Özenler
|
|
The Özenler people are a human-folk who travels through the lands of Almaris with great ambition, the creation of an Empire in which the Özenler are the settlers together with followers of their faith. They derived from the well known Turkin, they are travelers who are closely related to the Nomads, they still stick to several traditions of it, but due to the independence they wanted to create, by the lead of Mehmed Akbas, several people who declared themselves as independent, named themselves Özenler. This culture would mainly exist out of military strategic people, traders, and devout Al-Iman Rashidun followers. Their people are known to be disciplined and trained to pick up weapons whenever they are attacked, as they will do anything for their faith to survive and for their people. The Özenler are known for their hospitality towards anyone who visits them or is interested in their culture, as, for converts to their religion, they are open to educating them about it and making them involved in the religion itself.
Their mutual respect is absolutely present among their people, despite their religious differences. When speaking of religious differences, the Özenler wants a place where both Rashidunists and Canonists can come together and in the ranks of the Özenler. The military of the culture is very religiously devout, as they fight for their Leader and their God; There are two units in the military rankings; Yeniçeriler (Canonist Converts from the age of five to Rashidunists) and the Bashi-Bazouk, two units which are ultimately feared by the enemy and even by their own people, knowing that they are great warriors and when they engage with the enemy in combat they get into a frenzied state. Before engaging into battle, they would sing Özenler Military Songs and after listening to motivational speeches of the leader
The Özenler people are proud of their identity, religion, and culture, meaning that they will do anything to defend themselves, as they want their religion to spread around the entire world, they often seem to be quite intolerant towards people who try to convert Rashidunists to Canonism, which is why they take these type of Canonists in prison for their actions as trying to make someone convert is a crime within this culture. Their political system is quite tolerant when compared to others, they are hospitable, friendly, and peaceful when the people of the Özenler culture abide by the laws of them, if laws are broken a punishment would be decided by the Lider and his court of people.
History - Almaris
The Özenler, relative & descendant to the previous known Turkin folk, are people who have been born into battle, who have been in a lot of wars together with the Turkin against the Akritians around seven centuries ago, losing a tremendous amount of people on both sides in this brutal war, causing many families to dissolve and many people were lost. The Turkin, who believed that they had won the war, eventually lost it as soon as a new plague started to fall upon the Turkin, both sides, the Turkin themselves and the Akritians lost severe casualties, which let a large amount of Turkin to run into the wilderness and to travel by themselves, as they formed several groups, under which the Özenler was created.
The Özenler themselves were quite skilled people at the time, many who started to find their abilities in smithing weapons, armory, and tools. But on the other hand, you had ex- who are using their child-year fighting abilities to fight existing settlements, which caused the Özenler to occupy a small settlement that was beforehand occupied by Infidels. Murad Akbas told his eldest son, Ismail Akbas, who was seventeen at the time ‘’You see, Ismail, never lose your faith, as what was in your hands once, shall turn back to you in time.’’ The Özenler, who has remained their faith in the religion called Rashidun, has become a small raiding party who did every deed in the name of Allah. As the group of Özenler moved into the settlement for a bit, all out of a sudden, a unit of Akritian warriors found the settlement, and eventually pillaged it, as a lot of skilled Yeniçeriler had died together with the new unit of soldiers called the ‘Basji-Bazuk’, otherwise known as ‘Crazy-Heads’, who are often compared to Berserkers due to their fury and anger in battle, and their haunting war-cries. Due to this loss, the Özenler have traveled, until their presence was not known to the public anymore. Due to this sad loss, the Özenler started to kidnap several children, as they would raise them and eventually train and convert them into Rashidunism as new Yeniçeriler or Basji-Bazuks for their own security. Their language developed and they had a proper way of communicating with each other, using their native tone as a proud factor of their culture, the language back then was often very passionate and louder than it is right now, sometimes, back in the days, they would just shout at each other in their native town among others who are not apart of the Özenler culture.
The Özenler, after two years under the lead of Murad Akbas and his son; Ismail Akbas, has travelled with his group. Arrived on a land which had different nations together with different cultures, though, the Özenler would have distanced themselves from them as they would not want to be associated with infidels or people who are not a part of their culture. The Özenler made several tent camps, as they needed a place to stay for themselves and their children. The Özenler had an everlasting ambition, to create a new nation for themselves, to carry the proud identity of an Özenler, and to spread their religion all over the lands they find themselves in. They had quite some radical plans as they would embrace the idea of a totalitarian Rashidunists Empire, which would be the idea for a potential Jihad against the people who did not believe in their deity. This would cause Ismail to create a certain discipline for his existing force of Yeniçeriler and Basji-Bazuks, a discipline which would be as follows; “Fight for the almighty Allah, and fight for the existence of your people! The time of a new age shall come! Allahu Akbar!”
Ismail had this skill of motivating people to fight as much as they could, as due to his charismatic aura around him, his presence was very much acknowledged by the people who were traveling under his lead. Ismail continued his plans to kidnap more children from both genders to eventually raise them as a true Özenler, as he made sure that both converted to their faith and followed the Özenler culture. This would cause the difference of color in many Özenler’s physical appearances as Özenler folk would start to breed with the people who do not have Özenler characteristics; one could be quite pale with a slight tan, the other could have quite a dark skin tone or one could have black hair and the other ginger and blonde hair. So the identity of an Özenler would be different physically, but mentally, they are absolutely devoted to their leader and culture. However, whether they were different in appearance or not, this made no difference to Ismail, his intention was to create a large military force, but eventually failed due to the rejection of the societies around him. Murad Akbas was eventually diagnosed with a disease at his heart, at the age of 86, as he was joined with his son and his grandson; Mehmed Akbas I; He told Mehmed on his death-bed “One day, you shall have a descendant who shall bring our people to its former glories, he shall be the leader of an Empire, which shall never be brought on its knees, by anyone.” Mehmed Akbas listened to the words of his grandfather, as Ismail lost the will of being a leader, he handed the title to his son, Mehmed, as the father of Ismail told Mehmed a 'prophecy from' his perspective.
Mehmed, who was 26 years old, would then be known as the leader of the Özenler, as he came with the ideas of properly rankings within the society of their culture, as you would have the Lider; the Leader, Vizer; The Vizier, Yeniçeriler; the Janissaries and the Basji-Bazuks; the Crazy-Heads. This was all to prepare a political formation in case they were ever requested to join meetings with major political powers, however, this never happened due to them being a small minority of people, so they were put as mercenaries for other nations. Though, this caused many Özenler soldiers to rebel, as they went back into their previous way of living instead of becoming mercenaries for other nations, as they would rather live on their own, than living on their knees for a King or an Emperor who does not care for them. Mehmed, together with his companions, took his leave from the land where they set up their camp, as they kept moving into different nations to gain some converts into their religion. However, Mehmed did what his culture is known for, slaughtering and pillaging minor settlements as he did not seem to care for any infidel as far as emotions were concerned. One of Mehmed's historical quotes is; “Either they conquer me, or I conquer them.”
These words were quite big for someone who is a leader of a small group of people, though, considered as wise by the companions of his culture. Mehmed seemed to have a strategic mindset and a skill for the drawing of building-plannings, as he used his imagination of how a future Özenler Empire would look like, and used then existing nations as an example and fully reconstructed it with a pencil and a piece of paper. This would have made Mehmed’s ambitions a major factor in his life, as he continued to look for more people to join his rankings, however, failed due to the people sticking to their Canonist laws and faith. Mehmed had a certain belief, however; he wanted to make an Empire with the Özenler as the main people, and then the infidels and their people as a secondary ranking unless they join the military. Mehmed his ideas of recruiting people were not based upon historical bloodlines, but more on what benefit they could bring him, as he would start to learn many languages, to properly communicate to the people who lived in each nation to get more recruits in an efficient way. Mehmed also brought some Viziers, they would apply ideas to Mehmed his plans and his ideas in order to get to an agreement with both sides. Mehmed however, changed his view on religion, as he would not want the Özenler to become the opposing power, so he would rather wait for a nation, trying to oppose his people and their religion, then being the starter of war, as the safety of his people was the most important as they can keep the culture growing and have descendants for in the future.
The Özenler Way Of Life
Mehmed I succeeded in getting a wife, after his experiences in war and the recruiting of janissaries. The name of his wife was Klara, a woman who was of Haeseni origin and later on gave birth to Mehmed I his son; Murad The Second. Murad grew up in quite a chilly atmosphere as the time for childish pursuits was not present for him, he was constantly being educated by the Viziers of Mehmed so he would become the future leader of the Özenler. As Murad II was at the age of twelve, he started to learn languages; this is a family trait of the Akbas bloodline as they learn languages so they can communicate to everyone in every way possible. Murad II himself spoke four languages; Marian, Turkce, Blah, and Flexio. Murad had inherited the view of an empire from his grandfather Ismail; an empire which was not just populated by the Özenler, but by different people from different ethnic backgrounds and religions, however, Al-Iman Rashidun must be acknowledged as the major religion and there may no conspiracies be to overthrow the religion.
Murad II became six-teen years old and after his experience with the Viziers, Mehmed put him up to the task of leading a unit of Janissaries, leading them into a raid in order to spread Al-Iman Rashidun in Canonist settlements. Murad II succeeded in this mission and captured other boy infants to become Janissaries for a future army, as he took the women of the settlement to raise them up so they could attend recruiting at a later age. Mehmed was proud of the things Murad did, as he saw a great leader in him. Mehmed however, married two other women, who became a part of his Harem, their names were Dilara and Azra, both gave birth to two sons; who would later be known as Ahmed and Altan, the younger half brothers of Murad who would be put in the position of Vizer and Generals of the Janissary army when Mehmed comes to power as a Lider. Murad II had an obsession with his religion, as he became as devout as his forefathers were, he wanted to present the idea of jihad to his father, Mehmed. Mehmed declined this idea, as it is much better to wait for forces to gather up rather than fighting with the disadvantage of a small army. The Jihad Ideology still was a major part of the culture and their ways of acting towards infidels, though, accepting their religion and their culture as long as they adapt to the laws.
Murad II became twenty years old, he was put to the task to educate his younger brothers in fighting, leadership, and discipline. This task was quite a tough one for Murad II as his brothers would seem quite unruly as Murad II was when he was younger. His brothers would start with the education of language, leadership, and discipline, as they were taught to command others at an early age, this played a major role in their attitude against other children who they played within the square of the camp, as rumors were told that Altan threw another child into the campfire because he disobeyed his orders. Altan and Ahmed were at this point teenagers, reaching the age of fifteen and Murad II became thirty-one, as his younger brothers came with whenever there was spoken of a raid or a war, to witness it with their own eyes and to learn from it. Altan saw a great vision in these experiences, as he became amused by the fact that the blood that is spilled is not up to the one raiding, but to the one trying to defend it. At this point and time as Altan and Ahmed were still in puberty, they started to have strange ideas on warfare and the infidels. As their view was; “You must exterminate the infidels in order to achieve an empire.” This obviously contradicts the ideology of their forefathers, though... This thought does not go unpaid.
When Murad II and his brothers were sent on another raid by their father Mehmed, they started to do it with quite some ruthless tactics. They would pour oil in the food-storages of the enemy and started to burn their storage down. This would obviously leave the settlement that they raided with a minority of food and would eventually starve them. Doing what they are known for; they started to march with their men onto the hill which would be in front of the major settlement that they raided, their musical-Warband playing ‘Ceddin Deden’ as a motivational song for the Janissaries and the Basji-Bazuks. As they created a wall of noise, letting out fearing war-cries when Murad II rid his horse in front of them, raising his hand in front of the line of men to obtain silence so they could listen to his speech before engaging in battle. Murad shouted: “The time of the infidels.. Has passed. A new Empire shall rise, an Empire which will defeat anyone who dares to oppose them!” The army let out war cries while raising their blades out of excitement and motivation, as Murad continued to raise his hand up, waiting for them to be silent. As they silenced themselves he would continue his speech, shouting once again: “A new age is coming! We fight for our ancestors, our blood, our culture!” He then struck his fist into the air, shouting “Allahu Akbar!” As the others joined him in yelling the same. The army once again raised their swords into the air, running to the gates with a massive ram that was built to crush the gates of the settlement. They started to ram the gates, using the power of all men gathered which would be a total of fifteen-hundred men, as Murad still stood at the hill together with his brothers, watching them wrecking the gates. They managed to wreck the gates, as they entered, they would start to barge into the enemy, using their full force and their horrific war-cries to create chaos within the settlement itself, making sure that they were feared by the inhabitants of the village and that they would know that their God is nothing more but a simple myth.
As Murad and his brothers watched the battle against the armed forces of the settlement they raided, they started to ride with their horses through the gates, swinging their sharp-edged blades to the throat of the enemy soldiers. Though, as the brothers of Murad were quite stubborn and rode into the spearmen, both died. This caused Murad to become angry on the battlefield as he blew into his horn, calling the Basji-Bazuks to enter the battle, as they would show up on top of the hill with a total of hundred-fifty men, who were covered in war-painting which would contain the colors of the Özenler flag, these men would carry skulls of a bear on top of their heads and were heavily armored. As they ran into the battle with a brute force, forcing the Janissaries forward to create a severe amount of pressure onto the enemy, the Basji-Bazuks unsheathed their axes, half of the men bowed onto the ground and the other half jumped onto their backs to jump over the Janissaries to eventually slam their axes into the heads of the enemy. As this battle continued, the enemy forces remained as a small force, running to the back of the settlement to find the backdoor; but, this door was locked, and so the Janissaries and the Basji Bazuks ran after the enemy soldiers who were running and captured them, making slaves of them and capturing the children and the women to become apart of the Özenler society.
Out of these women, Murad found a wife, her name was Anastasia, she was captured as a Ruska Slave, though, Murad fell in love with her as he took her back to the camp to eventually convert her to Al-Iman Rashidun. Murad eventually got her to convert into their faith, though, Murad wanted to get to know her to better rather than just picking her out to marry her, so he often spoke to her and took her out to travels. Like all of a sudden, Anastasia carried the child of Murad, the future heir of the Özenler culture, they named the child ‘Mehmed II’, after the son of Murad I. As Murad heard the news of his lover, he received a letter, stating that his father was diagnosed with a deadly disease, causing Mehmed I to die due to suffocation by choking onto his own blood in his throat. Murad was saddened, though blessed with the birth of his newborn, as Murad accepted the title of Lider for his people. Murad and his wife rode as fast as they could, back to their home camp to claim the title for leadership before any of the Vizers did so. Fortunately, Murad arrived just in time to claim the title. Murad was of course known for his plans to conquer major towns and to get recruits out of them to join his forces and to convert them into Al-Iman Rashidun. Murad his plans went up to his head as he planned to attack the capital of each major nation, as he demanded of his Viziers to capture every boy above the age of sixteen to join his forces in the army so this would come true. However, this was a failed attempt, Murad his forces were still injured, and Murad gave them three months time to heal before executing this mission.
Three months later, Murad traveled across different lands with his bodyguards, overseeing the different lands which were in his eyes his own. As they started to raid Canonist monasteries, kidnapping the children and women who lived in them so they could be raised with the manners of the opposite culture and adopting their religion. Of course, they were taught to speak their language and to adapt to their behavior. Murad adopted one of these Canonist children, her name was Karina, he also took the mother of Karina as his concubine in the Harem. As the mother of Karina had all rights to raise her, though, she had to make sure that she gets taught about their religion. Karina would essentially become the older sister to the newborn Mehmed II, and the first female advisor to him whenever he gets to lead the Özenler. Murad spent time with his family, as he spent most of his time with his wife and the child that was growing inside her womb. Murad is described as a “Stubborn and bloodthirsty, but kind man” within the stories of the Özenler.
Murad would essentially become the most feared man the Özenler has ever known. Six months after the death of his father and the raids on different Canonist monasteries, his son, Mehmed II was born. All of the Özenler people were in joy as a new heir was born to lead them. Murad of course wanted to have his son raised in the best way possible, so what he did; he has done what his father did to him, sending him to one of his most trusted viziers to be trained as a true leader, learning the values of discipline, leadership, and humility. Mehmed entered the stage of puberty, as he became quite cocky against the Vizier who raised him, the Vizier his name was Candarli Halil, a man who was trusted with the task to raise Mehmed by his father Murad II, Mehmed wanted to become the first young leader of his people, Candarli Halil refused this after talking to the father of Mehmed, the current leader, Candarli Halil convinced Murad II to lead until his death, and so he did, so Mehmed could take charge when he is older and much more emotionally developed. Mehmed had quite a lot of Özenler characteristics and traits, except for his hair, as his hair was of a mixed color which would be of dark-ginger hair. This somehow caused a rumor within their camp as they could not believe that someone who does not look like them will ever get the chance to rule over them. So, what Murad did, he sent out spies into the camp, who would engage in their conversations and if there was anything negative said about the Akbas bloodline they would be beheaded.
Language
Türkçe Ansiklopedik Sözlük | Turkish Dictionary
Ben - I, myself, I am
Sen - You
Merhaba - Hello
İyi - Good
Kötü - Bad
Wallah - I swear to Allah
Evet - Yes
Hayır - No
Nasılsın - How are you?
Günaydın - Good Morning
Tünaydın - Good Night
İyi akşamlar - Good Afternoon
Adınız ne? - What is your name?
Nerelisin? - Where are you from?
Konuş - Speak
Sen Türkçe konuşmayı biliyor musun? - Do You speak Turkish?
Cin - Elf
Ork - Orc
Insanoğlu - Human
Kilise hukukçusu - Canonist
Allah - God
Peygamber - Prophet
Kitab Al-Salam - Book Of Al-Iman Rashidun
Savaş - War
Nefer - Soldier
Bayan - Miss, Madame, Lady
Beyefendi - Lord, Mister, Sir
Siktir - F***, Damn it, Damn
Öldürmek - Kill
Marş - March, Walk
Oreniyen Imparatorluk - Oren Empire
Krugmar Savaş Ulusu - War Nation Of Krugmar
Haense Ruslar - Haensetians
Religion
They follow the religion of Rashidunism (Al-Iman Rashidun), where the deity is Allah, they tend to follow the teachings of not eating pork, mutual respect towards your fellow human being unless you are under attack, no alcoholics, fasting for a month (though you get the chance to eat before sunrise in the early morning and after the sun goes down in the evening. They must pray five times a day and attend a mass prayer on Friday, this is to keep everyone connected to Allah. These prayers must be done in either the morning, afternoon, or evening, if not, this is considered as Haram in the religion. To spread their religion, they would often go out into the wilderness to discover Canonist camps and raid them, as to the Özenler people, the religion of themselves is the only one true religion, in which case they would sometimes organize a 'Jihad' towards people who believed in different Gods and oppose the religion of the Özenler.
Society
The culture has a Leader, though, this Leader would not rule over a settlement, but over a majority of people who are of Özenler descent, the Leader is not elected, but it goes through a certain bloodline. This bloodline is called the Akbas bloodline, if someone was not related to this bloodline, he or she would not have the chance to rule over their people. Someone in the status of a Leader is allowed to have concubines, though, this is not an obligation. Any blood relative to the Leader has the same opportunity when the oldest heir dies due to old age or in battle. The Leader must be respected with his words and if you have anything to say about his line of work, people are always welcome to debate with him about the various subjects. As a Leader, the man must be determined to hear the words and the voices of the people so he can bring change into the society of his culture to make it safe for everyone. Leader of course needs people to rule over areas where other of his people live, so he has a council in each place to make sure that they abide by the laws of the Özenler people. Because the Özenler are dominantly Rashidunism followers, they have a religious advisor, who guides the Leader for laws, military strategy, anything that could be a harm to him or his culture and religion. The normal Özenler would have to choose whether they would participate in combat or not, as for the women, they are respected by their husbands and fellow Özenler.
An Özenler male is obligated to join the ranks in the military in order to protect their fellow Özenler because if they do not do so, a law is broken and there can be no excuse for them as they refused to protect their own people. Breaking this law would of course immediately lead to an execution. If there is no respect shown towards your fellow Özenler, you would get a punishment given by the Leader himself, as it is important for their people to survive and live in peace to eventually become an acknowledged part of the population. For the children, they must get to know weapons at an early, boys get to learn how to use; a crossbow, bow, sword, and an axe at the age of ten, and girls get to learn how to use; a sword, crossbow, shortswords. This military training is to make sure that the descendants of the modern-day Özenler can live on in peace without being attacked by enemies.
Military
The military exists out of the Yeniçeriler, these warriors are Canonist converts who have adopted the religion of Rashidunism and have been strictly disciplined by the military commanders. These warriors would wear an outfit that would suit the flag of the Özenler, they would either wear beards or mustaches. The second unit of the military are the Bashi-Bazuk (crazy-head in Turkish), they are known for fighting in their fearsome frenzied state and the noises they make in battle which would often be called 'animalistic', to motivate these type of soldiers, they often listen to Ceddin Deden, a motivational song written by the Yeniçeriler to energize the army and their men. Within the military, the soldiers would be trained to come to quick solutions in time of trouble during battles, which is why some are being sent at the enemy to fight until their deaths while the others will flee to find a better position to eventually either shoot them with arrows of crossbows or to spike them on spears when they are as well running back into the battle. War-Cries were often involved to create adrenaline and to make the military stronger in battle, the war-cries would either go through military songs or just shouting something gibberish, their way of fighting due to the war-cries would become quite the way of fighting like a wildman, as when they are fully energized they would just make more and more animalistic noises in order to pretend to be Demons towards their enemies, to create another form of fear but with a religious aspect to it.
The military would undergo quite some rough training, as they are also being trained to find necessary minerals for their survival when they are out of water, food, or other necessities, as their way of fighting is not just based on how much damage you can do on another being, but on how you can find the economical weaknesses of the enemies themselves; which is why they sometimes burn the grain fields of the enemy or sometimes burn entire shops down which delivers food to the people of the enemy they are facing. Spies are also a thing within the military command, they infiltrate into different towns to obtain information about different factions and other settlements so they can inform the Sultan and his council of the plans which involve the Özenler people and their culture.
