"You have these Gospodar merchants coming from the Southern Oblast, thinking they know it all, thinking it's the tzarina of the Great Orthodoxy that rules this land. But it's not either of them. It's the atamans. Without them the stanitsas would fall and Kislev would follow."
- —Arkuls "the Wise"[3]
In Kislev, most communities of the oblast, called stanitsas, are led by local chiefs or officials called atamans (fem: atamankas).
Role[]
Ethnically Gospodar atamans are normally members of the lowest druzhina class of Kislevite hereditary nobility whose families have ruled locally for generations. By comparison, most ethnically Ungol stanitsas elect their atamans by a vote of all the adults in the settlement or select them according to obscure (often martial) traditions, for most of their noble bloodlines were wiped out by the Gospodars long ago during that steppe tribe's invasion of the lands of the Old World that became Kislev.[1a]
Atamans bear great responsibilities, for all important local matters are decided by them, especially those concerning security, warfare and law. Further, if there are no local priests, atamans also take on the responsibility for the spiritual well-being of their people, leading religious rites and ceremonies.[1a]
Responsibilities[]
An ataman is responsible for more than just the safety and well-being of their stanitsa. They must also preside over many of the daily activities of their people. It is said on the oblast that if it is important to the village then it is important to the ataman.[2a]
Judgment[]
Frequently, an ataman must act as judge and jury for their people, determining guilt and dishing out punishment. This is where a good knowledge of their people is vital, so that they might weight the person's worth to the stanitsa against the crime. This is why it is always a good idea for Kislevite commoners to stay on their ataman's good side.[2a]
Ceremonies[]
An ataman is always present and sometimes involved in all naming days, marriages and funerals within their stanitsa. If there is a priest of one of the Kislevite gods or the Great Orthodoxy on hand they will usually perform the ceremony, but it is up to the ataman to make sure it all runs smoothly. Such is an ataman's influence that few within their village or town will consider a marriage without first attaining their ataman's blessing.[2a]
At the start of each year it is considered a mark of great fortune for the ataman to lead the stanitsa's hunters in the first hunt. The honour of the first kill of the year then falls to them and many within the village believe that the animal brought back by the ataman says much about what the new year has in store.[2a]
Trivia[]
The atamans of Warhammer are largely based upon the Cossack atamans of medieval Ukraine, during the time of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Russian Empire and finally the Ukraine People's Republic. The atamans were originally the chiefs or local leaders of the roving bands of Cossack nomads which lived upon the frontiers of the present-day nation of Ukraine, battling against other nomadic tribes such as the Tartars. By the time of the Russian Empire, the term was the official title of the supreme military commanders of the Cossack armies.
When Ukraine first acquired its independence from Russia during the Russian Civil War in 1918, the rank took on a different meaning. Among the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen and the Ukrainian Galician Army, the title of ataman was equivalent to the Anglo-American rank of major, in that they served as battalion executive officers. In the Ukrainian People's Republic, the title was used as a general officer's rank. "Chief Otoman" (головний отаман) was the title of the commanding general of the Ukrainian Army who was assisted by his deputies, called "Acting Otomans."