When the nomads resorted to their traditional tactic of melting away at the approach of the army, Lo Bu divided his host into thirteen smaller armies and sent them forth in all directions to hunt down the zorse-riders. Tributes, hostages, oaths of fealty, or offerings of peace failed to sway him and his vast army swept the plains, leaving behind a burning wasteland. His successor, Lo Bu determined to end the threat of the nomads for all time, assembled a mighty host, said to be three hundred thousand strong, and crossed the borders of the empire with slaughter as his only purpose. ĭuring his long reign, forty-second scarlet emperor Lo Han led three such invasions of the plains, yet by the time of his death the Jogos Nhai carried out bolder and more rapacious raids than when he began his reign. Many imperial generals and three God-Emperors have led armies to bring the nomads to heel but have seldom ended well and soon the raids began anew, even when jhats were compelled to vow eternal fealty to the God-Emperor and foreswear raiding forever. Over the past two thousand years, YiTish cities, towns, farms, and fields beyond count have been reduced to ruins and ashes.
Raids into the empire are a way of life for the zorse-riders, and a source of the gold and gems that decor the arms and necks of moonsingers and jhats as well as of the slaves that serve them and tend their herds. War with the Golden EmpireĮven the Golden Empire of Yi Ti have been target of the Jogos Nhai depredations. Nevertheless, the moonsingers sing of the glorious day when the Jogos Nhai will prevail over the remnants of Hyrkoon and spill over the mountains to claim the fertile lands beyond. Thus, the enmity between the zorse-riders and the warrior women of the Bone Mountains runs deep into the present, and over the centuries dozens of jhattars have led armies up the Steel Road and broken against the walls of Kayakayanaya. The Hyrkoon, for their part, sacrificed tens of thousands of Jogos Nhai to their dark gods. Prior to the Dry Times, the Jogos Nhai were also involved in a bloody border war with the Patrimony of Hyrkoon that saw the zorse-riders poisoning rivers and wells, burning down towns and cities, and carrying off thousand Hyyrkoon into slavery. The Jogos Nhai carried out constant attacks upon N'Ghai, reducing the once proud kingdom to a single city, Nefer, and its hinterlands. Legend claims the Jogos Nhai, led by their jhattar - the jhat of jhats and war leader of all their people - Gharak Squint-Eye, slew the last of the Jhogwin at the Battle in the Howling Hills. The religion of the moonsingers is prominent among them. However, the Jogos Nhai do live in a perpetual state of warfare against all their neighboring peoples. Young men do ride out to steal goats, zorses, and dogs from other bands, while girls go forth to abduct husbands, but these are rituals hallowed by the gods, during which no blood may be shed. Unlike the Dothraki khalasars, Jogos Nhai bands do not make war upon one another, as their gods forbid them to shed the blood of their own people. There are also female jhats and male moonsingers, but girls who choose the warrior's way are expected to dress and live as men, whereas boys who choose to become moonsingers must dress and live as women, making it difficult to tell apart when such cases take place. The jhat leads in war, battle, and raid, whereas other matters are ruled by the band's moonsinger. Each one is commanded by a jhat, or war chief, and a moonsinger, who combines the roles of priestess, healer, and judge. They travel in small bands closely connected by blood. These mounts are the result of breeding horses with another horse-like species from the southern region of Yi Ti and the isle of Leng. The Jogos Nhai are also renowned for their zorses. īesides their custom of skull modification, the Jogos Nhai shave their heads but for a single strip of hair down the center of the skull, while women go wholly bald and are said to scrape all the hair even from their pubic area. They are a proud, warlike race who prize freedom above all and are never content to remain in once place for long. The Jogos Nhai are a nomadic people who live in yurts, tents, and saddles. Men and women both have pointed skulls, a result of the custom of binding the heads of their newborn during the first two years of life. Jogos Nhai are as a rule, a head shorter than the Dothraki and are described as squat, bowlegged, and swarthy, with large heads, small faces, and sallow-colored skin.