Turn 1 - Beginnings
Doomevil
Keep Moving Forward
Hildemar, The Blue Palace
“Hail before His Majesty! Konrad of House Volkhelm, Lord of Adelford! King of Hildemar, Guardian of the Hildians!”
The court began with several peasants seeking an audience with the King, requesting aid in times of their situations in their villages. Meanwhile Robert folded his arms, trying to get a good look at him. Nothing to go off of other than the gossip he heard in the streets: brown greying hair, a simple gold circlet.
“Bless your heart your Majesty! My family and others will never forget your kindness!” A peasant shurried out of the court. Robert stepped forward, the symbol of the Divine Star above the throne. He could have sworn King Konrad raise an eye for a second, until he noticed Robert bow.
“Your Majesty, you may know me as Captain of the Saboteur. I come here to bring a relic from the continent of Numerya. I believe it tells of a terrible omen that could threaten Hildemar and others..” Robert explained before he was cut off by a thin looking man dressed in black robes.
“From Numerya? My King, he speaks blasphemy, no sane Human would travel to the Elves. Only a man seeking treasury and ruins. To speak nonsense such as this is an outright insult to this throne.” He interjected, standing beside King Konrad as people began to murmur within the crowd, questioning if a sailor was playing a game. Konrad slowly raised a hand, silencing the man. Konrad’s eyes stared.
“Continue.”
Robert carefully pulled out a relic befitting a dark omen, made out of dense bone. The object resembled a horn of some sort as Sir Frederick, Marshal of the Palace retrieved the item for Konrad. He explained the anomaly, “Dense dark bone in the isles of the continent, seasoned sailors would know this relic is not to be trifled with.” The Captain narrowed his eyes as several of the audience continued to spread doubt until the next words from his mouth.
“Several hunters and I fully believe this to be a dragon horn.”
Utter silence.
The talk of a dragon horn in this place, which would mean something horrifying if this was true. If so, this was a horrible omen. The King leaned forward, hearing his Chancellor whisper to his ear. The Chancellor marched back, observing the court as the King sighed. “Court will be adjourned for the moment.” The people were surprised the court took a sudden break, but nevertheless the commoners gossiped while they waited. Meanwhile the King headed to the back while Robert made sure to see him now that he had the chance.
…
Robert and Konrad walked over, staring at one another before they gave a lighthearted chuckle. Both hugged each other, good to know they weren't dead yet. Robert stared at Konrad, despite the weight gain he was still in good shape. Konrad waved off the guards to make leave, walking off while they needed to talk privately.
"Never thought I would meet Robert Lother, foolharden sailor again. How many years has it been?" The King asked, laughing.
"You flatter me your Majesty. It's been too long. But I'm here for a good reason as I explained during court." Robert stated while the King sighed.
"Yes yes I'm aware, you've made your argument in front of all these subjects. But a dragon horn? That would imply a dragon rider across Numerya, god be damned." Konrad exclaimed as he held his hands together, staring at the large Comet Star illustrated within the glass decor.
"It's not madness as you think. But we can't be too careful. A month ago I've discussed matters with Mekar, he says it's true. A great war that will spark between the Elves and Humans again." Robert explained while Konrad looked dumbfounded he referred to a familiar figure. Konrad scoffed, "Mekar and his isolated folk? Dragons have left Kazarok for centuries now, what reason should we believe they could possibly return? The folk within Hildemar be better off hearing goblins invade Hildemar for all we know."
"Consider his warning Konrad, as a trusted friend. Mekar has witnessed Everyn the Fifth attack Altheim, if he believes it'll happen again then I trust him."
"Fine whatever. But to tell you the truth, if we can beat back those damned Elves the first time, we can certainly do it again." Konrad boasted as Robert stared at the comet star, praying the Divine God for a miracle.
"These are interesting times, Konrad. I can only hope I'm wrong. For all of us..."
The year has started off with several major powers seeking to improve relations. Although their agendas are hidden to their allies and enemies, it is agreed each faction is willing to go through all means to get what they want. During the past year, a great summer came, allowing crops to thrive and increased the world population. But sickness such as Spring Fever came, harming the commoners the most while nobility secluded themselves in their households. But this is only humble beginnings for Nasroth into a new age.
WORLD EVENTS
New Heldon
- Although their body of land was a safe haven for Angels, out there was a different case riddled with bandits and predators. For that they needed protection starting off with a series of guards for roads and villages. To start this was to recruit half-bloods within the Fortress-Monasteries as they were better suited to being rangers than humans. The program raised up to 45 men, healthy enough for a fight. Once they knew their mission they got to work. Over the days since the program was founded, several rangers were found harassing folk for protection money, baiting people into their manipulation, cheated. Although some rangers tried their best in keeping the peace, the program started off with a lack of discipline and poor effort in the process.
- New Heldon wanted to make sure the populace knew some level of literacy, such as reading and writing. Despite the overall challenge of educating the masses, New Heldon would be in the open fields and hillsides. These lessons could also be hosted by an order. Once Heldon enacted this policy, angels were found on the outskirts of the Fortresses, enticing people basic lessons. The first day allowed several peasants asking questions about how to get white teeth despite no sugar in peasant diet, the alphabet. However the surge did not last long as activity fell, causing teachers to get one or two people each day.
- New Heldon ordered several workers to build wells for the masses and to create volunteer fire brigades. The construction efforts on the wells seemed promising until the labor force suffered material setbacks. The volunteer fire brigade are comprised of peasants with a complete lack of idea what to do in a fire situation as realized during a fire on one of the villages as one brigade took a long time putting out the fire, with the wells built improperly.
- A better system was needed to organize construction within the territory, therefore the government founded the Communal Work Rota. This workforce is to organize the unemployed who wishes to work, getting into a national pool where they are sent to areas that need more manpower. Each worker is promised three meals a day and payment for their service. Although it sounded too good to be true, peasants looking for work got to small construction jobs and maintenance. The end of the day allowed peasants small coinage even though it was little, however they were fed for the duration.
- The state began the efforts to standardize their currency and scales like coinage. The goal was to make New Heldon better not just for angels but for the masses also. Saint Elise’s action was to lower the peasant tax, slightly while raising noble tax to balance tribute. Throughout the year, the tax despite some displeasure caused the masses to live much better than they thought they would, thanking Elise for her generosity. Government spending distributed to other areas such as mage payment as they cured diseases, and peasant working. In addition the Square Market allowed people to purchase essentials than they had now.
Clan Gor’Mok
- The Clan sent a very important mission to establish contact with their species in the land. An orc band without their fellow orcs meant danger. Gromm sent out ten scouts for the mission, bringing them enough food and water for the trip. The group went off to the west, saying goodbye to their friends and loved ones.
...
To the tribe, it felt like months for their scouts to get back. But one day, all six of them arrived with supplies and tools to help out their people. During their exploration they were founded by a tribe named Gandan, another group of orcs who arrived in Kazarok a while ago. One thing's for sure, they were definitely not alone in the world.
- After the group of scouts returned, this opened up a discussion for the Clan to think about train their young ones should an assault occur. Their Shamanism also encouraged this to make sure the young ones would become great orcs after their ancestors. With no surprise, many families agreed to teach their children hunting and animal tracking with good success, bringing food to the piles. .
- The next step was settling down the tribe after realizing they were not alone in the world. With the success of orc families training their children how to hunt, teaching them how to handle themselves in a fight was essential. The training started with orc boys struggling to hold their axes up, missing the mark in the bow. It would take a while before the next fighters would improve significantly.
- Wolf riders rode large wolves in battle, using spears and bows for weapons. The large wolf also known as the Winterwulf came from the north where Clan Gor’Mok used to live in. Several riders were ordered by Gromm to breed more to increase numbers. The few months led to female winterwulfs paired up with male mates. Thankfully orcs took care of mates by feeding them meat, allowing wulfs to give birth to litters as the year ended.
- The final month marked a celebration with the Clan surviving the year. Of course this meant new responsibilities and some order around here. Gromm established a policy that proclaimed everyone is given a share so long as they work. For the most part everyone agreed, with a few bitter opportunists hiding their agendas. Gor’mok built a granary, food gathered slowly.
Rainbow Grotto
- Although their diplomatic offer was a failure, Rainbow Grotto still needed more protection to secure their borders. The solution was simple: Expand the Rainbow Guard and make sure they’re protecting roads and civilians on their patrols. If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it. With costs being a non-issue at the moment, the town sent a call to every body available. Their efforts finally came fruitful as they hired up to 269 locals in the span of the year. Guardsmen performed their job escorting caravans in and out of the realm, getting paid for their services.
- Grotto’s mages are specialized in transmutation, the ability to alter objects at the cost of materials and time. Despite their insufficient resources to build an actual school of magic, that didn’t stop the gnomes from setting up something similar. The school would be called the Academy of Alchemy, the gnomes setting it up in an abandoned shack. Hopeful student came occasionally came by to learn incantations and the concept of formulas. While it wasn’t a major breakthrough in teaching, it was certainly a start for the makeshift school. Magic and teaching takes time, if you rush it, you get someone killed, if you do it right, everything will be alright.
- As Grotto established their makeshift school the only way to top it off was a makeshift library they started constructing. The purpose like any other library was to store encrypted books and let scholars check them out. Since Grotto’s not known for public safety, the staff are expected to watch suspicious members. Of course they were right about suspicion as the construction lit on fire for an unknown reason causing a major setback. Rumors spread over the town, causing some folks to believe it was arson.
- Even though the good ol library construction didn’t work out as planned, Rainbow Grotto needed some form of direction around. They started placing milestones, signs and dirt roads for ease of travel towards the town. Thankfully, nothing really happened during those few weeks, leaving travellers to pass through town thanks to the directions.
- To increase their revenues, the Gnomes built buildings such as breweries, apiaries, and taverns for businessmen to rest up. The special commodities they even advertised was booze, honey, sweet honey, booze honey, nut honey, booze made out of honey. If they could make it, they would make it. Supply and demand made sure the local businesses made a pretty penny out of merchants and travellers in the process.
Northlin
- The first order of business was to make sure who was in charge. Northlin announced the wildlands around their area are to either join or by compulsion. The response was immediately backed by pure outrage because of these demands. However, before anything turned into an utter disaster, Old Kard’s talent allowed him to curb any potential riot into the ground. He’d have to try again and plead his case, otherwise the other goblins won’t play so nice next time.
- Of course they didn’t, as bad luck had found itself. The Northlin’s army was instructed to tame their surrounding lands and bring the greenskins under their Kard’s control. They didn’t like the control part too well as a few goblins found out when greenskins placed their heads on pikes. They tried to take non-greens as slaves but that proved counterproductive when the humans resisted. Northlin attempted to find more manpower for his army but it never came during the search. It’s a good thing Goblins are pretty expendable.
- Kard was a bit obsessive with trolls as he wanted to use blood magic in order to supersize them for his army. Since he had blood shamans and luck had finally eased up, they found out trolls get bigger with age but the problem was they suffered health problems such as poor sight and a slow heart. The blood shamans sacrificed two animals to test out their theory on a troll, seeing if it would change if they accelerated its blood. And believe it or not it worked, with two animals harmed in the making of this theory.
- Northlin goblins are told to organize camps to bring slaves in, meanwhile Kard ordered his men to collect metal for weapons. Northlin gathering slaves was important for goblin society as it gave them power over others and the need to exert dominance as they did finding commoners for their “voluntary” workforces. However a few slaves escaped and the search for metal came up little with goblins carrying a small number of scrap.
- With their recent discovery, this led to another problem as trolls are very gluttonous people. A good society is a well fed society as some Orc clans found out herding human livestock. Northlin started herding as many animals as they could such as cowbaffo and red pigs but the livestock suffered a large shortage, causing some of their trolls to starve and go on frenzies. But eventually the frenzies stopped, leaving some rebuilding to do.
Everynia
- The population of Everynia was dense with farmers and laborers, but the reality is that nearly all of them were peasan-commoners who had no experience ruling before. To upstart security was to build wooden watchtowers five miles away north and south to the dirt road leading to Everyn’s Road. Guarded by a force of ten men at arms, and ten archers this would allow forty horsemen to escort travellers into Everyn’s Road. The construction started with dozens using lumber to build their towers, taking at least a month until they were finished completely with extra help from the newly arrived engineers for the state. The horsemen proceeded doing their jobs, escorting pedestrians to Everyn’s Road.
- Basic literacy was considered rare in a land such as Everynia and some people hoped to fix that. Everynia hired tutors to try to teach reading to the people but the attempt came up short as the tutors persuasion left no potential learners at all. An effort building road signs to help travellers resulted in hooligans vandalizing the property, annoying the people.
- Despite the setback on education, Everynia still had a good start in keeping order around their borders. The state nevertheless wanted to find limestone sources to mass pile resources in case they discovered old inventions such as concrete roads or buildings but as of now, it was still early for them. Scouts and miners tracked sources in shallow water areas, finding adequate amounts for other projects in mind.
- With the success of finding adequate limestone, ambitious entrepreneurs arrived to help out the Everynia in the hopes of opening up new businesses. The government in addition opened up treasury loans to these entrepreneurs. However they must go through an application process by majority rule while being watched by the keepers if they are approved. Several entrepreneurs agree without question at the policy, allowing keepers to watch over them and commit to community service should they fail to pay back the loan.
- Everynia has enacted a 'quid pro quo' policy regarding the College of Middburg. In exchange however, each mage is obligated to train 10 men-at-arms in case of magic attack on their people for each of the arcane schools involved. Although the College of Middburg had no knowledge of the areas in Everynia, they were at least happy enough to teach the people what to look out for. The terms were made, the deal expires in 5 years as Everynia was also obligated to turn any magical contraband to the College.
Korkari Confederacy
- The Korkari Mining industry seeks out another deposit of minerals to create new jobs. The miners were hoping they would find another set of iron and silver and as luck would have it, they did. During a work day, a set of scouting has led to a large deposit of iron and silver ready to be mined. By the end of Apri, a mine was founded in order to extract these resources.
- The general army of the Korkari was organized into militias led by tribe leaders. To increase the quality of the militias, the leader of the Korkari enacted weapon shipments when supplying conscripted peasants and militia. But tragedy struck as these weapon shipments the lords promised lacked quality and eventually frustrated the commoners, citing them to protest for better equipment for defending their homes.
- Being a primary based economy, the land itself lacked sizable towns and lands with only three urban towns. Dontos ordered iron smelteries for the metals their miners found on duty, making sure they were made into refined goods for their stores in their towns. The bad news was the construction went extremely slow even for the Korkari standards.
- The good news has arrived however despite the iron smelteries. Dontos Estley authorized the construction of a new canal that would help transport resources to foothills, to the towns, to the villages, to your mother’s house etc. Ease of mind was the intention. And thankfully they learned from their mistakes as labor managed to start construction on the canal.
- With the threat of orc and goblin invasion looming from the north, the Korkari wanted to secure a trade delegation between Brimnir hoping to establish a defensive pact. Three tribal leaders along with Meric Estley were sent there to meet up with the Dwarves. Of course like any beneficial relationship, someone had to pay up the tribute. Brimnir’s King was clearly interested in a defensive pact however, he needed to be sure the Korkari would pay their end of the deal otherwise the Dwarves are going to left empty handed.
- In addition to negotiating a trade with Brimnir, Dontos has ordered 100 freeriders to march north, divided into 4 equal groups of 25. The command was a scouting purpose to make sure there’s no creatures preparing to invade their land, reporting it back to the mainland if there was. The scouting trip had a slow pace at first but the freerider learned to shrug it off like true Korkari men and get the job done. The 100 freeriders stood by, waiting in case of anyone dared to step in.
Kingdom of Brotinnstao
- An important aspect of mastering the seas is to extend your presence before others can. Brotinnstao’s mission was to make as many friends as possible. If you don’t, you’d sunk. The first mission was to head towards Iguria, lizardmen whose intentions are not known to Numerya. A small expedition traveled there during the year, the Leader of Iguria Sion although skeptical agreed on a trade agreement, offering valuable skins and exotic animals like the rare tuco bird that camouflages around its environment.
- After a successful trade agreement with Igura, the expedition’s mission was not over yet. The continent of Mesados is a diverse place filled with exotic creatures and unknown resources. They proceeded to the north, meeting the people of Cythia. Not knowing what to expect, the expedition encountered boats on fish hunting. On foot, they were greeted by females dressed in armor at least 5’10 tall on average. These women greeted them with skepticism and despite the expedition’s offers on a lucrative trade agreement the Cythian warriors weren’t looking for a trade deal at the moment. The female warriors allowed the expedition to rest and move on in the morning.
- The expedition’s final mission was to head to Borghildr, which immediately earned some concern within the Elven crew. But alas such was the order of the Kingdom, moving up on Borghildr’s shores to make a trade deal despite relations between both races. The expedition at the meeting point assured it was by all means business, not personal as some kingdoms would take it. The King of Borghildr took their words into consideration, harboring no ill will despite history. With that said, the Kingdom wasn’t interested in a trade at the moment. Once more the expedition moved on, returning home.
- The entire Kingdom has passed a law that introduces mandatory sunday school through the Innleystic churches. Elven children are expected to learn how to read and write, including the commoners. The sudden law although noble has caused somewhat of difficulty as kids are learning the skill at a slow pace.
- The state of affairs in Brotinnstao called for their mages to perform services throughout the capital. The first action is the Magus of Dawn helping out the population with simple magic spells such as water purification and healing without overexerting themselves. The Magus’s appentiences also took notes in mind, allowing them to know that purity and selflessness is key. It was said the more you utilize White Magic, the more you feel the need to help out others in contrast using Black Magic for selfish reasons. Such a philosophy the Magus stressed inspired the people on learning responsibility.
- Several officials in the territories made sure to register all forms of properties in the kingdom in order to keep tabs on buildings. A major reason was to sell any vacant property to merchants and manufacturers for production of goods. The Kingdom would hope to sway potential buyers with a discount 1/6th of the original price. The issue in reality was the amount of property officials needed to register over the year
Mallen-Tol
- Mallen-Tol’s interest in foreign policy has only grown with the High Regnant, who wishes to play a hand in foreign affairs. A caravan emissary is sent towards Sigharis, witnessing human subjects going about their daily lives said to pay a blood tax in exchange for better living conditions. While Natalia initially wasn’t interested in dealing with Mallen-Tol, their skill in diplomacy and their negotiation assured her they weren’t a threat to her kingdom. The Dwarves and the Vampires in Sigharis has allowed relations should important things come up but at the moment, there was no further need.
- General reforms are called upon for the Mallen-Tol, starting with a charter to create a city guard at Dain Frostforge’s suggestion. The city guard would be called the Khazermallen, armed with short axes and at least 120 recruited. The 120 are comprised of the middle class with few from peasantry, policed by Duergor's office. The Khazermallen patrol the city with ease, with the occasional crime dealt with.
- To feed more water efficiently, Mallen-Tol has ordered aqueducts for underground fisheries and cisterns. The Dwarves were more than prepared to deal with the workload, sending their brightest engineers for the job and made a plan how they were going to finish it. The Engineers piped drinking water in the squares of the city while the fisheries are maintained by the Husbandry Guild. Over the course of the year the dwarves did a pretty good job at setting their systems without any problems. A bit too well when the fishermen grew enough members to apply for their own guild, taking some of the slice.
- Mallen-Tol in the wake of reforms adopts a new coinage currency for the kingdom, in the shape of squares with rounded corners. 1 gold Tollian = 2 Butollian = 20 silver Silfurs = 40 Semsilfurs = 100 bronze Buffgravels = 400 copper Buffgrains. The currency was immediately used during the year, allowing citizens to recognize these coins and use them.
- Because of economic purpose any Dwarven citizen who wishes to do commerce or trade without a Council of Guilds charter is forbidden to leave the Kingdom. This was met with harsh criticism from the vocal dwarves who’d prefer the economic freedom than some caravan system for a very specific reason. These trade armies called Khazerthruns are supposed to be armed for a good cause but those vocal dwarves weren’t having it and since when did dwarves ever not put up an argument before?
- Despite the vocal criticism, the Council of Guilds weren’t backing down on their decision as they created an open charter for people to sign on to Middburg. The High Regnant’s special request was to find any historical artifacts of magical origin. The Khazerthrun made their long trip towards Middburg probably because they heard they had a magical college in the city so go figure. Now, historical artifacts of magical origin don’t grow on trees, usually back then they were crafted by craftsmen and mages for a specific reason like enchanting a weapon for example. Now what they would call this enchanting object was a rune stone, a magical object that can make an object very durable and provide spiritual energy for the wielder. What kind of energy? I don’t fucking know. All I’m aware about is that they’re very expensive and rare to find nowadays. But nonetheless the Khazerthrun paid very good currency to get their hands on the thing.
Kazirian Legion
- In order to hone their skills for upcoming contracts, Kazirian mercs are ordered to go through training exercises. But disaster strikes as a strange flu has caused many men and women to go ill during the year, delaying their training. Some merchants from their home villages wandered in the stronghold, having experience in this before. They called it ‘Spring Fever’ a sickness that comes home to home and causing mysterious illness, leaving some to die if not taken care of. Fortunately as the year ended, the Fever disappeared leaving no casualties on the Legion’s end. However, because of the sickness, no training improved any skill.
- But the Legion’s struggles weren’t over as during their progress a scouting party was ordered to explore the south-eastern river and to secure the area. But before the Fifteen had any reports sent through their messengers, the entire scouting party disappeared off the radar. Despite rescue efforts to find out what happened, the scouting party of three was never seen again.
- To increase the quality of troops Kazirians were asked to read and write. Now, passing information down through word of mouth? That’s easy because it’s called murmuring . Reading and writing? Not so much when you’re in a band of sellswords. And unfortunately they hit a stump on their journey to literacy when the sellswords complained about the usefulness on the topic. And even if some mercs agreed to it, the learning process caused them to struggle, not to mention there was more work to be done than writing the alphabet.
- On the other hand, map navigation? That’s useful. The company attempted to teach new recruits navigation including military tactics like their siege specialty to train their army. But new recruits in any military take time as the veterans would witness again as the recruits are too stubborn to learn anything nowadays.
- With the newly arrived engineers here to help the company, they are ordered to find out if a water mill was possible. But thankfully enough it was geographically possible to plan a water mill there close. Their efforts have led to an early construction plan should they ever build one.
- Because the Legionnaires have families within the stronghold, the idea of insuring some form of payment to family members wasn’t a bad idea. The proposal is that a dead merc’s relative was to receive compensation in small coin from the treasury and soon enough everyone agreed despite several who disagreed.
Republic of Acrad
- During the year, the republic set their eyes towards the Kingdom of Brotinnstao. They approved a diplomatic mission to meet up with the Kingdom and to propose a non-aggression pact dubbed the Acradian-Elven Sea Pact. The aim was to secure the trade in the western seas and conducting anti-piracy raids and patrols in order to bolster both nations prosperity and sea territory. The proposal is open for negotiation from the elven parts, should they wish to slightly modify any terms or objectives, within acceptable conditions and in the spirit of good will.
- In a devious yet complex plan the High General and the High Councilor have devised a way to upset the unclaimed region between Acrad and Borghildr. The covert mission was simple, disrupt the villages way of life by disguising themselves as Borghilder people. The disguised men lit up the forestry, leaving a wake of panicking villagers and raided mines in the process. The false flag mission was a work of brilliance and success with a little bit of luck on their side. The villagers grew uncivil and wanted retribution on the Borghildr people, citing them as barbarians.
- In a power move, the magistrates have passed a law that would dwell into the research of ancient elven relics from the ruins of Az'Karel. Because of passing this law, the Church of His Holyness was outraged such a forbidden thing is now allowed. Because of this act has caused the Church to rally under the religious people armed with torches, protesting due to the study of this heresy. The protests stay during the year, pouring over to the next as it grows more uncivil and restless.
- To oversee their operations over the trade route and to patrol their shores, the Admirality has ordered ships to establish outposts in the nearby isles. Two convoys as a start made sure to explore the nearest islands in the sea channel, setting up small buildings as their HQ.
- During the year Acrad had passed the "Citizenship Construction Act" ratified by the High Councilor. The act’s purpose is to prevent strain on the economy and to forbid slaves as a workforce in construction. This means patrons and companies are forced to use paid labor of citizens to work on any construction project in Acrad. Although the act hoped to build jobs for civilians, the action itself caused a large amount of criticism from the wealthy, leading them to either not obey with the act or pay laborers less than expected to save money.
The Principality of Cephalonia
- Calling upon allies was a difficult challenge as not everyone expects to bow to an Emperor, such was the case of the diplomatic mission to Borghildr. The envoys of the Emperor was sent to the kingdom itself to discuss an offer towards the Borghildr if they can recruit men-at-arms for the Emperor's Skallargian Guard. The King of Borghildr heard every word and even though they were clearly good at diplomacy, a King does not bow to an Emperor. With no choice the envoys was sent away, then later an individual by the name of Juran Blackmont came towards them. He claimed to be the leader of the Brotherhood of Vultures and would swear service and his men should the Cephalonia promise them riches in return. Eventually, the Brotherhood of Vultures participated in the deal.
- The Emperor’s army was ordered to construct a long dirt road hugging the river Vesuvio to the hinterlands of Cephalonia to the capital. The propose is to ensure safe travel and easy directions for the peasantry. Although there was an initial setback regarding construction, the newly arrived engineers solved the problem helming the project. The work schedule resumes as laborers and the engineers build the road.
- Despite their lack of knowledge of a fully realized school, that didn’t stop construction from happening. Next to the grand cathedral of Aragos is where the makeshift school will be made for students who wish to learn. The Engineers get a headstart, working on the constructions with all the materials they had on site.
- To collect tariffs more efficiently, Cephalonia is setting up toll booths combined with inventory checks in the road networks. This will also forbid illegal sales within major centers of trade and soon enough, the moment these wooden booths were established the rules were enforced. The move caused an influx of merchants heading to trade center conducting business as people went along their day while the toll booths worked perfectly.
- Meanwhile the Emperor has ordered the construction of three outer walls: The Andronikos' wall, the second housing battlements and a third enclosing the moat for attackers. Like their makeshift school, the Engineers got to work on these walls, allowing for a slow but steady pace as they suffered no issues during the year.
- A tax on imported luxury goods such as silk and ivory is set for the Empire. The intention was to bring in large revenues but leaving to affect the wealthy who buys these goods. This leaves a sour mood among the nobility as the increase in price causes several to resort through illegal means.
Mertidol
- Looking towards to the outside world, eventually they all knew they needed to cooperate with their fellow sprightes. The government reached out to the minority groups to reconfirm Octopon's authority over the island. But the other groups weren’t so interested in the whole cooperation thing. The groups eventually went to their daily routines, dismissing Mertidol’s cooperation offer.
- The Paere after the failure of reuniting their other groups sought out another way. During their time thinking about whatever Paere do, they remembered the Horte had a knack of taming wildlife that can take them beyond the isles and into the near continent. They send out scouts to find where the coastal clan might be, asking around and looking at trails. Eventually they made a breakthrough when one of the locals talked about a bunch of Horte nearby.
- Worrying about their safety the government needed to make sure things don’t go down flames as I would say. Therefore they passed a motion to raise more warriors for Mertidol and so they did. The majority of Mertidol agreed their force reached a new low record, encouraging their fellow Paere to protect their people. Their efforts weren’t in vain as they quickly raised up to 100 Paere warriors in the process.
- Mertidol people consider mythology and philosophy very important nowadays and when you start to think about it, mythos and social constructs don’t spawn out of nowhere. It all comes down to history as a Human scholar would scribe it like. When we ask a lot of questions about why is it so? It’s because people tend to fill in the blanks with their own theories. Did some foolish jester accidently create the Divine God because someone asked why was the sky blue? Well, the Paere wanted to further education because they relied on memories to do the work for them, but motivation demanded change! The government encouraged education for the youth, leaving a few inspired students to found an early archive of some sorts.
- With the introduction of education came the interest in magic. The Paere looked at magic at a basic view and to be fair that’s usually the common thought in Kazarok itself. Sometimes a commoner asks me how can I, a poor jester barely able to afford a cup of ale create fire at my own fingertips? Well the simple answer is through training and learning. And that’s the first step Mertidol was going to figure out as a few air mages learned. The air mages quickly came on to the fact by utilizing the air, they weren’t creating air themselves, but they were harnessing their surroundings to use the air. Winds allow air to move, and the stronger the wind, the more an air user has an advantage.
- Meridol had to admit their roads and infrastructure had seen better days as time went by. Time is undefeatable unfortunately but the Faere began to investigate if reconstruction efforts was possible. While it was certainly doable, the damage within the paths and roads left it extremely damaged, taking large amounts of the Paere’s time if they wanted to repair it or even start all over from scratch.
Riflheim
- The first thing Riflheim did to help out their own is to extend a hand to their own. Consider Hildemar an ally most states would die for having a friend. A diplomat of Riflheim traveled miles to the kingdom, pleading his case why a trade was so important in the long run of things. Threat of invasion, former province of Adelram, maintaining army? Checks out for Hildemar as they agreed to let them set up an embassy for economical purposes.
- There’s a lot of up and coming states building schools and universities, institutions. But you need a large number of people to care if it’ll even benefit their petty self interests. Riflheim attempted to establish a college of learning starting with an air mage and a fire mage. Sounds easy right? Wrong. It all started with their bright engineers attempted to figure out what would they need in this college. The cost itself to this was expensive to the point people were wondering if this project will start. Eventually the construction got off but extremely slow despite the engineer efforts. But in due time, as they made a break as the year ended.
- Speaking of extremely slow, Riflheim wanted to rebuild their broken water systems throughout their city of the century. They started work on the aqueducts and the plumbing but during there was a lack of progress going around with construction. Workers feel demotivated at the lack of organization and dying commoners wandering. It left a foul taste among the engineers as much as they tried, lifting the workload by a small margin.
- With the need for organization and order, Riflheim ordered their bureaucracy to expand. The first expansion was the tax collection bureau to record tribute/tax within the city. Unlike the construction jobs, the expansion went smoothly allowing Riflheim to make sure its citizens were paying their taxes. Their next focus was to look at local businesses.
- To provide an incentive for farmers to increase crop yields, the state was allowing very low-interest loans but the idea worried commoners. But nonetheless some farmers applied, but the returns in investment wasn’t what Riflheim was expecting. Crop yields themselves weren’t rising and so far no one knew what where was the currency going towards? And then it turns out the farmers were spending it on tits and wine than their farms. To be honest, who wouldn’t?
- In what seemed to be a very rough year for the state. A hope spot had arrived in the form of material goods the miners extracted in the old empire mines. These workers hit the major jackpot as they found a large deposit of silver and coal which can easily be sold in the markets.
Courgeaux
- Courgeaux is considered what some of the locals there call cousins to the Bastien Kingdom. Being diplomats at heart and with a little silver of luck, the King managed to sway his firstborn daughter Solange d'Lavigne to the court of King Loren himself. Though this wasn’t courtly love of the sort but rather courtly partnership. A lord arranges a political marriage, gives a daughter to a charming prince. Forges a pretty good marriage pact between the lordships.
- As I said before, Courgeaux had the unfortunate responsibility of dealing with elves at first hand. The Wood Elves while not malicious in nature, have a long track record of thievery and harassment. The Kingdom recognized these problems and had an idea that would act as a win-win scenario for both. The same protection you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours thing everyone uses. They’re also called favors. The Kingdom sent their glorious knights riding their horses to project the idea they’re here to help out the people for the people. And soon enough they accepted because it was better than to get help than get attacked. Now, when it comes to peasantry and your life is dictated by the dangers of rapists, thieves, monsters all you gotta do is swear fealty to your new best friend, the King of the Kingdom! Now a King isn’t so bad, all they ask in return is to send lots of food, go to war and get killed, completely oblivious to your daily needs, and quarter troops in your home while being at the bottom of society. Ain’t life completely fucked up?
- The lords of Courgeaux are given sanctions now that the frontiers were open for business. This led to many colonizations efforts become officially part of the kingdom itself. The effort went as smooth as butter, with no issues at hand.
- In the process, this allowed for new knights and reinforcement of their properties now that the frontiers became an occurrence in the year. These knights gathered as much men-at-arms as possible but the result was less fruitful than they hoped.
- Meanwhile, King Silvain allowed the master of coin to direct trade families to do what they did best, commit business in parts of the city while competing with Bastien to see which one was going to last. While the trade contracts were increasing, this still wasn’t enough to drive Bastia off the trading game.
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The Unknown Place
The hooded figure walked towards Laughing Jack, observing him juggle flaming oranges in the air. But once his attention turned to the hooded individual his act failed, dropping the oranges on the floor. Jack sighed, shrugging it off before he greeted her.
“Ah. Hello again, back for more I suppose? Now that we got through the basics of magic, it’s time we start learning about the real politics of Kazarok. Let’s start off with what everyone knows by now, the Adelram Empire. Now I know what you’re thinking, you know all about this stuff. But what if someone quizzes you on who founded the Empire in the first place? If you’re going to imitate your role model, start listening.” Jack pointed out, sitting on a wooden chair adjusting his posture to play the lute.
“Now let’s hear what this sounds like.”
As you know by now before the Empire, were petty kingdoms and tribes who fought over for land and gold in the center of Kazarok. To the north was a sprawling Orc/Goblin invasion that completely infested the area, pitting slave trades and human sacrifices. The number one greatest danger to a society is not knowing what’s hurting the society, when humans fight each other you think hordes give a damn? I don’t think so.
Fortunately, that all changed when a man named Everyn Melgaeron took matters into his own hands. Everyn used to rule in the west region of Kazarok alongside his sister-wife Velena Melgaeron. When the series of orc invasions threatened Human and Dwarven society, someone had to step in.
The Melgaerons forged an alliance between the Humans and the Dwarven Kingdoms, putting a stop to the invasions and repelled them all. The military achievements they’ve made such as Everyn’s Road took them ten winters. The commoners called him Everyn the Hero, Everyn the Uniter. He then founded the Adelram Empire within the center of Kazarok, he called the capital Kazmura. Ever since its foundation, the city thrived with tourism and experienced a population boom. Many civilians considered it to be one of the greatest cities in all of Nasroth, making Elven kingdoms envy the craftsmanship.
Now children ask all the time what was living in the Empire like that was so different from other kingdoms? Well clean water for starters, their religion believed everyone was loved by the Divine God and if they recited his teachings, they will be saved for eternity. The Empire had this magical steel they would use for weapons on the battlefield secretly crafted. And get this, gender was no object. How? Well magic and Melgaeron tradition with a little convincing on priests make good equalizers.
His sister Velena established the Knights of the Divine, she was more used to warfare than ladyship if you hadn’t noticed by now. The impact the Knights had on the continent inspired knighthood to rise among independent kingdoms who worshipped the Divine God. Orders like these were prestigious enough this was seen as a commoner's only way to fame and glory. How granting knighthood worked was any knight or royal could bestow the title Ser upon a squire. Thankfully, there are few accounts of the playful knight granting knighthood upon a drunken peasant or his own horse.
Everyn The Hero committed his duty as Emperor of the Empire to make sure he satisfied the lords of the realms. Unfortunately, all good things come to an end as the heroic Uniter held court on a dull day, pushing 52. After a tiring evening Everyn spent time with his son who would later become Tristian the Holy. They played in the gardens but something was wrong. Everyn clenched his chest, feeling his heart stopping for a moment. The Emperor collapsed as the Empire burned him through Melgaeron tradition.
Tristian Melgaeron became Emperor shortly after his father’s passing, crowned by the High Ecclesial of the Grand Temple. Now keep in mind these two will become very best friends over their careers, uplifting the religion significantly to the point any Kazarok kingdom can recognize it by the Comet Star. Tristian the Holy became holy because he realized the commoners needed guidance and to explain why the natural order of the world is what it is, because God wills it. And when God wills it people obey, because he said so.
The Grand Temple kept heresies and heretics in check through holy orders such as the White Wardens. These wardens clad in plate armor were to stomp out people saying the wrong things at the wrong time. People who had different gods were lucky the White Wardens took mercy on them as the Empire under Tristian enacted tolerance. Critics of Tristian can preach all they want, but the guy wasn’t stupid enough to refuse a tolerance tax when he saw one. This helped the Adelram in the long run when they were maintaining a standing army to show everyone who's boss. They sure showed the Orcs and Goblins huh?
…
“The Adelram Empire was truly the beacon of civilization and there are various things we can talk about its full history. How Naerys became the first Empress after a devastating civil war, how the Stormstrums took over after Everyn The Terrible. But for today, let’s end this lesson and remember the peak of Humanity. Farewell...” Laughing Jack ended the lesson, as the hooded individual walked away.
TURN END
SEND IN AS TURN 2, The due date is June, 24 2019. Grace Period is 25-27th
“Hail before His Majesty! Konrad of House Volkhelm, Lord of Adelford! King of Hildemar, Guardian of the Hildians!”
The court began with several peasants seeking an audience with the King, requesting aid in times of their situations in their villages. Meanwhile Robert folded his arms, trying to get a good look at him. Nothing to go off of other than the gossip he heard in the streets: brown greying hair, a simple gold circlet.
“Bless your heart your Majesty! My family and others will never forget your kindness!” A peasant shurried out of the court. Robert stepped forward, the symbol of the Divine Star above the throne. He could have sworn King Konrad raise an eye for a second, until he noticed Robert bow.
“Your Majesty, you may know me as Captain of the Saboteur. I come here to bring a relic from the continent of Numerya. I believe it tells of a terrible omen that could threaten Hildemar and others..” Robert explained before he was cut off by a thin looking man dressed in black robes.
“From Numerya? My King, he speaks blasphemy, no sane Human would travel to the Elves. Only a man seeking treasury and ruins. To speak nonsense such as this is an outright insult to this throne.” He interjected, standing beside King Konrad as people began to murmur within the crowd, questioning if a sailor was playing a game. Konrad slowly raised a hand, silencing the man. Konrad’s eyes stared.
“Continue.”
Robert carefully pulled out a relic befitting a dark omen, made out of dense bone. The object resembled a horn of some sort as Sir Frederick, Marshal of the Palace retrieved the item for Konrad. He explained the anomaly, “Dense dark bone in the isles of the continent, seasoned sailors would know this relic is not to be trifled with.” The Captain narrowed his eyes as several of the audience continued to spread doubt until the next words from his mouth.
“Several hunters and I fully believe this to be a dragon horn.”
Utter silence.
The talk of a dragon horn in this place, which would mean something horrifying if this was true. If so, this was a horrible omen. The King leaned forward, hearing his Chancellor whisper to his ear. The Chancellor marched back, observing the court as the King sighed. “Court will be adjourned for the moment.” The people were surprised the court took a sudden break, but nevertheless the commoners gossiped while they waited. Meanwhile the King headed to the back while Robert made sure to see him now that he had the chance.
…
Robert and Konrad walked over, staring at one another before they gave a lighthearted chuckle. Both hugged each other, good to know they weren't dead yet. Robert stared at Konrad, despite the weight gain he was still in good shape. Konrad waved off the guards to make leave, walking off while they needed to talk privately.
"Never thought I would meet Robert Lother, foolharden sailor again. How many years has it been?" The King asked, laughing.
"You flatter me your Majesty. It's been too long. But I'm here for a good reason as I explained during court." Robert stated while the King sighed.
"Yes yes I'm aware, you've made your argument in front of all these subjects. But a dragon horn? That would imply a dragon rider across Numerya, god be damned." Konrad exclaimed as he held his hands together, staring at the large Comet Star illustrated within the glass decor.
"It's not madness as you think. But we can't be too careful. A month ago I've discussed matters with Mekar, he says it's true. A great war that will spark between the Elves and Humans again." Robert explained while Konrad looked dumbfounded he referred to a familiar figure. Konrad scoffed, "Mekar and his isolated folk? Dragons have left Kazarok for centuries now, what reason should we believe they could possibly return? The folk within Hildemar be better off hearing goblins invade Hildemar for all we know."
"Consider his warning Konrad, as a trusted friend. Mekar has witnessed Everyn the Fifth attack Altheim, if he believes it'll happen again then I trust him."
"Fine whatever. But to tell you the truth, if we can beat back those damned Elves the first time, we can certainly do it again." Konrad boasted as Robert stared at the comet star, praying the Divine God for a miracle.
"These are interesting times, Konrad. I can only hope I'm wrong. For all of us..."
The year has started off with several major powers seeking to improve relations. Although their agendas are hidden to their allies and enemies, it is agreed each faction is willing to go through all means to get what they want. During the past year, a great summer came, allowing crops to thrive and increased the world population. But sickness such as Spring Fever came, harming the commoners the most while nobility secluded themselves in their households. But this is only humble beginnings for Nasroth into a new age.
WORLD EVENTS
New Heldon
- During the first course of action on their vision. Saint Elise ordered the government a call for ambassadors and several escorts to neighboring societies. Her primary intention was to ensure this would benefit New Heldon, allowing a stream of goods if successful. However, they needed to make sure traveling was safe considering several factions’ distances. Once scouts had a rough direction where to go, an ambassador was sent out to the closest, being the Kazirian Legion and Rainbow Grotto. Relations were dealt during those nations, later on New Heldon met up with Sigharis including Kislok to set up a mutual economic relationship. Eventually Natalia and the Grand Duchess of Kislok acknowledged their intentions, agreeing. Unfortunately the ambassador caravan for Heisen didn’t reach their destination due to setbacks, heading back to New Heldon.During the Celebration of the New Year, the leader among the Undying Rose discussed the affairs of the state and while it was generally agreed their parents fulfilled the foundations needed for a new home after the Age of Despair, it wasn’t New Heldon. Not yet at least, which sparked an ambitious goal of achieving a long lasting haven for angels and their subjects. But first, they needed to extend their relations outwards. Fortunately they have already started with the Kazirians.
- Although their body of land was a safe haven for Angels, out there was a different case riddled with bandits and predators. For that they needed protection starting off with a series of guards for roads and villages. To start this was to recruit half-bloods within the Fortress-Monasteries as they were better suited to being rangers than humans. The program raised up to 45 men, healthy enough for a fight. Once they knew their mission they got to work. Over the days since the program was founded, several rangers were found harassing folk for protection money, baiting people into their manipulation, cheated. Although some rangers tried their best in keeping the peace, the program started off with a lack of discipline and poor effort in the process.
- New Heldon wanted to make sure the populace knew some level of literacy, such as reading and writing. Despite the overall challenge of educating the masses, New Heldon would be in the open fields and hillsides. These lessons could also be hosted by an order. Once Heldon enacted this policy, angels were found on the outskirts of the Fortresses, enticing people basic lessons. The first day allowed several peasants asking questions about how to get white teeth despite no sugar in peasant diet, the alphabet. However the surge did not last long as activity fell, causing teachers to get one or two people each day.
- New Heldon ordered several workers to build wells for the masses and to create volunteer fire brigades. The construction efforts on the wells seemed promising until the labor force suffered material setbacks. The volunteer fire brigade are comprised of peasants with a complete lack of idea what to do in a fire situation as realized during a fire on one of the villages as one brigade took a long time putting out the fire, with the wells built improperly.
- A better system was needed to organize construction within the territory, therefore the government founded the Communal Work Rota. This workforce is to organize the unemployed who wishes to work, getting into a national pool where they are sent to areas that need more manpower. Each worker is promised three meals a day and payment for their service. Although it sounded too good to be true, peasants looking for work got to small construction jobs and maintenance. The end of the day allowed peasants small coinage even though it was little, however they were fed for the duration.
- The state began the efforts to standardize their currency and scales like coinage. The goal was to make New Heldon better not just for angels but for the masses also. Saint Elise’s action was to lower the peasant tax, slightly while raising noble tax to balance tribute. Throughout the year, the tax despite some displeasure caused the masses to live much better than they thought they would, thanking Elise for her generosity. Government spending distributed to other areas such as mage payment as they cured diseases, and peasant working. In addition the Square Market allowed people to purchase essentials than they had now.
Clan Gor’Mok
After years of wandering for a new home, an Orc Tribe of over five thousand have finally made landfall. The Tribe consisted of mostly red Orcs, greens, and blacks. Goblins assisted scavenging and scouting when the Chieftain ordered. There was also the occasional troll, one foot larger than the average Orc. A year later and the entire tribe settled in, hunting wildlife to sustain themselves at the time.
- The Clan sent a very important mission to establish contact with their species in the land. An orc band without their fellow orcs meant danger. Gromm sent out ten scouts for the mission, bringing them enough food and water for the trip. The group went off to the west, saying goodbye to their friends and loved ones.
...
To the tribe, it felt like months for their scouts to get back. But one day, all six of them arrived with supplies and tools to help out their people. During their exploration they were founded by a tribe named Gandan, another group of orcs who arrived in Kazarok a while ago. One thing's for sure, they were definitely not alone in the world.
- After the group of scouts returned, this opened up a discussion for the Clan to think about train their young ones should an assault occur. Their Shamanism also encouraged this to make sure the young ones would become great orcs after their ancestors. With no surprise, many families agreed to teach their children hunting and animal tracking with good success, bringing food to the piles. .
- The next step was settling down the tribe after realizing they were not alone in the world. With the success of orc families training their children how to hunt, teaching them how to handle themselves in a fight was essential. The training started with orc boys struggling to hold their axes up, missing the mark in the bow. It would take a while before the next fighters would improve significantly.
- Wolf riders rode large wolves in battle, using spears and bows for weapons. The large wolf also known as the Winterwulf came from the north where Clan Gor’Mok used to live in. Several riders were ordered by Gromm to breed more to increase numbers. The few months led to female winterwulfs paired up with male mates. Thankfully orcs took care of mates by feeding them meat, allowing wulfs to give birth to litters as the year ended.
- The final month marked a celebration with the Clan surviving the year. Of course this meant new responsibilities and some order around here. Gromm established a policy that proclaimed everyone is given a share so long as they work. For the most part everyone agreed, with a few bitter opportunists hiding their agendas. Gor’mok built a granary, food gathered slowly.
Rainbow Grotto
- Rainbow Grotto sent out impromptu diplomats to neighboring villages and towns outside of their territory. The goal was to establish a confederation of sorts to protect each other in times of need from invasion. Grotto offered protection through the thieves guild and the Rainbow Guard as an incentive, but the entire offer was met with total skepticism if not outright disdain from the villagers. The offer later faded as if the topic never happened again.The town of Rainbow Grotto was developing at an agreeable pace, causing more humans to enter than the average gnome migrant. However gnomes are not known for their militaristic and serious nature. The town hoped to make some major improvements before the state itself collapsed on its own weight hotboxing. After all, recreative drugs aren’t known for keeping people safe.
- Although their diplomatic offer was a failure, Rainbow Grotto still needed more protection to secure their borders. The solution was simple: Expand the Rainbow Guard and make sure they’re protecting roads and civilians on their patrols. If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it. With costs being a non-issue at the moment, the town sent a call to every body available. Their efforts finally came fruitful as they hired up to 269 locals in the span of the year. Guardsmen performed their job escorting caravans in and out of the realm, getting paid for their services.
- Grotto’s mages are specialized in transmutation, the ability to alter objects at the cost of materials and time. Despite their insufficient resources to build an actual school of magic, that didn’t stop the gnomes from setting up something similar. The school would be called the Academy of Alchemy, the gnomes setting it up in an abandoned shack. Hopeful student came occasionally came by to learn incantations and the concept of formulas. While it wasn’t a major breakthrough in teaching, it was certainly a start for the makeshift school. Magic and teaching takes time, if you rush it, you get someone killed, if you do it right, everything will be alright.
- As Grotto established their makeshift school the only way to top it off was a makeshift library they started constructing. The purpose like any other library was to store encrypted books and let scholars check them out. Since Grotto’s not known for public safety, the staff are expected to watch suspicious members. Of course they were right about suspicion as the construction lit on fire for an unknown reason causing a major setback. Rumors spread over the town, causing some folks to believe it was arson.
- Even though the good ol library construction didn’t work out as planned, Rainbow Grotto needed some form of direction around. They started placing milestones, signs and dirt roads for ease of travel towards the town. Thankfully, nothing really happened during those few weeks, leaving travellers to pass through town thanks to the directions.
- To increase their revenues, the Gnomes built buildings such as breweries, apiaries, and taverns for businessmen to rest up. The special commodities they even advertised was booze, honey, sweet honey, booze honey, nut honey, booze made out of honey. If they could make it, they would make it. Supply and demand made sure the local businesses made a pretty penny out of merchants and travellers in the process.
Northlin
Northlin needed to make sure they reinforced their military before any other goblins had a wise idea to tack on Kard of Old. Goblins despite their flaws, usually stick together because they had to. If they didn’t, their society will collapse under their own weight. Yet Northlin had a plan to avoid this from happening as Kard planned his actions.
- The first order of business was to make sure who was in charge. Northlin announced the wildlands around their area are to either join or by compulsion. The response was immediately backed by pure outrage because of these demands. However, before anything turned into an utter disaster, Old Kard’s talent allowed him to curb any potential riot into the ground. He’d have to try again and plead his case, otherwise the other goblins won’t play so nice next time.
- Of course they didn’t, as bad luck had found itself. The Northlin’s army was instructed to tame their surrounding lands and bring the greenskins under their Kard’s control. They didn’t like the control part too well as a few goblins found out when greenskins placed their heads on pikes. They tried to take non-greens as slaves but that proved counterproductive when the humans resisted. Northlin attempted to find more manpower for his army but it never came during the search. It’s a good thing Goblins are pretty expendable.
- Kard was a bit obsessive with trolls as he wanted to use blood magic in order to supersize them for his army. Since he had blood shamans and luck had finally eased up, they found out trolls get bigger with age but the problem was they suffered health problems such as poor sight and a slow heart. The blood shamans sacrificed two animals to test out their theory on a troll, seeing if it would change if they accelerated its blood. And believe it or not it worked, with two animals harmed in the making of this theory.
- Northlin goblins are told to organize camps to bring slaves in, meanwhile Kard ordered his men to collect metal for weapons. Northlin gathering slaves was important for goblin society as it gave them power over others and the need to exert dominance as they did finding commoners for their “voluntary” workforces. However a few slaves escaped and the search for metal came up little with goblins carrying a small number of scrap.
- With their recent discovery, this led to another problem as trolls are very gluttonous people. A good society is a well fed society as some Orc clans found out herding human livestock. Northlin started herding as many animals as they could such as cowbaffo and red pigs but the livestock suffered a large shortage, causing some of their trolls to starve and go on frenzies. But eventually the frenzies stopped, leaving some rebuilding to do.
Everynia
The state of Everynia was presumably named after Everyn The Hero, a Melgaeron who united the petty kingdoms and created the Adelram Empire. This faction is led by the free people who swear fealty to neither king nor nobility. The state was therefore a direct democracy.
- The population of Everynia was dense with farmers and laborers, but the reality is that nearly all of them were peasan-commoners who had no experience ruling before. To upstart security was to build wooden watchtowers five miles away north and south to the dirt road leading to Everyn’s Road. Guarded by a force of ten men at arms, and ten archers this would allow forty horsemen to escort travellers into Everyn’s Road. The construction started with dozens using lumber to build their towers, taking at least a month until they were finished completely with extra help from the newly arrived engineers for the state. The horsemen proceeded doing their jobs, escorting pedestrians to Everyn’s Road.
- Basic literacy was considered rare in a land such as Everynia and some people hoped to fix that. Everynia hired tutors to try to teach reading to the people but the attempt came up short as the tutors persuasion left no potential learners at all. An effort building road signs to help travellers resulted in hooligans vandalizing the property, annoying the people.
- Despite the setback on education, Everynia still had a good start in keeping order around their borders. The state nevertheless wanted to find limestone sources to mass pile resources in case they discovered old inventions such as concrete roads or buildings but as of now, it was still early for them. Scouts and miners tracked sources in shallow water areas, finding adequate amounts for other projects in mind.
- With the success of finding adequate limestone, ambitious entrepreneurs arrived to help out the Everynia in the hopes of opening up new businesses. The government in addition opened up treasury loans to these entrepreneurs. However they must go through an application process by majority rule while being watched by the keepers if they are approved. Several entrepreneurs agree without question at the policy, allowing keepers to watch over them and commit to community service should they fail to pay back the loan.
- Everynia has enacted a 'quid pro quo' policy regarding the College of Middburg. In exchange however, each mage is obligated to train 10 men-at-arms in case of magic attack on their people for each of the arcane schools involved. Although the College of Middburg had no knowledge of the areas in Everynia, they were at least happy enough to teach the people what to look out for. The terms were made, the deal expires in 5 years as Everynia was also obligated to turn any magical contraband to the College.
Korkari Confederacy
The Korkari are tribes ruled by the High Lordship of Dontos Estley. As history has told the Korkari’s origins were separate tribes before the Empire was formed by Everyn Melgaeron. In reality you might as well call them the first line of defense against the horrors that invade Human territory. They’re similar to the Borghildr as they’re a hardened people that serves to protect their homes because they have to. Empire, horde, invasion. That never stopped from a man going out on his own terms before.
- The Korkari Mining industry seeks out another deposit of minerals to create new jobs. The miners were hoping they would find another set of iron and silver and as luck would have it, they did. During a work day, a set of scouting has led to a large deposit of iron and silver ready to be mined. By the end of Apri, a mine was founded in order to extract these resources.
- The general army of the Korkari was organized into militias led by tribe leaders. To increase the quality of the militias, the leader of the Korkari enacted weapon shipments when supplying conscripted peasants and militia. But tragedy struck as these weapon shipments the lords promised lacked quality and eventually frustrated the commoners, citing them to protest for better equipment for defending their homes.
- Being a primary based economy, the land itself lacked sizable towns and lands with only three urban towns. Dontos ordered iron smelteries for the metals their miners found on duty, making sure they were made into refined goods for their stores in their towns. The bad news was the construction went extremely slow even for the Korkari standards.
- The good news has arrived however despite the iron smelteries. Dontos Estley authorized the construction of a new canal that would help transport resources to foothills, to the towns, to the villages, to your mother’s house etc. Ease of mind was the intention. And thankfully they learned from their mistakes as labor managed to start construction on the canal.
- With the threat of orc and goblin invasion looming from the north, the Korkari wanted to secure a trade delegation between Brimnir hoping to establish a defensive pact. Three tribal leaders along with Meric Estley were sent there to meet up with the Dwarves. Of course like any beneficial relationship, someone had to pay up the tribute. Brimnir’s King was clearly interested in a defensive pact however, he needed to be sure the Korkari would pay their end of the deal otherwise the Dwarves are going to left empty handed.
- In addition to negotiating a trade with Brimnir, Dontos has ordered 100 freeriders to march north, divided into 4 equal groups of 25. The command was a scouting purpose to make sure there’s no creatures preparing to invade their land, reporting it back to the mainland if there was. The scouting trip had a slow pace at first but the freerider learned to shrug it off like true Korkari men and get the job done. The 100 freeriders stood by, waiting in case of anyone dared to step in.
Kingdom of Brotinnstao
The Kingdom of Brotinnstao was a sea power, protected by its navy along with elite trained soldiers in the isles. Although the Elven Kingdoms have seen better days since Emperor Everyn V’s invasion, the Elves have survived, surely to regain their losses. Brotinnstao like other Elves are more advanced than human civilizations, enjoying the luxuries such as paper and better equipment. But I’ve witnessed Elves before and there’s nothing more telling than the fact they love to boast about their achievements. These interesting times will truly tell if Brotinnstao will stand the test of time, so I shall see.
- An important aspect of mastering the seas is to extend your presence before others can. Brotinnstao’s mission was to make as many friends as possible. If you don’t, you’d sunk. The first mission was to head towards Iguria, lizardmen whose intentions are not known to Numerya. A small expedition traveled there during the year, the Leader of Iguria Sion although skeptical agreed on a trade agreement, offering valuable skins and exotic animals like the rare tuco bird that camouflages around its environment.
- After a successful trade agreement with Igura, the expedition’s mission was not over yet. The continent of Mesados is a diverse place filled with exotic creatures and unknown resources. They proceeded to the north, meeting the people of Cythia. Not knowing what to expect, the expedition encountered boats on fish hunting. On foot, they were greeted by females dressed in armor at least 5’10 tall on average. These women greeted them with skepticism and despite the expedition’s offers on a lucrative trade agreement the Cythian warriors weren’t looking for a trade deal at the moment. The female warriors allowed the expedition to rest and move on in the morning.
- The expedition’s final mission was to head to Borghildr, which immediately earned some concern within the Elven crew. But alas such was the order of the Kingdom, moving up on Borghildr’s shores to make a trade deal despite relations between both races. The expedition at the meeting point assured it was by all means business, not personal as some kingdoms would take it. The King of Borghildr took their words into consideration, harboring no ill will despite history. With that said, the Kingdom wasn’t interested in a trade at the moment. Once more the expedition moved on, returning home.
- The entire Kingdom has passed a law that introduces mandatory sunday school through the Innleystic churches. Elven children are expected to learn how to read and write, including the commoners. The sudden law although noble has caused somewhat of difficulty as kids are learning the skill at a slow pace.
- The state of affairs in Brotinnstao called for their mages to perform services throughout the capital. The first action is the Magus of Dawn helping out the population with simple magic spells such as water purification and healing without overexerting themselves. The Magus’s appentiences also took notes in mind, allowing them to know that purity and selflessness is key. It was said the more you utilize White Magic, the more you feel the need to help out others in contrast using Black Magic for selfish reasons. Such a philosophy the Magus stressed inspired the people on learning responsibility.
- Several officials in the territories made sure to register all forms of properties in the kingdom in order to keep tabs on buildings. A major reason was to sell any vacant property to merchants and manufacturers for production of goods. The Kingdom would hope to sway potential buyers with a discount 1/6th of the original price. The issue in reality was the amount of property officials needed to register over the year
Mallen-Tol
Mallen-Tol’s strategy was different than other Dwarven Kingdoms in that they wanted to expand outwards and make friends. While kingdoms like Brimnir were content on staying underground, the High Regnant needed to insure they carved a mighty legacy for them/himself. And what better way to do that making a few friends to watch your back?
- Mallen-Tol’s interest in foreign policy has only grown with the High Regnant, who wishes to play a hand in foreign affairs. A caravan emissary is sent towards Sigharis, witnessing human subjects going about their daily lives said to pay a blood tax in exchange for better living conditions. While Natalia initially wasn’t interested in dealing with Mallen-Tol, their skill in diplomacy and their negotiation assured her they weren’t a threat to her kingdom. The Dwarves and the Vampires in Sigharis has allowed relations should important things come up but at the moment, there was no further need.
- General reforms are called upon for the Mallen-Tol, starting with a charter to create a city guard at Dain Frostforge’s suggestion. The city guard would be called the Khazermallen, armed with short axes and at least 120 recruited. The 120 are comprised of the middle class with few from peasantry, policed by Duergor's office. The Khazermallen patrol the city with ease, with the occasional crime dealt with.
- To feed more water efficiently, Mallen-Tol has ordered aqueducts for underground fisheries and cisterns. The Dwarves were more than prepared to deal with the workload, sending their brightest engineers for the job and made a plan how they were going to finish it. The Engineers piped drinking water in the squares of the city while the fisheries are maintained by the Husbandry Guild. Over the course of the year the dwarves did a pretty good job at setting their systems without any problems. A bit too well when the fishermen grew enough members to apply for their own guild, taking some of the slice.
- Mallen-Tol in the wake of reforms adopts a new coinage currency for the kingdom, in the shape of squares with rounded corners. 1 gold Tollian = 2 Butollian = 20 silver Silfurs = 40 Semsilfurs = 100 bronze Buffgravels = 400 copper Buffgrains. The currency was immediately used during the year, allowing citizens to recognize these coins and use them.
- Because of economic purpose any Dwarven citizen who wishes to do commerce or trade without a Council of Guilds charter is forbidden to leave the Kingdom. This was met with harsh criticism from the vocal dwarves who’d prefer the economic freedom than some caravan system for a very specific reason. These trade armies called Khazerthruns are supposed to be armed for a good cause but those vocal dwarves weren’t having it and since when did dwarves ever not put up an argument before?
- Despite the vocal criticism, the Council of Guilds weren’t backing down on their decision as they created an open charter for people to sign on to Middburg. The High Regnant’s special request was to find any historical artifacts of magical origin. The Khazerthrun made their long trip towards Middburg probably because they heard they had a magical college in the city so go figure. Now, historical artifacts of magical origin don’t grow on trees, usually back then they were crafted by craftsmen and mages for a specific reason like enchanting a weapon for example. Now what they would call this enchanting object was a rune stone, a magical object that can make an object very durable and provide spiritual energy for the wielder. What kind of energy? I don’t fucking know. All I’m aware about is that they’re very expensive and rare to find nowadays. But nonetheless the Khazerthrun paid very good currency to get their hands on the thing.
Kazirian Legion
The Legion was an up and coming sellsword company committed to professionalism and siege warfare. Comprised of over a thousand half elves with their own equipment and skills they’ve been trying to hone over the years. There are two types of sellswords in the world, one who cares about their reputation and one who doesn’t care about their reputation. In a world where which lord has the biggest armies it’s a competition to see which company is going to reap the biggest contract in a war. Fame climbs, mediocrity sinks. In a way, a contract is like dog fighting, which dog’s the biggest and which owner’s going to win the battle in the end? Not the pup that’s for sure.
- In order to hone their skills for upcoming contracts, Kazirian mercs are ordered to go through training exercises. But disaster strikes as a strange flu has caused many men and women to go ill during the year, delaying their training. Some merchants from their home villages wandered in the stronghold, having experience in this before. They called it ‘Spring Fever’ a sickness that comes home to home and causing mysterious illness, leaving some to die if not taken care of. Fortunately as the year ended, the Fever disappeared leaving no casualties on the Legion’s end. However, because of the sickness, no training improved any skill.
- But the Legion’s struggles weren’t over as during their progress a scouting party was ordered to explore the south-eastern river and to secure the area. But before the Fifteen had any reports sent through their messengers, the entire scouting party disappeared off the radar. Despite rescue efforts to find out what happened, the scouting party of three was never seen again.
- To increase the quality of troops Kazirians were asked to read and write. Now, passing information down through word of mouth? That’s easy because it’s called murmuring . Reading and writing? Not so much when you’re in a band of sellswords. And unfortunately they hit a stump on their journey to literacy when the sellswords complained about the usefulness on the topic. And even if some mercs agreed to it, the learning process caused them to struggle, not to mention there was more work to be done than writing the alphabet.
- On the other hand, map navigation? That’s useful. The company attempted to teach new recruits navigation including military tactics like their siege specialty to train their army. But new recruits in any military take time as the veterans would witness again as the recruits are too stubborn to learn anything nowadays.
- With the newly arrived engineers here to help the company, they are ordered to find out if a water mill was possible. But thankfully enough it was geographically possible to plan a water mill there close. Their efforts have led to an early construction plan should they ever build one.
- Because the Legionnaires have families within the stronghold, the idea of insuring some form of payment to family members wasn’t a bad idea. The proposal is that a dead merc’s relative was to receive compensation in small coin from the treasury and soon enough everyone agreed despite several who disagreed.
Republic of Acrad
Acrad was founded 1500 years ago by the surviving Elven of the Ancient Kaz'Rael and the great proto-kazarok migrations. Human and Elven together? Not an impossible idea according to their history. Unfortunately the nation state is constantly suffering from the harsh desert of Kaz'Rael and raiding parties. Only this republic can try to restore it to its old state.
- During the year, the republic set their eyes towards the Kingdom of Brotinnstao. They approved a diplomatic mission to meet up with the Kingdom and to propose a non-aggression pact dubbed the Acradian-Elven Sea Pact. The aim was to secure the trade in the western seas and conducting anti-piracy raids and patrols in order to bolster both nations prosperity and sea territory. The proposal is open for negotiation from the elven parts, should they wish to slightly modify any terms or objectives, within acceptable conditions and in the spirit of good will.
- In a devious yet complex plan the High General and the High Councilor have devised a way to upset the unclaimed region between Acrad and Borghildr. The covert mission was simple, disrupt the villages way of life by disguising themselves as Borghilder people. The disguised men lit up the forestry, leaving a wake of panicking villagers and raided mines in the process. The false flag mission was a work of brilliance and success with a little bit of luck on their side. The villagers grew uncivil and wanted retribution on the Borghildr people, citing them as barbarians.
- In a power move, the magistrates have passed a law that would dwell into the research of ancient elven relics from the ruins of Az'Karel. Because of passing this law, the Church of His Holyness was outraged such a forbidden thing is now allowed. Because of this act has caused the Church to rally under the religious people armed with torches, protesting due to the study of this heresy. The protests stay during the year, pouring over to the next as it grows more uncivil and restless.
- To oversee their operations over the trade route and to patrol their shores, the Admirality has ordered ships to establish outposts in the nearby isles. Two convoys as a start made sure to explore the nearest islands in the sea channel, setting up small buildings as their HQ.
- During the year Acrad had passed the "Citizenship Construction Act" ratified by the High Councilor. The act’s purpose is to prevent strain on the economy and to forbid slaves as a workforce in construction. This means patrons and companies are forced to use paid labor of citizens to work on any construction project in Acrad. Although the act hoped to build jobs for civilians, the action itself caused a large amount of criticism from the wealthy, leading them to either not obey with the act or pay laborers less than expected to save money.
The Principality of Cephalonia
Cephalonia serves to call itself the true successor to the Adelram Empire and the current leader claims to be a part of the Stormstrum Dynasty, related to the Melgaerons for their bastard blood. Now is he telling the truth? I wouldn’t know. But Cephalonia’s ambition is quite admirable in these dark times.
- Calling upon allies was a difficult challenge as not everyone expects to bow to an Emperor, such was the case of the diplomatic mission to Borghildr. The envoys of the Emperor was sent to the kingdom itself to discuss an offer towards the Borghildr if they can recruit men-at-arms for the Emperor's Skallargian Guard. The King of Borghildr heard every word and even though they were clearly good at diplomacy, a King does not bow to an Emperor. With no choice the envoys was sent away, then later an individual by the name of Juran Blackmont came towards them. He claimed to be the leader of the Brotherhood of Vultures and would swear service and his men should the Cephalonia promise them riches in return. Eventually, the Brotherhood of Vultures participated in the deal.
- The Emperor’s army was ordered to construct a long dirt road hugging the river Vesuvio to the hinterlands of Cephalonia to the capital. The propose is to ensure safe travel and easy directions for the peasantry. Although there was an initial setback regarding construction, the newly arrived engineers solved the problem helming the project. The work schedule resumes as laborers and the engineers build the road.
- Despite their lack of knowledge of a fully realized school, that didn’t stop construction from happening. Next to the grand cathedral of Aragos is where the makeshift school will be made for students who wish to learn. The Engineers get a headstart, working on the constructions with all the materials they had on site.
- To collect tariffs more efficiently, Cephalonia is setting up toll booths combined with inventory checks in the road networks. This will also forbid illegal sales within major centers of trade and soon enough, the moment these wooden booths were established the rules were enforced. The move caused an influx of merchants heading to trade center conducting business as people went along their day while the toll booths worked perfectly.
- Meanwhile the Emperor has ordered the construction of three outer walls: The Andronikos' wall, the second housing battlements and a third enclosing the moat for attackers. Like their makeshift school, the Engineers got to work on these walls, allowing for a slow but steady pace as they suffered no issues during the year.
- A tax on imported luxury goods such as silk and ivory is set for the Empire. The intention was to bring in large revenues but leaving to affect the wealthy who buys these goods. This leaves a sour mood among the nobility as the increase in price causes several to resort through illegal means.
Mertidol
Mertidol is far away from Kazarok civilization and near the continent of I can’t tell you because I haven’t been there myself. The Paere are experiencing an upheaval of philosophy and the desire to educate themselves, isolated. Frankly, I don’t blame them when other humans are fighting over material goods.
- Looking towards to the outside world, eventually they all knew they needed to cooperate with their fellow sprightes. The government reached out to the minority groups to reconfirm Octopon's authority over the island. But the other groups weren’t so interested in the whole cooperation thing. The groups eventually went to their daily routines, dismissing Mertidol’s cooperation offer.
- The Paere after the failure of reuniting their other groups sought out another way. During their time thinking about whatever Paere do, they remembered the Horte had a knack of taming wildlife that can take them beyond the isles and into the near continent. They send out scouts to find where the coastal clan might be, asking around and looking at trails. Eventually they made a breakthrough when one of the locals talked about a bunch of Horte nearby.
- Worrying about their safety the government needed to make sure things don’t go down flames as I would say. Therefore they passed a motion to raise more warriors for Mertidol and so they did. The majority of Mertidol agreed their force reached a new low record, encouraging their fellow Paere to protect their people. Their efforts weren’t in vain as they quickly raised up to 100 Paere warriors in the process.
- Mertidol people consider mythology and philosophy very important nowadays and when you start to think about it, mythos and social constructs don’t spawn out of nowhere. It all comes down to history as a Human scholar would scribe it like. When we ask a lot of questions about why is it so? It’s because people tend to fill in the blanks with their own theories. Did some foolish jester accidently create the Divine God because someone asked why was the sky blue? Well, the Paere wanted to further education because they relied on memories to do the work for them, but motivation demanded change! The government encouraged education for the youth, leaving a few inspired students to found an early archive of some sorts.
- With the introduction of education came the interest in magic. The Paere looked at magic at a basic view and to be fair that’s usually the common thought in Kazarok itself. Sometimes a commoner asks me how can I, a poor jester barely able to afford a cup of ale create fire at my own fingertips? Well the simple answer is through training and learning. And that’s the first step Mertidol was going to figure out as a few air mages learned. The air mages quickly came on to the fact by utilizing the air, they weren’t creating air themselves, but they were harnessing their surroundings to use the air. Winds allow air to move, and the stronger the wind, the more an air user has an advantage.
- Meridol had to admit their roads and infrastructure had seen better days as time went by. Time is undefeatable unfortunately but the Faere began to investigate if reconstruction efforts was possible. While it was certainly doable, the damage within the paths and roads left it extremely damaged, taking large amounts of the Paere’s time if they wanted to repair it or even start all over from scratch.
Riflheim
Riflheim, said to trace its origins from the Adelram Empire like Hildemar. Von Rosen-Bilderbung ruled the province for centuries, prideful that their cities were the brightest. But pride pays a heavy price as Riflheim is a shadow of its former glory. Can William the Black do what it takes to turn the tide? We’ll have to see.
- The first thing Riflheim did to help out their own is to extend a hand to their own. Consider Hildemar an ally most states would die for having a friend. A diplomat of Riflheim traveled miles to the kingdom, pleading his case why a trade was so important in the long run of things. Threat of invasion, former province of Adelram, maintaining army? Checks out for Hildemar as they agreed to let them set up an embassy for economical purposes.
- There’s a lot of up and coming states building schools and universities, institutions. But you need a large number of people to care if it’ll even benefit their petty self interests. Riflheim attempted to establish a college of learning starting with an air mage and a fire mage. Sounds easy right? Wrong. It all started with their bright engineers attempted to figure out what would they need in this college. The cost itself to this was expensive to the point people were wondering if this project will start. Eventually the construction got off but extremely slow despite the engineer efforts. But in due time, as they made a break as the year ended.
- Speaking of extremely slow, Riflheim wanted to rebuild their broken water systems throughout their city of the century. They started work on the aqueducts and the plumbing but during there was a lack of progress going around with construction. Workers feel demotivated at the lack of organization and dying commoners wandering. It left a foul taste among the engineers as much as they tried, lifting the workload by a small margin.
- With the need for organization and order, Riflheim ordered their bureaucracy to expand. The first expansion was the tax collection bureau to record tribute/tax within the city. Unlike the construction jobs, the expansion went smoothly allowing Riflheim to make sure its citizens were paying their taxes. Their next focus was to look at local businesses.
- To provide an incentive for farmers to increase crop yields, the state was allowing very low-interest loans but the idea worried commoners. But nonetheless some farmers applied, but the returns in investment wasn’t what Riflheim was expecting. Crop yields themselves weren’t rising and so far no one knew what where was the currency going towards? And then it turns out the farmers were spending it on tits and wine than their farms. To be honest, who wouldn’t?
- In what seemed to be a very rough year for the state. A hope spot had arrived in the form of material goods the miners extracted in the old empire mines. These workers hit the major jackpot as they found a large deposit of silver and coal which can easily be sold in the markets.
Courgeaux
Like Riflheim, Courgeaux was considered part of the Adelram Empire but the Silvain I made sure he took matters into his own hands from here on. With the control of a port city, he controlled the trade routes and who was allowed to sell. But that only meant more responsibility on handling piracy, dealing with wood elves, and making sure the commoners paid tribute.
- Courgeaux is considered what some of the locals there call cousins to the Bastien Kingdom. Being diplomats at heart and with a little silver of luck, the King managed to sway his firstborn daughter Solange d'Lavigne to the court of King Loren himself. Though this wasn’t courtly love of the sort but rather courtly partnership. A lord arranges a political marriage, gives a daughter to a charming prince. Forges a pretty good marriage pact between the lordships.
- As I said before, Courgeaux had the unfortunate responsibility of dealing with elves at first hand. The Wood Elves while not malicious in nature, have a long track record of thievery and harassment. The Kingdom recognized these problems and had an idea that would act as a win-win scenario for both. The same protection you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours thing everyone uses. They’re also called favors. The Kingdom sent their glorious knights riding their horses to project the idea they’re here to help out the people for the people. And soon enough they accepted because it was better than to get help than get attacked. Now, when it comes to peasantry and your life is dictated by the dangers of rapists, thieves, monsters all you gotta do is swear fealty to your new best friend, the King of the Kingdom! Now a King isn’t so bad, all they ask in return is to send lots of food, go to war and get killed, completely oblivious to your daily needs, and quarter troops in your home while being at the bottom of society. Ain’t life completely fucked up?
- The lords of Courgeaux are given sanctions now that the frontiers were open for business. This led to many colonizations efforts become officially part of the kingdom itself. The effort went as smooth as butter, with no issues at hand.
- In the process, this allowed for new knights and reinforcement of their properties now that the frontiers became an occurrence in the year. These knights gathered as much men-at-arms as possible but the result was less fruitful than they hoped.
- Meanwhile, King Silvain allowed the master of coin to direct trade families to do what they did best, commit business in parts of the city while competing with Bastien to see which one was going to last. While the trade contracts were increasing, this still wasn’t enough to drive Bastia off the trading game.
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The Unknown Place
The hooded figure walked towards Laughing Jack, observing him juggle flaming oranges in the air. But once his attention turned to the hooded individual his act failed, dropping the oranges on the floor. Jack sighed, shrugging it off before he greeted her.
“Ah. Hello again, back for more I suppose? Now that we got through the basics of magic, it’s time we start learning about the real politics of Kazarok. Let’s start off with what everyone knows by now, the Adelram Empire. Now I know what you’re thinking, you know all about this stuff. But what if someone quizzes you on who founded the Empire in the first place? If you’re going to imitate your role model, start listening.” Jack pointed out, sitting on a wooden chair adjusting his posture to play the lute.
“Now let’s hear what this sounds like.”
As you know by now before the Empire, were petty kingdoms and tribes who fought over for land and gold in the center of Kazarok. To the north was a sprawling Orc/Goblin invasion that completely infested the area, pitting slave trades and human sacrifices. The number one greatest danger to a society is not knowing what’s hurting the society, when humans fight each other you think hordes give a damn? I don’t think so.
Fortunately, that all changed when a man named Everyn Melgaeron took matters into his own hands. Everyn used to rule in the west region of Kazarok alongside his sister-wife Velena Melgaeron. When the series of orc invasions threatened Human and Dwarven society, someone had to step in.
The Melgaerons forged an alliance between the Humans and the Dwarven Kingdoms, putting a stop to the invasions and repelled them all. The military achievements they’ve made such as Everyn’s Road took them ten winters. The commoners called him Everyn the Hero, Everyn the Uniter. He then founded the Adelram Empire within the center of Kazarok, he called the capital Kazmura. Ever since its foundation, the city thrived with tourism and experienced a population boom. Many civilians considered it to be one of the greatest cities in all of Nasroth, making Elven kingdoms envy the craftsmanship.
Now children ask all the time what was living in the Empire like that was so different from other kingdoms? Well clean water for starters, their religion believed everyone was loved by the Divine God and if they recited his teachings, they will be saved for eternity. The Empire had this magical steel they would use for weapons on the battlefield secretly crafted. And get this, gender was no object. How? Well magic and Melgaeron tradition with a little convincing on priests make good equalizers.
His sister Velena established the Knights of the Divine, she was more used to warfare than ladyship if you hadn’t noticed by now. The impact the Knights had on the continent inspired knighthood to rise among independent kingdoms who worshipped the Divine God. Orders like these were prestigious enough this was seen as a commoner's only way to fame and glory. How granting knighthood worked was any knight or royal could bestow the title Ser upon a squire. Thankfully, there are few accounts of the playful knight granting knighthood upon a drunken peasant or his own horse.
Everyn The Hero committed his duty as Emperor of the Empire to make sure he satisfied the lords of the realms. Unfortunately, all good things come to an end as the heroic Uniter held court on a dull day, pushing 52. After a tiring evening Everyn spent time with his son who would later become Tristian the Holy. They played in the gardens but something was wrong. Everyn clenched his chest, feeling his heart stopping for a moment. The Emperor collapsed as the Empire burned him through Melgaeron tradition.
Tristian Melgaeron became Emperor shortly after his father’s passing, crowned by the High Ecclesial of the Grand Temple. Now keep in mind these two will become very best friends over their careers, uplifting the religion significantly to the point any Kazarok kingdom can recognize it by the Comet Star. Tristian the Holy became holy because he realized the commoners needed guidance and to explain why the natural order of the world is what it is, because God wills it. And when God wills it people obey, because he said so.
The Grand Temple kept heresies and heretics in check through holy orders such as the White Wardens. These wardens clad in plate armor were to stomp out people saying the wrong things at the wrong time. People who had different gods were lucky the White Wardens took mercy on them as the Empire under Tristian enacted tolerance. Critics of Tristian can preach all they want, but the guy wasn’t stupid enough to refuse a tolerance tax when he saw one. This helped the Adelram in the long run when they were maintaining a standing army to show everyone who's boss. They sure showed the Orcs and Goblins huh?
…
“The Adelram Empire was truly the beacon of civilization and there are various things we can talk about its full history. How Naerys became the first Empress after a devastating civil war, how the Stormstrums took over after Everyn The Terrible. But for today, let’s end this lesson and remember the peak of Humanity. Farewell...” Laughing Jack ended the lesson, as the hooded individual walked away.
TURN END
SEND IN AS TURN 2, The due date is June, 24 2019. Grace Period is 25-27th
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