The Chrome Kheshigs

The Kheshigs of the Chrome Blooded Diesel Jocks are built around mechanized quick reaction forces with a mobile retinue of camp followers providing a logistical foundation. Agile two-wheeled outriders run ahead to perform reconnaissance followed by off-road capable infantry transports and heavy rigs hauling support staff with deployable infrastructure.   The Chrome Kheshigs move in regular circuits through the territories they claim by treaty within the Dominus, sweeping up zed and raider threats to keep the roads safe for trade and farms producing food. Come winter all but one of the Kheshigs withdraw into the western mountains of Murilan where the terrain and the harsh weather provide natural fortifications and where they have natural gas wells they use to stockpile the fuel their rides will need in the coming year. The farms they defend are often abandoned through the cold season as their occupants are adopted into their protectors’ nomadic convoy, gradually becoming an extension of the Kheshig themselves.   Each year one Kheshig stays behind in the mountains to guard the gas wells during the thaw months and in turn one Kheshig stays in the lowlands through the winter to maintain a presence and act as forward scouts. These are important but undesirable duties that by tradition are supposed to be rotated between the Kheshigs, but recently the dominant Firebird Kheshig has been shirking its share of these duties to stay close to the levers of power and instead using them as tools to keep their rivals, the Mustang and Cutlas Kheshigs, at a distance.   The Kheshigs tend to be heterogenous in faith. Tribes of Seasons are common in their ranks as it mirrors the yearly cycle of their transient lifestyle, while others embrace their role as hunters of the damned through the Cult of the Fallow Hopes. The Virtues of the Kings and Queens Court are passionately sung by Chrome Blooded who adhere to the custom of the road trip playlist, and the generally smaller Cult of the Open Road counts an unusually large number of adherents among the Kheshigs.