Lore and Factions of the Endless Plains (For a Game About the Mongolian Empire)

View from the Plane (2024). Collage by me.

You are the weakest and least loved of your clan. You have been betrayed and driven out of your ancestral herding lands by your former brethren, the cursed Shü Ebsö. It is only by the will of the sky god Dusassu and the host of lesser spirit-gods of grain, wolf, and copper that you all will survive the Endless Plains with no herd save the horses you escaped on. But you are the Rodnu Ebsö, and you will survive.

A sandbox steppecrawl game of religion, survival, and discovery inspired by Genghis Khan's early life.

Lore

Your world is the Endless Plains. These are mist-covered grasslands, lands of spirits and herds.

Dusassu, the supreme god of the sky, watches all from above the mist. There are numerous other spirit-gods that provide boons or curses depending on where you are and how you interact with them. Befriending spirit-gods is highly productive for success in these unfamiliar lands.

At the edge of the Endless Plains, there’s a sharp drop-off into the clouds below. Settled people tend to live towards the edges of the Plains, while nomadic peoples graze their herds throughout the vast center of the Endless Plains.

There are no seasons up here, although the weather obviously changes depending on environmental conditions. 

You will start with only a few horses and will need to build a herd of horses, sheep, and other animals, and protect it from illnesses, wild animals, environmental dangers, and other people. The horses mostly take care of themselves, grazing freely as you travel. A single stallion will manage a herd of mares.

The Endless Plains are covered in mists. The mist serves basically as a fog of war and is made of clouds. The mists shift from time to time, becoming stronger and weaker, but never really allow for viewing vast distances.

You are of the Ebsö culture, which prides itself on its nomadic lifestyle, strong clan bonds, and rich spirituality. Ebsö culture is the largest nomadic culture on the Endless Plains, but Ebsö people tend to identify more with their clan than with their overall culture. Clans fight, assist, trade with, and enslave each other in equal measure, and the shifting diplomacy of the plains would be incomprehensible to outsiders. The clans have never been united under one banner.

Ebsö clans are referred to by the clan name and then Ebsö (e.g., Shü Ebsö, Rodnu Ebsö). People take their clan's name as their last name (e.g., Zaya Shü Ebsö, Baatar Rodnu Ebsö). Names are not gender specific. See the name table below.

Ebsö people respect their elders; are kind to children; keep dogs for labor rather than as pets; adore their horses and their camels and eat them too; wear tunic coats as their everyday wear; take captives during war for brides, warriors, or physical labor; have flexible and egalitarian but gendered divisions of labor; worship the five sacred directions (the four cardinal directions and the sky); use milk for sacred rituals; fear disease and undead fiends; and above all else, worship the sky god Dusassu and the various spirit-gods.

Factions

Nomadic

Rodnu Ebsö - Your clan. Small, new, and herdless, you have nevertheless decided not to die.

Shü Ebsö - The traitor clan that you all belonged to before the night before last. Your brethren turned sworn enemies. Your honor would demand revenge if you were able to survive long enough to make it happen. Or perhaps thriving is the best revenge of all?

Ghogt Ebsö - The most powerful clan in the endless plains. Led by the Masked Man, a powerful figure with a renowned temper. Their main encampment is really a traveling palace and army, with palanquins, pavilions, and war elephants.

Other Ebsö clans - There are other clans from your cultural group that roam the Endless Plains. When you encounter them, you can ask your players to each share a rumored detail about these other nomads to help flesh them out. See the rules for generating clans.

Other nomads - All sorts of people travel for all sorts of reasons, including people from the spirit realms, settled people on scouting or war missions, or bands of nomadic people from different cultural groups than your own. When you encounter them, you can ask your players to each share a rumored detail about these other nomads to help flesh them out. 

Settled

Kteb - The settled imperial people in the forested west. Large, wealthy settlements (5 hexes) with strong traditions of building, metalworking, weaving, and medicine. The Kteb are governed by a heavenly emperor who dreams in his gilded palace of subduing the unruly Endless Plains. Although it’s possible to raid smaller Kteb villages or towns, it’s usually not worth the risk of retaliation.

Tagdi - The edge people who live close to the lakes and rivers at the drop-offs and sacriligiously glide short distances with bamboo gliders. Their bigger towns harness waterfalls that flow over the edge for power. They have small villages (1 hex) with limited food and poor defenses, but they are a source of captive labor and the occasional strange invention for Ebsö clans.

Rils - The bald-headed southerners. Desert walkers who burn their dead and hunt with eagles. They have two major cities of note (3 hexes) and extensive trade between them. They have camels and a tradition of leatherworking. Their language is almost incomprehensible to outsiders.

Other settled people - All sorts of people live in small (1 hex) communities scattered across the various biomes of the Endless Plains. For the most part, their lives are meager and difficult, but you can ask your group to share a rumored detail to help flesh them out.

Name Table 2d6

Names from this chart can be used for naming people, spirit-gods, or other Ebsö clans as needed. 

• 11 Te
• 12 Anxönerch
• 13 Yirch
• 14 Bilgüün
• 15 Nuch
• 16 Zaya
• 21 Blütal
• 22 Munkhtsetseg
• 23 Bolormaa
• 24 Shir
• 25 Bimge
• 26 Davaa
• 31 Bobir
• 32 Anar
• 33 Bibsha
• 34 Sarnai
• 35 Anxöcö
• 36 Enkhtuya
• 41 Ganbold
• 42 Baatar
• 43 Erdene
• 44 Maral
• 45 Dölgöön
• 46 Ganbold
• 51 Sarantuyaa
• 52 Nugch
• 53 Otgonbayar 
• 54 Enkhjargal
• 55 Erlis
• 56 Chörch
• 61 Xogt
• 62 Uyanga
• 63 Söb
• 64 Gerel
• 65 Cör
• 66 Bamsich

Some Notes

Worldbuilding

Although the world of the Endless Plains is inspired by Mongolian history, this is a fantasy world that requires some additional worldbuilding and buy-in from the GM and the players to be brought to life. What the GM and party decide is true about the world supersedes the lore found in the rulebook.

Inequality, Kindness

This is an unequal world of aristocracy, gender roles, and captivity, where your party was betrayed and left to die by a much more powerful clan. Classes are unbalanced, boons are unevenly distributed, and bad things can happen to your clan due to their relative weakness. Be warned.

None of this is an excuse to be unkind to the fellow humans sitting around the table with you. Please use safety tools such as X cards and lines and veils, and feel free to tweak anything that doesn't work for your group. This is a game, and games are meant to be fun.