Living Wagons of the Vanadre Chiras
Living Wagons of the Vanadre Chiras is an Official GemStone IV Document, and it is protected from editing.
Written by Scrivener Niuramet Stele of Ta'Illistim, in cooperation with Moireen Ly'Glyn van Naraht, and published in Eorgaen of 5125.
The Vanadre Chiras are a traveling people, winding along looping trade routes great and small all across Elanith in clannish caravans of wagons and carts. Their wagons, which they call varayns, are more than just conveyances; they are homes and workshops and contain all the trappings thereof. In the course of their travels, they have refined the designs of their wagons to better traverse their chosen terrains and support their traditions, from wheels to harness and chassis to roof.
Wagons
- Wagons of Old
Possessed of the simplest and most straightforward of construction, the oldest Chiras wagons were little more than roofed wains and suitable only for roads. The large, rectangular body of the wagon was suspended entirely over the relatively small wheels. The internal dimensions of these wagons were generous and regular, but they lumbered and lacked maneuverability. These were referred to as road or box wagons. As the vans ventured off the roads centuries ago, their wainwrights have long since abandoned this design in favor of others developed since.
- Family Wagons
Each family in a van typically owns at least one large varayn that is their family home, a shelter and living space for a number of people. These are fully enclosed and solid wood, with a door at the front or at the rear. Most furniture is inbuilt, with multiple sleeping platforms, cabinets, seating and work surfaces, and usually a stove for cooking and warmth. Much artistic attention is lavished upon a family's living wagon, with carvings, paint, and mounted decorations serving as a visual retelling of memory and history. These larger wagons are typically pulled by a team of two.
The moor or heath design was the first to be adapted from the simple road wagon to better facilitate leaving the main thoroughfares, and it is considered the first true varayn. These have large wheels positioned fully outside the body of the wagon. The wagon's walls are straight, vertical or possessing a slight outward cant. The roof is flat or curved, and many have rails to safeguard possessions and goods lashed above. Racks and cases may be hung on the outer walls, but the mounting points on the frame are more often used when the varayn is camped, for the pitching of tents or in the display of trade goods.
The ledge or selanza varayn has a narrower wheelbase than the moor, its frame cut inward at the bottom with ledges over the wheels that protrude outward to expand the otherwise constrained interior space. Its walls are straight with no slope. It may have a clerestory roof or skylights, either of which give this design its second name, selanza, which recalls the Elven word for light. Many bear a larger back-carriage with rails and a more elaborate footboard and driver's bench than other varayn designs.
- Light Wagons
The Chiras utilize smaller varayns in their travels as well, housing pairs, individuals, or given over entirely to workshops. These are often light enough to be drawn by a single animal. Families numerous or prosperous enough to keep multiple varayns will often have one larger family varayn and one or more light wagons driven by family members.
Narrow at its base with wheels positioned outside the body, the cant or kite varayn is so called for the slope of its walls, which angle outward such that the frame is notably wider near the roof. The roof itself is shallowly curved and commonly bears a short clerestory ridge down its center. These are smaller wagons and generally single occupancy, often lacking a stove, with most of the interior used for the occupant's work or art. While all Chiras wagons are highly decorated, this style of wagon tends to be even moreso, often sporting fanciful roof or eave finials. This style of wagon is heavily favored by the van augurs, so much so that these varayns are called augur or dravasi varayns as often as their other appellations.
A bow or bow-top varayn has a roof of brightly colored waxed canvas or oilcloth drawn over a rounded wooden frame stained or painted to contrast or complement. Its front and back walls may be solid wood, with a door in one or both, or instead be veiled by curtains. Its walls may be partially wood-paneled, or the fabric cover may wrap the curve of the frame to the floor on either side. Most have large wheels set outside the body, though some that keep to the roads may set the body over smaller wheels. This design is also referred to simply as round, though the fanciful moniker of thistle is also in use, and some lean into the imagery of this name by fringing their roof fabric in shades of violet and painting their woodwork green.
- The Varveni
When the materials can be sourced, some Chiras wainwrights work substantial veniom into the structure of their varayns to make them lighter and more maneuverable. Any style of varayn built in this fashion is referred to as a varveni. These wagons are by the nature of their metal fittings a lighter load, can be pulled by smaller or fewer animals, and are rarely mired. Possession of a varveni is considered a mark of a prosperous family and, thereby, a prosperous van.
Carts
Simple, open carts with two or four wheels are used to haul trade goods and van supplies. Most carts are driven by the van children or unattached youths who have not yet earned a varayn of their own. Their drivers may sleep in their family varayn, or they may pitch a tent. Carts are pulled by the van's smaller livestock, typically goats and donkeys. The smallest carts may even be pulled by an individual on foot. It is not uncommon for a friendly outsider to travel for a time with a Chiras van and drive a cart of their own, with its relative drabness standing out beside the bright and fanciful decorations of their companions.
A wainwright of the Ghirha van is credited with the design of a two-wheeled cart with an oversized attachment of waxed canvas that can be deployed as a cover or even as a small tent by stretching it over cut and bent saplings or making a lean-to of it with stakes or the mounting points of a varayn alongside. The Chiras call this cart design a tented cart or a Ghirha cart. When stored, the canvas may be rolled on a dowel rod or folded into a reserved compartment.
Beasts of Burden
The Vanadre Chiras do not keep herds, and every animal they keep has a job to do. The most prevalent draft animals are horses and reindeer, though there exist some vans whose routes traverse primarily arid regions that favor lizards for the pulling of their wagons. Donkeys, mules, and ponies make excellent pack animals. Goats are commonly kept for their hair and milk, and along with the pack animals, they are also trained to pull carts. Some vans have even been known to harness their dogs.
Large and prosperous vans may have a few animals per family apart from their main draft animals, while smaller vans usually hold their livestock in common and share equitably in both their labor and their fruits. Young animals and stud services are traded among the vans when they meet, though they also do such business with others when making camp along their routes. Most Chirasi families grow very attached to their working animals and treat them as beloved companions.
The Chiras predilection toward artistry, decoration, and bright colors extends to their animals' leads and harnesses, with even the simplest of leather halters boasting color and tooling. All of the same decorative elements that they use to adorn themselves and their clothing, such as beads, coins, and hand-carved accents of wood or bone, can also be found decorating a saddle or incorporated into a harness. The knotted cord techniques they call nakheva are heavily favored for trim and strap elements both decorative and functional.
A Traveler's Heart
Though individual Chiras invariably wander apart from their vans and on foot, it is clear that, as a people, their wagons are the very core of their traveling lifestyle. Their culture is built upon their floorboards, carried forward by their wheels, and drawn as much by their zeal to make connections and bridge distances as by their beloved beasts of burden.
It would be pleasingly lyrical to say, "Wheresoever their wagons roam, where a van makes camp is home." And yet, whence come the wagons or whereto, whether encamped or underway, the wagons themselves are hearth and home to Elanthia's Travelers, the Vanadre Chiras.
OOC Notes
- Written by GM Gyres
- Publication Date: 12/28/2025
- Inspired by the vardos of the Romani people.