Dance.Down
Warlord
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2009
- Messages
- 286
Update One
|Or the Months of Bloodshed |
Febuary - May 1597 A.F.
|Or the Months of Bloodshed |
Febuary - May 1597 A.F.
Old World Happenings
No one quite expected for Suttari to fall to Prince Eagleheart and Paronia so when news reached the Old World a few months later they would be shocked. At the time of Suttari's fall the Old World had two wars well underway, one major and one minor. The War of Gali Succession has now begun in full with King Taheb I of Sahe taking all of southern Gali-Qaand by mid-Febuarary, forcing the upstart kingdom to fight an increasingly desperate battle as its allies, the Kingdoms of Takkor and Masset and the Kherbala Republic, fail to come to Gali-Qaand's aid. Gali-Isphis has made headway against Gali-Qaand, but the ferocity of King Taheb of Sahe has caused the Isphans to err in their assult and begin to look southwards to their future enemy.
Queen Fashya I of Messet continues her 'War of Unification', and while all other kingdoms consider this as a minor rebellion being crushed by a monarch they fail to realise that by this point the Highland Queen has larger machinations in mind. By the onset of summer the Queen has defeated her own people, the Messet Highland Tribes, and forced these half-wild men and women to name Fashya the rightful Queen of all their tribes and land, creating the title 'Queen of the Uplands'- an act which causes the northern and southern lowland nobles to wonder how much longer their autonomy can be maintained.
By the end of April Takkor has reunified under Queen Koga I and no noble dares question her right to rule. Earlier, during a parley between the rebel Emir of Kadis and the Queen's men, the queen herself appeared at the gathering and cut down her unruly subject with her own hand. Both sides were astonished that the Queen would violate the holy precepts of safe passage, but Queen Koga responded that any man who would violate the equally holy bond between a ruler and subject knew nothing of the scriptures. To this they had no answer and without a leader the rebellious southern nobles quickly fell back into line.
Only the Kingdoms of Jankol and Istemut and the Kherbala Republic seem to have known peace this month, although King Khonut II has been deep in negotiations with the Kingdom of Gali-Isphis and the entire realm has mustered its armies for war.
Summary & Effects
Of the two wars it is Queen Fashya I's that will eventually go down in history as revolutionary and beginning a long, and bloody, series of events. Contemporaries of the Messet Queen, however, regard the War of Gali Succession to be far more important and all the kingdoms of the Old World wait to see how it will play out. Gali-Qaand's allies- Takkor, Messet, and Kherbala- have only pledged their support due to their mutual dislike of the Kingdom of Sahe, but with King Taheb I being so initially successful the three powers have hesitated to act. However, with her people now behind her Queen Koga of Takkor may march to Gali-Qaand's aid and no one expected Kherbala to be of much use due to its distance from the conflict.
Queen Koga's actions have set the Old World in a frenzy, although it is a quiet frenzy fraught with schemes and whispers. In all of recorded history there have been few breaches of the Precepts of Safe Passage and Queen Koga's actions have demonstrated an unsettling deveolpment: the will of a ruler coming before the word of the church. Such unheard of actions has captivated- or coerced- Koga's own nobles into following her and she can expect to have some measure of security for now.
This long lasting peace has made Jankol immensely rich and it is steadily growing richer. Eventually contact with the east will prove desastorous for both the kingdom and all of the Old World, but that is an event far off and for now the kingdom experiences a golden age.
Isetmut, for all its schemes and machinations, has been quiet- too quiet for some.
Lastly the Kherbala Republic has begun to show the signs of stress that accompanies such a large realm and an equally large government. It is becoming increasingly common for requests to be simply lost in the recesses of beuracracy and corruption on all levels is a national past time. The Tyrant Aris I, much too young and romantic, does not notice what is happening beneath him and only lavishes in the republic's wealth, causing more than a few politicians and people to grumble.
New World Happenings
Paronia has come to be a name said with fear and loathing by the colonists. While the native empire's advances have been halted in the west by the Kherbalan colonists, to the east Prince Eagleheart has destroyed the colony of Suttari and no one can say what has happened to those inside, but most guess that the general lack of corpses at the site where the colony once stood signifies that Prince Eagleheart took captives en masse. Many mourn the great loss, but none more so the nearby colonies of Memthys and Maaimatit who lost nearly a third of their military each at the battle.
Those brave enough to wander around the Suttari peninsula report that many Paronia natives have begun to resettle the area.
~Destruction of Suttari has negatively effected trade in that region
~Many colonists from Memthys and Maaimatit either depart back to the Old World or flee westwards to Kherbalan or Messetii colonies
~Memthys and Maaimatit military weakened due to losses at Suttari
This sudden destruction of an Old World colony has birthed a series of pogroms commited by the colonists against the natives. All across the known New World native men are hunted down and the women raped and then killed. Strangely only the Paronia natives have retaliated against such attacks- the other native tribes simply endure the abuse and still strive to make contact with the colonies.
~Unsafe to travel through Paronia lands
~Best to regard natives with suspicion
Protagonists
The Dreamer
You remember little about the siege itself besides the fact that you fought and was brought down by something heavy hitting the back of your skull. Later you awoke alive, much to your disbelief, but bound and gagged and carried by two muscular native men. When you tried to struggle they only hit you again, causing you to black out once more.
Now you are awake, hungry, and amongst your captors who seem to be enjoying all the spoils taken from Suttari. It would seem that you are in the middle of Paronia army lead by Prince Eagleheart and your senses tell you that you should praise God that you are still alive.
The Shade
Things went badly. These three words can more or less sum up the past few months. You spent the first weeks living amongst the village, trying to get a better understanding of just why your brother, a man who you remember to be so devote when a child, now shares his meals with an apostate. You found out nothing, your brother only would share with you "all the glories of this place" once you had cast aside the teachings of the Central Church and embraced whatever terrible teachings he turned to. Finally it came time to act and by then it was spring, late April by your estimates.
The strange tall, pale skinned man- who you learned was an escaped slave named Gamel- fell easily; you slit his throat as he slept. Your brother, however, proved to be a far better fighter than you had anticipated.
Weeks before you had made a promise to yourself that you would face him like a man and kill him with honor, no tricks or traps, simply two men fighting. It seemed that he had held something back during the months you stayed with him because when you two drew your blades he came at you with a ferocity unlike any you had seen before. A minute into the fight you realized you were losing- you had never been too skilled in direct combat- and so you resorted to blinding your brother with a sparkling powder. As he thrashed blindly you made your killing blow, cutting his head clear off with your shamshir, but at that very moment the old priest, your mark, stormed into the large room where you were fighting and uttered some fell sounding words and all went black.
You awoke somewhere in the jungle with none of your possessions save for a rotted head that you can only guess is your brothers. Judging by the amount of decay a long time has passed and by the oppressive heat it is now summer.
The Wanderer
Eventually you will come to curse the name D'targan Xzoltec. Your attempts to get extra aid from your Republic turned out to be unfruitful as the petition was largely ignored due to the focus put on the Paronia army to the east. Restless and unwilling to wait any longer you took up your people and hired a guide, an Eulaalan if the treacherous bastard is to be believed.
You have committed to memory what the man looks like so that you one day may visit your revenge and from the depths of your seething memories you recall that he is a tall man, much taller than you, and pale skinned like the rest of the New World natives. His hair is brown and his eyes grey, his face is like a violent inverted triangle with a hooked nose and chin prominent and sharp. You felt uneasy when you first hired his services, all the angles in his face came together to make a fierce looking man, but you were in a hurry and glad to find a native to lead you through this strange land.
Xzoltec lead you southwest, judging by the stars, upon a river he called 'Robvuer,' meaning Wide-Mouthed. You were amazed at the sheer size of the river and terrified as well. At some points the river was so wide that you could not see from one end to the other and by your own estimates the narrowest point was half a mile long. As you traveled further away from Quetzipon the world grew wilder. All manners of animals and plants thus far unknown to any of your tribe were seen, and you can only begin to fathom what else this land has in store.
Strangely- well, not so strangely now that you reflect upon it- Xzoltec remained silent for much of this breath-taking journey and was reluctant to tell you anything of his land. The pale-skinned guide eventually conceded a month and a week into the journey downstream and told you and your people of basic plants that could be picked and used to treat small cuts and bruises. He told you of things good to eat and through observation you expanded upon this by watching him whenever he gathered a meal for himself. Not once, however, did you question why he kept disappearing into the jungle to return hours later and it eventually became clear when you neared a place he called 'Azor'.
When the city came into sight you sent five of your men ahead as an advanced party, much to the displeasure of Xzoltec who argued for keeping all your people together. You learned why he was so adamant about keeping your small clan together one humid night in early May when Xzoltec did not return from his nightly excursions into the dense jungle. As you and your people slept he came back with a band of his own tribesmen and slaughtered everyone to the last man. You barely escaped by throwing yourself into the river, soon after which all went black and you awoke drenched and lying on a river bank. You have no food and you know your people have been killed, but you still have your scimitar and for now that may be enough.
The Seeker
You are cold at this very moment, so cold that you swear your fingers have frozen and will break off with the slightest breeze. You find it hard to write, but you do so anyway because you have found an unimaginable amount of new plants and animals during your journey south into the mountains you have named 'The White Peaks'*. Months before you had played the interested flirt to the Governor and in return he gave you all the supplies you would need for the next two years and promised more should you return to Nezam. You made a note of this and promptly set off, but not without first learning all that you could from Nezam's colonists.
You had been fully in your element then, more so than you are now at least, and you learned of the weeping root, a bulbous root that was a sedative; the ray-of-the-sun, a yellow flower which bloomed only in this colder climate and tasted sweet, but really was a poison; the ever-apple, a fruit that really was not an apple, but apple-like and grew all year round, though it thrived most during the cold winter months. All these and more you wrote down in a small book which likely will prove useful in the coming travels, but you did not come to the New World for simple plants you could find in the safety of Nezam- you came for whatever magnificent dangers were present just past the horizon and you believe you have found them.
Laden with so many supplies you found that your travel was slow going and by time you reached the base of the White Mountains you had figured that you could not go further with so much. You traded most of it to those curious natives you met at the base of the mountains- hardy men and women with strange yellow hair and skin so white you swore they were ghosts at first- in exchange for their knowledge and a guide to lead you through the mountains. Then you began the treacherous climb upwards through a landscape jagged and unforgiving, a land that killed two of your men during the first week of travel and set the rest on edge.
As you climbed up and up the air became thinner and thinner, the weather colder and colder, and the will of your men waned. They swore fiercely with every step and you with them because your own will had begun to give out. Each day just brings work and agony you are not accustomed to. Your men call for you to turn back and descend the mountain and your heart with them, but your mind tells you to press on, to find those things yet to be discovered.
The Gambler
Your name has fast become synonymous with 'wealth' in Batrem and in almost no time at all you have amassed a small fortune. Your standing with the Gold Moon order could not be better, as you are one of their wealthier members in the New World, and you have been attracting a fair deal of attention from those Old World Beys who would hope to use you as their 'man' in the New World. You have also attracted the attention of those who would rather see you fail and this message became all too clear when one morning you found one of your squires murdered in an alley way with a 'Get Out' scrawled onto a piece of parchment shoved into his mouth.
You grieved the appropriate amount of time for that young boy and then quickly had him replaced, ordering the squire to seek out the mercenaries who base themselves in Batrem and to befriend them at all costs (which actually proved to be very costly). You stand now as a fairly powerful man within the city and were it not for your unfocused nature of business you probably could become one of Batrem's most esteemed merchants, but not everyone shares your love of gold.
Your once-squire, now a Hanim herself, sits bored and restless, eager to travel in-land to find what is there. At times you could swear she is an explorer, like that one woman Talia who has the southern colonies all a-buzz with her presence, but you know the dangers of such an expedition and are wary of commit yourself to such a journey. However, you also know the riches that an excursion into the mainland could bring- the natives practically live in houses made of gold if all the stories you have heard are to be believed and the trade once enjoyed with the Paronia indicates that there are more than enough precious metals inland to make you as rich as the very King and Queen of Jankol. You could easily abandon this life you have begun to set up for yourself and come back with more, and the entire reason you abandoned your life in the Old World was to slate that great thirst for gold.
Now it stands readily before you and with your resources you must do little else than reach out and take it for yourself.
The Visionary
You have come to understand these people, barely, but more than you had before. They are the Xelhua- you are not sure if this is the name for their specific clan or if it is the name for their people, but it is what they refer to themselves as. You are what they call Mayem- an outsider, but there is another meaning to the word that you do not quite grasp just yet. They have treated you very well, although you should not refer to them as 'they' and focus more so on your caretaker, the only one of 'them' whom you know to exist because you have not left your hut in months.
Well, to say that would be a lie. You have left it, just not while you were conscious. During the night, how long ago you cannot quite tell as you have lost all sense of time, they drugged you and moved you into a larger hut. It was still made from mud and grass and still had an earthy smell to it that hit you hard, but it was larger than the one-roomed hut you were in before; this hut had five rooms.
The woman who tended to you now lives with you, but she is quiet for most of the time and only speaks when she teaches you her language. You have learned she is a fine teacher, but you have not learned her name or why she is here or why she is so adamant about you learning her language, but you figure you have little else to do so you comply.
