LORDS OF THE EARTH CAMPAIGN 54
“LORDS OF THEEURTH”
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Turn Ten Newsfax
(A.C. 2826-2830)
ow men awoke and listened to Felagund as he harped and sang, and each thought that he was in some fair dream, until he saw that his fellows were awake also beside him; but they did not speak or stir while Felagund played, because of the beauty of the music and the wonder of the song. Wisdom was in the words of the Elven-King and the hearts grew wiser that hearkened to him; for the things of which he sang, of the making of Arda, and the bliss of Aman beyond the shadows of the Sea, came as clear visions before their eyes, and his Elvish speech was interpreted in each mind according to its measure.
– J.R.R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion
GM’S NOTES
1. At some point in the future, this game will be transitioning to the new Version 6.0 of the LOTE rules. I have no timetable for this transition. It will happen when I feel that the immediate kinks and birth pains of the new version have been worked out to my satisfaction. Also, when the rules are published where players can get their mitts on them. Mostly, that transition will involve work for me, not you. Probably the most important difference for you will be the wholly different ship types and costs (lots more gold, lots less NFP). However, there are some “Darn Nifty” new rules in there that I think would make great House Rules now. So see the House Rules page for some of those which are in effect as of right now.
These changes include:
- 3.1.4 – Changing Governments (Dictatorships)
- 3.3.10 – Education of Royalty.
- 3.3.11 – Increase Loyalty.
- 3.3.12 – Seize Merchant Shipping.
2. I have also included a list of potential canals. Rule 7.2.5. Yeah. They’d be enormously expensive and are mostly beyond current technology.
3. A great many of you are asking adventuring companies to be assassins, scouts or researchers. They don’t do those things. If you need that, hire assassins, scouts or researchers (Intel and Assassin Ops). See the House Rules for what adventurers will do.
MEDARHOS
North-Western Medarhos
| The Skane Jarldoms– Ruler – King Bjarnalf Capital – Vanaheim Dominant Race – Human Diplomacy – Deleos [N/A] |
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Wary of the growing popularity of captain Overgaard, young king Bjarnalf took direct command of the Skane hosts at Vanaheim, including the heaviest ships of the fleet. But Bjarnalf had also entered into many oaths with the Grail kings and so sent Overgaard south against the now-depleted wealth of Daerond. (See The Daeron Wars, below)
Meanwhile, Bjarnalf sent settlers and gold into the Skane March, where they founded the small trading village of Berjelm on a forlorn and rocky shore. Closer to home, the last untilled fields of Godemar were granted to Bjarnalf’s kinsmen, who promptly leased them to farmers and goatherds in exchange for a third of their profits. Old Sven Hvidunkat traveled the seas to the Mahadran islands where with great energy and enthusiasm he set about recruiting the captains of the city of Deleos. But even though the captains (as the Delean nobility is called) seemed well-disposed towards the Skane, they never quite agreed to anything. Indeed, Sven began to suspect that some foreign agent might be working against him. But in the middle of 2828, Sven dropped dead after a rousing night of drinking. Søren Overgaard set sail into the Kaddern with more than thirty ships, and made way for the mouth of the Narglaurith river. Off the Landegol headlands his lookouts noticed several sails shadowing the fleet at a distance. The distant sails never approached or attempted to signal. Once into the Narglaurith, Overgaard and his crews raided Landegol, Lycia and the Hills of Terror, finding the pickings far slimmer than their last foray five years before – the land was stripped bare by war. In addition, the Lycian river fortress made that portion of the raids nearly impossible. On leaving the Narglaurith and setting a course to the lee of Naxarius, the Skane fleet was set upon by a far larger fleet of far larger ships. These were pirates, determined to seize the raider’s loot. Turning his size and maneuverability to his own advantage, Overgaard managed to elude his pursuers through superior seamanship, losing only a few ships. Mungoard of Foldbjerg died in 2826 after an amusing incident involving a hornet’s nest. His son acknowledged his fealty to the king, but was not as close to Bjarnalf as had been his father. Reiner the Crafty, lord of Suomar, died the following winter of pneumonia. |
The Kingdom of Tirgonia –
Ruler – Regent Canoarch
Capital – Tirgon
Dominant Race – Human
Diplomacy – Aonach [N/A]
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This was to be a time of glory for the nation and tragedy for its leaders. None would survive to ever see the spires of Tirgon again.
King Quinn raised six thousand troops, including heavy cavalry, siege engineers and elite Tirgonian longbowmen. Then he and his army of fifteen thousand marched south to invade Daerond. (See The Daeron Wars, below). The ancient archmage Graalman the wizard died quietly in his carriage in Nivaan at the age of 110. King Quinn died in battle at the Great Rift in 2827. The great general Hanri died in the Ormswood in 2829. Even Duke Farionh of the Greenwood, who had traveled to the steppes of Aonach, died there in 2826 at the age of sixty-three. Quinn’s oldest son, Gareth, was crowned king of Tirgonia in 2829. He was eight years old. A little-known second cousin, Canoarch of Estwilde, was acclaimed regent by the Bishop of Tirgon. |
| The Iron Empire of Daerond – Ruler –Emperor Vantos I Elerek Capital – Aicherai Dominant Race – Human Diplomacy – Aluirek [A] |
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Dark days descended upon the Iron Empire as multiple enemies closed in for the kill. (See The Daeron Wars, below).
Emperor Vantos married the crafty and beautiful lady Melisandre in Aicherai’s Cathedral of the Divine Emperor in 2826, a vast and popular celebration attended by a slave choir and the dark fertility blessings of the priestesses of Evaless. The marriage was clearly one of convenience, for the new Empress left the capital almost immediately. Some time later, she convinced the Black Duke of Aluirek to support her husband more closely. The priesthoods and aristocracy howled that the Emperor, now fast approaching fifty, had failed to secure an heir on his new bride. |
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The Harkorian League –
Ruler –First Councillor Azazel
Capital – Cadares
Dominant Race – Human
| First Councillor Azazel turned over the command of the army to General Alexeos, but marched with the army to command the cavalry. Then, sixty-five hundred elite troops marched north to invade Daerond. (See The Daeron Wars, below).
Lord Erelos was tasked with wooing Maxis back into the League, but died in 2826 after eating too many overripe berries on the roadside. Bishop Tritus served as governor of Cadares for five years. He proved to be a diligent and resourceful leader who resolved a local trade dispute and chartered an artist’s academy. The pirate fleet raids Elpedium, looting and burning the coast and sacking the churches. |
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THE DAERON WARS
2826
Erdhonis, 2826 –Søren Overgaard the the Skane raiding fleet set sail for Daerond.
Agaleon, 2826 – Harkorian Councillor Alexeos, Tirgonian King Quinn and their armies set out from their capitals for the Daerond frontier. Five thousand orcish and ogre mercenaries arrive unannounced at Aicherai and claim they have a contract to serve the Empire.
Daarlem, 2826 – The Skane raiding fleet arrives at the Narglaurith river.
Northhale, 2826 – The Daeron port fortress at Lycia stymies Skane efforts to raid the interior.
Berlas – Branaeor, 2826 – The Skane strip what little is left of the Hills of Terror and Landegol.
2827
Erdhonis, 2827 –Søren Overgaard the the Skane raiding fleet return to the Archelos Sea where they are harried by the pirate fleet.
Agaleon, 2827 – The Tirgonian army invades Daerond at Nivaan with fifteen thousand troops. The local militia and tiny garrison rise up in a hopeless resistance.
Strynod, 2827 – The Harkorian army invades Daerond at Landegol with six thousand troops. The local militia and the tiny army of Lycia under Duke Mordek Danaur rise up in a hopeless resistance. They are quickly crushed. Danaur is killed and his body thrown unceremoniously into the Narglaurith.
Maravis, 2827 – Emperor Vantos is forced to abandon his attempts at a census and respond to the Tirgonian invasion. With the aid of the orcish mercenaries, he digs in to defend the Great Rift.
Daarlem, 2827 – The Skane fleet returns to Vanaheim. With Nivaan pacified, the Tirgonian army leaves two thousand light infantry in garrison and marches into the Great Rift.
Northhale, 2827 – The Battle of the Great Rift- Thirteen thousand Tirgonian troops under Duke Hanri and King Quinn squared off against the army of Daerond at the edge of the Great Rift itself amid the vapors and weird cries from its stygian depths. Emperor Vantos rode at the head of eleven thousand troops, including five thousand mercenaries and a thousand mighty ogres. The Tirgonian leadership was brilliant and its army far more maneuverable. But the men of Daerond fought for their homeland and were well dug in behind formidable, if makeshift, defenses. Perhaps most importantly, the mercenaries were hard and better trained than any troops on the field. After a day long struggle in the heat and dust, neither army had the clear upper hand, each side suffering some four thousand casualties. But as the day waned, the Imperial guard struck a telling blow. Charging in behind a wedge of unstoppable ogres, they overwhelmed the spot on the Tirgonian right where king Quinn commanded the cavalry. The king was slain by a lance through the heart. The fight went out of the Tirgonians, who retreated from the field bearing the body of their slain lord and guarded against attack by their still-superior number of cavalry.
With Landegol pacified, the Harkorian army begins the systematic enslavement of the region.
2828
Agaleon, 2828 – The peasants of Landegol rise against their Harkorian enslavers. They may have led miserable lives under the Black Dukes, but they had no intention of going quietly as slaves of their own former slaves. Ill-led bands of locals rose up and challenged the invaders across the province. Unfortunately for them, the Harkorian units were highly-trained and disciplined and the open fields of Landegol were a playground for the elite heavy cavalry from Morthales and Cadares. The insurgency was wiped out with little fanfare.
Strynod, 2828 – The Imperial and mercenary forces of Daerond are once again ready for battle. Aware of the enemy’s many superior qualities, Vantos nonetheless throws caution to the wind. After a prayer and sermon by the priests of Caravok the Destroyer, the Emperor led his army into Nivaan for revenge.
Maravis, 2828 – The Battle of Nivaan – Hanri’s demoralized army was still recovering its scattered strength from the previous year’s battle when Vantos’s smaller army approached with bloody-minded intent. The Duke quickly rallied his men and moved to utilize his heavy advantage in cavalry against the overconfident Emperor. With the addition of the Nivaan garrison, the Tirgonian army now numbered eleven thousand against Daerond’s nine thousand. The Tirgonian army’s state of disarray was its undoing. Though the casualties were ultimately similar on both sides (approximately fifteen hundred per side), it was a clear-cut tactical victory for Daerond. The Tirgonian army was soundly beaten and forced to retreat homeward before instigating its plan to lay waste to Nivaan.
Cleon, 2828 – Knowing that Landegol was burning, Vantos eschewed his chance to reorder his army and reinforce his depleted ranks and instead marched swiftly south.
Northhale, 2828 – The Battle of Landegol- The enslavement of Landegol complete, the Harkorians began to return across the Narglaurith river. Vantos and his army arrive in time to pin the Harkorians against the river and force a battle. As Alexeos struggled to wheel his troops around and get the leading elements back across the river, Vantos struck with the full fury of his Imperial Guard and the orcish mercenaries. The six thousand Harkorians were all elite troops, tough and capable, but the seven thousand Daerons, and particularly the mercenaries were better equipped and were able to attack a disadvantaged foe. Harkorian Lord Ranos III summoned magical power that strengthened and sharpened the Harkorian blades. Their backs to the marshy riverbanks, the Harkorians were unable to bring their full power to bear. Even so, the first day of the battle was a long and bitter struggle without issue. Both sides had lost some thousand dead or missing.
On the second day, the orcish mercenaries launched a deadly charge against the Harkorians which broke their line before the sun had fairly begun to approach its zenith. The elite Harkorians broke and ran for the dubious safety of the river. Though Landegol had been ravaged, the Emperor recovered its people, the slaves Alexeos and his army had taken so many months to acquire.
2829
Cleon, 2829 – Undaunted, and indeed angered by his defeat, First Councillor Azazel orders Alexeos and his surviving army back across the Narglaurith to retake Landegol.
Daarlem – 2929 – Landegol Again- The Harkorian army crosses the Narglaurith to face the waiting Daeron army. This time, the result was entirely different. Despite having to cross the Narglaurith against a waiting enemy, the weight of Harkorian cavalry and the elite nature of the soldiers was telling. The over-confident Daerons were driven back from the river’s edge and then back from their camp. Beaten, the army retreated towards Hastaalm. Vantos managed to keep his army together and retire in good order, however, and so was able to take with him the people of Landegol whom the Harkorians had sought to take as slaves. The Harkorian cavalry harried his retreat all the way to the forest eaves.
2830
Agaleon, 2830 – His army now rested and recovered, Azazel ordered Alexeos to follow Vantos’s army and re-seize those slaves. Alexeos doggedly pursued the emperor.
Strynod, 2830 –The Battle of Hastaalm – Thirty-five hundred elite Harkorians pursued an equal number of Daerons and mercenaries into the dense woodlands of Hastaalm. Their elite status still mattered, but not so their cavalry. Here, it was knowledge of the local terrain that mattered and the pendulum swung once again. Vantos and his small army used stealth and ambush to turn Hastaalm into a killing ground, forcing the retreat (very nearly a rout) of the Harkorians back to Landegol.
Northhale, 2830 – The Harkorian army, now numbering twenty-five hundred effectives, crosses the Narglaurith and returns to Himerium. The orcish mercenaries end their contract, leaving a Daerond army numbering fewer than two thousand wintering in Hastaalm.
The Edgemoor Orcs –
Ruler –Corash the Brave
Capital – Zaramaka
Dominant Race – Orcs
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King Malik the Timid spent a year and a half trying to get an accurate count of the many orcs in his dominion, but gave up in frustration. He then ruled from Zaramaka until his death by natural causes (poisoning) in 2829.
Upon hearing that Malik was dead, Corash the brave, who had been doing some recreational looting in Lortuth with very nearly the entire Edgemoor army, marched to Zaramaka and slaughtered all of Malik’s children, cousins and even some orcs that looked a little like him, just in case. He then declared himself overlord of the Edgemoors. The orcs of Angrod and Dakhash took the opportunity to rise up and declare themselves free of Zaramaka’s rule. Before his untimely yet colorful death at the hands of Corash the Brave, Prince Graun the Mouth had been the governor of Zaramaka for four years. Let’s just say that no one will miss his powers of administration… |
The pirate fleet continued to wage unchecked warfare on the merchant fleets of northwest Medahros. Nearly twenty percent of all merchants passing through the Archelos Sea were taken!
They also raided Elpedium and Seafarthing.
South-Western Medarhos
| The Brythnian Confederation– Ruler – Queen Coeus Capital – Carrenthium Dominant Race – Taurid |
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It was an age of woeful disaster. King Esriadan marched secretly with an army of thirteen thousand centaurs through the mountains of Auram and the Goldenhorns, and thence through the wilds of Hildreth to come suddenly upon the Ascarlon heartlands of Galati. But the Ascars had many spies and were aware of the coming of this horde. On the king’s third night in Galati, he was set upon by vampires in his tent and slain. Meanwhile, spies who seemed to be centaurs sowed dissension and panic within the ranks of the army, so that many of the centaurs mutinied.
It was while the brave taurid army was in this state that the forces of Gauros the Arisen struck. The Brythnians still held a great advantage in numbers and ferocity, but they were ill-led, for Esriadan had brought with him no second-in-command. Moreover, Galati had many stout castles and hill forts to stymie the centaur movement. Gauros and his much smaller army of six thousand (including elite infantry, heavy cavalry and two thousand ghouls and the shambling dead) completely dominated the leaderless centaurs and sent them reeling back into the hills. The loss was nearly total. |
Under their junior officers, the centaurs managed to rally a few thousand of their number and struggle over the mountains to return to Carrenthium with just three thousand five hundred troopers.
Moreover, Lord Rialden, liaison to the Conorrian army, died in Lenicum of yellow fever, while Lycurgus Redshanks, lord of the Dacian Hills, died in 2826 of wounds received while hunting. Thus it was that the only national leader left was Coeus, a centaur sorceress. Ironically, Esriadan had left instructions that Coeus be dismissed from his service in 2830. Instead, she was crowned his successor. Loricam and Unialus immediately seceded from the confederation.
Luckily, the Aelissian halflings and humans from the Crusader States, Grail Primacy and the Order of the Dawn encamped in Brythnia did not betray her, despite the dynastic and military failures.
| Aelissia – Ruler –King Marvin Fatfish Capital – The Great Delve Dominant Race – Halfling |
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Prudent investments in government and education marked this period in Aelissian history. The halfling nation continued to slowly develop advanced agricultural techniques in Greensward, while the plans for an eventual city in Artence were drawn up.
King Brandon Longhandle died in 2827 of a heart attack that most ascribed to his late nights and diligent efforts on behalf of the country he never wanted to rule. The very same week, nearly a thousand miles away, Brandon’s longtime friend, the farmer-general Pip Oxback died during a training exercise in the Dacian Hills. Mourned by his army the local minotaurs alike, he was buried on a green hill overlooking the broad green plains of Cerintum. His army was left leaderless. The Moot discussed whom to appoint next as king, for Brandon had left no heirs, There were many in the Moot who favored Keegan Brandobaris, son of old king Brandobaris, but in the end, the election lighted on Marvin Fatfish, quiet administrator and brewer. The pirate fleet raided the coast of Seafarthing, looting and pillaging the many small villages. |
| Corland – Ruler –King Armand Capital – Khairais Dominant Race – Human Diplomacy – Mauredoc [N/A] |
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Days of peace and plenty continued to be the blessing of Corland, the evils of the har’keen occupation now a fading nightmare. Even their vile habitations are nearly forgotten, most traces of them having blown away with the wind. Only the eerie silence of Serry, Garromais, Andelais and Votois remain as monuments to the near-annhilation of the Corish people. More colonists were sent to Courronais and the whole wealth of the nation was bent to their success. Meanwhile, Duke Henri traveled to the rebel region of Mauredoc and there entreated the local lords into alliance, but the rebels would have none of it. |
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| Lorraine – Ruler –King Artorius Capital – Armorica Dominant Race – Human |
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Prince Mordred, Sir Boru and the archmage Myrddin traveled to the Llyran island of Ryoril where, with the Republic’s permission, they founded the city of Meergeld. As soon as the city was founded, Lorraine merchants used its small port to further their trade into the Valesian Sea, trading with Conorria, Thariyya, Marador and Accolon. A new route was also set up with Brythnia via the Golden Sea and the Ghostwash, but was immediately set upon by the pirates in the Archelos Sea.
King Artorius commissioned a new large galley on the Conorrian design, and transferred it, along with several small transports, to his son, Prince Mordred. Sir Morgan was governor of Cassivelaunus, but he began to sicken and accomplished little before his death in 2828 after a long bout with consumption. |
| The Whisper Wood – Ruler –Queen Elevuil Capital – Menelcandara Dominant Race – Elf Diplomacy – Kalena Uplands [NT] |
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| War erupted in the Whisper Wood, and Prince Fealurë’s army of four thousand elite archers drove out the giantish invaders in prolonged woodland battle. Nearly half the elves were slain, however, and their graves now dot the hilltops throughout the Sunglades.
Lord Talorn sojourned with the elves of the Kalena Uplands and they agreed to recognize the sovereign power of Queen Elevuil. Meanwhile, the queen herself directed several thousand elves to cross the Lyodan river and take up residence among the hills of the Fey Hunt. |
The Neldorean Wood –
| Ruler –Queen Nereil Capital – Elenuil Dominant Race – Elf |
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Not a word was heard, though foreign sailors say that Elenuil is no longer the tiny port it once was. |
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| The Airnim Horde – Ruler – Unknown Capital – Haelopolis Dominant Race – Human |
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Suddenly more secretive than the elves, the Airnim impose strict controls on their borders. No one comes in or goes out. Rumors abound that Tarl Wolf’s Paw is dead while the nomads suffer from a terrible plague. It is said that blood runs from open sores, while men choke to death on their own bile. |
| The Exarchate of the Great Crusade – Ruler –Queen Ava Capital – Pontezium Dominant Race – Human Diplomacy – Salt Shore [-] |
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Queen Ava ordered that the South Akasian Hills be cleared for cultivation, and this arduous process was begun. She also gave charters for several small villages in the beautiful Akasian Hills. The queen helped to raise nearly a thousand infantryman for her ally, Roger of Pomarche. Finally, she exercised her sorcerous powers to improve the economy of the nation.
Her brothers, Prince Gauter and Prince Candos, moved their army of four thousand from the Hills of Itherias across the Lyodan river into the taurid plains of Lloricam. From the south, Lord Sheldon commanded the river flotilla that ferried Pomarche’s three thousand troops to Lloricam, where the entire Crusader presence in Brythnia became seven thousand troops. Lord Yaral continued to importune Charles of the Salt Shore, but Charles steadfastly refused to give up his own sovereignty over that coastal region. |
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The Holy Order of the Dawn –
Ruler –Grand Master Tiberius
Capital – The Akasian Hills
Dominant Race – Human
Diplomacy – Flavium [OH], Benemartius [OH]
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Grand Master Tiberius was still gone on his quest; no one had so much as heard from him in ten years, though prayers were sung for him every day at Noon in the Chapel of War.
Two thousand knights and an additional thousand horsemen joined the order and were placed into the Akasian Hills garrison. Meanwhile, Master Claudius and Master Aneias guarded the Dacian Hills in Brythnia, along with several thousand Aelissian halflings. The order’s forces there amounted to ten thousand troops, including two thousand knights. |
Rhanalor
| The Shadowed Realm of Ascarlon – Ruler –Baron Gauros the Arisen Capital – Denavine Dominant Race – Human Diplomacy – Hildreth [NT] |
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| The Baron sent his minions and their armies to defend the Worldspine Mountains, while he shrouded himself and his own Undying Legion in warped enchantments countenanced by his fierce and bloodthirsty gods. As a precaution, he sent orcish spies into many of the outlying regions. This would prove to be a sage and profitable move.
In the spring of 2827, thirteen thousand deadly Brythnian centaurs crossed over the Goldenhorns and into Ascarlon’s heartlands. But the mountains had eyes and the Baron soon knew of the invasion. He rushed to meet the centaurs in the hills of Hildreth, but they were faster and broke into the wide fields of Galati before he could intercept them. It looked as though the centaurs might repeat the feats of the Airnim Horde, some thirty-five years before. But the realm of Ascarlon has not survived thirty-five hundred years without certain powerful patrons, which the Conorrians of old knew all to well. In the dead of night, ancient lords of the Ascar arose from their dismal tombs and descended upon the taurid camp. There, amidst the power and glory of his army, they took King Esriadan for their own, draining his life and his life’s blood and scattering his remains about his tent. At the same time, other Ascar agents, disguised as centaurs, went among the host spreading lies and fear. When they discovered the horrid fate of their commander, the Brythnian legions bolted. With no other commander to quell their mutiny, |
they reeled back towards the border. It was then that the Baron’s small army of men and ghouls struck, in combination with a large number of stout fortifications, and , thanks to brilliant generalship, scattered the hapless and leaderless centaurs into a total rout. Fear and murder had accomplished what the force of arms could not have dared to dream.
In addition, thousands of new colonists entered into Mahant and took up farming.
The Worldspine Orcs –
Ruler –Vaurog Breakspear
Capital – Mount Kauroth
Dominant Race – Orc
Diplomacy – Torokon [NT]
| King Vaurog gave his armies, some fifteen thousand strong, into the command of his son, Gorstagg and ordered him to protect the realm. Alongside him were five thousand regulars of the Carhallas army. Coming, he knew, were the allies of Ascarlon and Carhallas.
Vaurog raised and granted a thousand goblin raiders to his ally, Mendak Half-Goblin of Brolok, and ordered Mendak move into the Conorrian frontier province of Quaethos and harry the richer surrounding territories. (See The War of the Worldspines, below). Then in 2827came the word that a massive force of Grail troops, consisting of fifty-five thousand troops from Conorria, the Grail Primacy and the dwarves of Dhûnazhar as well as Llyran skyships, were marching north from Lenicum. At about this time, Gorstagg’s bodyguards caught and slaughtered a Conorrian assassin who had been sent to kill him. Gorstagg ignored his father’s orders to meet the Grailites in the Southern Worldspines. Instead, he dug in and defended around the capital, in order to give his orcs a better position and also to give his allies time to arrive. (See The War of the Worldspines, below). Lords Magand and Gandaur governed in Mount Kauroth and Gargath until their deaths in 2829 and 2827, respectively. Both turned out to be venal, greedy and lazy. King Vaurog, old as he was (very old, for an orc) fathered both a daughter and a son. |
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| The Empire of Carhallas – Ruler –Emperor Maugroth the Younger Capital – Carcaroth Dominant Race – Hobgoblin |
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Emperor Maugroth sent reinforcements to aid the orcish scum of the Worldspines, while still keeping significant forces in Sauthor. He named his son Maugroth the Younger his heir and died a mere seven months later, wracked with a wet cough no medicine could aid.
General U’karth commanded the five thousand elite hobgoblins in the Worldspines, and eventually the thousands more allied troops that appeared just before the great battle. The latter eight thousand, mostly light cavalry, were ambushed in Brolok by Conorrian general Domus with three thousand light infantry. Despite being outnumbered and outmaneuvered, Domus’s original strategies allowed him to inflict nearly a thousand casualties on the hobgoblins before they could continue on their way. See The War of the Worldspines, below. In the extreme west, the hobgoblins of Qandaraq grew bored with distant Carcaroth and rebelled, cursing the name of the Emperor as a foreign dictator. |
| The Great Kingdom of Annvar – Ruler –Councillor Denerthaw Capital – Varthane Dominant Race – Human Diplomacy – Argininkai [-FA], Arvamak [-FA], Balga[-FA], Gastos [-FA], Gurvolynas [-FA], Kala [-FA], Rukai [-FA], Sharu [-FA], Torava [-FA] Marvald [+FA] |
The Standard of Annvar |
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With his economy in crisis, Councillor Denerthaw granted their own fiefdom to each of the steppe- and forest-lords, keeping under his direct control only the cultivated lands and cities. With this more limber government, he sent settlers into Enkkia, and diplomats into Marvald, which also became a fiefdom under the Great Kingdom’s control.
Denerthaw took personal command of Annvar’s army at Varthane. |
The Conorrian Heartland –
The Conorrian Empire –
| Ruler –Emperor Constantikos III Capital – Echoriath Dominant Race – Human Diplomacy – Aquae Albanesis [-T], Baetulo [-T], Boenia [-T], Calodunum [-T], Isurium [-T], Naxartes [-T], Pautalia [-T], Scythnus [-T], Zela [-T] |
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| Like the Annvarites far to the north, Constantikos engaged in some wholesale decentralization of Conorrian control over the less-developed provinces. Demanding only tribute in exchange for the emancipation of nine marginal provinces, the Emperor hoped thereby to shift his governmental resources to more profitable centers such as Adoria and Faloricum.
In addition to his vigorous administration of the Empire, Constantikos found time to reorder the merchant fleets (moving an armada of idle military transports into commercial use at Echoriath) and to father two more children, his third son Constantikos and his fifth daughter, Leucretia. Missionaries to Riandos convinced the local taurids to embrace the Lords of the Grail after twenty-five years of preaching. They were particularly enthusiastic about Daria, goddess of wild places, and Artorius, god of war. Princess Anna assisted her father in his work for many years and was rewarded with the governorship of Echoriath for the year 2830. Many noted that the Emperor was breaking with tradition by appointing a woman to such a post, but others called him forward-thinking. In any case, Anna showed little inclination towards civic duties, and spent her year composing a written paean to the glory of the Imperial house. Prince Arcalas traveled to Carrenthium in Brythnia to investigate the causes of the Great Fire |
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there ten years before. He was close-lipped about his findings. Prince Varantius traveled to Lenicum where he transferred sixteen thousand limitanei to the Legio XII of Herculeades Agrippa and took over command of Lenicum’s five thousand cavalry. In 2827, a clear blue summer morning was rent with a thunderous din as a new mountain was born in fire and cataclysm in the province of Lederata. Named mons cornus, the mountain spewed sulfurous gasses and explosive balls of molten rock for weeks before quieting down to mere hissing steam and bubbling pools of oddly-colored water. Dozens of towns and hundreds of farms were destroyed. Tens of thousands of people were displaced to the roads, suddenly without homes or livelihood. The ancient church which had stood on the very spot of the eruption was utterly destroyed. The city of Colanum was also hard-hit, with burning ash responsible for dozens of fires. Without the farms to provide food, the cityfolk had to rely on stores brought in from beyond the province, and many starved or emigrated. |
Palos Eatredes, legatus legiones, and Mikal Oak, primus ordo veneficus, joined the command of Herculeades Agrippa, dux in lenicum, at Lenicum. In 2827, having gathered an army of thirty-six thousand, including two thousand elite legionnaires and fourteen thousand elite rangers, Herculeades was ready to march. Along with him were the armies of the Grail Primacy and Dhûnazhar. With fifty-five thousand men and dwarves and eight Llyran skyships, they marched north. (See The War of the Worldspines, below).
Meanwhile, Domus, allied comes per lidhinos, marched north to intercept Carhallas reinforcements. (See The War of the Worldspines, below).
In 2828, a fire broke out in the scholae vigiles in Echoriath. The doors had been barred shut from the outside and dozens of scribes, eunuchs and scholars burned to death along with thousands of scrolls and tablets accounting for the civil service of the Empire. The Watch apprehended several foreign merchants and residents and held them for questioning.
Finally, the eastern forest provinces revolted en masse. Perinthus, Udicus and Thrysdus all felt the loose and distant hand of Ecoriath slipping and simply ceased to tolerate the Imperial yoke.
The Great Church of the Lords of the Grail –
| Ruler –Patriarch Calidonus Holy City – Conorr Dominant Race – Human Diplomacy – Lederata [-UN], Colanum [-AB], Greensward [AB], Seafarthing [CH], Lethinan [CH], Mediovalum [CH], Hypylus [CH] |
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The Patriarch spread a great deal of money around. Two thousand troops were hired and sent to defend Brythnia. Fifteen fine warships were built in Conorr while a great deal of naval training was conducted in that holy city. The lands of the Grail were the great beneficiaries of the Partiarch’s largesse, as Conorr, Quesante, Dhûnazhar, Greensward and the Akasian Hills all received investments of churches, schools, wells and aqueducts.
After looking to the defenses of Lenicum in 2826, the Partiarch traveled to Conorr where he blessed the “Grail Hiring Hall”, an adventurer’s guild. He then exacted tithes from the halflings of Aelissia and the dwarves of Dhûnazhar. Bishop Iscandus and Prince Tonali took over the command of the Grail forces in Lenicum (twelve thousand troops, including three thousand paladins and two thousand elite men-at-arms). Under the overall command of Conorrian general Herculeades Agrippa, they marched north in 2827. (See The War of the Worldspines, below.) Bishop Iscandus died of smallpox in 2829 and command of the army passed to Prince Tonali. Bishop Jaymes continued his travels in Celendor, but died of the bloody flux in 2828. Before his death, he founded churches in Lethinan and Mediovalum. Bishop Tantalus founded (at long last!) a church in the wilds of Hypylus, south of the Valesian Empire. |
Bishop Belisarus traveled to the Brythnian Hills with three thousand troops (including two thousand elite cavalry) and defended the northern frontier.
The Dwarven mercenary Khedem Var once again served the Primacy as admiral of its fleet. He sailed thirty warships west to aid Har’Akir in its war on the pirates. (See The Southern Pirates, below).
The Dwarven Realm of Dhûnazhar–
Ruler – King Valand Dragonsbane
Capital – Khelem Vala
Dominant Race – Dwarf
Diplomacy – Oeres [-]
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King Valand and Lord Moragh recruited a thousand King’s Elite Guards and marched to Lenicum with six thousand dwarves to meet up with their Grail and Conorrian allies, thence to march against the orcs. (See The War of the Worldspines, below)
Lord Roin spent several years vainly wooing the lords of Oeres. The gruff and disinterested dwarves had time only for their forges and mines. |
THEWAR OF THE WORLDSPINES
During the year 2826, few forces were yet moving in what would eventually become an enormous battle for the Worldspine Mountains. The orcs and their hobgoblin allies dug in around the capital in the Worldspine North. Meanwhile, reinforcements from Ascarlon and Carhallas marched across the intervening hills and woodlands to reach the mountains in time. In the south, the Conorrians gathered a vast army at Hell’s Gate in Lenicum and awaited the arrival of more reinforcements from the Emperor, from the Grail Patriarch, the dwarven king of Dhûnazhar and from the senate of the Llyran Republic.
Two forces that were on the offensive that year were both moving as stealthily as possible. Mendak Half-Goblin, a Worldspine ally, marched a light force of two thousand goblins south across the Maurellian Range and into Ophialum. Domus, Conorrian comes per Lidhinos, marched north with three thousand into Endorwaith
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Agaleon, 2827 – Mendak’s goblin raiders enter into the Conorrian province of Quaethos. His movement is by night, but his troops take no care to hide their presence.
Strynod, 2827 – Mendak begins to raid the Conorrian province of Zenoton for slaves.
Maravis, 2827 – Herculeades Agrippa and his 55,000 Conorrian and allied troops launch their invasion of the Worldspines. Sizing up the situation, Herculeades weighs his orders. He decides to ignore the goblin provocations in Zenoton and proceed with his attack. His troops march northwest.
Cleon, 2827 – The Ascarlon reinforcements arrive at the Worldspines.
Daarlem, 2827 – Finished with raiding Zenoton, Mendak Half-Goblin proceeds to raid Acaris. The main Grail army enters the Worldspines South. General Domus and his three thousand troops enter the forests of Rhundur and begin scouting for hobgoblins.
Northhale, 2827 – The Grail forces once again pacify the Southern Worldspines. There is very little resistance to their overwhelming force. In the Northern Worldspines, Gorstagg and his allies await the inevitable, rather than moving south.
2828
Erdhonis, 28298 – Finished with some fairly unsuccessful slave raiding, Mendak Half-Goblin returns north, avoiding the Worldspine battles. Herculeades Agrippa, overall commander of the Grail forces in the Worldspines, dies of camp fever. Command of the Conorrian forces falls to Palos Eatredes, while overall command falls to King Valand Dragonsbane of Dhûnazhar.
Agaelon, 2828 – Domus and his Conorrians detect Skarkug and his Carhallas troops marching from Brolok south. They move to intercept. In the wake of the slave raids, Acaris revolts and declares its independence.
Strynod, 2828 –The Battle of Brolok – Domus’s three thousand light Conorrian infantry stood athwart the path of eight thousand hobgoblins, many of them cavalry. The hobgoblins were commanded by general Scarkug, a lean hobgoblin given to philosophy and vivid poetry. The wily Scarkug was outmatched by the outstanding generalship of Domus, but numbers and maneuverability were ultimately telling. Domus’s force was forced to retreat, while Scarkug (about a thousand troops lighter) marched on.
Daarlem, 2828 – Both the Carhallas reinforcements and the Grail army march into the Worldspines North in the same week.
Northhale 2828 – The Battle of the Northern Worldspines – In one of the truly titanic battles of the age, fifty-five thousand men and dwarves faced off against thirty-one thousand men, orcs, hobgoblins and the undead. The Grail armies had a superlative general and good supporting leaders, and an excellent mixture of elite troops and light troops. They struggled with multinational command, the terrain and fighting far from home. Just before the battle commencement, the Conorrians unfurled the ancient Blood Eagle Banner, long the symbol of power the Empire. Conorrian war wizards ensured that their army’s blades were bright with magic. Dwarven battle-priests chanted ancient songs of power which roused the blood of their already fierce warriors. Grailite priests blessed their armies with holy power against the armies of Darkness. Llyran skyship crews tuned their engines. Of the Dark Court armies, only the forces of Ascarlon came prepared with magic, and this was a foul rotting of the metal of their foes, canceling the Conorrian enchantments. But the Dark Court, too, had a great general in Gorstagg. What’s more, they were heavily dug in and defending their homeland, and of course, there were many castles and forts to support the army.
The first day’s battle was a bitter standoff, with the Grail forces battering away at the Dark Court defenses. Despite the heroism of the Conorrian XII legion in a doomed frontal assault on the castle of Kevrak, the defenders had the upper hand for most of the day. Late in the afternoon, however, the Conorrians unleashed their secret weapon. The War Wizards stood forth in a line just behind the legionnaires and invoked cyan bolts of eldritch power which fed into one central point – the wizard Mikal Oak. The oddly-named wizard was the Conorrian’s Primus ordo Veneficus, their archmage. Mikal channeled the power of the War Wizards into a single, devastating invocation. The sky over the mountains grew dark and ash began to fall. Minutes later, the space over the Dark Court armies was rent with a thunderous storm of fire as the air itself burst into flames. Though this horrific effect lasted for only a dozen seconds, thousands were set ablaze and died or were sent screaming from the field. The armies of Ascarlon bore the greatest brunt of this assault. But the fire fell on the orcs, too, and one of those burned to death was none other than Prince Gorstagg, commander of the joint Dark Court armies. By the end of the day, each side had suffered some fifteen thousand dead or injured. Despite this, neither side was inclined to quit the field.
Although their great magic was spent, any rational evaluation of the two sides at the start of the second day would have to conclude that the armies of the Grail held the clear advantage because of their great numbers. They began the day with forty thousand effectives compared to the mere fifteen thousand fielded by the defenders. But when Vaurog Breakspear took the field to replace his fallen son, the spirit of the orcs and their allies rose to a fever pitch. With the rising of the sun, the battle recommenced with as great a fury as it had displayed the day before. This day, however, was far more lopsided. The Dark Court allies fell upon the Grail despite their superior numbers and with great fury drove them back, forcing them ultimately to retire (albeit in good order and protected by the hovering skyships) to the Southern Worldspines. The toll of the second day was ten thousand Grail forces slain compared to seven thousand Dark Court casualties. Both sides spent months recovering their scattered troops and tending to their wounded, but the battles did not resume…yet.
VALES –
North-Western Vales –
The Llyran Republic –
Ruler –Constans Harko Marova
Capital – Tarrentica
Dominant Race – Human
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The Llyrans invested heavily in government and military training and kept pretty much to themselves. The sole exception was Bishop Gylfie, who flew north with a small flotilla of four skyships and four smaller skyskiffs to support the armies of the Grail in the Worldspine mountains. Gylfie died of pneumonia in the southern Worldspines in 2829, leaving the fleet leaderless.
In 2826, the senate voted to allow the kingdom of Lorraine to establish a colony on the island of Ryoril. |
| The Holy Matriarchy of Ahuran– Ruler –Queen Luriaal Moonshadow Capital – Sedeskan Dominant Race – Human |
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In 2826, Queen Luriaal became pregnant, but miscarried. In the following year, she died of complications during another pregnancy. Her lifelong friend, Yvonne Hawkwing, took over the Holy Matriarchy as Regent, but called for the election of an heir. Trianna Copperblade showed real talent for politics and coercion in her role as governor of Sedeskan, but Deidre Lynxpaw was far too concerned with her collections of art and slaves to concern herself with the government of Ilduskan. Ariel of the Woods retreated to her forested estates and communicated with no one. |
In the year 2828, the dragon Sirrush struck again, this time rampaging through the hills of Rarram. Some four thousand feudal levies from Mahaaran, Ahristhon and Naidhan drove forward towards the dragon but were dismayed to discover that the Regent had sent none of the national troops to aid them. Sirrush slew several hundred of the valiant women and the rest fled in terror. The Landress of Ahristhon declared her independence from the Holy Matriarchy. A strange small horde of hopping, flying and crawling skeletons accompanied the dragon.
| Har’akir – Ruler –Sultan Socacia Alouda Capital – Mar Awas Dominant Race – Human Diplomacy – Khars [A], Dikhil [-], Gon Bahar [A] |
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The Sultan declared a week of celebrations when the cultivation of Entelle was complete. The once-impenetrable forest was now checked with ripe fields of chickpea, chickory, coffee and cotton.
The sultan reorganized many shipping routes, moving some from busy Agazier on the east coast to placid Galim on the west. He also fathered two children before the untimely death of his wife Aoula in 2828. Lord Nuldoor convinced the lord of Khars to become a close ally of the sultan before Nuldoor suddenly died of an aneurysm in 2827. The following month another diplomat died in mid-sentence as Prince Laith, the sultan’s brother, died while speaking with the Lord of Dikhil. A third diplomat, Prince Munsif, convinced the elves of Gon Bahar to ally closely with the sultan. Lord Bajid set forth from Muzir with thirty-five proud ships of war. Sliding down the west coast, he patrolled the Luxur coast for pirates. (See The Southern Pirates, below). |
| The Valesian Empire – Ruler –Primarch Centorius II, Euristis Capital – Centauris Dominant Race – Human |
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| Withdrawn into its own affairs, the Valesian Empire spent heavily on public works in Laedos and Phalces.
An sybil in Euristi has attracted much attention in the region by foretelling the coming of a terrible evil that will “drink the light of day.” |
Luxur –
Ruler –General Lyanys
Capital – Thedelos
Dominant Race – Sathla
Diplomacy – Kerma [EA], Pyrayus [EA]
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General Lyansys marched into Merwal with seven thousand troops and immediately sought out a recently-discovered sizeable temple to the evil god Andobulos, Master of Plagues. The cultists were rooted out, burned out and slain in the still-overgrown streets. The populace was irate that their holy city (for so they deemed it) was thus besmirched by the Dark Court and mobs soon formed to hang or beat any unknown person or foreigner.
Similar inquisitions were held in locations around the nation, including the capital and many of the wealthiest regions. One investigator, Kansag of Keferis, died in 2827 of small pox, while the other, Speaker Grusst died of heat stoke in 2830. Speaker Ydrik traveled to Kerma and the city of Pyrayus to soothe the rebel spirit and talk the region and city back into the Luxurite fold. And so he did. Soon, both polities agreed to close economic ties with Thedelos. Finally, Admiral Sesthan and Captain Drissdal put to sea from Thedelos in more than sixty heavy warships to patrol the Luxur Coast. (See The Southern Pirates, below). Later, the pirate fleet raided Sekhem and Badar, leaving churches and cathredrals wrecked and local villages burned to the ground. |
| The Holy See of Udjo Ruler –Arch Priest Pysus Great Cathedral – Thedelos Dominant Race – Sathla Diplomacy – Merwal [CA] |
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Archpriest Pysus, called “The Pious” put all his energies into re-establishing religious controls in the holy city of Merwal, driving out the infidels and whipping up religious sentiment in the long-occupied metropolis. As the most obvious symbol of that renewal of faith, Pysus drove the people (sometimes physically, for Pysus was not shy with a lead-tipped goad) to build a great new pyramid to the god.
He also had the holy girl (now in her teens) brought from Thedelos to Merwal to be seen by the masses and to instruct her in the orthodoxy of Autumna. Meanwhile, a horde of priests traveled south of the holy city into the saurus jungles of Arran to preach to the pagan lizard-men of the glories of Udjo. With them went the priestess known only as “Mistress of the Arch Priest”, whose subtle diplomacy and personal allure was intended to turn the heads of Arran aristocracy. The rise of the Holy See as well as the fervor of its representatives was most persuasive and the people flocked to great rallies of conversion, abandoning their own race’s ancient gods. |
The Serpentine of Mykele –
Ruler –RegentVlaasthess
Capital – Oroyon
Dominant Race – Sathla
| Regent Vlasthess stood over the map and observed the marks made his scribes to indicate the pirate scum which had cut off trade to the north. This, he decided, was an opportunity to galvanize the nation and to take a place upon the stage of the world. He moved troops into Oroyon to defend it from attack, and dispatched sathla and supplies to Girudar to enrich the many jungle communities there. He also sent out a summons for all the mercenary ships of Vales.
Under orders from the Regent, Lords Markessh and Lansss assembled a sathla fleet of twenty ships at Oroyon, and added to it the fifteen mercenary ships. Then, with this force, they sailed north to root out pirates. (See The Southern Pirates, below). |
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THE SOUTHERN PIRATES
The navies of the Grail Primacy, Har’akir, Luxur and Mykele converged on the waters of the Luxur Coast, there to give battle to the pirates. Of the four, only Har’akir and the Grail had any orders to work together. Yet as the four fleets spent months and then years battling pirates, they soon agreed to peace between themselves and a sort of unspoken competition in pursuing the pirates.
Yet the task was not what they had supposed it to be. Between the four navies, they had more than one hundred forty hulls, including an incredible variety of types, from barely seaworthy Mykele cogs to the mighty Har’akir flagship Bar Gallaz. The Luxurites accounted for nearly half this number. The pirates, however, were yet more numerous and their crews highly trained. They demanded a tribute equal to 10% of Luxur’s income for fifteen years or they would lay waste to Sekhem and Badar.
Predictably, the admirals involved refused the extortion and so brought the pirates to battle in many engagements, large and small, across the Luxur Coast and beyond. The results were disastrous. The pirates sunk or captured more than seventy of the allied warships, including the Bar Gallaz, while losing less than a third of that themselves. They went on to raid Luxur…
North-Eastern Vales –
| The Kingdom of Thariyya – Ruler –King Mogrihan Vahdin Capital – Uls Fakhar Dominant Race – Halfling Diplomacy – Hassar [T] |
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| The King decreed that Hassar was a free and independent realm, thus ending the long and unprofitable occupation. Then, wreathed in spells of good cheer and in the company of his best diplomats, Mogrihan negotiated a treaty with the newly-independent province whereby they gained the protection of Thariyya in exchange for a small tribute each year. In exchange, Muriana, Mogrihan’s only daughter, was given in marriage to the lord of Hassar.
A great number of peasants were put to work in Vahdin, irrigating the fields and turning the soil. While their sister was being married to a Hassarite nobleman, the young princes Azek and Bezyr were approaching manhood. The former loved falconry and would spent part of every day in the fields with his birds, while the latter, a smaller lad, spent his days in the castle library, studying history and romances. Mogrihan called to Vahdin all his vassal armies, where they drilled in preparedness for an invasion. |
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| Accolon – Ruler –Warlock Kurotsuki The Blackmoon Capital – Dammarask Dominant Race – Human Diplomacy – Eumana [+5 YfC] |
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Belshazu ordered yet more investment in Akin and Dammarask, bringing in craftsmen and laborers from the provinces. He protected the investment by granting title to several small lords on the condition that they build castles on the land.
Belshazu’s protégé, the Annointed One, died in 2826, victim of a summoning rite gone awry. The accident also slew Hastor Blackcloak, lord of Hatti. Belshazu himself also died after suffering a stroke in 2829. He was unable to communicate for more than six months before dying, but Kurotsuki, known as “Blackmoon” claimed successfully that the Warlock had bid him to rule the realm just before his death. After a period of tension and strife, Blackmoon was able to enforce his will and become the legitimate ruler of Accolon. Ezekial the Cipher traveled to Eumana and continued to soothe the angry sentiments of the region’s leaders. |
| The Shadowed Primacy of the Dark Court – Ruler –High Priest Gezz Half-Shadow Holy City – Dammarask Dominant Race – Human |
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| Gez Half-Shadow ruled from the city of Unaagh, preaching against heresies of the Dark Court faith, such as those in Nuradeem. He directed large investments into religious training and general education.
Serakin and Ezhak traveled to Bisruki and Esagal, respectively, to establish churches. They were a bit surprised to find functioning abbeys in both locations. Yagrax the Unclean died in Bisruki of leprosy in 2829, after a long and debilitating illness. |
The Shadowguard of Marador –
Ruler –Queen Madariel Shadowfoot
Capital – Lantar
Dominant Race – Elf
Diplomacy – Dimbe [A], Balan [FA], Nastaldo [A]
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With a dazzling display of sorcery, Queen Madariel sent out her diplomats to cement her relationships with Dimbe, Nastaldo and Balan. Each swore an oath of allegiance to the ancient queen. She herself entertained the lord of Dimbe who became a close friend during the years she passed in his halls. Hidden within a clinging mist, Prince Orunot and his elite cavalry, The Silver Hooves, raided the orcish hills of Ash and the orcish woods of Zab-kin. These poor and generally lightly-populated woods provided little loot but good training for his troops. In far Alako, more fields were plowed for the support of the Shadowguard’s many armies. In 2828, there were several mysterious deaths in Windan. Elves were found dead with horrified expressions on their faces and no apparent causes of death. |
South-Western Vales –
The Steaming Kingdom of Drormt –
Ruler –KingBraa’kTlazolteotl
Capital – Breeka
Dominant Race – Saurus
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Having seen the power of Mekebele’s army, Tlazolteotl decided that his beloved Drormt must be better protected. Summoning all available labor, even among the very young and the very aged (but curiously not among the many slaves in Breeka), he ordered that a great number of forts and swampy redoubts be built to protect the borders and best fishing grounds.
Lords Kra’quam and Kreekrish of Munampt died in 2829, while Lord Y’grak died of far too many sathla ales in 2830. When Kreekrish died, his alliance died with him. The sauruses of Munampt continued to trade with Breeka, but sent no troops to the king’s call. |
Sendahl –
Ruler –King Askaldor
Capital – Nyange
Dominant Race – Human
| King Leyoleyo*ta died on a fine summer evening in 2826. Though he had named no successor, no such election was necessary. Lord Askaldor stepped neatly into the monarch’s place, and none dared to gainsay him.
Askaldor immediately ordered many thousands of settlers west into Koher. The steppe there thundered once more to the souds of cavalry, but now those horesemen were loyal to the king in Nyange. Meanwhile, the king marched a thousand infantry into Durudin and their cashiered them, giving them local lands in exchange for their labor in building some defensive works to protect the sathla region. He returned an equal number of kanka riders to Desiket. |
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| Mekebele – Ruler –Emperor Gwarkem Capital – Awayal Dominant Race – Human |
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| Emperor Mufun died without an heir in 2826. The shaman assembled all the chiefs of the tribes and sacrificed to the great dragon spirits, seeking to know whom the spirits nominated as Emperor. Reading the entrails, the shaman alighted on the choice of Gwarkem, a mighty warrior from a minor clan. Gwarkem was painted with the sacred tinctures and blessed as Emperor of all Mekebele.
He thereafter led a raid of two thousand elite soldiers through the jungles of Eusobre, Darzibu, Idri and Itubarratu. Raiding the jungles netted the new Emperor little, but it served to show his people and his neighbors just whom was seated upon the throne. Upon returning to Awayal, he sent large amounts of men and materials to Menrat, establishing ten villages amidst the newly-plowed fields. Prince Wetenbe and Warleader Stonesinger both died in 2828 of yellow fever. Warleader Xhoka followed to the same doom in 2830. When Prince Wetenbe of Garmazt died, his son refused to send further troops to aid the Emperor, though he did continue to send tribute. |
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South-Eastern Vales –
| The Dwarven Realm of Aurdrukar – Ruler –King Norrim Forgemaster Capital – The Brass Tower Dominant Race – Dwarf |
 Banner of Aurdrukar |
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King Norrim Forgemaster, his son Belak Shieldbreaker and Lord Thulnor marched across the eastern mountains and into the orcish realm of Vipuren with ten thousand dwarven warriors, including four thousand Burundur Guards. The motley tribes of orcs fought back from their miserable villages, but to no avail. The bright steel and perfect discipline of the dwarves sent the orcs wailing into their deep caves and mountain aeries. The dwarves were now lords of Vipuren.
Norrim left Thulnor and two thousand dwarves to occupy their conquest and returned to the Brass Tower. |
| The Elven Empire of Sengkar – Ruler –Emperor Valoril Greenshield Capital – Ezrand Dominant Race – Elf Diplomacy – Kibeyes [EA], Ozhayar [NT] |
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| Emperor Valoril raised two thousand elven knights for the defense of the homeland, and personally planted the final heartwood trees in that region in a ceremony that lasted seven nights. He then retired to Ezrand where he continued his blissful reign.
The wealthy craftsmen and traders of the Empire formed a cooperative guild in Ezrand designed to coordinate the flow of labor and materials. Prince Namaril the Hunter took the Sengkar army to Vanua for training, while Princess Gahaliel traveled to Kibeyes and convinced the Prince of that land to enter into an economic alliance with the Empire. Talan of Mita, meanwhile, convinced the stiff-necked elves of Ozhayar to recognize the Empire’s right to cross their woods. In 2827, the firs trade caravans began to wend their way between the dwarves in Hikka and the elves in Kibeyes. The rugged terrain meant that only a trickle of goods got through. |
The Kingdom of Weshtayo –
| Ruler –King Piccarome, Red-Feathered Lord Capital – Khulank Dominant Race – Human |
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| As Piccarome ruled from the great pyramid of Khulank, his people slowly improved the cities of the kingdom. Taking prudent precautions for the safety of his people (and his property), the king ordered the establishment of defensive towers in Tsu’u and Osaru.
Prince Rikorious took many warriors into the northern forests and established a camp at Tresalet. Black-feathered lord Akheena governed the capital until his death in 2828. Black-feathered lord Chinua governed the new village of Mindarie, establishing the town’s warehouses and grain silos. Rumors reached the populace of Khulank that a lost city of the ancients has been sighted in southern Chesu. |
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The Imperial Realm of Zikuyu –
Ruler –KingMwa’q Kashk
Capital – Ivallkyu
Dominant Race – Human
Diplomacy – Hlalu [H]
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King Amur Dai turned over his entire army to twenty-three year old Mwa’q Kashk, and ordered the young man to take the six thousand light cavalry over the mountains to see what use he could make of the chaos along the Rhasdine river. Kashk did just that, arriving in the vicinity of Durjas by secretive paths in the summer of 2827. From there, he launched a pair of massive raids into the Valraj heartland while the armies of that realm were away in the south. Kashk’s bloody raids left dozens of villages and farms burning in both Luud and Valraj, looting or destroying everything in the path of his swift raiders. He found, however, that elven raiders from Meneen had already picked over Valraj pretty thoroughly.The field forts in Luud did prevent him from completely denuding the province, but he left laden with treasure, and tens of thousands of Valraji were left homeless, destitute or dead.
Meanwhile, Amur Dai had not been idle. He had expanded the cities of Mogollyu and Ivallkyu, and rebuilt the walls of the capital. After a triumphal parade through the streets of Ivallkyu, Kashk traveled across the Mogolla river to Hlalu, where he attempted to impress and browbeat the natives into returning to the kingdom. Incensed, they refused and ejected the haughty general. Upon returning to Qash, Kashk learned of the sudden, unexpected death of Amur Dai. The people were clamoring for Kashk to assume the mantle of kingship, and so he did in 2830. |
The Valraj –
Ruler –Sultan Khalood
Capital – Muddakir
Dominant Race – Human
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As Sultan Khalood brought up reinforcements to General Umar Ghaas in Hajaxtas, the elves of Meneen under Duke Feantë landed four thousand troops along Hajaxtas coast and marched inland to confront the Valraji forces. The Sultan had arrived from Luud by the time that Feantë had unloaded his forces and was ready to fight. The Valraji force numbered thirteen thousand, including six thousand mercenaries hired from across Vales. The battle lasted only part of the day, and saw the victorious Valraji drive the elves back into the sea with great slaughter. Feantë was able to get only a portion of his fleeing troops back into the waiting ships before the mercenary cavalry cut the rest down in the sands.
Before, during and after the battle, elven raiders struck at Phanat, Jadjas, Tanoxus, Kadja, Valraj and Durjas. Having secured Hajaxtas and seen off the elven invaders, Khalood and Ghaas marched into Zathar Sor and easily overwhelmed the Tas Dari defenses there. They then raided over the border into Tas Dar in a sort of reconnaissance in force. The large number of Tas Dari forts and castles would slow them down, but young King Ayden had pulled back all his mobile forces to the capital. So, late in 2827, the Valraji army stormed into Tas Dar and with the aid of the mercenary engineers, tore down the defensive forts ringing Darious. Then began a siege of the Tas Dar capital that was to last nearly a year. In the end, Ayden’s advisors seized command of the city and threw open its gates to the invaders. The people of Darious were starving, diseased and beaten. Ghaas remained for a time, then left a garrison in the province and city and returned to Hajaxtas. Khalood, meanwhile, returned to Luud. While all this was occurring, wild-eyed Zikuyu raiders came out of the northern forests and laid waste to lightly-defended Luud and already-devastated Valraj, raping, burning and looting their way across the sultan’s two richest provinces! The combination of weak central rule and devastating raids induced much of the Valraji countryside to rise up in rebellion. Kadja, Jadjas, Zathar Sor and Tanoxus all threw off the Valraji yoke and declared their independence. |
The Kingdom of Tas Dar –
Ruler –King Ayden
Capital – Darious
Dominant Race – Human
ELIMINATED
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With Zathar Sor, Hajaxtas and Tas Dar itself fallen to the Valraji, the remaining provinces declared their independence from the once-proud nation. Tas Dar was no more. |
The Grand Duchy of Meneen –
Ruler –Grand Duke Salene
Capital – Yaz Meneen
Dominant Race – Elf
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In an attempt to save their Tas Dari ally and punish the Valraji aggressor, the elves of Meneen went to war. Duke Salene put to sea with forty light, swift warships and raided up the Rhasdine river and along the coasts of the Jaundor Sea and Shorral’s Mirror, burning and looting Valraji provinces and taking great amounts of loot in rich Valraj itself.
Lord Feantë sailed west with thirty ships and six thousand elves. He was badly beaten by the Valraji army and their mercenary allies (See The Valraj, above.) |
The Kingdom of Ukanve –
Ruler –King Valoss the Just
Capital – Ukanve
Dominant Race – Human
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King Valoss marched north with six thousand troops to confront the orcish settlers in Nyelru and Torquas. The battle for Nyelru in Northhale of 2826 was a smashing success for the humans, as they drove the orcs from the field in just over six hours of fighting while having suffered only two hundred casualties. It was Valoss’s decision to batter down the walls of Torquas, rather than simply starving them out, that caused great suffering and loss in his army. Twice his forces were repulsed and twice they returned to the walls of the city after regrouping in the countryside. Torquas was taken at last, and the orcs of that ramshackle city subdued, but only after the army had lost thousands of lives.
Duke Garet, meanwhile, governed in Yezhu’u. His profligate love of wine, dancers, jugglers, midgets, poets, prostitutes and cheese (the Duke was absolutely mad about cheese and stored enormous wheels of it in his copious palace) meant that he got very little actual governing done. |
UKELE –
The Emerald Realm of Lekandi –
Ruler –King Galens Eagleheart
Capital – Suwelho
Dominant Race – Elf
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It was a time of peaceful expansion. With the Fikoshan Empire put down and the jungle sathla leading simple lives of hunters, Lekandi was alone in the world.
King Galens directed that more of his subjects settle in Fikosha and Arumbom, and his lieutenant Bloodspear demobilized fifteen hundred warriors to aid this settlement. Lord Tanathasia was governor in Suwelho and though his studies in botany progressed with great strides, he sat in council with the ill grace of one with much better things to do. In fact, the only real improvements to Suwelho were by chance, when Tanathasia’s plantings produced an increase in hometrees. Lord Kelen Farstrider, by comparison, worked tirelessly in his position as governor of Gyanlay, but met with constant delays, shortages, difficult bureaucrats and royal appointees. In the end, he achieved no more than Tanathasia. |
Rumors from Elsewhere –GM’s Tip #10 –
Each turn, I will use this space to present a useful rules hint. Eventually, all of you will know what LOTE GM’s and experienced players know.
Cause Mutiny
It is difficult to cause a mutiny amongst an enemy army. But oh, the fun you’ll have if you succeed. More to the point, hard as it is, it may be easier than beating that army in the field.
I. Requirements
In order to attempt to foment a mutiny, you must know precisely where the enemy army is. This can be information you already know or it can be acquired through a Reveal Fact operation.
A common order is to use the Cause Mutiny (CM) order on “the first enemy army to enter my nation.” This will work, but only once your leaders are aware of the invasion. By then, of course, it may be too late. Your nation’s leaders do not have a perfect knowledge of the borders and if busy with other affairs, may not know for several months…
Another requirement (at least in L54) is to tell me -how- you cause the mutiny. What lies (or truths!) do you spread? I’ll run a CM op without this information, but with a negative modifier. Causing a mutiny requires imagination!
Finally, if the CM op is run or assisted by a leader, that leader must be physically located in the same region or city as the enemy army.
II. Modifiers
The following things are positive modifiers your likelihood of success with the CM order:
- You have infiltrated the target’s military
- The enemy army is in a region or city in which you have status
- The enemy army has a higher Tech Level than you
- Gold spent
- Bonus Intel Ops spen
Note that unlike many orders, time is not a factor here. Mutinies spread quickly; spending extra time will not help.
The following things are negative modifiers your likelihood of success with the CM order:
- The enemy army speaks a different language
- The enemy army worships a different religion
- The enemy army is comprised of a different race
- The enemy army has a higher Tech Level than you
- The enemy army is beyond your Action Range
- The enemy army is protected by a Counter Intel op
III. Results
If successful, the Cause Mutiny (CM) op causes a mutiny in the enemy army. The enemy general(s) are forced to try to put down the mutiny with a significant negative modifier to their Charisma stats. If the mutiny succeeds, the general(s) may be wounded or killed and the army may disband, return to barracks or even march on their own capital!
Next Turn: Religious Conversion
Page Completed 23 October 2006