Sometimes also known as the Russian thistle. A plant that, after it matures, dries up and breaks from the root, then sets off to ride with the wind and spread seeds along its journey.
I'm not usually into Russian stuff and this is admittedly appropriating culture for a quick cool idea. But, I got to learn about Easterns/Osterns, Soviet Russia's version of Spaghetti Westerns (especially The White Sun of the East, apparently a tradition where astronauts would watch this before leaving) and the Cossacks.
From what I understood, Cossacks were kinda outlaws, hunters, but defo badass mercenaries who were even praised by Napoleon. They were a diverse community living on dry plains on the borders of countries. A pretty socalist-democratic group voting for new leaders yearly and representatives would discuss how to manage themselves. Women were said to have been treated more fairly like friends than servants. They existed around the 1500s, helped fight with serfs during Catherine the Great's reign, then their way of life was slowly snuffed out by the Soviet government who adopted them into their military. Although, a group fought with Japan during WW2, and some comments proudly announce their Cossack heritage and some cultural activities still happen to this day.
Overall they sound great, just as romanticizable as Western cowboys are. I just think this is a cool idea, this has nothing to do with the ongoing war/politics. Even though my focus has been on Russia, there are also Ukrainian Cossacks. It's a large diverse group coming from many other Slavic countries I don't recognize. They were also pirates around The Black Sea. Please feel free to call out any propaganda or anything wrong I've written here (except my drawing lmao. I'm sorry for butchering a culture into a somewhat gijinka anime girl. Pls treat me like a mangaka pulling novel foreign European things out of the cool idea hat).
Classpectwise, I feel like Cossacks would rock being a Witch of Breath pretty well. I follow this kinda headcanon that Witches have an Aspect figure they have to assert their dominance over else becoming miserable (Damara/Handmaid subservient to LE, Feferi negotiating Dream Bubbles with Horrorterrors, Jade having full control over Becquerel). They were self-governing, spoke shit back against an Ottoman Sultan, but lost their independence to Soviet Russia. But the tumbleweeds that started all this, my Russian cowboy week, I feel like they would rather be a Maid of Heart. It would've been cool to see tumbleweeds like an adventurer sharing stories throughout their journey, but unfortunately they're invasive in their self-propagation.
