Northern Ergoth
Steel's thoughts were centered on Trevalin, on his talon. He imagined
his comrades flying into what was bound to be a challenging
fight with the Ergothians, humans of
enormous courage and prowess,
who had held their lands all
during the War of the Lance
and who were determined to
hold them now.
- Steel Brightblade imprisoned,
Dragons of Summer Flame
One of the oldest realms in Ansalon,
the Empire of Ergoth introduced many
traditions of intrigue and roguery now
widely accepted across the land. For
instance, the folk of Ansalon know
Ergoth as the birthplace of thief guilds
and the home of the Bard College. In
addition, the people of Ergoth themselves embody the very spirit of defiance. As the passage above indicates,
Ergothians are made of strong stuff - strong enough to keep their land intact
through countless wars, two Cataclysms, and even the Summer of Chaos.
Despite its three thousand years of
culture and history, though, very little
has been written about Ergoth, primarily because the Empire had become
quite a backwater after the Cataclysm.
Now, the decline of the former
Solamnian lands under the shadow of
dragon and Dark Knight sees Ergoth
once again emerging as the center of
culture and learning on Ansalon.
This chapter expands the information provided in the FIFTH AGE boxed
set about the island of Northern
Ergoth. As one of the few realms in
Ansalon relatively free of threat from
the Great Dragons, Narrators can
choose this locale for campaigns featuring different themes. This island
contains barbarian and civilized cultures, kender, gully dwarves, ancient
ruins, and forgotten remnants of lost
civilizations - all the makings of an
exciting campaign. In addition, it is a
land rife with political intrigue, and
thieves and diplomats alike thrive in
Gwynned, Ergoth's large capital city.
Heroes can attempt a variety of quests
without ever leaving the island.
Geography
The island of Northern Ergoth, just
west of mainland Ansalon, was in fact
part of the mainland in the ages before
the first Cataclysm rent the land. Scholars from the Empire of Ergoth divide the
island into two distinct realms: the
Empire in the west and the kender
nation of Hylo in east.
In truth, the island contains three
other distinct realms, which the empire
has claimed in its bid to regain a fraction of its former size. The goblin- and
gully dwarf-infested land of Sikk'et Hul
in the south and the barbaric Ackal
region in the north continue to ignore
the Empire's claim of sovereignty. The
marshy northeastern area of Ogaral -
also considered a province of the
Empire (in name only) - remains
home to a naga and a clan of disturbingly intelligent trolls. All these
realms appear on the color poster map
of Ergoth.
Despite the island's position at the
same longitude as tropical Nordmaar
far to the east, it enjoys much more
temperate weather. Its relatively mild
summers last from Corij to Sirrimont,
and the winters extend from Phoenix
to Rannmont. (See the Ansalonian Calendar on the back cover of Dusk or
Dawn.) Currents from the southern
Sirrion Sea cool the island during the
summer months and bring to the
island some of the chill of winter.
The Sentinel range runs the length
of Northern Ergoth from north to
south, dividing the island in two. Steep
passes lead through the mountains in
several places.
The island's western and northern
regions, which contain the Empire
proper and the province of Ackal, feature lush, grassy plains. Ages ago forests
covered this land, but as the Ergothian
Empire expanded, its citizens felled
them to build ships and the cities of
Truth, Gulfport, Lancton, Gwynned,
and points even farther west and south
(now part of the mainland or the isle of
Southern Ergoth). These forests produced the finest quality wood on the
continent.
The southern end of the island
comprises a hilly desert of scrub and
sage. This harsh land is home to the
goblin and Aghar nation of Sikk'et Hul.
Since the White Dragon buried most of
Southern Ergoth in snow, these folk
have had to struggle even harder for
survival in their chilly land.
The eastern part of the island
remains awash in lush old-growth
forests. Since before the rise of the
Ergothian Empire, the territory from
the eastern coast to the foothills of the
Sentinel Mountains has been inhabited
by kender. While they call their homeland Hylo, other Ergothians know it as
Kenderhome, as do many of Ansalon's
cartographers. This forested land, like
the rest of the island, enjoys a far
cooler climate than one might suppose
based on its proximity to the equator.
Summer weather remains cool and
pleasant, and in winter the mild climate results in wet snow that is just
right for packing.
Empire of Ergoth
Volumes in the ancient library of the
Imperial University in Gwynned detail
the history of the people, places, and
races of the Empire of Ergoth from its
earliest days to the present. Long scoffed
at by scholars of other realms, the university today enjoys a renaissance,
thanks to the influx of scholars fleeing
occupied Palanthas. Academics across
Ansalon have begun to reevaluate
Gwynned's library, which outsiders had
long considered nothing but a collection of outdated tomes and inflated legends about the empire's lost glory days.
This section summarizes the history
of Ergoth proper and its "provinces" up
to the year 31SC and describes their culture and current happenings as well.
The university library's vast historical
section provided the source of this
information; where it contradicts
established accounts, both versions
have been included to allow the reader
to decide the truth for himself.
Ergoth Proper
Ergoth is enjoying a population boom
and cultural resurgence during the Fifth
Age, thanks to the influx of immigrants
from former Solamnian provinces now
held by Khellendros the Blue.
Important Holdings
The variety of civilized settlements,
magical sites, and ancient ruins makes
Ergoth proper a popular place for
adventurers seeking their fortunes.
Noteworthy Settlements
All across Ergoth, new towns have
popped up to serve the needs of newcomers, and established towns have
swelled beyond their city walls.
Hillfal. The most important settlement in the northern part of Ergoth,
the fortress town of Hillfal stands
perched on the steep banks of the Alunatal River, guarding both it and the
nearby mountain pass from invasion
by the barbaric Ackalite tribes to the
north. This austere fortress started out
as just a small toll station, established
to collect fees from caravans traveling
from Gulfport through the mountain
pass toward Solamnia, or returning
through the pass. The Ackalites razed
the station in an uprising during the
reign of Emperor Redic I, though the
empire ultimately managed to beat
them back to the northern tip of the
island. Hillfal's ruins formed the foundation for a new, strong fort.
Completed in 230AC, Hillfal is the
newest fortress of Ergothian build in
the empire. No less than a legion
remains stationed here at any given
time. The village of two hundred
people just south of the fort consists
mostly of shops, houses of ill repute,
gladiatorial pits, and even shadier
establishments that imperial troops
frequent for an evening's diversion.
Gulfport. A remnant of the ancient
Emperor's Road leads south from Hillfal to Gulfport. Once a major center of
commerce, Gulfport remains Ergoth's
largest merchant harbor. (The imperial
fleet and the Solamnian warships that
escaped Palanthas after the coming of
the Blue fill the harbor at Gwynned.)
Ergothians also know Gulfport as
the empire's primary metalworking
site. The realm's finest artisans and
weaponsmiths live here, working with
metals imported from Sancrist or cut
from nearby Wind Dancer Mine (so
named for the long-abandoned abodes
of the lost Kyrie, located on the mountain's least accessible peaks). This
mine - perhaps the richest in all of
Ansalon - has remained productive since 567PC, and new shafts delve ever
deeper into Krynn's surface.
Tantyvil. South of Gulfport lies the
hamlet of Tantyvil, a living monument
to the battle of wills between a father
and son around 300AC. The elder son of
Gulfport's aging lord was eager to
assume power, but the old man would
not step down. The son, already grown
wealthy from New Sea trade, decided to
break his father and Gulfport by constructing a city of his own.
He named it Tantyvil after his wife
and spent his entire fortune building
homes, docks, stables, inns, smithies,
shops, and defenses. When finished, he
had constructed one of the most aesthetically pleasing towns in the empire,
for it was planned, not grown. He even
had he had the blessings of the
emperor - Redic IV believed Ergoth
could never have enough port towns. Yet
Tantyvil never attracted more than a
handful of sea barbarian traders and
some fishermen. Old habits die hard,
and Tantyvil lacked Gulfport's primary
feature: its link with Wind Dancer Mine.
Today, much of Tantyvil lies in disrepair. Rumors call the town the secret
headquarters of the thief guilds, but
otherwise it remains a fishing community of about three hundred.
Castle Crimson. Continuing south
along the Emperor's Road leads to one of
the oldest buildings in Ansalon. The
blocky Castle Crimson takes its name
from its spires of red stone, imported
from the Khalkist Mountains. From the
road, one can see the castle sitting upon a
hill that rises sharply from the surrounding plains. However, as invaders discover,
the hill itself is part of the fortress, covered with traps and hidden arrow slits
and doors that defenders can fire through
or emerge from without warning.
Built around 2300PC, the castle was
a gift to a human noblewoman from
her noble dwarf husband. Unfortunately, the relationship ended in
embarrassment when she gave birth to
twin gully dwarves (the reason why so
few dwarf-human pairings last).
The Lord of Castle Crimson, who
tradilionally occupies a seat in the
imperial Senate, is the head of the
Shadowlark family, half-elves of Qualinesti stock. They make bards, guild
thieves, and Qualinesti refugees welcome in their home, but seem to have a
strange disdain for anything Solamnic.
Lancton. In sight of Castle Crimson
stands the fortified city of Lancton. The
city was founded in 1940PC as a combination toll station, guard post, and caravan stop at the only fordable section
of the Dermount River. However, the
completion of the Quevalin Bridge in
93()pc removed the need for the city's
garrison function, as caravans were no
longer as easy to ambush.
Today, Lancton remains a trade hub.
The section of the river between it and
the capital serves as a portion of the
Kmperor's Road. An extension of this
road allows traders to rapidly carry ore
from the mines of Werim to the south
to Lancton, and from there to Gulfport
and Gwynned. Almost daily, oxen trod
the well-worn riverside paths to draw
loaded barges along the waterway.
Even more important than its trade
status is Lancton's significance as the
source of the finest Ergothian art, music,
and songwriting. Graduates of the
empire's Bard College, located here, are
known throughout the continent for
their famous works celebrating the
Heroes of the Lance and other great figures in Ansalon's history. The renowned
elf bard Quevalin Soth (Qualinesti elder
male, artistic demeanor, Legend)
attended and graduated from the school
and currently serves as its headmaster.
Lancton is also the acknowledged
headquarters of the Ergothian thief
guilds - which causes many people to
doubt the story, for why would a semi-secret organization like the guilds make
known the location of their headquarters? Nonetheless, someone looking to
make contact with the guild ought to
start in Lancton, specifically at a tavern
called "The Emperor's Clothier."
Werim. From Lancton, travelers can
follow the Emperor's Road south to
Werim, the largest mining town of Northern Ergoth. To save their own
lives during the Shadow Years following the first Cataclysm, Werim's village
elders legally gave up their children
and their descendants to an invading
warlord. Even now, everyone born in
Werim is still considered a slave, the
property of the local lord.
For centuries, the folk of Werim
have fed the glory of local tyrants. The
current lord is Governor Seta Eyt
(human adult male, cruel demeanor,
Adventurer) a harsh and greedy man.
The Thief Guild has long targeted this
unfit ruler, but his alliance with the
cunning Li tribe, a group of disaffected
Ackalite barbarians who act as his
bodyguards, has kept Eyt alive through
seven assassination attempts.
Gwynned. Downriver from Lancton lies Gwynned, the city that became
the imperial capital when the old capital, Daltigoth (in Southern Ergoth), fell
to ruin and ogres after the Cataclysm.
Seaside Gwynned had been a
favorite summer retreat of emperors
since the Quivalin dynasty. It featured a
palace, although less glorious than the
Golden Palace of Daltigoth, suitable
accommodations for the Senate, gladiatorial arenas, opera houses, the Imperial University, and many other basic
amenities for the life of an emperor.
Redic I established his capital here and
renamed the town Gwynned to evoke
the memory of that extinguished imperial line and give his own reign an air of
legitimacy (see "History").
Since then, emperors have expanded
Gwynned's defenses and harbor several
times, helping the city evolve into a
cosmopolitan den of inequity. A visitor
can find any service here - as well as
any pleasure. The bouts in the local
gladiatorial arena enjoy a place among
the strangest and bloodiest in the
empire. (Citizens still talk about the
fight between a lightning-breathing
behir and five condemned criminals
dressed in full plate mail and armed
with steel rods.)
Landfall. Northwest of Gwynned
stands a coastal fortification built around an ancient tower of gnomish origin. Tra-
dition holds that this tower marked the
spot where the gnomes reached mainland Ansalon during their quest for the
Graygem in the Age of Dreams. Landfall
takes its name from that myth. While the
tower still holds the gears, levers, and
other odd manifestations of gnomish
technology, the salty dampness of the
ocean has long since fused the metal into
an unworkable mass.
In 1770PC, after the Solamnians had
established their presence on Sancrist,
the Ergothians turned the gnomish
tower into a sprawling fortification -
just in case Solamnus intended to use
Sancrist as a staging area for invasion.
Today, the empire maintains the fortress
as a last-ditch defense. Not only did it
stand throughout the Ackalite invasion
immediately following the Cataclysm, it
contributed to the eventual defeat of
these rebels at the hands of Redic I.
Thonvil. Almost due south of
Gwynned, on the island's southern
coast, is Thonvil. This relatively unremarkable fishing village plays host to
the "Wooden Weapons Annual," a non-lethal version of the gladiatorial bouts
held in other towns.
A popular local story claims the
infamous Dragon Highlord Kitiara uth
Matar attended the Annual and took
the championship when she was but a
strip of a lass (naturally, Ergoth's male-dominated society forced her to disguise herself as a boy). Supposedly she
returned to the Annual every few years,
always disguised as a man and always
walking away with the championship
and the purse of gold that came with it.
Even after her death, the legend goes,
she continues to attend the Wooden
Weapons Annual on occasion. If her
spirit shows itself to a contestant, he
can be almost certain to win - or he
can be certain to lose.
Almost without exception, however,
historians of the War of Lance agree
that the Blue Lady never visited Northern Ergoth. In fact, her own diaries
indicate that she regularly competed in
the Wooden Weapons Annual in the town ofVocalion on Southern Ergoth,
a site now buried beneath Gellidus's
glacier. Still, the insistence of Thonvil's
populace makes some scholars grant a
grain of truth to the tales of the spirit,
though no educated man thinks the
ghost is that of the long-dead Highlord.
Attendance at the Wooden Weapons
Annual has tripled in the past few
years, as Solamnian refugees find it
reminiscent of their honorable tournaments from back home. Of course, the
influx of newcomers is altering some of
the myths surrounding the Annual. For
example, a version of the legend of the
Highlord now circulating claims the
ghost shows itself only to braggarts
who will lose the competition.
The Solamnian South. The southern
portion of Ergoth proper is the area most
heavily settled by Solamnian refugees.
The farming community of New Winterholm, the largest settlement there,
got its start thanks to a land grant to Sir
Wilhelm Tankreed (human adult male,
honorable demeanor, Champion). As
Khellendros descended upon northern
Solamnia, this lord fled with the peasant
population for whom he felt responsible.
Throughout the Solamnian South,
the immigrants have settled in fairly
well, but a few cultural difficulties seem
inevitable. First, farmers and herders on
the Sikk'et Hul border have a difficult
time seeing the goblins of that province
as peaceful neighbors (see page 81). The
same holds true for the Solamnian fishermen. Border attacks by land and sea
have increased on both sides, as the
newcomers "defend themselves" and the
goblins' patience wears thin.
Second, Solamnians entering into
military service to the empire have a
hard time adjusting to the Ergothian
mentality. For instance, a Solamnian
named Brevin Gantalian (human young
adult male, modest demeanor, Adventurer) who helped uncover a plot to kidnap the emperor's son was awarded the
command of Hillfort, a fortress originally built to guard a nearby mine and
the Emperor's Road. The new commander appointed Maria uth Furstan (human adult female, honest demeanor,
Adventurer), a female Solamnic Knight,
us his second-in-command - which
many Ergothian warriors viewed as a
personal insult. Further, he has launched
expeditions into neighboring Sikk'et
Hul to "keep the provincial borders
safe." Although such a move would seem
reasonable along the Gaardlund-Throtl
frontier in his native land, in Northern
Ergoth it disrupts a centuries-old peace.
Major Ruins
Ogre ruins pepper the Sentinel Mountains along the Hylo-Ergoth border.
Most have been thoroughly explored at
the urging of the cash-strapped empire,
though goblin scouts and adventurers
do occasionally find new sites.
Wind Dancer. One of Northern
Ergoth's more mysterious structures, the
Wind Dancer ruins appear virtually
inaccessible to anyone without flight.
The few who have reached this ancient
Kyrie dwelling describe it as a bewildering complex of hallways, staircases,
identical rooms, and open courtyards.
The only damage to the structure seems
to have been wrought by the passage of
time. It looks as though every resident
simply vanished. The empire encourages
expeditions to the Wind Dancer peaks,
hoping to solve this mystery as well as
claim any treasure hidden within.
Even. Unlike the Wind Dancer site,
the fate of the ruined town of Even
holds little mystery. In the decades after
the Cataclysm, rampaging Ackalites
razed this town - once a supplier of
delicacies like caviar and honey-baked
fish filets to Gwynned and other
northern cities - and slaughtered every
citizen. All attempts to resettle the town
(or loot whatever the Ackalites missed)
have failed: The ghosts of dozens of
murdered citizens haunt the area still.
Mystic Places
A site not traditionally associated with
mystical occurrences in Ergoth proper
it the abandoned hulk of Castle
DiThon near Thonvil, once home to an
ancient and noble family.
The last member of this line, the
White-Robed Wizard Bram DiThon,
vanished during the Chaos War. Ever
since, locals have claimed that fairy
folk inhabit the grounds and spirits
haunt the castle itself. All who attempt
to investigate the place have vanished
without a trace, just as Bram DiThon
did. (The Defenders of Magic novel trilogy recounts Bram's earlier adventures.)
Main Populace
Native Ergothians are humans with dark
skin and black hair. They typically have
brown eyes, but occasionally a child is
born with startling bright blue eyes. A
growing Solamnian human minority
also calls Ergoth proper home. This
population has fairer skin, hair ranging
from honey-colored to black, and eyes
of blue, brown, or green. Children of
mixed parentage invariably favor their
Ergothian blood in appearance.
Local languages include Ergot,
Kenderspeak (thanks to visitors from
neighboring Hylo), and Solamnic.
Description
Ergothians like every aspect of their
lives highly structured and regimented.
These people believe in order and will
fight to destroy any threat to their
established lifestyle. History has shown
that this battle urge generally breeds
only more chaos, but it has become so
ingrained in the Ergothian nature that
everyone tends to overlook this fact.
The rigidity of this society is perhaps
best illustrated by the fact that the
realm still clings to its traditional
governmental structure - a Senate
overseen by an emperor - even though
for centuries the "empire" has been
smaller than a Solamnian province.
Ergothians also consider an individual born to his station in life and
believe it his responsibility to fulfill the
duties of that station. When someone
fails to live up to his responsibilities, it
is traditional for another of equal or
slightly lower status to assume them
instead. This custom has led to periods of numerous successive coups and
assassinations of emperors.
Ergoth is a highly feudal society. The
rich and powerful own the land, and
peasants work it in exchange for the
roof over their heads and a small
amount of the food they grow or the
livestock they tend. The empire is also
heavily patriarchal, a cultural point that
causes conflict with the refugees from
Solamnia, which has granted increased
status and opportunity for women for
decades. Virtually since the founding of
the empire, Ergothians have believed
that women belonged at home, raising
children and tending to the needs of
their husbands and families.
Any woman unhappy with this existence generally leaves Ergoth proper, as
a variety of laws restrict her ability to
hold property or to profit as an adventurer, warrior, or in any other traditionally "male" field. Unless she passes
herself off as a man, a woman who is
not a matron can work as either a serving wench, maid, street dancer, or at an
occupation of even lower standing. A
very few women become bards, but
they usually start out as street performers "discovered" by an established
and respected male bard.
Women are not the only Ergothians
legislated into particular roles, although
they certainly take the brunt of it. The
empire has laws that apply to virtually
every other person, too. Each citizen
has his place in the world - and it's
important to society that he stay there.
This view (aided by a large national
ego) has caused the Ergothians to retain
both emperor and Senate past the point
where they are really needed. These
people genuinely believe their empire
will rise again, as it is Ergoth's duty to be
first among nations. Ergoth - never
Istar or Solamnia - is the center of
culture, arts, and human civilization on
Krynn. For centuries, emperors, nobles,
and scholars have tried to recapture that
lost glory. It seems that the devastation
of the Dragon Purge, which brought
low so many other realms, was just the
catalyst Ergoth needed.
Culture
The influx of refugees from Solamnia
has provided Ergoth with a much-needed population boost. The fresh
infusion of new creative expression - in
the form of Solamnian tapestries and
sculpture - has touched off something
of an artistic renaissance. The one
medium in which the Ergothians
remain unmatched is epic verse and
music composition.
While elves may produce the best
instruments in Ansalon, none can
match the skill of an Ergothian bard
when it comes to penning new works.
Unlike the flowing nature of elven
music, which relies heavily upon
improvisation, local bards compose
highly structured and measured music.
Lyrics, though less rigid, also follow
specific formats. (However, the Bard
College in Lancton identifies over three
hundred verse formats, so only the
most discerning listeners can recognize
that bards work within set parameters.)
Throughout Ergoth proper, commoner
and noble alike love music and verse.
In stark contrast, Ergothians are
equally fond of bloodsports. Virtually
every settlement has some kind of gladiatorial arena: from simple pits in small
villages to the vast sprawling stadium of
Gwynned. Locals flock to these arenas to
watch man fighting beast or man fighting man. The purpose of these bouts
ranges from settling scores or punishing
criminals to just plain having fun (such
as Thonvil's Wooden Weapons Annual).
Gladiatorial combats represent to
Ergothians what county fairs mean to
the rest of Ansalon. Bards or dancers
usually perform between each combat.
Trade
The empire exports copper, brass, and
steel tools and weapons; ogre relics; and
cut stone to nearby Gunthar on the isle of
Sancrist and to Coasdund in the realm of
Khellendros. In return, Ergoth imports
precious metals from Gunthar, carved
wooden figures and cut wood from
Kenderhome, and fruits and leather from
dragon-occupied Qualinesti.
The rapidly growing city of
Gwynned has seen increased trade of
late, thinks to Solamnian immigration.
History
The earliest history of Ergoth remains
all but lost to the mists of time, little
more than a collection of legends in an
ancient tome called History of the
World. The title of this work is highly
misleading - "the world" of the
unknown authors extended no farther
cast than the Khalkist Mountains and
the Silvanesti forest. Yet enough of the
lore corresponds with tales collected by
scholars in Palanthas that one can glean
some facts from it.
Although the History of the World
includes no dates, loremasters have correlated events with the Iconochronos of
the historian Astinus. For simplicity's
sake, this section uses the method of
reckoning common among historians
in the Fifth Age (Pre Cataclius, Alt Cataclius, and Saer Cataclius).
The Formation of Empire
History of the World tells of an adventuresome youth named Ackal Ergot,
who reportedly slew an entire tribe of
bakali - a lost race of lizard men -
because if they had captured him, he
would have missed the celebration of
his fourteenth birthday and his ascension rite to adulthood.
Ackal Ergot was born around
2650PC in the village of Sanction, far
from the lands that today take his
name. Many of his youthful exploits in
the aftermath of the Second Dragon
War appear in the History of the World,
including his journey to the Sentinel
Mountains, where he became the first
human in fifteen centuries to venture
into an ogre city. There he encountered
vast treasures and the mystical artifact
known as the World's Heart. A vision
came upon him then - a vision that
would drive him to forge the barbaric
human tribes into a mighty empire.
Upon returning to Sanction, he led
expeditions into the ruins of the ogre
cities in the Khalkist Mountains. With the wealth gained from these forays, he
began bribing tribal chieftains for their
loyalty. Those who could not be
bought, he exterminated with sword
and flame. By 2600PC, Ackal Ergot had
united all the human tribes from the
Khalkist Mountains to the far western
edge ofAnsalon. On his seventieth
birthday, he declared Daltigoth, the
former stronghold of a particularly
powerful tribal chieftain, the capital of
the Empire of Ergoth and commanded
scribes to pen the History of the World.
Five years later, as his armies pressed
into the southern lands where the
remaining free human tribes had banded
together under the woman warrior
known as Kharolis, Ackal Ergot fell down
a flight of stairs in the newly completed
Golden Palace and died. (The History of
the World claims he was pushed by assassins, but the Iconochronos implies that the
self-made emperor tripped on his own
cape while in a drunken stupor.)
Growing Pains
For the next century, the empire
teetered on the brink of disaster. Ackal's
sons proved stupid, petty, and self-centered. One by one, they ascended to the
throne and assassinated each other.
(For example, the only official act taken
by Ackal II before his death was to
require imperial permission to explore
ogre ruins; see the thief guilds sidebar
on page 12.) The last of Ergot's sons
was assassinated by his own daughter
when he tried to make slaves of all who
dwelled west of the southern Sentinel
Mountains. (He planned to set them to
work carving the tallest peak into his
own likeness.) When the young woman
attempted to claim the throne, she was
slain by angry priests and warriors
who, thanks to their experience with
Kharolis in the south, believed that
female rulers could only lead the
empire to ruin.
With the end of the Ergot line, the
Quivalin line ascended to the throne
and proceeded to rule ineffectively. For
the next several decades Ergothian warlords fought among themselves, each
believing himself worthy of the throne.
During this quick succession of four
Quivalin emperors, some managed to
expand the borders slightly - Ergoth's
frontier now reached the border of Silvanesti in the east and the very northern tip of the Sentinel Mountains in the
west. However, this expansion could not
equal the growth achieved under Ackal.
The empire grew into a brutal, bestial
realm ruled by tyrants consumed by
their egos and lack of vision.
Although the History of the World
ends with the beginning of this period,
the Iconochronos and recent Ergothian
history texts provide further details.
Ergoth Rising
In 2480PC, the warlord Ackal Dermount
claimed the throne. He had long considered war - internal and external -
detrimental to the empire's welfare.
Upon destroying the last of his opponents, Emperor Ackal IV set aside the
sword of Ergot and began trade with the
Silvanesti elves in the east and the fledgling kender nation of Hylo in the north.
Peace reigned for more than one hundred years, throughout the rule of Ackal
IV and his successors Ackal V and Ackal VI. Humans and elves intermarried, and
the first half-elves became assimilated
into the empire. Humans and dwarves
also intermarried. However, historians
indicate that, unlike half-elves, who
seemed a product of the best that the
human and elf races had to offer, the offspring of human and dwarf unions were
ugly, simpleminded creatures fit for little
more than removing garbage or cleaning
stables. New laws forbade dwarf-human interbreeding and marriages,
and the unfortunate products of these
unions - called "dirt eaters," "muckers,"
or "dump men" - found themselves
cast out of Ergothian settlements. Most
historians consider these creatures the
first gully dwarves (or Aghar, as they
have christened themselves).
Ackal Dermount's grandson, Ackal
VII, ascended to the throne in 2240PC.
In 2200PC he declared Hylo a vassal
state of Ergoth. During the reign of
Ackul VII, stories of human-kender
marriages arc common (including a
few involving the emperor supposedly
having a kender wife). However, most
serious historians consider these
merely tales of political satire spawned
by the fact that the emperor never quite
got the kender to understand the concept of paying taxes and providing
troops for the Ergothian army. Tax collectors in Hylo had to contend with
curved wooden figurines and polished
rocks, while military officers found
themselves commanding bands of
kender ready to go explore the empire.
Troubled Times
The reign of Ackal VII is marked by
increasing tension among humans,
elves, and dwarves. After his death, the
young Emperor Quivalin V ascended to
the throne - Ackal's wife was barren, so
he had named a member of the Quivalin line his successor. Three months
later, rising racial tensions exploded
when human hunters accidentally slew
the Silvanesti ruler, Sithel.
Suspecting the death was no accident, Sithel's older son, Sithas, declared
war on Ergoth. This campaign, dubbed
the Kinslayer War by historians, lasted
more than fifty years. The legendary
imaging wizard General Giarna commanded the empire's legions, while
Kith-Kanan, twin brother of Sithas, led
the elf armies.
Only the first five years of the war
taw any loss or gain of territory; the
Kit devolved into a long, bloody stalemate. The final battle of the war
claimed the life of Giarna, the human
wife and half-elf children of Kith-Kanan, and thousands upon thousands
of elves and humans. Kith-Kanan negotiated a truce with Emperor Quivalin V.
Soon after, western Silvanesti declared
its independence, becoming a land
where elves, half-elves, and humans
Could live together in peace.
In the years following the Kinslayer
War, the empire found itself at odds
with its dwarf neighbors. The governor
of the southeastern province authorized
his people to begin mining in the
Kharolis Mountains near Thorbardin.
A border dispute arose: The dwarves
claimed the mountains as their territory, while the governor, backed by the
Imperial Court, held that they had no
claim on the mountains. After all,
Thorbardin had been built only thanks
to the empire's generosity in permitting
the dwarves access to their mountains.
By 2128PC, negotiations had ended.
The dwarves ceased trading with
Ergoth and began harassing the miners,
as well as caravans heading to western
Silvanesti. When Quivalin VI assumed
the throne in 2120PC, skirmishes
between dwarf warriors and Ergothian
border patrols were the order of the
day. With Quivalin VII's ascension at
the age of thirteen in 2075PC, a full-blown war raged in the Kharolis Mountains, with the settlers in western
Silvanesti caught in the middle.
Young Quivalin VII summoned
Kith-Kanan to Daltigoth, and the elf
leader set about negotiating a truce
between the warring factions, just as he
had for the emperor's grandfather. In
2073PC, Kith-Kanan engineered a peace
treaty between elves, dwarves, and
Ergoth. His new elf nation of Qualinesti would serve as a buffer state
between Ergoth and Thorbardin. The
humans stopped mining the Kharolis
Mountains and the dwarves lifted their
ban on trade. Further, the dwarves
forged a replica of the Hammer of
Reorx and presented it to the Ergothian emperor as a peace offering.
During peace negotiations, the wise
young ruler made a show of breaking
with the past by changing his name;
thereafter, emperors of his line would
be called "Quevalin." He also began a
tradition of passing the gift of the
dwarven hammer from nation to
nation on an annual basis, to reinforce
the spirit of the treaty known as the
Swordsheath Scroll.
Golden Years
With Quevalin VII's reign, the empire
entered a cultural golden age. All the classic forms of Ergothian song, music,
and poetry appeared in their early
stages between 2080PC and 1900PC.
Quevalin VII took steps to encourage
and preserve the performing arts by
founding the Bard College of Lancton.
His son, Quevalin VIII, established the
Imperial University in Gwynned and
also began assembling a large library of
literature and history from all the races
of the world. For the first time, an
emperor encouraged sanctioned looters to retrieve something other than
gold from ogre ruins. At the time of his
death in 1997PC, Quevalin VIII worked
personally to translate ogre texts into
Ergot. Sadly, his work, as well as the
original ogre tablets, has been lost.
Ergothians remember Quevalin IX
as the emperor who created the Senate,
a body to which nobles and wealthy citizens from across the empire could
elect representatives. The Senate's primary duties involved advising the
emperor, supervising the army, funding
large construction projects, and ensuring that capable and fair governors
ruled in the many provinces of Ergoth.
Some of the light of this golden age
shone on Ergoth's neighbors as well.
Dwarven and elven culture prospered
during these years, and in 2000PC, Kith-
Kanan urged further steps to reinforce
the idea of peace in the minds of generations to come. Dwarves, humans, and
elves came together to build the fortress
of Pax Tharkas (an elven name that
means "peace among friends"). Kith-Kanan and Quevalin X both died during the monument's construction, and
both were laid to rest in secret tombs
within the mighty fortress.
Quevalin XI took the throne in
1905PC, five years before the completion of Pax Tharkas. A wizard of the
White Robes, this emperor began ambitious expansion projects of Daltigoth's
Tower of High Sorcery and of the
library his great-grandfather had built.
He also attempted to alter the line of
succession. For centuries, the throne
had passed from father to son and, in
the case of a childless emperor, to a brother, the brother's son, a male cousin
or nephew, and then to any other male
blood relative. Quevalin XI sought to
require that the emperor also belong to
the brotherhood of wizards before he
could take the throne.
This attempt not only frightened
potential Quevalin heirs with no talent
for the arcane arts, it also disturbed
and angered warlords and nobles who
suspected that the emperor ultimately
hoped to elevate sorcerers to an elite
status above all others in the empire. In
1900PC. General Macqui Hellman,
commander of the Imperial Guard, led
a military coup that ended the Quevalin dynasty and placed him on the
throne. Depending on which text one
chooses to believe, Macqui Hellmann
was either a patriot who believed he
was doing the best thing for his country or a sadistic madman whose hunger
for power and personal glory set the
empire on the road to ruin.
Sundering of Empire
Either way, Hellmann's coup marked
the end of just rulership in the empire.
The usurper became the first in a line of
brutal, exploitive emperors, most of
whom appear to have been driven from
their thrones by assassins or court
intrigue. Taxes grew ever more unreasonable, as petty tyrant after petty
tyrant built elaborate monuments to
himself and increasingly corrupt
regional governors lined their deepening pockets. The throne exploited the
resources and riches of the northern
and eastern provinces. The laws against
looting ogre ruins without imperial
permission grew even harsher: anyone
caught near an ogre city without the
proper papers would be killed on sight.
Throughout the reign of Hellmann's successors, the Quisling emperors, small rebellions arose in the north.
The Quislings were also known to disregard the Swordsheath Scroll when it
served their purposes. Imperial legions
swiftly crushed all resistance, however.
During this time, the thief guilds grew
stronger and more powerful in most
Ergothian cities, struggling to break the
empire's ever-tightening grip on the
throat of its people.
In 1812PC, Emperor Emann Quisling appointed the distinguished and
skilled commander Vinas Solamnus to
position of praetor, the highest military
office in the empire. From the moment
he saved the emperor from assassinaion on his wedding day, Solamnus had
carned the respect of both the empire's
military and political leaders. However,
he had a reputation of being somewhat
naive when it came to politics. Quisling
hoped to manipulate Solamnus and
control those who admired him.
Solamnus served Quisling loyally
lor eleven years. His most notable
achievements during this time include:
- Leading the force that in 1808PC
destroyed a band of half-elf cutthroats that had been attacking and
looting caravans around Caergoth;
- Risking life and limb when, in
1804PC, crazed priests of Takhisis
abducted Quisling's sister. With the
aid of a band of adventurers (including a mage named Fistandantilus),
Solamnus saved the royal lady from
being thrown into Raekel's Pit to
complete some dark ritual (the pit is
described in "Sikk'et Hul Province").
However, in 1801 PC, events were set in
motion that would forever turn Solamnus away from the empire he had
devoted his life to defend.
The peasant revolts that came to be
known as the Solanthian Troubles took
place in the empire's northeastern
provinces surrounding Vingaard and
Solanthus in the spring of 1801 PC.
Local outpost commanders could not
contain the rebels, so Solamnus was
sent with a large body of troops to
quell the rebellion personally.
The insurrectionists and their
peasant army were no match for a
skilled commander like Solamnus, so
initial victories came swiftly - yet they
yielded no results. Solamnus's army
slaughtered hundreds of peasants,
armed with pitchforks and stolen
swords they hardly knew how to use.
In an effort to avoid an endless string
of massacres, Solamnus visited the
rebel headquarters at Vingaard Keep
under flag of truce. There he learned
the truth: The empire had provoked
the Vingaard Uprising and the other
recent revolts through repressive
treatment of its citizens.
In a period that historians refer to
as "The Year of Waiting," Solamnus
reviewed the details of the peasants'
cause, all the while doing what he
could to ease their plight. He did his
best to stall the emperor's inquiries of
progress and diverted the attentions of
couriers from Daltigoth who came to
check on his status. However, in
1798pc, Solamnus learned that the
emperor had refused his request for
permanent assignment to Vingaard
and planned to send his grand-nephew
to take over the post. The time had
come to act. In a stirring speech, the
praetor announced his intention to
lead the rebellion against the empire
and inspired most of his army to do
the same. Those who would not join
him, he allowed to leave.
The provinces of northern Ergoth
rallied to Solamnus's banner, and the
peasants trained in the ways of soldiering. Nonetheless, Solamnus knew his
forces were not ready to take on the
imperial legions that would be sent to
relieve him of command once his former followers told the emperor of the
events at Vingaard. Rather than rush
forward with poorly trained troops,
Solamnus's army fought to keep the
legions from gaining too much strength
in the north, while the peasant forces
grew in size and competence.
By early 1794PC, Solamnus declared
his forces ready to go on the offensive.
For three years, they fought in northern Ergoth, primarily on the plains
between Vingaard and Thelgaard.
None of the emperor's commanders
had Solamnus's command of tactics,
sense of purpose, or skill in oratory.
Historians estimate that Solamnus
caused as many legions to join his "Rose Rebellion" as he defeated on the
battlefields. Even troops from other
Swordsheath nations joined his army.
In 1792PC, Vinas Solamnus's Swordsheath Army marched on Daltigoth.
With skill and daring, he evaded or
defeated Ergoth's remaining legions. As
winter was about to set in, he laid siege to
the imperial capital itself. However, a foul
trick lured Solamnus into the city and,
victim of a ruse, he accidentally killed the
empress. He was captured and sentenced
to die in midwinter. However, on the day
of his hanging, local peasants loyal to
Solamnus helped his army breach the
city walls, rescue the praetor, and take
the capital. Quisling fled.
By early spring. Emperor Quisling
surrendered, agreeing to permit provinces unhappy with imperial rule to
forge their own nations. Many western
provinces, close to Daltigoth, remained
loyal to the empire. Most northeastern
provinces and Hylo asserted their independence. The human nations declared
Solamnus their lord, and he signed the
Swordsheath Scroll on their behalf.
A New Era
Ergoth's time as the dominant nation
of the world had come to an end. As
the new realms in the north and east
grew strong and prospered, Ergoth
foundered under a string of incompetent, corrupt, and even insane emperors. The thief guilds began to emerge as
a major force in many Ergothian cities.
By 1480PC, the nation of Solamnia had
replaced Ergoth as Ansalon's major
military power, while Istar, a dynamic
union of city-states beyond the Khalkist Mountains, had become the center
of trade.
With increasing trade competition
from Istar, Emperor Theolonius Lekaer
II renewed the Swordsheath Scroll in
an elaborate ceremony with the rulers
of Qualinesti and Thorbardin in
1234PC. The three nations prospered
through trade and cultural exchanges
once again, and the Lekaers became the
first dynasty since the fall of the Quevalin line almost seven hundred years
prior. However, this relatively brief
period of prosperity came to an end
when Ergoth became one of the primary battlegrounds for the Third
Dragon War.
In 1060PC, plots by the Dark Queen
came to fruition, and hundreds of
dragons filled the skies of Ansalon, ravaging cities and sweeping smaller
realms from the map. Emperor Lekaer
IV marshalled what forces he could,
but even Solamnia could not withstand
the onslaught of the dragons. For four
decades, the Evil wyrms wreaked havoc
upon the land. The faith of the Ergothians in their emperor and in the gods
began to fade as nothing seemed able
to stop the dragons.
It was Lekaer IV and his primary
magical adviser and instructor, Fistandantilus (an apprentice of Giarna from
the Kinslayer War, well-versed in matters
of war as well as immortality) who
spurred the Orders of High Sorcery to
create mighty magical weapons to use
against the dragons. The wizards met at
the Tower of High Sorcery in Palanthas
and created the fabled Dragon Orbs.
In the end, the war was won by a
single man: A young Solamnic Knight
named Huma Dragonbane personally
confronted and defeated Takhisis, forcing her to take her dragons from the
world once again. Although the records
from most realms during this time are
spotty or confused, most historians
agree that Huma's legendary battle took
place in 1018PC.
The Road to Cataclysm
Ergoth was slow to rebuild after the
Third Dragon War. Other nations
eagerly accepted aid from the growing
realm of Istar, but Lekaer V and his
successors forever hoped to return their
empire to the glory days it had once
known without any such charity. In
947pc, shortly after ascending to the
throne, Lekaer VII wrote, "Istar comes
with smiles and open purses. But under
her robes she hides poisoned daggers,
which she will drive into the hearts of
those who will not accept her overtures. Such is not friendship, but the
relation of a would-be slavemaster to
property. Ergoth, the mightiest nation
in Ansalon, will never be the slave of
merchants who want to be kings."
Lekaer's words angered many of
Ansalon's rulers, but a century later his
words appeared prophetic. In 850PC,
Istar began imposing and aggressively
enforcing trade standards upon all
other realms. By 673PC, when Istar
attempted to gain exclusive control
over trade lanes and key ports -
including many Silvanesti and Ergothian
cities - the trade capital began waging
open war against the empire and the elf
kingdom. Ergothian war galleys
attacked Istaran privateers and merchant vessels, while the elven fleet
blockaded Istar's harbor, preventing all
vessels from entering or leaving.
When Istar appealed to Solamnia for
aid, the militaristic realm convinced the
signers of the Swordsheath Scroll to let
Istar add its name. The mercantile
realm proceeded to sign additional
treaties with the kender and dwarves.
Increasingly over the next years, Istar
became the dictator of Swordsheath
Scroll nations and policies. Soon every
realm in Ansalon had signed it and, by
the middle of the fourth century PC,
the Swordsheath Scroll also had become
known as the Istaran Greatmeld. Ergoth
and Silvanesti were the only two nations
who had refused to join. Although the
Imperial Court maintained cordial relations with Istar, Ergoth traded only with
Silvanesti and Thorbardin.
In 280PC, however, even cordial
relations ceased. That year, Istar
declared itself the moral center of the
world and installed its first Kingpriest.
The move outraged Ergothian priests
and offended Emperor Gwynned II of
the dynasty that followed the Lekaer
emperors. He issued a proclamation
that no one realm could be considered
the moral center of the world, since
that center existed with the gods, not
with man. However, when Solamnia
swiftly applauded the effort, Ergoth
severed all relations with Istar.
Over the next two centuries, Istar
became more corrupt with power than the empire had been at its worst. Militaristic Solamnia served as Istar's primary fighting force, most of the
Knights believing the Kingpriest a
supreme agent of Good. Only Ergoth's
priests continued to speak out against
the Kingpriest, and their voices were
weakening: Istaran religion had taken
hold even in Ergoth. People were shifting away from the traditional view that
each individual enjoyed a personal
relationship with his god of choice,
facilitated by priests. Instead, they
began to see the Kingpriest of Istar as
the only true source of divine knowledge from gods too distant to worry
about each individual on Krynn.
A succession of Kingpriests continued to pass increasingly harsh, restrictive edicts. With the Proclamation of
Manifest Virtue in 118pc, Istar
asserted its moral outlook upon all of
Ansalon with a list of "evils." One of
those evils was directed squarely at the
Emperor of Ergoth: "It is a sin to
adopt a title more grand than 'king.'
Paladine is the Emperor of Dragons,
and any who would adopt a similar
title do belittle him."
Gwynned V issued a proclamation of
his own: The Istaran document held no
meaning to Ergothian citizens. In the
empire, it stated, only the gods can truly
judge virtue. Still, the Kingpriest continued to gain followers, even in Ergoth.
Then, after almost a thousand years
of ceaseless decline, Ergoth saw a rise in
both cultural activity and religious fervor. In 39PC, the empire's priests - of
Good, Evil, and Neutral gods - received
visions that the mighty Istar would fall
due to the corruption of the Kingpriest.
They began speaking this prophecy,
ignoring Istaran and Solamnian threats
to punish them for such heresy. Their
sermons boosted national pride
throughout the empire and filled the
temples like they hadn't been since
Solamnia split from the empire. New
works of art centered not around
emperors and governors but instead
around the glorious achievements of
Ergoth's people. Some provinces that had declared independence, like the
region that would become Ackal, even
rejoined the empire.
Meanwhile, Istar declared wizardry
Evil and attempted to disband the
Orders of High Sorcery. When the
actions of the Kingpriest's followers in
Daltigoth resulted in the destruction of
the Tower of High Sorcery there (and
the neighborhoods around it) in 19PC,
local religious fervor rose to a fanatical
level. Gwynned VI fanned the fires. The
corrupt ruler of Istar had declared war
upon Ergoth, he said, and now Ergoth
would strike back!
Weakened by Solamnian and
Istaran trade sanctions, however, the
empire's "war" amounted to only a few
skirmishes at first. Meanwhile, the
Kingpriest in distant Istar proclaimed
Emperor Gwynned VI an agent of Evil.
However, increasing armed resistance
by goblins, minotaurs, elves, kender,
and other races declared Evil by the
Proclamation of Manifest Virtue kept
Istar's forces too busy in the East to act
on the pronouncement. Even the
Solamnic Knights began to feel disenchanted with Istar's oppressive edicts.
Gradually, Gwynned VI built an
army large enough to strike against
Solamnia, and from there against Istar
itself. By 8PC, the border skirmishes had
erupted into full-fledged warfare. By
IPC, the Ergothian army had laid siege
to Thelgaard and Solanthus in the
north, while combined human and
dwarf forces occupied Xak Tsaroth in
the south, preparing a push toward the
Khalkist Mountains.
But then Gwynned VI died sud-
denly while his son, Gwynned VII, was
barely in his teens. This gentle soul
despised war and harbored deep-seated
superstitions. He also feared the power
of the Kingpriest so, even as his armies
made ready to press toward victory,
Gwynned VII ordered a halt.
Less than one month later, the Cataclysm struck. Thousands of Ergothians
died, including Gwynned VII and most
of the imperial legions, as the empire
was ripped from mainland Ansalon.
Tidal waves swept across the plains
where Ergoth's armies battled the
Solamnians, drowning troops and cities
in what became the Straits of Algoni
and the New Sea.
Post-Cataclysm Ergoth
The centuries after the Cataclysm saw
Ergoth finally die as an empire, though
the emperor remains. The current Redic
dynasty succeeded a series of petty
despots who attempted to claim the
trone during the Shadow Years. These
rulers have tried valiantly to pull Ergoth
together as a nation, but the dragon-armies, internal divisions (see the "Ackal
Province" section), and the presence of
ogres and other races on the islands that
once made up the empire have rendered
their efforts fruitless.
During the War of the Lance,
Emperor Mercadior Redic V lent most
of the empire's standing army to the
assault on Neraka. Yet even that laudable effort did not bring the attention
of the world back to Ergoth.
Ergoth escaped the Summer of
Chaos and the Dragon Purge virtually
untouched. The strength and fierce
pride of the Ergothians staved off Dark
Knight attacks in Ergoth proper, while
goblins repelled an attempted landing
by the Knights of Takhisis in the southern province of Sikk'et Hul.
Today, many Ergothians think their
current Emperor Redic VI has more or
less handed the empire over to the
Solamnians. They applaud the magnanimous gesture of allowing refugees from
the Blue Dragon's realm to settle in
Northern Ergoth's hinterlands, and they
know the influx of settlers has given the
empire a much-needed population
boost. However, they find it disturbing
that the Knights of Solamnia, with their
tradition of short-sightedness and siding
with Ergoth's enemies, now outnumber
imperial legions in military strength.
Nonetheless, most Ergothians feel
that the events of the last few decades
have set the stage for their empire's
return to Krynn's center stage. Today,
Northern Ergoth remains the only land not ravaged by the Great Dragons or
the Knights of Takhisis. And with the
relocation of some scholars from the
Great Library and the university in
Palanthas, the empire has regained its
place as Ansalon's cultural capital.
Current Happenings
Emperor Mercadior Redic VI (human
adult male, kind demeanor, Champion)
works today to engineer Ergoth's rise
from the ashes.
Politics
Ergoth is ruled by a dynastic emperor.
A Senate comprised of wealthy
landowners, merchants, and nobles
advises him, but the emperor remains
the ultimate authority in all matters -
including appointing and dismissing
members of the thirty-nine-seat Senate.
Today Redic VI presides over an
Ergoth with a changing political face.
The Solamnic Knights that have relocated to Ergoth proper form a strong
deterrent against Dark Knight invasion
attempts. However, rumors hold that
Redic VI has tried to push Solamnic
leaders on Sancrist to commit their
support to aggressive action as well.
Redic VI also seeks to bring the provinces of Ackal and Sikk'et Hul more
firmly under his control. So far, the
Knights have not stated whether they
wish to involve themselves in such ventures, but they have appeared at more
and more Senate meetings of late.
One important semiofficial political
force in the empire is the thief guilds
(see sidebar on page 12). These societies have emerged as guardians against
abuse of power in the hands of the ruling class. The guilds don't trust the
Solamnic Knights and fear that Redic
VI's desire to restore glory to the
empire may cause him to cede too
much control of Ergoth's destiny to
them. In the past, thief guilds have
moved against even emperors, and they
stand poised to do so again if necessary.
Today in Ergoth
Throughout Ergoth proper, rumors
abound of an imminent attack on the
unruly northern province of Ackal.
Whispered conversations around
Gwynned hold that spies, scouts, and
assassins have moved into Ackal on a
variety of missions. Redic VI's ministers have increased the incentives to
explore the ogre ruins in the Sentinel
Mountains to search for treasure,
apparently seeking to use the empire's
cut of any finds to fund a new venture.
On a more academic front, scholars
from Ergoth and Solamnia have compared texts from each others' libraries,
revealing little-known facts about the
conflicts between their nations, the origin of Solamnia, and the founding of
the Solamnic orders. In fact, Gwynned
tavern tales say that a pair of scholars -
a Solamnian named Strom Vintein and
an Ergothian named Terras Fellician -
recently uncovered forgotten details
about Vinas Solamnus's Quest of
Honor, which led him to found his
Knighthood. The Solamnian reportedly
told a friend that what they had uncovered would change the way the world
viewed Solamnus and the Knighthood.
Before they could reveal any details,
however, they vanished with their notes
and reference books. Their mutilated
bodies were dragged from Gwynned's
harbor a few days later, but the books
and notes remain missing.
In the interest of maintaining
peaceful relations between the Solamnian refugees and native Ergothians, the
Solamnic Grand Master and the
Ergothian Praetor have offered a joint
bounty to learn who killed the scholars
and why. Gwynned's Thieves' Guild has
also issued a bounty - to recover the
missing notes and books. They think
these notes hold secrets so awful that
the Knights of Solamnia will do anything to suppress them. Thus, if the
Thieves' Guild can get that information, they can control the Solamnics.
Actal Province
Most of Ansalon, having only the
empire's word on the state of affairs in
Northern Ergoth, has no idea of the
separatist nature of Ackal province.
This loose federation of barbarian
tribes long ago rejected Ergothian civilization and returned to the ways of Ackal Ergot, seeking to regain the power
and glory he enjoyed at the dawn of his
empire. Each of the nine families that
led the initial departure four hundred
years ago gave its name to a tribe.
Today, three tribes have left Northern
Ergoth to settle elsewhere and two have
departed Ackal. The remaining tribes of
Brindal, Karthan, Tran, and Vakt look to
the leadership of their overchief rather
than any emperor and fiercely patrol
their province, killing any outsider who
violates their territory.
Important Holdings
Wild Ackal, in the northern region of the
island, has no capital city. Instead, each of
the province's four major tribes takes a
small stronghold as its seat of power.
These holdings consist of a keep belonging to the chief and a village built around
it which, in turn, is encircled by stone
walls and moats. These structures, built
in the first and second centuries after the
Cataclysm, have been scrupulously maintained by generations of Ackalites.
While the defenses of Ackal's villages remain as sound as the day they
were built, most of them could not
withstand a concerted assault using
magic or modern warfare techniques.
(The one exception is Ker-Vakt, whose
citizens continuously upgrade and
expand its defenses due to its position
on the border with Ergoth proper.)
Noteworthy Settlements
Unlike most longstanding communities,
the villages ofAckal have not grown
over the years, instead ranging in size
from three hundred to eight hundred.
The population has remained more or
less constant for the past two centuries,
thanks to a number of factors, such as:
- Losing inhabitants who leave to
form new tribes;
- The nation's warlike nature; and
- A high infant mortality rate, particularly among baby girls.
Beacon. The most modern settlement in Ackal is Beacon, a lighthouse
and fortified port built around 310AC
by mariners from Saifhum to reinforce
their ties with Ackal. (Saifhum was
settled in part by seafaring Ackalites
who left Ergoth to seek a home free of
imperial threat.) Although far more
progressive than their prickly Ackalite
cousins, the mariners try to nourish a
bond between the two peoples.
The Saifhum settlers sought to use
Beacon as a waystation near their
Solamnian trading partners, thus
allowing them to bypass river pirate
tariffs on the Vingaard. However, they
quickly tired of the constant arguments
with the Ackalites, who insisted on
applying their restrictive social codes to
Saifhum's women - many of whom
captained their own ships.
Now, Beacon serves primarily as a
staging point for Ackalite pirate activity, while the lighthouse - featuring a
light that, through the wonders of magical technology, cuts through even the
thickest fog - serves as a reference
point for ship captains attempting to
round the island's north tip on the way
to the realm of Gunthar at night.
While other settlements consist of a
single tribe and chieftain. Beacon is
home to about three hundred people
from various tribes, all of whom look
for leadership to Ackal's overchief,
Tambov Reknal (human elder male, vigilant demeanor, Master).
Ker-Brindal. South of Beacon lies
Ker-Brindal, a community of some four hundred people. Before traders
from Saifhum more or less surrendered
Beacon to the Ackalites, Ker-Brindal
was one of two main staging areas for
pirate activity (Ker-Karthan being the
other). These days, Ker-Brindal has
become primarily an agricultural village. Surrounding fields reach as far
inland as the ruins of Truth, and local
herdsmen tend their sheep and horses
on the plain between Ker-Brindal and
Beacon. Ackalite mystics have learned
to make the sandy soil more fertile
magically, allowing this region to supply food for the entire province. Sheep
provide wool that traders barter to the
kender of Hylo for wood.
The Brindal chief, Dal Quenalen
(human young adult male, determined
demeanor, Adventurer), assumed leadership of his tribe only recently, following the death of his father in an
unsuccessful attack on a merchant ship
bound for Gunthar. Dal feels very
unsatisfied with his tribe's current
direction. He doesn't believe his people
should be rooting in the dirt or tending
animals - they are warriors, and warriors take what they need from the
weak. He tried to convince Overchief
Tambov Reknal to give his tribe control
over Beacon's lighthouse and port, so
the Brindals can regain their former
warrior status. The overchief refused
the request, so Dal intends to challenge
him for his position next year.
Ker-Tran. A tribe more than happy
to leave the warrior's life behind them is
the Tran - although without them, there
could be no warfare. In the village of
Ker-Tran live the vast majority ofAckal's
metalworkers and weaponsmiths. For
countless generations - since well before
the Cataclysm - Tran ancestors worked
as master smiths. Before the rise of the
Ackalites, they tended their forges in
Truth. However, when the lord of that
city refused to bend to the fanatics, they
made an example of the town by leveling it. The Ackalites shortly after the
Cataclysm thought themselves unstoppable, since they could destroy a city that
produced the empire's finest weapons - never mind that most of its citizens were
craftsmen and miners, not warriors.
The same holds true of Ker-Tran
today - it is a community of craftsmen,
who pass their art from father to son.
Other chieftains scoff at Chief Oklar
Tran (human adult male, resolute
demeanor, Champion) and his tribesmen behind their backs for their consistent poor showing during festival
tournaments. However, the scoffing
goes only so far. Everyone remembers
twenty years ago when, to earn respect
for his people, Oklar's father halted all
mining, let the forges lay idle, and
refused to mend armor. Other chiefs
launched an armed assault on Ker-Tran, only to find the walls defended
by a variety of built-in mechanical
traps and defenses - not to mention by
the village's men and boys, not as helpless with weapons as other chieftains
liked to think. When it mattered, they
defended Ker-Tran and their honor
with great skill and ferocity.
Afterward, it was three months
before Ker-Tran would mine ore or
make or repair weapons for anyone but
members of their own tribe. Other villages tried to use their own smiths, with
less than stellar results. The fact that the
Tran tribe controlled the only unspent
mine in Ackal made matters even more
difficult. Tran's father got the acknowledgment he wanted, and the tribe went
back to work. Tran has continued in his
father's footsteps, and his people have
suffered no open disrespect.
Ker-Karthan. Southeast of Ker-Tran
lies coastal Ker-Karthan. In this sea barbarian village, the Ackalites build most
of their ships. Locals trade weapons
and small metal items for lumber from
Kenderhome, then float the logs down
the Moon River to Serpent Bay, where
the community's master ship builders
turn them into some of the finest and
fastest sloops Ansalon has ever known.
Only the ships of Saifhum can outdistance Ackalite sloops.
The chief of the Karthan tribe is
Sarkhem Nord (human middle-aged
male, brutal demeanor, Champion), a bloodthirsty buccaneer who leaves just
a single survivor on any ship he attacks,
to help his reputation grow. He carefully balances his tribe's activities
among pirating, ship building, and
(surprisingly) scholarly efforts to
improve ship-building techniques and
further the science of navigation. While
he shares the Ackalite belief in attaining
glory by following the ways of Ackal
Ergot, Chief Nord doesn't consider
advancing the technologies of war contrary to that philosophy.
Ker-Vakt. The settlement that sums
up the Ackalite nature as perceived by
other Ergothians is Ker-Vakt. This massive fortress consists of a stone keep surrounded by moats and earthen works
fraught with pit traps, archer positions
concealed by brambles, and false gates
that lead to killing zones. Ackalite troops
drill constantly on and around the
defensive structures, and large work
crews consisting of slaves and convicted
criminals work constantly to expand the
fortress and change trap locations. The
rotting bodies of spies, traitors, and Ackalite warriors who just couldn't meet the
commander's high standards serve as
grisly ornamentations, impaled on
wooden and metal spikes.
While Overchief Reknal resides in
Beacon, his son, Sorath (human adult
male, inventive demeanor, Adventurer),
handles tribal concerns in Ker-Vakt.
Built in response to Castle Hillfal, this
fortress town provides a formidable
defense. Though not as impressive in
appearance as the Solamnic citadels on
the mainland, it remains impenetrable -
as commanders who have attempted
strikes against Ackal can attest. The Alunatal River, impassible on both banks,
forms another impressive barrier.
Major Ruins
In addition to the ruins of the lost ogre
civilization that dot the Sentinel Mountains are the remnants of human cities.
Such a site, called Truth, lies in the
northern tip of the range.
Before the first Cataclysm, this
bustling city of fifteen thousand held a
place of honor in the empire as a major
religious center. Every one of Krynn's
gods had a temple here, whether the
government officially endorsed the religion or not. Further, Truth housed
countless shrines to lesser entities, such
as the nature spirits honored by some
Kagonesti and barbarian tribes. At the
empire's zenith, Truth served as a resting stop for pilgrims on their way to
World's Heart. Only Daltigoth rivaled it
as a cultural center.
All that ended with the Kingpriest's
ill-fated attempt to command the gods.
The city's priests all vanished on the eve
of Istar's destruction, one seer claiming
moments before she vanished: "The
black Knight of the Rose has doomed
Istar, the empire, and even his own
homeland. Draco Paladin chose ill when
he put his trust in a man of Solamnia."
Truth escaped the Cataclysm
unscathed, but fell a few short years
later when a murderous army of Ackalites descended upon the city to loot
the temples and take revenge upon gods
who had devastated the world. Historians estimate that the invaders mercilessly slaughtered ten thousand men,
women, and children. Vengeful Ackalite
leaders had the fields sown with salt,
and their shamans placed powerful
curses upon each and every temple.
To this day, guards still patrol the
city to drive off the occasional treasure
seeker. Legend holds, however, that
Truth was the site of the return of
Manthus, the Ergothian god of war and
scholarship, after an adventurer reconsecrated the temple here in the early
days of the War of the Lance.
Mystic Places
Ackal boasts two confirmed mystic sites,
both in the Sentinel Mountains. (Some
suspect that the ruins of Truth contain
at least one more, but this is uncertain.)
World's Heart. The best-known
mystic place is World's Heart. Located
at the center of the remains of an ogre
city, on a plateau overlooking Truth,
World's Heart has been a fabled site
since the founding of the empire.
According to legend, Ackal Ergot
became the first human to lay eyes on
the city since the ancient humans shed
their ogre bonds. While exploring, he
came upon an immense stone that
pulsed with a reddish glow and gave off
a faint sound not unlike a heartbeat. It
is said that World's Heart inspired a
vision in the barbarian warrior that
encouraged him to embark upon the
path of empire building.
World's Heart sits in a large arenalike structure. The weatherworn
fragments of the arena's dome lie scattered about, yet the stone remains
untouched by wind and weather. Even
in winter, snow never falls upon it.
Pilgrims used to journey to World's
Heart in the hopes of receiving a
vision, as Ackal did. One must place
one's hands upon the stone and clear
one's mind, they believed; visions will
come to the worthy. Unfortunately, this
tradition ended when the Ackalites
destroyed Truth after the first Cataclysm. Now, World's Heart serves as the
site for Ackalite council meetings and
challenges to the overchief. Powerful
mystics and warriors guard the site at
all times, emerging from the ogre ruins
to slay trespassing explorers, adventurers, and seekers of knowledge.
World's Heart does not seem affected
by the departure of the gods or any other
madness of the events three decades ago.
It continues to pulse rhythmically, and
the overchiefs of the modern age still
claim it guides them with visions.
The Moon Steps. Ackal's second
mystical site once held one of Ansalon's
"celestial ladders" (the most famous
being the Silver Stair on Schallsea).
Essentially, celestial ladders are steps
that seem suspended in midair, winding around an invisible post up into
the sky. Purportedly, these mystical
conveyances would transport the worthies who climbed them to Godshome,
and those found lacking to the Abyss.
When the gods left Ansalon, the
three moons that had hung in the night
sky for millennia vanished. At the same
moment, the Moon Steps collapsed, tumbling down on the shrines devoted
to the gods of magic at their base. However, after a visit there some years back,
representatives of the Citadel of Light
say the ruined Moon Steps remain rife
with arcane energy. Even sorcerers find
their magic much easier to use here,
especially when the pale moon that
replaced the old ones is full.
Main Populace
The human barbarians of Ergoth's
northernmost province are known as
Ackalites. Most have dark skin, black
hair, and brown eyes.
Like their neighbors in Ergoth
proper, Ackalites speak Ergot.
Description
Men of Ackal commonly dress in
leathers when not expecting battle.
When preparing for war or meeting to
discuss tribal business, most wear
ornately filigreed or engraved leather
or scale armor. Men wear their hair
cropped close to the head and always
carry at least one weapon.
Women wear loose-fitting cloth
robes and veils in public. Tradition forbids them to cut their hair, which they
wear in dozens of braids arranged in
complex patterns.
Culture
Ackalite tribes have grown even more
patriarchal than the larger segment of
Ergothian society. Females are considered the property of their fathers until
they bear a child - when they become
the property of the baby's father. The
single exception is the daughter of a
man with no sons. This Ackalite daughter, raised to carry on the family line as
a son would, may crew a ship, or practice a trade, or even join a war band.
Marriage is an unknown institution
among the Ackalites, though extended
families hold great importance, particularly when one of the frequent blood
feuds erupt. Both men and women
enjoy genealogical study as a pastime,
and most chiefs claim to trace their roots back to Ackal Ergot or some
other hero of Ergoth's glory days.
Ackal province and its people
embody all that is negative about the
Ergothian mind-set. Since the first Cataclysm, they have engaged in violence
for its own sake and for conquest.
However, they remain highly organized and exist within a rigid set of
laws and behavioral codes supposedly
handed down from Ackal Ergot himself. These codes contain guidelines on
everything from how a woman should
care for her man's boots to the proper
way of dividing loot from raids. In
truth, however, these laws only vaguely
resemble ancient Ergothian legal codes.
Several varieties of bloodsports, similar to those practiced in Ergoth proper,
enjoy popularity in Ackal as well.
Trade
The Ackalites consider raiding and
piracy the honorable way of sustaining
themselves. The only realm they trade
with regularly is Hylo. The tribes practice a strict barter system among their
towns, each of which specializes in a
different craft. This way of doing business suits the kender just fine. In particular, the Ackalites trade a variety of
objects - which they plundered or
crafted themselves - for the right to cut
lumber in northern Kenderhome.
History
In 8PC, Emperor Gwynned VI invaded
Solamnia, vassal state of reviled Istar. At
the height of the campaign, however, the
emperor died and his young successor,
Gwynned VII, ordered the legions to
halt. Not long after, the Cataclysm struck.
The coincidence of these events led
many Ergothians to believe the gods
were punishing them for becoming soft.
This notion led a vast segment of the
surviving population to return to the
barbaric ways ofAckal Ergot, the violent
nomadic chief who had founded the
empire more than two thousand years
earlier. Arming themselves, these folk
went on killing sprees, "conquering"
neighboring villages, "vanquishing"
unsuspecting travelers, and looting and
pillaging everywhere they went.
Of course, these "Ackalites" bore no
resemblance to their ancient forebears;
they became nothing more than vicious
killers. Still, with each passing month,
their numbers swelled. By 30AC, a second generation of Ackalites had come
of age, and all land north of the Dermount River and Hylo had fallen to
them. More interested in power and
wealth than wanton slaughter, these
younger warriors seemed closer in spirit
to Ackal Ergot than their twisted parents had been. They even defeated the
coastal city of Gulfport, which the previous generation had never been able to
do. With ships at their disposal, the
Ackalites set their sights on Gwynned
and the rest of the world, intending to
bring back the glory of Ergoth from the
ashes of a world sundered by the gods.
The Ackalites might have succeeded if
not for Baridor Redic, an aging warrior
who would one day become emperor.
Redic beat the Ackalites back to the northern bank of the Alunatal River,
freeing the towns they had enslaved and
ending their reign of terror. After breaking the tribes as an effective fighting
force, Redic began rebuilding the freed
cities. He also ordered the construction
of Castle Hillfal, from which he could
personally watch over the Ackalites to
ensure that they would never again
threaten civilization.
Today, the emperor allows the province of Ackal to exist virtually as a sovereign realm. Every few years, Ergothian
troops make a show of force and the
imperial fleet blockades the harbors of
Ker-Brindal and Ker-Karthan to remind
the wayward tribes that, like it or not,
they remain a part of the empire.
Current Happenings
Over the centuries, the Ackalites have
continued to cling to the belief that they
are what Ackal Ergot intended for his
people. Ironically, as time has passed,
the tribes have drifted further from the
traditions of their beloved ancestor than
most of them would like to admit.
Politics
Ackal is ruled by the Council of Chiefs.
Each chief rules his tribe for life, and
his word is law for his tribe and its
lands. The leader of the council, the
overchief, mediates disputes among the
tribes and may command all warriors
when Ackal comes under attack.
An overchief holds his title for three
years, after which time he must prove he
remains worthy of the honor. At the
summer solstice of the appointed year,
the overchief travels to World's Heart
along with tribal shamans and anyone
wishing to contest his right to lead
them. The overchief fights each contender in single combat to the death.
The victor of the day becomes overchief.
While it may not seem fair that the
reigning overchief must fight several
fresh opponents in short succession, the
Ackalites believe their chief must be like
Ackal Ergot - able to fend off attacks
from all sides and still have the strength
to lead his people on to glory. An overchief incapable of meeting this standard
would rather die in battle than permit his
weakness to endanger all the tribes.
The present overchief, Tambov
Reknal (human elder male, vigilant
demeanor, Master), comes from the Vakt
tribe. His reputation for shrewd and
ruthless behavior has sparked rumors
that he has entertained emissaries from
the Dark Knights ofPalanthas. Other
reports indicate that Reknal seeks to
forge tighter alliances among the tribes of
Ackal. Of course, either one of these circumstances would raise concerns in the
Imperial Court. However, the coincidence of the stories has imperial advisers
and generals agitating for swift, fierce
action to prevent Reknal from bringing
the horrors of the mainland to Ergoth.
For now, however, the emperor has
agreed merely to send representatives
to open discussions with Tambov Reknal. The overchief graciously received
them, listened to their accounts of the
emperor's concerns, then sent them
back to Gwynned with not the faintest
hint as to his long-term goals.
Today in Ackal
Overchief Reknal knows he will face challenges from several lesser chiefs when his
term expires at next year's solstice. Whispered rumors hold that, rather than wait
for the challenge at World's Heart, he
uses covert violence to force would-be
challengers back into line.
Each tribe traditionally provides the
overchief with a dozen men for annual
service in Beacon. Recently, Reknal has
ordered each tribe to provide half again
as many additional warriors and has
begun massing ships. Troop commanders have been training the men harder
than usual, which makes the Imperial
Court in Gwynned increasingly concerned that the overchief plans to
launch an assault against Ergoth proper.
Another rumor holds that Chief
Nord of the Karthan tribe is not as
interested in furthering the art of war
at sea as he is in treasure seeking. Some
claim that he discovered references to a
land west of Ansalon while investigating a little-known section of ogre ruins
at the head of the Moon River. Supposedly, this land holds untold riches and
Nord wants to send his ships to raid it.
Ogaral Province
Like Ackal, Ogaral is a province that
enjoys rather a "hands-off" policy from
the empire. Emperor Redic VI seems
more interested in assimilating
Solamnian refugees and trying to predict the Dark Knights' next move than
in bringing the monster-ridden province back under his firm control.
Important Holdings
In truth, Ogaral is hardly a province
even in name. This tiny northeastern
region just north of Hylo has no major
cities. In fact, it contains no towns at all,
nor mystic sites - just one prominent
ruin on the Isle of the Serpent and
some scattered settlements of trolls.
The only large structure in the entire
province is an offshore tower - all that
remains of Fort Ogaral, once the mightiest citadel in the northern empire. The
Cataclysm washed away most of the
fortress, leaving only a single tower clinging to a wave-battered, rocky island.
The rest of the province comprises a
small tract of rocky high ground along
Northern Ergoth's coast and some
swampy territory along the east bank of
the Moon River. Trolls make their homes
in makeshift shelters. The broken bones
of thousands of trollish dinners litter the
area around their dwellings, jutting from
the ground like spikes. To approach these
settlements without injuring feet or
footwear, one must approach very
carefully - or wear hard boots.
Main Populace
Two distinct packs of trolls populate
the province of Ogaral. None of the
local folk speak a language other than
their native Troll.
The trolls' effective ruler is a naga, a
snakelike monster with a human head
and great intelligence and magical
powers (see Chapter Six of the Book of
the Fifth Age). It purportedly dwells in
the ruin of Fort Ogaral's one remaining
tower. This creature, known as T'ragna
to those outside the province, has the
following game characteristics:
T'ragna: A naga. Co 8, Ph 30, In 8, Es 8, Dmg +7, Def -3, also spit
poison, sensitivity, necromancy,
mediation, sorcery (divination,
transmutation, enchantment).
Description
Most of the time, little of interest takes
place in Ogaral province. However, at
every full moon, all the trolls in both
packs swim across the narrow channel
from their homes to the ruined tower
on the Isle of the Serpent. There they
remain for three days, during which
time eerie howls and the haunting
sounds of raspy voices raised in weird
song float out over the sea.
Clearly, the trolls visit the island each
month to perform some manner of ritual, but no one knows its purpose. Neither have observers discerned any
apparent result of this practice, but they
do note that the odd behavior seemed to
begin only after the Second Cataclysm.
Culture
Trolls generally don't have a culture or
society outside their immediate pack, but
somehow T'ragna has instilled within
these stupid creatures a basic sense of
honor and kinship. The two troll packs
now cooperate in patrolling and watching over their swampy little domain.
Trade
T'ragna has been known to foretell the
future or use sorcerous powers in
exchange for slaves or rare gems. Dark
Knights, Ackalites, and minotaurs who
have visited the naga over recent
decades report that the creature seems
unerring in its prophecies. What
T'ragna does with these people and
items is unknown, but some link their
fate to the apparent increase in the
local trolls' intelligence. The monster's
preferred slave stock includes dwarves,
goblins, kender, and sea elves.
History
Prior to the first Cataclysm, Ogaral was a
marshy, bug-infested lowland. As it
proved impossible to move heavy cavalry or siege engines through this
morass, imperial troops stationed at Fort
Ogaral incorporated the terrain into
their defenses - they basically fortified
the entire region. The trolls, on the other
hand, were a local feature that the
Ergothian warriors did not find as useful
but could never completely exterminate.
When the Cataclysm created the
Straits of Algoni, much of Fort Ogaral
sank under the new waters. The empire
abandoned the province, and for centuries neither the kender of Hylo to the
south nor the Ackalites to the north felt
inclined to challenge the trolls or the mountains that hindered passage into
the region. Explorers that finally ventured into the area in 5SC found themselves captured by trolls and taken to
the tower on the Isle of the Serpent.
There they met the resident naga, who
warned them that any of the "lesser
races" who attempted to settle the province or invade Ogaral's tower would be
destroyed. Then the creature freed a
prisoner to spread its message.
So far, the naga has made good on its
threat; many kender expeditions have
died at the hands of its servant trolls or
through bizarre magical effects. The
trolls prosper in the small area.
Current Happenings
During harsh summers, when the marsh
along the Moon River begins to dry out,
the trolls have been known to raid
kender farms near the Hylo border for
livestock. In the past, the kender usually
just battled them back to their marsh,
heeding the naga's orders to not trespass
(enough kender had lost their lives that
way for the border folk to get the point).
However, the afflicted kender who now
live in the area - far more belligerent
and martial than Kenderhome's traditional residents - talk of mounting an
expedition at the next sign of raiders.
Politics
T'ragna remains the undisputed lord of
Ogaral and the land's troll inhabitants.
Its existence is not widely known
beyond its foul slaver clientele and the
folk of Northern Ergoth.
Today in Ogaral
According to some minotaur sea captains, the naga has recently offered
greater payments for slaves, particularly
goblins and kender. Reportedly, it also
has grown quite short-tempered over
the last few months. Slavers who have
worked with T'ragna for many years
speculate that this may not be the same
creature they've dealt with in the past.
The empire's remote scouts report
that the trolls also have seemed restless
lately - as though they sense that something is about to happen.
Sikk'et Hull Province
The Empire ofErgoth's southern province, Sikk'et Hul, is an inhospitable
region of badlands. Over the centuries,
the race of surprisingly civilized goblins who live there have become part of
life in Northern Ergoth. In fact, Sikk'et
Hul has a better relationship with the
Imperial Court than either of the
empire's other two provinces.
Important Holdings
Sikk'et Hul boasts among its significant
holdings three multi-ethnic settlements
plus a scattering of ruins and mystic sites.
Noteworthy Settlements
Residents of Sikk'et Hul built their
major settlements on the abandoned
husks of human towns. The villages of
Lusid and Depre each house three hundred goblins and a small number of
kender, while the province's capital,
Manic, is home to fifteen hundred goblins, one hundred kender, and a handful of human sea barbarians.
Lusid. Citizens of Lusid on the southern coast make their living from fishing
and farming. Unfortunately, fishing is
not as good as it used to be, thanks to
the rough waters stirred up by the winds
off the coast of chilly Southern Ergoth.
Even more problems have sprung up for
Lusid's fishermen of late, as Solamnian
settlers from Thonvil in Ergoth proper
have taken to harassing goblin boats.
Depre. The folk of Depre focus
their efforts on mining a cache in the
southernmost tip of the Sentinel
Mountains and forging the ore into
strong alloys. The small tribe of human
barbarians living in Ker-Manth to the
north trade for the metal, which they
use to make weapons. More of these
metals go to members of the sea barbarian enclave in Manic, who then sell
it to merchants from Saifhum.
Manic. Both the capital and the
heart of Sikk'et Hul, Manic contains sizable human and kender enclaves as well
as its resident goblins. The province lord
dwells here in an opulent (by goblin
standards) manor house down the street
from the library that helped civilize local
goblins after the first Cataclysm.
Knowledgeable adventurers traveling
to Northern Ergoth in search of ogre
treasure generally hire a goblin guide in
Manic before heading north into the
mountains. The sea barbarians of this
coastal city work both as traders and as
innkeepers. Visitors will find two types
of establishments in Sikk'et Hul: one for
those returning from a successful expedition (and can afford virtually any
comfort or pleasure), and one for those
who either were unsuccessful or plan to
embark upon a treasure hunt soon.
Ker-Manth. A barbarian village farther north than the three goblin cities,
Ker-Manth consists of about a dozen
families. These humans live much more
peaceably than the Ackalites but trade in
items of war: They barter swords and
other metal items to the goblins of Deprt
for supplies of metal raw materials. A
surplus of these swords go to Kenderhome in exchange for food and wood.
Ergoth's Gods
Citizens of the Empire of Ergoth
know Krynn's vanished pantheon
by different names than those the
scribes in Palanthas use to refer to
the deities. The chart below offers
the Ergothian names for some of
the major gods, and their better-known Solamnian equivalents:
Solamnian Name |
|
Ergothian Name |
Chemosh |
|
Aeleth |
Habbakuk |
|
The Blue Phoenix |
Kiri-Jolith |
|
Corij |
Majere |
|
Manthus |
Sargonnas |
|
Argon |
Takhisis |
|
Dragon Queen |
Major Ruins
The ruined city of Fav, located between
the southernmost arms of the Sentinel
range, has lain in ruins since just
before the Cataclysm. The local goblins' one exploration effort ended when
they discovered the gully dwarves who
had claimed the ruins and found
themselves quickly taken hostage.
The gully dwarves remain the only
known inhabitants of Fav. Enticing
rumors persist to this day of the city's
fabulous treasures, their true value
unknown to Fav's simple inhabitants.
Mystic Places
The province of Sikk'et Hul contains
two ancient and mysterious sites: one
long associated with the Dark Queen
and her followers and the other a
legacy of the lost huldre race.
Raekel's Pit. A terrible mark left
upon Krynn by one of Takhisis's most
Evil priests, Raekel's Pit continues in
the Fifth Age to fester like an open sore.
At some point after the Second
Dragon War but before Ackal Ergot
conquered Daltigoth, legend has it that
a priest known as Raekel plotted
against Ergot. Although he claimed to
be a servant of Manthus the Mighty,
Raekel in fact honored a triumvirate of
Evil gods - the Dragon Queen; her consort, Aeleth; and Argon, god of dark
vengeance. These deities promised to
give Ergot's fledgling empire to Raekel
if he would perform rituals to grant
them ultimate power over Ansalon.
Somehow, three gods of Good -
Manthus the Mighty, Corij the Blade,
and the Blue Phoenix - uncovered the
plot and sent their own champion to
oppose Raekel. The champion's identity varies from story to story: Some
cast Ackal Ergot in the role (the most
popular versions in the empire), while
others name the elf leader Silvanos or
even a lowly kender or gnome.
In all versions, however, the hero
arrives too late to stop Raekel from
performing the sacrifices that begin
the ritual, but instead manages to
throw him into the gap he has opened to the Abyss. All the while, the three
gods of Good combat the three gods
of Evil.
The gods may have withdrawn from
Krynn in the Fifth Age, but Raekel's Pit
remains open. The shaft, two hundred
feet across, overflows with boiling mists
and howling shadows. Its location at
the crux of the southern arms of the
Sentinel Mountains makes it fairly
inaccessible to those outside Sikk'et
Hul - and locals never go there.
Since the Chaos War, stories have
circulated that on the darkest, longest
night of each year, a ten-year-old child
crawls from Raekel's Pit. The tales go
on to predict that when these children
have all come of age, they will form a
conclave of thirty-three mystics with
the power to complete the ritual Raekel
started so many centuries ago. If these
stories are true, then only one more
child will emerge from the pit. In
roughly ten years, that child will come
of age and join with his otherworldly
kin to complete Raekel's dark ritual.
The Monolith. Another place where
Sikk'et Hul natives never go (well,
except for the odd kender now and
then) is the Monolith, on the west side
of Huldre Bay. An ancient huldrefolk
site, the Monolith has reportedly emitted strange lights and sounds, noticeable even far from shore. More than
one kender, after going to investigate,
has never been heard from again.
Main Populace
Sikk'et Hul's diverse population includes
goblins, kender, gully dwarves, and
humans. Most residents speak Goblin,
Kenderspeak, Gully Talk, or Ergot - and
many speak more than one language.
Description
By goblin standards, the inhabitants of
Sikk'et Hul are remarkably civilized.
While still clannish scavengers lacking
the creative spark to construct their
own technologies, these goblins have
overcome the short-sightedness and
insatiable drive for conflict that historically has made their mainland cousins
into the pawns of Evil forces.
Culture
Uncharitable souls say the Sikk'et Hul
goblins became docile after breeding
with gully dwarves and kender. The goblins themselves credit their early leaders
wilh their success as a society. These
goblin ancestors did something few
other goblins had ever done: They read
the works of literature and philosophy
in I he cities they looted. From the basis
of Pre Cataclius Ergothian philosophy -
mostly the teachings of the scholar-
monks who followed the Ergothian god
Manthus, the goblins learned organization, industry, meditation, dream interpretation, and the martial arts.
Over the last four centuries, the
goblins of this province have built a
society that revolves around carefully
contemplating each idea before acting
on it. This revolutionary development
arguably marks the first truly independent goblin culture on Ansalon.
However, they still lack the imagination to create their own tools, weapons,
and buildings. Repeated attempts all
meet with failure - although they have
managed to invent a selection of less-than-effective weapons, such as razor
boomerangs and exploding mace heads.
Still, bards from Lancton have
observed goblins in Sikk'et Hul performing ancient Ergothian tunes. At
First, the visitors winced at the singers'
squeaky voices, poor renditions of traditional arrangements, and out-of-tune
instruments. Then, slowly they realized
the instruments weren't out of tune -
the goblins had adapted them to better
suit their voices. Likewise, the goblins
had created new arrangements to make
the Ergothian work their own. Perhaps
the next step is original goblin compositions. Whatever the case, a unique goblin culture is emerging in Sikk'et Hul.
The gully dwarves of ruined Fav live
much like gully dwarves do anywhere
else - in the dirt. They scavenge for food
and clothing in the long-dead ruins,
hiding or groveling for mercy whenever someone with a weapon happens by.
The peaceful human barbarian residents of Sikk'et Hul keep to themselves.
The kender living along the border
between Sikk'et Hul and Kenderhome
also coexist peacefully with the goblins,
although the afflicted kender of Hylo
cause some problems (see "Hylo").
Trade
The goblins don't really produce much
worth trading for. The metals refined
from the ore in the mines near Depre
constitute the bulk of local trade goods.
The goblins also let adventurers loot
the ogre ruins in the southern Sentinel
Mountains (even without the empire's
permits), provided they take nothing
that might be a book or other source of
information or instruction. A goblin
"guide" always escorts these parties to
make sure they adhere to the deal.
Groups that prove untrustworthy find
themselves facing not only the wrathful
goblins, but also irritated kender and
angry human barbarians - the friends
and allies of these unusual folk.
History
Goblin history is hard to recount factually. After all, goblins rarely write
anything down (few can write at all),
so all scholars have to draw upon are
goblin oral histories and the histories
of other nations. The most likely history of Sikk'et Hul follows.
Snagglefang and the Sentinel Treaty
In issuing his Proclamation of Manifest
Virtue in 118PC, the Kingpriest unwittingly encouraged a strange alliance.
For centuries, the Empire of Ergoth
had tried to exterminate the goblin
tribes of the Sentinel range. However,
the edict united these two factions
against a common enemy.
Shortly after the proclamation,
famed goblin chieftain General Snagglefang approached the Ergothian garrison commander at Even and asked
him to carry a message to the emperor.
The commander chased the goblin delegation back into the hills, but the
message nonetheless made its way to
the emperor. It was an offer of alliance
from several goblin tribes. After the
members of the Imperial Court had a
good laugh, they went back to plotting
the downfall of the Kingpriest.
Meanwhile, Solamnia stood on the
empire's doorstep, raiding sabers on
Istar's behalf. Ergoth had more important things to worry about than the
goblin raiders in the Sentinel range, so
the emperor diverted those legions to
more constructive pursuits. Snagglefang, however, assumed that the end of
the goblin hunts meant that the Empire
of Ergoth had accepted his proposal. He
immediately began preparing his tribes
for war against Solamnia.
Modern historians know very little
about Snagglefang. He appears to have
been an unusual member of his species,
as he directed most of his efforts
toward the long-term survival of his
people rather than self-gratification
and personal aggrandizement. One theory states that the empire's active hunting of Ergoth's goblins over a period of
centuries in fact produced a stronger
and smarter breed of goblin by killing
the weaker members of the race.
Snagglefang had spent years clawing
his way to the top of the western goblins
and, in Ackal Ergot-like fashion, united
several tribes under him to form a small
kingdom in the Sentinel Mountains.
Some historians speculate that he controlled these tribes by giving them
riches from a secret ogre ruin, known
only to him and his heirs, which made
them wealthy beyond imagination.
Others posit that Snagglefang somehow
secured the services of fey creatures living near Raekel's Pit and controlled the
Sentinel goblins through their magic.
Snagglefang apparently passed his
astounding leadership abilities on to
his son, Deathwielder, who assumed
control of the tribes some time before
38PC. This aging goblin contacted the
Imperial Court in the spring of that
year to discuss their alliance.
After sneaking into Daltigoth (he and his delegation were nearly killed at
the gate), Deathwielder provided
Gwynned V with a breakdown of his
troops, intelligence on the forces
arrayed along the Solamnia-Hylo-Ergoth border. Finally, he announced
that he and his Sentinel Warriors stood
ready to do their part for the alliance.
While the diminutive creatures had
simply amused Gwynned and his
advisers up to that point, mention of
an alliance surprised the emperor. A
search of imperial records uncovered
Snagglefang's original offer.
To Gwynned's credit, he dismissed
the guards (waiting to slay the emissaries as soon as they ceased to be
amusing) and ordered a scribe to put
the "Sentinel Treaty" into a more
respectable format; while Snagglefang
had been able to write - an unusual
trait for a goblin - he had managed
only a barely legible, childish scrawl.
Gwynned and Deathwielder each put
their mark on the new document, making official a treaty the goblins had
adhered to for two generations.
Battle Begins
The emperor then instructed Deathwielder to begin raiding the Solamnic
lines - enough to make the Knights'
lives miserable, but not enough to make
them chase the goblins into the mountains. Gwynned promised Deathwielder
that once he and his military advisers
had formulated a solid battle plan, his
legions would march north to help the
goblins smash the Knights.
The goblins resumed their habits of
several centuries, focusing their raids
against Solamnic watch posts.
Gwynned V, however, had no intention
of sending an army to support them.
But when the Tower of High Sorcery in
Daltigoth fell to the fanaticism of the
Kingpriest's Ergothian followers in
19PC, Gwynned VI decided the time for
all-out war with Istar and her allies had
come. Refusing to join Istar's Greatmeld had made the empire weak,
though - Gwynned VI had to move
very carefully. Enter the goblins.
While Senators and agitators
worked to stir up public opinion
against Istar, Gwynned VI and his top
military advisers carefully conceived
their battle plans. Among the emperor's
advisers was General Shadowstalker the
Younger, Deathwielder's grandson.
Over the last fifty years, his people had
gathered a great deal of information on
the evolution of Solamnic tactics, as well
as their strengths and weaknesses - plus
they had become familiar with the border region. Diaries of high-ranking
Ergothian generals reveal that Shadowstalker had earned their respect.
Adapting the goblins' tactics, the
Ergothian legions began harassing
Solamnic border outposts. The results
so delighted Gwynned VI that he
promised Shadowstalker the Younger
that when Istar fell he would reward
the Sentinel goblins with a province as
their homeland. The territory in question would one day become Sikk'et Hul.
When full war erupted in 8PC, the
goblin troops were among the most
lethal on the northern frontier - so
lethal, in fact, that a Solamnic commander chose to violate the Kingpriest's ban on magic and call upon the
skills of a wizard. No one knows this
spellcaster's identity, but his mighty
magic helped Solamnic troops push
southwest to the city of Fav, even amid
stalemates on all other fronts.
The Cataclysm
In the year of Cataclysm, a Solamnic
army stood poised to conquer Fav. The
diary of a survivor indicates that this
force encountered a combined army of
goblins, humans - many just commoners wielding clubs and pitchforks - and
kender who crossed the mountains
from the Hylo town of Thisway to help
defend the city. The ferocity of their
resistance worried the Solamnics, who
feared they might lose the battle.
Rather than face such disgrace, the
commander ordered his wizard to use his
most powerful magic to destroy the
enemies of Good. The spellcaster
obeyed, but something must have gone
wrong with the spell; it devastated the
entire Fav valley, destroyed his own army
almost to a man, and inflicted terrible
losses upon the Ergothian defenders.
Over the next few decades, it would
become apparent that the spell had
somehow poisoned the land. Never again
would it be fertile south of the Sentinels.
While survivors assessed the damages, the Cataclysm struck. At first, the
combatants thought it another spell, but
when the extent of the devastation
became clear. General Shadowstalker
recalled the words he had heard priests
of Manthus foretell when last he visited
Daltigoth: The gods would destroy Istar
for its sins. From what his scouts told
him, it seemed to Shadowstalker that the
gods had destroyed a lot of other people
in the process.
Still, Shadowstalker felt an obligation to report to his imperial commanders. So, he gathered the remains of his
army and the survivors from Fav
(reduced to smoking ruins by the wizard's magic) and marched toward
nearby Hillfort. There he discovered
the soldiers had abandoned their post,
so he pushed on to Gwynned.
Amid the confusion at the death of
heirless young Emperor Gwynned VII,
no one wanted to deal with the goblin
and his troops, so the praetor told him to
leave. Shadowstalker mentioned that
Gwynned VI had promised that once the
war was over the empire would reward
his tribes with what was now the southern province of Northern Ergoth. Was
the war over? he asked. Just to get rid of
him, the military commander said yes.
So Shadowstalker departed to claim his
land. Returning to the blasted southern
territory, the general sent scouts into the
mountains with a message: Their people
finally had a land to call their own.
The New Homeland
In the first years after the Cataclysm,
the goblin land became known as
Sikk'et Hul ("The Place," in a northern
peasant dialect of Ergot). Goblins
descended from the Sentinel Mountains and settled in the cities now largely abandoned by humans. The few
remaining humans always fled at the
sight of an approaching goblin horde.
In Lusid, Depre, and Manic, the
goblins found some artifacts of human
culture that the Cataclysm had left
intact. Most of the goblins heeded the
words of Shadowstalker the Younger
(who got the idea from the kender he
had fought with in the great battle):
Why destroy what you might use?
For more than twenty years, the goblins lived peacefully in Sikk'et Hul. When
they grew curious about the books they
found in their cities, the kender of Hylo
taught them to read. From books, they
learned to mine and slowly began to
conceive of a completely different kind
of life than what they were used to.
In 23AC, as one of his last acts as
Lord of Sikk'et Hul, Shadowstalker
organized a joint goblin-kender effort
to restart the mines near Hillfort and
Depre. While he achieved great success
with the Depre mines, efforts at Hillfort failed immediately, as the fortress's
new imperial commander chased off
the would-be miners. He and his men
pursued them as far east as Lusid, at
which point he decided that having to
live in that wasteland was punishment
enough for the goblins, as long as they
didn't try to plunder his mine again.
The venerable Shadowstalker died
in the chase. After fending off challenges from tribal leaders, his son
Wolfkin assumed the leadership of
Sikk'et Hul. Wolfkin's experience
showed him that such obstacles forced
a ruler to prove himself worthy to lead,
so he declared the lord of the province
would hereafter undergo these challenges in an annual event. With the
help of tribal shamans, he laid down a
set of guidelines to govern the contest.
The primary threat to the fledgling
goblin nation in these early years
emanated from the magic that had saturated the land. In the mountains
between Sikk'et Hul and Kenderhome
lived wild animals that grew to two or
three times their normal size. While the
giant game animals proved an abundant food source, the overgrown preda-
tors made hunting very dangerous. In
the winter, it was not uncommon for
Manic to be menaced by giant wolves.
Despite its proximity to these magically mutated animals. Manic grew into
Sikk'et Hul's largest settlement. Further, it boasted farmable surrounding
land and a favorable coastal location
for easy trade with Kenderhome. These
factors cemented a relationship that
had begun at the Battle of Fav. The
kender helped the goblins build docks
and even gave them a ship. Using books
they had found, the goblins attempted
to build more ships, but achieved success only with kender assistance.
In 89AC, Sikk'et Hul faced its first
outside threat: A band of Ackalites
attempted to invade the province from
the sea. They sailed two war galleys into
Manic's harbor and stormed the city,
but met with such fierce resistance that
they never made it out of town. The
goblins claimed the war galleys and
have used them ever since, repairing
them with wood from Hylo Forest.
Settling In
Over the centuries that followed, Sikk'et
Hul became a recognized part of Northern Ergoth. The goblins remained the
best guides for travel in the Sentinel
range, and the cash-strapped post-Cataclysm emperors found their coffers
filled with ogre treasure - tithes from
the goblin province.
In 128AC, the goblins finally got
around to exploring the still-smoldering
ruins of Fav. To their amazement, they
found the city inhabited by Aghar. Where
they had come from, no one could say,
but they clearly intended to stay. The first
group of goblin explorers were taken
hostage by the gully dwarves, who issued
the following demands to Manic: "Two
shoos, one pottatoe, two knifes, two goblin wimmen, two pretty jems. If not here
in two days, goblins die."
The goblin Lord Slasher responded
to the ultimatum by leading two hundred of his warriors into the city. As the
gully dwarves cowered, Slasher killed
their king (the "Highfav") as punishment for the extortion attempt, then
demanded an annual tribute of two
hundred steel pieces in exchange for
letting the Aghar live in peace.
To this day. Manic receives tribute
ranging from three steel pieces to five
thousand steel pieces annually; the
amount depends upon how many
forgotten caches the gully dwarves discover within their city and whether the
Highfav remembers to gather the
annual tribute. The Sikk'et Hul goblins,
ill typical ungoblinlike fashion, don't
seem concerned about the amount of
coin they receive.
In 340AC, Nerakan emissaries of
Takhisis's growing dragonarmies
arrived in Manic with greetings from
the Dark Queen and a request for the
province to devote itself to her cause.
The ecstatic goblin shamans, who had
continued to honor the goddess during
her absence, prepared to whip the population into a war-hungry frenzy -
until Lord Sunchaser the Steadfast had
them imprisoned within his Great Hall.
He then asked his council of advisers
for their opinions. All seemed in accord
on the issue: The gods almost destroyed
the world with their Cataclysm, then
turned their back on it. If the gods want
to fight, they can do so without Sikk'et
Hul. And so, Sunchaser sent the goblin
shamans to the emissaries' ship with the
message that Sikk'et Hul and its citizens
would not fight in a war expressly
geared toward the glory of a deity.
As all in Ansalon well know, the
dragonarmies got along quite well
without Sikk'et Hul and, had it not
been for the actions of a brave few,
Takhisis certainly would have triumphed. However, in 352AC, an expedition consisting of hobgoblins and
goblins (including some of the
shamans that Lord Sunchaser had driven out twelve years earlier) set out for
Manic to punish the goblins for not
heeding the Dark Queen's call to arms.
However, whether through Fate or
divine intervention, a storm blew the
attacking fleet north, causing it to run
aground in Ogaral. As the army tried
to march south through Hylo, the
kender attacked and destroyed it.
The Summer of Chaos
During the Dark Knight invasion of
Ansalon not many years later, the goblins of Sikk'et Hul returned the favor
and proved instrumental in preventing
the Knights ofTakhisis from conquering Northern Ergoth.
When the ghost of the Tower (see
"Hylo") alerted the kender that an
invasion fleet approached, they sent
messengers to warn Ergoth proper and
the empire's three provinces. The Ackal
fleet was engaged in raiding, and
Ergoth's forces had their hands full
with invaders swarming in from the
west. The kender had no vessels capable
of defeating the dragon-prowed war
galleys looming in the east. Only
Sikk'et Hul had a ready fleet.
Lord Fleshrender launched anything seaworthy in the direction of the
the warships' approach. Virtually every
combat-able goblin of Sikk'et Hul took
to the sea that day, as shown in the
illustration on the next page. Sunset
over Northern Ergoth found the Dark
Knights and their galleys at the bottom
of the Straits of Algoni. The Knights
made no further attempt at landings
on the island's east or south shores.
Current Happenings
Although the goblins have earned the
gratitude of the peoples of Northern
Ergoth, the Age of Mortals continues
to pose new challenges for Sikk'et Hul.
The influx of refugees from Solamnia and Kendermore threatens the
southern province's friendly relations
with its neighbors: When the folk of
mainland Ansalon see a goblin, they
see an enemy. To make matters worse,
recent goblin immigrants to Sikk'et
Hul from the south too often prove
them right. These savage goblins (by
local standards), forced from Southern
Ergoth by the White Dragon's reshaping of the land into a glacier, cannot set aside a thousand years of ceaseless conflict. The belligerent afflicted kender in
Hylo, ironically believing all local goblins in league with the White Dragon,
frequently raid northeast Sikk'et Hul,
while in the northwest, Solamnian settlers unlawfully seize land to homestead.
The Lord of Sikk'et Hul has
appealed to the Imperial Court and
issued threats to the kender government. However, the afflicted kender
only grudgingly accept sovereignty
claims from goblins (who, back in their
homeland, serve Malys), and the
emperor seems unwilling or unable to
control the Solamnian squatters.
Already the goblins have threatened to
end their centuries-long tradition of
tithing ogre gold and steel. The next
step will be to attack any Solamnian
who attempts to settle in Sikk'et Hul
without permission. Such a state of
war already threatens in the northeastern part of the province, where the
afflicted kender have attacked goblin
farms.
Politics
Goblin and gully dwarf political structures closely resemble each other. In
both cultures, the strong rule - this
element of life in Sikk'et Hul follows
the pattern of goblins elsewhere.
As with the Ackalites, the goblin and
gully dwarf kings must withstand challenges from clan leaders who would
replace them. Unlike the Ackal contestants, however, combatants in Sikk'et
Hul do not fight to the death. Instead,
those who would challenge the lord
must match him in tests of strength,
endurance, swiftness, and - most
importantly - wits; the goblins of
Sikk'et Hul value intelligence and cunning as much as they value force. If
defeated, the lord steps aside, though he
can join the contest the following year.
Naturally, goblin lordship contests
are somewhat more serious than those
conducted by the gully dwarves,
although the humor in the Aghar challenges is purely unintentional. Last year,
at the urging of a visiting goblin, the
Highfav announced a wrestling match
to decide the challenge: "Best two out of
three," in the goblin's words. Unfortunately, it took the combatants several
days to deduce the meaning of "three".
It perhaps goes without saying, but
in both the goblin and gully dwarf cultures, contestants have been known to
cheat by fighting dirty or utilizing magical aid. In these cases, the victor still
receives the lordly title, but he rarely
manages to accomplish anything during his tenure - other goblins are too
busy watching their backs to cooperate
with him on new projects. Although
such treacherous creatures would rise
straight to the top among the rest of
Ansalon's goblins, in Sikk'et Hul they
usually resign at the end of their terms
without even attempting to answer
challenges. (Among the gully dwarves,
though, the strongest and most deceitful kings generally end up ruling the
longest.)
Today in Sikk'et Hul
As tension grows from both inside and
out, Sikk'et Hul's goblin leader, Lord
Chaosbane (goblin young adult male,
running demeanor, Adventurer), seeks
new ways to maintain relative independence for his province. He knows that
war on Northern Ergoth would weaken
all provinces and nations, making them
vulnerable to attacks from the Knights
of Takhisis and the dragons. Goblin
ambassadors have visited Ackal, Hylo,
Gwynned, and even New Winterholm
and Fav. They carry messages of peace
and urge the island's leaders to come
together in understanding, lest their
differences destroy them all. The local
cells and circles of the Legion of Steel
assist in these attempts to ease discord.
At the same time, rumors hold that
Chaosbane has infiltrated the ranks of
the goblin refugees - as well as those of
the natives fed up with human and
kender aggression - to identify their
leaders. If he can't convince them to
stop agitating for war, he will eliminate
them permanently.
Hylo (Kenderhome)
In the Age of Mortals, Hylo's secondary
name, Kenderhome, seems more meaningful than ever. The Red Dragon's
destruction of Kendermore far to the east
has brought thousands of kender immigrants to this land in recent decades.
Important Holdings
Hylo boasts both some of the oldest and
newest settlements in Northern Ergoth.
Ruins and supposedly mystic sites dot
the countryside - and stories of new
sites pop up with great frequency.
Noteworthy Settlements
Hylo residents live in quaint, pastoral
villages and towns. These settlements
look like collections of incomplete
dwellings; whether they live in a snug
little burrow or a spacious tree house,
kender love to rebuild and renovate.
Afflicted kender tend to construct
wooden palisades or stone walls around
their homes, while other kender rely on
hedges and gullies for defense. Twisting
stairs and rope ladders link the rooftops
of buildings to each other and to the
ground.
Lemon
Hylo's northernmost settlement is the
port town of Lemon, so named for an
orchard of lemon trees that once stood
in a valley that the Cataclysm turned
into Lemon Bay. The town is home to
about two hundred true kender and
three hundred afflicted kender. In addition to its harbor traffic. Lemon also
has seen some major logging business
over the years; Ackalites and others buy
wood and miscellaneous goods here.
The afflicted kender recently fortified the town and decided to charge
import/export tariffs like human cities
do. This move has caused strain
between Lemon and area merchants, as
the tariffs keep changing. Another new
project is the construction of a new
warship in Lemon harbor; the afflicted
kender hero Nikki Firestopper (afflicted
kender adult female, roguish demeanor,
Champion) has hired a band of thinker
gnomes to build the mighty vessel to
help Kenderhome defend itself at sea.
Hidal
Southeast of Lemon is the fortified
town of Hidal, home to more than one
hundred true kender and three times
as many afflicted kender. These kender
find Hidal particularly attractive for its
location atop a steep hill rising from
the floor of a broad valley. Caves and
tunnels honeycomb the hillside -
ancient dwellings of huldrefolk, kender
historians like to claim. True kender
find the caves a wonderful playground,
while afflicted kender see them as shelters from possible air attacks.
Ocean Town
Inland from Hidal is one of Kenderhome's strangest enclaves, the curiously
named Ocean Town. The settlement,
home to more than one hundred true
kender and only two dozen afflicted
kender, clings to the side of a mountain
right along the Ergothian border.
Shortly after the first Cataclysm, a
kender whose mind had been addled
by shock and grief had a "vision" that
another tidal wave would wash away
the rest of Hylo, leaving only the
mountains. Frightened of more devastation, many kender followed him into
the Sentinel Mountains, where they
built Ocean Town. They labored with
amazing concentration for kender, and
when they were done, they had built a
small town with docks from which
they could launch fishing boats.
But the disaster never came.
By 5AC, the kender began to abandon
Ocean Town, though some remained to mine for "pretty rocks" in the Sentinels.
Merchants who visit Ocean Town call its
docks a wondrous sight - not for their
splendor, but for the oddity of their
placement on a mountainside.
Safehold
Due south of Hidal stands Safehold, a
fortress town constructed by afflicted
kender. Part cave complex, part
immense tree house, Safehold surrounds a portion of the Lookit River.
Moats, hedges, and stone walls encircle
the town's ten or so huge trees, each of
which holds a dozen tree houses and
many archer platforms built into its
boughs. Only the two hundred afflicted
kender that dwell here know the safe
way past the defenses of their city.
Needless to say, they don't interact
much with the rest of the realm.
Legup
West of Safehold, pressed up against
the Sentinel range is Legup, a small village inhabited largely by relatives and
descendants of Kronin Thistleknot, a
hero of the War of the Lance. Built
around ancient ogre ruins, Legup is
one of the realm's most splendid places
to play hide-and-seek. It also guards
Kenderhome's only mountain pass into
the Empire of Ergoth.
The security-conscious afflicted
kender have tried to take control of
Legup, but the town's true kender residents here (who share Kronin's legendary
feistiness) fought them off. This rebuff
hurt the afflicted kender's feelings: After
all, they'd only had everyone's best interests in mind. Of course, the true kender
felt bad about hurting their feelings, so
they put their cousins from Kendermore
in charge of a nearby iron mine. Today,
Legup - home to some sixty true kender
and as many afflicted kender - remains
Hylo's only settlement where the two
subraces coexist without conflict.
Lookit
South along the Lookit River from Safehold stands Hylo's second oldest settlement, Lookit. The town is built along
the banks of the river, on the plateaus of
a three-tiered waterfall that creates a
complex series of rainbows visible all
the way from the center of the town.
Many kender consider Lookit Falls
the most beautiful place in all Hylo. As
testament to this fact, six hundred
kender live here. None of this number
are afflicted kender, however; they do
not consider the town easily defensible.
however, they visit the falls frequently - perhaps even more than others, for the
beauty helps dull the constant ache they
feel over the loss of their homeland and
loved ones to the Red Dragon.
Hylo
Almost due east of Legup, at the end of
the realm's only road able to handle
wagons and carts, lies Hylo. The kender
capital is home to twelve hundred true
kender and roughly fifteen hundred of
their afflicted cousins.
Hylo was built around the flying
citadel that brought the kender to this
northern forest three thousand years
ago (see "History"). The citadel crashed
into a steep hillside, making this area by
far the most defensible spot in Kenderhome - which explains why the afflicted
kender have settled here in great numbers. True kender stay here more or less
out of the inertia of tradition.
The kender have overbuilt the
citadel to the point where it resembles
the castle of a frothing madman.
Homes exist within homes in this architect's nightmare, and stairs and hallways
lead nowhere - or to hundred-foot
drops. The many hidden tunnels and
concealed arrow slits would allow the
kender to turn the entire town into a
tremendous, exceedingly deadly killing
ground, should it ever face invasion.
The Tower
Across the bay from Hylo stands an
obsidian structure known simply as the
Tower. A wide variety of kender tales
revolve around this building, but they all
agree it houses the spirit of a powerful
sorcerer and the best friend Kenderhome
lias ever known. Some stories even maintain the ghost is the famed wizard Magius, bound to the Tower by a curse that
will be lifted only if someone brings him
his famous staff. The ghost of the Tower
has become an oracle for the kender,
warning them of imminent disasters. For
example, the spirit alerted them to the
approach of the Dark Knights' fleet during the Summer of Chaos.
Three hundred true kender live near
the Tower, protecting it from would-be
looters while exploring and fingering
the items within to their heart's content.
Gobwatch and Thisway
Southeast of the Tower stands the
fortress of Gobwatch, a squat stone
building constructed by afflicted
kender ostensibly to protect Hylo from
invasion by the goblins - clearly agents
of the White Dragon seeking to expand
his realm. But rather than assume a
defensive stance, the forty to eighty
afflicted kender living here have taken
to launching pre-emptive strikes
against the "enemy" to the south.
The kender from the nearby village
of Thisway have tried to explain that the
goblins of Sikk'et Hul are friends, but to
no avail. In fact, Thisway's residents
have gotten so annoyed by all the unrest
the Gobwatch fortress has caused that
have begun to abandon their town and
build a new one on the far side of the
pass, in Sikk'et Hul. About one hundred
true kender still live in Thisway.
Major Ruins
The many ogre ruins along the Sentinel
range in Kenderhome are assumed to
have been long since explored and
looted by the exuberant kender and
goblins. Of course, the kender seem
eager to visit the ruins over and over
again, just for fun. So far, no adventurers have visited one of the ruins without running into kender explorers,
who cheerfully invite them to lunch.
Hylo also contains a few ruined
kender cities as well as ogre sites. Of
course, many of them lie beneath the
choppy waters of the Straits of Algoni,
but the ancient town of Lost sprawls the length of a valley that still bears the
scars of a mighty magical battle.
The original name of Lost has long
since vanished down the River of Time,
but kender legends still recount how
the mighty Magius and two other sorcerers slew two ancient red dragons on
that site during the Third Dragon War.
The trio had arrived too late to save the
town, but they saw to it that those
dragons would destroy no more.
Kender occasionally visit the ruins of
Lost, but they rarely stay long. The grim
air of foreboding hanging over the
entire valley subdues even the irrepressible kender spirit. Stories hold that the
two red dragons' spirits still linger
somewhere in the ruins, unable to find
their way to the Abyss and their Queen.
The living who visit Lost feel the despair
and rage of these spirits, locals say.
Mystic Places
Many kender tales focus on the mystical qualities of the rainbows of Lookit
Falls. For instance, gazing upon them
supposedly causes the viewer to have
visions of the past, present, and future
that provide vast insight. However,
most mystics and scholars dismiss
these claims as flights of fancy - or
perhaps kender "visionaries" were so
awestruck by the beauty of the waterfall that they just forgot to breathe.
Other apparently mystic places in
Hylo Forest include certain rocky
groves where a mushroom unique to
the realm grows. Once again, those who
spend time in these groves reportedly
experience visions of a supernatural
nature. Most, however, attribute these
"visions" to eating the mushrooms.
Main Populace
Both true and afflicted kender dwell in
Hylo - usually not altogether peacefully. Most visitors can tell the two
groups apart mainly by their attitudes,
though Hylo kender tend to wear their
hair short, unlike their Kendermore
kin. Kenderspeak is the national language, though visitors frequently hear
Ergot and Goblin spoken as well.
Description
The foundation of kender society is the
family - usually consisting of close relatives and two or three children. Sometime around the age of twenty, kender
are possessed by an urge to see the world.
These youths travel for years, exploring
the mysteries of Krynn. Some kender
draw maps of their journeys, which
become even more detailed and trustworthy after the kender have fiddled
with them for years. Once the wanderlust subsides, the kender become rooted
to the land and raise their families.
Culture
The folk of Hylo are oblivious to matters
of ownership. If a kender needs something that another person is not using, he
innocently borrows the item and puts it
to use. Curious kender often pick up
objects for closer examination and, if distracted, may forget to put them back. But
kender do not steal - ask any of them.
While many human realms have
turned away from the gods in the thirty
years since the Second Cataclysm, true
kender continue to honor Bran the
Songmaster (known as Branchala to
other races) in weekly ceremonies in
wooded groves. The afflicted kender
refuse to take part in such silliness,
blaming the Songmaster - the highest
of gods in the kender pantheon - for
not protecting them from the Red
Marauder. The Hylo kender and their
priests still believe they should honor
Bran, for while he no longer enables the
priests to perform miracles, the music
he created for the world still remains.
Trade
The craftsmen of Hylo produce exquisitely carved wooden objects that,
together with ebony, wood, flint, and
raw gems, provide a thriving trade
with Ackal, Ergoth proper, and Gunthar. The kender import metal and
weapons from all three trading partners. They also import grain from the
city-state of Caergoth.
Finally, Hylo's kender have a long
tradition of working as "finders." Their
ability to locate missing persons and
objects is renowned throughout Ansalon. With the influx of dark-hearted
kender from ravaged Kendermore, the
Hylo "finding" business has taken on a
vicious taint, in the form of afflicted
kender bounty hunters and assassins.
History
Kender scholars have always emphasized
the "story" part of "history," rather than
getting bogged down in boring things
like "facts." Of course, this attitude presents a unique problem for outsiders trying to relay the history of Hylo. As local
sources are almost certainly unreliable,
historians must decide which are true
and which are just kender tall tales.
Early Hylo
Hylo Forest was settled in 2600PC, the
same time Ackal Ergot fought to subdue the Khalkist tribes, by a kender
clan serving a group of wizards near
Balifor. Kender historians call the
members of this clan "trusted advisers" while others believe they were
more likely slaves.
The wizards were building one of
the early Towers of High Sorcery,
intending to make it a citadel that
could fly through the air. Somehow,
the kender got trapped inside the
structure, and in their efforts to find a
way out, they caused it to take flight. It
traversed the continent and eventually
crashed in the foothills of the Sentinel
Mountains. The kender named their
new land Hylo, because the citadel that
had brought them there was first high,
then low, and in honor of the high
mountains and the low forestland.
The kender lived here, undisturbed
by humans, for almost two hundred
years. They spread throughout the forest on both sides of the bay near their
crashed citadel. They named this body
the Bay of Monsters - not because it
held an unusual number of beasts, but
because they wished it did.
Imperial Hylo
During this early period of Hylo's history, several emperors looked toward
the kender land intending conquest, but
for some reason, none seemed able to.
In 2200PC, Emperor Ackal VII finally
annexed Hylo, officially renaming it
Kenderhome in all imperial documents.
Their inclusion in the empire introduced the kender to concepts such as
taxes and forced conscriptions. However, they never minded sharing their
food and goods with all the interesting
new people in their land. In addition,
they looked forward to meeting exciting new people in faraway places as
part of the imperial legions.
Throughout the Age of Dreams, the
increasingly brutal nature of the Empire
of Ergoth went unnoticed by most
kender. In fact, Ackal VII remains something of a legend in Hylo. According to
the kender, they taught the empire how
to wage war, and in return, Ackal VII
saw to it that they traveled to all kinds of
new places. Naturally, the kender think
they got the better end of the deal.
It's not until 1886PC that the kender
grew disenchanted with Ergoth. Too
many tax collectors arrived in Hylo with
violent and negative attitudes, and the
military commanders no longer treated
the kender with the respect they felt they
deserved. So the kender told the imperial
governor (who hardly left his palace and
never let them inside) that they no
longer had any use for him and his
humorless troopers and tax collectors.
The governor responded by executing
the kender delegation and hanging their
bodies from his palace wall.
After a brief period of shock, all of
Hylo rose up in rebellion and waged a
fierce guerrilla war against the Ergothian
occupation force. Their battles lasted
until 1810PC, when Emperor Emann
Quisling decided Kenderhome wasn't
worth the trouble it cost him to maintain troops there and withdrew to his
own borders. Once the Ergothian troops
had left Hylo Forest, the kender resumed
trade with the empire. Soon Kenderhome was a greater source of revenue for
imperial coffers than ever before.
In 1801 PC, Hylo officially asserted its
independence from the empire. Its residents had watched Vinas Solamnus's
rebellion with awe and (not realizing
that they had, in effect, done the exact
same thing a decade earlier) declared
that they too wanted independence.
The "Statement of Rebellion" that
arrived from Hylo as the eastern provinces were completing their secession
bewildered imperial bureaucrats, since
the empire had considered Kenderhome
an independent territory for ten years.
Free Hylo
In 1634PC, Kenderhome found itself at
odds with Solamnia. The kender had
long admired the Solamnic Knights,
due to their "fancy armor" and "neat
ways of doing stuff with swords." However, as the kender did not hail from
Solamnia and could not meet the
Order's strict behavioral codes, the
Knights would not admit them.
So the kender started their own
knightly order, the Knights of Balif,
named for a kender historic figure. The
Solamnic Grand Master at the time, Gregori uth Telan, hailed from the province
of Lemish and was unfamiliar with the
kender and their ways. He considered
their action an attempt to belittle the
Solamnic Order, so he sent emissaries to
Hylo requesting that the kender stop
their mockery. Instead of complying, the
kender offered the Knights a chance to
join the Order of the Acorn. Grand
Master Gregori ordered an invasion of
Kenderhome, against the recommendation of his advisers.
The confused kender watched as
columns of Knights marched into Hylo
and surrounded the citadel at the city's
heart. The siege lasted roughly three
weeks, although the kender never actually realized their town was besieged.
Instead, they swarmed around the
"enemy camp," heaping admiration
upon the Knights and relieving them of many interesting objects.
Eventually, the commander of the
force attempted to explain to the kender
what the Grand Master found offensive
about the Knights of Balif. The kind-hearted kender realized they had "hurt
the Grand Master's feelings," and so
they disbanded their knighthood, which
was beginning to bore them anyway.
The Solamnic force returned home
without a single life lost.
The Third Dragon War was far
more bloody, however. The kender had
managed to gather roughly a dozen of
the dragon eggs Thoradin's dwarves
had mistaken for gems. Most of these
wound up in underpopulated areas,
but three had been taken to the citadel
at the center of Hylo.
When these three eggs hatched, the
kender tried keeping the dragons - a
blue and two greens - as pets. The
arrangement lasted for about a century,
after which time the two young green
dragons went berserk. They laid waste
to part of the citadel and a good portion of town, killing hundreds before
they were themselves slain. Exactly
what happened to the blue dragon is
unknown, but kender histories tell that
the creature rose up to defend Hylo
during the Third Dragon War, saving it
from destruction in an attack in
1030PC. In an ending uncharacteristic
of kender history, the dragon's story
concludes with his death in 1019PC at
the hands of Solamnic Knights, who
failed to realize he was friendly.
The possible death of their pet
dragon aside, the kender appreciated
Solamnia's aid during the war. By
1000PC, that gratitude had manifested
itself as a formal alliance between
Solamnia and Kenderhome. While
some assert that only the kender actually benefited from this alliance, the
point is arguable. For instance, about
that same time, Palanthas was emerging
as a major port, its fleet of merchant
vessels and warships built with Kenderhome's wood. With the alliance in place,
the production of ships doubled in
speed and, by 900PC, the Palanthian
fleet was second only to Istar's.
Twilight Before Cataclysm
Historians noted that around 350PC
kender in Hylo began worshipping
deities other than Branchala and Reorx,
their race's traditional gods. These new
kender priests and followers of Paladine, Mishakal, and other gods arose
due to the influence of Istaran missionaries. By 150PC, however, kender
interest in these new gods had waned,
as the missionaries made it increasingly difficult for them to stomach religion: The Istarans insisted on ever
more rigid ways of honoring the gods,
and ever higher tithes to the Kingpriest.
The Istaran presence in Hylo ended
once and for all in 12PC, when a visiting priest flogged kender leader Ticklefoot Sunflower for declaring himself
the Kingpriest of Kenderhome. A
devout follower of Mishakal and a
powerful priest in his own right, the
kender (like the founders of the
Knights of Balif in centuries past) did
not understand the offense he had
caused. He did understand that he had
been attacked. In response, he ordered
every Istaran priest driven from Hylo
Forest, declaring they obviously were
not the holy men they claimed to be.
The Istaran priests went to the High
Clerist's Tower and asked the Solamnic
Knights to invade Hylo, to avenge their
honor and set the heathen kender in
their place. Records show that the High
Clerist and High Warrior guaranteed
the priests that they would launch an
attack as soon as winter ended. However, when the time came, they neither
mustered an army nor conducted any
punitive raids or invasion.
In 118PC, Istar issued the Proclamation of Manifest Virtue, which declared
the kender, among other races, inherently Evil. By 115PC, Solamnia had an
army arrayed on Hylo's eastern border.
However, despite repeated insistence
from Istar, the army never invaded.
A variety of songs and stories from
this time detail how the Knights and
kender would gather on the border
during holidays, get drunk, and commiserate about the nonsense issuing
from Istar. Other tales tell of attempted
invasions repelled by brave kender.
Records discovered in the High
Clerist's Tower after the War of the
Lance reveal that no high-ranking
Knight really believed the kender Evil.
The biggest conflict along the Hylo-Solamnia border occurred in 83PC, when
an Istaran priest convinced a division
commander to disobey his orders and
launch a direct strike at Hylo. Casualties
mounted on both sides but in the end,
the kender won the day. They took the
Istaran priest to Hylo, allowing surviving
Knights to return to Solamnia in disgrace. The priest was locked in a tower
high above the city where he had quite a
view. "You can sit up there until you get
tired of looking at Hylo," said Sam HalfFinger, Mayor of Hylo, in passing judgment, "or until we get tired of listening
to you whine." In 70PC, the Solamnic
High Justice finally managed to negotiate for the priest's release.
As Kenderhome's relationship with
Solamnia deteriorated due to Istar's
influence, relations with Ergoth
improved. The kender's unwillingness
to allow Solamnia access to their forest
permitted Ergothian loggers to harvest
more wood. Additionally, the growing
feeling among Ergothians that the gods
would soon bring Istar low appealed to
the kender. While they wished no one
ill, a good many tales from this time
feature Reorx beating the Kingpriest
with his hammer.
When war broke out between Ergoth
and Solamnia in 8PC, the kender stood
firmly on the side of Ergoth, skirmishing with the Knights on their border but
never engaging in the kind of violent
conflicts taking place south of them.
Still, if they had not tied down several
units of Knights along their eastern
border, Gwynned VI's war effort might
have proven far less successful.
Of course, the Cataclysm rendered
this triumph moot. Kenderhome's
eastern border vanished under the sea,
as the lush valley there became part of
the Straits of Algoni.
The Shadow Years
The Cataclysm devastated Hylo more
than just physically - it scarred the
kender emotionally as well. They could
not figure out why the gods had punished them along with Istar. For the first
century after the rending of their land,
the kender seemed very subdued. In
addition to mourning their lost friends
and relatives, they became fanatically
religious. Their days and nights revolved
around making offerings at altars that
sprang up all throughout the realm. They
also defended their borders fiercely from
the advances of violent Ackal in the
north, and the goblins in the south, fearing it might have been their friendliness
with the Solamnic army camped on their
border that caused the gods to punish
them. Doomsday cults were also prevalent among kender during this period.
Within three generations, however,
the folk of Hylo had lost any personal
connection with the tragedy of the Cataclysm. By 250AC, the typical, happy-go-lucky kender was once again
sticking his nose where it didn't belong.
The War of the Lance
Isolated on their island, the playful
kender thrived in relative peace, forging
relationships with the provinces of
Ackal and Sikk'et Hul. Soon goblins
and kender were living peacefully on
both sides of Hylo's southern border.
Kenderhome was the site of the only
battle of consequence to occur in
Northern Ergoth during the War of the
Lance. Details are sketchy and, of
course, kender tales surrounding this
event are plentiful and contradictory.
In 352AC, a dragonarmy expeditionary force of goblins and hobgoblins
landed in Ogaral, just north of Hylo.
Some kender tales relate that the force
was led by Highlord Toede, but more
reliable sources identify the commander as Toade, a human so hideous he
was often mistaken for a hobgoblin.
The same tales recount that the force
had come to punish the goblins of Sikk'et
Hul for not heeding the Dark Queen's
call to battle, but that the ship's pilot had
lost his way during the night. The famed
Solamnic Grand Master Gunthar uth
Wistan happened to be in Hylo when the
dragonarmy's force marched south
toward the kender capital. His journal
records how Kronn Thisdeknot (kender
adult male, motivated demeanor, Master),
son of the kender who defeated the real
Lord Toede near Flotsam, and other
kender taunted the Toade and his force
into charging at the city in a blind rage, at
which point hidden kender forces flanked
the goblins and massacred the attackers.
After the War of the Lance, Kenderhome returned to pleasant obscurity.
Kronn ruled the land briefly, during
which he presided over the "Gnometalks," an effort to forge Hylo and Mount
Nevermind into a united force. However,
he got bored with ruling, and handed the
"reins of power" to Kin Thrashen Windseed, who declared herself Meistersinger
of Hylo. She insisted ton conducting all
government meetings in song. Soon after,
she cancelled the Gnometalks, because
the gnomes could not carry a tune.
The Age of Mortals
During the Summer of Chaos, Kenderhome went untouched by both Dark
Knights and Chaos creatures, thanks to
the kender's goblin allies in the south
(see "Sikk'et Hul Province").
When word reached Hylo in 4SC
about the dragon ravaging Kendermore,
the realm's new leader, Fallana Windseed
(kender elder female, distracted demeanor,
Adventurer), sent emissaries east to offer
her displaced cousins aid and an invitation to resettle in Hylo. Over the next few
years, thousands of grim kender - the
survivors of Malystryx's fiery scourge of
Kendermore - reached Hylo with little
more than the clothes on their backs.
The last wave arrived in 12AC, just before
Frost's transformation of Southern
Ergoth made the Straits ofAlgoni navigable by only the most skilled seamen.
The kender of Northern Ergoth did
their best to welcome the newcomers,
hut the two populations just didn't
relate well to each other. Gradually, the
kender population split into two factions. The refugees - called afflicted
kender - built walls around the towns
they settled and caused strife with the
suspicious goblins of Sikk'et Hul.
Windseed tried to open talks with
the kender leading the goblin raids, a
young woman named Belladonna
(afflicted kender adult female, lawless
demeanor, Master, 5 ). To her surprise, Windseed found herself taken
captive and forced to surrender the
leadership of Hylo to Belladonna.
Current Happenings
Since 13SC, Belladonna has encouraged
all in Hylo to fortify their settlements
and prepare for dragon assaults. Most
of the native kender are less than cooperative, thinking that Belladonna's trick
on Fallana Windseed was very unfair.
Today, Hylo remains a land divided.
Politics
Hylo has seen every conceivable form of
government come and go throughout its
history - several times, and sometimes
in the space of a week. Traditionally, it is
an omnigarchy, meaning rulership by
everyone. Everybody does as they please,
so long as they do not harm each other.
However, the afflicted kender find it difficult to let the old ways stand when
there are dragons to defeat.
Today in Hylo
Belladonna and her followers constantly
attempt to convince the true kender to
engage in military drills, build defenses,
and otherwise prepare for invasion.
However, even afflicted kender do not
follow orders unless they find it either
amusing or to their clear advantage.
Despite their lack of law, common
threats bring kender into quick cooperation. With little preparation, Hylo can
field a formidable army or dozens of
covert units. As soon as her troops are
ready. Belladonna reportedly plans to
send them against the White Dragon.
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