Historical Background

By the third quarter of the 19th century, East and Central Africa had become something of a playground for explorers and adventures from Europe. For the people living there, on the other hand, this was a time for disaster. Not only Europeans, but Arab slavers and almost equally ruthless ivory traders rampaged across the continent, dragging off the natives for sale abroad or conscripting them as porters. At the same time warlike tribes such as the Ngoni from the south and the Karamojong from the north, set in motion by other upheavals beyond there homelands, migrated or raided the region. The local tribes of course fought back, and in the vast region between the Congo River and the Indean Ocean all sorts of different armies allied or clashed with each other in what must have seemed at times like a gigantic multi-cornered fight. As if this was not enough, some tribes - notably the Masai - kept themselves busy with bloody civil wars.
The fighting was seldom over conventional territorial objectives.

For the European explorers, the ultimate goal might be the unknown source of a river, or a semi-mythical lake or mountain.

The Arabs would be trying to collect enough slaves or ivory to make the trip inland worthwhile, and then get their cargo safely back to the coast.
The native cattle-herding tribes would be doing basically the same thing with the other people’s cattle.

Other native chiefs might aim to be recognized or confirmed as a ”divine” king (according to traditional African notions of kingship), through a combination of material wealth and success in Battle.

The farmers and hunters, on the other hand, were strategically fairly passive - although they might try to fight off slavers, or obstruct the passage of armies through their territory - and would generally be happy if they remained in control of the land they started with.

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