I see no problem with this, just be prepared for rebellion. Their clans have complete equal rights and no body, on their part, likes slaves. To them, your pretty much inciting Chaos, their only dark god.
I see no problem with this, just be prepared for rebellion. Their clans have complete equal rights and no body, on their part, likes slaves. To them, your pretty much inciting Chaos, their only dark god.
Internal rebellion is a pretty big part of Fenea, so no problem there. Though that will probably mean that your people will be refered to as: those scaley rebellious bastards. But hey, slaves are slaves.
Internal rebellion is a pretty big part of Fenea, so no problem there. Though that will probably mean that your people will be refered to as: those scaley rebellious bastards. But hey, slaves are slaves.
Yep, when they get the boating ideas under their belts then they will more effectively fight back :P
@ClocktowerEchos I have little doubt that several young knights will be eager to prove themselves as 'adventurers' into your forsaken ruins. The nobility has a long-standing tradition in combat, so I think that they will be semi-successful. Would it be suitable that every now and then a knight and his retinue offer their expeditionary services to your court?
Sure! ^^
I will warn you that the knights in question should bring quite the large retinue to make up for casualties and be willing to depart from traditional fighting styles as they may very well flat out not work in the ruins. That's the reason why its Hallows who go in (since they can't be "killed" technically) and why the Mrystrost army is less focused on normal soldering and more unothorodox fighting styles for warriors.
Besides, Mrystrost is based on the game where if you do not die at least 10 times in a play through, you're either amazing or a hacker. :P
I will warn you that the knights in question should bring quite the large retinue to make up for casualties and be willing to depart from traditional fighting styles as they may very well flat out not work in the ruins. That's the reason why its Hallows who go in (since they can't be "killed" technically) and why the Mrystrost army is less focused on normal soldering and more unothorodox fighting styles for warriors.
Besides, Mrystrost is based on the game where if you do not die at least 10 times in a play through, you're either amazing or a hacker. :P
Honestly I was envisioning Dark Souls, that's why I went with the knights. Some younger, arrogant bastards will probably die early on. Leaving the veterans to come back several times for the money. Yeah, that's probably how it's going to be. Prepare to be called infamous for killing the arrogant younglings. XD
Honestly I was envisioning Dark Souls, that's why I went with the knights. Some younger, arrogant bastards will probably die early on. Leaving the veterans to come back several times for the money. Yeah, that's probably how it's going to be. Prepare to be called infamous for killing the arrogant younglings. XD
Glad I got the image across :P
I don't really think it'll be separated by the young and the veterans that live or die, the ruins only know those who die and those who survive. And then those who survive that are brave enough or foolish enough to come back or those who don't. Even veterans sometimes die in Dark Souls :p
Also, I don't really care if I'm called infamous for it, it ain't my fault that some jackasses in shining armor decided that fighting a giant flesh amalgamation and get his face relocated 8 inches down his spine. Best case scenario, I have some more Hallows that I don't really need to train that much. Worse case scenario, well they'll make good decorative pieces in the dungeons in death and the Soulguard Knights can always use some live practice on ferals :p
I'm willing to bet over half of the young idiots probably deserved it too >.>
@Nerevarine Would you mind if my people often traded for basic metals like tin, copper and iron with yours. I'm not entirely sure what's in demand by your people though. So I don't know how to exactly return the favor.
I can see that working; if it's just very basic and abundant metals, trading for foodstuffs like wheat or meat as a supplement to their rather drab meals of Acorn Bread and Fish would work.
Here's the complete-ish app. Some facets probably haven't been well throught out, but here they are. An empire of monkey people.
Location/Geography
(#27)
The Jade Island is a realm rich in spices and jade. The interior of the Island is defined primarily by dense jungle, sprawling limestone caverns with the ruins of long lost underground civilizations and highly dangerous flying predators that are still fearing even at a Iron Age level of technology. The jade mountains are not the tallest mountains in the world, but they make up for it in the exotic vistas that permeate the region. Forests have been somewhat cleared out by earlier societies of Finefolk, but not to the extent seen with humans for the finefolk often house themselves in trees when they are not allowed in the temple pyramids that house the highest echelons of societies in the area. The densely forested areas of the island are interspersed with wide plains out to the Caloro sea which feed the empire and allow for trade from the other major civilizations around the Caloro sea.
General Introduction
The empire of hands is a empire that has expanded to new lands around the Caloro sea in the past century. The finefolk, finally unified after centuries of disunity under one imperium has caused them to start expanding downwards seeking new wealth to get their massive hands on. The Great Alpha wants to make the Caloro sea into a handy lake, but to do so there will need to be a great push into the South and overcome primal fears to do so.
History
History will be elaborated on in light of the nature of adjacent cultures. However, for now what must be known is that a folk religion became the main religion of a major empire that dominated the northern hills a thousand years earlier. Said empire collapsed due to a centuries long drought and only in the past four centuries has agricultural civilization and ancient technologies been rediscovered by the tinkering guilds. The finefolk have made slaves out of the other races in the area, making a caste society where finefolk can focus on higher pursuits such as war, philosophy and tinkering. The Empire of Hands has a culture of tinkerers and a pathological obsession with elaborate siege machines that goes back centuries which has allowed them to conquer the southern lands.
More recently the Empire of hands has sought to monopolize trade in and out of the Caloro bay so they can get all the best spices from the west, and for that reason has expanded across the straits of their large island into the southern territories putting them at conflict with former trade partners.
(further history will require Alt's civ)
Government & Society
The Empire of hands is a empire that uses a tributary system and slave classes to maintain power. The Great Alpha is essentially akin to a king or emperor; what the great Alpha says goes. For they are handpicked from the palm of the gods to lead and are completely unquestionable. If the Great Alpha is overtaken by another Alpha, than it is clear that the hand of god has cast itself upon a superior ruler. Their religion is highly ritual and based around hands entirely, with massive hand statues and steles dedicated to the hand of god. Their god is literally a massive hand that smashes the unwanted and gives to the strong. For the hand of god beats the lazy and rewards the diligent. To be in god's favor is what the Great Alpha must do, and if the Great Alpha fails society is ruined.
There is two major classes of architecture, temple architecture and tree architecture. The temples tend to be steep, covered and terraced. They act as a storage faculty, market, ritual site and home for the Great Alpha and his fingers throughout the empire. Tree architecture reflects older traditions and are basically large, elaborate nests placed into trees with pulley systems and hammocks. They are a nice play to live if you have at least one wife. If you have no wife, you literally live in a dirt hut you are expected to make yourself (than you are expected to make the better houses). If you get a wife somehow (it's hard since the higher ranking ones may take your wife if you married too pretty), than you get a tree house too.
The word wife is a bit misleading since there is no elaborate marriage ceremony, just a short and often rushed marking ritual to state 'THIS WOMAN IS MY WOMAN'.
There is three major classes in their empire.
The farmers, the tinkerers/engineers and the soldiers.
The tinkerers and clergy and one-in-the-same and are the great alpha's fingers that deal with a range of tasks ranging from managing the farms to tinkering with new machines. They are very important to the manufacture of the war machine the Empire of Hands boasts about, along with the design of new buildings and the creation of sculpture. They don't view themselves as "artists"- for their follow a strict geometric system of numbers to make the effigies of god perfect and if they fail, they get beaten to death with a executioner's gauntlet.
The soldiers are combined with the merchants, the merchant-soldier being of great importance to the Empire of Hand's economy as having a unarmed merchant without military experience comes off to the Handyfolk as simply suicidal. These merchants unintentionally also happen to be a source of piracy due to corruption and very little oversight outside of the Empire (despite piracy being banned by the Great Alpha).
The farmers do farm work and can be conscripted into building elaborate communal temples for everyone to live in, each terrace holding successfully higher level members of society. The lowest social class, the slaves do not get to live in the temples. Instead they live in mud huts and do their work out in the open, without any protection beyond the merchant-soldiers.
The empire of hands values dominance, ingenuity, dexterity and versatility. A versatile individual is the best kind of individual in the minds of the Tinkerers and in the minds of the great Alpha himself (females tend to be their own social class of child rearers, with higher ranking males having more women while low ranking males die virgins unless they can get a women from outside the empire. While they can't have kids with other species and propagate their family name, it still gets them a tree house.)
The finefolk are humanoids with orange fur, long arms (with big hands) and stubby legs. They have flat noses and a skull which tapers back horizontally instead of being round like our own. The finefolk have no visible cornea, instead having what appears to just be a monocolored dark pupil and their ears are extremely circular. The finefolk tend to be arboreal, a fact of which is why they tend to fear open spaces (a problem that is literally beaten out of the military-merchant class from birth, through forced exposure to open places until they stop fearing it or die from panic). Finefolk have very different levels of civilization and despite the Empire of hands claiming the whole Jade Island, there is still various hill tribes living in trees who are extremely dangerous to contend with due to being much more in touch with the tree-based roots of the finefolk kind than the "civilized" Empire of Hands is. The males tend to be orange while the females tend to be black.
Economy & Industry
The economy of the Empire of Hands is highly unequal, with wealth being seen in not just money but the amount of wives with children you have. For that is propagating more of your kin, which means your bloodline is richer. Selling wives at times is used as a trade currency, but more abstract forms of currency are used by lower ranked Finefolk in the hierarchy for common trade goods. Jade coins tend to be what they use, and in theory you can buy a wife if you get enough minted jade coins. There is effectively serfdom and slavery in the Empire of Hands, and they will frequently sell the riches of the Jade Island's forests (like spices, fruits and handycrafts) in return for slaves to do the shit work.
Handyworks are what the Empire of Hands is well known for, which essentially are elaborate plates and sculptures of their god that they openly sell to spread their god's influence around the world. They are ironically usually melted down into something else or kept in some rich landlord's villa as a exotic cup holder, but the Empire of Hands is very oblivious to that as they just can't imagine other people thinking so little of the perfect craftworks. Handyworks aren't very diverse, but they are hard to replicate due to the expensive materials use.
Ivory from various forest creatures is also a major trade item they export.
The Jade Island lacks in terms of draft animals, silks (they have no silk), oils or waxes and tends to trade or raid for these items.
The tinkerers monopolize industry in the Empire of Hands.
Imports -Slaves -Spices -Exotic Foods -Silk -Wax based products like candles. -Carpets -Bugs (bug races are considered a food product instead of a 'slave' type) -Magical artifacts
Exports -Gems (Jade in particular) -Handyworks (crafts that double as idols) -Metals (caves got good metals) -Wood -Fruits -Slaves -Herbs (Adrenaline inducing flowers you infuse into tea mainly)
Military Overview
The Empire of hands has had to adapt its military to unfamiliar open plain environments in relatively recent times, which they have done to some success but some parts of their combat doctrine still reflect the earlier raid oriented warfare which defines the military history of earlier civilizations on the Jade Island.
The Empire of Hands is a military which works heavily around various types of armored caravans and siege machines (similar to those the Romans used). The armored caravans are pulled by horses.
The armoring of units are light, but they compensate by having heavy shields and long spears or more specialized military equipment such as the "steel fists" which are basically like Maces mixed with Halberds in terms of their niche. A long reach smashing tool that is meant to try to break enemy formations.
They are lacking in gun powder weapons, instead they make use of long bows and crossbows for their range military forces. They also anachronistically use a verity of slings when fighting in their element.
Their metallurgy is their strong point, along with having combat doctrines making use of "lull and ambush" tactics that are mixed with smash and grab assaults on enemy fortifications. They may sometimes try starving out their enemy in siege, but only when smash and grab assaults with their siege machines fail to break through the ramparts.
@Willy vereb Hey, when you think the ic will begin? No rush but I'm pretty eager to see where this RP goes.
(and if we get accepted :p )
I think I would like to have most even if not all NS posted up in the chars tab before that. Which also means the players filled out each category so it's considered semi-complete. Also I would like to read them in full at least once and comment on them while also posting my own NS which for some reason is progressing at a snail's pace. Until then I think we have plenty of details to discuss like shared history between nations or synchronizing plot elements so there won't be any clashes or Cuckoo Nations which are wildly different from the rest for no reason.
Starting the IC during the weekend sounds nice but a more realist estimate I believe is going to be the beginning of the next week.
Shared history will be tough without AltHero for me.
I imagine that there'd be trade and envoys to the Empire of Hands, but most of their activity will be in and about the Caloro Sea since they are averse to large, open ocean for the most part. (The Caloro Sea I imagine is much better known to them than other seas/oceans). They have a paranoia about sea monsters that may not be totally unfounded given what apparently exists in other player nations.
Slave and Jade trade with the Fenea kingdom is likely.
The Order (Nexerus) is xenophobic and would want nothing to do with the Empire of Hands so trade is extremely unlikely unless I misunderstood their nature.
The Golden Horde is an empire created from the conquests of the Uruk, an orcish nation of former nomads united by the Khagn. The Uruk are militaristic and dreaded for their violence. Submit or die, that is the motto for the Uruk. In spite of this the Golden Horde is quite disciplined and under their iron rule the empire developed and prospered. The most apparent show of this is the Golden Road, a trade route granted by the Uruk through their lands. Thanks to this trade is booming through the entire continent while also providing great wealth for the Uruk themselves. While currently consolidating their power the Uruk army is as fearsome as ever, a threat most of their neighbors are well aware even during this strangely peaceful century.
Names: The Golden Horde, Uruk Empire, Burz'Doram (Black Hand), Uzg'Uruk (Orc Land), Kri'Kadar (Central Tent, often mistranslated as the Golden Horde) and even more.
Location/Geography
Gold nation with number 8 in the center of the main continent.
1.) Gijak'Tor (Plans of Viridia) - Uruk mainland 2.) Gladyss Fellowship - elf-dominated federation of races 3.) The Dwarven Bund of Thirty-Three Peaks (Dreiunddreissighöhesbund, or just the "Bund") - dwarven nations 4.) Marinainte Confederation - trade/shipping affiliated nation 5.) Savdrock Kingdom 6.) Argonian Commonwealth 7.) 8.) 9.) 10.) 11.) Principalty of Yllendthyr - elven island nation
History
Uruk were one of the numerous nomadic races living in the Plains of Viridia. They were wanderers with no permanent holdings split into numerous tribes. These tribes were frequently fighting, both among themselves and in service of neighboring nations. That was until few centuries ago when a young and charismatic leader Orakgash Khagn united the Uruk under a single tribe, creating what is latter be referred as the Golden Horde. Lifetimes of fighting and mercenary background steeled them and the Uruk began their long conquest. Their methods seemed savage yet hid surprising level of planning and discipline. The nations sharing the plains with the Uruk quickly fell to their might and became subservient to the emerging empire. The news spread like wildfire and the deeds of the "Ork horde" were became known and feared.
Orakgash established the Uruk nation and set down the foundation of the empire. Yet his early death prevented him to see when it reached full glory. In honor of him all supreme leaders adopted the title Khagn (often mistranslated as Khan) and continued to direct the Horde to their destiny of conquests. The Uruk also adopted a more sedimentary lifestyle with military leaders becoming nobles and owning lands gifted by the Khagn for their achievements. The borders of the Uruk Empire were in a constant flux, often expanding but there were times they were pushed back. Eventually the Uruk reached their limits and their current leader Bazghok Khagn made steps to consolidate their power. It's been decades since then and while the Golden Horde is far from forgotten they ceased to be a constant threat to their neighbors. The Uruk Empire is an expanse of land uniting many different races and cultures under the iron rule of the Horde. This union aids trade and progress a way never seen before.
Government & Society
The Golden Horde is a large empire of diverse cultures united under the Uruk's rule. Yet barring the heartlands Gijak'Tor the populations at large mostly live the same as they did decades ago, only exchanged one master for another. Uruk became their rulers and they have ultimate say in any matters. Yet in general the Uruk is only interested in collecting "tributes" which can include money, valuables, food or manpower (usually as soldiers). This may seem abusive at first but the Uruk also brought trade and unified law which in general improved their lifestyle. Rebellions occasionally happen as well as punitive campaigns against those failing to oblige the Uruk but they are toning down as the Uruk's gasp over the lands stabilized.
As mentioned before the Uruk did not replace the existing governments more than they found necessary. Uruk generals and other nobles may have became their new masters but overall life went on as usual. What the Uruk changed was the elimination of borders and most internal conflicts. By the law of the Uruk all subjects were equal and must be treated the same regardless of their nationality (with the exception of the Uruks themselves). Laws that were imposed on the subjects are few yet violating any of them has severe punishments. Death penalty was common and certain violations may either risk killing one's entire family in retribution. This resulted in drastic reduction in crime rate as whoever foolish enough to disobey the Uruk were found dead.
Of course the Uruk have their own laws applying to themselves. If anything these are even more strict, constructed in a way to both keep the hordes in the line and also to prevent the Uruk fighting strength to ever degrade. People are allowed to participate in any religion within the Empire. Not the Uruk, though. They traditionally follow their ancient shamanistic beliefs and unless one suffers through the difficult process to receive the proper papers they are punished under the threat of death if they are caught participating for other faiths. Shamans in general enjoy a particular renown within the Uruk. They are their religious leaders, magicians, scholars or even artisans. The leader of the Uruk and in turn the entire empire is the Khagn. The current Khagn is called Obould the Goldshot.
The leader of all Uruk and the current ruler of the empire. While most Khagns rose from the lines of prestigious clan leaders Obould was born from a minor shaman family of healers under the name of Durldar. In spite of this he didn't follow the footsteps of his ancestors and eventually ran away from home and joined the military academy under the fake name of Obould. The studious Obould first became a military engineer but a few years later his actions promoted him to lead his own company. Through the next decade he kept advancing in the ranks, earned both respect and enmity as an upstart. Eventually he earned Bazghok Khagn's favor and after his death Obould was declared Khagn of the Uruk Empire. His rise to power was not seemless however thus he spent the next few years fighting Bazghok's relatives who refused to bow before a "nameless Khagn" like him. Bazghok chose Obould not only for his potential but his origins which made him not bound by the old traditions. Bazghok was a reformer and Obould proceeded doing what his predecessor would've never been allowed to do. This caused further enmities at first but in the end what lead to Uruk dominance was their practicality over traditions.
Obould is an intelligent and well-studied ruler who rose from a common Ork into the most powerful man within the Uruk Empire. His governance lead to a stable and relatively peaceful nation. Also called as Obould Goldshot for his unique gun Ottalmekth, a beutifully crafted repeating musket shooting bullets of solid gold.
Ottalmekth (ancient dwarvish, translate as "Eight Golden Killers") is an unique gun created by dwarven craftsmen specially to please the Khagn. It has a revolver chamber for eight primed and pre-loaded shots and ideally designed for golden bullets. Gold is 71% denser than even lead which gives it great power. While using golden bullets seem excessive they thought it being both fitting and affordable for the Khagn. The gun itself is masterfully crafted and enchanted with fire runes further boosting its efficiency. The end result is an incredible gun with great range, power and rate of fire. Rumors say the gun is so powerful it can siege castle walls but such tales are obviously an exaggeration.
The exact way how Obould acquired this gun is a mystery and there are many different tales about it. One tells that during the siege of Gelberg the defenders grew weary and wished to surrender. To earn Obould's favor they created Ottalmekth, the amazing repeater musket firing gold. Obould was amazed by the dwarven craftsmanship but also grew fearful. In the mix of jeaulusy and paranoia he executed all who were responsible for making the gun, burying the knowledge with it. Another tale says the Bund gifted him the gun only years later to celebrate his successful reign. These two and several other tales circulate within the empire, nobody is sure which (if any) of these is the true.
Demographics
The Golden Horde encompasses multiple nations and thus sports a rather diverse ethnicity. As their rulers and conquerors the Uruk are the first among them. Uruk language is mandatory to learn for anyone in contact with them. In the same language they refer to the subservient races as Snaga. While certain people make connection between Snaga and slaves the word long lost that meaning. Since the time of Orakgash the term Snaga referred to those non-Uruk who aided them, often in matters outside of fighting. Granted, this did not stop certain people to use Snaga as a degrading term, highlighting the part about them serving the Uruk.
The Uruk also known as the orks/orcs are a race of humanoids dominant within the center of the main continent. They are tall, at least 6 feet at average and often highly muscular. More distinctly they have protouding jawline and foreheads, large canine teeth and skin coloration unnatural to any human. This and their legends of ferocity at times titled them as "monsters" or creatures of the devil. Yet barring certain features the orks aren't that different from humans (also proven by the fact they can interbreed to sire a half-ork). They have same maximum lifespan of 120 years. Yet so long they are physically active the Orks don't show signs of venerable age for long. At the age of 60-80 an ork could be still within his prime and thus at average orcs live longer unless they either starve or killed. Due to their higher muscle mass orks at average are 1.5 times stronger than a human and if well-fed can be twice as enduring as them. Feeding is an issue for orks as they consume more than twice as much food as humans at average. Some say orks eat humans and elves on regular basis but those are only rumors based on wild assumptions. In contrast the rumors about orks having poorer eyesight is true at least when the Sun is the brightest. On the other hand orks can see much better during low-light conditions and combined with their dark skin this made them dangerous night hunters. Speaking of which the ork skin varies just like a human's. In their case it can range from pale brown to the usual greenish brown to charcoal black. Just like for humans the skin pigmentation depends on how much one spends in sunlight thus it also can tell lifestyle and social status. In general most if not all ork warriors have black skin.
To an average human most orks look beastly and gruesome but the feeling is somewhat mutual. The Uruk sense of personal aesthetics and beauty are different from humans and especially compared to the elves. As said humans and orks can interbreed and so can with the elves. Yet the latter is extremely rare since both orks and elves consider the other to be seriously ugly. In the end some attention should be dawn to their name. Uruk is both the name of their race and nationality. The term Ork/Orc originates from "Orakbur" a contraction of the words translated as "Sons of Orakgash" which was the nickname of Orakgash's tribe before uniting all Uruk. The name survived and occasionally used between Uruk and it eventually mutated to the short version "Ork" which then become the common name of their race in foreign lands. Due to this origin no Uruk will ever be offended to be referred as Ork, albeit they might politely attempt to correct you.
Uruk religion is based on their tribal shamanistic roots. They beleive in the gods representing the four elements as well as respecting the spirits of the land, the forest, the rivers and the mountains. Their religious figures were the Laguurz which roughly translates "to do magical". They were chosen from the brightest most gifted members of the tribe and aside from listening to the spirits they also conducted numerous studies and experiments.
They were both priests, scientists and even magicians. Even in the present this didn't change. Laguurz are all taught in the Uruk religion of the four elements but then they specialize to study other arts. Not all Laguurz are gifted in the art of magic and rather many of them study as scholars, healers or even scientists. Laguurz represents the intellectual class within the Uruk society and indeed the word is used interchangeably with the meaning of genius. As such rather than shaman they are nowadays much closer to viziers and astronomers who seek knowledge.
Bundeszwerge (meaning, dwarves of the Alliance[AKA the Bund]) is the collective name for dwarves under the Alliance of the Thirty-Three Peaks (Dreiunddreissighöhesbund, AKA the Bund) refers to themselves. Unlike many of their peers they left behind their clan-like traditional structure and became the alliance of 33 city-states situated in the same amount of mountains. Just like the typical dwarf they are of small stature but thick with both their strength and toughness being superior. Dwarves at average can live up to 200 years and renown for their craftsmanship, especially in the art of mining and metallurgy. While resisting at first the dwarves ultimately benefited from the Uruk conquest as trade revenues making them wealthier than ever. Given their natural talents it's no surprise that the Bund is one of the centers of firearm production within the empire.
The Uruk Empire conquered numerous races, including elves. Traditionally the dwellers of lush forests they are slender and beautiful humanoid creatures living in relative harmony with the nature. They live for 300 years and renown for their senses and dexterity. As said elves live in relative harmony with the nature and generally distant with cultures of different views. There is also another type of elves who went on and created a small empire on the island of Yllendthyr. They founded large cities and actively trade and interact with people. Regardless of type both elves are currently under the rule of the Uruk Empire, a nation they almost instinctively loathe. Yet most of the younger generation grew accustomed and rebellions are becoming rare nowadays.
Economy & Industry
Ironically considering their perceived savagery, on the long run the Uruk conquest and subsequent rule greatly boosted the nations' development and economy. Most of the fast river routes through the continent were co-shared by numerous nations at once, making their traverse to be like a merchant's nightmare. With the rule of the Uruk these borders practically ceased while in addition several measures were made to pump much needed life into the trade. The result was the so-called "Golden Road". Merchants and travelers could safely pass large distance without worrying about tariffs or bandit raids. The Golden Road made the empire a heaven to all merchants and allowed exchange of goods and information through the continent like never before. With trade banking also prospered, especially on the most popular trade routes.
The Uruk also promoted education and technology, valuing skilled artisans over anything else. They abolished much of the old guild system and promoted manufactures, especially when it concerned the production of arms. While not entirely just their own merit the first universities were also founded within the Uruk Empire and later rulers promoted the creation of even more schools, academies and other places of learning. Mixing innovation with tradition the Uruk Shamans are generally the empire's scholars, learning not just mysticism and magic but also practical knowledge. Most manufactures are under the oversight of at least one shaman specifically studied in the art. Lastly the Uruk established an entire mailing network using warg riders in thousands of posts. While these stables were originally made to support the war effort they soon began to be utilized to carry news, letters or packages to anywhere within the Empire.
Karikasard is the namesake of this mixture. As the young god of violent fires is part of the Uruk Pantheon and can also considered a war god. His name combined with the word Buum (Herbs) can together be translated as "herbs causing violent fires of war" which is a rather apt description for an explosive. Karikabuum (alternatively Kabuum or Kaboom for the noise it generates) is an orkish gunpowder using a mixture of certain herbs and soil. It was first developed by shamans in order to reach a closer connection to the spirits of fire but it eventually found use as a weapon. With sufficient knowledge it's possible to produce low-grade Karikabuum (also called Palsvaj AKA Blasting Jelly) without any special equipment which made it popular and widespread by the time of Orakgash Khagn's conquest. Better mixtures are dried of water and formed into either grains, balls or stalks for better combustion while also using purer and more refined ingredients. While many other kinds of gunpowder mixtures are known the Uruk Empire relies the most extensively on Karikabuum.
Military Overview
Uruk were a nomadic race traditionally fighting while riding on their Wargs. Even now this cavalry forms the backbone of their forces as highly mobile army which can traverse a hundred miles during a good day. Aside from them they also recruit soldiers from all the nations they conquered thus elven archers, dwarven defenders and other curiosities can show up when the Uruk gathers their forces. The Uruk system is highly meritocratic and values practicalities above various preconceptions in order to remain effective. They support technology and known to spend considerable amount on creating and developing firearms (Baloz).
After discussing things with Willy and Frengo, I've decided to go ahead and expand the borders of Ardonia slightly. The formerly blank space between Ardonia and the Golden Horde has been filled.
@GreivousKhan I see you made centaurs. They seem rather tribal but strong. So I'm guessing my nation would be interested in them for slaves. Probably as workhorses in the fields. Would it be okay with you if your small shore got raided every now and then?
@POOHEAD189 The kingdom would be greatly interested in your metals and such. Though concidering the distance I'd say that talks only just picked up. What do you say?
@GreivousKhan I see you made centaurs. They seem rather tribal but strong. So I'm guessing my nation would be interested in them for slaves. Probably as workhorses in the fields. Would it be okay with you if your small shore got raided every now and then?
