Banors

Banors is a term used in fantasy literature and worldbuilding to describe a nomadic confederation that inhabits a broad steppe and riverine belt across several realms. Descriptions vary by source, but most accounts share core traits: a horse-centered, clan-based society organized around a rotating chieftainship and a council of elders.

Geography and society: Banors are depicted as moving across grasslands and river valleys, following seasonal migrations. Their social structure is divided into kin-based clans that offer mutual protection and obligations. Leadership typically passes through consensus or traditional succession rather than rigid heredity. The Banor code emphasizes honor, hospitality, and prowess in mounted combat.

Economy and culture: The Banors rely on pastoralism, horse breeding, and long-distance trade, maintaining caravan networks and producing leather, metalwork, and textiles. Their dwellings range from portable tents to felt yurts, and horsemanship shapes everyday life and warfare. Religious beliefs center on ancestral reverence and a sky or horse deity.

Language and inscriptions: Banoric is a fictional language associated with the Banors in most sources. In-world texts sometimes mention inscriptions on bronze tokens, tablets, or stone steles, though surviving material is inconsistent between chronicles.

History and legacy: In-world histories place the Banors from roughly the 7th to 12th centuries, with regional influence waxing and waning under climate and political pressures. In modern media, Banors appear in fantasy novels, RPG campaigns, and worldbuilding guides as archetypes of mobile horseriding societies.