Return of the Babki

Homeland of the Northern Babkhi, the Feudal diehards, and the Libertarians of Fieldburg. A combustible mix, with devotees of the Icebear thrown into the mix. Shorn of the bailiwicks of Wintergleam by Goldshire, the North has a certain persistence of memory and a thirst for revenge.

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Nithi Kirenion
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Return of the Babki

Post by Nithi Kirenion »

Over the past few years, more and more ethnic Babkhan and part-Babkhan refugees have been streaming over the Elwynnese border into Shireroth. Many have entered Illumination, but more still have crossed into Wintergleam over the bridges that still connect that area to the outskirts of Eliria. The Babki tell stories of persecution in the Elwynn Riqi Adurellion, especially around the fifth of August, when the Elwynnese commemorate an Osmani hierarch's (successful) Gunpowder Plot to blow up the Elw Parliament by burning effigies of Baron Ardashir and harassing local Babki populations. Although the Babki still control their traditional territories in Alalehzamin, Babki communities further north that had previously lived side by side with the Elw now tell stories of terrible pogroms and massacres.

Ironically, although it was the fanatically anti-Elw purebred Babki who initiated the plot, the majority of those suffering have been the much more integrationist Ardashirians, descendants of an earlier wave of Babkhan migration. These families, many of whom have taken Elw names and hold high positions in the Elw community, have been much more available targets for Elw wrath than the more segregationist Babki in Islus and Telion Loki, and it is they who have made the perilous crossing from Eliria into Shireroth. Surprisingly, most prefer entering Hyperborean territories to the lands of Kildare further north or those of Goldenmoon to the south. "The ghosts have been our enemies for so long they're almost our friends", one Babki doctor told the Tala Committee On Immigration, using an old Babkhan-language ethnic slur referring to the Raikothlin's pale skin and hair. "And better the worst of the Elwynnese than throw ourselves at some foreigner."

Although Tala has mostly ignored the Babki influx as too small to be worth noticing, this shows signs of changing, as migration has steadily accelerated over the past few ASC years. There are now at least 40,000 ethnic Babkhan immigrants in Wintergleam, and some oracles predict the true number may be several times that due to poor compliance with registration laws and distrust of Raikothin authorities.

The most important news in recent Raikothlin-Babki relations has been the arrival of Sheikh Jalil Simrani to Aekophan last week. The Sheikh had previously been the most important spiritual leader of Smjorkyr's Babki community; after getting in a quarrel with the secular authorities for declaring the Butter Bull to be "an abomination unto Zurvan", he fled the city under cover of night, hid with sympathizers in the countryside, and eventually escaped to Shireroth-held Elwynn Syuivane. He has since taken up residence in the Babki Quarter of Aekophan (Echo City), where his presence has galvanized the local community. Whereas they once tried to avoid official notice, they are now building a large mosque and fire temple, encouraging Babki migration from across the river, and even building a new, entirely Babki village, Simranibad, a few kilometers north of Aekophan. In a recent fatwa, he called on all Babki living within Elwynn Syuivane to be "humble and obedient to foreign rule", and even to engage in charitable works across Wintergleam, but no one knows whether he is sincere or merely urging his followers to bide their time as he gathers power.

Official reaction from Tala has yet to be forthcoming. The cloud has not activated any sort of emergency decision-making protocols, but several oracles have been ordered to begin predicting likely Babki actions, and as far as anyone is able to trace the actions of Raikoth's government it appears to be furiously pondering the Babki question in some way.

Reaction from individual ethnic Raikothin has been muted. Some have expressed worry at the return of the old enemy, but others have said that the Ardashirians are "kind of okay" and "less bloodthirsty than the Babki, usually", and there is a general feeling that they will wait and see what position their government takes on the issue before doing anything rash.

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Hesam Jayatar
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Re: Return of the Babki

Post by Hesam Jayatar »

I'm glad you've decided to include the Babki in your narrative. I've always wondered if you might be interested in writing a dedicated history of the Shirerithian Babki, since for all purposes, they're their own ethnicity now. As you've stated, there are older generations and newer generations, each distinct, perhaps a short study of them would be apt?

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Scott Alexander
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Re: Return of the Babki

Post by Scott Alexander »

I was working off of this document, which I think fulfills that purpose admirably. I quite like the Babki "civilization" and would love to hear more about them, but I don't think I have either the right nor the necessary style to describe the Babki accurately: surely that would be a project more worthy of Ardashir?

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Hesam Jayatar
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Re: Return of the Babki

Post by Hesam Jayatar »

I'd forgotten that Ardy had written that, but I feel it could be expanded a bit more. I imagine that the two of you together would provide the best depiction?

Emir of Raspur

Re: Return of the Babki

Post by Emir of Raspur »

Consider this to be, in some vague way, noted.

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