wanderer-on-the-steppe

[wanderer-on-the-steppe]

@theophan-o Look! Look! Have you seen this?

[wanderer-on-the-steppe]

*squeaks* my KITTYCATS *dies*

[wanderer-on-the-steppe]

Malvas by Mykola Pymonenko, 1900s

[wanderer-on-the-steppe]

@theophan-o Look what a cute face and huge ears! :)

Moss :)

[wanderer-on-the-steppe]

princess dís of erebor 🍂

[wanderer-on-the-steppe]

@melestasflight Thank you for drawing my attention to it! I had only seen the second version so far - not the full outfit and the eagle! And oh it is gorgeous!!!

tibetan inspired fingon wearing a pulu chuba, jade, turquoise, and amber jewelry, a red wool hair accessory, and his golden braids.

my other practices: pasifika círdan | kyrgyz dís

[wanderer-on-the-steppe]

Polar night

[wanderer-on-the-steppe]

Thank you @with-love-for-ukraine!

Marko Kropyvnytskyi in the role of Koval in the play The Slave.

Ukraine, 1880s.

[wanderer-on-the-steppe]

What a Starry Night by Andrii Voloshenko (1883 - 1959)

[wanderer-on-the-steppe]

Kupala Night 2024

[wanderer-on-the-steppe]

working on early horses, i wanted to do a quick sketch to show how small Eohippus was compared to an extant horse (this one is about 150cm tall). as you can see, it wasn't big at all. a perfect little lap horse :)

[wanderer-on-the-steppe]

Alakhai Beki (c.1191-([post 1230]): Princess Who Runs the State

Man, Mongolian fashion takes forever to draw. Full entry here. Patreon here. Books here. Art notes and whatnot after the cut.

Keep reading

[wanderer-on-the-steppe]

Mandukhai Khatun - Great mongol warrior queen

Mandukhai, also spelled Manduhai, (1448-1510) was born to a family of the Choros clan conglomerate. Her name meant “rising” or “ascending” like the sun rising in the morning or a sovereign being enthroned. A fitting name for one who would become such a great queen. She lived in a time where the clan structure of the Mongol empire created by Gengis Khan had deteriorated without having been replaced by a new one.

In 1464, she was married to Manduul Khan, a descendant of Gengis Khan who was 25 years her senior. He held the title of Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, which meant that he had a claim to rule of all of the empire’s former lands, including for instance China. Manduul had apparently no children and chose one of his relatives, Bayan Mongke, as his heir and co-ruler. 

Manduul died and Bayan Mongke was killed. Mandukhai found herself widowed and alone. She refused the advances of a warlord who tried to marry her. To secure her place, she retrieved Bayan Mongke’s son, Batu Mongke, the only male descendant of Gengis Khan. She had the child named Great Khan and thus formally married him. From now on, she was only referred to in the chronicles as the queen: “Mandukhai Khatun” and her protegee was known as Dayan Khan. 

Having dealt with this issue, Mandukhai consolidated her rule over the Mongolian plateau. To defend her position, she decided to conquer the Oirat, a term that designated all the Western Mongol and Turkic tribes around the Altai Mountains. The queen took her quiver and marched to war.

Mandukhai had planned her campaign carefully. While she encountered little opposition, she still had to fight a few large battles. During a battle, she lost her helmet, but a solider immediately gave her his own. Undaunted by this incident, Mandukhai bravely dashed forward. According to the Altan Tobchi, the enemy swarmed at her, but she fell upon them and “destroyed them entirely and annihilated them”. She took many prisoners and killed the enemy leaders. Victory was hers. 

In 1480, she and Dayan Khan began to live together as husband and wife, as he was 17 years old and she was 33, and the queen gave birth to twins in 1482. Mandukhai would give birth to 8 children during the course of their marriage, including 3 sets of twins.

Motherhood didn’t prevent Mandukhai from fighting and she and her husband kept living the life of nomadic warriors. At the age of 44, she decided to lead her troops in battle despite being at an advanced stage of her pregnancy. Though she fell from her horse during the engagement, her men protected her and rescued her. After all these years of fighting, her work finally paid and she left a unified nation and a powerful dynasty. She died in 1510 and her descendants ruled until Mongolia’s conquest by the Manchu in the 17th century.

Bibliography:

Weatherford Jack, The Secret History of the Mongol Queens: How the Daughters of Genghis Khan Rescued His Empire 

[wanderer-on-the-steppe]

Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, pestering the Dragon King, Ao Guang, for a weapon.

[wanderer-on-the-steppe]

what sabers have what swords don't, is peak slavic 1600s homoeroticism

[wanderer-on-the-steppe]

✹ Noc Kupały II / Kupala Night II ✹

Wodnik and Lublin boy he accidentally lured with his flute

Sorry, I forgot to post it here!

Follow me on twitter @maratycznie

[wanderer-on-the-steppe]

Noc Kupały 2025