[IC] Ophad: Medieval Fantasy

--=--2201 SE, Summer--=--

[Slagar]

=-=2200 SE, Summer=-=
Cesia
Calm before the Storm

It is was a cloudy day outside the city of Stormcod, capital of the great Noravar kingdom of Cesia. Despite it being mid summer, it was not uncommon for weather this poor to depress the mood. In the hills outside the city of marble and stone and it's great towers were the plains and hills of northern Kevica, its grassy knolls and valleys being the realm of peasants and rogues, but yet now hundreds of noblemen, warriors, and their vast horde of servants and retainers had gathered outside. A great line of tents and banners of Cesia's nobility reigned across the hillsides and surrounded a rather unnatural mounds. This mound, made of dirt and wood, was built as a tomb for a king of the Noravar of old, just as the old king Ketil Bramsson had wanted. The nobles had lined up along the partially makeshift dirt road which led to the tomb's entrance, amongst them their Maruds and levies battered shields with the blunt ends of their axes. The body of King Ketil passed by on a pier, carried by four of Ketil's most loyal Maruds. As the pier passed the lined noblemen, they bowed their heads and placed a blue flower upon the ground, as was the ancient tradition.

Leading this procession was Ketil's son, and now recently named King of Cesia, Thorald Bramsson, who for the day had worn a mix of his battle armor and a royal cloak, colored blue and lined with silver. His ornate axe and crown of gemstones was in fairly poor taste, as Thorald was still very young, being only 17 years old. He led his father's body alongside a druid of the local grove, and Ketil's favored servant, a young Palovian man and slave who had ran away from peasantry and became Ketil's most trusted servant. The two lesser figures were of his father's work, but Thorald agreed to allow them to lead. Of the family that should have been leading the procession was perhaps his own mother, but the queen of Cesia had been dead since Thorald was three years old, disease having taken her. The brothers of the king had simply not shown up, except for Thorald's favored uncle, Kodran Bramsson. Kodran and his family stood alone on a hill looking over the nobles, for despite liking his young nephew, Kodran despised his brother for many reasons.

As the procession neared the tomb, the slab door was opened by servants and the body was carried inside by the Maruds. The druid prepared the body of the old king, placing a wreath of holly and hazels upon on body, and a crown of leaves upon his head. The dirt pedestal for which the king's body would rest was prepared by the druid in advance, with the king's earthly treasures place about his tomb. Ketil's sword, shield, and throwing axes piled up in one corner, and his favored servant sat upon the floor in another. The druid took out a knife, chanting in a low tone as his slit the servant's throat, and placed his twitching body in a corner of the tomb. As the Maruds left the tomb, the druid activated the springs of traps and magical wards as he left, and the loyal soldiers sealed the tomb's entrance with stone. The nobles gathered and sang praise to their gods, but Thorald was silent and join his uncle upon the hill, looking over the tomb.

"In life, he was a fool of a king, but he couldn't have been an even bigger disappointment in death." remarked Kodran. Thorald simply nodded and continued to watch. The older man, nudged by his own wife, a fair and beautiful woman urged her husband to the procession of tents. They have had enough, and as they climbed down the Hill, Thorald looked upon the tomb and only gave a silent shrug to the death of Cesia's king.

---

Ketil, King of Cesia, was dead and his throne had with great controversy passed to his only living son. When Ketil had died, it was rather odd, as his servant, a young Palovian man, had come screaming down the hallway of the castle in Stromcod. Ketil had died in his bed, his eyes closed and his sheets well tucked, and while many guards did not expect foul play, Kodran Bramsson had. Kodran had known war and violence, and knew full well it was irregular for a man to have eyes clothed and tucked in sheets, in which Kodran had stormed off to confront the servant upon hearing of the King's death and nearly slew one of the guards who tried to calm him. Ketil was dead, murder or not, and thus a moot was called the next day by Kodran. Within less then a week, the 5 remaining brothers and two sisters of the family, including Kodran, had arrived along with a huge array of nobles from the inner lands. Despite it being common practice that all Jarls were to be present, the Jarls of Penica, Granland, and Nauberad simply could not make it in time.

When the Jarls did arrive, it was clear to many on who would have become king. Ketil's younger brother Asvald Bramsson was a popular pick amongst the family and nobility alike. Asvald was a skilled warlord and a thane in the service of Midim who helped conquer the Kingdom of Nauberad for Ketil. Despite Asvald's minor role compared to others, his status as a soldier was already a league above his other less impressive brothers, excluding the exploits of Kodran. Kodran was a fearsome and terrifying warrior amongst even the most obscure Jarls, having led brutal far raids for fun rather then for money in his youth. Yet, his violent attitude led to constant disownment by his brothers who thought of him as archaic and foolish. Despite the nobles being impressed for more with Kodran, he was not running to become king, but did have his own card to show in a rather odd if not desperate bid. Thorald, son of Ketil, was his apprentice when he had come of age, leading raids and battles across the coasts of Kevica and Endikigo in his youth.

Thorald had been a odd choice, mostly because no one liked his father Ketil. Ketil's reign was often best described by the courtiers as a great golden bowl, and the king was defecating upon it. Ketil had been granted a stable and wealthy kingdom by his own father, and in his lust for gold he did the rather unthinkable action of kicking out family from their estates, cutting down payments to family members, and granting huge bribes to friends and for personal favors. Ketil had been once an excellent warrior and in perfect health, but his years on the throne made him fat and slothful, often to a point he would forget how to fight which made him a laughing stock amongst Noravar. Any semblance of great stability was shattered in his desperate bid to perserve his legacy by attacking the northern kingdom of Nauberad and subjugating it's lord, who surrendered only to be nearly overrun by over extending Beryul tribesmen.

When Thorald was young, he spent more time in the care of his personal slaves and his uncle Kodran. Kodran taught Thorald how to fight and when he was old enough, the two went raiding in Endikigo where Thorald cornered and killed a Beryul warrior, claiming his head. The creature's skull was placed on the table before the nobility of the moot, and the nobles debated the young man's merits. Thorlad was young and also very brave, but bravery alone did not swindle the nobles to electing him as king, which is where Thorald truly did shine and used his family's drama to push his move. Asvald was not known to be rash and highly violent, but in private he was often known to get red in the face over the smallest petty details, a flaw hidden by his brothers who wished him to become king so their lands could be restored. Asvald three years ago had an affair with a young woman, and when her father tried to push Asvald into a marriage, Asvald killed him in a fit of rage and imprisoned the woman for half a year when she threatened to bring Asvald to a high court. She was freed by the other brothers who paid her hansomly to be silent about the affair.

Thorald had learned of this drama from Kodran who was involved in the affair, having granted the woman's son a status as a Marud in the future in return for silence. Under the threat of being put to the High Court, the nobles discussed in length the many problems which could occur for the realm, but were more concerned about the behavior of a man who could be so petty. Cesia was in deep political trouble, surrounded by a coalition of kingdoms which sought to break up the Cesian kingdom for some time. The Noravar nobles feared that a violent ruler would lead them into war which could doom the nation and thus their positions as powerful and wealthy Jarls. By a small margin, the vote shifted to Thorald's favor and won the right to rule. The nobles gave a bow, with Thorald's uncles also eventually giving in and bowing as well, but Asvald was furious and stormed out of the room, cussing loudly.

---

What had started out as a surprise, now blossomed into a new era for Thorald. Thorald arranged his court, having servants dust off his mother's wooden throne so Thorald's young wife Gyda, Princess of the Jarldom of Cesia, could sit by Thorald's side. While their marriage had only lasted for a year, the two had grown close. He had turned down Kodran's offers to go on a far raid just to visit Gyda's family and give her father royal gifts. While their love was fairly simple and legitimate, it was also immensely political. Gyda's family had secretly supported Thorald to become king during and before the moot, and made monetary promises to several nobles in return for favorable outcome. As a reward, Thorald allowed the Jarl of Cesia to take a number of treasures from the vaults along with gaining oaths of protection from his new liege lord.

Thorald began his reign with a feast, inviting his nobles and family to it in order to get them into one room where he could force them to swear fealty to him. Noravar hunters brought in over 40 boars and 30 stags for the feast, with chefs ceaselessly gathering the materials for such a feast. The scale of this feast was above other feasts, with Thorald's Master of the Cages was sent to buy a small army of slaves just to tend to the feast, which included bullying a number of Otem from their enclave as temporary servers when human stock was low. Luckily, many nobles were still in Stormcod to witness to funeral of Cesia's previous rulers and thus many were fairly early to the feast. While at the feast, Thorald accepted their oaths of loyalty, but only those who swore were allowed to eat. Servants rushed in and out of the stressful kitchens, bringing out more and more food for the Noravar.

To complete this grand feast was with some entertainment, with Thorald hosting a tourney amongst the Noravar nobility. Over 2,000 lesser noblemen and greater noblemen pitched mock battle between teams of red, blue, and green which smashed each other with wooden axes and swords. During the fun however, one of Thorald's older uncles was teamed up with a Marud loyal to the house of Bramsson. Before the mock battle began, the Marud suggested putting yellow flowers on their pretend armor to make them stand out more. The uncle agreed and charged into the fray when his unit was called. Yet, while in the midst of having fun, he was soon overwhelmed during the thick of the pretend battle by a group of unknown soldiers and was beaten within a inch of his life, and punched by the group and then left. The uncle's face was smashed by a trample, and the injuries killed him. When the wounded and dead were brought to the camp, Thorald publicly set up funeral arrangements for his dead uncle, but suspicion amongst the other family arose swiftly, and the remaining uncles fled back to their homes before the tourney had concluded.

[Slagar]

=-=2200 SE, Late Summer=-=
Northeast Kevia
Consolidation

It had been approaching fall, but trouble amongst the nobility of Cesia had not been fully calm since the summer Tourney. While many nobles had fun, the suspicious death of one of the uncles of the current king had left a sour taste for most nobility, especially those who considered themselves allies of the remaining family. There was very obvious trouble in the court of Thorald Bramsson, especially when the 4 remaining pretenders had scattered to the further parts of Cesia towards the courts of their allies, abandoning their homesteads in favor of the protection of the court of their friends. Thorald felt threatened by these would be rivals to his throne, especially if one decided to start a small civil war and allow his neighbors the chance to pick at the country's borders. Rumors had spread in Stormcod that the King of Swinden had been eyeing farmsteads and small villages Oslak, and Swiden troops had even tried to bully the guardsmen of the city of Kenis. With his neighbors prodding at his borders, the young king had gathered his council and set out to consolidate his power as best he could, in a traditional Noravar fashion. By force.

The first uncle to deal with was Hlodvir Bramsson, the youngest of the uncles. Hlodvir was not exactly a bright nor clever man, but he certainly wasn't bull headed like other Bramssons. Thorald knew little of him, mostly because the man had spent much of his years in merchant guilds and was a addict for money. What he used this money for was anyone's guess, but often Thorald had good reason to believe this money was wasted on many stupid ventures. Using this to his advantage, Thorald sent one of his Maruds to the court of Hlodvir's ally, a small dwarven nobleman in Fortigar, to bribe Hlodvir to leave the country and revoke his claim to the throne. The payout, while immense to a debt ridden man like himself and fearful of Thorald's vengeance, eagerly accepted. Hlodvir took a horse and his new found wealth back to Stormcod, but wished to make a deal with his nephew to not leave the country, arguing his estate was worth a great deal to him. Hlodvir had no family of his own, so seeing no point in arguing with him and relying on his predicability to get himself in debt again, Thorald allowed Hlodvir to stay on the condition he gave up his claim to the crown.

The second uncle, Leidolf Bramsson was the elder uncle, and was a close friend in the childhood of the previous king but the two grew apart due to Leidolf's ambitions. Leidolf was a older warrior but not a skillful veteran, and often considered himself more of a explorer and adventurer then a raider. Thorald asked Leidolf, who was hiding in the city of Aiela under the local lord's protection, to give up his claims to the crown. Leidolf refused, sending his messenger to convey he would not give up his birthright. Seeing how diplomacy had failed, Thorald motioned his Spion Styr Gunnarsson to deal with the issue. Styr, who had served as a graceful and loyal spymaster since the days of the previous king, gathered intelligence in the city. Styr drew Leidolf out of hiding by offering him information on the death of the uncle who had died during he Tourney, Snæbjorn Bramsson. Leidolf arrived along with three Maruds loyal to him to a meeting with Styr in a barn outside the city. When the group was inside however, they found nothing but dry hay. Two local thugs locked the door behind the group and then set the barn ablaze. Leidolf had most certainly died in the fire, as Styr made sure to watch the man burn alive trying to break down the door with their axes and swords. Leidolf's sons soon were rounded up by Styr and taken back to the capital where they swore fealty and were placed back onto a estate once they had renounced their birthright to claim Cesia's crown.

With two uncles out of the way, the other two Asvald Bramsson and Throst Bramsson had come to be the new targets. The death of Leidolf had forced the two brothers to unite and made their way to the court of Hauld Vikar Gauksson, the Hauld of Neasbrid. Vikar is considered honorable to a fault and when he heard Asvald and Throst's complaints about the Thorald, Vikar had flown into a fury, throwing his sword into the wooden floor of his great hall and calling Thorald a coward and a traitor. Having earned Vikar to their side, the two kinsmen formed a alliance and began to call allies in a attempt to overthrown their uppity nephew. Yet, Thorald had gotten whiff of their plans when one of the allies called the uncles was no other then Thorald's ally, Kodran Bramsson. Kodran was a good friend of Throst, with Throst's own son and heir to his name being the newest companion of Kodran as a Marud which the elderly Kodran wanted to bring on a far raid. When he was approached by this kinsmen of Throst's request, Kodran brought it to Styr and then brought it to Thorald. Styr suggested placing Kodran and his family in the dungeons beneath Stormcod's keep for the time being, but instead, Thorald respectively placed his uncle under house arrest and released Throst's son back to him with a message. Throst read the message in private along with his family, with warning of a brutal famlicide if he continued to rebel with Asvald, and mercy if he surrendered.

Throst Bramsson, as a couple weeks dragged on, began to lose hope with Asvald's cause. Asvald had gathered a pretty effecient army of outcasts, bandits, and disgruntled soldiers to his banner but had not brought with him any significant Maruds, Thanes, or Haulds. The Jarl of Lesser Oslak did appear in court, but only to actually greet his half brother Vikar, trying to persuade him against rebellion. It was rather clear that most nobles were undecided at best, and against them at worst. The royal army of Maruds which gathered in Stormcod numbered around 7,000, with and additional 2,500 which would be supported by the Hauld of Aiela. The Jarl of Cesia had his own army, which was already crossing into Causia. Throst asked his brother of the chances of victory, but he was outright ignored, with Asvald truly believing his cause was simply so just, he could not be defeated. Throst eventually gathered his own strength and gathered his family to him. He hugged his sons and daughters, telling them to ride for the estate of his younger brother Hlodvir. In the night, Throst and his Marud rode hard and fast to the marching army of Thorald to ask for his mercy.

When Throst arrived, his guards and himself had been escorted through the encampment which was preparing to leave soon, having camped on the road. Thorald was surprised to find Throst in his camp. While Throst did kiss the sword of Thorald, the young king was warned by his Spion that he was still a proud pretender who now had a history of rebellion, and if allowed to be free, he would simply attract trouble. Thorald asked his uncle what he would do in such a situation, and Throst had answered "What would you do my king, if your brother if you had one, was killed in fire by dishonorable means?". Thorald gave a chuckle at Throst's accusation, answering that if such a thing happened to him, he would have kept the peace and stability regardless of the circumstance, but it was clear to those within the tent that it had not been a truthful answer. Thorald had Throst and his Maruds imprisoned until later, but for surrendering to him, Thorald promised the older man he would care for his family and his kin.

It was later summer when battle was joined near Neasbrid. Without Throst, and with only Vikar's army and Asvald's militia at their back, the group of less then 6,000 troops faced off against a combined army led by the King and his father-in-law, the Jarl of Cesia. Their numbers combined was around 33,000, causing many of Neasbrid's Maruds to lose heart. Battle opened with Neasbrid's Maruds acting defensively as their were under the onslaught of armored beastfolk from Stormcod, which tore through their line relatively quickly. While Vikar bravely continued to fight on, his army was surrounded and demoralized, utterly crushed by the relatively larger force. Asvald attempted to flee the battle and make his way to the shipyards of Neasbrid, but was caught by his own militia who presented him to the victorious Thorald. Vikar was killed in battle, but his sons swiftly pledged loyalty to Thorald who accepted it in grace, but for Asvald, the angry man shook his chains and often tried to charge the young king. Thorald smiled, with his last uncle in chains, Thorald was pleased he had rather swiftly ended a crises before it even began.

Asvald was highly rebellious and ill popular, but his family who had also been captured begged for his release and promised to go abroad. Thorald knew where they would head, towards the Coalition who would most likely support their claim. In the afternoon following Asvald's defeat, Thorald had his uncle executed. His executioner would be Thorald's Beryul bodyguard, slave, and childhood friend Yulf Whitecamp. Despite being armored in more traditional and more comfortable armor compared to his other beastfolk brethren, Yulf was still very obviously shackled in heavy restraints and wore a metal slave's collar which showed his station. Yet, it was his station which made him a rather appropriate executioner for Asvald, and Thorald wanted many in his camp to know it, as the slave brought down his sword upon the angry noble's head. Asvald screamed and raged for hours, cursing and spitting at Thorald who watched the execution closely. Asvald's head was placed on Yuld's belt, with Thorald warning his fellow nobles he would not tolerate traitors in his midst. As for Asvald's family, he ordered their males to have their right hands chopped off and sent away without honor and in peasant's cloths to the Kingdom of Jugraia, with Asvald's elder son having the Noravar runes "Son of a crownless traitor" carved into his chest.

The decision as to what to do with Throst was more difficult. Throst was still a traitor to the crown, and keeping him alive would truly attract the coalition to him. While Thorald played with the idea of sending him away in banishment, there was always a chance years later that Throst or his sons might return with Coalition support. In the night, Thorald talked solemnly with Throst about his issue with him, with Throst rather morbidly agreeing and even joking that he must die for stability in the realm. Thorald, not wishing to be named a kinslayer, ordered Throst to be beheaded in private by one of Throst's Maruds. Before his beheading, Thorald lamented that he was sorry and that he would honor his pact with the nobleman. Throst thanked him, closed his eyes, and let the sword fall upon his neck. Throst's body was returned to the household of his family and were given pardons on the promise they would never start trouble or turn to Cesia's enemies. Throst's elder son returned to the care of Kodran. With the war over, Kodran and his family were free from their house arrest and attended Throst's funeral.

---

While Cesia had been in trouble with it's noble family, the High King of Polav had been dealing with his own issues. The old king had been in the middle of several small crises. Polavians were divided amongst the much more pale skinned northerners and a significant sub culture which was more closely related to a much more brighter skinned Noravar. Polav had been formed a fairly long time ago when the King of Polav also became king of the Kingdom of Luthugaria, combining the two kingdoms into one powerful entity. Yet, the kingdom was in the midst of many issues which was caused by the king's ambitious and aging son which caused deeper concerns. Świętosław Macak, the current king, had just fought a battle near his capital city against his son's coalition of nobles and just barely had held them back. Despite disowning the upstart brat, the old king was unable to truly disown him since the youngster had murdered his only other heirs, including a number of bastard children. Now this lonesome child had a family of his own, and was leading a significant army in the battlefield, but was just unable to fully capitalize on his accomplishments.

Radomir Macak had been dubiously murdering, cheating, and outright lying his way to a seat of power for the past 30 years. Battles near Palov's capital city was no unusual to his many ambitions. . .and his failures. Eventually retreating to southern Palov, Radomir began to conspire with many of Luthugaria's nobles who wanted the overly ambitious and easy to control man on the throne. Radomir however was losing very significant support almost daily, especially with mounting defeat on the battlefield and his disownment did not make things better. It wasn't until the court of his father was visited by two controversial figures did things begin to turn around in Radomir's favor.

Cesia had a very uneasy truce with the King of Palov, including Radomir's father and grandfather. Since Palov was on the Cesian Strip, the beach line was often contested in both diplomacy and war by the two nations in the past, neither able to beat the other. Radomir's grandfather had eased things between the two countries by offering access to roads, expansion of roads to connect with Cesia to it's new province of Penica, and trade rights to her ports if the Cesian raiders ignored Palovian ships. The Cesian kings agreed and kept these deals for some time, so long as Palov did not join the coalition of Noravar states against them. However, the court of Palov was interrupted by a rather angry ambassador from Cesia, who complained of bandit infested roads and threatened enslavement of Palovian peoples if the King did not clean up the mess in the country, alienating a number of noblemen. Radomir could not have asked for a better gift, especially when his own court was approached by ambassadors from the Noravar Coalition, offering their support to place Radomir on the throne in return for joining the coalition.

The other controversial figure was a Otem merchant and patron named Jerzy Blackpuddle had appeared in Palov's court, offering a huge loan. Otem in Palov were often very rich, having their own autonomous city of Wesa'hol which had been under Palov control and suspicion for years. The merchant council in the city had no nobles, but instead was solely run by rich Otem ship builder guilds, along with a huge number of craftsmen. When the Otem offered a loan rather then aid, the king of Palov accepted, but had also disgusted many of his noblemen in doing so. Many Palovian nobles who were loyalists were furious that the Otem had not offered help, but rather were instead profiting off the entire affair. Several disgruntled nobles ended up siding with Radomir. Radomir within less then a month now had a sizable army, allies, and a relatively secure position to go again and retake the throne.

The Coalition had sent Radomir mercenaries and soldiers with foreign banners rather then their own levies, not wishing to provoke Cesia into action just yet. With their support and aid, the ambitious prince again was laying siege to Palov's capital city and soon had overtaken it, forcing his father to flee to the northern coastline. Pushed back time and time again, it was wasn't hard to realize his situation was dire, and fled to Cesia's territory of Penica, who's Jarl rather reluctantly agreed to take him in. Radomir was soon on the throne, but his claim was not secure amongst his father's loyalists, and sent demands of the Jarl to "Grant his father a good burial". The Jarl refused, but soon found that the old Palov king had died of old age and his servants and loyalist nobles tried to hide it. The Jarl of Penica demanded, for the old King, a huge sum of money and some of Palov's most treasured relics of it's strange religion, but did not tell Radomir that the old king had died. Radomir agreed to the request, but was rather furious when he had sat outside of his capital city to deliver a grand speech to his hated father, only for him to arrival rather haphazardly in a wagon, delivered by a Beryul slave and a young Marud, the body having been partially eaten by crows and drowned a few times in shallow marshlands due to poor conditioning. Radomir cut off the head from the body and placed on a pike on a bridge leading into the main gate of Palov's capital.

With Radomir on the throne at long last, he attempted gleefully began to ponder which side to chose in local political affair, the Cesians or the Noravar petty kingdoms. It was a clear choice to Radomir who heard debates favor the smaller kingdoms, as Palov's nobles had begun to eye the Jarldom of Cesia as a obvious choice for expansion. Radomir, much to the shock of Cesian ambassadors, announced his intention to join the coalition against Cesia, and reasserted his people's rule over the Cesia Strip. Radomir purged his courtiers in the capital's court, inviting ambassadors from the smaller Noravar kingdoms and a number of their heroic Maruds. When the ambassador to Cesia protested, he was banished outside the court and placed in the household of a lesser nobleman in the city, but the ambassador had left for the Cesian court straight away. Radomir however was a rather dubious ally it seemed, as his ambitions was often not without consequence. Many northern nobles who had been loyal to the previous king began to make contact with their Cesian neighbors, complaining of Radomir's rule. These signs were ignored by the new king, who either did not know or did not have a spymaster who could tell him so.

Radomir's new 'popular government' saw severe changes and huge consequences for his actions. The first of which had been a revocation of lands of his enemies, including many previous supporters who had aided him to the throne. These began as very small removal of titles, but soon began with Radomir leading armies to commit familicide against his internal enemies. Chaos was errupting much to the horror of his new allies, who rushed to help him only to find Cesian mercenaries helping their enemies. The second major move was Radomir revoking trade rights and access to Cesia, which angered many merchants of Palov and their coastal nobles. Cesian raiders began raiding Palovian trade ships, and neighboring lords began to pillage many of Radomir's loyalists. These complaints, brought before their king, caused nothing but further dissent as Radomir simply laughed or obnoxiously pointed to his crown as a end to arguments. Problems often had to be solved by his new found allies, who were more annoyed then relieved to basically be running the country.

Radomir's third and most vicious act was perhaps the infamous Purge of Wesa'hol, the Otem city which feared the worst when Radomir had come to power. Radomir sent three small armies to camp near the city, which were accepted at first, but soon it grew into a siege. The city, without even a fight, opened its doors and allowed the men in under the supposed agreement the people would not be harmed. The Otem city however was instead utterly pillaged as Palovian men clamored into the city, killing Otem and burning much of it to the ground. Those that survived fled to the harbor and swam to already launched boats, as the Otem watched their city burn. The surviving Otem returned to their city to rebuild, but soon found themselves placed in capitvity by Palovian bandits who planned to execute them if they returned. This thuggery shocked and angered many Palovians, who while suspicious of the Otem had not been outright aggressive towards them, a important fact which had been misinterpreted by Radomir who planned the purge to rid himself of a bad image but instead inflated it. Before Radomir could attempt to make amends, over 30,000 Otem were placed in chains by his mercenaries and were marched as slaves to Cesia where the thugs made a decent profit, having basically sold almost all of Palov's most skilled ship builders into eager Cesian hands.

Many of the survivors of the purge in Wesa'hol ended up in the city of Norgadber, who's enclave had to be expanded by over three times it's size to accomplidate the new Otem population sold to the city's Jarl. The Jarl of Cesia agreed to the sale, mostly seeking to use the new enslaved population to expand his city's port, and perhaps sell off additional Otem to other Noravar nobles, earning him a decent profit. Yet, more importantly, these Otem brought news and information which they traded to the Jarl's Maruds for safe passage to Otem city states in the north, including the infamous merchant Jerzy Blackpuddle. This information, gathered by the Spion of the local Jarl, told the court of Thorald Bramsson of the atrocities and troubles in Palov. While many in Cesia were now worried with Palov having joined the coalition, others were rather relieved that the Coalition was probably in a state of chaos having accepted such a irrational and stupid ally. 1/3 of Wesa'hol's population were outright bought by Thorald and brought to the Stormcod enclave, with Thorald swiftly declaring he would reclaim Wesa'hol for it's displaced Otem and add them to the rightful protection of his nation, his threat creating a resounding fear in newly named High King of Palov.

---

With Cesia's attention on internal and external affairs, the Lord of Maukshad had been enjoying a show. Within the dwarven realm, a great marble pit was surrounded with a small jeering crowd who had joined the dwarven lord's private estate as two Beryul slaves were fighting to the death in his arena. Sindri Brond had been watching from his high marble throne alongside his pregnant wife. It had been a special day, as the local nobility were celebrating the coming of his child. Yet, while many nobles and rich dwarven autocrats were having fun watching two Beryul slaves rip each other apart with a great deal of beer and ale to accompany them, others in the crowd were rather sickened by the display.

What was sickening wasn't that two slaves were killing each other, it was that one slave was on a chain leash, holding no weapon, and was virtually naked except for his shackles. The Beryul chained in this way was a recent capture and also very young, not use to the weight and was being painfully bullied and prodded by the larger creature in the pit. This creature was simply known the dwarves as 'Mud', or at least, that is what was scrawled as his name on his collar. The creature bore a very heavy, custom made, black armor and specialized sword. His shackles were studded and much larger and thicker then most other metal shackles granted to Beastfolk, and again much like armor were specially made and crafted in good dwarven quality. This creature was Sindri's pet and bodyguard, and was beating, scratching, and body slamming the poor creature in the pit. One of the nobles was sickened by the display, noticing that their lord gave a wide smile while sickened wife simply turned away.

When the younger Beryul tried to give out a cry for mercy in his own language, calling upon his gods to save him, 'Mud' had yanked on the chain of his collar, detaching it from the wall and began to choke him. 'Mud' looked to his master who gave a nod and let the creature down, but dragged him away into the pits below for perhaps another day. When the group disbursed, the dwarves gathered in a grand meeting room with Sindri granting gifts of gold, jewels, and toys to his vassals who attended. Yet, he noted on the faces in the room who were clearly disgusted, and reassured them he was just as kind as his father had been ages past, but he would only act cruel to his fortress's enemies. When the dwarves left, Sindri gathere his true guests who had only just arrived. His wife excused herself as 'Mud' motioned the less then beloved dwarven allies of the Lord into the white halls.

These two allies were Kian Fordad and Kregan Nausit. Kian is the Spion of Sindri and had just returned from a mission in the rival dwarven fortress of Fortigar, and Kregan is Sindri's patron, a rich merchant who profits from the lord's many ambitious ventures who had also just returned from Fortigar on a mission of his own. For the past two months, Kian had been gaining the trust of Fortigar's lord and his family, with Kregan prodding the local legionary guard with small bribes to see who was corruptible. Both had reported great success, and were both hugged by the happy dwarven lord. Sindri called two Otem slaves to pour his friends drinks and the three discussed their plans in the empty court, with 'Mud' watching over the door as he usually does.

Sindri had been lord of Maukshad for a twelve years, and was successful as a merchant and high dwarven king under Cesian rule. His administration in Granland had earned him fame and fortune and the respect of his father, but now being lord in Maukshad had made him sour with the direct message from Cesia's government to remain loyal or else. Sindri had been ambitious, seeking a strong dwarven kingdom of a united Dwalam people, but he could not do that under Cesian rule. The Cesians traditionally avoided dwarven territory, due to it's huge problems with sieges and near suicidal need for luck to even break down the gates. Yet, Sindri had other ways to unite the Dwalam, even if they were rather dubious and highly unfavorable. One such way was his current scheme, to simply buy out the loyalty of the guard in Fortigar and then use them to usurp power in the city. Things had been going well for Sindri, but he now needed the right time to unleash his potential. He had been making sure, through cruel games like the ones he hosted today, to keep the nobility of his own city in line.

Once the two had been done drinking, Sindri sent his spion to Stormcod to keep an eye on the news and to report back to him what was happening in Cesian politics, and perhaps bring in possible allies to his cause. As for his patron, Kregan was to be sent to the local merchants guild for the next phase in his master gamble. Bribing guards was a risky businesses, but in order to secure true loyalty through money, he had to offer these bribed commanders and guards very lucrative deals. Kregan and Sindri the next day made a trip to the local Merchant's guild to secure themselves some small expensive housing which had recently fallen into the hands of the merchants, and would use this to offer the Fortigar commanders grand housing, essentially the equivalent of a sellable dwarven estate free of charge, for their continued loyalty. When one commander who came to Maukshad on 'business' showed doubts, he was swiftly found dead in his inn from severe poisoning. The other commanders, wether by greed or fear, made 'oaths' to Sindri in his throne room in private and went back to Fortigar with their pockets filled to the brim with their sins.

Having noticed his wife's disdain for him during the social gathering, Sindri approached his wife Myri Brond. Myri was a merchant dwarven women who had fallen in love with the Maukshad prince when the two worked to secure trade rights in Granland, but now they had grown rather cold with Sindri having grown to be almost monstrous and overly ambitious. Myri told her husband that she would never forgive him if he missed the day of his child's birth. Sindri promised rather half serious he would never disobey her trust, but rather not reading his wife's rather poor mood correctly, he granted her a 'gift' of the same overly tortured and broken Beryul slave to be her personal servant. Despite attempted pleas of not wanting such a creature as a common servant, Sindri had simply insisted and bragged about the wealth and prestige of having such a creature in her service. Myri sighed deeply and stopped trying to argue with her husband, ordering the creature around in a attempt to normalize it to her standards.

[Slagar]

=-=2200 SE, Fall - Winter=-=
Northeast Kevica
Whispers

While things had been calming down since the attempted coup in Cesia, trouble had been brewing all around since the later days of Fall. In Cesia itself, there had been celebration, especially when in a rather jubilant and bombastic way, King Thorald Bramsson had announced the pregnancy of his wife Gyda Ketilsson. Despite his public declaration to feast till the next spring in celebration, he later was advised against anything lavish since the war with his uncle had left the kingdom economically troubled and many of the nobles were rather cautious with separating themselves from their funds for yet another lavish feast, especially as the nobles begin returning to their own realms. Thorald was happy, but he had been making plans for larger conquests. Thorald had been playing with the idea of conquering his troubled neighbor of Polav for some time, and now that winter was stirring, it seemed that Thorald had plenty of time to plan and plot, gethering to him his advisers and generals to hold up with him in the castle at Stormcod.

The problem had been was that currently, Polav had once been a neutral neighbor, and now under the rule of the seemingly incompetent Radomir Macak. In the time which had taken Radomir to become king of his country, nothing has really changed since the late summer, with many of the northern nobles of Palov constantly complaining to the Cesians of Radomir's ever incompetent rule and general lack of empathy. It was made even worse that Radomir had somehow gotten sick with some unknown plague along with a decent amount of his court, which made the prospect of invasion of the realm even a better prospect. The only issue was, was dealing with the Coalition which Radomir had sided with and finding a pretender to the Palov crown. These things were discussed in length by Thorald and his advisers.

One possibility was a small branch of the Macak dynasty known as the Krawiec which had been one of the noble families which had been complaining. It's patriarch, Książę Aleksander Krawiec, had been siding more and more with the Cesians and had been especially been noteworthy in his criticism on the new Palov king. Aleksander had lost a huge amount of his trade and wealth when the Otem city of Wesa'hol burned, having been especially a prominent patron of it's ship building guilds. Thorald in secret invited the nobleman to his keep and met with the man, and was met by a large imposing man with a deep voice and a half hearted accent, barely able to speak the language of the Cesians. When Thorald offered meat and bread to the man, he refused, citing it was not within his god's wishes to break bread with a weak and pitied man who had to use slaves, specifically noting Thorald's Beryul bodyguard. Despite the two having many similar differences, Thorald was rather impressed by Aleksander's imposing pride and strength. Aleksander was offered the crown of Palov by Thorald, but much to anger, Aleksander refused, stating that while Radomir was incompetent, he would not challenge his oaths or his king, but he did inform Thorald he would most likely not join in any war with the king either, neither would many other northern nobles.

The search continued for weeks with similar results. One nobleman who had unclear bastard origins was very reluctant to join out of personal fear for his own family, one nobleman who was thought to be also a bastard was hunted down to a gravestone near the capital city, and many of the 'missing' sons and daughters of the previous king had been 'found', buried in hunting accidents and sudden sickness. While Styr Gunnarsson had pointed out to Thorald he could craft a good reason to displace the Palov king based on these 'accidents' as being purposeful murders, Thorald didn't wish to spend neither the time or money, for he had a much more easy solution and decided to send his ambassador to the court of Radomir directly.

In the court of Radomir, he and his supporters were still discussing issues of Palov and of the consequences of their government's constant fumbling. When a guardsman entered the room, whispering in the ear of the young king, he dismissed the man. "The Cesian can wait outside in the cold for all I care, I have more important things to worry about!" He complained. So the ambassador did wait outside in the snow, and he waited for two whole days without moving a muscle much to the terrified glances of the palace guards who began whispering of the ambassador being a ghoul, a ghost, or even some rotting thing from the north. In a bored mood, Radomir eventually motioned his guards during a winter night to allow the man inside, and the Cesian shoved open the doors. He revealed himself as Kodran Bramsson, and he shook off the snow from his coat and drank from his beer horn. In silence, Kodran gave a scroll to the King of Palov, a list of demands.

In this grand letter, the King of Cesia had proclaimed that he had bought the Otem who fled from the burning city of Wesa'hol, and were made his subjects. As his subjects and by the authority of the Cesian crown, he too now owned the lands of Wesa'hol as given to him by the surviving landlords of that country along with it's nobles, its people, and its coast. Radomir laughed as he read each sentance of demands and asked for his sword from a courtier, but as he did, Kodran was heard laughing with him, disturbing the young King. "What do you think is so funny, Cesian? Do you not fear me or my sword?" He asked. As he said this, halberds lowered from the guards towards the Cesian, and the man answered back.

"Kill me? You would dare kill a messenger? Truly it is true the King of Palov had no shame nor wit." Boasted Kodran. "Would your allies think less of you or more of you, or perhaps even show their true colors you incompetent cur of ill repute!" Radomir had more then enough, but before he could order the man killed, he was stopped by one of the Maruds from Caskard. The Noravar stood to the side of Kodran. "Beware, King Radomir, for if you slay a messenger you incur the wrath of the strong nobles of Caskard and her allies. Let us not draw sword, but mugs, and be calm." He motioned the royal guard in the room to lower their weapons, and much to Radomir's horror, they did. Radomir himself lowered his weapon and put it back into the hands of one of his servants. He calmed, and motioned everyone into one of the castle rooms.

There was furious debate between Kodran and the Coalition nobles for hours, with Kodran arguing that Cesia now owned the people of Wesa'hol and thus owned Wesa'hol's lands, no matter how poorly kept they were. The Coalition warned that this was a clear act of aggression which would mean war, for that land belong to Palov by right of it's crown, not by the right of a displaced people. Eventually, the two sides relented and came to a rather reluctant agreement. Palov would instead of giving Cesia Wesa'hol, it would instead build a 'marcher kingdom' between Cesia and Palov as an independent kingdom, allowing the Wesa'hol Otem and Noravar settlers to rebuild the destroyed city as a Noravar-Palovian-Otem city which would also include the Palov territory of Krejeck, in which the Aleksander rules. In further agreement, Aleksander would be given kingship by both the Cesian and Palov crown authority to rule the land.

When Kodran returned, Cesian armies crossed into the territory to swiftly replace Palov counterparts, releiving a number of north eastern Palov nobles who sided more with the Cesians and praised granting the noble Aleksander to the position as their king. Naming the country the Kingdom of Weskov, it would utterly separate the borders between Cesia and Palov, but also separated Palov from it's coalition allies. While it infuriated many of the Coalition nobles that Palov had lost land, they were a bit less livid that the land went to a Palovian who was stupidly honorable. Noravar, from both Cesia and the Coalition, began moving to help rebuild the city of Wesa'hol, with many of the Otem who were sold into slavery in Cesia being allowed to return to their homes, but more or less still as slaves but under Palovian rule who simply promoted them to more or less urban peasantry. However, Thorald had successfully and peacefully pushed his claims on Palov, which had greatly worried the nobles who did not wish to see further violence between them and the coalition.

[Slagar]

=-=2201 SE, Late Winter=-=
Northeast Kevica
Morning Breeze

The lands of Cesia had been settling down from the drama happening between themselves and the Polavians. The newly formed kingdom of Weskov had been given legitimacy by both realms, with Radomir Macak calling Weskov's chosen nobleman, the highly honorable Aleksander Krawiec as his equal in the east and granted him the title of King of Weskov. Yet, as the year dragged from 2200 to 2201, some issues had begun to arise. Weskov had formed from no history of real background, having always either been partially in the hands of the Noravar, but has otherwise been apart of the Kingdom of Luthugaria, effectively splitting the nation in half. One part of the deal was that those in the new nation would not call themselves Luthugarians, for Polav was still a commonwealth and it would break the kingdom far more then it should. As part of the peace deal with the Cesians, Weskov was to remain a neutral buffer zone, or 'Marcher Kingdom' as some of the Cesians were calling it. Yet realistically, the Cesians and the Coalition were vying heavily with the territory.

King Thorald Bramsson respected the code of honor of Aleksander, and the powerful king ruled his realm with kindness and charity, but albeit a bit too much. Both Thorald and Radomir threw money and resources at the kingdom by supplying the efforts to rebuild the Otem city of Wesa'hol, which began to draw in many Polavians and Cesians who began to try to profit off the rebuilding efforts. Wesa'hol had seen heavy activity before, but the political pressure by both nations made it a booming city the Otem could not even dream to imagine, but their people were relugated to a enclave which saw very little development and was separate from the human sections. Foreign races and merchants even began to settle the city fast in the coming winter, adding more materials and structures, but neither Cesia or the Coalition was able to outcompete their gifts to Weskov to gain Aleksander's full support, nor that of his nobles. Thorald had once loudly wondered to his court if the Weskov nobles intended it to be that way.

Regardless, Thorald had still created a peace which for now was still active, but the coalition still felt they had missed an opportunity. While for some Noravar kings this had been a utterly embarrassing move between them and their new ally, but for some nobles, they saw the reasoning behind Radomir's actions. If Weskov had not been created, it was perhaps inevitable for a revolt led by Aleksander or some other disgruntled nobleman or former loyalist to rise up and give Cesia an opportunity to strike. While some more war like figures wanted war to happen sooner then later, others were content with the mediocre peace created to deal with more local concerns.

Yet Weskov's concerns and issues still had to be dealt with, especially when it came to religion and government. Aleksander was a generous and kind ruler who often forgave his nobles for even very serious transactions due to the sway of protecting their families or believing they could be redeemed, but many of his own nobles were rather livid that they had not been promoted to a new high nobility and had to share their titles and even portions of the new lands to many smaller noble families, rich estates, and Otem landowners who had survived the initial purge. To counteract their issues, Aleksander set up the Krejeck Rada, a council of nobles from Krejeck who would act as a representative council to advise the king and to help set up the territory to their fitting. The Rada reduced many smaller landholders into vassal territories of new overlords, viceroys from their own families in Krejeck to collect taxes, raise armies, but otherwise were loyal to their families back home and were more or less administrators rather then nobility. Wesa'hol was to build Wicekról Izba, a small government office in which these viceroys and their retinue could rule the new territories from. While highly unpopular amongst the smaller nobility around Wesa'hol, they didn't really have much chance with their depleted armies when facing the mostly untouched Krejeck soldiers.

Religion had also been a major issue in Weskov as far as Thorald was concerned, mostly because the new nation had soon been recieving a number of Noravar in droves, especially into Wesa'hol. These Noravar built a shrine to Olavan, with smaller shrines dedicated to smaller gods. The main gate of Wesa'hol, which was being revised by a Noravar mason, had built two stone boar pedestals representing Hogi and Lomki at the top of the gate. Polavians had their own pagan gods, but rather specifically worshipped Trugula, a god of war, iron, honor, vengeance, and nobility who was represented by a human-like demigod who was said to have slew the dragons of Ophad and used their bones as his armor, and ascended to godhood by his deeds. Trugula's statue and grove was made the centerpiece of the Wesa'hol church grounds, based in the ruins of a Polavian Stave Church which was built by and for the Otem of Wesa'hol. Thorald has specifically wanted this kingdom to be drawn closer to him, and he believed faith was perhaps the biggest draw of all, and sent a request for several druids to enter Weskov to show them the true way.

---

It has been a morning with a light chilling breeze in the villages along the coasts of Nauberad. On the lonesome tundra, over a hundred armored riders were riding out in the chilling weather, 99 Nauavar Maruds and their Jarl, Barnolf Vogsson were racing along the coastline to the outcrop of a smoking settlement. With them was the Jarl's elder son, Mar Vogsson. The Jarl stopped, and looked in all directions as they near the ice laden coasts. He and his group stopped as they approached the first village, and bore witness to the whale skin flags of a Tuesab raiding fleet passing on by. The Tusked creatures didn't bother to look at the horsemen as the Jarl looked on with a spout of anger in his eye.

"My lord, the villages." One of the Maruds behind him warned. The Marud pointed to the villages up the coast, their smokey houses had a bright orange glow. Barnolf took up his axe and called to his warriors "I'll give each man his weight in treasure for each tusk you bring me! Now go! You five with me, these mangy curs are as greedy as ever, these raiding ships are no doubt heading back to their homes, but their leaders tend to stay a little longer." The Jarl, his son, and his men rode off while the rest went to deal with the remaining raiders and secure the villages.

As the Jarl rode past the rubble, he noticed the brutality of the Kayek'kalee first hand, their shrines of bone scattered along the tundra, their unnerving sacrifices in blood, and their slain piled high on the shoreline. For several weeks, the Jarl and his retinue had been coming to call of coastal villages, fleeing from resurgent raids along the coast. As Barnolf and Mar raced through the coast, losing men who began to check homes for survivors, they soon came across Nauavar clansmen battling the Kayek'kalee. The Tuesab bore great bone axes and were covered in purple and black runes which covered them from head to toe, in honor of their dark god. Six clansmen had been buying time for their families to make for the colder marshlands further inland, and were relieved as the Jarl and his Maruds came charging from the coast. Yet, as one man looked on in amazement, his face was caved in by the chop of a furious axe. The Tuesab warriors drew their large wooden bucklers, forming a shield wall as the cavalry approached, and prepared for impact.

The Maruds galloped however around the beastfolk and quick succession stabbed them from behind. The Tuesab slashed into one horse and threw it's elite soldier into the ground with a sickening crunch. The Jarl spun his horse and threw an axe at one of the creatures, hitting him directly in the head, and drew his sword and charged the ill prepared tribal zealots. The battle lasted for about a few minutes, but it was brutal as both forces were stubborn. The one sided victory was won, as the Jarl looked at the Nauavar clansmen, happy to see him.

"My Jarl! The Tusked Ones are burning our villages! They came in the night, and we've been fighting them all morning!"

"How many ships?" Mar asked

"We counted several, my chief son. Thirteen I think. They were led by a larger horror, hu--"

Barnolf paused the man, speaking up swiftly. "Bloodaxe. Cursed name as any. Their infernal family has haunted our shores. . .you men come with us. We have battle ahead."

The clansmen formed up and followed the Maruds who galloped forward. It took them a few hours, but the group eventually caught up with the Tuesab marauders, saving and recruiting Nauavar clansmen as they did, and were soon reinforced by several other local clans who came to their aid. In the village of Elgago, the Teusab were brutalizing the village, stealing away salt, fish, and wood onto their flatbed boats. The leader of the raid, Olgali Bloodaxe was using the cloths of a dead man to clean his great war axe, a massive iron war axe stolen from the corpse of some dead ancient Noravar prince which had been passed down in generations. As the Jarl, his Maruds, and the clansmen arrived, Olgali looked up and mumbled to himself before he set his warriors to a defensive line while he personally charged into the Nauavar lines. The Nauavar and the Teusab clashed, with the Jarl personally targeting Olgali, identified by him due to the Tuesab's size and much more brighter tattoos. During the battle, Barnolf charged on his horse towards Olgali, and the Tuesab in turn rammed his axe into the Jarl's horse. Barnolf fell off, only to witness the ever angry raid leader tearing apart his horse. The Tuesab drove his axe into the horse's neck, nearly decapitating it and angrily tore off one of it's hooves and threw it at the Jarl. Still on the ground, Barnolf crawled to his sword and looked up in a panic, but saw that Olgali was gone.

The battle didn't rage on much longer, as the Teusab retreated to their boats seeing it as a losing battle. Several of the warriors who had been making prayers on the dock stayed behind and became fresh troops, but their purpose was to die in glory and buy time for the other more experienced warriors such as Olgali to escape. The Jarl, angry at their escape attempted to throw a spear at the large Teusab, but it landed softly in the water and sank into the waters. The Teusab ships disappeared on the horizon as night began to fall. The Jarl, collecting himself, inspected what was left of his villages.

For the past few weeks, Bloodaxes and their Kayek'kalee minions had been raiding the coasts of Nauberad. The attacks came for Cesian goods, such as good rope, wood, salt, and iron. The Teusab had no need for slaves, they had no need for them, and their god looked poorly on such things. So thus, the brutal raiders came and slaughtered the Nauavar and disappeared back into their open waters, but no one knows if they would come again next week. The Jarl looked over the broken docks and homes, ordering his people to move into the inland clans with due haste. He gave command to his surviving Maruds to build a barracks on the western shores and to begin building defenses on the coastline, for it was all they could do to watch for the creatures.

Barnolf returned home along with Mar, and sat on his throne, complaining to his court his anger against these beastmen. Several of the Nauavar angrily declared it was the fault of Cesia that did not send ships to help them, but these voices were silenced by Barnolf, proclaiming it was the duty of the Nauavar, not their 'tamed cousins' to deal with the creatures. It brought him no end of grief that the Beryul clans were eyeing his lands more and more often, especially as a Noravar colony which sat next to him was growing more and more crops which drew unwanted attention from hungry rogue Beryul wanderers. Now with the Teusab raiding his lands, Barnolf wondered if the Noravar had been attracting the Beastfolk like flies to his kingdom.

Yet, troubling word came from the northern tribes. A scout had come into his court, a spy amongst the Beryul who had been tracking their movements, made his report to Barnolf. The Beryul tribes had been slowly coming southward, and some clans have been outright ignoring their traditional nomadic paths. The tribes normally circled what could only be described as borders, occasionally raiding one another and stopping at icy groves to rest and eat. Now, a number of rival clans had been seen camping on top of one another. Barnolf heard the scout's recollections and looked more and more worried as he spoke. It sounded as if the Beryul were uniting, putting aside their differences aside, and making their way towards them. Barnolf asked the scout if any tribe was leading them, but he couldn't give an answer. He said he could only track their movements, but the Beryul seemed more likely to head into Granland by the look of their camps. Barnolf ordered for one of his Marud to ride hard with the scout to the court of Gorlof Hroksson, Granland's Jarl.

When the two Nauavar came to the Iron Port of Ioaran, the two warned Gorlof of the danger. The Noravar Jarl stroked his beard as he heard the warnings of the Nauavar, but he instead laughed. Gorlof smiled, and commented that his slave traders has complained to him months ago that the Beryul had not come as much south as they wished, and now they would directly come to his port? Gorlof made it clear to the two stunned Nauavar that he would as much order his smiths to work overnight building shackles rather then weapons for the inevitable invasion, confident his soldiers would take on the Beryul with aid from the Nauavar and his king. Gorlof dismissed the messengers and sent word to the capital, demanding reinforcements. Yet, Gorlof's request was recieved poorly, as King Thorald only sent several Maruds to reinforce the barracks, being informed by Gorlof's messenger who more literally took Gorlof's words of "We shall need more soldiers to deal with this influx of new servants of the Noravar in the coming months", and not as liberally as Gorlof wanted.

When the Nauavar returned to their Jarl to tell him what had happened, Barnolf sighed and cursed Granland's Jarl under his breath. Barnolf ordered his messenger to give 'a more accurate warning' to the Cesians, while he began making preparations. While Mar and the household Maruds were training Nauavar clansmen and inspecting their northern villages, Banrolf went northward towards the borders of the Nurs'sak clan. When Barnolf and his Maruds entered into Nurs'sak territory, they lit a bonfire near the coast and within three days, two Ber'yul appeared in their white cloaks. The two Beryul greeted Barnolf in humility, Jarger Nurea and his son Kalgo Nurea. Jarger smiled and even hugged the Jarl, much to both the fear and annoyance of his Maruds. Jarger had a rather long history Barnolf, the two once having been mortal enemies. The Nurs'sak had once attacked the Nauavar when they were still an independent kingdom, and Barnolf's father slew Jarger's father, and Jarger killed Barnolf's younger brother. The two warriors had fought long and hard, and both earned their own glory as a bane of each other's race. Yet, Jarger had once saved Barnolf's son, Mar, from a polar bear which he was already hunting and spared the youth not really knowing who he was at the time. Days later, Jarger's wife and infant son was captured by Noravar raiders and nearly sold into slavery, but were saved by a grateful Barnolf who took them into his home. Jarger and Barnolf had been allies and friends since, especially when Jarger left his clan to become a fisher.

Barnolf greeted his old friend and asked him what was happening with his people. Jarger himself had only heard rumors, but a strange cloaked prophet had been slowly rekindling the Beryul faith, and disappeared, only for a powerful zealous warchief named Nausgar to suddenly rise through the ranks of the Beryul. As to what he wants, why he moves, or his plans it wasn't entirely known. Barnolf sighed, telling of his plight to Jarger who gave a hearty laugh. Jarger told Barnolf that these sudden southern migrations wasn't really a prelude to invasion, but rather a religious revival. As shadow worshippers, the Beryul moved into what is now the northern parts of Granland to rekindle the shrines of several sacred groves, make some burnt offerings, and then go back to their nomadic ways after a month. This happened every 50 to 100 years, often when the tribe was visited by a mysterious prophet or a powerful shadow shaman had appeared amongst them, or even passed away. Barnolf looked confused, but he was also relieved, yet he didn't seem as convinced as Jarger was. Jarger offered to send his son, Kalgo to Nausgar's camp, for the young Beryul wanted to honor his gods, and perhaps spy on the camp and the possible invader. Barnolf accepted, and agreed to send a entourage of his Maruds to guide the young Beryul to the border. Barnolf returned back to his capital with the Beryul in tow, but seemed to notice that the morning breeze had gone. When the Beryul stopped and sniffed around him, he made a sign to the east and west.

"Something wrong, Kalgo?" Barnolf asked.

"I forget you are not true to the north gods, my lord. It is just, when the wind stops, it means we have not honored the Shadow. I honor him, and perhaps he will restore our good graces?" The young Beryul said, but Barnolf only shook his head.