Minotaur League

"Why join you - when we can kill em all ourselves!"
Horundus of Farclorn 606 A.D.

Kingdom Crest

Description

The Minotaur League sits far off on the eastern borders of Vastonia, within a circlet of mountains called the Dech. Which is referred to by the Minotaurs as the "Inner Henge". Here over 9,000 Minotaurs inhabit this nearly impenetrable landscape. Very few passages lead into the Minotaur League's inner valley, but the few passageways that can be found, are all the Minotaur's require or want. They seek to involve themselves as little as possible with the rest of the realm, only making exceptions when potential armies or invaders threaten their homeland. Within the Inner Henge lies an ancient valley teaming with wildlife and natural formations. The entire valley rift stretches over twenty miles and descends slightly for over four miles until reaching the valley floor.

Nearing the center of the valley, where the land begins to turn to clay and stone, the Minotaur's have constructed their grand city called Stone Hulm - or the "City of Stone" in the common tongue. This awesome fortification is made of solid stone and has been constructed in a fashion that uses the naturally growing fir trees to support the weight of the walls, which now exceed 50' in most areas. These walls are also never less than 15' thick. This entire complex spans nearly a mile in diameter and appears to be an almost perfect circle.

Outside of these walls, live the more aggressively active Minotaurs and/or the clans which cannot afford the king's taxation's. These Minotaur respect this luxury and work very hard to earn the right to live within the comforts of the city. You can also find hundreds of Minotaur worker's outside the city, pounding away in the stone mines or cultivating land to make feeding pastures for their domestic animals. Far beyond the lower valley, the poorest Minotaur's work the salt mines. It's close to a full days journey getting to such places, so the worker's choose to make camp, rather than waist energy trudging back and forth. However, at weeks end...the blocks of salt are gathered up, put on sleds and dragged back to the city for use or trade.

Religion is rather nonexistent here. The few hundred that do follow the divine, worship random Demi-Human deities. While a select few worship Norse gods, which are commonly picked up as great overseer's from abroad. Mainly after the Orc wars, which allowed devoted Highlanders a chance to teach several Minotaurs about Odin, Thor and a few others Norse deities. Minotaur respect mighty warriors, thus they felt these Gods were expectable patrons to watch over themselves.

Geography

Cold and icy in the winter seasons, yet hot and muggy in mid summer months. This land is home to some of the most treacherous peaks in all Vastonia. Not nearly as tall as a few other mountain ranges, but rather having more sheer cliffs, tons of lose boulders and many deep (deadly) crevices. The mountains peaks are covered in ice and snow year round, never completely melting. There are a few streams that run down into the valley from the mountains clutches that provide plenty of fresh water to the city and other outlying henges. The valley itself is much a giant grassy plain, having patches of stone and random forests everywhere. The center of the valley holds the city and by far the most stone covered areas. All the activity has causes much of this ground to become hard packed or mushy clay, making the ground quite slippery during the early spring and late fall months.

Justice System

Minotaurs don't often break laws or rules set by their king, but when such instances do occur, immediate action is almost always taken. First time offenders are sent to the the lower salt mines to earn back their respect through hard labor....and I mean hard! Others are exiled from the inner city walls and if a Minotaur was already living outside the city, he/she could be exiled from the kingdom altogether. This is how most nomadic Minotaur's are found. If ever a time comes where a Minotaur is accused of wrongful murder, he/she will be thrown into the trugj (a battle arena) where they can prove their innocence by defeating a beast of the king's choice. Which is almost always something close to undefeatable. Personal combat is also a favored way to settle one's final conviction. Eg. Any Minotaur has the right to challenge another Minotaur to a fight, with the winner either proving his innocence or held as the the decider of justice. No matter how crimes are dealt with here, it almost always ends up with a crippled, disgraced or dead Minotaur.

Military/Forces

The Minotaur army now consists of approximately 850 fully trained warriors and another 2 - 3 thousand that are quite capable of wielding a weapon effectively. In all truth, the entire Minotaur settlement could go to war if need be....the female Minotaur's being slightly smaller and weaker, but could easily defeat most combatants.

Notable Legends & Lore

Tar'mungh the Minotaur giant