Full Study: An Anthropological Study of Ulik’otremea Adolescence
Entry Title: Razhakudar
By: Coltik the Immigrant

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Today I witnessed my research subject, Gentupokhen, participate in the most fascinating wargame. The title of the game was Razhakudar, which translates directly from Old Kudran as honorable struggle. The overseeing mare permitted me to stand in a crowd of perhaps a hundred onlookers as Gentupokhen and eleven other kudran adolescents stood at the starting line of what appeared to be an obstacle course. Members of the crowd included both adult mercenaries and children as young as four years. 

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The mare sounded a gong to begin the game and I was startled as the entire crowd began to chant a verse of prose during each obstacle. Even the youngest children seemed to know the exact lyrics; their voices added a higher counterpoint to the adults’, producing what almost seemed to be a choral harmony to the chant. 

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What follows is my best recollection of the verses and what occurred during each obstacle:

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Verse 1
Razhakudar, soldier's fight
Prove yourself on soldier's might 
Train your body and your mind
Woe befall those left behind

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Here, the adolescents skipped rapidly through a course very similar to hopstep - a grid chalked on the ground, numbered squares within. The first eight to arrive at the next obstacle were permitted to continue, while the final four were eliminated. Curiously, the mare said nothing to the eliminated children; the crowd ignored them as they left in disgrace. Gentupokhen and her fellows readied themselves for the next obstacle.

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Verse 2
Razhakudar, do not fall
Don’t succumb to magic's thrall
Find the balance of your life
Hone the sharpness of your knife

The adolescents ascended a short ladder to a balance beam several feet in the air. They then darted across the beam, which was not straight but zagged thisly and thusly. Absorbed as I was in the game, I did not notice the onlookers reaching into their pockets until the first stone was cast; then they were hurtling through the air like a hail of storm-tossed branches. I examined one of the objects being thrown - a thumb-sized rock painted to resemble dreamglass. It seemed the crowd was purposefully trying to injure the players in an attempt to dislodge them.

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Two of the adolescents did indeed fall - one with a nasty cut across his eye - and two more were eliminated for finishing last. The final four were given leave to proceed to the next obstacle; I was pleased to see Gentupohken among them.

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Verse 3
Razhakudar, seek the void
Climb with care or be destroyed
Into dreaming realm you wade
Soon to battle with your shade 

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The corresponding obstacle was a climbing wall in which it appeared some holds had been purposefully weakened or wobbled. My heart leapt when one of these holds dislodged Gentupokhen, but she recovered well and scampered up the thing like a squirrel. One child fell and quite badly injured their knee on the balance beam below; another was eliminated for being last. Gentupokhen and her opponent proceeded to the final round atop a tiny platform perhaps fifteen feet in the air - barely wide enough to hold the two of them a few paces apart. 

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Verse 4
Razhakudar, now we fight
Womanhood the victor's right
Children unprepared are slain
Minds and bodies cleft in twain

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Upon this platform, the final two contenders fought barefisted.  It was a departure from the more traditional wrestling styles which I have previously seen kudrans use - the flattened circle, the groundwork and pins and joint-locks. They struck at each other’s bodies, wove around on the tight confines of the platform, but never pushed or shoved. There was an element almost of a dance, a sort of balance to the whole ordeal. They matched their footwork; there was a give-and-take of their strikes and blocks. 

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And then, in just a flash, Gentupokhen was struck across the jaw, stepped backward into empty space, and plummeted the distance to the ground. When she landed I could clearly hear her arm fracture - like kindling snapping in a fire. She didn’t cry out, simply curled into a ball around the injury. 

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The onlookers flooded the play area and at first I assumed they were rushing Gentupokhen off to the infirmary. I was mistaken; the crowd entirely ignored her and instead swarmed the victor, holding her hand up high as the overseeing mare placed a circlet of woven banana leaves on her brow. I am familiar with this tradition - she has graduated to earn her place in the military and begin mercenary training. 

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At the distant edge of this scene, Gentupokhen rose unsteadily to her feet. She darted a single glance towards the crowd, whose backs were to her; then she limped off, presumably to the infirmary.

 

Final notes and analysis:

It is common for kudrans to refer to their linked moonborm as their "shades"; indeed, the word hua’numti in Old Kudran for the Moonborn can be secondarily translated as "shade or shadow". This wargame clearly refers to their ritual combat of adulthood against their moonborn. The mystery lies in the "seek the void" clause of Verse 3. Are these voids some kind of portals of transport to Draumir? If so, their locations are extremely close-held secrets. I will continue to observe other recreational activities by the Ulik'otremea in the hope of finding more evidence for my hypothesis.