Dunskiff of Berm

Dunskiff of Berm was a wise-man and adviser of the Bermaran cheifs, born between -1210 and -1190, and acredited with revolutionizing the way the Bermaran's viewed war with the first sucessful domestication of Crooknas.

Life
Because of the lack of written records of the Bermaran's, and the lack of their presence to begin with, most of what was recorded by the citizens of Ægostia, during the Bermaran's breif rule.

Before their means of inter-terrial transport were built/domesticated, the Bermaran's were simply nomads who left an area when conditions became too harsh; either from weather, flora, fauna, or other nomadic tribes. During a particlar move, Dunskiff, a young man at the time, noticed a group of Crooknas had settled near their new home. Over several weeks, Dunskiff studied and interacted with the Crooknas.

The Crooknas themselves looked at him with only mild curiosity at first, but as his visits and interactions with the Crooknas became more and more frquent, it is believed that the Crooknas began to see him as a part of their own family, and stayed in the area, even when the winter set in; usually their time of migration to a warmer location to the south.

Domestication of Crooknas
It is unclear how, but somehow Dunskiff convinced the cheif at the time to bring the Crooknas into the tribes land, where their practice of paring up newborn Bermaran children and Crooknas began. Crookna's have approximatly the same lifespan as a Bermaran (believed to be longer than the average person), and this paring leads to a bond which extended into battle.

Being extraordianarily hardy, the Bermaran's first used the creatures to move suppilies when conditions became harsh or during harvest time. It wasn't long before their strenght and duribilty was considerered to be used in a battle. The first armed Bermaran conflict was won by the simple fact that it takes alot to injure let alone kill a fully grown Crookna.

There was little need to augment a Crookna's natural armor becides adding a harness for rider and passenger, and sheet of well refined locta to protect the Crookna's soft underside.

Death
One of the few matters of record conserning Dunskiff is his death during the Sacking of Ægostia, when the walls of the city were finally breached.

During the breach, Dunskiff lead the charge with his Crookna, Sulter, as he had done for many battles; a right given to him for teaching his tribemates how to treat and interact with Crooknas. As they entered the city, they were suspicious of the lack of people in the area, but by the time they realised it was an ambush it was too late. The soldiers of the city set the ekasha alight just as Dunskiff ordered his men to retreat; him and three other Bermaran's and Crooknas were killed by the blaze, though the majority of the force was able to escape with only minor injuries; their Crookna's reciving moderate burns from the flames they walked on to escape.