After the end of the
Great Darkness herds of grazing animals such as horses, aurochs and
bison quickly began to multiply on the plains of Sankhar.
The first humans to exploit this abundance of life were the Marwhini, Reets who adopted a nomadic way of
life to follow the herds. Brave and fierce warriors they became horse-herders and over time
the finest light cavalry in the North. Within a few centuries they had driven the goblinoid and gnoll tribes who used to hunt on the plains back into the northern mountains.
Although the north eastern Marwhini tribes remained entirely nomadic those in the west had by -500 built permanent
strongholds in the eastern vales of the White Mountains while in -472 the southern tribes founded Burh Ermanarikis as a regional trading centre. By about this time also Pelorean missionaries from
Reetland had managed to convert most of the southern and western tribes to their faith
with only the easternmost tribes still following the
Old Gods.
The Marwhini tribes were prone to bickering and raiding each other's horse herds and few tribal leaders had been
strong enough to unite the whole nation. When the
Eastern Horde invaded the Sankhar plains therefore
the tribes at first responded individually and were defeated because of the sheer numbers in the Horde. The Great Khan
was also a superb general and when Dunleaf a western tribal leader managed to raise an army from all the western
tribes the Horde's superior battlefield tactics won the day. Dunleaf had, however, earned the respect of the Great
Khan and he was able to negotiate an acceptable surrender whereby the western tribes retained their lands.
The eastern and southern tribes were scattered and their lands were taken by the
Logath and the
Sagath.
The boundaries of the Marwhini lands during the period in which Sankhar was a province of the Great Khanate thus became the Fola Salenin in the east and the Men Rhunen in the South. After the Sagath migrated east and Sankhar
regained it independence, however, in 483 the Marwhini reoccupied the southern plains and with the
aid of the
Kenzin rebuilt Burh Ermanarikis.
The Marwhini are on average an inch or two taller than their Reetish cousins and unlike other Reets frequently
sport blond hair. They are a confident people who welcome strangers although they tend to be a bit more
suspicious of non-humans. As skilled warriors they form the backbone of the Sankhar army and have become used to
combining with its other elements to deadly effect becoming the troops most feared by the Gnolls.
Typically the western tribes have not only a stronghold but several other fixed settlements each of which
is supported by farming communities. The Fola Salenin which forms the border between Marwhini and
Logath lands is dotted with prosperous trading posts.