodlines (although the Imperial bloodline itself has had no link to the tribes for almost the entire course of the Empire), and ostensibly for this reason have granted the tribes special privileges. Thus, the Ardasi Empire has never laid direct claim to the desert lands or taxed its tribes; instead, the Emperor pays lip service to the notion of tribal independence and collects their tribute.
However, the desert has few resources from which an adequate tribute might come. Gems, exotic monsters, and other oddities can be gleaned from the Wall of Knives, but these are far from plentiful, have no fixed value, and can be gotten only at great risk, making them unsuitable for regular payment. The one resource the desert tribes do have, thanks to their punishing climate and warlike culture, is their people. More specifically, a surplus of hardened and intensely trained warriors who have spent their entire lives in an environment that would kill most civilized men. For centuries, the desert tribes have paid their tribute by sending these warriors to the Imperial Court of Ardashir to serve as Bahaduir -- the Desertguard. This custom has endured so long that most Ardasi know of the tribes only by the name used for their indentured warriors.
A warrior of the Bahaduir serves in the Emperor's Desertguard for a term of five years or until he is killed or crippled. The Desertguard's sole duty is to protect the Emperor and the Imperial Family at all costs, including not only their own lives but those of anyone else who might interfere with that duty. During the five years of a warrior's service, he is sworn to celibacy, abstains from alcohol and rich foods, and practices a rigorous system of quasi-religious rituals meant to keep him from softening while in the "Walled Lands." He inherits the ceremonial spear, adorned with goldstar turquoise, of the warrior he replaced. Other than his weapons, meals and spartan quarters, he receives no pay.
At the end of his term, if he has served faithfully, a Bahaduir is freed to return to his tribe. Customarily -- though this custom has not always been honored -- he is given a generous sum of money in parting, as well as a caravan's worth of trade goods and a wife from one of the noble families. These parting gifts are a crucial source of income and supplies for the desert tribes, and though some Bahaduir choose to settle in the Walled Lands or accept an officer's position in the regular army at the end of their service, they always send most or all of the money home to their kin.
There are no comments on this page. [Add comment]