#aph huns

[bored-tired-and-not-okay]

"I'm a Hussar, I'm a Hun..."

Part 1 of a series of drawings based on Corb Lund's song 'Horse Soldier, Horse Soldier.'

[hwspoland]

OK IM HAVING HUNGARY&HUNS FEELS FOR SOME FUCKIN REASON AAA

[hwspoland]

Baby Hungary: *walks up the huns*

Baby Hungary: Daddy?????

The Huns:

The Huns: Yea.

[absolvtely-barbaric]

For more background information on the Xiongnu, head to my previous post about him and China. It’ll be necessary going forward! (Please note that this topic is highly debated within academic circles, and while a definitive link isn’t proven between the Huns and Xiongnu, I’ve read convincing arguments for both sides, and have chosen to make Huns’ origins lie with the Xiongnu for character purposes. Given that a lot of old steppe/barbarian history is obscure, I have to take some liberties with details here.)

As I mentioned in my previous post, it was split into four parts: north, south, east, west. These were represented by colors: black, green, red, and white, respectively. The Chanyu and his clan ruled over the entire realm. Much like my Scythians character, Xiongnu represents this ruling clan and the Xiongnu government (as well as aspects of Xiongnu culture, but these were mostly ubiquitous throughout the empire). Huns is the northern Huns, the Black Huns. 

In Hunnic culture, male succession is extremely important. The land of the Chanyu was divided amongst his sons (or nearest male relatives) upon his death. For Xiongnu, having sons would be a mark of prestige and power, and also ensure that his lineage would go on past his death. (And it did!) So in that way, he intentionally created his sons for the sole purpose of being wings of the Xiongnu state and continue on the legacy of Xiongnu culture. They weren’t born into the world as infants, rather, as young teenagers, given that the Xiongnu culture and state was already well-developed. (Of course, Xiongnu probably did have other descendants, but these would have been smaller and less-influential groups within the greater empire). 

And now, the relationship between (Black) Huns and his good ‘ole pops. It was almost entirely political. Papa Xiongnu wanted to create successors, not loving sons (ultimately, this would bite him in the ass). Although egotistical and humorous, he’s a very severe person. He tolerated absolutely nothing from them in the way of foolishness. He taught them what they needed to be great kings, including horsemanship, archery, swordsmanship, and above all, tactics. He was also responsible for giving them cheek scars, to show them how important endurance is.

The east was the most important direction (which may be because it was oriented towards China, their greatest source of revenue), and so Papa Xiongnu was a hover dad in the east and south as he busied himself marauding China, actually lending those two even less power individually. Black Huns and White Huns were consequently extremely ambitious. Black Huns in particular. (White Huns is a little more… level-headed.) Nothing gets in the way of what Black Huns wants, not even dear-old dad. (Especially not dear-old dad.) 

He seized his chance in the mid 1st century BCE when Xiongnu had lost control during vassal rebellions. I explained this situation in the Xiongnu/China post. Xiongnu reined him in again, but Huns had tasted blood for the first time, and you know what they say, a tiger never forgets the taste of human blood. It’s difficult to tell which side the individual sub-kings/generals from each quadrant would have taken, so I can only speculate, but I’d imagine that the eastern and southern kings were united in the “southern” half while the western kings may have been aligned with the north. 

In the end of the 1st century CE, the two brothers White and Black Huns were defeated by the alliance of their dad and China. They split apart and went their separate ways. Both brothers headed westwards with their armies and peoples, but the White Huns soon split off and headed south towards India and the Middle East. 

So, what does Black Huns think of him? Well, he knows what he does about power thanks to him. He wanted to take what he was taught and live up to it even more than Xiongnu himself did. That’s about it. He doesn’t love his dad nor does he hate him, he’s just his father, and it doesn’t need to be more complicated than that.

[absolvtely-barbaric]

Some rough concepts for a comic I'm considering doing.

[absolvtely-barbaric]

Decaying together

[senjekai]

Just a doodle dump of an AU for a 7 Original Sins

[absolvtely-barbaric]

E. Rome: But wait-- would that not technically make him your long lost cousin?  Ostrogoths: ...

Pretty much verbatim this is the Gothic legend on the origins of the Huns that Jordanes recorded in the 6th century. No this is not Ostrogoths just being bitter this is 100% facts folks