MURKI'S BACKGROUND Murki grew up on the plain of Uriah. His father, a plains-rider chieftain, fought, won and later died in a battle with the Ice Bandits. That is a story in itself. His mother, who travels by the name "Fair Stream," hailed originally from the Toridarian town of River View, before she married the chieftain. She decided that Murki needed discipline, therefore she began to teach him the rudiments of Eyri ways. This training included daily calisthenics, and several fighting positions. During one of these sessions, an Eyri from Toridar came to observe it discreetly. He approached their poor settlement, smiled broadly, and then simply stepped in and corrected Murki's stances. The Eyri began to teach him. Soon, the Uri had a fine young fighter on their hands, and he employed effective, although foreign tactics. After a year of this, the Toridar Eyri said to Murki: "You have learned all that I can teach you here. If you choose to continue, then you must go to a school. Don't worry, should you go, I will see to your family. Your tribe needs a physician badly now, anyway." Murki made his decision: "To leave the wandering ways of the Uri would be refreshing!" At the age of thirteen and armed only with a backpack, a shri, and twenty drummel, he headed south into Toridar. He intended to go to the school at Benclay. The distance was 720 kai! He made it most of the way by riding an old stallion named Tripper. The story is long, but Murki had many adventures. Twice, he traveled with a wagon train, and for a time, he helped pole a raft... The younger Browns and Blacks laughed at his appearance at their gate. One even poked fun at Murki's now apparent mustache over his lip. "What has a dirty urchin come here for?" another said sarcastically. Before a fight had broken out, an old Master stepped out on the balcony above them and ordered: "Bring him to the Study, Hut Hut!" There, the Masters inquired of his journey. Everyone exclaimed in amazement when they determined the distance that Murki had traveled! After this, even the Browns respected him. Now, well, I'm sure that they would even fight to the death for him... Murki received five years training and did well. He can speak Uri, Tori, Arvetan, and the ancient speech of Dondor. He even served as the School Master's butler for a time. Purple is a dark color. Remember that only Browns and the Black classes are more deadly in hand to hand combat... End of Chapter 2 Back to Arveta Table of Contents Back to Arveta List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1999 by Abram Paradies. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com