Orcs are not the only raiders of the Polavian Steppe. The expansive flat lands of the northern plain provide plenty of pasture for grazing horses, and the horses in turn allow their tamers to travel long distances over the endless seas of grass. For this reason, the steppe gave rise to the
Zelskys, a tribe dubbed the Horse Lords for their mastery of the beasts. Under the Kingdom of Polavia, the Zelskys were a constant threat, engaged in on-and-off periods of warfare with their more sedentary neighbors - and they proved formidable foes, earning both fear and respect from the Polavians.
The Zelsky way of life grew around the horse, and they rely on the animals for many purposes. Every Zelsky learns to ride a horse from the same time they learn to walk. In fact, historians believe the Zelskys were the first people to domesticate horses. They rely on horses to provide them with transport for trade, hunting, and warfare alike, and they also use them for meat, milk, leather, and fiber from their hairs. Although the Zelskys are known for their consumption of horse meat - though the role horse plays in their diet is often exaggerated in travelers' accounts - they view the animals as sacred, knowing they owe their lives to their steeds and that they would be unable to survive in the vacuous plains without them. The slaughter of a horse is not a task to be taken lightly, and may only be done under the auspices of a priest or shaman (there are adherents to both Pantheonism and the Old Faith among the Zelskys, but which gods they pray to makes little difference in their customs) to determine if the animal is fit for slaughter, using an complex system of laws and standards that outsiders struggle to understand.
Despite the mobility of their lifestyle, the Zelskys are not truly nomadic. They reside in permanent villages, often in simple timber longhouses build from wood harvested from the scattered stands of trees among the plains, and they do grow some crops. However, the soil in the inland plains they reside in is not as rich as that in other lands, and the bulk of their diet comes from hunting, gathering, and herding sheep and cattle over the steppe, as well as trading and raiding with their neighbors. Their villages are small and have little in the way of businesses or stores, for they are not one to stay in one place for long. Although Zelskys will maintain a home in a particular village with their immediate family, it is not uncommon for them to travel long distances, sometimes even days away, to herd their animals or to perform raids. Even if they are not going quite so far afield, they spend much of the day in the saddle, only returning home to dine, drink, and rest when the sun sets. Because of this, the Zelsky clans tend to be dispersed over wide areas, and a particular family may have branches in several villages miles apart. This way, even if they are far from home, they can easily find relatives to stay with just about anywhere. If they cannot, they can at least find in-laws or cousins, only using inns as a last resort.
In the past, the scarcity of the Zelsky's lives meant they often turned to raiding to sustain themselves. Existing as they did on the perimeter of the Polavian heartland, incursions by Zelskys were a common threat, and one that the many fortresses surrounding Venec were built to protect against. The relationship between the Polavians and the Zelskys varied by the year, sometimes even by the season. Some times the Zelskys would wage war on nearby fiefdoms, while other times Polavian nobles would make pacts with Zelsky clans, relying on them to provide military support - sometimes against other Zelsky clans. It was not uncommon for a noble to have a Zelsky warlord in his employ for a few months, and for that same warlord to go back to raiding his former liege after that term expired. For both peoples, this was a fact of life. It was as it always had been, and there was no use in changing that.
However, the Orc Wars managed to bring the Polavians and the Zelskys into somewhat of a permanent truce. Both civilizations had fought off orcish incursions before, but the threat of Ghammorz's empire was one too great for either of them to contend with alone. Both united to fight off the orc hordes, and in the centuries that followed, the Zelskys entered the Golden Peace alongside their neighbors. Their leaders are treated as nobility just the same as any landed gentry, taking on the same titles, and partaking in the same assemblies. One of Togarmah's most celebrated kings, Khar I, was in fact a Zelsky, elected to the position for his martial valor.
That is not to say that raids do not happen, but for the most part, the peace is kept by trade and law, and there has never been an all-out war between a coalition of Zelsky clans and the Polavians under the Golden Peace. Large-scale conflicts are usually between individual clans or against orcs, or else they occur as part of more widespread civil wars, often with Zelsky clans fighting on various sides. Still, they are known as fierce warriors. They are skilled with a lance, and their mounted archers are feared throughout the known world. On the battlefield, they often strap great wings made of wood and steel to their backs, giving them an imposing presence indeed.
It is notable that, in their traditions of riding and raiding, the Zelskys have much in common with the Horse Orcs. Many Zelskys boast orcish blood in their veins, and some have even intermarried with orc clans to produce fearsome alliances. The notion that all Zelskys are at least part orc is a false and derogatory one, however - it is more apt to say that the similarities between them were shaped by similar circumstances and the free trade of ideas on the plains. Whatever the case is, the Zelskys are a proud people, and their nobles hold firmly to their titles under the ideals of the Golden Peace. No matter how large his muscles are, how many weapons he carries, or how much he smells of horse sweat, it is unwise to call a Zelsky duke a barbarian, unless you intend to pick a fight.
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