Glory of the Centaurs
The first centaurs in Norrath
did not wander long -- only
long enough to find a
hospitable home with ample
hunting grounds and a measure
of solitude.
One stable of centaurs raised
in the lush grasslands of the
Karanas in Tunaria chose to
| leave their crowded village
and create one of their own.
With the support of the Karana
centaurs, the eldest and
wisest of those who chose to
leave, Kolkator Fieldstrider,
was named chief of the
departing stable. He was a
leader with great visions and
optimism, seeing a great
future for those who would
follow him. For four months,
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all of the centaurs who wished
to follow Kolkator were
mentored by the elder coursers
of the village so they would
be armed with all the
knowledge they would need to
start anew.
Chief Kolkator left the
Karanas with his stable that
came to be called the
Fieldstrider centaurs. They
| followed the rain clouds for
a time and wandered northeast
looking for fertile soil,
fresh water, and food
resources. They had no great
motivations but to survive in
peace and tranquility with the
land and enjoy the hunt.
In the northern timberlands
beyond the Elddar Forest and a
good distance from Veeshan's
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brood of dragons in the Nest,
the centaurs found an area to
build anew on the outskirts of
a forest of willows. Their
village soon sprang up and
they lived at peace for many
years.
When the violent shift of the
lands occurred as Solusek Ro
raised the lands around them
and destroyed their village,
| most survived, collected up
the pieces of their fallen
village and quickly rebuilt.
Naturally, most creatures in
the Serpent Spine Mountains
were completely unaware of
Solusek Ro's involvement in
the grumblings of the earth
and had their own thoughts on
why the earth shook and was
rent from its foundations. The
centaurs called it the The
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Thunderhoof Shattering. They
believed that the nature
spirits trampled and hoofed
the ground to shape it for a
better and more fruitful
landscape.
Even as the Fieldstriders
reconstructed their village
they did not think much of the
younger centaur who seemed to
be falling sick and unable to
| work. It wasn't unusual for
some of the youngers to eat
fouled meat or rotting fruit
to greedily fill their
bellies. But as the finishing
touches were put on their new
village, more than half of the
Fieldstriders were ill and
struggling in their toils.
When it became clear that the
village was suffering from
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some unknown malady, the
remaining healthy centaurs
chose to leave and protect
themselves from infection.
Some of the more defiant
centaurs felt this was a
choice opportunity to take
advantage and exert force over
their brethren to gain power
over the chief and his blind
optimism.
| Chief Kolkator stayed in the
village and became gravely
ill. While he was still able
to travel, he followed two of his best
archers into the lands to find the
source of the illness. As they
came upon the Serpent River,
they rested and took time to
refill their flasks. As they
submerged their leathered
flasks into water from the
Serpent River, the chief
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pulled back from the smell and
hue of the waters. The chief
believed he'd had found the
fouling source and decided
that for now they would boil
their water before drinking
it. It did not take long for
them to be proven only
partially right. While boiling
the water did help to some
degree, there was an illness
that ran in the waters that
| could not simply be boiled
off. As a result, for a great
many years, the centaurs have
survived, but remain sickly
and vulnerable, even to their
own kin.
The sickliness coursing
through the river is only a
sliver of a greater illness
being spread in parts of the
Goru'kar Mesa and lands to the
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northeast.
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