Borchu's rise to power was carved not only through battle, but through the bridal altar. In the Azim Steppe, where tribes fracture like glass under the weight of tradition, Borchu wove a web of polygamous pacts. He took 27 wives from rival clans — siring 43 children to bind bloodlines.
Yet his grand design crumbled. Wives schemed to elevate their daughters, sons from lesser tribes clamored for recognition, and the Oronir elders hissed that Borchu’s “brood” diluted his lineage. Only Magnai, his firstborn son from an Oronir huntress, escaped scorn — a pureblood heir raised to inherit the Khagan’s axe.