Mongol Ninjas!

[GhostDancer]

Adventure / Character Seed

Shortly after he died, [Genghis] Khan’s surviving commanders ordered a group of 50 particularly battle-hardened families, collectively known as the Uryangqai of the Woods, to occupy this land [part of northern Mongolia’s Hentiy Province, an area known as the Ikh Khorig, which translates literally as the “great taboo” but is referred to by outsiders as the “Forbidden Zone”], kill any trespassers, making exceptions only for the funeral processions of the Khan’s direct descendants, who were allowed to be buried there. Unsurprisingly, this fierce degree of secrecy has led many to surmise that the body of Genghis Khan himself resides somewhere in this zone, along with some of the treasures of an empire vaster than those of Napoleon and Alexander the Great combined. When the Soviets took over Mongolia in 1924, they stamped out the Uryangqai of the Woods just as they tried to stamp out the subversive, nationalism-inspiring memory of the great Khan, maintaining a bubble around the Ikh Khorig, declaring it a highly classified military site. -Luke Dittrich for National Geographic

This leads to several questions. How did the Soviets smash the Uryangqai of the Woods? Explosives and/or treachery? Did they really kill them all? Historically, Mongolians are nomads that follow their flocks, moving five times a year or so. It may not have been possible to kill them all.

This could be the secret Background for a Pulp or Golden Age Asian martial arts master. For a modern game, this Background could be alleged, secret, public, or somewhere in between. Was he the original 9th Jebtsundamba Khutugtu (Holy Venerable Lord), a reincarnation, found in 1924, of the Bogd Khan (God Emperor), a Mongolian who disappeared from the pages of history? Did he help train Mongolian Olympic gold medal martial artists?

Albert Lin of Japan is using high tech gear to search for the secret tomb of Genghis Khan http://adventure.nationalgeographic.com/2009/12/best-of-adventure/albert-lin

A Uryangquai of the Woods descendant, among others, would not care for this grave robbing mission. The descendant may feel compelled to try to stop it. News may reach our heroes, who may initially try to help the intrepid explorer, and then have to rethink their position, as the cultural relevance becomes clearer to them, especially if the descendant took care to kill no one.

The descendant could try to recruit more defenders for the Ikh Khorig region. He may not restrict recruitment to Mongol nationals. Most Mongols live outside the national boundary, and the number of those with some Mongol heritage is immense. He may be more interested in martial ability than pedigree- no Mongol ancestry may be necessary. The latter would be helpful for a player character build. For the sake of this discussion, let's call him Grand Master Owl.
Pilgrim, "Let me show you why I am worthy to be your student." A flurry of katas ensue.

Grand Master Owl, "What is the price you must pay?"

Pilgrim, "All that a teacher is due. Also, if I become one of your top students, I must guard the Ikh Khorig for a time equal to the time you intructed me."

Grand Master Owl, "Give an example."

Pilgrim, "If I advance to top student in twelve years, I must protect the Ikh Khorig for twelve years. If I never make top student, I do not have this obligation."

Grand Master Owl, "It is so."

[DusterBoy]

If I was Grand Master Owl, no amount of katas would impress me. Tactical canniness, physical fitness and actual fighting ability would. I'd run the hell out of any prospective student too, whilst they were wearing heavy (~60 lbs) packs, yet. But this is a terrific scenario.

And you have been whacked with the reptonfa.

[GhostDancer]

As well as being a good shot with a rifle, given the time frames referenced.

[GhostDancer]

Traditionally, many Mongols learned to ride nearly before they could walk. A toddler's saddle is made of rope, and includes a cinch tying the child's ankles together under the girth of the horse.

Mongol martial arts focussed on weapons, primarily the bow, simultaneously recurved and composite, more powerful than an English longbow, and more versatile, given that most were designed to use mounted.

Wrestling was primarily used as fitness training. Should your elbow, knee, forearm or lower leg hit the ground, you lost. There are still no weight classes. As such, an Offensive Strike would be an appropriate purchase as a Finishing Move.

Mongols were quick to adopt advance tech from cultures, including exploding arrowheads and seige machines.

In the 20th century, Mongols slowed Japanese invaders, fighting them off from horseback with rifles and grenades, until the Soviets could bring to bear heavy munitions.

The three manly sports of Mongolia are still archery, horse racing and wrestling. These would no doubt factor into Uryangquai of the Woods training, in addition to certain ninja type skills. U of W might use bows in addtion to rifles, since the former are harder to hear.

Some Mongol hunters today make their own bows, with multiple layers of fiberglass.

[GhostDancer]

Every man carried a (small ) wicker shield covered in thick leather while on his left side hung two bows, one for long range and one for shorter range, and on his right side at least two quivers containing a minimum of sixty arrows (cartons of arrows were available in reserve; kept and distributed by in-ranks armorers assigned to that task). A lasso hung from his saddle and a dagger (‘kris' ) was strapped to the inside of his forearm. Apart from these, the light cavalrymen carried a short sword and two or three javelins, and the heavy cavalryman carried a (single edged, slightly curved) scimitar, a battle ax or mace, and a twelve foot lance with a horse-hair pennant and hook below the blade.

In their saddlebags they carried a change of clothing, a cooking pot, field rations, which were usually yoghurt, millet, dried meat and 'kumiz' (fermented mare's milk), a leather water bottle, a fishing line, files for sharpening arrows, a needle and thread and other tools for repairing equipment. Not only was the saddlebag waterproof, it could also be inflated to act as a crude life jacket for fording rivers.

The bow was easily the Mongol’s most important weapon. The mediaeval English longbow had a pull of seventy five pounds and a range of up to two hundred and fifty yards, but the smaller, reflex composite bows used by the Mongols had a pull of between a hundred and a hundred sixty pounds and a range of over three hundred fifty yards. The Mongol bow was made from layers of horn and sinew on a wooden frame and covered with waterproof lacquer. Unstrung it was shaped like three quarters of a circle, but when strung the outer curve of the circle bent towards its center to form the front of the bow, making a double curve with the 'ears' at either end bending away from the archer. (The composite bow was usually left in a 'strung' position, since this improves its strength rather than weakening it, whereas a constantly strung position does tend to weaken any other kind of bow.)

The layer nearest the archer (inside bow) was horn and the layer furthest from him (outside bow) was sinew. The string was more taut than on a longbow and when it was released the horn would snap back to it's original shape and the stretched sinew would contract, shooting the arrow faster and with more power than a bow made of wood. The velocity was further increased by the difficult technique known as the Mongolian thumb block: the string was drawn back by a stone ring on the right thumb which released it more suddenly than the fingers (* 'Thumb ring' - protects fingers from flaying, improves control of release-moment and therefore accuracy).

In his quivers a soldier carried arrows for every purpose: long range arrows and short range arrows, Three foot armour piercing arrows with (*iron) tips that had been hardened by being plunged into salt water when they were red-hot, whistling arrows for signaling and identifying targets, incendiary arrows and arrows tipped with tiny grenades. He could bend and string his bow in the saddle by placing one end between his foot and the stirrup and he could shoot in any direction at full gallop, carefully timing his release to come between the paces of his horse, so
that his aim would not be deflected as the hooves pounded the ground.

- THE DEVIL’S HORSEMEN, James Chambers, p.p. 55 - 57

...cannon and the fundamentals of modern military method came to Europe with the Mongols. -The Outline of History, H. G. Wells, p. 816

[GhostDancer]

The Mongol tribesmen were born into a society whose language did not have separate words for “soldier” and “man”.

Read more at Suite101: Mongol Warriors and the Composite Bow: Genghis Khan Used Archers To Spread the Mongol Invasion http://www.suite101.com/content/mongol-warriors-and-the-composite-bow-a84382#ixzz16XqzTjor

[GhostDancer]

"Russia has only been successfully invaded once, because it is warmer than Mongolia." -Dave Vandenabeele

[assault]

"Russia has only been successfully invaded once, because it is warmer than Mongolia." -Dave Vandenabeele

Neat, but untrue.

Amongst other examples, the Germans successfully invaded Russia in WWI. The Russians signed a peace treaty that handed over huge slabs of territory. They only got most of it back because German was beaten in the west.

And, of course, they lost Poland and the Baltic states in the fallout.

[GhostDancer]

Gonna hafta agree with you- the Poles held Moscow from 1610 - 1612. Anyone else cite other examples?

[GhostDancer]

In the Liao and Mongol states in the 10th to 11th Centuries, a game was played called ‘Shooting the Willow’ to demonstrate archery skills. This is how the game was described in the official history of the Khitan Liao Dynasty: "Two lines of willow branches were set in the ground of a polo field. The archers, according to their different ranks, chose their own branch and marked it with a piece of cloth; then they whittled away the bark of the twig a few inches above the ground so that the white wood showed through. Led by one galloping rider, the others followed at full gallop, shooting with an unfletched arrow with a horizontal blade for an arrowhead. An archer who could cut through the willow branch and catch the cut end at full gallop took top marks. Second came the one who could cut the willow twig but couldn’t catch it. Those who could hit the whittled part but not cut it, or those who missed altogether, lost. When they shot, people beat drums to egg them on."
From the time of Chinggis Khan and the Mongolian nation proper, there are many accounts of great feats of archery, such as those of a national competition in which renowned archers such as Tsülegtii, Gölgön Baataar, Sübgetei Baataar, Toghtong Baataar and Khüldar all competed over a distance of about 600 meters, shooting at a cap of deer leather placed on the ground. All could hit the target with one of three shots.

[GhostDancer]

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