Collyn     Created on Friday, 05 October 2012 01:38  
  :Walker Family  
  ::The Origins of the Walker Family:: I was born in the Sonhi badlands, in some far-flung corner of the world to a band of what you might call savage peoples.  We were a tribal people who were not keen on outsiders.  We kept to ourselves, and we worked scrupulously to keep our lands free from invaders who might abuse our sacred lands.  My family were known as the Border Walkers.  Some families farmed, some hunted wild game, others performed other duties.  My father walked the border, as had his father before him, and so on as far back as the tellings are remembered.  This was an important job, the protecting of our people.  The hunters who were after game for food carried arrows with vertically mounted arrowheads, designed to slip between ribs of a beast.  The Border Walkers carried arrows with horizontally mounted heads, for stopping prey on two feet.  Please do not misunderstand me, we did not simply execute any who trespassed on our lands.  Sometimes we would silently maneuver them back out towards a neutral territory.  If we determined they might be of value to us for trade, we would announce our presence and escort them to the village.  My grandfather, my five uncles, my father, and nine of my cousins were the Border Walkers of our village.  When a male of the Walker family reached the age of seven summers his training began.  We learned the skills necessary to become a Border Walker.  From the young age of seven I was taught to blend in with the grasslands, to move silently and undetected.  We carved our own bows and fletched our own arrows.  It was a point of honor to carve a fine bow.  Most importantly, I was taught to shoot accurately with a bow.  A missed shot was a warning to the enemy. It was an opportunity for them to notice us.  Missing your shot could spell your own demise.  Even with such a violent profession, my father was a gentle man when he was not at his post.  I learned he had a strong sense of right and wrong, a sense of honor.  He carried his burden without letting on that it was difficult.  My father loved his family and his people.  This was what I learned about what it meant to be a Walker.  Our place in the tribe was that of the protector.  The tribe depended on us to protect them from from threats, so that they might live a happy and safe life.  A young man of the Walker clan spent six summers and six winters learning the ways of the Border Walker.  The final task was to build a special bow which would designate the man who carried it was an official Border Walker.  It was a stout bow that fired its arrows at a high speed with an exceptional range.  If the aspiring Border Walker could split the shaft of a previously shot arrow, he was formally recognized as a Border Walker.  Thus it is written, the ways of the men of the Walker clan.