Tabot

Tabot was a mountainous state founded by monks and barbarians. The monks fled from the oppression of Shou Lung to this mountainous terrain, which contained barbarians, monsters and merciless cold winds. The people of Tabot created their own special culture and customs, and many wise men spent their whole lives in the mountains to learn the truth.

Geography
The land of Tabot was poor but workable. Shepherds grazed their herds of goats and sheep in the mountains. The lands of Bhutan were surrounded by thick bamboo forests, but other lowland parts of Tabot contained rough hills, grassy fields, and few trees. Tabot was a wild land known to experience avalanches and mud torrents.

Fauna
The local draft animals, called yaks, were domesticated many millennia ago. Thousands of goats and sheep could be found throughout the mountains. Fluffy snow birds, monkeys and tigers could be found throughout the country. Yeti were probably the most dangerous creatures found in the countryside. These beasts constantly raided monasteries.

Climate
Tabot's climate was harsh. The short growing season only lasted six to eight weeks, even in the lower river valleys.

This region was dominated by harsh winds and snow storms. The landscape was very severe during almost any time of the year. During harsh winters, bandits were often involved in the looting of these wild and troubled lands.

Cities
Many cities in Tabot have still not recovered from thousands of years oppression, and many areas of this wild place are still not mastered. Indigenous population live in both primitive tents and yurts and more "civilized" wood and brick houses. There are many semi-cities in Tabot too, but they are populated by many bandits and murderers so these cities are very dangerous. But the monasteries have retained their wealth and cultural heritage. Here are some of them.


 * U'chan Gompa
 * M'Tsin Gompa
 * Ko'Chung Gompa
 * Pokarr and Lii Gompas
 * Frekang Gompa
 * Hoshki and Buchan Do Gompas
 * Do'dzin Gompa

Architecture
Most of the farmers lived in tents or mud houses with thatched roof. Nobility lived in two or three clay houses with tile roofs. In such houses usually have attics for birds and other things. First floor using for livestock, and the second or third for the family.

Social Customs
Every year in Tabot began with the famous turtle panzer burning ceremony. A question is posed, the shell is placed in cherry red coals, and the priests of Uchan read the answer in the markings that appear. Shell with this information is hung on the wall of the temple to help people and monks can more successful plan this year.

Many influential people may ask the oracle to help. Clothes of people who living in Tabot, usually made ​​of yak wool or sheep and painted in red or green. Many men wear on the head caps or fur hats with headphones from the cold.

Women usually tightly bundled up in warm woolen dresses black or gray color. They also often wear beautiful scarves and hats. Nobles also dressed in dark graceful clothes and braid their hair in a ponytail. Noble women dress in sophisticated clothes with bells.

All children and monks shave their heads. Men of Tabot love face off, and play games of chance. Games such as wrestling, tug of rope and race on horses. They drink, a drink called Stong made ​​from tubers called cowii. Many nomads also stops in the cities to trade. Most of the tabotans devotees their religious beliefs.

Languages
Tabot language is learned easily. la means mountain pass, tso means lake, chu is a river, and the word gompa means monastery. Language that most people have kept very simple, most people speak the same language with local dialects and know very little about the trade language. Travelers usually hire yourself a translator who in does not cost much more than in the countryside. Meanwhile, every day you need to pay money to translator. The main role who played language combine many barbarian tribes, cities and monasteries, in one unit called Tabot.

Religion
In Tabot very venerated gods and in their honor, conducted festivals and holidays are not inferior in quality festivals at Shou Lung. In honor of the gods, parades that can last many days. Tabot famous for its sages and ascetics who live in the mountains, many of them charlatans but there are great sages such as Smirnk of the Willows of Hokla Mountain,Morka Fooztang from Noko-Ji,Tzu Wan and Ti Horr of Mount Wiztcu Tan.Often these sages can predict the future, and may have great power.

Prehistory
Originally, the land was the domain of barbarian kings and tribal chiefs with their own noble class. They built cities in the lowlands and followed a heathen faith. In their founding myth, millennia previously, the moon descended to the earth one night in the form of a beautiful woman. As she wandered through the night, all the white tigers of the land gathered at her side and were entranced by her. She touched her hand to the foreheads of nineteen of them and they were transformed into human men of strength and intelligence. After the moon women returned to the sky, the new men performed heroic deeds and founded the various clans, including Phutan.

The Years of Frost
Following proclamation of the Organization of Thought in neighboring Shou Lung in, many of the temple militias there were falsely accused and persecuted, so they escaped to the southwest. Many of the monks and temple guardians were looking for a holy land that would remain pure and lasting, ideal for isolated hermitages, and they found it among the high mountain wilds. The first group founded an outpost in (considered a holy year), and fourteen more such groups would follow by. The lamas would remember this period as the Years of Frost, when they endured blizzards, battled monsters, avoided both the barbarian kings and Shou retribution, went without food, and struggled to survive even as their numbers grew few.

Finally, in, soldiers of Shou Lung invaded Tabot, prompting the priests and the barbarians to ally against them. Led by the great sohei Ramara and Baron Ohn on Han Chao, they repelled the Shou in the Battle of Tsagang.

Under the Peace Land Treaty
Afterward, Ohn and Ramara negotiated for ten days and established the Peace Land Treaty between the tribes and the monks. It legitimized the monks' hermitages (now mountain keeps) and gave them a role in the defense of the lowland tribes and thereby cemented land and peace. Together, they founded a new city at the place of their victory and founded the new nation of Tabot. All present blessed the union and it came to be a holy place and a holy word.

In, seven lamas of the Zotung Keep discovered a man frozen in ice on Mesku Peak. They recovered the man and defrosted him, but he melted away with the ice and in his place they found a male leopard cub. They raised the leopard and it grew as big as a horse. Finally, one day it even talked, and asked to be allowed to go free. Surprised, the lamas opened the gates to the leopard, which returned to Mesku Peak. Afterward, the new abbot of the new Zotung Gompa called on the leopard for help when making decisions, and since then, it was said to visit many lamas in dreams to dispense advice on the proper way to achieve enlightenment. The whole affair was declared a miracle, the first of the young nation.

But Tabot continued to be invaded by the forces of Shou Lung, with attempts in, in , and finally in. In this last invasion, the Shou seized the whole of northern Tabot, from Lokar Pass to Ko'Chung. With the fate of their nation hanging in the balance, artisans in Ji fashioned the five crystalline warriors and a group of great dang-ki and wu jens animated them and gave them magical abilities. On the third day of the fifth month, the ragged defenders of Tabot and their five crystalline warriors confronted the Shou Lung army as they marched out of Lokar Pass. Though the battle was terrific, they were victorious, and went onto reclaim all of the conquered lands. The crystalline warriors went into the mountains to await the day when Tabot again had need of them. The date of the battle would be considered holy and celebrated as Crystal Day.

The High Lord of Oceans
In, a boy named H'Dang Li was born under a conjunction of constellations. A shepherd found him crying in the wastelands just north of the Haraki Ridge and brought him to the lamas of Do'dzin Gompa. They saw the child as pure, born enlightened, and fully at one with the Celestial Heavens, as well as highly intelligent and capable of magical powers. Before long, the holy boy was recognized by all the monasteries and loved by the peasants, who gave him many presents.

Very soon, the monasteries were reformed and united under the rule of the High Lord of Oceans, H'Dang Li. Over the years and, they even pushed for control of Tabot itself. The nobles mustered their armies against the monks, but H'Dang Li confronted them alone and wielded mighty magic against them. The soldiers were unwilling to fight a six-year-old boy and lowered their weapons and surrendered.

In the years following, the High Lord of Oceans assumed control of the government, established the council kashag system, and took away the lands and powers of the nobles and dissolved the armies of the monasteries. He also created the Staff of the Oceans and the Gates of Ocean at Frekang Gompa. H'Dang Li reigned for 82 years before selecting a successor and walking away into the mountains.

Appendix
Tabot is modeled after Tibet.

Appearances

 * Adventures:
 * Dungeon #8, "The Flowers of Flame"