In the first instalment of our world-lore series, Lou Lyz – who plays Bramble Wintersett, the eternally harried badger from Concordia – delves into the ancient history of the Badger Wars. This is a tongue-in-cheek exploration of the deep (and occasionally ridiculous) lore of Elestia/Concordia.
Badgers are seen as a belligerent and fractious people, a reputation not entirely undeserved. They love a good brawl and no family gathering is complete without a few black eyes and well-deserved bloody noses. This, and a surprisingly litigious outlook, has led to one of their best-loved and most misunderstood traditions: War.
To an outside eye, the Badger Wars are a violent and chaotic affair, a mass brawl over a vast area, but take a step back and there is order in the madness.
No one is entirely certain how the Wars started – the ranks of victories preserved in home setts and taverns are the pride of generations. The origin stories are as numerous as the places that they’re told, but most agree that it was an increasingly vicious feud between two sprawling setts that was driving their neighbours to distraction. An enterprising soul set down some terms to end it before someone got killed and the War was on.
The War
There are a few traditional Wargrounds scattered throughout Concordia, each tended by a WarMaster, usually an older badger much respected by the community. Usually bounded by two rivers (or nestled in the bend of a single larger one) there are two Victory Stones at least a mile apart. At the start of the War, a Victory (an elaborately decorated hollow gourd, nut husk or woven ball) is upped by the WarMaster between two opposing sides. The name of the game is to get the Victory to the chosen Stone and then smash the Victory upon it.
That’s right, a Badger War is a massive game of woodland medieval football.
There are three styles of War, each having its own nuances which mostly boil down to team size, length of game and goal distance.
Skirmish – a “friendly” match, played often between groups of friends or cubs, or to settle minor disputes. A maximum of 15 players to a side, with Victory markers at least 200 feet apart. Maximum one hour per stretch. No bears, lions or wolves allowed.
Battle – a slightly more serious game usually involving entire extended families or warbands. Team sizes of up to 40 with Victory Stones set at least one furlong apart. A maximum of one large predator per team.
War – the main event and governed by a strict set of conditions. No true War can be called or recorded without application to a WarMaster, played using sanctioned Victories and on an approved Warground. Teams are as big as can be rallied and play runs from moonrise to moonset over as many as three nights, during which time the whole community turns out to feast, drink and support their favoured players, with Victories claimed being paraded proudly to their place of honour.
As the primary source of Badger honour and legal settlement, there are few other rules on the field – bloody noses and strained limbs are expected, minor disputes being settled with a well-timed shove, but weapons are banned. The worst crime is to be caught with a non-sanctioned or fraudulent Victory. Anyone caught in this manner is handed back to their own team for punishment and the offending team will usually forfeit the match.
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