LORDS OF THE EARTH CAMPAIGN 54
"LORDS OF THEEURTH"

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And thou faire ymp, sprong out from English race,
How euer now accompted Elfins sonne,
Well worthy doest thy seruice for her grace,
To aide a virgin desolate foredonne.
But when thou famous victorie hast wonne,
And high emongst all knights hast hong thy shield,
Thenceforth the suit of earthly conquest shonne,
And wash thy hands from guilt of bloudy field:
For bloud can nought but sin, & wars but sorrowes yield.

Then seeke this path, that I to thee presage,
Which after all to heauen shall thee send;
Then peaceably thy painefull pilgrimage
To yonder same Hierusalem do bend,
Where is for thee ordaind a blessed end:
For thou emongst those Saints, whom thou doest see,
Shalt be a Saint, and thine owne nations frend
And Patrone: thou Saint George shalt called bee,
Saint George of mery England, the signe of victoree.

 - Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queen

1. You cannot declare someone heir "until the king has a child".  Once heir, they are the HEIR.  You can try to replace an heir, of course, but not without potentially dire consequences.

2. The player does not declare the heir apparent.  That happens by the laws of succession.
 

MEDARHOS -

North-Western Medarhos -

The Skane Jarldoms -  Ruler - Queen Astrid Capital - Vanaheim Dominant Race - Human Dominant Religion - Medahros Spirit Cult Diplomacy - Tigelion [FA]

 Vanaheim. Few remembered that her sister Siffa still lived.

As they had for decades, the shamans sought to reinvigorate the reverence for the old gods, but the Skane were content with their rather relaxed relationship with those bloody and incestuous deities.

In 2904, a traveler returning from the Trollmoors sold a large gold plate in Vanaheim.  He claimed to have found it in an underground city in the Trollmoors.  The city, he said, was infested with orcs and trolls.

The Edgemoor Orcs -
Ruler - King Tallo
Capital - Zaramaka
Dominant Race - Orcs
Dominant Religion - The Dark Court
Diplomacy - Aicherai [T]

Orcs of every description continued to pour forth from the dank holes of Zaramaka to run large slave farms in the Iron Hills.  The slaves, largely goblins and lesser orcs, but including many men and a few elves, terraced and shaped the hills for cultivation. With a shifty gleam in his heavy-lidded eyes, King Tallo sat upon the Dismal Throne and questioned all who drew near about magic and relics of bygone days. His sons Kraank and Gree led troops into the lands around the Great Rift of Daerond, claiming the land for the orcs.  They then demanded tribute from the immense city of the Black Dukes...and got it.  Ragnar the Eloquent, one of the leaders in the Great Rift, was eaten by a tentacled, bat-winged thing that emerged from the depths of the Rift.  The other orcs thought this was the most amusing thing they'd seen in months.

. 

The Kingdom of Harkoria-
Ruler - King Gares
Capital - Cadares
Dominant Race - Human
Dominant Religion - Lords of the Grail

King Mikos laid on many favors and titles for the puissant sorcerer, Errikos.  This attention so irked Errikos's peer Aeneas that the latter died of a sudden bursting of his heart in 2902. This had unfortunate consequences, for Lord Aeneas had been given command of the army, with orders to patrol against raiders.  With his death, the army sat idle.  Though Prince Gares and Princess Aurora were present, neither had command of the reaction troops. In the early months of 2904, an army of two thousand Ascar elite cavalry, commanded by General Mishkas, rode through the wilds of Odomenoros and entered the Maxis woods, from whence they raided into Trolium, Elpedium and Himerium.  The damage they did might easily have been far worse, as the field forts and city walls somewhat limited their opportunities for rapine.  But they burned villages in each of the three provinces and rode away unmolested across the Narglaurith and into Hinnom. In 2905, Princess Aurora, the only troop commander in Cadares, launched a coup against King Mikos, whom she had secretly hated for twenty years for assuming the throne when his older brother Agathocles, her father, had drowned in a mill race.  Without warning, her troops seized the royal palace and placed King Mikos under arrest.  The populace was told that he was dead, having hung himself in shame.  But the charismatic and capable Aurora had not counted upon Prince Gares, a man of only moderate accomplishments.  He nonetheless played well upon the sympathies of the army and populace.  There were riots in Cadares and many of the troops declared their loyalties to Gares.  Aurora ordered her troops to arrest this "pretender", but it was she who was arrested.

Aurora was burned at the stake as a regicide, and several of her key supporters were also killed or sent into exile. Among these was Randolph of Maxis, who was allowed to retire to his forests under guard.

Lord Errikos, the wizard, called in several favors owed to him and contracted for twelve hundred mercenary heavy cavalry to serve the realm for fifteen years.  These he presented to King Gares upon his coronation.

In 2904, the Company of the Lance returned on a mission for King Gares and were seen being admitted to the royal castle.  Rumor soon spreads that they fought a vile chaos cult on behalf of the realm.

South-Western Medarhos -

The Brythnian Confederation -  Ruler - King Brangus Clovenhoof Capital - Tauropolis Dominant Race - Taurid Dominant Religion - Lords of the Grail Diplomacy - Gistares [A]

The best-laid plans of men and taurids... King Ankole ordered more than five thousand lightly-armed centaur troops to be raised in Riandos.  But at almost three hundred miles distant from the capital and across the mighty Lyodan river, this was not possible.  The troops were formed up in the Great Meadow instead. Gyr Fourhorn, the meanest, ugliest minotaur ever to bestride the world stage, had plans for those centaurs.  The Worldspine Orcs would pay.  Oh, how they would pay. Unfortunately for Brythnia, the orcs had plans for them, too.  Perhaps as importantly, so did the dark lord of Ascarlon.  In the early, wintry days of Agaleon, 2901, Gyr Fourhorn was found dead in his tent, his throat slit.  Two days later, king Ankole Clovenhoof was found dead in his royal chambers, poisoned.  Ankole's heir Brangus was also poisoned, but he survived the attempt, though he was bedridden for a month. However, the damage was done.  With the deaths of both Gyr and Ankole, the Brythnian armies were leaderless. In Strynod of 2902, Gauros the Arisen, dark lord  of Ascarlon appeared in Orosel along with sixteen thousand troops (a third of them mercenary cavalry and ogres, and a further thousand of them horrid undead shells of men). He crossed into Tathlann and quickly destroyed the few field forts there.  After putting down a revolt, his troops set fire to everything in the region.  Brythnia's allies in the Dacian Hills and Cerintum followed their orders and moved to consolidate with the unmoving army of Ankole Clovenhoof in Bodhria. In Cleon of 2903, two thousand orcs of the Worldspine tribes came

unexpectedly out of the south, arriving in Hailh Endhor and made small raids into the border regions of the Great Meadow, then fled south across the Lyodan.

In Northhale of that year, Baron Gauros's Ascar army marched east into Bodhria with the intention of destroying the decapitated Brythnian army.  His fifteen thousand troops out numbered the Brythnians nearly two to one.  But the Baron had not reckoned with the Taurid's enormous fighting potential in the plains of Brythnia.  A brigade commander named Marestes took command of the Brythnian army and with clever hit-and-run tactics fought to a standstill the army of one of Theeurth's most legendary commanders.  Whenever the Baron thought he had the centaurs pinned down, they disappeared like smoke.  And when he charged their positions, they appeared in his rear as if by some elemental magic. 

Still, numbers and leadership took a great toll upon the Brythnians.  At the end of the day, they had won a great tactical victory merely by remaining alive and intact, having inflicted roughly double the number of casualties on the Ascars as they received.  Marestes wisely did not test his luck a second day and under cover of darkness slipped away, leading his army on a fighting withdrawal down the via brythnia to the Great Meadow. The Baron regrouped his army for several months before slipping back north over the Worldspines.

In Strynod of 2904, an army of orcs and ogres came west out of the Pinnacles to raid the lands of Vilayan.  Some of the ogres were dressed as giants, but the centaurs of Vilayan were not fooled.  However they had gotten there, these were orcs and ogres of the Worldspines.

In Daarlem of 2904, the main Worldspine army passed through the Firefall East, overrunning the small Brythnian garrison there and forcing trade routes to detour around the road. In that same month, a small force of orcs out of the north raided the Great Meadow, but were rebuffed by the now very large army encamped there.

In Maravis of 2095, orc king Wargest's army, having returned across the Lyodan, raided the Great Meadow in earnest.  They came out of Vahdrian.  Even though more than twelve thousand Brythnian troops now garrisoned the Great Meadow, they were leaderless and King Wargest of the orcs carried with him the ancient reaving spear Harrowheart.  The orcs made off with much loot from the Great Meadow  before turning north and ending the year in Lloricam.

The end result of this terrible series of incursions was that Brythnia lost nearly a third of its population, homeless, refugees and the dead.

Aelissia - Ruler - King Jay Morningsong Capital - The Great Delve Dominant Race - Halfling Dominant Religion - Lords of the Grail

The halflings returned from the Stoneheart mountains covered in glory and ready for peace and relaxation.  They got it. King Grin Puddlejumper was more soldier than administrator and encamped in the Greensward with his beloved army until his death in 2904 at the shockingly young age of thirty-two. He died of a poisoned spider bite just a few days after being bitten. In that same year Crowley Ratcatcher died at the much more appropriate age of eighty-one. The Moot elected the sorcerer Jay Morningstar to be its new king.  This was handy, as Jay was already in the Great Delve, administering the realm for king Grin. During this period, the royal way was finished between the Great Delve and Greensaddle. The Aelissians sent a large flotilla of grain ships to Elenuil to feed the Neldorean elves.

Corland - Ruler - King Bertrand Capital - Khairais Dominant Race - Human Dominant Religion - Lords of the Grail

The men of Corland looked to their lands, sparing no effort to build villages, ponds, farms and markets in Quesante and Tullieres. King Bertrand named his brother Robert, six years his junior, to the position of Prince.  In 2901, queen Elaine died in childbirth, leaving Bertrand grieving.  He did, at least, have an heir in the baby Tancred. Priests of the Grail continued to work upon the nation's religious education, stirring a strong and abiding faith throughout Corland. General Phillipe, in command of three thousand mixed troops, guarded the approaches to Quesante, while General François did the same with a further three thousand troops across the Saronne river in Couronnais. Princess Clare led an inquisition in Khairais, and discovered a cultic lodge dedicated to some unknown dark goddess.  She brought in Bors de Serry, who commanded fifteen hundred infantry and they crushed the lodge.  Sir Bors was killed in this action, as were hundreds of the troops used to ferret out the evil cultists.

 

The Sea Empire of Lorraine - Ruler - King Arthur Capital - Armorica Dominant Race - Human Dominant Religion - Lords of the Grail Diplomacy - Bruenor [-], Lothian [F]

The Sea Empire built many new fishing vessels and built a fishing fleet at Armorica. Sir Bran watched the coasts from Cassivelaunus with a fleet of only two warships. Sir Congal traveled west to the woods of Bruenor, where the halflings of that realm refused his call to join the empire.  Sir Hagen traveled to Lothian and through clever arguments brought the northern city fully into the realm. In 2904, several men attempted to set fire to the monastery in Armorica.  They were found out by the watch, who ran off most of them but captured a few.

The elves of the Whisper Wood built a small but elegant port city on the Lyodan at Ferrense and named it Lyodase.  Settlers flocked to the Fey Hunt to dwell in those strange and fabled woods. Lord Dranuel watched the borders from the Sunglades with six thousand elven archers, while Prince Xhantor tried and failed to entice the giants of the Southern Stormcrowns into an alliance. In 2904, Queen Elevuil was found to be missing from her apartments in the royal palace.  No one knows where she might have gone.

The Neldorean Wood - Ruler - Queen Nereil Capital - Elenuil Dominant Race - Elf Dominant Religion - Lords of the Grail Diplomacy - Tarwood [-]

The elves of the Neldorean Wood recruited five thousand elven archers and a unit of griffon riders.  They gratefully received the grain ships from Aelissia. The folk of the Tarwood once again rebuffed the efforts of Lord Lossëhelin to include them in the kingdom.  They had been at the heart of the Stoneheart war and wished no more for armies and battle and sought to avoid them by neutrality. Lady Alarielle crossed Roldein's Gate to the human city of Muzir, where she added a thousand griffon riders to the Patriarch's army (See The Har'Akir Civil War, below.)

The Exarchate of the Great Crusade - Ruler - Sir Waylan, Regent Capital - Pontezium Dominant Race - Human Dominant Religion - Lords of the Grail Diplomacy - Maicutis [C]

The men of the Great Crusade worked hard to make the Salt Shore a more hospitable place, building farms, towns and roadside inns. Exarch Rehme took a wife from among the nobility of Pontezium and got on her a son in 2901.  He recruited a thousand light infantry and granted them to his ally the lord of Pomarche. Rehme died of sudden heart failure in 2903.  Sir Waylan became the regent for the infant king. In 2904, a large force of monstrous beings - kobolds, hobgoblins, goblins, trolls, ogres, blind cave worms and man-sized bats, among many others, hopped, swarmed and flopped forth from Barrandia to assault Querenia.  With the king dead, no one came forth to oppose them but the large garrison of Querenia.  The monsters were driven off, but not before they had done much damage to the region. As usual, the Exarchate sent a large grant of money and grain to the Holy Order of the Dawn.

The Holy Order of the Dawn - Ruler - Grand Master Fidelius Capital - The Akasian Hills Dominant Race - Human Dominant Religion - Lords of the Grail Diplomacy - Gistares [OH], Eatris [OH], Mynos [OH], Calodunum [OO]

The knights of the Holy Order of the Dawn recruited two thousand new warriors and mounted men-at-arms, as well as five hundred new knights and squires of the Order. As usual, The Crusader States sent gold and grain, while the Great Church granted gold to the knights in Conorr. Grand Master Magnus returned to the Order Fortress to the cheers of the common folk in the wake of the Giant Wars. He collected the main strength of the Order under him and marched eastward with fourteen thousand troops, more than half of them knights of the Order. Magnus died on the road to the Empire, and his command was assumed by Master Gladius, who brought his large force to the rich plains of Adoria. Mistress Veneficus traveled to Conorr to receive the blessings of the Patriarch's representatives, as well as their gold.  She then established an order house in Mynos.

Master Fidelius traveled to Calodunum, where he learned that he had been elected Grand Master of the Order.  He continued his work, founding an oratory in that region.

The Shadowed Realm of Ascarlon - Ruler - Baron Gauros the Arisen Capital - Denavine Dominant Race - Human Dominant Religion - The Dark Court

The Shadowed Realm was ready for war.  Baron Gauros gave command of two thousand light elite cavalry to General Mishkas and sent him to raid the lands of Harkoria [See Harkoria, above.] After the raids, Mishkas returned to Denavine on the hooves of swift horses. Gauros himself set off for the south with nine thousand Ascar troops, five thousand mercenaries and a thousand newly-summoned undead troops.  He burned his way across Tathlann, the Brythnian homeland [See Brythnia, above.] After the wars, Gauros returned over the mountains with his forces, arriving in Tirgu before winter in 2905. Lord Xandriag Kalmentarek traveled to Turlag in the Black Forest and governed that city with an iron fist.

The Worldspine Orcs -
Ruler - King Wargest
Capital - Gargath
Dominant Race - Orc
Dominant Religion - The Dark Court

The Worldspine Orcs recruited two thousand light elite goblin archers to join King Wargest's army. The orcs now embarked upon a complicated scheme of infiltrations, raids and attacks upon the territory of Brythnia [See Brythnia, above.] King Wargest died in Lloricam in 2905.  His son Wargard was declared king. Though these raids took up most of the orcish military, they were of little concern to the orcish people, for soon thereafter, a great disaster befell them.  A vast army of humans and dwarves, fifty-nine thousand in all, came upon the Worldspine North and lay siege to Mount Kauroth. The six thousand troops left behind by King Wargest never considered fighting in the open, even though the mountains were riddled with field forts.  The numbers of the enemy were too great.  They withdrew behind the great walls of Mount Kauroth and screamed incantations to their dark gods for deliverance. It did not come. There was some mutinous sentiment in the army quickly squelched by the desire to survive the coming storm.

The mighty armies of Conorria, Dhûnazhar and the Grail Primacy laid active siege to the orcish capital and its huge fortress, battering down the walls in three months of vicious fighting and pouring through the breach to slaughter everyone in sight.  This assault on one of the strongest fortifications in all of Theeurth cost the allies a third of their force, but the orcs were completely wiped out. Emperor Kaius Varantius flew above the fray, leading the Conorrian Eagle Riders and personally directing the assault.  He led an army of forty thousand Conorrians, including more than three thousand eagle riders and ten thousand elite mountain troops. Bishop Sarpedon and four thousand elite mountain troops represented the Grail Primacy, while a host of dwarvish leaders and more than fifteen thousand Dhûnazhar King's Elite followed King Thorin into battle.

The defending orcs were completely wiped out and the city burned to the ground.  But the dwarvish nobleman Karak the Wise died in the assault on the walls, and King Thorin himself was murdered by some unknown hand just before the battle.

Having destroyed the orcish capital and taken its mighty citadel, the allied army dispersed, with the dwarves returning to Dhûnazhar and the humans to Faloricum.

Emperor Maugroth summoned four thousand new troops for his armies and placed general Ak'kratush in overall command, supported by every member of the Carhallas court. Commanding more than eighteen thousand hobgoblin soldiers, Ak'kratush marched east to Elsend, Pinnas and Thuidhel, arriving in Agaleon of 2903. Ak'kratush and his hobgoblins were astonished to find nothing but trees.  The elves of Celendor had abandoned their homes and gone of to parts unknown! Ak'kratush was furious at the lack of plunder!

The Great Kingdom of Annvar - Ruler - Emperor Truchoniax Capital - Varthane Dominant Race - Human Dominant Religion - The Dark Court Diplomacy - Bellias [F]

The Standard of Annvar

The men of Annvar built settlements and small farms throughout Tusainiai. Emperor Truchoniax ruled from Varthane and tried to produce an heir, but none came. Lord Panchotoniax convinced the city fathers of Bellias to return to the fold, becoming an integral part of the Great Kingdom once again. The clan leaders of Rukai and Medinavai took their combined forces of twenty-five hundred soldiers and raided the eaves of the Celendor woods.  They made the miserable lives of the elves in Linhirin and Minhir even more miserable, but when they got to Pinnas, they found that the elves were gone and that the hobgoblins of Carhallas had passed through on the way to Thuidhel.

The Elven Realm of Celendor -
Ruler - Regent Voromë 
Capital - None
Dominant Race - Elf
Dominant Religion - The Lords of the Grail

No victory would come.  In council, many were the voices that wished to die valiantly defending their homeland and ancient rights.  But Regent Voromë's voice was firm and in the end heeded by nearly all.  "We cannot win today.  Not here.  Darkness now reigns in Celendor and must decide whether to fall under its yoke or to live free elsewhere. If you stay you may find an honorable end.  Or you may become thrall to one whose ways revolt even the gods.  Follow me and you will be free  Roofless wanderers, yes, but we were that in the beginning." "It is time.  Let all who are coming rise up and follow me!" As Regent Voromë harangued the crowds in Thuidhel and Ennilas, his lieutenants spread out into the woods of Andras, Pinnas, Orodel, Cairiannon, Gilinhad and Arthuial.  Only the stiff-necked elves of Pinnas refused to follow the Regent's summons.  He agonized about those elves he could not summon for lack of time, and about those now slaves to the will of the darkness.  But he marched on south without them.

The long train of refugees stopped in Mirithor, Annathel (giving a wide berth to the fallen city of Minnuin) and Lethinan, and he sent troops also to Tirondonan to collect the elves of the hills.  All heeded his call, for all feared the elves of Meledrian.

Before he left the historic borders of Celendor, Regent Voromë released his prisoner, queen Desirella Vaelarn of Meledrian.  He assigned her twelve knights of Celendor as her bodyguard and gave her permission to return to her husband.

And so, in the autumn of 2905, the remnants of Celendor slipped quietly over the Esharias river, sojourning in the green lands of Ganthus Longa.

The Forest Realm of Meledrian -
Ruler - King Eldareth Hammerhand
Capital - Dalariadh
Dominant Race - Elf
Dominant Religion - The Dark Court

The dark elves of Meledrian raised fifteen hundred elven archers at Dalariadh and built castles in Imlarond and Belaira. King Eldareth reorganized his kingdom by granting Celegost, Lossarhir and Bregil as fiefs to his faithful followers. As always, the elves gave large amounts of grain to the flotilla of Ascar ships that arrived at Narbyndahl, for transhipment to the orcs of the Edgemoors and Worldspines. Lord Aeliniel traveled to the south to the hills of Nionod and loudly declaimed that the elves of Nionod, if they had any sense whatsoever (which he doubted, they would immediately thank the dark gods the the king was allowing them to leave their dank and miserable hovels for a better life at a place of his choosing.  Oh, and his son would be willing to lower himself to impregnate a female of their tribe, if that would move them more quickly.  The elves of Nionod were shocked and angered and loudly demanded that Aeliniel and all other Meledrians leave Nionod immediately. Lord Anglyn of Lossarhir and Bishop Killkrantor "the Remonstrator" raided the poor elves of Gilinhad, Arthuial, Tirondonan and Mirithor, hastening their decision to leave for the south.

The Duskwood Reavers of Azhran -
Ruler - Grand Master Nath-Imperator Melenchlaenith the Archdisrupter
Order Fortress - None
Dominant Race - Elf
Dominant Religion - The Dark Court

Nearly penniless and reduced to just a few masters, the Duskwood Reavers concentrated on missionary work.  In Daerui, Celebdilas and Iathos, they spread the shadowed glory of their dark masters.

The Kingdom of Tiringol -
Ruler - King Keriadoc Stormwing
Capital - The Underhalls
Dominant Race - Halfling
Dominant Religion - The Dark Court

The halflings of Tiringol built a village in their homeland, but spent most of their time seeking out esoteric knowledge and ancient legends.

The Conorrian Heartland -

The Conorrian Empire - Ruler - Emperor Kaius Varantius Capital - Echoriath Dominant Race - Human Dominant Religion - Lords of the Grail

The Empire flexed its economic muscles (though not its full capacity for exertion) and recruited sixteen thousand new troops at a single time.  Emperor Kaius Varantius assembled an army of forty thousand Conorrian troops, including eagle riders, elite mountain troops, siege engineers and ordinary soldiers.  With his co-Emperor Petrius Arcalas and Bishop Sangraal, he marched north towards the Worldspine Mountains, meeting up with troops of the Grail Primacy and the Dhûnazhar Dwarves to achieve a final total of fifty-nine thousand troops with which to storm the bastion of the orcs. [See The Worldspine Orcs, above.] Victorious, Kaius marched back to the capital with twenty-seven thousand troops and a vast haul of loot. Lord Draximus commanded the Autricum garrison with six thousand troops, while Prince Vargus commanded the Adoria garrison with twelve thousand troops.  Vargus died peacefully in bed in 2903 and command fell to his second, General Atanius. In 2901, Gorikos, foederati leader of Sexaginta, was ordered to seize possession of the deserts of Kildaruensis.  Sexaginta boasted only twelve

hundred mobile troops, while the wild tribes of Kildaruensis fielded three times that number, nearly all of whom were light cavalry.  Gorikos was killed and his entire force was destroyed and sold into slavery.  Amazingly, Gorikos's sons remained loyal to the Empire.

In 2905, an elvish knight arrived in the Imperial court, bearing a message from Voromë, Regent of Celendor.  It said that to save his people, he had made them refugees and was even now crossing the Esharias River into Conorrian territory (in this he was more polite than truthful, for the Conorrians had not controlled the forests for a century).  Voromë sought permission of the Emperor to dwell in those forests and fortify them, becoming an Exarchate of the Empire, in the manner of the Crusader States.  He would acknowledge the supremacy of the Emperor if the Emperor would offer his protection against invaders. The message specifically sought permission to take possession of all the lands of the Mirinii plus Heirocomita and Hydastes. Kaius's own spies report that the elves have come with sixteen thousand troops and a hundred thousand refugees.

The Great Church of the Lords of the Grail - Ruler - Patriarch Henrikos Holy City - Conorr Dominant Race - Human Dominant Religion - Lords of the Grail Diplomacy - Tarrentica [-], Leosse Glades [CH], Crisias [CH]

The Patriarch's Standard

The Great Church recruited two thousand troops, including more than a thousand Paladins of the Grail and thirteen stout cogs at the holy city of Conorr. The church also hired four thousand Vales mercenaries at the city of Muzir. The Patriarch granted scribes and other bureaucrats to aid the failing government of Har'akir (as well as those already going to Aelissia, the Conorrian Empire and the Llyran Republic.) As always, the Church received shipments of grain from the Empire and delivered caskets of gold to the Order of the Dawn (this time to the person of Mistress Veneficus, who visited Conorr in 2902.) Church missionaries spread to Akir and Har Mekelle in Har'akir and to Hassar in Thariyya.  Missionaries established a church in the forests of Crisias along the via Eleucrium.

Patriarch Henrikos and Prince-Bishop Karas of Dhûnazhar assembled an army of more than thirteen thousand troops at the Har'akir city of Muzir (including the four thousand mercenaries) and moved south to retake the Akir capital).  (See The Har'Akir Civil War, below.) In that war, the Patriarch was captured by the Akir rebels at the battle of Husen.

Bishop Kheldar traveled to Tarrentica  in the Llyran Republic to organize the consecration of a new cathedral.  The Bishop's efforts were met with red tape and indifference on the part of the Llyrans and also marred by the great fire that ripped through the monastery of Tarrentica in 2903. Bishop Darisus had better luck in the Neldorean Wood, where he established a church in the Leosse Glades.

Bishop Adrastos commanded the four thousand troops of the Sirtis garrison in the no-man's land between the Valesian Empire and Accolon.  In 2902, he was wounded by a knife-wielding assassin.  Adrastos's guards slew the assassin before any further information could be gathered. However, in 2903, the Bishop was again the target of an assassination attempt, this one successful.  He was found strangled with his own bedsheets and a copy of The Deeds of Fargalann wedged in his mouth.

Bishop Sarpedon grounded his transports at Lenicum in the Conorrian Empire and joined his four thousand elite mountain troops to those of the Conorrian Emperor and King of Dhûnazhar and marched against the orcs of the Worldspine Mountains. (See The Worldspine Orcs, above.)

Outside the Primacy's control web, the Abbey of Har Mekelle degraded to a church.

The Dwarven Realm of Dhûnazhar -  Ruler - King Valand II Capital - Khelem Vala Dominant Race - Dwarf Dominant Religion - Lords of the Grail

The dwarves recruited two thousand Dhûnazhar King's Elite and marched out to meet the combined Grail army under the command of Conorrian Emperor Kaius with more than fifteen thousand dwarves, most of them Dhûnazhar King's Elite, among the best mountain troops in the world. (See The Worldspine Orcs, above.) The dwarven army returned with some ten thousand victorious troops after storming the orcish citadel at Mount Kauroth. The king's sister, Princess Thorinna, had been given a parallel task of seizing and garrisoning the empty regions of Orod Dhorn and Mar Kheland.  Her troops grieved at the many dwarf-holds they discovered, long since desecrated by the orcs of a century ago. Prince Valand remained at home, commanding the rear guard of four thousand dwarves. King Thorin and General Karak were both slain in the orcish campaign, and Thorin's son Valand was crowned king despite the misgivings of many about his young age (around forty).

The men of the Warded Realm recruited twenty-five hundred new troops.  Leaving Queen Hermione in command of six thousand troops at Vigilum, Prince Gregor led a coalition of feudal allies totalling more than eight thousand troops to lay siege to the hobgoblin-allied elvish city of Imirion.  Shamed by the alliance between their brethren and the hobgoblins, the Vaiquentari elves did not raise a finger in their defense. As Gregor's army moved into siege positions around Imirion, the main army of Lederata moved in from the west to relieve the city.  The battle was on. The hobgoblin army was much smaller, some four thousand troops under the command of General Mezger, who tried to coordinate an attack with the Imirion garrison of six hundred or so.  But Gregor was a canny and capable leader and used his troops to great effect, shattering the Lederatan advance and turning its flank so that the surviving hobgoblins were forced to flee in rout back to Magrod.

Gregor then lay siege to the city of Imirion.  It fell two months later when the elves opened the gates and surrendered to the Pelenduri.

Prince Rupert, the husband of Queen Hermione, died of the ague in 2902. The following year, Lord Argent died when a hunting wound turned dangerous.  An epidemic of the red fever swept through the Warded Realm in 2905 and among many thousands of others, carried off Prince Ulfast, Zancar of Keldior and Queen Hermione.  Keldior proclaimed its independence from Pelendur and Prince Gregor was crowned the new king.

VALES -

North-Western Vales -

The Llyran Republic - Ruler - Constans Reid Bolusova Capital - Tarrentica Dominant Race - Human Dominant Religion - Lords of the Grail

The Llyran Republic built a Tower of Wizardry in the midst of Nova Valis, offering the region some protection from harmful magic. Constans Reid Bolusova made a slow circuit around the island, patrolling for pirates, until his death in 2905.  Thereafter, the Senate elected Ganoes Paran to be the new Constans. Paran had spent his time reasoning with the nobles of Nova Valis, trying to coax them back into the Grail fold. Meanwhile, Rafe Vatta and Bishop Amonte sailed south to join the Grail army at Muzir in the Adramagdus Mountains with four skyships, two skyskiffs, a unit of griffon riders and four thousand light infantry. (See The Har'Akir Civil War, below.) In 2903, the efforts of Grail Bishop Kheldar to consecrate a cathedral in Tarrentica were foiled when the entire existing monastery caught fire and burned to the ground in 2903, killing hundreds of monks.

The Holy Matriarchy of Ahuran -  Ruler - Queen Jenny Catspaw Capital - Sedeskan Dominant Race - Human Dominant Religion - Maddari

The women of Ahuran went into a crash building program to create a transport fleet.  They built eleven new cogs at Ilduskan, and eight more around the island.  In addition, Jenny Catspaw closed the trade routes to the Valesian Empire and the Akir rebels, freeing those transports for military service. The end result was a large flotilla under the command of Frances Nightowl consisting of nineteen cogs and thirteen smaller vessels.  These were then filled to bursting with five thousand Ahuran cavalry under Martha Oaktree, including two thousand elite female Knights of the Ring of Gold.  These unloaded at Galim in Har'akir and moved eastward to aid the gathering Grail army against the Akir rebels. (See Har'akir, below). When the battles in Har Mekelle were over, Martha Oaktree and her army rebelled against the strictures of Ahuran.  They had seen their sisters die by the thousands in the lands of men, and they were sorely disillusioned. They never returned.

The Daughters of the Second Spire, Ahuran's adventuring company, traveled to Nevrest in the western isles and there in a ruined castle, defeated a ghost and its many mad minions.  In the castle's dim dungeons they found treasures of the ancient world, which they brought back and lay before the feet of the queen.

Lady Zira of Naidhan died in 2903.  The elves of that region once again rejected their alliance with Ahuran. Frances Nightowl died in 2904, and her fleet returned to Moonrise City without her. Queen Margaret Sommerville died in 2905, and Jenny Catspaw was crowned queen.

Har'akir - Ruler - Regent Phal Capital - Muzir Dominant Race - Human Dominant Religion - Lords of the Grail Diplomacy - Damo [-]
	The Har'akir loyalists received a delegation of scribes and clerks from the Great Church, arriving to support the bureaucracy of the crumbling nation. The Akirs themselves bent all their effort to raising nearly four thousand troops - their entire army.  These they sent with General Farouk to join the Grail army of reconquest. (See The Har'Akir Civil War, below.) The great hero Mardukar of Durudin accepted the Regent's commission to rescue the royal family.  Strapping his short spear on his back, he crept through city sewers into occupied Mar Awas and, overcoming guards both human and monstrous, freed the captured sultan and two of his sisters, returning them to Muzir!

Akir Rebels -
Ruler - Sultan Haseeb
Capital - Mar Awas
Dominant Race - Human
Dominant Religion - The Dark Court

The Akir Rebels set out to complete their conquest of the peninsula.  General Vazim left a small force of fifteen hundred troops to guard the capital and set out with seventeen thousand troops, mostly cavalry.

The Har'Akir Civil War

The small army of Har'Akir and the much larger armies of her allies gathered to challenge the upstart power of the demon-worshipping Akir Rebels. Lord Vazim set out with seventeen thousand troops to conquer all of Har'akir.  He marched into Awas Fahan, demanding and receiving its tribute.  He then returned north, seizing the regions of Entelle and Husen without opposition.  But it was in the month of Berlas, 2902, that the Grail brought the war to the Rebels.

Nineteen thousand troops marched under the Grail banner under the command of Patriarch Henrikos.  Fourteen thousand of those troops belonged to the Grail Primacy, including thirty-five hundred Paladins of the Grail and four thousand mercenaries.  Har'Akir herself boasted almost four thousand troops under the command of General Farouk. The army also included a thousand Neldorean Griffon Riders under Lady Alarielle and Llyran Skyships, skyskiffs and griffon riders under Rafe Vetta and Bishop Amonte. 

Patriarch Henrikos was a masterful general and enjoyed the advantages of aerial troops and a large percentage of elite troops, as well as magically-enhanced weapons.  But General Vazim enjoyed excellent scouts, superior numbers of cavalry and most importantly, the ineffable quality of luck.  The wind blew hard out of the south, driving grit and dust into the eyes of the oncoming Grail armies, and hampering the effectiveness of their aerial troops.  Meanwhile, the Rebel cavalry was screened by a stand of cottonwood trees and managed to go undetected until they were in position to make a devastating charge on the Grail's right flank.  There was panic in the ranks as eight thousand rebel cavalry streamed through the Grail ranks and in the chaos, rebel cavalry managed to surround the Patriarch and take him prisoner despite the best efforts of his bodyguards to retrieve him. With the Patriarch lost and the army in disarray, the Grail army fell back in a retreat to the forest of Damo.

By Cleon 2903, both armies had finished regrouping and healing the wounded.  The Grail army now numbered twelve thousand effectives, while the rebels numbered fifteen thousand. Wishing to take advantage of his superior numbers, General Vazim now advanced into Damo.  Meanwhile, Prince-Bishop Karak, the dwarven son of the king of Dhûnazhar, prepared to meet the rebels on ground where their cavalry would mean far less. Of course, his own aerial troops counted for far less amidst the forest canopy. Still, Karak was no Henrikos, and even though his troops fought hard the battle was a second loss for the Grail and his troops were routed, fleeing back to the Adramagdus Mountains and the safety of Muzir. Just more than a third of the troops that had set out from Muzir the previous year managed to straggle back in at the end of 2903.

The battle was a costly one for the rebels, too.  Even though they had defeated the Grail in two set-piece battles, they had lost more than half their troops, staggering away with just over seven thousand effectives.

Meanwhile, in the south, Martha Oaktree and five thousand Ahuran cavalry had landed at Galim in Cleon of 2902 and marched inland, retaking Awas Fahan and Har Mekelle by the time the battle of Damo had been fought.  The Ahurans expected the arrival of a Grail army that did not come.  Finding themselves without sufficient means to besiege the city of Mar Awas, they settled into Har Mekelle to await news of the Grail army.

Also in 2902, a strange force seemed to materialize out of the earth itself in Akir.  An thousand or so undead bodies surrounded by tendrils of mist and clouds of unwholesome vapor suddenly struck at the Grail church in the region, burning it to the ground and killing its priests.  The few black-cowled mortals among the army called themselves the "Blessed Daughters of Drauluin".  Later in the year, they struck again in the unwalled city of Agazier, possibly arriving through the sewers and burned the Grail Church there as well. In 2903, they marched north into Har Mekelle and were unceremoniously slaughtered by the female warriors of Ahuran.

News of Ahuran invasion reached Vazim in his winter quarters at Damo.  Rather than remain to subdue the region, he quickly marched back to free his homeland. The Ahurans had an army with a large percentage of elite troops, and a predominance of cavalry, but were a very long distance from the nearest Ahuran city, whereas the Akir rebels fought for their very homeland.  The result was a third Akir victory, although the Ahurans managed a fighting withdrawal under difficult circumstances.  They later revolted against Ahuran power and became mercenaries.  The battle had cost Vazim only a few hundred troops.

In 2905, Vazim returned to Awas Fahan and once again forced it to submit to his will. He sent a smaller force to capture the unwalled city of Mica.

The Valesian Empire - Ruler - Emperor Dioges Capital - Centauris Dominant Race - Human Dominant Religion - The Dark Court Diplomacy - Laedos [A]

The Emperor sought to reestablish the ancient polity of Valesia through diplomacy and administration.  Dioges busied himself with a year long auditing of his Empire's holdings. He also commanded the main fifteen thousand man army of the Empire. Meanwhile, he dispatched Lords Klytus and Lucien to Laedos, where they convinced the archon, Laestor, to strengthen his alliance with the Emperor. Dark Court priests ranged over the Empire, exhorting the faithful to deeper and more depraved levels of devotion to the dark gods.

Luxur - Ruler - General Vuluk Capital - Thedelos Dominant Race - Sathla Dominant Religion - Autumna

It was a big rock.  A big, flat, hot rock.  The sathla of Luxur could not resist. They sunned themselves for five years.  What's it to you, mammal?   Captain Byrek and Captain Eviresk both passed away happily sunning themselves.

The Holy See of Udjo - Ruler - Pysus Zonrez Holy City - Merwal Dominant Race - Sathla Dominant Religion - Autumna Diplomacy - Coilus [MN], Patu [MN]

The Holy See of Udjo built a temple complex in the city of Coilus, complete with surrounding villages to support it.  Missionaries were sent into the metropolis of Thedelos, where they spent liberally to gain the attention of the crowds and return their attention to the god of their ancestors.  They had great success in Thedelos, but little at all in the surrounding countryside. Missionaries to the swamps of Drormt also increased the religious fervor in that eastern land. Pysus Zonrez traveled to the holy city of Merwal and stayed there, praying. Azuliyuz led her three thousand light infantry up the Artaxes, past the last cataract to the region of Osaru.  Almost as soon as they arrived, they were forced to repel a raid by the orcs of Zab-Kin. From there they marched south into Tresalet and aided Qorchi of Weshtayo and his human army to suppress the Dark Court cultists in Tresalet and later, in Bedraku. These operations cost Azuliyuz nearly half her troops.

Bishops Slidumez and Ara Vata each canonized a monastery for their faith.  Slidumez completed the monastery of Patu in Drormt at the confluence of the Lethes and Ulailai rivers before he died, while Ara Vata completed the monastery of Coilus, which allowed the Holy See to extend its influence hundreds of miles to the west, reaching a terminus somewhere around Mikkulizim in Kurgal.

The Serpentine of Mykele -
Ruler - Sauressh Isskor II
Capital - Oroyon
Dominant Race - Sathla
Dominant Religion - Autumna
Diplomacy - Naszgiri [A], Kilni [F]

North-Eastern Vales -

The Kingdom of Thariyya - Ruler - King Iolas Vahdin Capital - Uls Fakhar Dominant Race - Halfling Dominant Religion - Lords of the Grail Diplomacy - Hassar [-], Shai [C]

King Iolas recruited fifteen hundred light infantry and ordered his generals to suppress the growth of the Dark Court faith at any cost.  The subsequent military campaigns met with limited success. Iolas himself led four thousand light troops into Madegap and sought to arrest and hang leaders and priests of the Dark Court. As the battles raged around the region, the king himself went mysteriously missing.  In disarray, his army returned to Vahdin. Later, priests of the Shadowed Primacy established a church in Madegap. The allied lords of Hassar, Bari and Meheskar led five thousand troops into Abin and easily shattered the defenses in that forest region, quickly bringing the dark priests to heel and extracting oaths of loyalty from the common halflings. But when Azimandas Vahdin led three thousand infantry and a thousand cavalry into the steppes of Al-Muhd and began killing, the entire Zendowan greater tribe rose up against Thariyya.  Troops from Bazadar aided in driving out the invader and the lord

of Hassar immediately threw down the Thariyyan flag and declared his independence, threatening to appeal to Accolon for aid if Uls Fakhar again sent troops against the Zendowans.

Zuiya Zendowan led four thousand light troops into Shood and after a bloody battle, subdued the Dark Court stalwarts. She rode to Hassar to seek better relations, but found the Zendowan nation up in arms and wisely rode back home. Miratur Vahdin patrolled the Gulf of Thariyya with eighteen warships in the name of the Red Pact of Vales. In 2901, he caught and killed a lone Dark Court leader traveling in a merchant ship. In 2904, he sunk three five Accolon warships that entered the Gulf and ran two more ashore. Meanwhile, Carmina Vahdin sailed to the deserts of Shai to claim them in the name of the king.

Dark Court priests preached and testified throughout those regions of Thariyya not involved in battles. They had especially large crowds come out to hear them in the fields and villages of Vahdin.

The Warlocks of Accolon - Ruler - Emperor Jubal Cuu Capital - Dammarask Dominant Race - Human Dominant Religion - The Dark Court

The Emperor decreed a concentration on defense, summoning two thousand elite heavy cavalry and ordering the walls of Riatus in Bis to be built even higher and more impressive than they were already.  In addition, Accolon's engineers built five new castles each in both Ham and Bis. The Emperor promoted his son Tormak to the position of heir on his sixteenth birthday in 2902, and his son Noz (called "The Dark") to prince in 2905.  He also fathered two daughters in 2901 and 2902 and mourned the death of his wife Masirae in 2903. At long last, the project to make Valesian the dominant language of Carru was complete.  Only the regions of Arbath, Dursarc, Eumana and Sharar continued to speak the old Nurad tongue, and the Emperor's agents were hard at work to curb that practice in Eumana. Agents of the Emperor found the hideout of "Bloody" Lady Leora, who fled Accolon's justice in 2997 and managed to get the Emperor's son killed through her

incompetence.  She was dragged before the screaming crowd in the forum of Malbor in Dammarsk and beheaded, much to the delight of the same crowds who once feared her very shadow.

The Emperor ruled from Dammarask, commanding an army of four thousand heavy elite soldiers, and teaching his son Esarch the fine points of rule.

Sinjal E'Toli gathered five thousand troops at Nuradeem, where he became governor.  Kragar Darkfist, meanwhile, commanded six thousand troops at the other end of the Empire in Ham.

Enoch Dunestalker, a powerful warlock, took possession of Lucan's Spiderstaff and used it to cast a powerful spell on Kragar Darkfist.  Enoch alleged that the spell succeeded and would keep the general young for generations. He then sailed five warships into the Gulf of Thariyya, where in 2904 they ran into eighteen warships under the command of Thariyyan admiral Miratur Vahdin.  Although Enoch and his ships raced for the shore, the halflings outsailed them and sunk three of their vessels before Enoch could ground the other two.  Enoch and the Spiderstaff escaped unharmed.

The Shadowed Primacy of the Dark Court -   Ruler - High Priest Gezz Half-Shadow Holy City - Dammarask Dominant Race - Human Dominant Religion - The Dark Court Diplomacy - Ishi [T], Keystone [AB], Hatti [AB], Redwind [CH], Teush [FA], Euristi [-], Carres [CH], Phalces [CH], Mealon [AB], Laedos [CH], Vales [CH], Ventas [-], Centauris [-], Annuminas [-], Jebelam [-], Zab-Kin [CH], Ginch [CH], Madegap [CH]

Gezz Half-Shadow traveled to the steppes of Ishi and extracted tribute for the Shadowed Primacy. Meanwhile, Bishop Anastasia traveled around the steppes, establishing abbeys at Keystone and Hatti, and a church at Redwind, and convining the nomads of Teush to become allies of the Primacy. Ophyra Allikyte set sail on the Gulf of Thariyya and her ship was boarded and sunk by the Thariyyan fleet of Miratur Vahdin.  She did not survive. Gerendal the Cruel made a triumphal passage through the Valesian Empire, where his priests whipped up religious fervor.  Gerendal himself established churches at Carres, Phalces, Laedos, and Vales, and an abbey at Mealon. Princess Marietta of Threns attempted to establish churches in Marador at Jebelam and Annuminas, and had more success in the hills of Zab-Kin and in Ginch. She died in Ginch in 2903 at the age of forty-five.  Prince Drel Dorath of Ascarlon remained out of the

limelight until his death at Dammarask in 2903.  He was seventy-one years old. As was his desire, his bones were placed in an arch of the Great Cathedral of the Spider in Dammarask.  Threns offered up one of its princes to the Shadowed Primacy to replace him: Leandronio, brother of King Arcanon.

The Shadowguard of Marador -  
Ruler - Queen Madariel Shadowfoot
Capital - Lantar
Dominant Race - Elf
Dominant Religion - Lords of the Grail
Diplomacy - Adnoailin [-]

Queen Madariel	In the wake of the unprecedented fascination with the god of the Undead and with the Dark Court generally, the Shadowguard increased its defenses, building a city fortress at Tintillo in Nastaldo and building fortifications throughout Dimbe and Hecaladon. But the plan of the elves also ran to diplomacy.  No
violent reconquest for Marador.  Instead, the elves concentrated on persuasion and religious conversion. Prince Alitcean Searider visited the city of Oromardi and worked with the nobility to begin the slow process of bringing the city back to the gods of the Grail. Alvar Brookseeker inveighed with thunderous denunciations against the Dark Court in Kalrondo, while Thingold, Prince of Gaja and Sielvean, Prince of Daio worked quietly in Jebelam to discredit the Dar Court. Evarear Darkblow continued his efforts to bring the hill elves of Adnoailin into the Shadowguard.  They continued to refuse. Queen Madariel gave birth to a daughter in 2904, making her a prolific mother for an elf (she has two children).

South-Western Vales -

The Steaming Kingdom of Drormt -
Ruler - King Vraaka
Capital - Breeka
Dominant Race - Saurus
Dominant Religion - Autumna
Diplomacy - Oiohutu [-]

The sauruses of Drormt traipsed home from their northern conquests and put the slaves to work building defenses in Oiohutu, Arran and Patu, as well as settling thousands of them on slave farms in the forests of Arran. The Holy See of Udjo sent a large stipend of gold and also priests who helped to raise the religious fervor of the nation. While King Vraaka settled down to rule the Steaming Kingdom, his lieutenant Mazkal set out to re-convert the sauruses of Oiohutu, and his lieutenant Gadampt set out to strengthen their ties to the kingdom. Unfortunately for those plans, Allied lord Hookai of Munampt marched east into Darets with a thousand sauruses intent on attacking and enslaving the region.  Darets lies at the heart of the Hakhta Confedration, a major tribe also present in Oiohutu.  And in Narvan.  Both regions immediately revolted from Drormtish control, overwhelmed the newly-built field forts and sent warriors to slay the invaders.  Mazkal and Gadampt barely made it out of Oiohutu alive.  Hookai was not so lucky.  He and his soldiers were cornered in the dark forest and butchered.  Hookai was staked out under the hot sun to be eaten alive by beetles. With Oiohutu in revolt, Drormt lost direct access to the city of Kerokoro and with it, trade with the east.

Sendahl - Ruler - King V*ko Capital - Nyange Dominant Race - Human Dominant Religion - Valesian Spirit Cult

What good is having a kingdom if you can't declare a five-year siesta once in awhile?

The Grand Empire of Mekebele - Ruler - Prince Regent Shaka Capital - Awayal Dominant Race - Human Dominant Religion - Valesian Spirit Cult

Grand Empires need naps, too. Life moves on with them or without them, though. The Emperor Selassie died in 2903, leaving his son and heir apparent, Fuluko, too young to rule in his own right.  Prince Chaka became Prince Regent in Fuluko's name, but he died of consumption in 2904.  Once again, the Empire remained completely calm as power passed into the hands of Prince Regent Shaka, Fuluko's uncle.

South-Eastern Vales -

The Dwarven Realm of Aurdrukar - Ruler - King Dorin Capital - The Brass Tower Dominant Race - Dwarf Dominant Religion - Lords of the Grail

Banner of Aurdrukar

Banner of Khor-Naland

The dwarves reacted with speed and force to the tide of Dark Court conversions.  King Dorin and his main army of eight thousand imposed military controls in Hru'maru, seizing the property of Dark Court loyalists and enforcing religious uniformity with a heavy hammer. This was seen as nothing less than an attack on the dwarves of the Hru'maru hills, and the Deephelm tribe rose up in rebellion.  Hu'el sent warriors to Hru'amaru to fight the king, while Lrandirla and Zhunekru merely reduced their cooperation with the government. Lord Steorn, somewhat optimistically, tried to convert the nobility of Hru'maru, but was forced to retreat to the encampment of the king until the rebellion was settled.  It was settled only with blood,

the king's elite Audrukar Burûndur Guards shattering the opposition and sending them flying into the hills.

Lord Blorin and Rignus of Hikka tried the more peaceable approach, talking to the nobility of Shtekkten. They convinced perhaps a third of these to revert to the worship of their ancestors.

The elves of Sengkar spent their vast fortunes on training.  Training for the army, training for the navy, for the engineers, the spies, the wizards, the scholars, everything. The elves have always been better than the younger races, and they intended to stay that way.  Forever. Emperor Valoril gave command of the cavalry army (ten thousand heavy elite cavalry) to his son Namardil, and concentrated on ruling his empire.  Namardil moved his troops to the capital and watched the borders for trouble. Admiral Talan of Mita put to sea with sixty swan-winged warships and dominated the oceans from the Blood Sea to the Gates of Arthys, defying any to challenge his supremacy. They did. The battle fleet of Kerendis, with thirty warships and eleven enormous battle galleys sailed into the Ymarian Sea under the command of Admiral Ainmire, screening a fleet of ten cogs.

The Kerends, it turned out, were superlative sailors, and Ainmire an excellent commander.  Moreover, the Kerend Battle galleys proved to be immensely strong and sturdy, mounting catapults and rams.  The battle was a rout.  Although the elvish vessels outnumbered the enemy three to two, the weight of the battle galleys smashed the Sengkarian line, driving them into confusion.  A burning swanship crashed into the Sengkarian flagship, setting it alight.  Talan of Mita escaped with wounds.  The Kerends sunk more than thirty of the Sengkarian fleet and captured ten as prizes.  They lost two battle galleys and five warships of their own.

Lady Elvadriadnë took the infantry army, some thirteen thousand strong, and declared martial law in Mita, rooting out a temple of the Shadowmasters and condemning to death all those who aided them.

The Kingdom of Weshtayo - Ruler - Queen Fatima, Red-Feathered Lord Capital - Khulank Dominant Race - Human Dominant Religion - Autumna

Freedom of choice be damned!  When Queen Gal declared that the Weshts would follow the Scaled God, she meant it, even if it meant subduing her entire nation. She set out to convert the unbelievers by sword and fire, but only managed to force the halflings of Tsu'u to accept Autuma at swordpoint before she died of a brain hemorrhage in 2902. Gal had never bothered to produce an heir or even get married, and so the throne rightfully went to her twin sister, Shria.  Shria was also a childless spinster, and when she died in 2903, the nation went into chaos.  All of Weshtayo's leaders remained loyal, but Tsu'u and Bedraku revolted. The large army of queen Gal put down the revolt of Tsu'u right away. Meanwhile, Bishop Azuliyuz of the Holy See of Udjo arrived in Osaru with three thousand light infantry to

help put down revolts. She was immediately obliged to fend off a raid of the Zab-Kin orcs.  She then aided Weshtayo's Black-Feathered Lord Qorchi and his three thousand troops militarily convert the region of Tresalet and then put down the rebellion in Bedraku and convert that region. By 2905, no free regions remained in Weshtayo.  They were all under miltary pacification.  Only the cities of Rendulha and Mindarie remained loyal to the Spirit Cults.

Meanwhile, Black-Feathered Lord Buriligi and his four thousand troops marched into Agganalo and killed every orc in the region.  They then marched into Narika and enslaved the orcs of that region, marching back to Ssru in 2905.

The Imperial Realm of Zikuyu -
Ruler - Emperor Maseed
Capital - Ivallkyu
Dominant Race - Human
Dominant Religion - Valesian Spirit Cult

The Empire invested in its scholars. Emperor Yeeqon died in his sleep in 2904, and his son Maseed soon succeeded him.  Due to some confusion, other leaders did little during this period.

The Valraj -
Ruler - Sultan Ayoob
Capital - Muddakir
Dominant Race - Human
Dominant Religion - The Dark Court
Diplomacy - Durjas [T]

Sultan Ayoob ordered a great many of his merchants to vacate the slips of Shenthalass and remove themselves to the smaller and more provincial ports of Lhoren Dar.  This they did with much grumbling and shaking of fists. The Sultan's son, Jahangeer, ruled in his father's name from the throne in Muddakir.  He and Sirhin, his new wife, tried in vain to produce an heir. Prince Hanbaal died in 2905, after summoning dark...things...to do his bidding in Hajaxtas. Lord Jalalud traveled to Sartus to begin the conversion of the nobility to the adoration of the Dark Court. General Amr Ghaas, The Valraj's military genius, passed away in 2902 while negotiating with the men of Durjas.  They agreed to send the Sultan a tributary payment in remembrance of the general.

The Grand Duchy of Meneen -
Ruler - Grand Duke Salene
Capital - Yaz Meneen
Dominant Race - Elf
Dominant Religion - Valesian Spirit Cult
Diplomacy - Bapanda [NT]

The elves of Meneen built four new warships and a trading cog. They built a field fort in Olonar and improved the cities of Imreer and Chanos. Missionaries to Indrata finally began to have success in converting the Nuree majority to the ways of the Valesian Spirit Cults. Admiral Feantë sailed north with twenty warships and a small transport bound for Olonar in Urvupal. Lord Habnar visited the elves of Bapanda and convinced them to allow Meneen the right to place soldiers and fortifications. Meanwhile, Grand Duke Salene and his queen, Emmyn, ruled jointly from Yaz Meneen.

The Kingdom of Ukanve -
Ruler - King Gene II
Capital - Ukanve
Dominant Race - Human
Dominant Religion - Valesian Spirit Cult
Diplomacy - Aclimea [-HS]

The men of Ukanve once again sent a wave of colonists five hundred miles to the east to settle in the jungles of Deja. Small villages popped up throughout the dense green growth, connected by small rivers and the occasional game path. At the same time, improvements were made in the capital, the largest city for more than a thousand miles.  A rudimentary sewer system was dug to drain away the summer monsoons.  Mostly open canals, they also included enclosed tunnels beneath the largest streets. While King Gene and Lord Karltone commanded Ukanve's nine thousand troops, Lord Branoic sailed south to once again attempt a closer relationship with the elves of Aclimea.  Branoic was an abysmally bad diplomat, however, with manners that could make a wild boar blind in one eye.  He lost little time in insulting the elves and they furiously and unceremoniously dumped him into his own ship, hogtied and painted blue.

The Kingdom of Nikitya -
Ruler - King Ragnar
Capital - Vikitana
Dominant Race - Human
Dominant Religion - Serriku Spirit Cult

The men of Nikitya were peaceful in those years, working to cultivate the cold and stony ground of  Puinissik. The might of the king increased, centralizing the monarchy at Vikitana and putting great power in his hands. As if to demonstrate his virility, Ragnar fathered three children Missionaries to Tuanani continued to chisel away at the religion of the Grail, putting it about that the gods of the Grail were mere incarnations of the greater, bloody spirits of Serikku.

The Principalities of Korondor -
Ruler - King Vorin
Capital - Nikkildûn
Dominant Race - Dwarf
Dominant Religion - The Lords of the Grail
Diplomacy - Tyakukta [FA]

The dwarves of the Korondor hills began to flex their significant economic muscle, spending a kingdom's ransom on training, especially in the much-valued art of siegecraft, but also in training scribes, archivists, and bureaucrats. In Aniatak, they built yet another in their line of powerful fortresses, and many lesser field fortifications, so that the Korondor hills bristled with defensive works. Prince Tolon recruited two thousand mixed troops, doubling the size of his army at Nikkildûn.  King Vorin marched with his six thousand troops to the hills of Tyakukta, where with Lords Bolan and Talon, he convinced the dwarves of that region to swear oaths of fealty to him. The axes of the dwarves could be heard ringing in Syupit, felling trees for the furnaces of Nikkildûn and clearing the land for cultivation.

The Shanatar Empire -
Ruler - God-Emperor Maarius
Capital - Feroe
Dominant Race - Human
Dominant Religion - The God-Emperor
Diplomacy - Javneh [EA]

With the promise of easy gold and free land, Shanatar sent a horde of settlers into the lightly-settled northwestern province of Nimaht, fully settling it in a single five-year period! Engineers began a paved, royal road from the Balasir border to the middle of Zeynif.  The city of Naifir was still reachable only by water or across a narrow, rutted postal road. Missionaries to the hills of Ul'il above Vaudan began the conversion of that province to the worship of the God-Emperor, while others sent north to Eumela continued the long conversion of that Dark Court province. God-Emperor Maarius's twin sister, having been denied a name for her entire thirty-seven years, took her own life, leaping out a high window.  When Maarius heard, he said "who?" Maarius himself reorganized the army so that he controlled the nine thousand infantry and General Tulah commanded the thirteen thousand cavalry.

Lord Jualarian traveled to the steppes of Javneh and arranged an economic alliance with the region, sealed with the marriage of the God-Emperor to one of the noble women of the region.

The Farmuz Emirates - Ruler - Sultana Majia Capital - Azhkatûm Dominant Race - Human Dominant Religion - Lords of the Grail

It was to have been a quiet time in the Emirates.  Then came the plague years.  In the year 2904, the Blue Demon took thousands of Farmuzi lives.  So called because before they died, the victims turned a color reminiscent of the desert sky on a clear day.  The plague also claimed many of the most important noblemen and royalty.  Darmok al Azhkatum, Azzizi ben Amakhar and the Sultan himself, Baroun ben Zahmer, all died in that year. Baroun had two infant sons, but both were too young to rule in their own names, and the task of ruling the kingdom fell on Baroun's sister Princess Majia.  Majia had always hated her brother for what she saw as his arrogance and condescension towards her, when she was clearly smarter, braver and more determined than he (at least that is what she told herself.) So, like her grandmother Najya twenty-five years before, Majia did the unspeakable.  She slaughtered her brother's family.  Not in so spectacular a way as had Najya, to be sure.  No, Majia had them quietly "secured in the palace for their own safety" and then poisoned them over the next eighteen months.  They were buried in the castle's dungeons and the populace was told that they had traveled to Shanatar for their education. The ruse fooled few, however, and once again, civil war broke out. Majia was backed by her husband, the sorcerer-prince Mahir, and opposed by the sole surviving loyal emir, Omar al Qudras.  A clever and capable man, Omar was seduced by the love of a beautiful djinn with which Mahir had contracted, and for love of her, agreed to support the new sultana. There were rebellions in Azmani, Navilok and Oras.  The garrison of Oras put down the rebellion, but the rebels overwhelmed the garrison in Azmani.  Navilok was not garrisoned.

 

The Kingdom of Vaudan - Ruler - King Kavan Capital - Chegamum Dominant Race - Human Dominant Religion - Orithia Diplomacy - Jadh [F]

The men of Vaudan undertook an exhaustive restructuring of their armed forces.  Under the direction of Lord Fereydoon and Prince Afshin, converting most of the foot units and the garrisons of many field forts in Tokumande to lighter, horse-based troopers.  In the end, Afshin commanded the main Vaudan army of some eleven thousand cavalry, including several units of the elite Vaudan Doombats. Lord Fereydoon died in 2905 at the conclusion of this arduous process. Many of the lords of Vaudan banded together to convince, wheedle, cajole and badger Lord Jodhan of Jadh into submitting his province to the authority of the king, symbolized by Jodhan's transfer of command of his house troops to the king in 2903. Lord Ghanuman died during the negotiations in 2903. Vaudan entered into a pact with the elves of Mainos, whereby the elves transferred control of the forests of Parkora and a small payment in exchange for rutters to the Gardagos River and the Otorii sea. King Kavan continued to remove merchant fleets from overseas trade and insist on their employment in local waters.  He then used his Sorcery to summon a series of minor rain showers. City architects studied the runoff to improve the capital's sewage systems. In 2904, the Doombats of Ul'il, Vaudan's adventuring group, returned from a long sojourn in Permanga.  They returned with something they were keeping quiet.

The United Clans of Mainos -
Ruler - King Kaedhrol Greyfeather
Capital - Badmira
Dominant Race - Elf
Dominant Religion - Orithia
Diplomacy - Okoum [-], Okumiye [T]

The United Clans traded with the folk of Vaudan, exchanging the rights to the province of Parkora and a small cash emolument for rutters to the entire Gardagos river and the Sea of Otorii. They also built defensive positions in Jalit and improved the irrigation in Kheleni. In the capital of Badmira, the many merchants who traditionally met for trade beneath the spreading boughs of a great Silvertree formed a guild of traders to improve the flow of goods. King Kaedhrol Greyfeather and Tarja Elsila traveled east to the plains of Okoum and tried to reason with the elves of the steppe.  But those nomadic tribes felt little kinship with the forest elves and so refused their overtures. Raimo Kaavi and Kyosti Ryti of Prukos had more success in the west.  They spoke to the elven nomads living along the Gardagos in Okumiye, and managed to extract an annual tribute from them.

The Dragon's Reach -

The Kingdom of Uheju -
Ruler - King Gansukh
Capital - Shkomyemri
Dominant Race - Hobgoblin
Dominant Religion - Orithia
Diplomacy - Inni [C]

The hobgoblins of Uheju were annoyed with the priests and religious fanatics who had so recently endangered their kingdom.  They preached religious toleration and the importance of kingdom and caste over ethereal concepts of higher worlds. King Gansukh recruited six hundred Kardaur Elite Infantry, bringing his troop strength at Kannguheju to six thousand.  He ruled the kingdom and fathered twins, a boy and a girl.  These were the middle-aged Gansukh's first children. Lord Kizil traveled to Inni and though the nomadic hobgoblins largely ignored him, claimed the land in the name of Uheju. Prince Miyu preached toleration and the universality of faiths in Kannguheju.

 

The Kingdom of Kasadir - Ruler - King Dal-Kos Capital - Tamiyot Dominant Race - Human Dominant Religion - Orithia

King Eddard passed away in 2901.  His son Dal-Kos became king in his place.

 

The Kingdom of Ahandu - Ruler - King Tzahex Capital - Zathurrin Dominant Race - Saurus Dominant Religion - Orithia Diplomacy - Diangam [-], Chojde [C], Jembahuan [-]

The sauruses of Ahandu received a lesson in the limits of royal power. King Quetza issued an Edict of Toleration for the Falesian Heresy, much as had done the hobgoblins of Uheju.  But Orithia was strong in Ahandu, and weak in Uheju.  The King's Edict was vilified in the churches and ignored by nearly all his subjects, who viewed the heretics with barely-concealed contempt. Worse, the king attempted to order many of his own nobility to adhere to the new Falesian faith.  He was lucky they did not rise up against him in that very moment. Ahandu was luckier still when Quetza died and the nation accepted his son Tzahex as monarch without splitting into warring factions. Tzahex took command of the eight thousand soldiers of the army. Diplomatic missions sent to Diangam and Jembahuan failed utterly to overcome the sharp religious differences with the ruling class and these remained closely tied by tradition and economics, but remained separate political entities.

The Empire of Mogodor -
Ruler - Queen Lysistrana
Capital - Aone
Dominant Race - Human
Dominant Religion - Orithia

Queen Lysistrana ruled from the throne of Aone, commanding the army of ten thousand soldiers. Her advisors were angry with the queen, now well into her thirties, for having refused to take a husband and give the land an heir. In the east, General Mithus raised a force of twenty-five hundred light cavalry at Venil. Mogodor had defied the demands of the Lichdom of Erdiyek and the self-titled Master of the World now began to wreak his revenge upon the Empire.  Terrible winds raced through the fields of Januaan, tearing up barns and flattening villages, leaving devastation in their wake. Small fires erupted in the city of Venil, but they guttered and were soon put out.

The Kingdom of Suhanir -
Ruler - King Valiel Sunlord
Capital - Kaonayu
Dominant Race - Elf
Dominant Religion - Orithia
Diplomacy - Cauteru [T], Peran [+2YfC]

The elves built a wall of timbers and living thorns around the small city of Ki Maru.  In Kaonayu, King Valiel recruited a thousand elven archers and ruled from the capital while commanding a force totalling nine thousand elves.  As he had for centuries, he brought the blessings of the elves on the region of Sunahm. General Cerelindor, meanwhile, moved his five thousand light cavalry east from Sunahm to the forests of Kaste. Prince Marahel traveled south to the forests of Cauteru and secured for Suhanir dominion over the last independent elvish province east of the Dragon Reach. Lady Haleth, meanwhile, traveled to Peran and continued to smooth over the wounded pride of the human inhabitants.

The Kingdom of Amantai -
Ruler - Queen Sara
Capital - Mahlish
Dominant Race - Human
Dominant Religion - Orithia
Diplomacy - Keama [A]

Queen Sara ordered the decommissioning of her elite guards, and put those soldiers to work as sailors in the fleet of Mahlish. She then put the fleet of ten warships into garrison at Mahlish and took command of the six thousand troops of the royal army and took the field with them at Haga. Lord Gerald, in full knowledge of his shameful defeat at Takanka, gave up command of the army and instead became a diplomat.  He traveled to Keama, where he convinced Lord Ferral to engage in a full alliance with the kingdom.

The Kingdom of Nuitai -
Ruler - King Ghevrit
Capital - Temanom
Dominant Race - Human
Dominant Religion - Orithia
Diplomacy - Nymun [C]

The battered nation of Nuitai ended its one-sided war with the Lichdom of Erdiyek and concentrated on rebuilding.  In the homeland of Menerha, men rebuilt war-torn villages, mended fences and put sheep out to pasture. In the capital, King Ghevrit's investments in bureaucracy finally paid off, allowing the nation to support another great lord. The war might be over, but it could not be so easily forgotten.  Nuitai paid the price in grain demanded by the lich Kuan Li Jiang, sending a lone cargo ship to the Necropolis in 2902. Ghevrit ruled from Temanom and took to wife a local girl. He had three more children with her before she, too, died in childbirth in 2905. Princess Mai, daughter of the old king Arpald, traveled to the forests of Nymun and began the diplomatic discussions that might one day result in Nuitai's regaining control there.

The Lichdom of Erdiyek -
Ruler - Kuan Li Jiang
Capital - The Necropolis
Dominant Race - The Undead
Dominant Religion - None

The Master of the World  wreaked windy revenge upon the Empire of Mogodor.

The Kingdom of Choran -
Ruler -  King Chausian
Capital - Choran
Dominant Race - Human
Dominant Religion - Serikku Spirit Cult

Unworried about the slave rebellion in Prettit, the men of Choran raised only four hundred infantry, while building seven light transports. This fleet was used to transport colonists and materials to Bayindu in the west, where Choran established a colony. General Phopheng gathered two thousand regular infantry at Choran and, confident of his ability to route the slave rabble led by Korob, slowly began to march west.  Meanwhile, the slaves looted all of Prettit, leaving it desolate and impoverished.  They then marched east to Arkhoro, where three thousand former slaves overwhelmed the thousand light infantry of the garrison.  This battle was important training for the rebellion, for the men were now hardened and battle-tested. Phopheng's two thousand met Korob's twenty-five hundred in the eastern marches of Arkhoro, and Korob surprised the Choran troops with his innovative tactics, forcing them into bear pits, deadfalls and ambushes until Phopheng was forced to retreat to

Andishil and regroup. 

By summer's end, Phopheng was in command of only twelve hundred troops, but had the critical support of three field forts.  In the spring of 2903, Korob advanced into Andishil leading twenty-six hundred troops, now certain that they could break the Choranese army and loot wealthy Andishil.  And they were almost right...

The first battle of Andishil swirled around the redoubts on the plain, and it was by these alone that the tiny army of Phopheng was able to shelter itself from the much larger horde of ex-slaves howling for their blood.  The battle was a bloody standstill in which neither side inflicted a death-blow.  But it was the first time Korob and his troops had tasted defeat.  They reeled from the experience and were scattered back into the woods of Arkhoro while the Choranese hastily caught their breaths and tried to dig in against the next wave they knew must surely come.

And it did.  Korob returned in the fall with twenty-two hundred troops to face Phopheng's mere one thousand, anchored now by two field forts.  But this time, Korob's luck had run out.  The Choranese had prepared a defense and had set snares of their own.  One of these, a hidden pit of archers, managed to kill the rebel leader during a particularly reckless charge.  The rebellion decapitated, the surviving rebels slunk back Arkhoro to eke out a miserable survival in the woods.  They numbered perhaps two thousand.

Lord Kerian died in 2904, and the Council elected Lord Chausian to replace him.  Chausian immediately sailed home from Tolnek to take command.

The Empire of Tekume -
Ruler - Emperor Go-Bitron
Capital - Suru'or
Dominant Race - Giants
Dominant Religion - The Dark Court
Diplomacy - Kenomus [EA]

The Emperor Go-Bitron sat the throne of Suru'or and commanded the main army of two thousand soldiers (including only a very few giants).  He divided his thirty-ship fleet in half, giving command of one of the halves to Lord Zu-Rolth. He also oversaw the payment to the Kitike horde, keeping those dangerous giants peaceful. Lord Zu-Rolth sailed south to Kenomus with his fleet, hoping to establish a city there.  That's when his crew pointed out to their commanders that warships have no cargo capacity and the colonists were still standing on the docks. On the other hand, Zu-Rolth did manage to convert many of the nobility of Kenomus to the worship of the Dark Court, so the voyage wasn't a total loss. Lord Sa-Vowin negotiated a treaty of economic alliance with the elves of Kenomus, the best that could be arranged, given the extreme differences of religion.

The Kolyut Isthmus -

The Sylvan Realm of Hecadia -
Ruler - King Rhett
Capital - Belgramma
Dominant Race - Halfling
Dominant Religion - Orithia

King Marco recruited three thousand light infantry, bringing his home army strength to nine thousand.  He also hired three thousand Dark Court mercenaries, which alarmed the folk of Belgramma. He then declared himself a follower of the Lords of the Dark Court and peremptorily ordered all Hecadians to convert to the Dark faith.  This naturally outraged Hecadians of all races.  Though the nation was not overly pious, it had a long tradition of Orithia it was not eager to give up. Lords Rhett and Pickens declared their opposition, as did Naveh of Chothor and Zane of Kebe.  The regions of Amoka, Maviran, Rundar and Vasithe also rebelled.  Taken by surprise, King Marco set out with his army to crush the rebels. Marco was arrested before leaving Belgramma by Lord Pickens, and executed by Lord Rhett and Zane of Kebe when they arrived.  After a conference, the three rebel lords agreed that Rhett would be crowned king by the Orithian bishop of Belgramma, and that the army would move to crush those regions loyal to Marco.   Queen Estella, no doubt the source of Marco's infidelity, was locked up in a tower in the Royal Palace.

In 2904, the Dragon Standard adventuring company fought a very public battle with a clutch of wyverns in Maviran.  They returned with something for the king.  They didn't particularly care that it wasn't the same king who hired them.  The gold was still good.
 

The Kingdom of Kerendis - Ruler - King Laoghaire Capital - Orbelain Dominant Race - Human Dominant Religion - The Dark Court Diplomacy - Ishku [T]

The Kerends reassigned many of their garrison troops to man the walls of the new fortresses in Kibe, Amabalas and Chemada. Engineers strengthened the walls of each of these major castles. King Eoganan sent forth his fleet, eleven huge Kerendis Battle Galleys and thirty stout warships, to escort a fleet of cogs across the Ymarian Sea to Kerendis's newest colony at Ishku.  The commanders of the fleet were Lords Laoghaire and Ainmire.  On the high seas they met the battle fleet of the elves of Sengkar, which stood in their way. The Kerends raised their battle flags and moved into line of battle with the galleys in a wedge at the center and the smaller warships trailing in their wake, the cogs screened far behind.  The elven fleet numbered nearly sixty, but the Kerends had the larger ships and better winds. And, many said, better sailors. The Kerend fleet crashed through the elven lines, scattering the Sengkarian warfleet and smashing dozens of ships.  The Sengkarian flagship burned and its commander, Talan of Mita, barely

escaped with wounds.  The Kerends sunk more than thirty of the Sengkarian fleet and captured ten as prizes. They lost two battle galleys and five warships of their own. Ainmire and Laoghaire went on to establish the small port city of Port Hellmaw in Ishku before returning to Orbelain.

But aside from this great victory, trouble was brewing in the capital.  King Eoganan had ordered his priests to help abate the fervor of the population for the Dark Court and to begin to place the priestesses of Evaless on a higher and more exalted footing.  Many grumbled and issued dire warnings that the gods would punish the king and the kingdom for his iniquity.  In the early winter of 2902, the king was struck down by a terrible wasting disease that rotted his flesh from the inside.  It soon spread to his daughters.  All three perished in agony.  No one else in the royal palace or anywhere in Orbelain suffered from the same malady and of all the Royal Family, only Eoganan's son Cadhla and his wife Gormlaith escaped the dread disease, now called by many "The Justice of Andobulos." 

When Eoganan died a few months later, the kingdom was torn apart by the issue of succession. While most agreed that Eoganan had been punished for his transgression against the gods, there were some who believed that Cadhla had been preserved for a reason and deserved to be the new king, while others felt that it was a judgment upon the whole royal house of Makkure and that if Cadhla was allowed to take the crown, the whole kingdom would suffer for its impiety.

Chief among the proponents of the first theory was Admiral Ainmire, who moved to secure the safety of eleven year-old Cadhla.  Opposed to him were Laoghaire and Bishop Draess, both of whom believed that the House of Makkure was now accursed. Opinions ran high in Orbelain and crowds rioted in the streets, with partisans of both camps killing members of the other.  The regions of Chnuraj, Epirvur, Iganchi, Mansere and Therses also rebelled, throwing off the rule of Kerendis.

The ancient and honored tradition of political assassination was used with liberality amongst the nobility.  Some to secure their place in the present struggle, but many simply to settle old scores or to advance socially.  In the midst of an all-too familiar wave of poisonings and accidental defenestrations, Admiral Ainmire was strangled by his own manservant.  Within days the entire House of Makkure, to the most distant cousin, was hunted down and killed, as messily and publicly as possible. 

After that, Laoghaire was recognized as the rightful king of Kerendis, and many (mostly his own propagandists and partisans) called him "Laoghaire the Pious", saying that he had rescued the nation from the anger of the Dark Court. He ordered the army to subdue Orbelain and bring it to heel.  When the crowd would not disperse, Laoghaire's soldiers began hunting down rioters in the streets with clubs and arrows.  After five dies of killing anyone abroad in the streets, martial law was lifted and the town settled in to a sullen silence.

The Kingdom of Threns -
Ruler - King Arcanon
Capital - Vaayil
Dominant Race - Human
Dominant Religion - The Dark Court
Diplomacy - Patsuma [FA]

The gold of Threns flowed into Sukan, building temples, theaters, market towns and a network of post inns.  Two port fortresses arose in Threns around the same time, one in the heart of Vaayil, the other overlooking the city of Siruvargal. King Arcanon named his brother Marconio as his heir, but the nobility flatly rejected this idea, encouraging the young king to father an heir.  Marconio brooded.  In between ruling the kingdom and commanding Threns's six thousand-man army, Arcanon did indeed try to produce an heir, but his wife Alexandra died in childbirth in 2904. The baby also perished. The nation of Ruanach continued to fulfill the terms of the treaty between the nations, sending to Vaayil chests of gold and an ancient, tattered banner on a spear of ebony.  Known to history as the Badge of Barbaric Confabulation, this magical artifact was a king's ransom.

Lord Perejilium traveled to Patsuma and convinced the nobility of that forested region to swear oaths of fealty to the king. Prince Roberton traveled to the hills of Madarah and regaled the Ihalei nobility with tales of the fierce glory of the Dark Court.

The Kolyut Hegemony -
Ruler - Hegemon Moodor Sharptooth
Capital - Ketarid
Dominant Race - Hobgoblin
Dominant Religion - The Dark Court
Diplomacy - Komirut [+13 YfC]

Hegemon Moodor Sharptooth commanded an army of nine thousand hobgoblins in Ketarid.  From there he oversaw the formation of a census of his peoples and dispatched his court on various errands. Dinguw the Shrewd rode to Komirut in Aya and with honeyed words continued to smooth the anger of the great city's populace. Gload Duncan took command of eight thousand troops at Kuwasha and marched them to Komirut.  There, he granted retirement to two thousand light infantry on the condition that they aid the city in building its new Merchant's Guild (the Octomarine League).  Gload then marched westward to Makuwai and Inda, which he re-conquered with ease, and in which he forced the populace to accept the worship of the Dark Court, slaughtering the Spirit Cult shamans of Inda, and exiling the Orithian priests of Makuwai. Greybar of Nistha was missing for many years, and when in 2905, he had still not been heard of, he was declared dead.  The city continued its economic alliance with the Hegemony, but sent no further troops.

King Histro spent his treasury on training scribes, magistrates, sheriffs and tax collectors, as well as continuing to pay Threns for the purchase of Bendraj and Sepapan.  Histro also sent to King Arcanon the ancient, tattered banner on a spear of ebony.  Known to history as the Badge of Barbaric Confabulation, this magical artifact was a king's ransom. Meanwhile, Lord Markand docked his Ruanach Blacksails at Bendraj and traveled about the country conducting diplomacy with the nobility of many regions.  Markand made good friends with the lord of Asatul, who agreed to serve the king as an ally.  He convinced the prince of Asatul to swear fealty and provide troops. Princess Neva had no luck with her diplomacy in Bendraj, but was successful in getting the prince of Arundim to swear fealty to the king. Prince Kolyu, commander of Ruanach's nine

thousand troops, died in 2902 at Bendraj.

The Delves of Ahum - Ruler - King Daven Silentpad Capital - Saumya Dominant Race - Halfling Dominant Religion - Nuree Diplomacy - Rusilam [F], Pulkit [EA]

The halflings recruited many workers to drive a royal road across Hishore to the Athapiy border, and partway into Athapiy.  They also finished the intensive cultivation of Atruvai, where terraced gardens, ingenious irrigation systems and great water wheels made the land even more fertile and productive than it had been. Rustas Ocklam and Stonehill Rabbitjumper of Dhal traveled together to Rusilam and officially annexed the city to the Delves.  Prince Karelak Roguewillow negotiated a treaty of economic advantage with the provinces of Pulkit.

The Orcish Raj of Virityal -
Ruler - Raj Algoz
Capital - Chharit
Dominant Race - Orc
Dominant Religion - Nuree
Diplomacy - Amanjit [F]

Now one of the oldest orcs ever in Virityal history, Raj Algoz reached his ninety-third birthday in 2905. He celebrated by drilling his seven thousand troops in Randar extra hard. His son and heir, Taurog the Bold, had also reached a nearly unheard-of age for orcs, achieving his seventy-second birthday in 2905.  He celebrated by drilling his five thousand troops in Aballak extra hard. Algoz's other son, Prince Jausor, had also reached quite an old age for an orc, achieving his fiftieth birthday in 2905.  He celebrated by drilling his thirty-five hundred troops in Randar extra hard. The rest of the court, including Lord Garkog, Marak Boarslayer, Lord Tulak and Prince Lurg, traveled to Amanjit and officially annexed the riverine region to the Raj.

The Empire of Rajahdan-
Ruler - Emperor Gortoc the Cold-Blooded
Capital - Jalahl
Dominant Race - Sathla
Dominant Religion - Autumna
Diplomacy - Viraben [NT]

The sathla of mighty Rajahdan completed an enormous aqueduct to bring water to the teeming metropolis of Jalahl, one of the great cities of the world.  Sparkling water was piped into the homes of noblemen and into the public baths, wells and animal watering troughs across the city. Lord Zzohichii traveled to Viraben and arranged a marriage between the Emperor and a noble girl of the hills. The sathla of Viraben gave little more than lip service to Imperial control, however. Missionaries at last converted the orcs of Viraben to the worship of the Scaled god. When Prince Syliss died in 2903, the Emperor nominated his own twin, Prince Hexotta, to replace him on the privy council. When Lord Oatlchicc died in 2904, he left the Emperor in sole command of the thirty-three thousand sathla army.

Anku Elevya -
Ruler - Emperor Zao Yin
Capital - Jinguir
Dominant Race - Saurus
Dominant Religion - Zaoism

The sauruses of Anku Elevya engaged in a five-year celebration of somnambulation.

The Celestial Empire of Shen'xi -
Ruler - Regent Feng Huan
Capital - Wu Lan
Dominant Race - Human
Dominant Religion - Kifan

Shen'xi dedicated itself to rejuvenating its lost economic strength.  Schools and temples were raised in Lian, the heart of the Empire.

The Lulipayat Empire -
Ruler - Khathros X
Capital - Kelakuan
Dominant Race - Sathla
Dominant Religion - Autumna
Diplomacy - Tasarwi [F]

King Khathros X announced a treaty of trade and mutual non-aggression with the halflings of Wayahapta. The halflings did not reciprocate. Sathla engineers and colonists continued to improve the jungles of Dengan with goat and rat farms as well as small villages. King Khathros traveled to the sunny archipelago of Tasarwi with his sister Nessali and his daughter Naddya.  There, he arranged the marriage of his sister to the son of Prince Vaanek.  He also took pains to teach Naddya the finer points of diplomacy. The marriage and diplomacy were both great successes and Vaanek became an ally of the crown. Lords Zhao Si and Reke traveled to the human region of Mukarma, where the three-faced god of Nuree was still in fashion, and attempted to convert the local nobility without much success. Zhao Si died in Mukarma in 2904. Allied lord Darlek of Mersemb went exploring in the jungles of Keganga and never returned.  His heir repudiated the feudal obligations of the father and retracted the native army to Mersemb.

 

The Serenity of Wayahapta - Ruler - Queen Alvya Capital - Keluan Dominant Race - Halfling Dominant Religion - Changshai Spirit Cult

The halflings of Wayahapta trained their infantry diligently in the fields of Kumpawi, and also built roads.  Engineers beat down hills and crushed rocks by the ton to establish a broad royal road to the Haykuwa border and began a narrow postal road towards Tappta. To the east, they began to clear-cut the Hawhu jungle around Kun Dao to make way for small farms and pastures. After reigning from the throne of Keluan for many years, Queen Alvya traveled to the port of Kun Dao in 2905 to give it her royal blessing.

The Dwarven Realm of Khudukan -
Ruler - King Sirom Stiffbeard
Capital - Nodo-Xan
Dominant Race - Dwarf
Dominant Religion - Kifan
Diplomacy - Mikogo [A]

King Sirom Stiffbeard the Usurper ruled from his throne in Nodo-Xan, keeping close his victorious army. His trusted lieutenant Lord Boril traveled to the hills of Mikogo and there made common cause with the prince of that land, bringing his sovereign a new ally. In Nodo-Xan, meanwhile, a few dwarves began to take up the king's service as councillors and warders, attracted by the large rewards in gold and gems the king was offering them.

The Empire of the Pearl -
Ruler - Emperor Sakurako Hideyoshi
Capital - Kuemas
Dominant Race - Elf
Dominant Religion - Kifan
Kumidor [NT]

Emperor Sakurako Hideyoshi rueld over his battered empire with a small army of five thousand elves at Kuemas in the far west.  His ally Shinsen Henzo Kaori, daimyo of Wanari, held the east with three thousand troops at Hanaze. Lord Takahiro Yori traveled to Kumidor to arrange the marriage of the Emperor to Lady Airi, daughter of a local prince.  The prince sullenly allowed Imperial forces access to his lands.

The Emerald Realm of Lekandi -
Ruler - King Galens Eagleheart
Capital - Suwelho
Dominant Race - Elf
Dominant Religion - Ukele Spirit Cult
Diplomacy - Minjiloa [FA]

King Galens ruled over Lekandi from the throne of Suwelho while commanding an army of five thousand elves. His son and heir Elath Bloodspear sailed north to the island jungle of Minjiloa, where the distant cousins of the Lekandi people lived and arranged a marriage between Dionarra, a princess of that people, and his father.  Dionarra's father swore an oath of feudal allegiance to the king. Meanwhile, the sailors and shipbuilders of the island continent worked feverishly to improve their skills based on those ships of Mekebele and Zikuyu they had seen in years past.

Page Completed 18 July 2008