From: Raymond E. Feist
Date: 14 December 2010
It's interesting how people apply their own perceptions.
"Dog Soldiers," are actually Cheyenne. Very long, possibly boring, story. The Cheyenne were a very interesting people and possibly second only to the Lakota (Sioux) in horsemanship, or maybe their equal. Certainly they were among the finest light calvary in history. And the the Northern Cheyenne had close ties with the Lakota and rode against Custer at Little Big Horn. But that's another story. The Cheyenne Dog Soldier was a single man who had chosen to not marry or be a normal part of the family life in the community. He and others like him lived apart, in their own huts on the edge of the village. The village supported him because he was expected to go die if he had to defending them. The Lakota had a similar cultural job, the Bear Warrior, who wore a bear skin belt or shoulder covering, and whose vow was to never retreat in battle. He would only survive if every enemy before him was killed.
I massaged those two somewhat and created a culture within Kesh that also borrowed from the People's Liberation Army in China, which had its own towns, factories, farms, and support system away from the general population of China. In short, Keshian Dog Soldiers are a mishmash, like most of the stuff in my books.
Best, R.E.F.
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