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Mid/High Casual - Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk.II

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Mid/High Casual - Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk.II

@Double Capybara



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Takanis - A Historically Inspired Fantasy NRP

SIDARA - SEIHDHARA - SDARA

Highly Summarised Nation Sheet

Name of Nation

The Esher Ríghacd (also: Eshera, Clan Esher)

Government

Unitary Tribal Elective Monarchy

Capital

Glenmagar

Species

Human

History

Sidara and its people are old, boasting nine-thousand years of human habitation and just under five-thousand years of true civilisation. Forming into many warring clans by 2,000 BGAM, they would be conqueror and conquered both from 900 BGAM until 7 BGAM. In their long history they have warred with the Héiswaepzí, the Baevnizí, and with the ap Morig who utterly destroyed the great Baevnizí Republic. When the ap Morig were finally cast back into the sea whence they came the Sdarids returned to warring amongst each other, and from these wars the states of the present day emerged. The Esher Ríghacd, though small, has been one of the more successful Sdarid states in this new period, dubbed the Glorious Age of Man.

Territory

Map

Economy

The people of Esher, like the Sdarids of old, are not a merchant people and have no mind for such things. Their economy is largely agrarian and there land is fertile enough to ensure food autarky. Control over the Seihdh-Soul Strait and the World-Water Strait also ensures a fairly stable flow of funds.

Technology

The Sdarids are not great innovators in the fields of technology or agriculture. They see no reason to reinvent the wheel - ideas and technologies have flowed their way over the ages and they are rather adept at grasping and adapting them to their needs when they arrive. If magic is to be considered a technology - and Sdarids as a rule do not consider it as such - then it is perhaps the one area in which Esherans excel and lead.

Culture

Above all else, Esherans value the traditional Sdarid ideals of freedom, valour, honour, and loyalty, and they regard the family, clan, and tribe very highly. Fiercely independent, they consider the acceptance of enslavement in any form as the highest dishonour.
Esherans, like other Sdarids, are polytheistic and animistic, worshipping many gods and believing that spirits rest in all things. Foremost in their pantheon is Seihdhara, goddess of war and love, and who is the personification of Sidara. Every clan and tribe also has its own god believed to be the personification of that clan or tribe. They worship outdoors in stone circles, sacred groves, or near sacred springs. Leading worship, and many other responsibilities, falls to the Wyndyn. They are split into two classes: Treiwyndyn and Arwyndyn. The Treiwyndyn carry out everyday responsibilities and interact with the people. The Arwyndyn are scholarly druids. There is no official clergy in a sacerdotal sense.
Filim, poets, play a very important role in society and are all members of the Bardic Order - the Cumannfil. Being praised by a Fili is a great honour, but being satirised by one is a source of immense shame. The words of Filim are believed to have great power in and of themselves.
Wyndyn can exile individuals for various reasons, these become Trosychen, outlaws who do not benefit from being part of society and to whom the law does not apply.
The elderly generally occupy positions of influence due to the clan structure of society (the elderly have children and grandchildrem, who naturally owe them a degree of allegiance). Children are considered the children of the entire clan. To become adults, they must undergo a rite of passage where they travel throughout Sidara for six months.
Fosterage is common across Sidarid societies, and this is no different in Esher. Fosterage involves a family giving its children over to other families. This is generally done for educational reasons and to bring families closer together. Children can also be fostered by skilled persons who teach them their craft.
In Eshera, women are considered more or less equal with men and have historically played important roles in leadership - on the battlefield, and elsewhere. The liberties enjoyed by women in Eshera, even before the establishment of the present-day nation, have generally been greated than elsewhere in the Sdarid world. Sidarids are polygamous, with men and women marrying as many times as they please. Sex is not constricted to spouses, though children should not be born out of wedlock.
There are four major and four minor festivals celebrated universally. These are Beltane, Sambane, Embilc and Lignsid, and the minor festivals are the two solstices and equinoxes.
On death, people are either cremated or have their bodies buried. The dead are generally buried in burial cysts and have a mound of either stone or earth built above them.

Army

The Esheran army is exceptionally powerful and prepared, honed to excellence by the constant warring with its neighbours, whose armies are no less prepared and honed than that of Eshera. The on land military balance hangs by a string in the region and tension is very high.

Navy

The Sidarid navy is respectable and is able to protect its two strategic straits. The main naval power in the region is the Gweilaerth Confederation, though the latter's weakness on land ensures a tense understanding between the two powers In return for not raiding Esheran shores, Gweilaerth raiders are allowed to pass through the two straits at a discounted price, though any a share of any loot passing through the straits (usually 15%) must be handed over to the Esherans.

Traits

Soul-names and Prophecies - Soul-names are given at birth and are said to strengthen one's link with the gods. Prophecies are personalised oaths of sorts which one must upkeep. Doing so can given one strength. Breaking one's prophecy can greatly weaken a person, even leading to death.
Willing Warriors - Sidarids love war. They want to do glorious things and achieve victory. Unfortunately their excitability makes them more likely to disobey orders.
Nothing but Customary Law - Sidara has no legislature. It is run completely by customary law. This differs from clan to clan and even from village to village, which can be extremely troublesome for anyone moving around, and even more so for foreigners trying to conduct trade.
Scholarly Druids - Arwyndyn have records of Sidarid history, law, magick, lore, and much else stretching back thousands of years. They are incredible founts of wisdom and knowledge. Unfortunately, they are highly secretive and usually communicate in a language unknown to any but themselves.

Rolls

Land Area: [16 - 10] = 6
Land Fertility: [16 + 4] = 20
Development: 12
Land Power: [15 + 5] = 20
Naval Power: 14
Economy: [5+1] = 6
Magical Reserves: [18+2] = 20
Magical Sophistication: [17 + 3] = 20
Population: 21,780,000

Current Monarch

Bhaenrhig Ros
Rhig Ruaidhri

A General Chronology of the Sidaric Peoples

Men! Wull ye follow me?

_{BGAM - Before the Glorious Age of Man
OGAM - Of the Glorious Age of Man}

• ~8,500 BGAM
  First human habitation.
  

  Detail

  First human habitation is evident from this period when early humans migrated into the area during the last ice age - it is possible that they were escaping threats from the east.
• ~4,000-3,500 BCE
  Dwellings, farming, animal domestication, fishing, waterfaring vessels, ritual burial, polytheistic religion, tribalism, stone circles all present.
  

  Detail

  Stone houses and farming first appear. Denizens of the region kept cattle, farmed barley & wheat, gathered shellfish, and engaged in pole & line fishing from boats. Grooved pottery appeared in the period, and chambered cairn tombs appear to have been developed. The earliest pottery depictions of a female goddess with a head of saffron date back from this time. Even from this early period, people appear to have been very connected, suggesting that clans were present or were at a developed point in their formation. A unique hallmark of early Sidarid culture that has endured are monuments in the form of standing stones, ranging from monuments of one large stone to monuments of hundreds of stones placed in complex shapes and piled on each other to create rudimentary arches. The early function of stone circles may have been to commemorate the end of clan feuds or wars and to honour the war goddess. In the present day they function as shrines to the Bear Mother Seihdhara and to other gods or spirits, as peaceful sanctuaries where arbitration between feuding parties can take place, and as gathering places during festivals, celebrations, and in preparation for war. The Wyndyn as a distinct druido-magickal priestly class emerge in this period, and their discovery and utilisation magic occurs over an absurdly short period of time. The Sdarids believe magic was granted to them via divine means.
• ~2,000 BGAM-1000 BGAM
  The bronze age arrives in Sidara around 2000 BGAM, and hillforts begin appearing from around 1,500 BGAM. Clan hillfort settlements become an established part of Sidarid culture and society by 1,000 BGAM.
  Contact with the eastern Héiswaep traders helped spur Sidarid cultural development. For the longest time Sidarids had been content with their insular existence, from time to time raiding one another or erupting into small clan feuds, but contact with these strange trading people - who would be dubbed 'the Headless Men' - brought about a lust for the strange and wondrous goods bartered - and eventually not just bartered, but bought. The great Héiswaep trader, Eilaegi, and his father, Shruehaem, introduced the concept of currency to the Sidarids. The two Héiswaep merchants hired Sidarid clans to protect their great caravans as they journeyed westward through Sidarid lands and, across the Seihdh-Soul-Sea, on to the lands of the Gwereinmáchlíd - the 'Sunset-Folk'. The warriors in these Sdarid clans served as light infantry and as cavalry, protecting the traders from bandits and hostile tribes along the trading route. The gold coins the clans received in return made a deep impression on their greater tribes, who then sought out Héiswaep minting expertise. The Héiswaepzí gladly provided this technology since it made trade between the two peoples much easier, and soon the Sidarids were striking coins of their own, usually adorned with horses and sheaves of wheat.
  Sdarid tribes made their coins of gold and less often of silver, and very rarely of copper. Bronze or iron coins, common in some of the Héiswaep city-states, were not struck by the Sidarids. Coin-making became a refined art amongst the Sdarids - they very soon eclipsed their Héiswaep teachers and specialised craftsmen were making the dies for the coins. The methodologies developed in this period have remained largely unchanged to the present day.
  First, blanks are made from gold or silver, which are melted and poured into special clay moulds. The die is a two-part affair: the blank is fitted into the heavy lower half, and the upper half then fitted over it. A worker then strikes the die with a heavy iron hammer, smashing the design into the gold or silver of the coin. Sdarid minters are very good at this, and doublestrikes or “smeared” coins, found often in the coinage of the Héiswaepzí and Gwereinmáchlídzí, are unknown among Sdarids.
  Because the Sidarids had no central government, the coinage was easily debased (mixed with inferior metals). Coins were commonly “shaved”: an unscrupulous trader would keep a small container out of sight and use a sharp blade to remove a sliver of gold from the edge of each coin he or she handles, dropping these ill-gotten gains into the container. Sdarid coins rapidly lost their original value, and traders often weighed them or even bit them. Gold mixed with a base metal is typically harder than pure or near-pure metal and so pure gold is very soft and will yield teeth marks if bitten. This remains an issue event to the present day. Powerful tribes usually minted their own coins with the image of their chief or king on them. Some tribes even used the extremely precious sacred-metal, halor, for coinage. However this met with stiff resistance from Wyndyn, who frowned upon the sacred-metal - believed to be the congealed blood of Seihdhara, fallen from the heavens where she does battle - being used for such base purposes.
  
  By 1500 BGAM even silk from Csíbhrògh (later it would be discovered that silk, in fact, came all the way from Cúneacsbhrògh) had found its way into the hands of Sidarid Lairds.
  The quantity traded remained small, and this meant that the acquisition of these exotic goods marked out certain Lairds as a cut above the others. Such status symbols aided them in gaining greater power, and so the clans began to coalesce around ever-more-powerful leaders - leaders chosen from the then-supreme warrior class, for the Wyndyn would not fully expand their powers for some centuries. With this greater power and organisation came the ability to wage war on an ever greater scale, though it would not come to be directed against non-Sidarids until the Iron Age.
• ~900-400 BGAM
  The onset of the Iron Age. Age of forts and defended farmsteads, as well as quarrelsome tribal confederations, petty tribal kingdoms, and the quick rise and fall of tribal warlords.
  

  Detail

  The onset of the Iron Age in Sidara occurs around 900 BGAM, initiating an age of forts and defended farmsteads, as well as quarrelsome clan confederations, petty tribal kingdoms, and the quick rise and fall of clan warlords. Huge numbers of small duns, hillforts, oppida, and ring forts were built on any suitable crag or hillock during this period, moreso than in the past where single hillforts were the norm for a clan. Brochs are also first constructed in this period. Many souterrain underground galleries (functioning as food stores or hiding places during times of strife) and passageways were constructed to ease movement and communications when the surface was compromised or too dangerous. Island settlements linked with land by a causeway, the so-called crannogs, also became common and served a primarily defensive purpose.
  This period saw the swift expansion of Sidarid lands westward, across the Seihdh-Soul-Sea, and eastward into Higape, the lands of the Héiswaepzí - who thought to profit eternally from Sidarid desire for exotic goods from Csíbhrògh, Cúneacsbhrògh, and other far eastern realms. It also saw the rise of the Baevni Empire to the west, which wreaked havoc on Western Sidara (Wesdara).
• 740 BGAM
  A Héiswaep league of western merchant republics elected a Great Merchant to lead the defence of their lands against Sidarid encroachment.
  
  

  
  
  The Héiswaepzí, a Race of Headless Men

  
  
  The newly formed league was both large and wealthy and would have almost certainly put a stop to Sidarid ambitions were it not for bad luck and the hurriedness of the Great Merchant, a man by the name of Gulgalu, who led his force against the Sidarids and faced them in open combat before all the forces of the League were at his disposal. Led by one Laird Aenghas, the Sidarids were enthused by the opportunity to face their prey openly. Unprepared and poorly led, the Héiswaep force was defeated and scattered, and the Great Merchant Gulgalu was slain. His face was cut from his chest and paraded before the victorious Sidarid army.
• 739 BGAM
  Sidarid tribes invaded Higape again led by a Laird named Rhigh. The Héiswaepzí fended off the Sdarids, but could not stop them from moving on into Higape. A force led by the prominent city-state of Buoriga moved to stop them at the pass of Ulaemip, the only useful route southward towards the rich Héiswaep cities. Barbarians the Sdarids may have been, but centuries of trade meant that they knew their neighbour well by now. They bypassed the Buorigzí by using a mountain path commonly used by merchants wishing to avoid the bandits who sometimes lay in wait at the pass of Ulaemip. When the Buorig fleet tried to evacuate the army, the Sdarids launched an attack and a fierce battle broke out at the water’s edge. The Héiswaepzí managed to drive off the Sdarids after heavy losses on both sides. Leaving their dead behind, the invaders headed on toward their real goal, the sacred Tuohimil Oracle.
  For centuries, Héiswaepzí had donated treasures to the Oracle and its god, Fo. The Sdarids now pillaged these riches but were surprised in the course of their looting and desecration by a relieving Héiswaep army. According to Héiswaep writers, the actions of the Sdarids enraged Fo, who smote the thieving raiders with earthquakes and thunderbolts, slaying thousands of them.
  Whatever the case, the Sdarids were harassed by guerrilla strikes from small bands of Héiswaepzí. A nighttime raid also created great confusion, and Sdarid contingents mistakenly fought one another in the darkness. The next day’s fighting against the Héiswaepzí went badly, and Laird Rhigh suffered a serious wound. Shamed by this immense defeat, he followed the Sdarid custom of enlarging the wound to make it more conspicuous, killing himself in the process. The remainder of the Sdarids put their own wounded to death and straggled north, losing still more warriors to Héiswaep attacks along the way. A pitiful remnant returned to their homelands, still loaded with immense treasures.
  One wing of the Sdarid host would go on to found a small pirate kingdom on the shore of the World-Water, which endured for several generations - they raided the Héiswaep cities on the World-Water's coast and gained a fearsome reputation for their habit of sacrificing prisoners. So cruel did the Héiswaepzí consider them that people would commit suicide at the very approach of Sdarid raiders. This greatly amused the Sdarids, who enjoyed marching toward Héiswaep cities just to watch the citizens fling themselves from the walls.
  Another group of the Sdarid host would cross the World-Water to serve as mercenaries on distant islands, eventually founding the long-lived kingdom of Sadeiríya. Still others returned to Higape for decades to come, this time invited as paid swords for hire. But they would never again threaten to conquer Higape.
  
  Though there were undoubtedly Sdarid excursions - such as that of Laird Rhig - that aimed after loot and glory, Sdarid tribes tended more often to migrate due to population pressures. Those same pressures that saw them expand eastward towards Higape saw them also expand westwards towards Gwereinmáchlídbhrógh (lit. Land of the Sunset-Folk). For traders not only brought luxury goods from east and west; they also alerted Sdarids to the existence of rich lands they could plunder and potentially settle...
• 550 BGAM
  'These are not civilised people who will become your ally when you have taken their city, but wild beasts whose blood we must shed or see them spill our own.' - An Anonymous Baevni Military Leader

  
  
  The Gwereinmáchlídzí were organised into a number of kingdoms and republics, all which had early contact with the Sdarids both through trade and due to the Gwereinmáchlíd expansion. Of these republics, the Baevnizí, centred on the city of Baevin, soon formed a lasting alliance with the more easterly city-state of Baxiria to counter the Sdarid threat. Sdarid settlers arrived in the Torg River Valley of Eastern Gwereinmáchlídbhrógh around 550 BGAM and soon invaded the lands of the Kulgum, a Gwereinmáchlíd people neighbouring the Baevnizí.
• 548 BGAM
  Baevni ambassadors tried to arrange peace between the Sdarids and the Kulgum city of Diharc but carelessly took the side of their neighbours against the Sdarids when fighting broke out anyway. The Sdarids emerged victorious from the battle and demanded compensation from Baevin for this breach of the peace.
  Baevin acknowledged the wrongdoing but elected two of the disgraced ambassadors as the new year’s consuls. Taking this for the insult the Baevnizí surely intended, the Sdarids - led by Laird Rhigh (a common leader’s nickname during the period, meaning “king”) - marched on Baevin. At least three tribes took part, Rhigh's own Waégnú tribe and their allies, the Hóeryéfni and Panoagh tribes. Rhigh and his men smashed a Baevni army at the Oragi Moors and pressed on to the city itself.
  Although later Baevni historians recorded great acts of heroism by the ancestors of every prominent family, the Baevnizí could not stop the Sdarids. The invaders burned and pillaged the so-called Sunlit City with great enthusiasm. Only a small Baevni garrison held out on one of the city's fourteen hills, fending off repeated assaults. Unable to force the Sdarids to leave, the Baevnizí negotiated a peace. For one-thousand pounds of gold, the Sdarids would head back east and leave Baevin. When Baevni negotiators protested that the scales were unbalanced, Rhigh famously tossed his sword on the scales to add to the weight and declared: “Janask Jatedi,” in broken Culiv - the language of the Baevni. “Woe to the vanquished.”
  
  

  
  
  Janask Jatedi

  
  
  Rhigh’s victory did not end Sdarid attacks on Baevni lands, and the Baevnizí made sure their own people never forgot the insult. Janask Jatedi became a Baevni watchword and the basis for Baevni policy towards defeated peoples. Every new generation of the Baevni upper classes grew up thirsting for vengeance against those who had sacked their invincible city. A century later, Gijer Dul would still cite the Sdarid sack of Baevin as justification for his atrocities against Wesdarid civilians...
• 548-460 BGAM
  Gulubi, a powerful Héiswaep city peering over the World-Water on the western continental coast, just north of Gwereinmáchlídbhrógh, saw Baevin as a potential rival and funded repeated Sdarid incursions for a half-century after Rhigh's victory. In 497 BGAM, the Baevni consul Fohir Tor defeated a Sdarid Laird in single combat and took his golden torc, greatly demoralising the Sdarids and ending that particular threat to Baevin. In 490 BGAM the tribune Harok answered a challenge and strode forward for the ritual exchange of insults before battle. While he and his opponent berated one another (with neither probably understanding a word), a raven perched on Harok's helmet. The Sdarids took this as an evil omen and swiftly quit the field.
  Almost as though they followed a calendar, about once per generation the Sdarids launched a mass invasion of Baevni lands. Driven by new tribes crossing the Seihdh-Soul-Sea, themselves moved by population increases to the east, the wars continued with neither side able to gain an advantage. Sdarid gains from these movements were balanced by Baevin's increasing dominance over the Culiv-speaking peoples of Gwereinmáchlídbhrógh.
  However Sdarid leaders suffered a key weakness throughout their history in this period: their near-total lack of geographic sense blinded them to larger political realities. They continually passed up chances to attack while Baevin engaged in life-or-death struggles with other Gwereinmáchlídzí, such as the Kulgumzí, Lohinzí, Shumgzí, Ehopzí, in addition to the non-Gwereinmáchlíd Horidjzí from the north who had by now conquered Gulubi and were advancing on Gwereinmáchlídbhrógh. Then, when Baevin had no such distractions, the Sdarids would attack alone. Had they taken advantage of any of these opportunities, which occurred over the course of about one-hundred years, there is little doubt that Baevin would have perished.
  
  When Ungar-Harukin, the glorious Horidj general, led his elephants south against Baevin in 469 BGAM, many Sdarids he crossed on his route - in what is today western Haiho land - joined his forces, but the tribes made no concerted effort to intervene in the war. Instead, they waited until Ungar-Harukin had been defeated and then attacked the Baevnizí. This time, the tribes of western Haiho met their final defeat and came under direct Baevni rule. But conflict between Sdarid and Baevni was far from over - this was only the beginning of an epic and, for the Sdarids, tragic saga.
• 460-403 BGAM
  'To plunder, butcher, steal, these things they misname empire: Mark where their carnage and their conquests cease! They make a solitude, and call it — peace!' — Cel-Duibur, A Laird of Clan Esher of the Culldinoan Tribe

  
  
  The most influential individual in Sdarid history in this period (or perhaps in any other period before) had no Sdarid blood himself. Gijer Dul completely overturned the Wesdarid world in a series of military campaigns designed primarily to enrich himself and increase his political power at home. The destruction of hundreds of thousands of lives, massive property, and nearly a whole civilisation, just happened to be the collateral damage from Dul's ambitions.
• 457 BGAM
  Population movements from Easdara (eastern Sidara) started the chain of events that led to the Baevni conquest. The Auldeahui, a Sdarid tribe allied to Baevin, had long-standing feuds with the neighbouring Afurihn to the southwest of their lands and the Coaduagh to the northeast. The powerful Xunikghza tribe, belonging to a nomadic non-Sdarid people called the Kurgamish, had also been moving southward for some decades already, and had formed an alliance with the Sdarid Rhighacd of Noegaera. The Coaduagh, also friends of Noegaera, used this connection to invite the Xunikghza to cross the River Chjelbui running through Wesdara and help them in their war with the Auldeahui. As the Xunikghza king Curxknga had made himself a friend to Baevin through his alliance with Noegaera, the Baevnizí ignored Auldeahui calls for intervention.
  Things changed when the Huidinogh tribe began to move eastward from their lands in what is now northern-eastern Wesdara. Overpopulation, and the fear of advancing Kurgamishzí, led them to seek new lands to the west. Their Laird, Uorsein-Gator, asked permission to enter Baevni-ruled Wesdara. Gijer Dul, just named proconsul, brought his army up and engaged them, inflicting defeat on them. Unswayed in their determination to find new homes, the Huidinogh sought out a different route.
  
  The Coaduagh, eager to create more problems for the Auldeahui, gave the Huidinogh and their allies, the Baoruio, free passage through their lands and into the Auldeahui territory. The Auldeahui called on Baevin to save them.
  Gijer Dul answered promptly, falling on the Huidinogh as they besieged the Auldeahui capital. He smashed the tribe, selling tens of thousands into slavery. He allowed the Baoruio to return to their homelands. With the Auldeahui saved from one threat, he next turned to Curxknga and ordered him to leave Wesdara. The Kurgamish king refused, and Dul marched quickly to fight him as well.
  The Baevnizí fought the Xunikghza with unusual fury, charging them so fast that the legions did not even throw their javelins before crashing into the Kurgamish shield-wall. The Kurgamish broke under the attack, and Baevni cavalry (many of them Sdarid auxiliaries) rode down the survivors. Curxknga escaped, but the Baevnizí slaughtered both of his wives and most of his children.
  Gijer Dul had what he had come for: a major military victory over an ancient foe of Baevin. He had even fought and won a second major battle over a different enemy, an unexpected bonus. His battlefield skills became the talk of Baevin, exactly what he needed to further his political ambitions.
  Dul returned to Western Gwereinmáchlídbhrógh for the winter, disposing of his profits and engaging in long-distance politicking; he could not re-enter Baevni Gwereinmáchlídbhrógh itself without giving up his proconsulship. Using his new-found wealth, he recruited two new legions among the Baevni settlers and assimilated Sdarids of Toga-wearing Wesdara, as the Baevnizí called the parts of Wesdara they had conquered. He neither requested nor received approval from the Senate to raise these troops, a major breach of Baevni law and custom.
• 456 BGAM
  At some point during this winter, Dul seems to have realised that he could gain even greater profit from a war of conquest in Wesdara. So when the winter ended, he claimed that the Golturae tribe had massed their tribes for an attack on his army, quartered in the lands of the Coaduagh. The Golturae certainly had made ready for war, minting special gold coins to finance the effort and calling in mercenaries from as far away as Northern Easdara. One Golturae clan, the Rhaemigh, tried to defect to the Baevni side. The Rhigh Guilbuo of the Golturae, belonging to the Suosaenu clan, led a huge Golturae army against their capital.
  Gijer Dul sped north, accompanied by his senior staff and, most importantly for his own fortunes, a whole retinue of slave dealers. He rejoined his army and led them on one of his famous forced marches to relieve the Rhaemigh. The Baevnizí caught Guilbuo's army in the midst of crossing a river and inflicted a massive defeat on them. The coalition swiftly began to break up, with individual clans withdrawing to defend their homelands from the Baevni onslaught. The Baevnizí chased down the fleeing clans, killing ten of thousands of their warriors. Shocked by the rapid defeats, the older men and boys left at home to garrison the oppida (a Sdarid form of fortified town) surrendered at the approach of the Baevnizí, often without a fight.
  One Golturae clan, the Magaeruic, vowed to never surrender. Considered the most warlike of the Golturae, the Magaeruic had a reputation for hating Baevni traders, considering them liars and cheats. Taking this vow as the insult to Baevin the Magaeruic surely intended, Gijer Dul quickly marched against their capital.
  But the Magaeruic had studied Baevni ways. They knew that Baevni armies always halted before nightfall to build fortified camps, and would choose ground for defense. The Magaeruic plotted the Baevni march route, predicted where Dul would halt, and, when his men scattered to cut down trees and dig ditches, the Magaeruic were waiting. They swept out of the trees in a silent charge, having put aside their war trumpets and boasting. It was a remarkable display of discipline, and it almost changed history. The Magaeruic got in among the Baevnizí before they could form up to use their devastating close-order tactics and managed to turn the battle into a series of swirling group and individual duels – the sort of fighting at which the Sdarids excelled.
  
  Only the personal leadership of Gijer Dul and Heikus Albintus, the X Legion’s veteran commander, kept the three legions present from being slaughtered. While they held off the Magaeruic and tried to reform their ranks, the other three legions of the army arrived in formation and drove into the Sdarids. The Magaeruic fought furiously, even heaping up their dead to make ramparts, but they finally broke and fled, leaving behind thousands of dead. This time, though, the dead also included a huge number of Baevnizí.
  The campaign ended with the defeat of the Agatugh, who had marched to join the Magaeruic but recoiled from the dangerous ambush plan. Instead, they pretended to surrender their capital and then attacked the Baevnizí. Dul had his men ready, and the Agatugh were crushed. Fifty-three thousand of them marched off to Baevin in iron chains.
  
  Many Easdarid warriors had crossed the Seihdh-Soul-Sea to participate in the war against Dul and the Baevnizí. Most of these fought as mercenaries, paid by the Golturae to help bolster their own forces. Some Lairds of the tribes related to the Golturae also dispatched warriors of their own volition, as the arguments of the Golturae leaders had convinced them that there was more at stake in this war than simply honour or land. The Baevnizí were shocked by the ferocity of these men, and surprised at the much greater proportion of fighting women among them than were found amongst the Wesdarids. Few were taken prisoner as the Easdarids tended to kill themselves first, but the handful who were captured were savagely put to death.
  
  These Easdarids were generally larger than their Wesdarid counterparts and had darker hair and skin, betraying the fact that they were likely mostly of the Culldinoan Tribe of northern Easdara. Those of the Culldinoan Tribe were the most likely among the Sdarids to paint their bodies for combat (usually blue, using azurite clay). Female warriors at times clad themselves in black robes to increase their fearsome appearance; they were also sometimes found as guards sworn to protect religious sites (chiefly, sacred oak groves).
• 455 BGAM
  Gijer Dul spent the winter once again in Western Gwereinmáchlídbhrógh defending his political position. Many in Baevin now feared the power represented by his new-found wealth and private army. When spring came in 455 BGAM, he ordered his legions to start building a fleet of warships on the Seihdh-Soul-Sea's coast. At about the same time, the tribes of Uiwghreim rose in revolt against Baevin.
  During the previous year, the tribes living in what is now south-eastern Haiho accepted Baevni rule without resistance after the fearsome defeats suffered by the Golturae, but during the winter, they had time to reconsider and found they hated the Baevnizí once they got to know them. Led by the Veucioghr, the Sdarid world’s greatest sailors, they now called together their warriors and prepared to attack the Baevnizí.
  The Veucioghr used their fleets to retreat away from oppida threatened by Dul's land forces. The Baevni fleet moved to stop them, and in a great naval battle destroyed Veucioghr sea-power. Using long grappling hooks to shred the rigging of the Sdarid vessels, the Baevnizí immobilised them so they could either board them or set them on fire. With their fleet eliminated, the Veucioghr surrendered. Dul put all of their leaders to death and sold the entire tribe into slavery.
  For his last campaign of the year, Dul marched against the Maorheghn, who lived on the coast of the Haiho Sea in what is now north-eastern Haiho. The Maorheghn, who had not sought this war, did not want to risk the same fate as their Golturae neighbors. They burned their own oppida and withdrew into the deep forests, daring the Baevnizí to follow. Dul tried, but his plan to simply cut down the entire forest proved impractical and he sent his troops into winter quarters with the Maorheghn still free of Baevni rule.
• 454 BGAM
  For several years, Dul had been planning to invade the Culldinoan, across the Seihdh-Soul-Sea in northern Easdara. It would be a great feat of arms to cross the sea, something no Baevni had ever done. Culldinoania - as the land was called by the Baevnizí - had tin, and many Baevni traders wanted to control both these mines and the huge market for Baevni wine that then region had become. Finally, Dul despite his ambitions remained a Baevni at heart, and Baevin never tolerated a threat. The appearance of Culldinoan warriors fighting alongside the Golturae proved that this land needed to be subjugated.
  Before the fleet could sail, however, two Kurgamish tribes, the Huksunkxa and the Twoxtiq, crossed into northern Wesdara. Dul marched to expel them, and the Kurgamish leaders proposed a three-day truce. During the truce, a skirmish broke out between Kurgamish cavalry and Sdarid horsemen serving Dul's army. When the Kurgamish chieftains came to meet with Dul, he used the fight as an excuse to imprison them and then quickly marched his army to launch a surprise attack on the leaderless Kurgamish.
  Believing the Baevnizí would honour the truce, the Kurgamish had no guards posted, and their warriors scrambled to arm themselves even as the Baevnizí began killing their people. Dul ordered that no one be spared: 430,000 Kurgamish men, women, and children were put to the sword. In Baevin, the Senate coldly refused to grant Dul the honours of victory, accusing him of staining the army’s reputation. Something spectacular had to be done to regain the public’s favour.
  A Kurgamish tribe on the other side of the River Chjelbui refused to hand over the survivors who had escaped the massacre. Taking this as pretext for invasion, Dul had his men build a bridge over the Chjelbui, a great feat of engineering. His army then spent eighteen days burning farms and murdering Kurgamish non-combatants before withdrawing back over the river and dismantling the bridge. Another feat would have to be accomplished, and soon.
  While most of his army went after the Maorheghn again, Dul took two legions and invaded Culldinoania. Having spotted the approaching ships waiting for a favourable tide, the Culldinoan donned their blue war-paint and met the Baevnizí right on the beach. Many waded into the surf or drove their chariots into the water to attack the Baevnizí. The outnumbered Culldinoan could not hold for long, though, and eventually Dul's men forced their way ashore and set up a beachhead. Despite this temporary success, Dul found that he was unable to consolidate his position and was forced to withdraw before winter returned.
• 453 BGAM
  'Culldinoania - avoid that unusual and extravagant word as the sailor does the rock.'— Gijer Dul

  
  
  Dul could not allow the defeat to stand, and sold his withdrawal to the Baevni public as merely the planned result of a reconnaissance in force. He spent the winter once again tending to his political position and writing a guide to Culiv grammar, recommending a forceful and direct style. His troops spent the winter building more ships, and, when spring came, Dul found six-hundred vessels ready for his use. In addition, hundreds of traders, slave dealers, adventurers and political lackeys attached themselves to his headquarters. And, to spite his political enemy Durmikio Onbrasokus, Dul brought along an elephant as well. Onbrasokus’ grandfather rode an elephant when he conquered south-western Wesdara for Baevin, and Dul planned to do the same when he added Culldinoania to Baevin's empire.
  Before he could leave, Dul learned of a planned uprising by the Tuiopu, Wesdara's leading cavalry power. He marched quickly to cow their Laird, Eigomar, who handed over two-hundred hostages in a pledge of good behaviour. With that settled, the invasion of Culldinoania could begin in earnest.
  This time, five legions made the trip, along with two-thousand Sdarid cavalry. Dul got ashore without opposition and quickly moved inland to confront the nearest tribe. But once again a storm damaged his fleet. While Dul had spent the winter in preparation, so had the tribes of Culldinoania. Several of those in the south had placed their warriors under the command of Cel-Duibur, Laird of Clan Esher and widely considered Culldinoania's best general.
  Cel-Duibur ordered his men to employ guerrilla tactics against the Baevnizí. They withdrew before major forces and tried to filter behind the Baevni advance guards to fall on supply trains and isolated units of soldiers. While Dul sought a decisive battle, the wily Sdarid drew him ever further away from his ships and the route back to Wesdara. Dul fought his way across the River Dhoium with the help of his elephant, and accepted the surrender of the Tuihroam, an important tribe. But Cel-Duibur now disbanded most of his army, keeping four-thousand chariot-riders and sending many of the rest slipping back past the Baevnizí for a surprise attack on their beachhead. Dul and a small personal guard rushed back to the camp, but by the time they arrived the one legion there had smashed the uncoordinated Sdarid attack.
  With his plan now foiled, Cel-Duibur decided to give up. Gijer Dul took a few hostages and went back to Wesdara before winter storms made the passage impossible. While he declared the mission a great success, the Baevni public was less than impressed. Already, his political hopes seemed to be fading.
  Wesdara had suffered poor harvests in 453 BGAM, and so Dul spread out his eight legions in separate camps for the winter. The Sdarids saw their opportunity and rose in a series of coordinated attacks in the fall of the year with the Magaeruic in the lead. The Eiburion, a Golturae tribe, led by their Rhigh Umberuiss, wiped out one legion and killed half of another. When Dul rushed to relieve one of his legions, he found the Magaeruic building siege works copied from Baevni practice, hacking away at trees and earth with their swords since warriors would never touch a shovel. While he saved that camp, the Sdarids were learning and learning fast.
• 452 BGAM
  This time, Gijer Dul spent the winter among his troops, trying to repair their fading morale and madly recruiting replacements. He raised two new legions, plus a third to replace the lost unit. In addition, he convinced his political ally, Xorna Mrognis (Xorna the Magnificent) to lend him troops from Xorna's army in the lands north of Wesdara. But as the winter progressed, the news got worse: Xorna's wife, Cuia, died in childbirth. He seems to have genuinely loved her, but theirs had been a political marriage – Dul was her father. Soon, that alliance would start to fray.
  The Sdarids remained busy as well, bringing more adherents to their cause. Once again, they launched a winter campaign, striking the Baevnizí at their most vulnerable. Sdarids, considering war a sport, preferred to fight during summertime, but they managed to put aside these practices, and fought in the dreary rains and snow. Baevnizí huddled around their fires learned to fear the dark nights. When spring came, Dul responded, and, in a series of campaigns, managed to subdue the Magaeruic and their allies. Albintus scored a smashing victory over the Tuiopu, and broke their power.
  As the campaign in the north dragged on, however, Sdarids from other regions began to see Baevni vulnerabilities. The powerful, well-organized tribes of Central Wesdara had been bypassed by Dul's earlier campaigns – probably because of Baevni commercial interests there, and because they seemed most apt to assimilate to Baevni ways quickly and easily. They might have stayed quiet, but news from Baevin showed the Republic to be at its end, and this gave new courage to Baevin's Sdarid enemies.
• 451 BGAM
  With Cuia dead, Dul's political alliance with Xorna crumbled. The great Baevni general now had to devote all of his energy to holding his proconsulship since his long list of enemies would quickly destroy him should he lose immunity from prosecution. Baevin's immediate future lay in the relationship between its two greatest leaders, not in its institutions. Sdarid leaders, chiefly the Culldinoan, Cor-Haedeil of the Uraegier, realised this. Haedeil had been one of Dul's hostages during the Culldinoania campaign and now explained to his Wesdarid counterparts just how much the Baevnizí depended on their leader. Agreeing, the Sdarids began their campaign with an attack on the Baevni grain depot at Hurfna, wiping out the garrison and executing many Baevni traders for cheating Sdarids.
  Responding to Haedeil and impressed by the daring assault on Hurfna, 20-year-old chieftain Vercin-Gator of the Orfeinugh led his troop of cavalry out of Baevni service and began to gather tens of thousands of warriors. He then sent a force deep into the western Baevni Wesdara to harass the Baevnizí.
  Gijer Dul sped back and made a daring ride through Sdarid-controlled territory to reach his army in Eastern Wesdara. Showing his usual speed and energy, he marched west to face Vercin-Gator, who ordered the tribes in his path to burn their oppida and fields to deny the Baevnizí food and shelter. In an unusual development for the Sdarids, however, the Baelgund had become attached to their capital, Hoerv. Most agreed it was the most beautiful of all the Wesdarid oppida, and the Baelgund believed its huge walls made it impregnable. Vercin-Gator agreed to its defense, and brought up his army nearby to harass the Baevnizí as they laid siege to the fortress.
  Dul's troops built a pair of huge ramps, each sporting a tall siege tower. Between them, a terrace of tree trunks held up the whole structure. When the ramps approached the wall, a daring Sdarid raiding party managed to slip out of Hoerv one night and set the Baevni siegeworks on fire. The defenders poured out to finish the job, and the Baevnizí counterattacked. After fierce fighting, they pushed the Sdarids back into the town. The next day, helped by a driving rainstorm, they pushed the surviving tower up to the wall and breached the defenses. When resistance finally collapsed, Dul ordered everyone in Hoerv put to the sword.
  Next, the Baevnizí marched on the Orfeinugh capital, Kierkaroafa. Vercin-Gator's army harassed them the entire way. When the Baevnizí reached the oppidum, they found a powerfully-built mountaintop fortress. However, the Orfeinugh had allowed their allies to build walled camps adjacent to their walls, and the Baevnizí easily managed to penetrate these hastily-built lines. When they assaulted the walls, though, a counterattack cut off the raiders and destroyed them. A few days later, Dul withdrew to the east.
  Kierkaroafa was the only defeat the Baevnizí suffered under Dul's direct command, and it had wide-ranging effects. The unbeatable Baevni had been beaten. Tribes that had wavered in their allegiance now rushed to support Vercin-Gator. Even the Auldeahui chieftains, those long-time allies of Baevin, threw their swords at the feet of the young Orfeinugh rhigh. Dul united all ten of his legions and recruited Kurgamish mercenaries to bolster his forces.
  Vercin-Gator now held the initiative – rare for the Sdarids in their struggles with Dul – and attacked western Baevni Wesdara again. Dul, as the Sdarids well knew, had no choice but to head west to defend Baevni territory. The Wesdarids launched a surprise attack on Dul's army with their cavalry, but Vercin-Gator held back his foot soldiers, probably due to his youth and inexperience. What could have been a stunning victory instead led to the loss of thousands of Sdarid horsemen.
  Vercin-Gator withdrew to the nearby oppida of Peilugin, and Dul followed. This time, the Baevnizí constructed elaborate siegeworks to ring the Sdarid town with ditches, barricades, and walls. The Sdarid rhigh sent out clouds of riders to raise all the tribes of Wesdara to come to his aid, and they responded. All of Dul's old enemies marched on Peilugin, including some he had claimed to have exterminated: the Magaeruic, Veucioghr, Huidinogh, Maorheghn and more. In all, forty-three tribes sent warriors. Even the Uraegier of Southern Culldinoania sent four-thousand warriors, and the Wesdarids chose the Uraegier laird Haedeil to lead the relief force.
  While the Wesdarids assembled, Dul's men frantically built a second line of fortifications facing outward. Three times Sdarid attacks failed to breach the Baevni lines, and, after the last one, Baevni and Kurgamish cavalry rode down thousands of Wesdarids. Haedeil could not hold the relief force together, and tribe after tribe defected and went back home. Running out of food, Vercin-Gator decided to surrender. Dul allowed the Orfeinugh and Auldeahui to return home and made the rest slaves, giving one prisoner to each Baevni soldier as a reward.
  Vercin-Gator was made to surrender in an elaborate ceremony and was then sent back to Baevin in chains where he was ritually strangled in Dul's honor six years later.
  After the epic defeat at Peilugin, Haedeil and his diehard Uraegier went west to continue resistance, joining with the Baehlir to attack the Rofnigh, the pro-Baevni tribe in eastern Wesdara. Dul marched east to relieve the Rofnigh once again. He found the Baehlir camped behind a thick swamp, and had his men build portable bridges to cross the wet ground and attack the Sdarids. The Baehlir laird, Caerus, had his men gather huge quantities of brush and sticks and pile them into a massive wall in front of the Baevnizí. When the Baevnizí approached it, they set it on fire and ran in the opposite direction.
  Caerus set up a new ambush for the Baevnizí, but a Kurgamish mercenary betrayed his plans to Dul, who sprang an ambush of his own on the Baehlir. Caerus refused to surrender, hacking down every Baevni who approached with wide swings of his sword. Surrounded by Baevnizí, he still would not give up, and so they stood back and riddled him with arrows.
  Next, Dul headed north to deal with Umberuiss of the Eiburion, who still decorated his house with the heads of the Baevni legates Schubnu and Qitud from his destruction of their legions two years earlier. But Umberuiss took to the woods and conducted a guerrilla campaign, killing isolated Baevni soldiers but refusing to meet them in open battle. Dul chose not to continue the effort in bad weather and sent his troops into winter quarters. After a winter spent defending his political position via letter and messenger, Dul returned to the field and mopped up the Quihuitan, who had a fortress that seemed invulnerable and had laid in huge supplies of food. However, the Baevnizí figured out how to divert the streams that fed the springs on which they depended for water. The Quihuitan surrendered, and Dul ordered his troops to cut off the hands of all who had borne arms against the Baevnizí.
• 403 BGAM
  The ap Morig invade first Baevin and then Sidara, alongside their lumbering, Alluidh-riding green minions - the ap Gynurk.
  

  Detail

  In their eternal hunger for expansion, the ap Morig erupted from across the western sea and utterly destroy Baevin, before extending their hands towards Sidara. The initial invasion by these eldritch beings and their lumbering, Alluidh-riding green minions - the ap Gynurk - was really nothing more than a raid, but eventually hordes of the ap Gynurk landed, led by their eldritch overlords, and the Sidarid clans - disunited and ever embroiled in internal wars and feuds - could do nothing before their dread horror.
• 393-7 BGAM
  The period of Sidarid subjugation to the ap Morig. By 10 BGAM the power of the ap Morig had largely waned, and their last strongholds fell to Sidarid clans in 7 BGAM. Now the ap Morig occupy a position directly opposed to the gods in the Sidarid weltanschauung, and are the manifestations of all things evil. It is said that their descendants dwell even to this day beyond the western sea, plotting and scheming and planning the release of their forefathers and the reconquet of Seihdhara.
  

  Detail

  The period of Sidarid subjugation to the ap Morig. Various parts of the region fell into the power of the ap Morig over the centuries, but never all of Seihdhara at any one point. Their rule was always hindered by constant clan risings and rejection of foreign subjugation, as well as invasions by clan confederations that retained or had re-established their independence.
  One of the early confrontations between the Sidarids and ap-Morig came after the ap-Morig devastated and conquered the south Wesdarid Geihuim tribe.
  
  With the utter devastation of Baevin clear for all to see, and the intention of the ap Morig to invade Sidara clear, the remaining major tribes quietly made their deals with the ap Morig - the Eugein and Uraegier becoming client kingdoms. One rhigh Coalighn would not rest, though, and continued to organise resistance in what is today north-eastern Haiho. The Sheoline of eastern Haiho became fanatical supporters, and an ap Morig grand magicker set out after him with a terrifying horde.
  Coalighn finally was cornered by the grand magicker in 349 BGAM, turning to give them battle to protect the huge column of refugees, mostly women and children, which his army had acquired. ap Morig dread-horror overcame the Sheoline’s fury, and the Sdarid army broke up. The ap Morig fell on the camp followers, slaughtering many and seizing thousands as slaves, including Coalighn’s wife and daughter.
  This disaster seems to have taken the will out of the great Sdarid laird, who instead of falling back with the Sheoline went east across the Seihdh-Soul-Sea in response to an offer of aid from the Builagnh. Their scheming warrior-bhaenrhigh, Mhundacara, promptly threw him into chains and gave him to the ap Morig. Her husband, Fineic, considered this a dishonorable act and open warfare broke out between the royal couple. Mhundacara also began sleeping with her husband’s shield-bearer to deepen the insult.
  Fineic defeated his wife’s faction, and the ap Morig rushed across the Seihdh-Soul-Sea to reinstate their vassal. Meanwhile Coalighn went in chains to the ruins of Baevin, where the ap Morig had established their temporary capital. There Coalighn was pardoned by the mysterious overlord of the ap Morig and sent into exile, where he was reunited with his family.
  
  After Coalighn went into exile, the the ap Morig did nothing, and the Sdarids remained quiet for the next decade. In 335 BGAM, a new grand magicker took charge in the east. An ambitious creature, it aimed to further the conquests of the ap Morig by subjugating the rest of Wesdara and crossing the Seihdh-Soul-Sea. Gathering great hordes in what is today eastern Haiho, near the offshore island of Bui-Ghuilo. The site of the largest Wyndyn groves in Wesdara at the time, the new grand magicjer considered Bui-Ghuilo a hub for rebellious movements. From there, the Wyndyn encouraged resistance to the ap Morig, and there they also trained their “wild women” female warriors.
  The grand magicker mounted an amphibious assault across the narrow channel separating Bui-Ghuilo from southern Haiho, and slaughtered the Wyndyn in their groves. The Wild Women fought ferociously, dying to fulfill their oaths to defend the sacred site. Exiles from ap Morig-conquered areas had gathered there, and these men and women died fighting or were massacred. At least some Oergeinu and Dacuilean tribal warriors from nearby areas fought there as well, but could not stop the ap Morig from hacking down the ancient, sacred oak trees.
  While the grand magicker engaged the Wyndyn, it received word of a massive rebellion clear across Wesdara, in what today is the southern-most peninsula of Wesdara.
  
  Cliodhna, a Clan Mwryfin warrioress of th Eugein tribe whose husband, Paelug, had decided to submit to the ap Morig rather than fight them, had led her people in a series of attacks on ap Morig colonies, burning several and slaughtering the eldritch settlers. For while Paellug's decision bought Clan Mwryfin and teh Eugein some respite from the incessant ap Morig attacks, it proved exceptionally unpopular with his people. Paelug died under mysterious circumstances, leaving leadership of the tribe to his daughters, and naming the mysterious overlord of the ap Morig co-chief with them. The idea of sharing power - with women! - was clearly viewed as an affront by the ap Morig, and so they struck out to educate the 'savages' on their place in the hierarchy. Cliodhna, to whom the daughters had an obligation of obedience, was now the effective Chieftess, and so was publicly flogged by the ap Morig and her daughters raped. Severeal of Cliodhna's relatives were also sold into slavery.
  Her honour injured and her people thirsting for freedom and revenge, the Chieftess assembled her forces and waged relentless war against the ap Morig, inflicting humiliating defeats upon them and razing to the ground a number of the major cities they had established in Wesdara.
  The timing, and the documented presence of Wild Women among several of the warrior hosts including as a personal guard to Cliodhna, hints that the Wyndyn prompted the uprising in an attempt to divert the grand magicker from his assault on their sanctuary. Cliodhna certainly waited some time between her disgrace and calling for armed resistance. If this was the intent, it failed, for the grand magicker had just accomplished his goals when word arrived of the uprising. It marched quickly back to face the Eugein.
  Cliodhna had assembled a large army, and the grand magicker fell back before her forces and summoned further minions to subdue the upstarts. Cliodhna led thousands of charioteers, who somehow managed to hide their vehicles from the ap Morig invaders.
  She eventually met her match at the Battle of Foul Finn's Field, when the grand magicker had all its forces gathered and was able to face the Chieftess. It turned to face the Sdarids and Cliodhna obliged with a mass charge. Her troops did no better with the tactic than the Wesdarids had a hundred years earlier against the Baevnizí, and tens of thousands of Sdarid warriors perished. Many members of Clan Mwryfin perished and the clan was eventually exterminated in its entirety. Cliodhna's exact fate is undetermined, though it is said the Arwynden know but have refrained from making it public knowledge. It has passed into Sidarid folklore that, having survived Foul Finn's Field with her daughters, the Queen escaped across the veil into the spirit realm and will return with the warriors of Clan Mwryfin when the eschatological final battle against the ap Morig draws nigh.
  
  Despite the many defeats inflicted against the Sdarids, the ap Morig never penetrated far into Easdara and by 10 BGAM the power of the ap Morig had largely waned, and their last strongholds fell to Sidarid clans in 7 BGAM. The memory of this great invasion by foreign forces, and the horror of the ap Morig, has left an indelible mark on Sidarid culture and ways - for the ap Morig occupy a position directly opposed to the gods in the Sidarid weltanschauung, and are the manifestations of all things evil.
• 4-20 OGAM
  The departure of the ap-Morig means that the Sidarids return to doing what they do best - warring with and killing each other. Clan Esher, an important clan in Easdara, emerges as a major player during this period under the leadership of Laird Ruahthain.
• 40 OGAM
  The Haiho Clan's lands are united for the first time and the Haiho Righacd is established to the north of Clan Esher, across the Seihdh-Soul Strait.
• 46 OGAM
  Tensions over the passage of shipping and trade through the Seihdh-Soul Strait leads to conflict between Clan Esher and the Haiho Righacd. Clan Esher loses its Laird of the time, a warrioress by the name of Mhyruih and suffers tremendously, but the appearance of a Wyndyn-Prophet turns the tides. With the strait now secured, a Duthchas (great council of the clans) declares the Esher Laird rightful Rhig (King). The Esher Righachd is established.
• 47 OGAM
  Episode of the Malcontents.
  The newly-ascended Rhig Fhuiric is forced to deal with malcontents who had not cast their votes for him at the Duthchas. The Duthchas becomes the official advisory body representating the clans. In time, the Duthchas become a directly elected parliament. An ancient ritual, called the Hyscadal (‘the Bull’s Vision’), is reinstated after to solidify the Rhig's position and bolster his legitimacy.
  

  Detail

  Bhaenrhig Fhuiric is forced to deal with some malcontents who had not cast their votes for him at the Duthchas. It is agreed that a Duthchas should always be in session to act as an advisory body to the Rhigh/Bhaenrhig and as a permanent representative of the interests of the realm's clans. In time, the Duthchas would grow into a directly elected body (though still referred to as the Duthchas). This would come to be known in Esheran history as the Episode of the Malcontents. An ancient, likely mythological, ritual, called the Hyscadal (‘the Bull’s Vision’), is reinstated after the Episode so as to solidify the Rhig's position and bolster his legitimacy beyond further challenge.
• 58-90 OGAM
  Under the leadership of the legendary Rhiglaird Seihdhos, the south Easdarid Clan Aujvint manages to unite and commence a thirty-year war of Sidarid unification which, by the death of Seihdhos, sees its territories encompass all of southern Easdara from the sea to the Esher Righacd. This enormous empire was dubbed, with Seihdhos' dying words, Great Seihdhar.
• 109 OGAM
  The Rape at Byc.
  The Auldeahui of Wesdara rose against Great Seihdhar together with the Tretuioligh. Their leaders, Suorig and Bion, tried to convince local clans and soldiers to join them. They brought over very few of these men, and relied mostly on a collection of escaped prisoners, tribal warriors, and bankrupted farmers.
  Though the Auldeahui managed to equip their men with weapons and armour, they could not overcome the gap in training and experience. The Auldeahui managed to take the provincial capital, Goelgai but were trapped there. A school there taught the sons of leading Sdarid households the Baevni and Héiswaep classics, rhetoric, and the other fine points that the Rhiglaird wished to inculcate in the Sdaird ruling classes. Almost all of them joined the doomed rebellion. After holding out for several weeks, Suorig and his men set the city on fire, and then killed themselves in a mass suicide.
  The Rhiglaird saw traditional Sdarid education as the root of this rebellion, and banned Wyndyn and bardic schools, overlooking that the most fanatic rebels came from the ranks of students enrolled in the official institutes the state had set up. The Rhiglaird did not abolish the Sdarid religion - such would have been a step too far - only the schools, and both Wyndyn and bards continued their lessons in caves, deep forests, and other out-of-the-way locales. The Rhiglaird believed that the Wyndyn helped spread rebellion. Past Rhiglairds had begun the trend to repress the Wyndyn by forbidding them from gaining citizenship. The new one, facing increasing resistance to centralisation from the Wyndyn, followed through to the logical conclusion of past policy by banning Wyndyn altogether. Wyndyn, he felt, sparked rebellion by challenging his political authority and using their information networks to spread anti-state propaganda. Thus a campaign to sideline and remove Wyndyn, either via execution or by having them renounce their druidic ways, was launched. This first period of persecution culminates in the massacre of a group of Wyndyn near the great town of a’Cheimbyc. Following this, many Wyndyn go into hiding while others flee to other Sidarid lands.
• 136-138 OGAM
  The Treiwynd Rising against the Rhiglaird. Practised human sacrifice. Led to a civil war which resulted in Clan Braeg and its various sub-clans and allies breaking away from Great Seihdhos.
  

  Detail

  The Treiwynd Rising against the rule of the Rhiglaird. A zealous group of Treiwyndyn gathered together a group of clans, foremost amongst them Clan Braeg, under the banner of the 'true and ancient faith' of the Sidaric people. This involved the 'rejuvenation' of human sacrifice, including wicker man burning, hanging, beheading, drowning, and immolation. The Rhiglaird attempted to crush the Rising, but this resulted in civil war. Clan Braeg, with the support of the zealous Treiwyndyn and its various sub-clans and allies, was able to fight off the Rhiglaird and establish independence. Despite this setback, Great Seihdhos would cross into northern Sidara not long after and continue its drive to unite the Sdarid race and rid them of the Wyndyn blight.
• 161 OGAM
  The Great Decree of 161 issued fixing every clan's clan-lands into permanent, untransferrable property of the clan. All land not delineated as clan-land becomes crown land.
  

  Detail

  The Great Decree of 161 is issued after nearly a decade of careful delineation and consultation with every clan in the realm. The Great Decree fixes every clan's clan-lands, and makes these clan-lands the permanent, untransferrable property of the clan as a whole. Individuals from a clan may own and make use of the land, and it may even pass into the hands of those not of the clan, but the land remains clan-land and can at any point be reclaimed and redistributed as the clan sees fit. All land not delineated as clan-land automatically became crown land with the passage of the Decree. Crown land is effectively public property and can be used freely, but the Rhig can ultimately reclaim and redistribute it at will, or designate it be used only for particular purposes (e.g. grazing land, farming land). The Decree is revolutionary and effectively marks the crown's ultimate authority over the clans.
• 214-29 OGAM
  Griffri the Bear of Clan ap-Filigin campaigns against the invaders.
  

  Detail

  Griffri the Bear leads Clan ap-Filigin in one of the first successful campaigns by north Sidarids against Great Seihdhos. His nearly two decades spent fighting the empire would later be canonised in the epic poem known as ih'Griffeada. Griffri became a source of inspiration for the Clan Gweilaerth chieftain Saenuo, who proclaimed himself Griffri reborn. He would go on to establish the Gweilaerth Confederation, with Clan ap-Filigin playing an important role in his successes.
• 230 OGAM
  Establishment of the Gweilaerth Confederation.
• 357 OGAM
  The Rising of Clan ap-Gwynnud against Great Seihdhos. The Esher Righacd, under the heroic Warrior-Rhig, Der-Ilei Bridu, having for some time suffered due to Great Seihdhos' control over the World-Water Strait, took this as an opportunity to strike. Using the ap-Gwynnud cause as its excuse, it landed troops and secured the strait. Fearful that the Esher Righacd's involvement will result in a general collapse of Great Seihdhos - to the benefit of the Esherans - both the Haiho Righacd and Gweilaerth Confederation declared war on Great Seihdhos. The resulting conflict saw the empire's lands reduced somewhat. Ultimately, the uncertainty of its foes, and their distrust for one another ensured it managed to hold onto more of its territories than it otherwise would have.
• 454 OGAM
  The bardic order, the Cumannfil, is formed.
• 527-34 OGAM
  Mad Galam's Rebellion.
  

  Detail

  Mad Galam, son of chief Haeini of Clan MgGrregah, leads a concentrated insurgency in the mountainous regions of the MgGrregah clan-lands. With the mountains to hide in, Mad Galam and his men sow discord in the Haiho Righacd.
  The reason for his uprising has become the subject of jests and legends, but one particularly popular story relates that an Clan Haiho herder stole one of Galam's goats and slaughtered it for food. Enraged by this thievery, Mad Galam then declared his eternal war on the lot of them. Today the phrase "go a' Galam" refers to an, often violent, over-reaction to something or someone - 'Finor tripped up Balar, then Balar gaed a' Galam oan his head'. 'He bolted intae a dyke 'n' hurt his foot, sae he gaed a' galam oan it wi' a hammer'.
• 534 OGAM
  Mad Galam slain at Galam's Stand.
  

  Detail

  Mad Galam is finally slain at what is today called Galam's Stand. The highland warrior had descended from the safety of his mountains to meet with his beloved Ailen in a secret cottage in Aeld Aega's forests off the Blaejays river. Unbeknownst to him a treacherous lumberjack whom Galam had at one point or another humiliated had reported his frequent excursions to the authorities.
  The highland clansman was ambushed there but was able to fight his ambushers off for a time and escape with Ailen. However, the two were eventually cornered atop a hill and there, claymore in hand and loosing the mountain-bear's song, Galam made his final stand.
• 564 OGAM
  The Cumannfil, Sidara's bardic order, welcomes visual artists of all stripes into its ranks and permits their presence at the annual Tionilfil, the great Sidarid gathering of poets and musicians that has taken place since time immemorial.
• 600 OGAM
  Present

Produce

Domestic Animals: Sheep, Goats, Cattle (e.g. Highland Cattle, Galloway and Belted Galloway, Luing Cattle, Shetland Cattle), Horses, Pigs, Dogs (Sidaird Wolfhound, Border Collie etc.), Chickens

Game: Pheasant, Partridge, Hares, Rabbits, Deer, Grouse, Ptarmigan, Duck, Geese, Pigeons, Boar

Flora Commodities: Flax, Hemp, Hay

Other Crops: Barley, Potato, Wheat, Oats, Rye, Legumes, Strawberries, Loganberries, Raspberries, Kale, Turnips, Cabbage, Oilseed Rape, Carrots, Turnips, peas, sprouts, rhubarb, beans, cabbage, leeks, broccoli, mushrooms, blueberries, gooseberries, redcurrants, blackcurrants

Goods: Textiles, Animal Hides, Linen, Wool, Knitwear, Tweed, Timber, Iron, Sidaric Uisge, Leather, Toothbrushes, Lovespoons, Sidarid smallpearls, Jute, Muslin, Tallow, Flour, Fertiliser

Mid/High Casual - Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk.II

Oh, we're doing teasers? My turn

Remember to bring boats

Teaser, spoilers, bewarned

Civilization III: A New World

^{The ap-Cantar}

Summary

E) Explore
Hiwcantar continues up the mountain. Tara appears to have been marked by a great demon overlord. The ap-Cantar befriend a weird Oni named Ryoka. They arrive, after lots of stuff happens, AT THE CENTRE OF ALL WOE. dun dunnn duuuunnnn.

And Hiwcantar hung between the land of the living and the land of the dead, and he had strange visions that left him lost and confused, waking in delirium before falling back into the trappings of unconsciousness. Reality morphed around him in ways that could not be comprehended by his human mind, and any attempt to shine the light of reason or understanding upon them was repulsed. It was like a fish which, no sooner caught in one's hands, managed to morph and slip away. And when caught again - why the very same one! - it would once again make good its escape, and so on in an endless, eternal, mind-numbing and frustrating cycle. And most infuriating of all was that Hiwcantar knew none of it was real, could fathom no reason why he should continue in these useless attempts - and yet there seemed to be an importance to it all that was beyond him and he could not stop even if he wished. Shadows eluded him, eyes watched him that disappeared as soon as he tried to see them, voices and murmurs enveloped him but he could neither hear nor understand anything that was spoken.

As for Tara, she did not sleep at all that night, but somehow knew that if she did the nightmares would not have returned. She had faced the Kunshu without fear, banishing his accursed presence from her mind in the name of GREAT Cantar, and she felt that she had been made more powerful for it. He had claimed that there was a bit more power to her name now, but she did not feel any newfound strength or magical might. She was simply cold and increasingly nervous, as were Sruga and the other warriors, as she waited for any sign of Hiwcantar's recovery. And all that time she felt eyes upon her; it was that Oni that had tried to kidnap her, lurking somewhere still. He had not died, his spirit remained close by, and he would return. Somehow, she felt all of that in her gut. Scared, she shuffled closer to her father and placed her two small hands in his. Despite the crisp mountain air, he was warm.

It was some days before Hiwcantar's eyes opened truly. By then his warriors had almost lost all hope of his survival, though they had moved to a well-hidden cave and had come to venture out into the nearby area from time to time in pursuit of game; there was little to be found, so they often resorted to digging through the ashes to forage for nuts or edible roots. Inside the cave they could safely light a fire and protect themselves from the cold mountain air - indeed, they found themselves to grow cold exceedingly fast, for they were accustomed to the warmth of the lowlands south. Tara's hand was still in Hiwcantar's when he sat up, though she had fallen asleep. Her hand was warm and Hiwcantar could not help but feel strengthened by her mere touch and presence. Bringing her to him carefully, he hugged her and kissed her brow. She awakened and was for a few moments unaware of her father's conscious state. But then her eyes settled on him and she cried out in joy and relief and threw her arms about his neck. Awake and full of joy, Tara's aura seemed all the more powerful. Sruga ran to the chief and attempted to take his hand, but Tara turned her head towards him and there was such a look in her eyes as shook the heart of even so formidable a warrior. He pulled back and did not touch the Hiwcantar, allowing Tara to revel completely in the moment of her father's return from the gaping maw of death. The other warriors gathered around also and expressed happiness and relief at Hiwcantar's return, though they too received warning glances from Tara if they wandered too close to the seated man. Food was brought to him and Tara helped him eat. His face would harbour scars and his chest and shoulders also, but it appeared that he was through the worst of it and would live. By the next day he was walking again, though it would be some time yet before he could exert true effort. Despite this, he insisted that he was well enough for them to continue their journey.
'GREAT Cantar waits for me at the pinnacle. I must commune with him there.' Tara was now more inseparable from him than ever she had been, and wherever he walked she could be seen holding onto the cloth of his cloak and following closely. He was not able to carry her on his shoulder as he had been wont to do for many months now, but she was satisfied with nearness and jealously protected her unique proximity to him. The warriors had grown accustomed already to at no point be closer to the chief than she, not to offer him food directly, but to give it to her that she may give it to him. On one occasion the warrior Guldandar brought Hiwcantar's spear to him. When he glanced at Tara he found there to be such seething fury there as shocked and infuriated him, and he shouted at the girl despite himself - for he was his father's son and was heir to the same fury and battle-crazy. He looked to her greenish eyes and saw his rage reflected as truly as if he had been gazing into a puddle's reflective surface. Tara seemed unfazed by the big man's shouting, but the fury in her eyes swiftly disappeared when Hiwcantar looked her way.

Leaving the relative safety of the cave, the company continued on its way - but now there was a certain tension that did not exist before, and all the warriors gave the little Tara wary glances and thought her even queerer than they had perceived her to be before. As time passed they had seen distant lights and heard strange sounds like the howling of wolves. But their experience days ago with the bandit army and that dark-robed sorcerer with red eyes had made them wary, so they took great pains to continue on their journey undetected. As it were, Hiwcantar's injury made it easier for them to justify a slower pace. Throughout all of that time Tara still sensed the presence of that skulking mongrel that had maimed her father, but the oni did not dare manifest before her until they had already journeyed the better part of a day from that cave. While the group rested in the shade beneath a small cliff overhang, she could see the demon's dusky silhouette in a nearby patch of light. He looked at her, holding a certain threat to his very presence despite how he looked like nothing more than a smoky simulacrum of that hideous monster they had slain, and then he spoke, "Little namanari, you coming closer to Him. But you in His land now and gots to be lookin' outl! Places under rule of oni kings are dangerous. Violent, full of turmoil and strife."

She could have stared holes into the oni's spirit as it spoke. Some of the warriors looked strangely at her and traced her gaze, but it was clear that they could neither see nor hear the oni. "Lots of oni around these parts. Not nice wild ones like me; they drive us away. No, oni kings and their armies. They do bad things to your friends if they find you, then they take you to Him. So gotta listen to me and hide! I gots to be the one that takes you to Him. That way He give me the reward! Maybe He even let your friends live, too." But Tara only scowled and wished she could cause the demon to disappear. She turned to her father and spoke in a whisper, then gestured to where the oni's spirit was. Hiwcantar looked and frowned, but he could see nothing. He whispered to Tara and she turned to the oni.
'My father says that when they come, he will slay them like he did you. He says you should go and rethink things. He says you will be better off if you lived by your wild ways and had nothing to do with kings. He asks what this reward you are after is.' The other warriors stared at Tara in confusion, but Hiwcantar assured them with a smile and they were content to give Tara the odd look now and again.
The oni snorted in what sounded like amusement when Tara spoke of slaying oni, but then he became incensed at the rest of what she had to say. "Tell the dumb little human that he dumb! Tramping around all loud in oni land. Gonna be me bashin' the other oni that find you, coz he sure ain't big enough or mean enough. An' tell the dumb little human that I don't got friends! Eat too much to share. Friends only get in way an' eat my food." Whatever the reward was, he didn't say. Tara had a faint idea that the oni himself might not even know what to expect for a supposed reward. Tara whispered to Hiwcantar who stood up and spoke directly to the unseen spirit.
'If you speak the truth, oni, then I would have you lead us to this Him. All of us.' The warriors all looked around and their confusion was clear. Sruga tightened his grip on his spear and suddenly seemed very uncomfortable, as if having finally realised that there were unseen spirits here.
"Dumb little human is smart! Tell him I show the way." the ghostly demon answered. Tara tightened her grip on her father's arm and told him what the oni spirit said, and they ventured forth. To any observer it now seemed like Tara was taking the lead, but the other warriors did not look at her. They looked instead at where her gaze was fixated, and they shivered. For all its supposed eagerness, the oni did not press them to pick up the pace. Instead it crept silently through the woods, taking them along unseen goat paths and through hidden mountain passes. Every now and then one of the warriors saw a strange disturbance, like leaves crunching beneath nothing or branches swaying when there was no wind, and so they knew that Tara spoke the truth about this unseen spirit. After several hours Tara came to an abrupt stop, though. The wooded mountain was seemingly tranquil and the same as anywhere else, yet the oni had warned Tara that this was a very dangerous part. Upon closer inspection, the ap-Cantar indeed could see something odd in the distance.

The Gateways

There were some stones arrayed about in ritual circles, and from tree branches there were several great loops that resembled the archways of doors. To Tara's discerning green eyes, they were portals to another world. "Gots to go around here," the oni spirit cautioned them. "Here His priests build gateways to let in the nasty little ko-oni. Dirty, nasty, little things! Greedy, fat, little treacherous worms..." his ramblings continued, but soon devolved into little more than mumbles. Tara gestured to the portals and told the others what they were, warning them against approaching them and telling them they had to go around the area. A part of her, for a few brief moments, considered allowing the crazy Guldandar to wander in, but she restrained herself and rid herself of the strange thought. She continued after the oni's spirit.
'You never did tell me your name, oni,' she suddenly said.
"What your name?" he asked, probably thinking himself clever with that deflection. Tara had been thinking for some time on what He had said about names and had been regretting letting Him know hers so easily. She did not wish to reveal anything to this oni or any other.
'I am the one whom my father calls dearest.' She said, 'and what are you called?'
"Da one that bashes little humans and nasty ko-oni and mean tengu!"
'Truly? You must be truly powerful then. How is it that one such as you was slain by puny humans? I would surely have heard of you if you were anything more than nothing...'
"You dumb little humans don't know 'bout much! I'm big and strong Ryoka, and I bashed all the nasty tengu on my mountain! Scared 'em away good. That's why oni kings leave me alone." Tara smiled inwardly, feeling a sense of accomplishment at having eased his name from him.
'Ah, Ryoka. I have heard of you. He did mention you when I spoke to Him. I don't think He likes you very much... are you sure he will reward you when we get to Him? What is to say he won't betray you once He has what He wants?' She allowed her words to linger for a few moments, then added, 'I could, of course, tell Him that you are a... good friend of mine, truly worthy of reward.'
Ryoka scratched his head, and a few of the warriors behind Tara let out gasps as they saw a faint blur in the air. He was becoming noticeably more corporeal. After thinking for a few seconds, the oni finally answered, "Yeah, you better tell 'im that. Then maybe he give me a sword and send some other oni to help me bash one of the kings. Once I take over that dumb king's army, then you can say you got an oni king for friend!"
They walked on for some time, but then there was suddenly the sound of howling wolves. This time it was much closer than it had been before. Ryoka turned around and growled. "Ko-oni," he spat. When Tara turned back around, Ryoka's hazy form was nowhere to be seen. But meanwhile, the sound of the wolves was growing closer.
'Demons,' Tara said, gesturing towards the swiftly approaching sounds. The warriors fanned out around the injured Hiwcantar, hefting their spears and gripping their wicker shields.
'Sound like wolves to me...' Sruga said. Tara did not respond. She looked anxiously to her father and wondered if there was some safe place they could escape to. In his current state he could neither run nor climb a tree. The look in his eyes told her, however, that even if he could do either of those things he would not. If anything, his hold on his spear tightened and he seemed to be bringing himself to battle readiness. She gripped him tightly and he looked at her. She shook her head, but he only smiled.
'We are ap-Cantar, dearest.'
In the distant underbrush, huge black shapes darted. The panting and braying of the wolves was louder now, but there was another sound too--cruel cackling. A monstrous beast suddenly exploded out before the assembled warriors, but it was not the red-eyed wolf, its smoky aura, and its sulfur-scented breath that caught their attention so much as the green-skinned, pot-bellied creature that rode it. It had a fat and bent nose, unkempt crimson hair, tiny fangs, and dull red eyes. And it spoke. "Whadda we have here?" the goblin called out. More of its friends suddenly appeared, but even from behind them the ap-Cantar could hear rustling and other telltale signs of riders circling around.
"A bit scrawny, but you'll do. Give us all your treasures and we'll feed you to our king! Otherwise, our wolves will finally get a snack." Hiwcantar hefted his spear slowly and looked directly at the demon that had spoken.
'I will lead you to our treasures if you can best my champion in combat. But if you cannot, then you will be dead, and your friends will scurry back home and tell your king of the terrible creature that took your life. This is my champion,' and he gestured to Guldandar, 'only four days ago he wrestled an oni to the ground and caused it to disintegrate into red stone. Were I to unleash him on you, you would all perish. But I am feeling merciful today.'
"Miserable wretch, there is no winning for you. You're weak and tired, we outnumber and surround you. But worry not! I envy your fate, human. All the horrors you'll see and the fun you'll have in the underworld; do you know what awaits our kind when we die? Nothing!" The goblin sneered, brandishing a dagger and driving a heel into the wolf. The beast made to leap, but then there was suddenly a deafening roar.

"HWARGH!"

A familiar oni leaped from behind the goblin, and in one fell swing of a tree limb made club, Ryoka smashed the wolf and its rider. The other goblins panicked and spun to face this new assailant; if the wolves had smelled Ryoka as his body reformed, they clearly hadn't realized that he was an enemy. The wild oni swung his club and struck another goblin before it could react, sending the little thing flying off its mount. He roared, "Nasty little ko-oni!" The ap-Cantar warriors were taken aback by the sudden appearance of the oni and were not certain whether he was friend or foe.
'Help him!' Came Tara's cry, and the warriors leapt to the oni's assistance, screaming the ap-Cantar war cry. Guldandar's spear skewered a goblin even as Sruga swung his own into the skull of the wolf he rode. The melee did not last long and could hardly be called a fight, for the goblins found themselves surprised, ambushed, and fighting for an escape rather than victory. When the last of them had fled, the warriors turned looked at the oni warily. How they had managed to down him before they could only guess.
'Let's keep going before they return in greater number,' Hiwcantar declared, gesturing for Ryoka to lead on.
The oni kicked one of the monstrous wolves that laid dead on the ground. The thing's corpse (and those of the goblins, too) began to disintegrate not unlike Ryoka's own body had a few days prior. They didn't stay long enough to see, but by the end of the hour, there remained nothing of the fell wolves besides charred bones. "King gonna be mad that his pets dead. Oni gonna be mad that I bashed 'em all. They all gonna come, and they gonna find us again. Not gonna be able to get away, 'cuz you humans stink, and they can also smell the namanari's mark."
'You promised to bring us before Him, and we shall hold you to that. Here, we shall take of their dust and bones and smear ourselves with it, and that shall be disguise enough.' And so saying Hiwcantar bent to where the remains of a wolf and his rider were and began smearing his arms and legs and chest with it. At the last he smeared it even across his face. His warriors did likewise and Tara, scrunching up her nose, did the same. 'Now let us tarry here no longer. Unless you know of a way to avoid them, our plan remains unchanged and our destination is one.'
"Quiet dumb little human, 'fore I bash you. Better think of smart things to say for when their king comes, 'coz he gonna be mad!" For all his hubris and threats, the oni more or less obeyed and began walking once more, albeit at a faster pace now. He didn't seem overly concerned with subtlety any longer, and after a time they came across yet another unusual sight. In the distance there were strange robed men chanting and channeling some foul magic in the middle of a ritual circle that was just outside the mouth of a dark cave.
"Priests openin' more portals. But this one not gonna be for nasty little ko-oni. Could just bash 'em and keep goin'. Or could wait and see who comes out. Maybe smart words can get 'em to go fight that king that's huntin' us." Hiwcantar had taken Ryoka's words to heart and had in fact been wondering about what this "mark" on Tara was.
'Tell me about the mark. Would those priests be able to sense it? If we tell them we are taking the marked one to Him but are being tracked by enemies, will they aid us?'
"Hmph! They smell it, yup! Then they try take her to Him. Hmm, maybe the oni king be afraid to attack His priests. Maybe should travel with them." Pursing his lips and furrowing his brows, Hiwcantar gestured for his warriors to fan about him and Tara.
'Oni, you shall walk ahead of us. I shall speak.' And so saying they headed out into the open and Hiwcantar hailed the group. 'His soldiers salute His priests! We carry one marked by Him with us, but have been assailed by a king. We seek refuge with you from them that we may see His marked one to Him.' The group came to a halt and Hiwcantar gripped his spear. This gamble could see them all slaughtered or worse... but it did not seem like they would be avoiding danger now anyhow.
The two robed priests lowered their hands and turned away from their work. As Hiwcantar came close, he was overpowered by the smell of sulfur; these men reeked of the underworld, their visages grey and their eyes a sickly and almost glowing green. One of them held extended a hand towards Tara and a stream of twisted energy streamed from it, and to the ap-Cantar's horrified surprise, a fainter stream of dark magic emanated from Tara and came to meet it. The priest seemed satisfied and nodded. "She has His mark, and the makings of a powerful witch."

The other one had been eyeing Sruga, however. "This one looks like those prisoners that Akane and his rabble brought from the riverlands."

The first priest retorted, "The Master's servants come from many places, and humble beginnings."

"No, look at their starved bodies and the sorry state of their equipment. They all look fit only for thralldom or sacrifices." He turned to Hiwcantar and stepped closer. "I hardly even sense the power of the oni coming from you. You must have bound yourself to a weak and pathetic king, and I doubt he would care if a servant as paltry as you were to go missing."

Ryoka suddenly pushed past Hiwcantar and came to lean over that suspicious priest, and the human visibly quivered as the oni's hulk now towered over him. "He mine! Dumb little humans like gold. That one sold his soul for a lump the size of his fist."

The more amicable of the priests laughed at that. "They say Akane agreed to serve the Master for only half his weight in gold!"

'Oh but Akane's brought in far more than that now. We were with him on that raid,' Hiwcantar said, putting two and two together, 'but when we found that this one was marked we separated from him. That's when we found ourselves preyed upon by a king. We haven't eaten well at all these past few days, harried as we were by him. But give me a few days and a few good meals, and you'll see who's only fit for sacrifice or thralldom.'

The skeptic cast an eye toward Hiwcantar and listened, but he seemed much more preoccupied by Ryoka. "And you went with Akane, too? I thought the sorcerer let his mad brother command oni; you know that he has no fondness for your kind."

"Told 'em I'd bash 'im if he didn't let me come," Ryoka retorted in his usual line of thinking. The priest laughed and obviously took it for a joke, but that was beginning to draw the ire from Ryoka. Hiwcantar intervened smoothly.
'He does enjoy a good joke - I mean, I didn't really sell my soul for a lump of gold the size of a fist, he just likes to tease me about this entire affair. But no, that's why we separated from Akane see, we wanted our here oni to see this marked girl we had found so that he can get the reward for finding her. Then we'll have a proper king. Can't blame a man for being selfish now and again can you?'
The hostile priest regarded Ryoka in a new light. "I didn't care for gold; I entered His service because He promised power. But you already have magic. Why would you want to be a king and have to deal with all the wretched politics?"

"You presume too much, Hisa-"

"Don't tell them my name!"

"-we serve the Kunshu himself and are above the kings' petty squabbling. Now we must do as the man asks and bring the namanari to Him; this summoning ritual can wait."

Ryoka of course had to rub this in. "Dumb Hisa! Shut up and do what that smart one says! And don't question an oni!" Hisa grit his teeth and reddened at the oni's words but maintained his silence as the group began to move away from the ritual circle. The chief attempted to joke slightly with Hisa, but the cultist did not seem interested in doing anything other than let his anger simmer. Led by the two demon-worshipers, the party made their way out of the forest and back onto a dirt path. Countless footprints had been pounded into the ash-covered ground, and few of them were in the shape of a man's feet. It was not long before they came across a trio of oni unlike any that the they had seen so far; the creatures were of great stature, perhaps a man and a half high, but lean and long-limbed. Their flesh and eyes were black as tar, and long white hair and horns protruded from their helmets. And over their bodies they wore heavy plated armor that seemed to simmer in a dim light as if drenched and weighed down by magic, and upon their waists each one carried many scabbards for equally many massive swords. "Kuro-oni," Ryoka explained. "And these ones samurai! Strong enough to serve some king permanently!" Hiwcantar considered the armoured demons with awe - he had seen the armour worn by the rabble before and thought it some absurd fashion, but now he could see that it was in fact some kind of hardened material - leather perhaps? Some odd rock? He could not be certain. Now that he paused to consider it, the bandits before sharpened blocks of the stuff, not at all dissimilar to what these Kuro-oni had sheathed at their sides. Perhaps it would be good to get their hands on these oddities and take them home for closer inspection. As these mighty "kuro" demons passed by with their great strides and the ragged company of humans (and Ryoka) stepped off the path in respect, the samurai cast only a few fleeting sideward glances. It seemed as though the presence of the two priests and Ryoka was enough to cast away any suspicion that might have been raised by a warband of humans; but then again, it seemed equally likely that the demons would think it impossible for any enemy to make it this far, or for any enemy to even attempt to enter the Kunshu's domain to begin with. But the ap-Cantar were just such foes, willing to march into the jaws of hell if it meant they could spit in the eye of a foe or make light of death's attempts to snare them. The march deeper and deeper into this hellish domain of demons continued, and with each step the ap-Cantar gripped their weapons ever tighter and Hiwcantar's mind wondered at how such a foe could be brought low. 'GREAT Cantar,' he murmurred under his breath, 'lend us your strength, bestow your blessings, make us into the stuff the worthy are made of.' They soon came to the foot of one final mountain.

But this was the king of all the mountains here, crowned in fire. The red-hot blood of the earth seeped from the top and ran down the edges of the tower, but their destination was not up there. The tiny dirt path joined into a proper road that had been paved with packed ash and the charred bones left behind by ancient wars, and this road meandered a short ways along the side of the volcano before it brought them to a great wound gouged into the rock. Their party, alongside a steady trickle of demons and bandits and other dark travelers, marched into the opening of the cave. Ignoring the stifling heat and the foul smell and the demons and sorcerers that were everywhere inside that mountain, they slowly advanced through the twisting tunnels. With every passing moment they ventured deeper and deeper into the depths, heading toward the magma chamber at the very heart of this mountain.

The ap-Cantar and their unwitting entourage walked and took this all in with fear and awe. Now an oni king walked past, now a cultist followed them with his gaze. The deeper in they walked the more blistering the heat became. Though used to the desert heat on the their bare feet, from time to time one of the warriors would hop from one foot to the other in a futile attempt to avoid the burning pain. Only Tara seemed utterly unaffected by this, wherever she set her step there was a hissing and smoking and the ground seemed to soften. At one point their party stopped and they heard furious shouting. The cultists looked up ahead, and Hiwcantar looked with them. There, immediately recognisable, was the terrifying demon-priest who had led the bandit horde of slavers. Akane, as they had come to know his name, seemed embroiled into a quarrel with a demon so large and so heavily armored that they could presume this it was one of the oni kings. It was nearly roaring, with dark spittle flying from its mouth, but to his credit the sorcerer seemed unfazed. "Even if twenty of them are worth only a single tengu, I've brought hundreds to serve the Kunshu. They will suffice," they heard him say. But for fear of being recognized, they did not stare and they similarly did not linger about to listen for any longer. It wasn't much farther until they finally came to a great door that was guarded by a samurai on either side.

The demonic warriors stared silently, the glow of their red eyes enough to tell any sane man that they were not to enter that doorway without permission. But it seemed that Ryoka was no sane man, and he wanted his reward. So the wild oni trotted forward, and when they thought him too close, both of the samurai brought their hands upon the hilts of their sheathed blades and prepared to draw. Ryoka likewise gripped his club and brandished it. It looked as if he was genuinely contemplating 'bashing' his way through yet another situation. Then Hiwcantar's voice rose. 'We come bearing one who is marked to Him, seeking the promised reward. Let us pass that we may claim what is our right to claim.'

"You speak for this rabble?" one of them asked Hiwcantar without taking its eyes off of Ryoka.
'I would never presume to speak for the great king Ryoka, for the might of his fist and the severity of his punishment speak for themselves - but I am more well-versed in the diplomatic arts, yes, so that is what I do.'

"King?" the other asked, looking more closely at Ryoka before breaking into laughter. "You're no king, just a mongrel, wild aka-oni th-"

Ryoka struck so fast that his club was a blur, but when his club fell upon the laughing samurai it crushed the arrogant fool's head. Even as that samurai's still and lifeless body began to crumble and disintegrate, Ryoka still brought down his club over and over to pound it into a pulp. Meanwhile, the other guard watched with mild interest. "He was too slow to draw. A pathetic display," the kuro-oni mused. Hiwcantar scratched his head under his large hat and pursed his lips. 'What can I say, King Ryoka does not like being questioned, and a good pounding opens many doors.' He turned back to the guard even as Ryoka continued to spit and bash at the ashen remains of the other samurai. 'So, can we go through now?'

The warrior glanced down to what remained of his peer. "You and your 'king' can pass; I will not stop you, and until he can reform, neither will that fool." Nodding, Hiwcantar waved his warriors on and walked with Tara through the door. Ryoka seemed to finally awaken from whatever frenzy had gripped him and shoved the door open for them. And before them they saw the heart from whence their woes had spewed and the woes of all who called the mighty Tala home!

Civilization III: A New World

^{The ap-Cantar}

Summary

X) Survive
Miksuin and Furrayn mobilise their warriors to keep the storehouse stocked with food, encouraging the people to return to their activities despite the ash.

Hiwcantar sets out with a group to see what's going on up in the mountains.

And when five days and five nights had passed, the ash showed no sign of abating. Soon even a big man like Hiwcantar found himself wading knee-deep in the ash, having to lift Tara onto his shoulder to prevent her from sinking in up to her chest. On his shoulder, Tara lifted a shield above her head to keep the ash at bay. The fields were buried in the stuff and the fishermen, full of fear and doubt, no longer rode the waters. Some of the smaller boats had sunk due to the weight of ash, and so Hiwcantar had ordered all boats be brought ashore and turned over. Though some brave souls were nonchalant in the face of this strange rain, covering their faces in cloth and going out to hunt and seek their livelihoods, these were but a few, and so the months spent storing food now proved a boon for there was enough food to sustain the populace for some time yet.

But not forever.

For some time Hiwcantar made his way through the ash before suddenly stopping as a violent wave of coughing and spluttering shook his frame. Tara patted his back gently and brought the wickerwork shield down to keep the ash from him. 'Keep it over your head, sweetest. Don't you worry yourself about me.' He managed, but she did not move the shield and her response was short and impassive.
'I'm alright, da.' With the coughing over, he continued onward towards the meeting house where many of the Tilaticantar elders and military men were gathered. A large number of riverfolk who enjoyed authority and status before had been, through a process of consultation, inducted into the council of elders. Those who saw Hiwcantar hailed him through the ash, and he quickly dusted himself off before entering the building. They all rose as the great chief entered, and they sat as he sat. Tara seated herself beside him, and her deep brown eyes surveyed all present.

'It is two days since last we met, and the ash yet falls and shows no sign of dying down.' The elders were silent as the chief spoke. 'Our stores sustain us yet, and though some homes have collapsed under the weight of the ash none have been harmed. I have visited the people and have ordered men who have no fear in their hearts to clear away the ash where it is dangerous - from rooftops and from entrances. I have not found enough people to clear the fields as well, and so they are buried beneath the stuff. The ash is not punishment from GREAT Cantar as some seem to think, but we will most certainly be punished for our cowardliness in the face of tribulation. Only those who dare are worthy, and only the worthy will be found deserving of GREAT Cantar's good graces. Remember these my words.' Opening his palms to those gathered, he then invited them to speak. 'I am seeking your counsel before a decision is made, so how do you advise?'
'There were three voices when last we met, Hiwcantar,' said Virimdantar, one of the chief's uncles, 'Oiqulm proposed that all the riverfolk return to their home villages and remain there, as that is the manifest will of Cantar, and that "those who came from the Great Yellow Scourge should return to it". Old Howandar suggested this is a sign that we should not sit on our laurels - the Mewaris remain and GREAT Cantar clearly wants us to depart from here and fight them one final time. That is the source of this brief discomfort. Our brother, Ingantir, called out the foolishness of those who seek to speak for GREAT Cantar when you are his word and he has said naught. And that son of Fuldondar there, in whose eye is the very same battle-crazy as shone in his father's eye, wishes to scale the distant mountains and face whatever blazing hulks may be.' Hiwcantar nodded.
'Yes, and I have thought long on what was suggested to me before. As for Olquim's notion that all riverfolk return to their villages of origin so as to regain the favour of GREAT Cantar, that is the essence of foolishness. As for old Howandar's suggestion that this ash is GREAT Cantar's sign that he wishes us to destroy the remaining Mewari utterly, I am with my uncle Ingantir - those who seek to speak for GREAT Cantar when I, his vessel, am amongst you are better off remaining silent. GREAT Cantar has not spoken and has given no sigh of anger or displeasure. He is not one who punishes without warning or reason. That this is not punishment is clear, and those who seek to speak for the god speak best by retaining their silence. There will be no return to what was before, and there will be no needless assault on the Mewaris. It may surprise the weak-hearted amongst you, but I find myself leaning towards the words of that made-eyed son of Fuldondar there. In the words of Guldandar, though he is driven by nothing other than the battle-crazy, is some wisdom. I would climb the distant mountains where these fire giants are said to dwell, and there seek communion with GREAT Cantar. His advice and guidance is best of all, and so shall all suffering be lifted from us once more.' Hiwcantar made to rise, but then the voice of Oiqulm rang out.

'You speak and promise much, Hiwcantar! You promised us before that brotherhood would bring us prosperity - it brought us war and strife! You promised that victory would bring peace and glory - it has now brought us nothing but divine fury and punishment! You promised courage that courage would bring the grace of GREAT Cantar - but were we not promised that grace aforetime? Are you not his chosen? Where are his words and assurances and promises now? Or has he abandoned you? And you promise now that you shall go and commune with GREAT Cantar and seek his guidance - but did you not promise aforetime that he guides you always and will be pleased with us forever if we are obedient and worthy? Have we been anything but?! This is the truth Hiwcantar: we tasted suffering before your coming and we have tasted it since. And so your promises are fallen flat. We have given and not been niggardly in giving, but there is only so much you can ask of us, so much suffering we can bear for empty promises and words. Leave us be, man!' And cries of anger rose up at Olquim's repugnant words, though here and there were what seemed to be murmurs of agreement.

'Why, miserable wretch!' Hiwcantar declared, and Tara turned her eyes on old Olquim and surveyed him with cool disinterest. 'Your words reveal little more than your lack of gratitude, old man. What suffering is there now compared to what was before? Have the three thrice-blessed months not been kind since our victory? Has there not been food in abundance? Why, you have known more prosperity and abundance in these thrice-blessed months than in the entirety of your miserable life - yet you dare speak of suffering and of sacrifice? You speak of my broken promises - yet what but the fulfilment of those very promises keeps you fed even now? Even now that fishermen do not fish and the fields are suffocated by ash, what feeds you, old man, but the prosperity of these bygone months? Have some shame! Why, you are one who causes the shoe to cry out, should it strike your face, "for what sin am I struck?" Away with you and your words of poison. Leave us be says he who has little power or strength! - I can leave you be, old man, in the Great Yellow Scourge or in the midst of the Sea of Souls; what use will your viper's tongue be then? If you can speak no good then say nothing, I have only so much patience - and though your tongue may be as the viper, know that mine is as the cobra snake-eater!' Olquim seemed more irritated than afraid, however, and his scowl spoke as much - but his tongue, for all the old man's scowling and huffing, remained silent. 'Then to the mountain I shall go, if none object.' And none spoke out against this, though a number looked to Hiwcantar with no small degree of astonishment and fear.

And so with the decision made that the great chief would travel to the mountains, preparations were made. Hiwcantar gathered ten of Tilaticantar's finest warriors to him, the mad-eyed Guldandar amongst them. Tara - who adamantly refused to be separated from her father - was part of the company also, despite Hiwcantar's sincere attempts to have her remain. Miksuin and Furrayn were left in charge of the great town's defence and ensuring peace and order until Hiwcantar's return. And so, their faces covered, spears and wicker shields at hand, and long cloaks trailing in the ash, they crossed the Tala and set out along it towards the Tala's source and the distant mountains north.

For their part, Furrayn and Miksuin would endeavour to keep order and, increasingly, would have their warriors - wearing their shields as wide-brimmed hats to keep the ash away and covering their faces with cloth to avoid breathing the foul stuff - venture out to the Tala and further down the river in search of fish and other river creatures for their storehouses. The ash could continue for a long time, and they had to be absolutely prepared for that. Hiwcantar's defiance in the face of the strange rain encouraged these warriors to be both brave and worthy in the face of the unknown - to live on despite the storm. And both Miksuin and Furrayn would see to it that the people came to exhibit such bravery also, for themselves, for the people, and for the good place Tilaticantar.

Mid/High Casual - Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk.II

@Vec Also, I demand a correction. I can't handle seeing just Gadar there >.< I demand they be dubbed: Gadar/Belru-Vowzra!

Mid/High Casual - Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk.II

Yeah, we've lost some promising players along the way - I particularly regret that we lost Fabulous Knight and The Omnipotent Sphere (Mammon and Belruarc) so early on. I always thought that they would have had a particularly influential role on the storyline and the way the lore developed. So yeah, whenever I scroll through the Character Thread, I would say those two are the ones that sadden me most. It would have been interesting to see how things would have been had the players remained until page 10 at the least.

Civilization III: A New World

^{The ap-Cantar}

Summary

X) Reconstruction
With the war at an end, Tilaticantar goes through a period of reconstruction - new fields are irrigated, new fishing boats, and a new approach to storehouses. A communal welfare system is also established, and a nascent civic virtue emerges.

And Tilaticantar knew peace. Seated with his daughter and heir, Hiwcantar saw that. And though people continued to stream in, seeking refuge and the longed-for dream of the good life in the good place, there was now stability at last. It was not only Tilaticantar that knew peace, however - for in his heart, Hiwcantar knew it too. Peace and contentment at the thought that the town GREAT Cantar had decreed was now firmly established. It stood tall, proud, unconquerable and infallible. But the scars of the recent war, this baptism by fire, were not yet healed. The storehouse stood half-burned, the fishing fleet not properly organised, the fields far too small to support the influx of people.

And so Hiwcantar oversaw the reconstruction of the town and assigned to the new arrivals their roles. New fishing boats were constructed - calling on the expertise of every able boatbuilder, they were bigger and sturdier so that they could manoeuvre both the Tala and the sea. New fields were cleared and irrigated. And the re-erection of the storehouse was set to with zest. But the ap-Cantar had learned the dangers of one great storehouse, and so it was agreed that four smaller ones in disparate parts of the town would be better. It also meant that there was less traffic to and from any one storehouse. A watch of two was set-up to guard each storehouse against thievery or sabotage by day and night. Every six hours the watch changed, to ensure that the watchmen were always alert and well-rested.

The great town had been built on communal foundations, and so those who hunted and fished and worked the fields did not sell them, but delivered them freely to the storehouse. And wheat was taken and ground, and bread was baked. And everyday bread and meat (or fish) would be distributed that all may eat and prosper. The people of the town carried out their duties, ensuring the strength and stability of their home, and in turn that strength and stability ensured they were fed and protected. And such was the condition of early Tilaticantar.

Civilization III: A New World

^{The ap-Cantar}

Summary

Some newly arrived women have an issue with the ap-Cantar's polygamous practices and come complaining to Hiwcantar. He refuses to forbid the practice and attempts to persuade them. They are calmed for now, but will likely keep complaining from time to time.
Hiwcantar now dwells in an adobe home. Tara follows him everywhere. Not everyone is happy that she was declared his heir.

When they found Hiwcantar he was sat beneath a palm tree on the Tala, the little orphaned girl, Tara, whom he had declared his daughter and heir sat in his lap. His cloak was wrapped about her and, in the safety and warmth of her adoptive father, she slept peacefully. In the nights after the final battle she had not been able to sleep at all, awakening from nightmares and calling out now for her brother and now for her father and now for her mother. One of Hiwcantar's wives would attempt to soothe her, but she would not find calm until Hiwcantar himself came and whispered words of kindness and love. Wherever he went, she was as his shadow. Even when the great chief - exalted and mighty is he, perfect beyond the bounds of normal men and the chosen one of GREAT Cantar - went to answer the call of nature, Tara would be with him. 'Turn away child, it is not seemly for one to look on the nakedness of her father,' and she would obediently turn her gaze from him. And he would command her, and she would bring him some stones. 'This here is not stone, this here is unclean,' he would say, throwing away a dried piece of faeces so that nothing but stone and mud was left, 'with these you may clean yourself.'

'She is tied to you at the hip, father,' Julandara, already heavy with the child of the riverman she loved, would say when she saw them, and she would bring her new sister to her and ruffle her hair and rain kisses on her cheeks and lips and brow. But not all his children were as accepting of little Tara as was Julandara. The eldest of his sons, Hubcantar, hated the child with a passion and did nothing to hide it. He had come to him on the night of victory and spoken angrily about this decision.
'Father, you have humiliated and disgraced me before the people, you have raised this rivergirl - of unknown lineage and little status - above me in whose veins runs the purest blood. How can you command such things? Would you give the mantle of authority to an unworthy foreigner, and a woman no less!' Anger flashing in his eyes, Hiwcantar had risen and rebuked his son.
'Where were you, glorious Hubcantar, when we were besieged and dying? Where were you when our people were hurt and helpless? While you were hanging yourself on the illusion of your own worthiness, that little rivergirl was staring straight into the shining sun. You were never my heir, Hubcantar. I would sooner have chosen Julandara.' Hubcantar seemed taken aback by this revelation.
'B-but... my name... you ga-'
'It is tradition, boy. In time you will be relieved of it, and the cantar title will be given to she who is my heir. Now begone from my sight before I have your unworthy remains scattered in the Great Yellow Scourge.' He had never before spoken quite so harshly to the man, and it seemed to have crushed him utterly. Realising this, Hiwcantar spoke once more - 'you came here to question not only my authority, Hubcantar, but the authority of GREAT Cantar himself. If my words are harsh, then it is the harshness directed against all who deny our GREAT father. You have it in you to be worthy, you have it in you to sit beside him in honour and splendour - but rid from your mind all pretensions to leadership and focus your efforts instead on becoming truly worthy. Your blood is strong and strengthens you, but it alone will not see you through to worthiness, only your deeds will.' Hubcantar seemed to find some comfort in these words, but he said nothing in response. Rising, he nodded to his father before turning and leaving the newly-constructed abode house.

It was a multi-storeyed house with many rooms and a courtyard in the middle, large enough to house all of Hiwcantar's wives and infant children, and it was connected directly to the new storehouse, which was yet under construction. In aforetimes the ap-Cantar had not bothered to house their different wives in different tents, all of them lay with their men under one roof, but this had changed now. The riverfolk were strangers to the practice of taking on numerous wives, some were even disgusted or horrified by it, and so an unspoken compromise had been struck early on - the riverwomen would accept this ap-Cantar practice if it was agreed that each wife was housed separately from the other; if not her own abode then certainly her own quarters and bed. And it was so. And Hiwcantar now joyed in his fiery-eyed river beauty, laughing inwardly at her antics to garner his attention and absolute love. Sometimes she would deny him and not even look his way, feigning anger at one petty thing or another - perhaps she had seen him displaying affection to one of his other wives, or perhaps he had not visited her in one too many nights, or perhaps the sun was too high in the sky or too low, or perhaps she did not like the bedding. And then on other occasions she was as sweet and charming as a gazelle, seeing to his every need and raining her affections on him as generously as the Tala loosed its waters into the Sea of Souls. On such occasions he would tell her - 'Dorla, you are a woman to ride the rivers with,' and she would laugh out loud or smile shyly, or punch him in embarrassment, or she would take his head and bring it to her chest. Aye, if any were to ask then the answer was clear - despite all the troubles Mewar had brought upon them, great indeed were the blessings of GREAT Cantar.

But when they found Hiwcantar under the the palm tree on the Tala that day, it was clear to the great chief that trouble was afoot. Those who approached him were largely women, nearly all of them were carrying children, and others had little ones at their side in addition to those they carried. 'Peace, Hiwcantar!' declared an older one, and Hiwcantar responded to the greeting of peace with peace. 'We were promised security and safety and a good life, and that is why we came; but you are a sensuous and lewd people! Your men are not satisfied with one wife, they have three and four and five! You must put an end to this evil practice - and you must begin with yourself.' Hiwcantar raised an eyebrow at this strange demand.
'You are Ofrita are you not?' Hiwcantar asked. The older woman seemed surprised that he knew her name, but she nodded.
'That is me.'
'Are you a married woman, Ofrita?' asked the chief, his voice calm yet intrinsically commanding respect and attention.
'No, I am not, for my man was killed in the war.' She did not say it with any great degree of sadness, 'and before him I had others, some died of illness, others in raids, and others yet of unfortunate accidents.'
'And who cares for you now, pray tell?' She crossed her arms and did not respond. 'Who feeds you and provides for you and houses you?'
'We all get our sustenance from the storehouse, as does everyone else! And we work the fields - we earn what we eat!' Hiwcantar was silent, and they stared at each other for some time. Her lips were pursed and she scowled, 'alright! It is you who provides for us, oh great chief!' Ignoring her insolent tone, he continued.
'And who is it that protects you?'
'Why the warriors of course, just as they protect everyone else,' said Ofrita.
'And who ensures that the warriors do not abuse you and that those stronger than you do not steal from you and do not deny you the good things?' Ofrita was quiet, and spoke after a while.
'You do, we know this - but what is the point of all this questioning? It has nothing to do with the vile and evil practice we wish to see gone.'
'It is simple, old Ofrita - you women have no guardians; no fathers or husbands or uncles or brothers. You came to us widows with children, and you placed yourselves under my protection. Had you male relatives, they would have cared for you - and those women who came to us with male relatives are indeed under their guardianship. If they wish to marry, their guardian manages that. Now all of you are under my personal guardianship. In many ways, all of you are my wives, for I-' but Hiwcantar could not finish, for his words brought about shouts of shock and outrage. The noise was so great that Tara, sleeping in his lap, awoke. Ofrita soon managed to calm the women down and turned on Hiwcantar angrily.

'That was a lewd and licentious thing to say, Hiwcantar! Have you no shame? I am old enough to be your mother!' The great chief laughed.
'Marriage has many parts - there is joy in it and laughter, there is peace, companionship, and there is protection. What I mean when I say that you are my wives is that you are under my personal protection. You will find men, and you will marry them even if they are married already. They will house you and protect you and care for you, and they will see to all of your needs as you will see to theirs. That is our way and it is a goodly way - think on it: there are many more women than men due to the war, if we were to insist that men may only marry one woman than there will be great woe and great corruption. The unwed women would have no way of seeing to their needs but through evil and dishonourable acts, and I am not one who willingly lets loose evil and dishonour amongst my people. Go ye forth, and when a man approaches you for marriage do not shun him - there is good in it.' And then he stepped forth with a smile on his face and extended his hand to the old Ofrita, 'so what do you say, old woman, will you marry me?' She pursed her lips and slapped his hand.
'Stupid boy,' she muttered irritably, though she could not completely hide her sudden openness to the prospect. Ofrita turned and walked off, and some of the women looked from her to Hiwcantar and back again. It seemed that he had calmed them for now, but it was far from the last time he would hear of it, he knew.