LORDS OF THE EARTH CAMPAIGN 54
“LORDS OF THEEURTH”
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Turn Six Newsfax
(A.C. 2806-2810)
| elow the thunders of the upper deep, Far, far beneath in the abysmal sea, His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep The Kraken sleepeth: faintest sunlights flee About his shadowy sides; above him swell Huge sponges of millennial growth and height; And far away into the sickly light, From many a wondrous and secret cell Unnumber’d and enormous polypi Winnow with giant arms the lumbering green. There hath he lain for ages, and will lie Battening upon huge sea-worms in his sleep, Until the latter fire shall heat the deep; Then once by man and angels to be seen, In roaring he shall rise and on the surface die. Alfred, Lord Tennyson The Kraken |
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GM’S NOTES
1.NEW RULE!Well, really, an old rule. I have seen the error of my ways regarding a certain House Rule in place for the last six turns. Effective immediately, the standard LOTE rule on maximum region status by culture type (Table 2-22 in the BR) will be reinstated. The House Rule was that there was no maximum, and substituted a hefty negative to the diplomacy rule instead. I have seen why this is a bad idea, and hereby cancel that rule. Any statuses currently above that limit will remain unaffected.
Note that the Rule applies only to change of status via diplomacy. Colonies are still always friendly.
I will NOT move fleets, armies or leaders if the player has not listed EVERY intervening sea zone and region through which they must pass. “Region X to Region Y, 3 AP” will FAIL, no matter how obvious the move is, or how critical to your plans. Every region on a separate line, please.
3. Please, please, please STOP saying “if X happens, Leader A goes on React”. All leaders react. Having React orders at the time of an invasion helps the reaction time. “Going on react” after the invasion has begun is redundant.
MEDARHOS
North-Western Medarhos
| The Skane Jarldoms– Ruler – Prince Varguth Capital – Vanaheim Dominant Race – Human |
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The Regent put forth all his efforts into improving his nephew’s realm. He ruled from the Hawkshead Chair in Vanaheim, organizing the Skane into productive ventures. At his direction, the goodly realm of Godemar was much improved with small villages, post-houses and a copper mine.
A squat, looming round fortress was built at the mouth of the fjord leading into Vanaheim, giving a commanding view of all shipping. The many laborers who came to toil on the heavy walls of the fortress settled into an encampment which spread all the way to the walls of Vanaheim. By 2810, the city was a continuous expanse from the old motte and bailey to the new stone fortress. Svenn Hvikdunkat, Varguth’s brother, was appointed governor of Vanaheim. Although a marvelous talker, Svenn was hardly ever acknowledged as much of an administrator and much of Vanaheim’s log roads were allowed to sink into the stinking mud of summer. The Jarl of Suomar passed away in 2806, apparently without cause. He was simply found dead in his bedchamber one morning in fall. The jarl of Foldbjerg drowned in 2809 in a spring flashflood while fishing with his three sons. |
The Kingdom of Tirgonia –
Ruler – King Aramayne
Capital – Tirgon
Dominant Race – Human
Diplomacy – Munarch [F], Estwilde [F], Purple Hills [NT]
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Wintertide, 2810 What more would the gods have of me? Of all the nations of Theeurth, to none have they given greater sons nor more cruelly ripped them from their nation’s hearts. Am I, then, truly cursed to have no heir? The line of Arkemon Dragonsbane ends with me. Must his kingdom do so also, you cruel deities? My son lies dead in Harkoria these three decades, and my daughter dead or thrall to some noisome terror of the North. My adopted sons, Orion and Marcus both lie beneath the earth, though I was a man grown ere either first looked upon their mother’s breasts. Oh, my beloved Marcus, truest friend and champion, you alone could know the despair I now feel, for you alone besides me have lost so many lofty sons. And now the gods, not satisfied with this horrid fellowship of death, this feast of princes’ flesh, have visited a new and greater horror upon the land. Roldein withdraws his favor, and the lakes and rivers run dry. The barley is withered in the fields and the cattle fall like winter wheat. This drought, the worst in all the centuries of Tirgonia’s habitation, lays upon our necks like the heavy iron boot of Him We Do Not Name. Is this just, Agaleus? Is this the care of a mother, O Calandra? To whom now shall I entrust my kingdom? Aramayne |
Duke Marcos Alphendri, Aramayne’s third and latest heir, died in 2809 of pneumonia at the age of fifty. He was not survived by any known children. Count Asparian of the Skane March died in 2806. Aramayne is now eighty years of age.
In 2807, the rains stopped coming. By 2809, lakes had dried up across the nation and forests burned across the east. The Aré river dropped to such a low level that a man might cross it at Siron and never get his waist wet. The Brandel stream at Tirgon dried up entirely, as did many of the city’s wells. In Sirion, a crowd stormed the temple of Roldein and stoned the Prior to death.
Almost unnoticed in all the misery was the fact that Duke Farionh of Alqualondë negotiated the complete vassalage of the city of Munarch, and Quinn Michelmas achieved the same result in the duchy of Estwilde. To reduce the burden on his ældermen and sheriffs, King Aramayne canceled the economic ties with the Purple Hills, preserving only Tirgonia’s right to move freely across the territory.
| The Iron Empire of Daerond – Ruler –Bishop Morbanes Capital – Aicherai Dominant Race – Human Diplomacy – Nivaan [F] |
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In Nivaan, the convalescent Bishop Morbanes concluded his tutoring of young Vantos Elerek, and elevated the promising young Black Duke to a spot on the Privy Council.
The terrifying entity known as Null traveled from Lycia to the capital at Aicherai, where he summoned up two thousand troops and then force marched them across the forbidding terrain of Uruk, Dhaur and Hinnom until they arrived at the camp of Lord von Taurek in Ghedrosia. Null then returned to his mysterious pursuits in Lycia. In 2807, Von Taurek, camped outside of the heretofore impregnable orc fortress of Vanuma, laid siege to that city in earnest. His forces were stretched almost beyond their capacity to ring in the immense city, and had the orcs managed to rally any defenders at all, they might have kept open lines of supply. But the newly-married Black Duke knew his business well and the great fortress starved. It had had no fresh supplies in ten years, and now disease and starvation began to run rampant through the orcs garrisoned within. Von Taurek made a point of feeding his army well and within plain sight of the massive fortress walls.The city surrendered in early 2808, throwing open its adamant doors to the Empire. Von Taurek had only a single night to savor his greatest victory, however. For that very night, Daerond’s greatest general died abed with his young wife, of an apparent heart attack at the age of 47. Elsewhere, thousands of slaves pushed a postal road to the Ghedrosia border. |
The Harkorian League –
Ruler –First Councillor Clytheus
Capital – Cadares
Dominant Race – Human
| In the wake of the great fires in Cadares, which the Harkorian Council was convinced to be the work of Daeron saboteurs, the League prepared for invasion. Stout walls were built around the capital, and the sizeable garrison of that city was expanded by more than a thousand elite troops fanatically dedicated to preventing the Black Dukes from desecrating their ancient homeland.
First Councillor Clytheus, assisted by Councillors Maradoxus and Ranos, built elaborate fortifications around Trolium, preparing for an invasion that never came. Maradoxus perished of camp fever in 2806. Councillor Gadaxes was given the governorship of Morthales, but was so preoccupied with fear of the threatened invasion that his civic duties were all but forgotten in his plans to build and elaborate and sophisticated magical shelter for he and his favorite concubine. A miscast spell (a minor fluctuation of the sibillant third syllable in the enchantment) created a vortex of powerful forces which messily shredded the nervous governor and scattered his remains across a city block. |
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The Edgemoor Orcs –
Ruler –Korl the Destroyer
Capital – Zaramaka
Dominant Race – Orcs
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Perennially starved for food by their treacherous and spineless lowland neighbors, the orcs of the Edgemoor turned to their most readily available prey: other orcs. A thousand of the slaves seized in past raids were butchered, salted and eaten by the army of Graulor Ten-Arrows.
Graulor’s army, supported by his lieutenant Korl the Destroyer, marched through Haggsh and Dakhash to arrive at the woodlands of Veddakh, where Graulor announced his dominion by setting to the torch every habitation he could find. In 2807, he defeated the Veddakh orcs in a small action along the banks of the Raethalas river. Their three thousand poorly-led troops were no match for Graulor’s six thousand veterans, including hundreds of deadly ogres. Korl urged Graulor on to seize the soft wealthy farmlands of Dhurkun, but Graulor, mindful not only of the power of Ascarlon, but of the distance between Zaramaka and Dhurkun, settled for sending trade envoys to the Ascars. Graulor died in 2810 at the ripe old age (for an orc) of fifty-one. The king had been an enthusiastic soldier and murderer, but an indifferent sovereign, and had left no legitimate issue. To the astonishment of all, however, Korl the Destroyer stepped neatly into the power vacuum, and had complete control of the army and government before any rivals knew the king was dead. |
South-Western Medarhos
| The Brythnian Confederation– Ruler – Queen Nyssa Capital – Carrenthium Dominant Race – Taurid |
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Nyssa watched the situation to the west with growing unease. The Grail nations had suddenly ended their war with the alien H’rethek, and now rumors abounded that the army of the har’keen was lurking somewhere just south of the Lyodan river. The wily Nyssa believed she knew the Brood Queen’s plans – to travel north along the river and over the Worldspines into Ascarlon or the wilds of Rhanalor, whence her power would once again wax strong far from the Grail armies. And when she returned, Nyssa knew, she would likely follow the route the Airnim had recently taken – straight into Brythnia.
Nyssa and her counsellors set out a plan to track and kill the har’keen before they could grow strong again. Drafting every available warrior, the queen gathered a formidable force of more than fourteen thousand centaurs and five thousand minotaurs in the plains of Lloricam and sent out scouts in all directions. Before long, they brought her the expected news – a vast host of giant insectile warriors was traveling up the Lyodan valley on the far shore in Riandos. The queen and her army crossed the river in the early spring of 2806 and pursued the har’keen, finally bringing them to battle in a wide and nameless field of riotous wildflowers. Like the Grail alliance before them, the taurids outnumbered the har’keen, who were a mere fourteen thousand. Lady Elpenor offered her services as commander, but the haughty Nyssa peremptorily dismissed the experienced general, commanding to her look over the baggage train. The queen, meanwhile, launched a headlong assault on the waiting har’keen. The Brythnians held many advantages. They had numbers, they had the tactical advantage, they had mobility, |
they were masters of the steppe and they had some of the finest cavalry in Theeurth. But the bugs had flyers capable of scouting and harassing the enemy, and more importantly, one of the keenest, coldest military minds alive. The headlong rush of the Brythnians was like the hammer of Mordhal himself, for it crashed through the har’keen lines and shattered them, scattering the Brood Mother’s chitinous children. But the savage movements of the har’keen are not like those of other armies, for they seem to act with a single purpose, a single will, and soon the taurid army found itself fighting for their very lives in a bloody melee that exhausted even Nyssa’s brythnian minotaur elite and left them bloody. The battle paused at nightfall, at which time the Brythnians had suffered (though they could not know it) nearly 50% casualties.
But the fury was up on both sides, and neither taurids nor har’keen were broken in spirit, and the next day the slaughter recommenced. Now past the shock of the flyers and the enormous har’keen, the taurids fared better in battle, but their numbers were much reduced and the har’keen once again owned the day. Under cover of darkness on the second night, both armies limped bloodily away from each other. Nyssa fled west over the Lyodan, and the Brood Mother fled north towards Itherias and disappeared, not pausing to recover any of her losses. When the numbers of the surviving taurids had been tallied, more than ten thousand were seen to have died or been seriously wounded in Riandos. Scouts estimate the number of har’keen dead on the field at roughly half that number.
After several months of recovery in Lloricam, Nyssa took the surviving rump of her army into Cerintum and routed the thousand cavalry of the rebellious Camthalion. She took the rebel lord captive and garrisoned the region, marching to a final halt in the Great Meadow.
| Aelissia – Ruler –King Otho Longacre Capital – The Great Delve Dominant Race – Halfling |
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King Otho was in a mind to strengthen his nation’s defenses. The sturdy halflings of Aelissia had fought in the H’rethek wars, but now the lawlessness of the Big Folks’ south worried them. Redoubts and armed encampments were erected across the nation, and more of the elite aelissian slingers were raised and trained. Equally important in the eyes of the King was a unique project to help ensure that no halfling ever starved again. The ancient farming practices of Greensward were revised and updated, and a project begun to revolutionize the fertility and production of the area.
King Otho traveled from Deepwood to the Great Delve, disheartened by the widowhood of the lovely Maia Brandbaris. On the way, he traveled with Rose Merriweather, widow of the late King Brandobaris, and comforted her. Along the way, the two old friends found themselves becoming more than friends, and were married in the capital in 2807. Two daughters were born of the union, in 2808 and 2809. Otho’s newest lieutenant, General Pip Oxback, a former carpenter and sometimes farmer from Little Lirien, was given command of the Aelissian army and watched the borders for any misadventures among the Big Folk. King Otho requested his friend Jarvis Kegbelly to recover the Aelissian troops still in Corland, but Kegbelly was the Sheriff of Great Lirien, a region only allied to Aelissia and the troops refused to follow him. |
| Corland – Ruler –King Armand Capital – Khairais Dominant Race – Human |
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King Armand hoped to colonize the land that had belonged to Corland for centuries, but a plan to coordinate such colonization with the Great Church ran into red tape and ended in confusion. Couronnais and Serry remained uncolonized, though the expedition to Votois, being funded entirely by Corland, succeeded.
The walls of the city of Khairais were built to a miraculous height and thickness, such as only those of Echoriath and Cruachan can boast. Everyone knew that magic was afoot, for travelers came from near and far to marvel at their forbidding protective circuit, each block of unbelievable size and smoothness, set without mortar so close to its neighbor that a knife blade could not be inserted between them. The kingdom rejoiced at the nuptials of Princess Marguerite, oldest daughter of Queen Armallia and the king’s sister, to Prince Mordred, heir to the throne of Lorraine. The wedding was held at the Great Priory in Armorica. |
GM’s NotePrimacies may not freely co-build with Open Nations. Please carefully read rule 9.6.2 in the Base Rules to understand the limits of this process.
| Lorraine – Ruler –King Artorius Capital – Armorica Dominant Race – Human |
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The nuptials of Prince Mordred with Princess Marguerite of Corland were the talk of all the nation. The archwizard Myrddin arrived at Khairais in a barge pulled by sixteen white swans to take the princess back across the Strait to Armorica, where she and the prince were wed in the Great Priory. They then traveled the regions of Lorraine for months, and were showered with adulation wherever they went.
King Artorius left many troops to defend the hard-won prize of Bruyenne on the Corish coast and returned ahead of his son’s bride to rule in Armorica. From thence, he had his own, quieter marriage to Gwynwhfyr, golden-haired daughter of the duke of Priamus. In the next four years, she gave him two sons and two daughters. Sir Morgan loaded up ships with gold and colonists and departed Andred’s shores for Bruyenne, which he promptly colonized in the name of King Artorius. The dashing knight then returned to Lorraine, taking up the rule of Cassivelaunus, where he distinguished himself as an able and popular governor, reorganizing the city’s complex feudal code and seeing to the efficient taxation of the merchants and landowners. By comparison, Myrddin, who when he returned from Corland was again assigned the duties of governorship in Armorica, again largely ignored them. Sir Boedwen fared little better as governor first of Armorica and then of Roldeinsport. The fat knight proved expert at whoring and gambling, but showed little interest in the tedious affairs of state. In 2806, blood fever spread across Lorraine, taking many thousands of lives in its deadly grip. The lords of Bruenor, Lynet, Lothian and Meliodas all passed in violent and pestilential fits during that year. Sir Mandin of Lynet died without heir, and his will, found shortly after his death, left his entire estate (including all of Lynet) to his old friend, Artorius. |
The Whisper Wood –
Ruler –Queen Elevuil
Capital – Menelcandara
Dominant Race – Elf
Diplomacy – Huareth [EA]
| The elves spent much energy in the Sunglades and the Long Barrows, building small villages and carefully growing paths between them.
Queen Elevuil took her army and joined her son Prince Fealurë in the forests of Huareth, where together they labored to charm and wheedle the dour human foresters to improve their ties with the Whisper Wood. The difference in religion, language and species made this a slow process, fraught with misunderstandings. To the elves, the men seemed churlish and stubborn, while to the men, the elves seemed haughty and dismissive. Yet what is time to an elf? With slow patience, mother and son drew the settlers into trading compacts that allowed the Whisper Wood to buy and sell Huareth timber, food and other goods on their behalf. The prophetess Vairë continued to hector the noble families of the Sunglades, speaking the old tales of Calandra, of Valkrys and of Valendria, of the wisdom of Eristemus and the justice of Agaleus, so that yet more of the converts to the Way of the Sword returned to the bosom of the Church. Yet for all that, the Way of the Sword remained as popular as ever among the common elves, who eyed Vairë with deep suspicion and contempt. Lord Talorn traveled to the Fey Hunt, seeking any with whom he could parley, but found it a wilderness without habitation. |
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The Neldorean Wood –
| Ruler –Queen Nereil Capital – Elenuil Dominant Race – Elf |
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| Queen Nereil continued to rule from Elenuil, bringing about the careful and plentiful cultivation of natural springs and orchards in Belfirth. The queen also issued a royal edict that no one, be he man or elf or otherwise, may enter Neldorea proper without her express permission.
Lady Senelra returned in triumph to Belfirth with the army from the H’rethek wars. Upon her return, she released four thousand archers from service to return to their homes and rigorously trained the rest to the peak of their skills. The great hero Valessia of Celendor traveled from Elenuil across the sea to Accolon, and thence down the Mulgaunt through Marador to Sengkar and consulted with the Tome Guardians at the Great Library. She returned to Elenuil after eight months without a word of what, if anything, she had discovered. |
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| The Airnim Horde – Ruler – Tarl Wolf’s Paw Capital – None Dominant Race – Human |
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Having defeated the Ianthan army and its crystal knights at great cost, Tarl moved swiftly to complete the conquest of the new homeland. At the great trade center of the Riftmarch, Tarl purchased a store of siege equipment for his otherwise completely inadequate siege troops. After some internal shuffling of cavalry between Tarl and his new lieutenant Araghrun, the two parted ways. Tarl set about the epic siege of Narranthus (an assault on which might have cost him most of his army), while Araghrun traveled to Jaelethilis to enslave it.
The siege of Narranthus was to last far longer than might have been predicted. Caught with only limited stores of food, starvation was quick to set in. Yet the iron will of the Archons, including king Ulolis and general Athushan saw the citizens of the city through dark hours that would have broken lesser men far sooner. Few days went by without Ulolis exhorting the multitudes to keep faith in Aeolan or without Athushan inspecting the troops on the wall and manning the defenses with them. Yet as month wore into weary month and all food was consumed, as disease spread within the walls and fewer men turned out each morning to man them, the will of the defenders was sapped. At last, in 2808, after twenty months of siege, the only surviving national leader was General Haespus, who threw open the gates and sued for terms. A week of looting and orgy followed as fifteen thousand savage Airnim ransacked the city for every valuable, every woman and every slave. From there, Tarl moved smartly into the Riftmarch and laid siege to Haelopolis. Without the steadying influence of any senior Archon, however, the Rift City capitulated after only two months and suffered the same fate as the capital. Meanwhile, in Jaelethilis, Araghrun and Sunjidama brought their five thousand cavalry to bear on the scattered villages. The Ianthan militia gamely fielded an army of two thousand lightly armed peasants and woodsmen who served creditably but futilely against the Horde. Still further violence whittled slowly at Araghrun’s army when the defeated Jaelethilans rose in rebellion at being taken into slavery, but again the result was inevitable. Halianis proved no more difficult to crush and oppress, though there the pacified population was allowed to return to their homes, eyes downcast to avoid meeting the sullen gaze of their Jaelethilis kinsmen in chains. Araghrun was delighted to find that the port city of Jarlhaven was completely without defenses, and his cavalry ran wild through the streets, helping themselves to whatever goods they pleased. |
The Holy Empire of Ianthe –
Ruler –Chief Archon Ulolis
Capital – Narranthus
Dominant Race – Human
ELIMINATED.
With their cities in ruins and all their cultivated lands in barbarian hands, no Ianthan government survives. The still-independent regions of Gelidalis, Maicutis and Mocarre revert to self-rule.
| The Exarchate of the Great Crusade – Ruler –Queen Ava Capital – Pontezium Dominant Race – Human |
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The men of the Crusader States were as conscious of the sudden H’rethek threat as were the Brythnians, and also of the Airnim Horde ravaging lands just west of the Lyodan river. The king gathered his vassals and army and waited in Querenia for news of the worst.
Meanwhile, Sir Maradoc and Princess Ava summoned strange blind gnomes who labored in odd grunts to build villages throughout Querenia to house refugees from the Horde. And indeed those refugees did flee by the hundreds over the Lyodan. Maradoc went on to govern Pontezium, where he built a sturdy refuge for the royal family. |
Princess Ava traveled to Regaldros, where she was assigned by her father as royal governor. While her knowledge of the workings of government was slight, her knowledge of the workings of men more than made up for it, as the local knights vied for her attention and she made it known that she was impressed most by generous building of public works. By 2809, Regaldros had several new paved roads and a hospital.
In 2809, King Bleobaris suddenly died while holding court, tumbling from his throne and frightening the ladies standing below the dais. The royal coroner declared that he had died of a heart ailment. Just as suddenly, the Exarchate was in crisis. Bleobaris had named no heir, and the Exarchate was too new to have developed rules of succession. Bleobaris was descended of Lorraine nobility, and the Lorraine law is clearly patrilineal. But Bleobaris’ mother was a princess of Corland, cousin to Queen Amallia, and Corland law clearly favored the eldest child. Roughly a quarter of the nobility of the Exarchate were Tirgonian, where no settled law of succession had ever adhered and a good monarch was expected to name an heir quickly. Therefore, some named Bleobaris’s thirteen-year-old son Gauter king, while others swore that the monarch should be his twenty-three year-old sister, Ava.
The kingdom came quite close to war over the question. Ava settled it in her own fashion by secretly leaving Regaldros and arriving by night in Pontezium, where, it turned out, the garrison commander decidedly favored the vivacious young queen. Gauter and his siblings Carados and Rose, along with Ava’s mother Aurora (who, it is said, favored Gauter) were all locked comfortably but securely in the castle’s North Tower while Ava took the reigns of power and had herself crowned by the bishop of Pontezium. Seeing which way the wind blew, the dissenting lords held their tongues and bent their knees in homage to the new queen.
The Holy Order of the Dawn –
Ruler –Grand Master Brutus Aurillius
Capital – The Akasian Hills
Dominant Race – Human
Diplomacy – Callistus – [OH]
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Still struggling with an Order that was too large for its own ability to administer, the Grand Master invested a significant sum into schooling scribes, riders, messengers and cryptographers. But such things are a matter of time, and no great improvements were had during these years. On the bright side, the largesse of Echoriath continued as the Conorrian Emperor sent wagon loads of gold and foodstuffs to the Akasian Hills.
The Grand Master also raised a thousand knights and turned them over to the command of Master Brutus when he returned from Corland and the H’rethek Wars. Grand Master Marcus set out on a quest (the details of which were not widely known), accompanied by only a few hundred horsemen. He died in 2809 in the wilds of Toruk Khend, north of Dhûnazhar. It is said that his final words were swiftly carried back to the new Grand Master. That Grand Master was Brutus Aurillius, hero of the H’rethek Wars. Brutus had wasted no time in posting all his infantry around the Order’s Fortress and setting out with cavalry alone on the trail of the har’keen army. He picked up the rather obvious trail of destruction in Gistares and followed it to Riandos, having missed the battle between taurid and har’keen by several months. He then followed this trail north into the forbidding Worldspine Mountains. Master Marius, frail nephew of Grand Master Brutus, passed away in 2810 of a winter’s chill in the Order’s Fortress. |
Rhanalor
The Shadowed Realm of Ascarlon –
Ruler –Baron Gauros the Arisen
Capital – Denavine
Dominant Race – Human
Diplomacy – Mahant [FA], Dhurkun [T], Ios [T], Black Forest [A], Napoca [FA]
| The brilliant, arrogant and unstable Baron Gauros traveled across the Hammersea to woo the populations of both Ios (a nomadic people closely related to the Airnim horde) and the Black Forest. The first he bullied into sending tribute to his coffers at Denavine, but the second he charmed (and terrified) into declaring themselves allies and subjects of the Ascar crown.
Vilkhar, known as The Hammer, visited the peoples of Mahant and Dhurkun, binding them closer to the throne as feudal vassals and tributary states, respectively. The portly Vachik, known for his unusual appetites in both food and companions, traveled to the former Ascar region of Napoca, demanding and receiving the feudal submission of the lord of that land. The Baron paid off the nobility from whom he had extracted much gold in the wake of the Airnim disaster, and managed to build several small villages in Orodea. He began overland trade with the orcs of the Edgemoor and Worldspine mountains, and the hobgoblins of Carhallas (trading across the Hammersea and up the Mistriven and Manndaran rivers. |
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The Worldspine Orcs –
Ruler –Vaurog Breakspear
Capital – Mount Kauroth
Dominant Race – Orc
Diplomacy – Brolok [NT]
The wily Vaurog Breakspear, sensing a pause in the dwarven momentum, crept with his army through Orod Dhorn and Mar Kheland to come crashing down on the small garrison of Endorwaith like the avenging sword of Caravok the Destroyer. Ten thousand orcs and ogres surrounded one thousand dwarves, screaming for blood. The battle was over before it was fairly begun. The doughty dwarves fought with the courage and immovability of stones, but the sea of orcs was far too great for them. By early afternoon the orcs were tormenting the unlucky survivors and carrying away as slaves all the women and children. A worse fate awaited the dwarves of Endorwaith, for the orcs were starving – they wanted not slaves but herds, and the dwarves were kept in slave pits in Kauroth and Gargath and culled weekly for food.
Orcish refugees from the Brythnian attacks of ten years earlier were sent north and south, colonizing the Southern Worldspines, the Blue Peaks, Vilcea and far Ilkmaor.
Markheg, one of the many sons of Vaurog, traveled to the hobgoblins of Brolok and convinced them to allow orcish armies free rein in their land, in exchange for which the hobgoblin clans would grow wealthy on the new trade route between the Worldspines and the Empire of Carhallas.
| The Empire of Carhallas – Ruler –Emperor Maugrath Capital – Carcaroth Dominant Race – Hobgoblin |
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 First Spear of the Flayed Man Legion |
Maugrath’s continuous and successful state of war continued, making him wildly popular among the troops and among the ordinary hobgoblins in the capital. Assembling all his vassals, the Emperor marched into the rich and rebellious province of Hullumak, where his nine thousand trained veterans surrounded and slaughtered the Hullumak militia despite the Hullumak protests of loyalty and offers of submission. Though hardly needed, the army was aided by the appearance of hideous and terrifying apparitions summoned by Maugrath’s brother-in-law, Khazal. Then, the survivors were led off with the army in chains. The land was despoiled and the goods divided among the troops. From there, the army marched north into Daul where the slaves were put to work on farms.
Then, Maugrath marched his army through Jezul and Zhagon and into the plains of Valaam, where the local hobgoblin tribes were akin to the men of Annvar both linguistically and in the particulars of their religion. Here, too, the Emperor overran a tiny militia, looted the region and enslaved the population. So mismatched were the armies in size, that few had the opportunity to comment on the complete and utter military incompetence of certain noble vassals of the Emperor. In 2808, the Azkhadi priests held a lavish and deadly funeral for Ildriss, widow of Emperor Reor and mother of the reigning emperor when she died of consumption at the age of fifty-two. |
| The Great Kingdom of Annvar – Ruler –King Udoin IV Capital – Varthane Dominant Race – Human Diplomacy –Gelio [-], Aclad [-] |
The Standard of Annvar |
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The isolated kingdom of King Udoin remained suspicious of its neighbors and on full alert for invasion. More than a thousand new cavalry were added Prince Poddicar’s army. Meanwhile, the capital at Varthane was expanded and its walls rebuilt.
In its northern corner, Annvar receives little trade, and so King Udoin instituted a significant internal trade fleet at Coinde. While the King ruled, his son continued as governor of Varthane. The warlike Poddicar managed to father a trio of children, but cared little for his civic duties, preferring to display his martial skill in the lists. Few civic improvements could be noted in Varthane. Equally inept to the job of governance was Lord Marvaith, to whom Udoin entrusted the city of Coinde. Marvaith enjoyed rich dinners and sumptuous balls, but knew very little of what happened in the city beyond his palace. Lord Tellenor returned to the wild lands of Aclad and Gelio, hoping to bring them into the kingdom. Once more, his casual approach, ignorance of their language or customs, and mediocre ability to negotiate doomed these efforts from the start. The lords of Annvar watched the approach of the Carhallas army with growing alarm, and closely watch it still as it sits on their border. |
The Conorrian Heartland –
The Conorrian Empire –
| Ruler –Emperor Constantikos III Capital – Echoriath Dominant Race – Human |
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Lorendon, 2810 My EsteemedHortius: I am mindful of your isolation there in your hermitage. You are called on, you say, to remove yourself from the company of men that you might live a life of contemplation. Well, you would do well to contemplate the affairs of that nation from the bosom of which you sprang. You may remain apart, but you shall not remain ignorant, not even if I have to erect a pillar next to yours and read you posts aloud from your father’s pen. Where to begin, then? Perhaps with the cities. In 2806, Our Dread Lord dedicated a new city in the hills of Isurium which he named Flavium in honor of Flavius Sextus, the former Magister Equituum per occidentum. In 2809, he dedicated another on the shores of Eatris which he named “Arcalasium” in honor of the former emperor. In 2807, workmen began to tear down the wall of Hadrasianus around Conorr. Constantikos had |
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pensioned forty thousand loyal soldiers into the area and made them citizens of the Holy City. By 2809, a new wall was rebuilt around the expanded city.
After what amounted to a screaming match in the forum of Marcianikos, Stefan Andrikos refused to enter the Senate House and for once something actually got done. The August Fathers voted to approve Nigartes’s planned aqueduct system in Adoria at unheard-of cost. How the plebes will screech in the Syphanax! Nearly as significant, hulls were laid for an impressive merchant fleet at Echoriath. Hundreds of ships! And we know that the Emperor’s family is hip-deep in the merchant trade. Why else such a lavish expenditure?
As always, it is not only the farmers and plebes who must be fed. The greedy hands of Constantikos’s clients are ever in the pockets of Conorria. Hortius, you would not believe the obscene sums of grain sent to these foreigners! There was the dole to the Church, of course. No one grudges that. But this “Order of the Dawn” received enough gold and grain to hire half a dozen armies! And the theft was not complete there. The dwarves (dwarves!) of northern hills and the sorcerors of the Llyran Isles were also on his payroll. Why, if they’re wizards, don’t they just create their own from thin air?
One must not let the trade policies go unmentioned. Ships began to sail from Flavium to the elves of Neldorea. Well, perhaps they’ll bring back some interesting slaves for once. But they also returned to Uls Fakhar, to trade with those half-sized traitors of Thariyya! The sheer cheek, Hortius! The effrontery! Is it to be borne, I ask you? Is it?
Then there are our leaders themselves. The Emperor, after fathering a brood large enough to field a platoon of his own relatives continued to impose upon the empress almost nightly. Or so the gossip would have us believe. But Our Divine Intercessor seems to have forgotten exactly how, for he fathered nothing but dissatisfied rumors within the women’s quarters.
Falkion Xeccus, Palos Eatredes and others took the army to Lenicum to watch for orcs, but saw only timid hares and wild asses. One might have seen that without ever bothering to leave Echoriath. They took with them old Dominus of Lidhinos, who had the astonishingly bad manners to die on campaign. Dominus’s son accused Falkion of poisoning his father over a few thousand sesterces owed at cards and immediately marched his army home, disavowing any loyalty to Conorria or the emperor. Interesting, but doomed. Do not place your hopes there, Hortius.
Gaius Calos traveled to Isurium to attempt to befriend the natives. Those hillside bumpkins befriend not even their mothers and after three years sent Calos packing down the hillside with nothing but a sore throat to show for his time. He then traveled to the capital to take up the post of Magister Vigiles, looking for secret plots against the emperor.
Then there was this fellow Adrian down in Adamos. Some naval architect nobody had ever heard of has founded a new maritime academy. Revolutionized the Conorrian way of naval warfare, they say. If you ask me, the Conorrian way of naval war was always to avoid it at all costs. Damned foolish!
As always, the Empire teeters on the twin precipices of corruption and incompetence. Is it not time for men of substance, of family and of understanding to take hold of the sacred reins, to secure that holy nation from evil? It is not time to take up your ancient birthright? If not now, what possible horrors do you await before striking? As you love our land, Hortius, I beg to you reconsider.
Yours, Everius.
The Great Church of the Lords of the Grail –
| Ruler –Patriarch Palladius Holy City – Conorr Dominant Race – Human Diplomacy – Euristi [CH], Valdori [CH], Maenadia [CH], Rhavais [AB] |
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The Patriarch’s Standard |
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The Great Church, as always, had far-flung interests stretching from the Corland Straits to the Shattered Lands and from the Worldspine Mountains to Marrakhan Hills.
In Corland, the Church attempted to aid the repopulation of the south in the wake of the H’rethek Wars, but was simply unable to coordinate so vast a project so far from home. Church troops from Corland were berthed aboard a fleet of ships and sailed to Agazier in Har’Akir to help defend the faithful from the ravages of the Marrakhan Horde. He also hired the likeable dwarven mercenary Khedem-Var and five thousand mercenaries to aid the defense of Har’Akir. Likewise, His Holiness hired six thousand mercenaries at Quesante and had them march east to defend the Crusader States from the twin threats of the har’keen and the Airnim Horde. The Church largesse did not stop at colonization and mercenaries. Large sums of gold were shipped to Har’Akir and Corland, while shiploads of |
| grain traveled between Conorr and the ports of the Llyran Republic. In Har’Akir and the Conorrian Empire, armies were lavished with special blessings to defend the troops in battle, and in the Crusader States, Church teachers went among the heretics of Carrandis firmly instructing them upon their doctrinal errors.
In 2809, Calidonus of Valesia, son of Grand Admiral Anaxes, took holy orders and joined the Church in a ceremony at the Great Cathedral of Vales. The Church was not totally selfless in those years. In the years prior to his death in 2810, Patriarch Flavius exacted tithes from the Llyran Republic and Har’Akir, and tried unsuccessfully to collect such rents in still-chaotic Corland. Upon the Patriarch’s death, the Colleges of the Grail met in closed session to elect a new representative for the gods on Theeurth. Bishop Palladius left off his work in the Crusader States and returned hurriedly to Conorr, where his enthusiastic supporters campaigned strongly (and ultimately successfully) to have him named the one hundred and ninety-second Patriarch of the Church. Bisho Alecius also tried to hurry back to Conorr from Mauredoc, but was caught in the open in a terrible snowstorm and died a month later raving into his beard during a fever. |
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The Dwarven Realm of Dhûnazhar–
Ruler – King Valand Dragonsbane
Capital – Khelem Vala
Dominant Race – Dwarf
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The dwarves of Dhûnazhar sharpened their axes and eyed the world in flinty-eyed suspicion. |
VALES –
North-Western Vales –
The Llyran Republic –
Ruler –Constans Harko Marova
Capital – Tarrentica
Dominant Race – Human
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The Llyrans awoke from their national somnabulance with an astonishing burst of energy. Ordering nearly fifty ships finished and raising nearly a thousand men for national service, the Constans and College of Wizardry announced their return with style. A flurry of projects undertaken by the College proved stillborn, as the scholars opined that every such project would take more fundamental study before the nation was ready to pursue them. However one project was met with considerable fanfare. Kardev’s Aerie, the skyship yard began nearly thirty years before, was finished in the uplands of Mons Llyrae.
The Constans himself took flight from the Aerie in the spring of 2807 and accompanied by several squadrons of skyships and the smaller, faster skyskiffs, he flew in style to the port of Vorogrod in Jaelithilis, a region soon to fall under the Airnim hammer. Once there, the skyships disgorged thousands of Llyran siege engineers who set to work preparing the city against any possible Airnim attack. Constans Harko then returned to the sky and was soon after looking to the affairs of his nation from the Council Chamber in Tarrentica. Caelan Bolusova, the Joraidan died in 2807 while conducting a census. No one had had the heart to tell the old warlock that the Republic had had a working census for decades. |
Bartholomew Marova, the Incantorus, set sail from Vastium with a fleet of fifty ships and met the Constans in Vorogrod, dropping off still more troops in the fortress city. He then sailed to Votois (formerly Dal*kor) and ferried two thousand Har’Akir heavy infantry to Agazier. He made a second trip in the summer of 2808, bringing home the rest of the Har’Akir army from Corland. His heaviest ships seemed always able to catch a favorable wind, and the fleet made outstanding time. For most of this time, his ships were aided by a fleet of warships from the Valesian City-States.
Zohan Bolusova, the Strategos took yet another contingent of forty ships and thousands of men directly to the Har’Akir port of Agazier to help defend it against the Marrakhan Horde. His troops were all equipped with fine steel blades that glowed slightly when seen in the shadows.
| The Holy Matriarchy of Ahuran– Ruler –Queen Jerzuul Moonshadow Capital – Sedeskan Dominant Race – Human |
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Queen Jerzuul was aging. She could feel it in her bones, in the way a ride on her favorite mare made her sore where once it merely exhilarated her. Still the center of all male attention at court, she was more often referred to as “regal” than lovely these days. It was time to appoint an heir and she knew it. It was for this express purpose that her mother Beolaan had erected the Grounds of the Royal Consorts. In 2808, Jerzuul proclaimed that all maidens of royal birth could compete for the right to receive the crown when she died, but specifically ordered her daughter Naomi and her sister Luriaal to compete. These were two of the brightest and most charismatic women in her court. She felt sure that one of them would win the contest.
When the day came, eleven young women were arrayed before the queen in simple white togas. They represented the finest Ahuran had to offer, and would compete in the spirit of Parmaadan. It was for the queen to declare the manner of the contest, for this was Beolaan’s insight: that by so choosing she could guide the choice of a suitable successor while also allowing all to see that Parmaadan was followed by the royal house. Jerzuul chose a three-part competition: Athletics, artistry and archery. The games lasted for three days and on the afternoon of the third day, as the queen had forseen, only her seventeen year-old sister and nineteen year old daughter remained in contention. The two stood at the archery lists taking shots from increasingly far away, each striking the bulls-eye until they stood at sixty yards. There, Luriaal overcompensated for the slight breeze and shot wide, while Naomi’s shot was in the second ring, a scant two inches from the bulls-eye. Naomi was crowned as heir to her sister Jerzuul the following day in a lavish ceremony which Luriaal attended in good graces. The rest of the court had hied themselves off to Veij in 2806 for what the crown called a holiday, and so did not attend. |
| In 2807, the wizard’s college known as The Matrons of the Third Tower was completed under the personal auspices of Queen Jerzuul, and young girls from across the realm were selected for their sorcerous aptitude. The Daughters of the Second Spire, the Ahuran adventurer’s guild, sent out teams on an unnamed mission for the court.
In Ilmultorn, thousands of peasants began to clear and terrace the hillsides and create small farms here and there amidst the loamy soil. In 2809, disaster struck the Holy Matriarchy when children exploring a forgotten well in Sendorin stumbled across and awoke an ancient terror, forgotten for hundreds of years. The huge dragon Sirrush, Terror of the Night, burst forth from the cavern where it had slept for ages and laid claim to the land of Sendorin. Long and sinuous, the immense drake’s ruddy hid glittered in the light of the fires it set across its new domain, terrorizing the populace into submission. The Landresses of Rarram, Naidhan and Ahristhon marched against the dragon, arriving with three thousand troops in the spring of 2810. The armies were utterly wiped out, scorched and rended beyond recognition. Kiara of Ahristhon was captured by the drake, while Lindaaral of Naidhan and Teolide of Rarram escaped with their lives. Queen Jerzuul cancelled plans to join her court in Veij and instead remained in the capital. She wisely chose not to confront Sirrush yet. Also in 2809, a second disaster befell. A strange sickness swept through the city of Ilduskan. Nearly an eighth of the population of the city was struck low, and hundreds died, including several hundred soldiers. |
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| Har’akir – Ruler –Sultan Socacia Alouda Capital – Mar Awas Dominant Race – Human |
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All of Har’akir turned out to defend against the imminent threat of the orc horde in the Marrakhan Hills. Not only did the sultan order fortifications erected in many provinces, but the cities of Galim, Agazier and Mar Awas all had walls hurriedly built or improved around them. New cavalry was raised in the plains and new light infantry raised from the wild hill tribes of the Adramagdus. The army was hastily brought home from Corland and the garrisons shaken out and made ready for battle. Gold was received from the Great Church and from Thariyya. It was 2808 by the time the army was ready to fight, but by then the only real action was long past.
In 2806, fourteen thousand hardbitten orcs and ogres had streamed out of the West Marrakhan hills and seized the province of Awas Fahan and subdued the local militia. And there, it seemed, their ambition ceased. In the fall of that year, Lord Ojab was marching three thousand troops from Qadras to Har Mekelle and marched them straight into the bored nomads. A brief and joyful (for the pursuers) hunt ensued during which time every Akir human in sight was cut to ribbons by the immense horde of cavalry. Ojab was wounded and returned to Har Mekelle without a fraction of his original force. |
Llyran ships and marines stood ready in the harbor of Agazier, while Har’akir’s army was divided into three – the sultan with seven thousand regulars and five thousand mercenaries at Har Mekelle; Prince Edelmo and six thousand regulars at Akir and the allied Emir Zander with three thousand at Har Jadme. Combined, they outnumbered the invaders. But Socacia was patient. The horde had attacked no armies, no cities. Perhaps it could be reasoned with…
The Marrakhan Horde –
Ruler –Voraun Shatterhand
Capital – None
Dominant Race – Orc
The orcs love two things above all others: slaughter and a full belly. They got both in Awas Fahan.
The Valesian City-States –
Ruler –Primarch Centorius I
Capital – Orcholus
Dominant Race – Human
Diplomacy – Thuces [NT], Thymene [EA]
| The conviction that invasion was nigh seemed to have gripped the entire Valesian Sea, and the Valesian cities were no different. An enormous sum of gold and an army of workers descended on Ventas and Laedos to build castles and fortifications in great number. The walls of Orcholus were built up, and two thousand elite hoplites were recruited into the national army. Centorius and Grand Admiral Anaxes manned the defenses of Ventas, along with Lord Cassidon of Euristi.
Velisimil of Phalces, an ally and great friend of Centorius since the two were students at the academy of Eristhones together, died in 2807. The succession to the throne of Phalces was contested by his sons, and a small but bloody feud broke out between the two, dividing families and becoming an increasingly bloody vendetta over the next two years. The lawless province quickly ceased to be a productive member of the City-States, and the feud still continues. In 2809, Calidonus , son of Grand Admiral Anaxes, took holy orders and joined the Church in a ceremony at the Great Cathedral of Vales. |
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Trierarch Antigonus took command of the Valesian war fleet and sailed with fifty ships to Roldein’s Gate, where under the auspices of the Red Pact of Vales, he escorted the Llyran fleet transporting the Har’Akir army. In 2808, however, the archon died of a heart attack in a small port village in Malidisant. Rumors fired through the fleet that the Trierarch died in a brothel. By the time the fleet made port in Orcholus, the story had grown to involve midgets and a goat. The officers of the fleet, returning to home port in the absence of an admiral to direct them, had preserved Antigonus’s body in a barrel of wine and he was buried with honors at Orcholus.
Archon Meikos traveled to Thuces, where the indifferent halflings of that realm agreed to allow the passage of Valesian troops and goods. From there, he traveled on to Thymene and negotiated a client-state agreement with the scattered woodsmen and farmsteads.
Prince Euristis was assigned by Centorius to the governorship of Orcholus, a position at which the Prince was spectacularly, indeed epically, bad. The court of Euristis became synonymous with vice and excess. Every petty and venal drunkard of the Orcholus back alleys might be seen gumming sweetmeats in the governor’s halls and bribes were so common and notorious that Euristis actually posted a scribe with a slate near the back gate whose job it was to list the running price for any civic office in the city. That men sweated and labored on the defenses of the city and the surrounding towns within sight of the palace was hardly even noticed by those in favor in the capital.
Luxur –
Ruler –Speaker Jesserek
Capital – Thedelos
Dominant Race – Sathla
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“May you live in interesting times.”
Fresh from its exhilarating recapture of the holy city of Merwal, the sathla empire of Luxur was riding high. Thousands of new recruits entered the army, and hundreds of settlers were sent to Keferis, there to replace the Valesian settlers and infidels so lately driven out. The trouble started when General Zsalvi traveled to the region of Kerma for negotiations with it’s lord, Kusnar. The general had been in Kerma for less than six months when he died one morning in an apoplectic fit over Kusnar’s demands for concessions. Suddenly, the empire was without a leader or a designated successor. The various military commanders eyed one another briefly and out came the knives. Captain Ystuv, in command of the riverine fleet at Pyrayus was the first to declare himself master of Luxur, and was acclaimed by his troops in Pyrayus’s vine-shrouded forum. Ystuv immediately seized several of Kusnar’s relatives, thus assuring his personal loyalty. Likewise, General Kaltass, commander of the army in Merwal declared that by right of holy conquest it was |
he who should command the loyalties of all Luxur. He summoned the largest of all the armies in Luxur to his command. What Kaltass had not forseen, however, was the loyalty of Speaker Jesserek, a minor but persuasive functionary in the General’s army. Before Kaltass could ride into the camp, Jesserek was haranguing the troops from a tall marble plinth under the shade of immensely old carving of Udjo. The god was testing them, he said, to see if they were worthy of the holy city, or whether they would allow their nation to be shattered by greed. Whether it was the rhetoric of the Speaker or the odd way the sun glinted off the eyes of the old statue, the troops roared approval of Jesserek’s message, and swore enmity to Kaltass and demanded that Jesserek defend Zsalvi’s regime. By evenfall, General Kaltass was in prison in his own army camp. The next day he was beheaded and his head paraded before the army as it marched on the capital. Jesserek left four thousand soldiers to occupy Habu and Merwal and marched west along the Artaxes in pursit of Ystuv, who had sailed for Thedelos days before.
Although present in Merwal during the confrontation, Astalis of Aysira made it clear that his city would take no part in any civil war and he crossed to the north bank of the Artaxes with his two thousand soldiers and returned home to await the outcome of the impending battle. In far-off Phalego, Captain Tsygar sat with a large shipment of gold intended for for an orc horde that never arrived. When the word came of the civil war, Tsygar and his few men simply seized the loot and disappeared into the wilderness. Meanwhile, the news of the war spread throughout the empire, and regional governors chose sides according to their loyalties or their readings of the likely outcome. Badar, Habu, Naqada, Sekhem and Shenth declared for Jesserek and the loyalists. Qassara, Kerma, Mekhet, Nemeher and Keferis declared for Ystuv and the rebels.
Ystuv and his small fleet arrived at the capital of Thedelos months before Jesserek could force march there, and had the garrison firmly under his control. In the spring of 2808, Ystuv had himself crowned dictator in the Cathedral of the Egg. With Aysira independent and Thedelos and Pyrayus under rebel control, it appeared that Jesserek would have to live off the land or fall back on Merwal. But at that critical juncture, loyalists within the city intrigued to throw open the city gates to Jesserek’s force, and the battle was on! Or might have been. As things turned out, most of the original garrison sympathized with Jesserek and the loyalists and refused to fight for Ystuv, instead shutting themselves in their barracks. Ystuv’s marines and Kusnar’s warriors fought bravely, but were no match for Jesserek’s four thousand regulars. The end came when Jesserek led the assault on the palace. Although Ystuv had already removed his command to the river, Jesserek captured Kusnar’s family and forced the Kerma noble to withdraw. Alone and surrounded, Ystuv’s marines surrendered, though their usurper leader escaped to parts unknown with what little was left of the Luxur treasury.
And so Jesserek, acclaimed dictator by the army in the fall of 2808, inherited a shattered kingdom, though he retained the two biggest cities, three riches regions and all the surviving armed forces. At least, he thought, all the rebel leaders were dead or fled. No successor states had formed to oppose reunification.
The Autumna Primacy
Ruler –Grand Priest Kyassthi
Great Cathedral – Thedelos
Dominant Race – Sathla
Diplomacy – Merwal [CH], Keferis [CH], Ibkuru [CH], Durudin [CH], Ser Medhele [CH]
The young Autumna Primacy was as astonished as all other powers at the rapid dissolution of the ancient Luxur state. The Patriarch was in Pyrayus preaching to rapt multitudes in the wake of the capture of Merwal when the various Luxur generals began declaring themselves the divinely appointed successor to the still-cooling Zsalvi. With the chaos of the civil war, he was unable to affect the piety of Luxur in any appreciable sense. Meanwhile, the priesthood fanned out across the realm, establishing temples of worship hither and yon.
Mykele –
Ruler –Sauressh Sishtreth I
Capital – Oroyon
Dominant Race – Sathla
Diplomacy – Oroyon [EA], Naszgiri [EA]
| Sishtreth continued to invest in rodent pens, canals and the delving of new warrens in Sia, much of it supported by slave labor from Gigalgudar. He also sent colonists in to replaces the Gigalgudar natives and finally claim the region for Mykele.
The Sauressh knew that his nation must have a capital, and from time out of mind the Mykele had regarded Oroyon as their true seat. Thus, he swallowed his considerable pride and with a guard of two thousand warriors, continued to negotiate with the new masters of that city. His rhetoric and appeal to ancient custom and loyalties was remarkably effective. In just five years, he managed to convince the city to allow him to control its contracts and economy. His nephew Kouresh had a similarly brilliant success in the stiff-necked realm of Naszgiri, which had so long rebuffed the attentions of Mykele. By 2810, the jungle chieftains recognized Mykele’s right to regulate trade in the region. Meanwhile, Lisal’assh and Heshtreth took an army of six thousand and marched into Gulanabat, a strange, swampy jungle where the trees glow a sickly green at night and the stunted sathla worship debased demon gods. In a brief and brutal series of battles, the Mykele nobles took the sathla of Gulanabat prisoners and marched them back to Naszgiri as slaves. |
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North-Eastern Vales –
| The Kingdom of Thariyya – Ruler –King Al-Kadem Vahdin Capital – Uls Fakhar Dominant Race – Halfling Diplomacy – Hassar [+4 Yfc] |
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In 2806, Admiral Kaedir Vahdin married nineteen year-old Alaha Al-Bezyron, last scion of the old ruling house, in a lavish Uls Fakhar wedding presided over by her cousin, King Al-Kadem. The groom had little chance to enjoy his wedded state, for he spent the next four years patrolling the Gulf of Thariyya with the war fleet.
Concerned merchants in Uls Fakhar sent a chest of gold to the Sultan in Har’akir to help the war effort against the Marrakhan orcs. King Al-Kadem could read the bitter tea leaves for Ianthe, and ordered that all the Ianthan shipping in Uls Fakhar be confiscated on behalf of the government. Most of those ships were out of the harbor at the time, but several trading cogs and their cargo were seized. Otherwise, it was pretty quiet around here. Yep. Pretty quiet. |
| Accolon – Ruler –Warlock Jordanes the Transmuter Capital – Dammarask Dominant Race – Human |
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Jordanes lost no time in attempting to reestablish Accolon’s position among the great nations of the Ymarian sea. He reopened trade with all the nations of that region through the newly re-acquired port of Nuradeem and, with the aid of Lucan’s Spiderstaff, became a driven ruler and administrator. Among other things, he finally managed to complete the great bridge over the Mulgaunt on teh Ashen Way.
Meanwhile, the general known only as The Anointed One gathered an army on the banks of the Mulgaunt, including three thousand elite regulars and fifteen hundred mercenaries recruited from the scum of Dammarask’s slave quarter and marched down the Ashen Way towards the skarn-occupied province of Carru. They bivouaced in the dusty wastes of Dur, waiting for word from Bishop Trollkin, who rode ahead to offer peace and alliance to the warlike Skarn. In 2808 the word came – the skarn would not bend to Accolon’s demands of submission and religious conversion. And so The Anointed One and his troops rode into Carru expecting to easily ride over any opposition. The truth was somewhat different. The skarn are primitive, but are large and intelligent fighters. A guerilla campaign against the Accolon army succeeded in slowing its advance and sapping its strength. No single battle was had, but at long last the skarn slunk back into the Naran desert muttering curses. The nine-month war of maneuver had cost Accolon more than six hundred of its regulars. Kurotsuki, known as The Black Moon, governed the port of Agharra. While he did manage to dredge the shallow harbor, He was most noted for ambitious projects that always seemed to run out of money or energy. Nightshade the Abjurer, a powerful warlock, spent the period governing Nuradeem, and was very successful in repairing many of the worst scars of war. Unfortunately, he died horribly of a case of rabies contracted from a desert bat. |
The Shadowed Primacy of the Dark Court –
Ruler –High Priest Gezz Half-Shadow
Holy City – Dammarask
Dominant Race – Human
Diplomacy – Bisruki [CH], Ninur [CH], Mitan [CH], Eumana [CH], Nuradeem [CH]
| Gezz and the Dark Court hierarchy spent most of their time and resources trying to acquire land and train scribes and priests. The church was being stretched to the limits by its many responsibilities and many of the prelates bemoaned the time that was being taken from more profitable pursuits such as summoning demons and inventing new torments for the followers of the Eumana heresy.
Bishop Mukhador traveled the lands of the lower Mulgaunt, helping to establish churches in the outlying rural areas, ensuring that the might and power of the Dark Court was understood by all. Yagrax, called “The Howler” accomplished much the same task in Eumana and Nuradeem, but he did it with hot irons and the living dead. All the citizens of that frightened region kept their eyes downcast, and no one did they fear more than The Howler. “The Howler can hear the slightest whisper,” they told each other, and those who could took ship for distant harbors, never to return. |
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The Shadowguard of Marador –
Ruler –Queen Madariel Shadowfoot
Capital – Lantar
Dominant Race – Elf
Diplomacy – Khithi [F]
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Like so many of the nations of Theeurth, Marador prepared for a barbarian invasion. Her armies hunkered down in defensive positions and warily watched the western borders. Two thousand elven archers were raised by Prince Ilwendil Swiftbow in Oromardi, and set to digging defensive trenches facing the river.
But ancient queen Madariel did not neglect the growth of her realm, and invested liberally in knowledge and training of her subordinates (particularly her troops). Trade emissaries were sent to the Yurahtam Horde, but these never returned and were presumed eaten by the ogres. Princess Vaeril Fallingwater continued her talks with the lords of Khithi, repairing the damage done ten years earlier by brash young Glorfindel. So lovely and persuasive was the princess that her hosts impulsively swore an oath of fealty to her and to her mother the queen, swearing eternal loyalty to her house. |
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From Tintillo, Glorfindel summoned up the spirits of wood and stream to create a dense and temporary jungle in the province of Adnoailin, a literal hedge against an orc/ogre invasion which never materialized.
The Ogre Horde
Ruler –Quor of the Seven Skulls
Capital – None
Dominant Race – Orc
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The Ogre Horde (formerly the Yurahtam Nomads, and actually consisting largely of orcs) burst into great and bloody activity. In quick succession, they conquered Gul Chardun, Yurahtam, Zigurun, Karnin, Hargon, the Bab Hills, Ash and Zab-Kin. On the way, the brutal horde learned a few things. The most important was that neither cavalry nor ogres are at their best fighting in mountains or forests. The next was that Taurog, Quor’s lieutenant, while a brilliant diplomat and sorcerer, was abominably ill-suited to the battlefield. Many in the horde were of the opinion that hundreds, if not thousands more Horde soldiers would have survived the campaign but for the foolish excesses of Taurog.
Particularly hard-fought was the battle of Karnin, where the local orcs, knowing the fate of their neighbors, waited by the thousands for the Horde and descended upon them in the narrow, snow-choked passes. The Karnin forces were led by a wily and accomplished orc chieftain named Yekrund, who caused his fellows to roll boulders and pots of burning pitch down the mountainsides onto the Horde and made full use of the terrain against the horde cavalry. During this battle, Quor was briefly captured by Yekrund’s orcs, but managed to survive until his ogres could cut a bloody path to his rescue. Rarely able to bring the full power of their sixteen thousand cavalry to bear, the Horde was also forced to leave approximately two thousand cavalry behind in each province conquered as a garrison against the restive natives who chafed against their new masters’s worship of the Dark Court. By the time Quor was able to bring Zab-Kin to heel, his force consisted of a few hundred cavalry and ogres and a large group of civilians who had followed the horde through the whole campaign. |
South-Western Vales –
The Steaming Kingdom of Drormt –
Ruler –Regent Y’grak
Capital – Breeka
Dominant Race – Saurus
| The new regent called together all the saurus chieftains of the swamp, ordering them to pay homage to the young king, and utilizing their presence to have his chamberlains create an accurate record of the land owned and taxes owed by each. This great work took the Regent five years to accomplish, but he would be able to pass on to his young sovereign a more efficient, wealthier kingdom when the young saurus came of age.
Y’grak also had built a series of spirit-mounds and basking rocks throughout the province of Drormt, creating the religious and practical centers of many new communities in the ancestral bogs. The Regent also let it be known that human refugees from Keferis were welcome in Drormt, but few humans chose to leave the forests to take up a life amidst the mosquito-plagued saurus fens. Young Kra’quam took command of the Drormt army and patrolled the borders lest invaders take the steaming kingdom unawares. Lord Keek’za was appointed governor of Breeka, and proved to be an efficient administrator. By all accounts, Keek’za is an astoundingly boring conversationalist with breath so bad that many sauruses would choose to swim across the Ulailai to avoid him. But his grasp of finances, laws and bureaucracy allowed him to manipulate the trade clans and fisherfolk with superior skill. |
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Sendahl –
Ruler –King T*ko
Capital – Nyange
Dominant Race – Human
Diplomacy – Nyange [F],Durudin [+12YFC]
| Important changes were afoot throughout Sendahl. After thirty years, the nomadic Sendahlese had at last managed to cultivate Desiket and so become a civilized, settled people (though still with a strong horse-based culture.)
King T*ko, now middle-aged, began to think of peace and the continuance of his realm. He spent his time consulting with the merchants and horse traders of Nyange, who saw something new in the once-brash warlord and agreed to swear fealty to him, granting the king a true capital at last. Os’Elm and Maduan traveled to Durudin to speak to the sathla and try to smooth the way for this wealthy region to enter the new civilized Sendahl polity. Thus, Sendahl’s entry into the ranks of civilized nations was accompanied by a significant expansion of its political power and influence. However, the move to a sedentary lifestyle placed sudden strain on a newborn government ill-equipped to deal with the demands of village life. Sendahl’s vast cavalry army alone ate far more grain than Desiket could grow, and suddenly demanded payment, an expense which King T*ko could not meet. As a result, the collection of taxes was sparse and spotty, leaving the government desperate for money and food. Moreover, the change in governmental focus to cultivation and civilization meant that the still-plentiful steppe tribes became distanced from the central government. |
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Mekebele –
Ruler –Emperor Mufun
Capital – Awayal
Dominant Race – Human
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The whole wealth of mighty Mekebele was poured into plantations in the coastal province of Ola, where the warm waters of the Vine Sea conspired to create the perfect environment for coffee, bananas, beans, chicory and nuts. Thousands of men were paid in considerable gold to clear land, burn foliage and break the rich but hard soil which in future generations would bring much wealth to the jungle kingdom.
Emperor Mufun ruled from the throne of Awayal and discreetly established a harem of concubines while awaiting the majority of his seven-year-old bride. Prince D’Hargi governed the city of Kaznuma, establishing both a local messenger service and a series of deep-water wells. Warleader Bor’ufan governed in Awayal, which proved more intransigent in its ways, but he nonetheless managed to establish a guild of tanners in the outskirts of the city. Nightdancer, lord of Eura, died in 2808 of blood poisoning after stepping on a large thorn and refusing to allow the witch-women to attend to it. |
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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The dwarves stroked their long beards, counted their coins and nursed ancient grudges. |
The Elven Empire of Sengkar –
Ruler –Emperor Valoril Greenshield
Capital – Ezrand
Dominant Race – Elf
Diplomacy – Radhrost [F], Kibeyes [-], Ozhayar [C]
| The beautiful and prosperous Empire of Valoril Greenshield continued to be one of the peaceable regions of Theeurth. Truly, it was a golden age. Two thousand elven knights clamored for service in the Emperor’s house guards, and so unable to turn away such a perfect flowering of chivalry, he created a hall in Ezrand to house their horses and squires and another of pure Makidot marble in which the knights could assemble.
Now in Sengkar he caused to be raised a great cathedral to the gods, open to the air and filled with trees and growing things, such that it was marvel to behold and elves came from across the Empire merely to worship there. But this was not the greatest blessing upon Sengkar in those years. For in 2810, Valoril Greenshield was granted a daughter, a rare and blessed event in the lives of the deathless elves. The feasting and celebrations in Ezrand were euphoric with joy and extravagant demonstrations of fealty to the new princess. The new order of knights swore their service to her while yet her eyes were barely open. Lord Namaril the Hunter continued his diplomacy in Radhrost, convincing the allied prince of that green province to swear fealty the Emperor. Princess Gahaliel continued in vain to woo the stiff-necked and isolationist elves of Kibeyes (they allowed her to attend their feasts and hunts, but simply refused to hear her arguments on behalf of empire). Lord Talan of Mita continued to work with the wild elves of Ozhayar, but at the end of five years was only able to tell the Emperor that there was “some little progress” on the matter. |
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The Valraj –
Ruler –Sultan Valoon of the White Knives
Capital – Muddakir
Dominant Race – Human
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Sultan Valoon concentrated on improving the economy of The Valraj. The homeland of Luud now overflowed with farms, towns and productive copper and lead mines. As a final grant to the region, the sultan had built an elaborate and beautiful stadium outside of Muddakir, where horse races and athletic competitions were held and became a favorite pastime of the Valraj citizenry.
Several hundred more Ghandoori Foot Guards were added to the Sultan’s personal army, and that army and its allied force in Tanoxus remained on high alert for any possible incursion into the jealously-guarded realm. |
The Kingdom of Weshtayo –
| Ruler –King Nokrome, Red-Feathered Lord Capital – Khulank Dominant Race – Human |
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| King Nokrome ordered that grain storage silos be built in both Khulank and Rendulha, to meet the needs of their expanding their population. He caused several round guard towers to be built in Siruvay and Tresalet to secure the eastern and northern borders. The Red-Feathered Lord ordered that the walls of Khulank be strengthened, but the masons apologetically assured him that the mud walls of the city were as high and thick as the gods allowed to mortal men. Stories of great walls elsewhere were just that – stories.
Nokrome also looked the economic health of his kingdom, sending every available ship to the dwarven port at Dürn, even though some were now returning half-empty. The wonderful artwork, jewelry and weapons made by the little earth-masters was highly valued in the ports of Weshtayo. Finally, Nokrome proved to be a lusty lord and fathered four children – two boys and two girls. Black-Feathered Lord Lanza governed Rendulha during this period and took the opportunity to befriend the hereditary lord of the city, White-Feathered Lord Sorirome, who agreed to swear fealty to Nokrome. |
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The Imperial Realm of Zikuyu –
Ruler –Emrpess Neela
Capital – Ivallkyu
Dominant Race – Human
Diplomacy – Chru [FA], Hriteke [-]
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The Empress took up an interest in the mystical arts and invited sorcerers, warlocks, enchanters and conjurers of all sorts to settle in Ivallkyu. She subsidized several eldritch projects and voyages to unknown realms, all in the hope that Zikuyu would become a place of magical prowess and knowledge. To this same end, she endowed several academies of learning and scholarship in the capital and throughout the empire.
She herself traveled to Chru and convinced the horsemen of that wild region to become her clients and live under her protection. |
In 2807, an exhausted prospector stumbled into the city of Mhynar from out of the jungles of Dorel. He carried with him tales of a fabulous hidden temple, but he also carried something else: a terrible wasting disease known as Gargal’s Skinrot which exploded through the city. So total and terrible was the toll of this dread disease that the Empress ordered the city be sealed from without until the disease had run its course. Despite the cries and pleading of the inhabitants, the army kept all the residents of Mhynar inside for eight months. When they entered the stricken city at last, the devastation was near total. Nearly eighty-two hundred of the town’s ten thousand inhabitants lay dead or dying. It was quite simply an enormous open-air mausoleum.
The Kingdom of Tas Dar –
Ruler –King Adier
Capital – Darious
Dominant Race – Human
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King Adier invested in a series of deep wells in Tas Dar that allowed access to water for farming even in the hottest and dryest summer months. In addition, thousands of young men toiled endlessly in the blazing sun of Zathar Sor to cultivate the region.
Kind Adier fathered two children. A son was born in 2808 and a daughter in 2810. Lord Markil was governor of Darious, and proved to be a talented administrator, but one more inclined to use his talents to line his own pockets than to create useful public works. Something of the reverse might be said of Prince Sendor – he tried so very hard to create lasting monuments to greatness, but his projects always seemed to die of lack of funding or materials and little got done. In 2809, the barons recognized King Adier as their divinely-appointed monarch, and the power of the kingdom was acknowledged to be his alone. |
The Despotism of Torquas –
Ruler –Despot Maugh the Wise
Capital – None
Dominant Race – Orc
ELIMINATED.
Beaten and broken, the orcs settle down into Nyelru and build the town of Torquas.
The Kingdom of Ukanve –
Ruler –King Damwen
Capital – Ukanve
Dominant Race – Human
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King Damwen and his small army remained in Shoggen, ready to fight the orcs should they attack again. Meanwhile, Mazool returned to Yezhu’u to raise nearly two thousand cavalry and light infantry and then return to the king with them. The combined army of five thousand then zealously watched the border, but no orcs came.
Vardoof of Hyrdrsha died of a bleeding ulcer in 2808, and his heirs refused the alliance with Yezhu’u. They sent tribute, but recalled their father’s army. |
The Grand Duchy of Meneen –
Ruler –Grand Duke Salene
Capital – Yaz Meneen
Dominant Race – Elf
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For the elves of Meneen, even their holdings at the end of the world were not secure enough from the ravages of orcs or the greed of men. Thus it was that the Grand Duke gathered all his wealth and people into sixty tall white ships and, forsaking their ancient havens, set sail into the Ymarian Sea. Traveling north through the Gates of Arthys, they made landfall at Dreta, where their wealth and knowledge impressed the wild elves of the shore and they established a new port city named after the ancestral one: Yaz Meneen. They also colonized Chodaru, Niorin and Ongkiji Suzu, founding new port cities along the way.
This done, Grand Duke Salene retired to the new hall at Yaz Meneen and ruled over his people. |
UKELE –
The Emerald Realm of Lekandi –
Ruler –King Galens Eagleheart
Capital – Suwelho
Dominant Race – Elf
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King Galens summoned his lords and his armies and marched to war against the hated sathla of Fikosha. The monarch placed his ten thousand elves under the able command of General Bloodspear, a respected tactician and leader. With them marched Lord Frikki. Galens sent his only son, Prince Messans, on a secret mission of espionage into Fikosha to scout out the enemy defenses. Messans traveled by night with only a few highly trained Mawasi Hunters to aid him.
Galens’s campaign was comprehensive and well planned. Lekandi warlocks summoned wild beasts and birds to harass the enemy flank in Unu, while Lords Rikkers and Malachi of Gyanlay raided Arumbom and Mitjurraw, respectively, to pin down enemy forces. There were several unforeseen obstacles along the way. The most serious of these was that on the very day that Lekandi’s proud armies crossed the Fikoshan frontier, the restive elves of the city of Gyanlay arose in rebellion, proclaiming their ancient rights as a free people. Lord Malachi immediately returned to the city to protect his vassals and properties and at a stroke Galens had lost not only his ally but his raids on Mitjurraw and his entire small naval force. |
Another problem was the deadly overconfidence of Lord Rikkers, who, once embarked on his raiding of Arumbom, put his men at repeated and foolhardy risks for the slightest chance at gain and glory. He was oblivious to the growing alarm and hatred of his raiders and his force suffered from mutiny and desertion.
The main army under Bloodspear performed admirably, however. In the fall of 2806 the Lekandi army encountered the sathla forces of Slaartor the Golden in what would later be known as the Battle of Vaasesh. Slaartor’s forces numbered just over four thousand, but the sathla made efficient use of prepared defensive positions and their superb knowledge of the local terrain. The battle under the hot autumn sun was met in a field of onions, just in the lee of a long, low rise called the Hill of Vaasesh for the ancient sathla king buried there. The two armies gazed at each other across the fragrant plain, one clad in ochre and emerald, the other clad only in scales and breechclouts. Then, at a gesture from Slaartor, a terrible surprise was revealed. A long pole was carried before the sathla dictator on the shoulders of six stout lizard-men. Bound to the pole was Messans, Galens’s son and the Crown Prince of Lekandi. Before the elves could do more than shout in anger, Slaartor personally beheaded the bound prince and flung his head in defiance towards the outraged elves.
Now the carnage began in earnest, as the bitter foes struggled amid the dust and onions. The fury of the elves over their prince’s murder was matched by the bloodthirst of sathla fighting for their homes, farms and families. No quarter was asked or given and the battle was more cruel than any on either side could remember. But in the end it was the elves’ superior warcraft and numbers that told. The sathla were pushed methodically back towards the Hill of Vaasesh and finally broke and ran towards mid-afternoon. Without cavalry, Galens could not pursue, and had to settle for recovering the mangled body of his son.
Slaartor and the remnants of his shattered army retreated into the walled city of Upashan, where they were soon pursued by Galens. The monsoon season brought the campaign to a temporary halt, but it was resumed again as soon as the rains had gone. In the absence of ships, a passive siege of the city was out of the question and ill-suited the king’s vengeful temperament. Instead, engines of war were built and soon were lobbing huge projectiles over the walls of the sathla capital. However, the sathla were far from beaten and their spirited defense of their capital did them great credit. A great many elves were killed trying to scale the walls, including Lord Frikki, who died of an arrow through the throat. In Agaleon, 2807, Bloodspear himself led an assault on the walls by a contingent of the elite ghostdancers. The wily sathla first trapped and then rained arrows down on the elves within a small space of the walls. Of the five hundred ghostdancers who scaled the wall, only seventy returned, along with their commander. Bloodspear had had enough, and after a furious confrontation with the king, he quit the field, returning alone to Suwelho, where he began to drink to great excess.
Determined to avenge his son on Slaartor, Galens paid no heed to his general’s departure and ordered the bombardment to continue. A month later, this determination resulted in a great victory when a sathla noble attempted to flee from a postern gate and the elves were able to rush and seize the small gate, taking the garrison by surprise and flooding into the city. The elves refused to accept the garrison’s surrender, slaughtering every armed or fighting-age male they could find. A thorough search of the city did not, however, produce Slaartor, who had fled by ship at the first sight of Galens’s army at his gates. With the Fikosha homeland and capital in his hands, Galens now paused to consider his next moves.
Meanwhile, back in Suwelho, Lord Juelans had been appointed governor. Juelans’s spent his time engaged in hunting and hawking, and spent fewer than one day in forty in the city.
The Restored Empire of Fikosha –
Ruler – Slaartor the Golden
Capital – Upashan
Dominant Race – Sathla
The Fikoshans planned for a peaceful five years. They didn’t get them.
Rumors from Elsewhere –
The elves of Celendor, fresh from their victory over the steppe nomads, have suddenly returned to their forest fastnesses. Elves from all over Theeurth are heading rapidly to Celendor.
Fisherman from far-off Choran swear they saw a golden city float serenely by their dhows on the Soldu Sea.
GM’s Tip #6 –
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.
COMBAT, PART THE FIRST –
Combat in Lords of the Earth is typically governed by one of two rule sets. Thomas Harlan’s is the standard, but many GM’s use an alternative combat rule set (also included in the GM’s handbook) written by Lorne Colmar. I liked aspects of the two, and so Lords of Theeurth combat is best described as an amalgam of the two, with some additional rules regarding race and magic.
This hint will be broken up into three parts. In this first part, I’ll discuss command and control. Next turn I’ll discuss open field combat, and on Turn Eight I’ll discuss sieges.
I. LARGE ARMIES
There is a practical limit to the number of troops a single leader can command effectively. This number is equal to (Combat Ability x QR x 5). For Taurids, this number is (Combat Ability x QR x 6). Leaders with a Sorcery rating have an effective +1 Combat rating for this purpose.
For armies with cavalry, the QR is Cavalry QR. For armies without cavalry, the QR is infantry QR. Fleets use Warship QR.
For each multiple of this limit (i.e, greater than 1:1, 2:1, 3:1, etc.), the commander suffers a penalty in combat to his effective Combat Rating. Additional commanders can help, with each subordinate commander able to command a like number of troops.
II. MULTIPLE COMMANDERS
When more than one leader is present during combat, the effective Combat Rating of the army is affected.
Positive modifiers include:
- Each additional leader not required by the maximum above
- Each Leader with a Combat Rating of 9 or better.
Negative modifiers include:
- Each leader with a Combat Rating of 4 or less.
III. COMMANDER PRECEDENCE
Overall command of an army may not always go to the most qualified leader. Often, the highest-ranking leader (King, Heir, Prince) may decide to take command regardless of the orders of the player. If your heir is a military incompetent, it might be best to keep him away from the army!
If the highest-rank leader is not the designated commander, there is a chance he will attempt to assume command of the army. The chance is dependent on his hidden Loyal stat, his charisma and distance from home of the army. Success in this is not automatic. It depends on the rank, the combat ability and the charisma of both leaders…mostly charisma.
IV. DOES BATTLE OCCUR?
LOTE regions and sea zones are big areas. It is possible for two armies to be in the same region and not come into contact with the enemy, particularly if neither is intent upon immediate combat. If both forces are intent upon combat (as evidenced by their military orders), then combat will certainly occur. If one or both are not intent on combat, then there is a chance that it will not occur.
First, a “Contact Rating” is generated for each army. The basic Contact Rating is the commander’s Combat Rating, modified as follows:
Positive modifiers include:
- Average sub-commander rating 9+
- Using Evasive/Secret Movement
- Has no more than 25 units in the army
- Has more light cavalry than the enemy
- Has more cavalry than the enemy
- In Open (C,C2,S,D) terrain
- Outnumbers opponent
- Has attack (A, AT, AL) orders
- Has defend (D) orders
- Battle Assistance Intel Op
- Enemy Field Forts in the area
Negative Modifiers include:
- Average sub-commander rating 4-
- 100+ units in the army
- 200+ units in the army
- Close (M,J) terrain
- Outnumbered by the enemy
- Friendly field forts in the area
A d10 is rolled against the army’s Contact Rating. A roll greater than the Combat Rating is a failure.
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RESULT |
EFFECT |
| Both Pass | Any current conditionals are triggered. Else current orders are executed. Combat orders take precedence. |
| Stronger Passes, Weaker Fails | Stronger can execute conditional orders / opt to contact or bypass enemy. Weaker ignored conditional orders; current orders executed. Contacts enemy if enemy closes. |
| Weaker Passes, Stronger Fails | Stronger ignores conditionals, current orders executed, fails to prevent a retiring foe from escaping. Weaker can execute conditionals / opt to retire from enemy. |
| Both Fail | No conditionals executed. Armies engage. |
Page Completed 8 June 2006