"Long ago, many Gospodar clans lived upon the Endless Steppe. Like today, it was a vast province and was lashed with the terrible energies of Chaos. The Gospodars were beset by all manner of foul foes, and the Daemon Gods offered surcease from these attacks if the Gospodars would but bow their heads in worship. But the Gospodars were stubborn. Unlike their neighbouring tribes—the Kurgan, the Hung, and the Norse—they would not be coerced; instead, they turned to other Gods, Gods they hoped could protect them from the northern taint. Most important among these was Ursun the Bear, who taught his worshippers how to survive the freezing winters, how to war against Chaos, and how to respect the spirits of the land. But, even with Ursun's help, the Gospodars' plight was desperate.
Then a great spirit—called "The Ancient Widow," "Kislev," or simply "The Land"—whispered to a Gospodar shaman-priestess. It promised her great power if she swore to seize a distant, frozen realm where the spirit was trapped by the Daemon Gods. The shaman, desperate to aid her people, readily agreed and was granted the power of winter in return. With the Ancient Widow's guidance, the shaman quickly mastered her new powers and used them to gather what she needed to fulfil her promise. Soon, she had bound the disparate Gospodar clans into a single people and placed herself above them as their first Khan-Queen. This done, she took her people and began her search for the Ancient Widow's land.
After generations of bloodshed on the Endless Steppe, a descendant of the Khan-Queen led the Gospodars across the Worlds Edge Mountains. There, wide-eyed, she encountered a vast snow-covered plain pulsing with icy power. She immediately collapsed to the ground and wept frozen tears, for she knew her search had finally ended. By this time, there were many women wielding the Khan-Queen's cold magic, so when the Gospodars blew their horns of war, the native Ungols, Ropsmenn, Ostermarkers, and Ostlanders had little chance against them. The Gospodars swept down from the mountains and founded a new nation in the lands of those they conquered, and their Khan-Queen, Shoika, became the first Tzarina of Kislev.
Now, many centuries later, those who practice the old, cold magics of the legendary Khan-Queens are known as ice witches, and our power has not been diminished by time."
