“Snow white days and blood red nights.”
Overview
The Kingdom of Bonkus is less a kingdom and more a loosely allied territory dominated by the Azemen, massive fur-covered humanoids who live by the primal law of domination, survival, and reverence to Bu, the Father of Death and Destruction. Situated in the frigid reaches of northeastern Cathall, Bonkus is bordered by Moksun to the southwest, Zonga to the south, and Quontas to the southeast. It is a land rarely traveled by outsiders and almost never without invitation. Those who cross into Bonkus unbidden are seldom seen again.
Rather than unified under a king or council, Bonkus is controlled by a network of independent Azemen war tribes, each vying for power, prestige, and control of valuable resources like crystal-rich caves and mammoth migration routes. Every tribe lives according to the harsh tenets of their god Bu, glorifying brutality, war, and domination. The region is infamous for its brutal raids on neighboring lands, particularly targeting women of childbearing age, who are taken as slaves and gatherers.
Bonkus is feared across Mernac not only for the savagery of its inhabitants but for its abundant deposits of rare magical crystals, aggressive native fauna, and deep religious devotion to darkness. Most kingdoms consider it a cursed land where the old powers of the Fathers still walk, and legends say Bu’s return will begin with a blood moon rising over the glaciers of Bonkus.
Geography and Landscape
Bonkus is a land carved by ice, dominated by jagged mountains, frozen plains, glacial ridges, and narrow, icy valleys. The terrain is shaped as much by ancient volcanism as by the glaciers that still move slowly across the northern slopes. The ground is often unstable, riddled with sinkholes, crevices, and frozen-over tunnels that lead into underworld caverns where Azemen mystics claim to hear Bu’s voice.
To the north, massive glacier fields separate Bonkus from the impassable Icelit Sea. The southern border, where it meets Zonga and Quontas, softens slightly into snow-blanketed pine forests and rockier hills, though the temperatures remain well below freezing for much of the year.
Deep below the surface, crystal caves and ore-rich veins wind through the mountains. These are mined relentlessly by slave labor, largely composed of abducted females from other kingdoms. The Azemen care little for over-mining or environmental damage, seeing such acts as sacrifices to Bu’s hunger for dominion.
The land is scarred with mammoth paths, some wide enough to be mistaken for roads. These lead to seasonal gathering sites where Azemen warbands meet for trade, war games, or religious ceremonies.
Climate and Natural Cycles
Bonkus experiences some of the most extreme cold on the continent. There are only two widely recognized seasons among the Azemen:
- Deepfreeze: This is the long winter that covers nearly three-quarters of the Mernacian calendar. During this time, temperatures plunge to unbearable levels, and the land becomes nearly silent under a shroud of snow and howling wind. It is the season of death, war, and trial, during which many Azemen raids occur, as enemies are at their weakest.
- Huntlight: A short and fierce thaw during which the land floods with melted snow and the skies are filled with blinding sunlight. Azemen use this time to harvest resources, breed mammoths, and engage in massive tribal competitions. Any tribal disputes unresolved during Deepfreeze are settled during Huntlight—often in blood.
Occasionally, Bonkus is visited by strange northern firestorms, where auroras flicker with unnatural colors and lightning dances across the ice. These are believed to be signs of Bu’s favor… or warning.
Unique Ecology
Bonkus hosts a terrifying and highly adapted ecosystem, where flora and fauna are often larger, stronger, or more magical than their counterparts elsewhere in Mernac.
Flora:
- Frostweed: A ground-hugging, thorny plant that thrives under snow. It glows faintly in the dark and is used to light sacred Azemen rituals. Eating it raw can cause hallucinations or temporary madness.
- Glacier Bloom: Rare and beautiful flowers with shimmering petals that absorb light. Their juice is toxic but used to stain weapons and ritual tattoos.
- Razor Birch: Leafless trees with bark that slices flesh on contact. Azemen warriors use their bark to line their gauntlets and hunting snares.
Fauna:
- Three-Toed Mammoths: Towering behemoths with massive tusks and armored hides. These creatures are revered by the Azemen and used as war beasts and living siege engines.
- Ice Rippers: Stealthy snow lizards with serrated claws and an appetite for warm flesh. They hunt in packs and are often used as sentries near tribal lairs.
- Carrion Crows of Bu: Giant, coal-feathered birds believed to carry the spirits of the slain. They circle Azemen battlefields and are considered omens of victory or betrayal.
- Flesh Drakes: Small, winged, draconic reptiles found in crystal caverns. Their acidic breath and agility make them prized by tribal hunters who can tame them.
In the deepest glacial caves dwell whispering spirits, called the Frozen Forgotten, believed to be the souls of warriors who defied Bu and were trapped forever beneath the ice.
Culture and Society
Azemen culture is tribal, brutal, and deeply religious. Each tribe is led by the strongest, determined not by vote or inheritance, but by combat, conquest, or the favor of Bu.
Social Status is determined entirely by the number of kills an individual has earned. Azemen collect the ears of their victims, stringing them into necklaces or braiding them into their fur. The more ears worn, the greater their prestige. Tribes are known to steal each other’s trophies, leading to blood feuds that span generations.
Azemen value physical prowess, endurance, and war cunning. Mercy is considered weakness. Their rites of passage involve surviving in the wild alone for an entire moon, naked and unarmed. Children who fail do not return are forgotten.
Though each tribe speaks a different dialect, all Azemen share a pictographic bone script used only by elders and shamans. Most communication is through grunts, symbols, or displays of strength.
Slaves, especially women, are considered property and not part of society. They are used for food gathering, crystal mining, and reproduction. Despite this, Azemen protect their slaves fiercely from outsiders, considering them trophies of war.
Governance and Power Structures
There is no centralized government in Bonkus. Each of the thirteen primary Azemen tribes controls its own territory, laws, and traditions. The closest thing to unity comes during the Rite of Ascendancy, a once-per-decade competition where champions from each tribe fight, race, and test themselves to determine who will hold the Tusk of Dominion, a ceremonial title granting temporary influence over all other tribes.
Leadership within tribes is held by the Strongest One, a warlord chosen through trial by combat or ritualized hunts. Advisors are typically Shaman-Bloods, mystics who interpret the will of Bu through crystal reading, mammoth dreams, or blood scrying.
Laws are unwritten but absolute: obey the Strongest, kill the weak, honor Bu, never show mercy. Punishment for treason or cowardice is death by freezing or being fed to mammoths.
Races and Inhabitants
The Kingdom of Bonkus is populated almost entirely by the Azemen, a brutal, fur-covered race believed to be the first children of Bu. Standing up to three paces high, with immense strength and relentless stamina, Azemen resemble savage giants wrapped in ice and muscle. Though they walk upright like men, their beastlike features and animalistic behavior set them far apart from the Races of the Light.
Male Azemen are warriors, hunters, and dominators. From youth, they are trained to fight, kill, and endure extreme hardship. Their society glorifies male strength to such an extent that any sign of diplomacy, kindness, or hesitation is met with scorn, or death.
Female Azemen, while fierce in their own right, are primarily responsible for raising offspring and maintaining tribal rituals. They possess their own inner hierarchy and traditions, particularly around the rites of pregnancy, blood-binding, and interpreting omens from the frozen wastes.
Other inhabitants of Bonkus are almost exclusively slaves, taken during raids from neighboring kingdoms. Most are women of childbearing age, captured and repurposed as laborers, concubines, or crystal gatherers. These slaves live in pit villages guarded by mammoth-mounted warriors, often enduring years of hardship before perishing or being traded between tribes.
The only other native race tolerated in Bonkus is the Snow Giant, who shares a distant spiritual connection with the Azemen. Though rare, Snow Giants often act as neutral arbiters in tribal disputes and are revered for their ancient knowledge and strange elemental magic.
Myths and Moments
The Founding of Bonkus
According to Azemen legend, the land of Bonkus was formed when Bu, angered by the disobedience of the other Fathers, stomped his foot into the continent of Cathall, cracking it with fury and freezing the wound. From that stomp, the first Azemen emerged—born not from wombs but from fissures in the ice, fully grown and howling with rage. The great mammoths bowed to them, and the Snow Giants taught them how to carve ice into weapons.
The Mammoth King’s Curse
One tale tells of Kurdrak the Mammoth King, the first Azemen to tame the mighty three-toed mammoths. Kurdrak ruled all thirteen tribes by strength alone. When he died, his bones were carved into the Throne of Ivory, which now resides in a cave known only to the Shaman-Bloods. Any Azemen warlord who sits on it without Bu’s blessing will be cursed with the freezing of his seed, ensuring his bloodline ends with him.
The Siege of Iceblood Vale
In the year 2587 AM, the Azemen nearly succeeded in conquering southern Zonga during the infamous Siege of Iceblood Vale. They descended with thirty mammoths and an army of frost-painted berserkers, rooting Zongan mages with their ground-freezing traps and tearing through enchanted defenses. The siege was only broken when a rain of enchanted crystal arrows from Quontas’ Dark Faerie elite rained down from the cliffs, forcing the Azemen to retreat. The value of Zonga’s alliance with Quontas was never questioned again.
Economy and Trade
Bonkus has no formal economy by the standards of most kingdoms. There is no coinage, no organized market, and no written contracts. Instead, the economy revolves around raiding, bartering, and blood-trade.
The most valuable resources in Bonkus are:
- Magical crystals, mined by slaves and hoarded in sacred bone vaults. These are sometimes traded with outside groups (especially Dark Faeries or rogue traders from Moksun) in exchange for weapons, poisons, or enchanted furs.
- Mammoth tusks and hides, considered high luxury goods across Mernac. Some black-market trade routes exist, particularly through corrupt ports in southern Zonga.
- Slaves, particularly women from other races, occasionally sold through third parties outside Bonkus.
- Blood-bound oaths, an ancient Azemen ritual used to formalize non-written deals. These are rare and usually only extended to giants or emissaries from Quontas.
While most races fear and shun contact with Bonkus, some thrill-seeking alchemists, dark collectors, and relic hunters do seek to deal with individual tribes—if they can survive the negotiations.
Relevance
Though not unified under a single flag, Bonkus remains one of the most dangerous and unpredictable forces on the Cathall continent. Its tribes continue to raid their southern and southeastern neighbors, Moksun, Zonga, and Quontas, with disturbing regularity. Each incursion brings with it the threat of Azemen expansion, something that has historically ended in carnage for all involved.
Rumors persist that the Throne of Ivory will be claimed by a prophesied warlord called Shadeknuckle, who is said to be born with a mammoth’s eye and a frost-black heart. If this champion of Bu does emerge, many fear the tribes could finally unite, and no army in Mernac would be safe from a warhost of thirty thousand Azemen berserkers.
The Scribes and Sages who know of such things argue over how long Bonkus can remain fractured before a new terror is unleashed from the ice.
Quotable Lore
“You count coins. I count ears.”
– Kharbak Bonefist, Azemen Warlord
“The frost doesn’t kill you. It shows you what you really are.”
– Old Bonkus saying, often spoken before battle
“If Bu ever marches again, his footfall will crack Mernac in half, and Bonkus will ride the wave.”
– Delmira Sketh, Quontan seeress