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Art by KlebinhoBaby from twitter
In the late 5th century, something strange happened. A tribe of northern sergals were whisked away from their own world and suddenly found themselves on the eastern coast of the Baltic Ocean, surrounded by a number of hostile human tribes.
As they were even faster and more maneuverable on foot than horses, and were on average stronger than humans, the sergals were able to fight using tactics that their human foes found difficult to counter. This allowed them to fend off their neighbors with relative ease, and later conquer their lands to accommodate their own growing population. In time, relations gradually warmed as the sergals began to trade and offer their services as sellswords.
Sergals who ventured south were in awe of the great Christian empires and kingdoms there, but also felt threatened by their capabilities. The Latin and Greek speaking peoples came to refer to the sergals as the 'sagari', and Christian scholars debated on whether they had the souls of humans or beasts. Because sergals clearly possessed all of the mental qualities of a human, the consensus that was reached was that they, like humans, possessed rational souls and thus could accept the message of Christ.
As for the sergals themselves, as they were permanently surrounded human realms who viewed them as alien and monstrous, they were desperate to establish some kind of commonality in order to ease tensions and secure their future existence. As Christianity spread northward, the religion was seen as a means to achieve this.
In 926 AD, the sergal King Jadak was baptised and then led the effort to convert the rest of his people to Christianity. A few years later, Jadak would be formally crowned as the King of Sagaria by Pope Innocentius II.
This painting not only depicts Jadak's baptism and the sergals' adoption of Christianity, but also the birth of Sagaria (as symbolized by the flag in the upper left) as a fully recognized kingdom in the eyes of the Christian world.
If you want to learn more about this world, you can find my ongoing AAR of it here.
Art by KlebinhoBaby from twitter
In the late 5th century, something strange happened. A tribe of northern sergals were whisked away from their own world and suddenly found themselves on the eastern coast of the Baltic Ocean, surrounded by a number of hostile human tribes.
As they were even faster and more maneuverable on foot than horses, and were on average stronger than humans, the sergals were able to fight using tactics that their human foes found difficult to counter. This allowed them to fend off their neighbors with relative ease, and later conquer their lands to accommodate their own growing population. In time, relations gradually warmed as the sergals began to trade and offer their services as sellswords.
Sergals who ventured south were in awe of the great Christian empires and kingdoms there, but also felt threatened by their capabilities. The Latin and Greek speaking peoples came to refer to the sergals as the 'sagari', and Christian scholars debated on whether they had the souls of humans or beasts. Because sergals clearly possessed all of the mental qualities of a human, the consensus that was reached was that they, like humans, possessed rational souls and thus could accept the message of Christ.
As for the sergals themselves, as they were permanently surrounded human realms who viewed them as alien and monstrous, they were desperate to establish some kind of commonality in order to ease tensions and secure their future existence. As Christianity spread northward, the religion was seen as a means to achieve this.
In 926 AD, the sergal King Jadak was baptised and then led the effort to convert the rest of his people to Christianity. A few years later, Jadak would be formally crowned as the King of Sagaria by Pope Innocentius II.
This painting not only depicts Jadak's baptism and the sergals' adoption of Christianity, but also the birth of Sagaria (as symbolized by the flag in the upper left) as a fully recognized kingdom in the eyes of the Christian world.
If you want to learn more about this world, you can find my ongoing AAR of it here.
Category Artwork (Digital) / All
Species Sergal
Size 1280 x 995px
File Size 2.03 MB
Honestly, I think the idea that everyone would just come together to exterminate them is an overly pessimistic outlook. Maybe that would have been the result if they were transported to Early Modern Europe, but in this particular time and place (northeastern Baltic in the 5th century) they would have been able to establish themselves and gradually become normalized. Of course, it also helps that these sergals can punch way above their weight class, militarily speaking, which made them more valuable as mercenaries and allies than as enemies.
Also, it's important to keep in mind that the Christianity of the Early Middle Ages was not the same as the Christianity of the Late Middle Ages and later periods. The former was a lot more cosmopolitan. Around the same time as this scene takes place IRL, theologians were giving serious consideration on whether or not dog-men (whom they believed to exist) had souls, and coming to the conclusion that any being with a rational mind has a human soul.
Also, it's important to keep in mind that the Christianity of the Early Middle Ages was not the same as the Christianity of the Late Middle Ages and later periods. The former was a lot more cosmopolitan. Around the same time as this scene takes place IRL, theologians were giving serious consideration on whether or not dog-men (whom they believed to exist) had souls, and coming to the conclusion that any being with a rational mind has a human soul.
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