since ive spoken on the kin and the connection my ancestors have with them (on twitter), i wanted to make a post about how sacred horses were to turkish / kazakh ppl centuries ago ! (also gonna talk about tiny "khan" usage for kaspar :3)
first of all, id like to mention this is stuff we learn in school itself in turkey + my own research to fully understand my roots. some things may be incorrect and whatnot but im hoping to cover most of the idea behind the kin and what they based off of my ancestors for them!
for us, there was singular god called kök tengri; sky god that we must do sacrifices for bountiful harvest from time to time, or to have successful hunting sessions. the hooved animals were favoured by the god, especially the horses— we had many reasons to believe horses to be the most sacred and important companion given to us by tengri. the horse would provide us meat; its blood holy for us to drink to hydrate in lack of water, its blood holy for us to do rituals with when needing to pray for several things.
they provided company of intelligence; they were capable of keeping up with our wits, hunting and they were our family, friends. they helped carry the burden of our luggage AND us as we always travelled often; we always migrated often. our kids would learn to ride horses and to respect, care and love them at early age, first experience being sheeps to start the training and then ponies when they get old enough for it.
we were taught how to fight on horses, every single one of us, including women. there was no concept of gender to us, nothing to divide our union of one hivemind that kept each other safe. we believed that if everyone knew to fight, defend and protect, we would never fall; we would never go extinct, we would prevail and celebrate those that wont ever be forgotten for their sacrifices and contributions... because we believed we were one being collectively like the kin did.
they called themselves a herd, and we called ourselves a "pack" like you would call wolves "a pack of wolves". that connection within a community, the feeling of being a family and accepting flaws of each other as "unique" skills that contributed to the pack... it was what they took as base for the kin as well.
on topic of wolf packs— lets get to "khan"!
khan, also known as kaan, kağan, means "leader of the pack" for us. we called our leader kaan, the leader wolf that carried the sacred wolf blood in their veins; chosen by kök tengri as the family bloodline to lead us and keep the entire pack united by listening to everyone's problems, needs, etc as a responsible, caring leader. (kinda like menkhus too!) only him and his wife would be allowed to make big commands and resolve issues. oldest son would take the lead right after him.
besides this... kaspar. lets talk about his "khan" title.
as khan, he leads a huge pack of dogheads— his own little wolves. they rely on him with full faith, full trust like you would trust kaan. he is the leader that looks after them fully, cares for them and takes the hit for them, always. he always says he will take responsibility for his dogheads' behaviour. just like a kaan would in our cultural roots. a leader that is aware of his power must use it wisely and know when to bend their neck for his people. that doesnt mean we didnt have cruel leaders, but it also doesnt mean we didnt have the most compassionate ones too.
however, a leader must be cruel if need be for his pack. goal is to think of majority of the pack, you cant risk an entire pack for the sake of one singular wolf... oh, yes, id like to mention khan taking grunky's place in patho 3 as one of the instances of his care for his pack.
the quest where the doghead tries to steal a lantern from notkins gang and pays the price, refusing to eat and drink. he cares even for one singular wolf deeply, hence why he chooses to replace him as a leader taking responsibility for his pack. if someone does not behave despite the rules and commands he gave, he takes responsibility for each and every one of them. is it crazy measure? yes. but does it show he cares? yes.
for now ill leave this here bc im a bit busy but i might come back to talk about this stuff more <3
