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[TheFlame52]

- Minbazkar is 150 years old c: It means 25 game years have passed since the worldgen.

It's cool that you've stuck with this so long.

[Cathar]

Spring 150

Work and distraction

The Thaguk Alnos had spend the late autumn and the totality of winter managing their ressources carefully, making value out of everything they could.

Dried up corpses of dog were picked apart and became bone statues and ornaments, broken goblin armors were smelted and re-alloyed into pearlite bronze, seeds were replanted, beer was brewed from oats and spelt grown during fall. The little group did not spare themselves any effort, so much so than when spring finally came around, they were sitting on a sizeable warchest.

They did all this work to combat boredom, of course, but also out of a pragmatic assessment : the elves of Iferifiyopi would have to come back in spring. They simply would have to : even if their looters could steal some worn out copper gear from goblin corpses, but would only obtain damaged, unfitting, corroded piece of shoddy quality that way. Re-forging said equipment, the elves could not do it. Not only they had no knowledge of metallurgy, but their beliefs would prevent them from if they knew how. As for trading with the dwarves – impossible, as they needed the metal specifically to wage war against them.

« If we can demonstrate to the elves that we are trusted trade partners » calculated Histamine, « they will officially recognize us as the new owners of the bridgetown – and when they do, the neighbouring kingdoms will soon follow. »

Whether it would be a good thing or not – is another problem. When they broke their cart on the bridge, last autumn, they had no desire to stick in the area for longer than necessary. But seing all those ressources, both found and produced by themselves, they decided that maybe it was worth staying a bit longer. Sure, life was hard, vagrants were dangerous and the rain would not stop – but at Edetledir, it was the same thing – plus they would have to deal with another bandit group, already in charge.

It was therefore decided, once again, that they would stay in Kimaeslo Ori for the forseable future.

That decision, however, was not without discussion.

`Kaos' Lofiemsi, Wood Burner: I want to puzzle over something.  It's boring.
`Ralin' Nithonikom, Doctor: I just want to fight somebody.  It's boring.
`Toki' Ilrebeksur, Woodcutter: I want to puzzle over something.  It's boring.

It seems that routine had settled into the group maybe a little too much, and some avenues of distraction would have to be found. In the first days of the decade, therefore, the Thaguk Alnos reopened the temple – the library was soon to follow.

For now, the group was holding together … Ralin maybe less so than the others. Since she witnessed Lesno kill that elf on the bridge, she has been accumulating stress and finding no outlet. That problem would have to be solved soon.

The elven merchants



The 15 of April, like the vagrants preducted, elven merchants reached the town. They would have, it seem, to have heard about that new government called the Thaguk Alnos – and came mounted on a wooly yak, carrying a small selection of goods, to see what kind of government it was. By carrying only grown wooden geas, some animals, and by coming in a very small group – only two elves – they were not taking any risk. They also signaled that they would have to be convinced into more serious deals ; it was a challenge that the Thaguk Alnos was interested in overcoming.

Nobody in the group had any background or experience in trading, yet alone in dealing with elven merchants – but the Thaguk Alnos was not taking any risk either. They only had a couple of bone crafts to barter ; items with little monetary value and no sentimental value – good bartering chips that would cost them no metal.



« It's probably the most dreadful depiction of an old god I have ever seen » remarked Efami, an elven merchant with flame-colored hair. « Clearly, the artist must have seen some terrible things to create such a horror.
-Sir, it's a rabbit. »

Of course, Histamine knew better than to interrupt an opponent making a mistake – but she knew that doing so would appeal to the elf's natural sense of superiority. Now he was not just a merchant doing business with an equal partner – you see – he was a philantropist giving up real goods against worthless human ethnic art.

Histamine knew that every single spec she could pay in flattery she wouldn't have to pay in real goods. She was not only selling him a bone figurine of a very sick bunny – she was selling him positive emotion – and the elven merchant would pay.

In the end, the trade was satisfactory for both parties. The bone crafts that weren't bartered for were outright given – and for the little value they had, the elves appreciated the gesture. Against such crafts, they got some ethically grown firewood they would change into coal, and a tamed female jaguar – Figaro was positive he could train that big cat to defend the village.

The merchants left – but promised they would come back next year. The Taguk Alnos was satisifed too – the bones they used for their crafts was litteral trash, laying around on the ground when they arrived. Not only they managed to clean the streets – at least partially – but nthey alos made it at a profit.

The beasts

Figaro was left to train with the jaguar and Yarlig resumed his profitable recycling operation – hopefully, more merchants will come around soon.



The jaguar was surprizingly docile, and Figaro could teach her to obey orders very easily. Maybe she was made extremely tame by elven magic, or maybe he was simply a good beast trainer after all. When her training was done, the sheppard had some more time to spend with the animals – he then decided to train the dogs to fight and repel threats.

The females having had their litter earlier in the year, half a dozen puppy would soon grow and become a second generation of canine fighters – that would be enough, Figaro thought – to scare away small threats and aggressive wildlife.

For more serious threats, however, arming up and training would be the only solution.



Heavy armor

During that time, Kaos has not been inactive. Because Totten expressed the desire to resume her training as a mercenary, he used every single bit of bronze he could find to make the best heavy armor he could.

He made a fine breastplate attached through the means of small ropes and copper rings, a pair of spiked greaves, properly articulated gauntlets boots and a plain helmet, only lacking enough bronze to complement his armor with mail.



«If you get into scraps, mind the articulations, still unprotected. » he warned.

That armor was priceless. The amount of bronze that went into it was barely imaginable – it was the price to pay for security. But the masterpiece of that small collection of metal war gear was the weapon he made alongside, a square ended mace made of a solid block of silver. Smelted onto its head, a small scenery out of copper of an elve plunging a spear onto what appeared to be a pearlite maceman.

Of course, Totten was puzzled by that addition.

« It's a story I heard the elven looters tell to each other » Kaos explained. « The carving depicts the deatn of one of the first servants of the kingdom of pearls »

When Pam, the first queen of Kima, renounced her throne to study the magic arts, she was followed by a group of her servants. Where they went, nobody knows, but the next time we heard about them, they were launching harassing attacks against the retreat of Enurenino, in Iferifiyopi territory.

Rιne the maceman, was one of them. He attacked the retreat in 125, alone, and was slain. The looters thought he was mad – he probably was.

When he attacked, Iferifiyopi and Mong Kima were not at war, and his action could have sparked another conflict.

« Fine bit of history, but why would you smelt it on my weapon ? » Totten asked
« Beats a mionster rabbit I suppose » Kaos shrugged.

Ralin learns self defense



Ralin had been under mounting stress since last winter, and something had to be done to stop her from working herself to death. Luckily, Totten needed a sparring partner and Ralin was spoiling for a fight. It was therefore decided that, until she feels better or until her skills as a doctor are needed – whichever comes first – she would train with Totten. Ralin would not become a soldier, of course, her skills as a doctor were too precious to just ignore, but such military training was deemed necessary for both her personal security and mental sanity. They trained in the old barracks, the one washed by the tides – a spectacle that both women enjoyed.

As time goes on, if by any chance the fort ends up attracting migrants, the rest of the group will have to undergo some kind of battle training aswell.



*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Alright, that's all for that small update.  I'm still at a loss on what to do about Lesno and company. I hesitate about using makeown and just taking them in....what do you think ? Would that be cheating ? Else, is there a script to just tell them to go somewhere else ?

[Splint]

« It's probably the most dreadful depiction of an old god I have ever seen » remarked Efami, an elven merchant with flame-colored hair. « Clearly, the artist must have seen some terrible things to create such a horror.  »
-Sir, it's a rabbit.-

I feel like so very many brokers have had to convince merchants that a figurine is actually what it depicts because of how badly it's made (I like to think standard quality stuff just looks like complete junk )

As to the other squatters, I'd vote a coin flip: Heads just slap DFHack on them, tails ignore them and let natural selection take care of it.

Spoiler: About armor (click to show/hide)

Personal opinion if resources are scarce, issue mail armor instead of breatplates and greaves.  The two bars per suit saved (assuming its all the same metal,) could be the difference in future militimen having full metal, even if it's not rigid plate, and having to use crappier alternatives for one or more parts of their armor.

Spoilered section aside I like that new samurai-ish look to the body armor and pauldrons. Looks very distinctive compared to other Pearlite troops from what I remember.

[HakuryuVision]

Eh, don't sweat it.
Want to invite him and his wife? Do it.
It's not like you're cheating in some sort of competitive game or anything, have fun with that world of yours.
If the game hinders you from having fun or doing certain things in a way the game won't let you, i see nothing wrong with using Dfhack.

-And hey, having dwarves around is always FUN!
They might even contribute a strange mood artifact to your fortress!

Also, i agree with Splint.
(This might sound a bit biased since this is coming from a half japanese, buuuuuuut) I like those new armor designs.

[Darkening Kaos]

     When Kaos heard about the broker's exploits, he burst into long and deep laughter.
    "Those feckless idiots paid good money for a piece of trash their own looters ignored and stepped on??!  Bwahahahahahahahaha!!!"

        And his laughter could still be heard as he staggered in the general direction of the food stockpile for a well-earned meal.

[Cathar]

Just a couple of notes before I start to work on the summer update ^^

So it seems I can't use scripts right now, as they are not compatible with the dfhack nightly build that I'm using. Not cheating is still important for me ; I'm not really writing a story, I'm making records and they need as much authenticity as I can provide... hence, I'm working under the assumption that the rules of the games are the scientific laws of the universe... So breaking them needs a very, very good reason. Like a game breaking bug.

Which I currently somewhat experience, I'll develop that on summer update.

AS for the armors... kind of japanese ? I've been drawing a lot of samurai lately, but I try to give pearlites their own style. But it's inspired by what I like and I like samurai, so, here we go.

Also, yeah, for metal, we have a LOT of copper, but next to no tin, and commerce will not be, as I thought, a viable method to obtain it (ill explain why next update). As for leather armor, they shown their limitation last fort, so I feel a bit unconfident in fielding a lot of lightly armored troops again. We will have to seriously evaluate our defensive options, and turtling for a time may not be the worst of them.

[Splint]

Copper mail can be all the difference between a werebeast infection or nerve damage and "just" a broken arm or leg. I was more just thinking about Pasmug's little (or not so little) lizard gremlins deciding to pay a visit in regards to that. Better safe than sorry and all that.

Those damnable things don't ever seem to fully go away, since there's always morons who piss on temple statuary or scrawl drunken ramblings on the walls of houses of worship (both here and in other worlds.)

[Cathar]

Care for the departed

As spring came to a close, the rising temperatures and the lenghtening f days seemed to have a positive effect on the group morale. Ralin, who shown signs of weakness earlier, was now kept busy by her military training with Totten, and her mood seemed to improve a little – or, at least, not fall as fast.

Earlier, in late may, a vagrant by the name of Cek – another exile from the Aconilun – ceased to feed herself and ceased to respond to the outside world. Now a hollow husk, she quickly dehydrated and died – the other vagrants were horrified.  But what to do with her body ? Of course, she was a pearlite who died on site, so the vagrants decided to bury her in the crypt of Kimaeslo Ori. The Thaguk Alnos, the de facto local government, but still lacking any kind of royal aknowledgement, did not oppose, and Cek was burried in a spare wooden coffins, and lowered in the crypt under the temple.

Compared to the harsh winter and the extremely rainy spring however, the summer weather was enjoyable and everything was all-around peaceful. The Thaguk Alnos mostly kept clear of the affairs of vagrants and only intervened for the common good.

For instance – one day, one of the elven yaks fell down and died. Probably of old age, the beast of burden was very old after all, and the elves had no idea of what to do with the body. After asking for their permission, the carcass was brought to the butcher shop and Yarlig dutifully picked it apart. Nothing of the body was lost : its hair was made into yarn, its skin into leather. Its meat and fat were cooked by Figaro, and the rest – hooves, bones and horns, were kept to use as crafting materials. In the affair of one or two days, there was nothing left of the dead animal – the goods hence produced were to be sold or gifted to the kingdom of Iferifiyopi, next spring.

As for the dead elves from the spring, they were simply left to return to nature. Maybe it was the elven tradition not to bury the dead ? Nobody knew in the small group, and nobody dared to ask.

Trivia

After arming cage traps around the town, as a measure to protect the town from roaming animals, the group managed to capture a weasel. Although it is already adult, Figaro decided to tame it. This way, he thought, he could continue to hone his animal skills and possibly acquire a pet in the future. If anything fails – making a nice pair of fur gloves out of it is always an option.  The creature looked a bit wild at first, but nothing compared to a billy goat.



What else, the library has been reopened. It looks like all the book written by Jalew have been lost or stolen -and will have to be recovered or reacquired one way or the other. We'll need to acquire or to produce books – but in the meantime, it is still a good place to ponder on abstracts topics and to debate issues in a sober, relatively calm environment.

I do not have insisted on it a lot, but vagrants and looters are actively making use of our facilities – even elves do, at times, use the temple to communicate with their god. They do insist it's not a god, but rather a force of life permeating the whole universe. They are, of course, playing an idiotic semantic game, as it is a distinction without a difference.

The elves of Iferifiyopi can call their gods however they please, after all, even « non-god ». Who cares.

The refugees

It was near the end of June when four unknown figures arrived from the south. They were led by a man between two ages, whose golden hair started to change to silver. He was wearing a hood made out of leopard fur, hinting at his status. Following the battle between Kima and Pilalene who saw the destruction of the fort of Tetzobsha, the corpses of two hundred of those black spotted warbeasts were looted from the ruins,  skinned and made into clothes and armors, then sold to rich dignitaries of the kingdom. As always, pearlite do not waste an ounce of value, growing from even their own disasters.

He was accompanied by two corpulent women and by a young man. When they arrived in town, the man headed for the tavern and asked to speak to someone in charge.



« I am Ipan, and this is my wife, Ador » he said after Histamine served them a drink to recuperate from their long travel.

« We are vagrants and exiles in search of a new home. Our friend Osplek, outside, told us that Kimaeslo Ori was looking for manpower to rebuild itself – we will help, if you let us stay.
- We look for workers indeed, there's so much to do – answered Histamine. But what can you do ? »

Ipan has been a mercenary and a spear instructor of above average skill. Due to  his – let's say – overbearing instinct of self preservation, he never distinguished himself in actual conflict, but still had extensive technical and practical knowledge of spear arts that he was willing to transmit. He never killed any sentient creature ; but had served on the walls of Thomocemir under the command of Pathril Omaaloc Anarsathet Ucim for two battles between 148 and 149

Ador, his wife had a similar profile, specializing in long polearms. There were, in sum, not very different from other mercenaries wandering the land in hope of finding employment in wars – Totten herself found herself in that situation before she met her companions.

Altho the Thaguk Alnos will need fightrs and instructors in the future, for now they were mostly lacking unqualified manpower to tend to the fields and cleaning the habitable space.

« We will work » insisted Ipan. « If need be, I am a surgeon – both me and my wife will do whatever you ask. »

As for the other two vagrants, they were looking for a place to live aswell.



Osplek was behind the idea of going to Kimaeslo-Ori. The lady, once a cook from Lemhuhqihu village, have been travelling since the events of 142, mostly to escape the poor living conditions of the central settlements – constantly preyed upon by bandits and wild monsters. She soon arrived in Kimaeslo-Ori where she picked up the profession of carpenter. But the stress of the town mounting with constant Osmite attacks and rising waves of criminality, she lost control of herself and killed a community owned donkey.

The Aconilun at the time did not prosecute her, but exiled her for her own good. Now she was feeling bettter and ready to give the town life another go, and what better time, indeed, than now that everything has to be rebuilt.

Because Osplek knew a bit about woodworking, it soon was decided she would either assist or replace Toki, so he could properly be trained in other tasks, such as milling,  cooking and, more importantly,  practicing martial arts. AS there is no telling when the elves will stop tolerating the exploitation of the forest, Toki was to learn how to defend himself against possible ambushes – Totten was willing to teach him what she knew, and he soon joined Ralin in her little makeshift school.

And there, there was the last man, Lethi, the youngest of the group. His story ressembled Kaos, or for that matter, the story of most journeymen – too skilled to remain apprentices, but not enough to become masters and own their own workshop. He was therefore cursed to travel the land, searching for a place where he could hone his skill – and in his quest, joined the group for protection in his travels. He was a weaver by trade – of reasonable skill, and expecting to improve with time. Weavers, in Mong Kima or, for that matter, in any barter economy, are money printers. Rolls of cloths make a good yard stick for commerce – they can be used by a lot of different professions and  there's always a demand for them.



His case was the easiest to settle – he was sent to the weaver's house and told to simply work his magic. Since last falls, the wooly yaks produced a lot of yarn, and there was a lot of cave silk accumulated underground over the years. Should they next find a dyer, and a cloth maker, the fortune of the city would be set on good tracks.

The merchants from the guild

Later in the month of July, as it was expected, travelling merchants from the guild arrived at Kimaeslo Ori. They had to : the bridge town was the quickest route to join the villages on the west. Besides, down to the south west, at the very edge of the continent, large pearlite towns were producing most of the transformed goods the kingdom, including metal tools and weaponry for the village use.

Saving a week worth of travel time was simply something the merchants would let go – even ransacked, the bridge was still functionnal.

Histamine stopped the caravan and an assortment of goods was displayed on the marketplace. Obliged, the merchants accepted to stay for a day or two.

« We want to open a large community forge in Kimaeslo Ori » Histamine said to the head merchant, a long-nosed soldier. « With elven commerce and the local forest, we have a lot of fuel – and the amount of copper trash around the town is staggering. With a ste   ady shipment of tin, we can produce metal goods of a quality which will make the dwarves green with envy »



However, the merchants had only a few items to trade and no good news from the kingdom. .
« I can sell you what I have » the man answered. « But it's not much ».

Not much it was. A couple bars of ornemental metals -black bronze and sterling silver – and a cage made of tin that could be re-smelted.... and that was it.

« Could you bring more, next year ? » Histamine asked. But the man shook his head.

« I'm just escorting the caravan to the western settlements » he said. « I have no authority on production whatsoever ».

As for who had such an authority, only the Guild Mistress, Uquur Dirlugisep would have such a decision power.  Uquur was a personality of the kingdom – after marrying the son of the lord of Lemhuhqihu, she was one of the first  settlers to join the forest fort of Tetzobsha in year 125.She would then study the martial arts under the tutelage of Commander Stipoth Rozmowom, then would join the fort of Thomocemir in summer 131, where she would train its fledgling militia into the drilled knights they are today.

Around year 142, she would be promoted to guild mistress and would move in castle Asuciro with the royal court, and would then be responsible for organizing the kingdom supply, international trade and spread of information. After queen Uzu and the minister of war Ener, she was the most important figure of the kingdom.

« And she just disapeared ! » lamented the guard. « We have no idea where she might be. Until she resumes her work, all we'll have is what we are sold – we are sorry »


She could be anywhere

The last time she was seen, she was at Asuciro, trying to organize trade agreements with dwarves. Of those agreements...no news either.

« Dwarves trade in fall, and they'll have to travel through Kimaeslo-Ori to commerce with the kingdom. » the soldier finished. « At least, if they do meet with you, please treat them with respect. »

The trade was meager, but Histamine insited that the caravan received a couple of bone crafts to advertize the Thaguk Alnos to the rest of the kingdom.

Soon after, the merchants resumed their travel to the west.

The end of summer

The rest of the season was spent without an issue. Ipan was incorporated into the militia, alongside Ralin, Toki and Totten.



Ador was sent to the underground to mine more stone, to perform some maintenance on the outer wall, and hopefully keep on building the bridge. The old underground quarry was carved such as it was sporting hollow rooms that could, be repurposed as workshops or stockpiles.

Kaos continued to work on copper, and made as much bronze as he could with the little tin bargained from the merchants. Metal levy bridges leading in and out of the conpound were forged – allowing the city to completely turtle on herself in the near future.

Soon, summer was driven to a close. The help of the new group allowed the Thaguk Alnos to carry its cleaning of the town – the main streets were now almost clear of dead bodies. Metal trash was still melted, and solutions will have to be found for decayed clothes.

Fall arrived – and soon, we will see if the effort of the crown to establish trade relations with dwarves have been successful. Let's hope they have.

[Splint]

Here's hoping. They might show, they might not, depending on the local neighbors and if the requirements are met for trade; they're lifted from the humans, so you might need more people or need to make more stuff before they show up. Still not 100% certain it'll work still seeing as this is an entirely different version from when I did this last.

And, of course, if the site didn't have them as neighbors, they won't arrive at all unless you go poking the beehive (which would amount to potentially having to give them a black eye before you could trade with them.) But that option is one I haven't tested myself.

[Sir Knight]

Weasel!  It's cute.

This is as fun as ever.  I'm sure that part of the reason I'm enjoying it is the fact that I don't have to be the one cleaning up the massive heap of debris from a reclaim, but the narrative around the inevitable bone crafts is fun.

It does seem like weapons and armor will be a problem.  Hmm.

[Cathar]

There's something wierdly satisfying in seing the trash level of the fort gradually go down, and transform itself into all sorts of craft goods. Recycling may be a subpar method to acquire materials, but I do understand the appeal. Speaking of which I decided to resume my attempts at doing exactly the same thing with trash plastic IRL, wish me luck.

As for armors... as long as Uquur is stuck we won't have the amount of tin we need. Maybe I should try and beg for help in the modding section of the forum, I'm definitely not the only one to have this "hostile" merchant problem.

[Cathar]

The wild dolomite garden

After the departure of the guildmen, things started to settle in the bridgetown. Histamine resumed her crossbow training in a makeshift target practice range, with spare bolts she found laying about. Ipan was now assisting Totten in the training of a small militia. Kaos smelted the little tin haggled from the guild and completed Totten's heavy armor with a bronze platemail to protect her articulations. That left him with a little spare bronze to start molding another armor set. Other metals he found laying around – some silver, some iron rust – would later be used to forge more potent weapons for the fledging militia.

But the most important project launch in this early september was the reopening of the dolomite quarry – a necessary step to resume the construction of the bridge.

Back in the time of the Aconilun, the dolomite quarry was hollowed and stones were carried to the upper levels of the mine to be carved into bricks by a specialized team. However, after the Aconilun was defeated in last autumn 149, the workshop level of the mine was completely flooded and was now inaccessible.

Ipan's wife, Ador, was tasked with finding a solution to that issue. She was not a miner by profession, but digging was hardly a mentally challenging task – in a couple weeks, she had dug up a new way down to the dolomite quarry – and discovered what would later on be called «the wild dolomite garden »




Water slowly dripping from the upper levels muddified the ground, making the dark, damp stone perfect ground for cavern mushroom to grow, from spores coming from lower levels.

Ador proceeded cautiously inside the wild garden and soon met a group of Iferifiyopi elves, alongside cattle. They looked at her with a sight of relief and confusion – they had been stuck in the quarry for almost a year. They survived by eating mushrooms and drinking dripping water and yak milk, while said yaks grazed on cave lychen.  They praised their good fortune that the flood that locked them in the quarry also developped very quickly the ecosystem allowing them to survive the ordeal.

The elves felt immediate relief when they understood they could now leave the underground – but all things considered, life in the quarry wasn't so different than life in their retreat. Now that they were free to leave, they didnn't felt the need to, anymore.

Nonetheless, Ador told them about the recolonisation by the Thaguk Alnos and the reopening of its functions. The elves listened politely but shown no interest in leaving their new home. Only one asked to visit Kimaeslo Ori's temple – that he did, before coming back a couple days after.

In the meantime, hollowed ground in the quarry was hastily remade into a brick carving shop, and Ador put herself to work – cutting dolomite bricks right where the rock was dug up. The construction of the bridge and of the town meant to support it was to take  hundreds of tons of building material and the earlier they could resume that production, the better.

There are more rooms in the mines to be carved out and transformed into habittations – and maybe the garden itself can later on be exploited for cultivations. However, as the Thaguk Alnos was still lacking manpower, it was a project for another time.

The kingdom of Nishtiz

A month passed, almost without incident. Two little happenstaces only have to be reported : one of the merchants had a fight with a crab, and kicked it back into the sea – the animal was bruised and the merchant, slitghly inconvenianced. We indeed live in a dangerous world. Kaos and Yarlig also had a heated argument – although we don't really know what it was about. Because the two men happen to share the same working space and can be opinionated at times. The two friends yelled at each other, refused to change their mind, then called it a day, reconciled and went drinking.

The slow and tranquil autumn was only really disturbed in early october, when an unknown caravan  arrived from the east. It was pulled by two yaks and escorted by a small squadron of short, stout black skinned soldiers wearing iron gear.



Apparently, the traders from the guild told the truth : Uquur and her underlings had been hard at work, negociating trade agreements with the dwarves.

Vagrants and travellers used to wander the western Land of Oak could recognize those merchants as Nishtiz dwarves. In western Oak, borthplace of most human nations, there was two main dwarven kingdoms : Desor Uzol – the sky dwarves, dressing in blue and whose symbol was two clouds intermingled, in the north, and Nishtiz, whose emblem is a forge, in the southern range.


This map, dating from 143, may be slightly outdated

Until recently, Kima had no real interest in dwarven affairs – and that attitude was mostly mutual. Dwarves live in the mountains, men live on river banks and their path rarely have to cross. Humans mostly fight against elves with who they sometime share living space or among themselves, and dwarves, usually reserved, do not see value in human trade nor do they want to conquer plains and river banks, for which they have no use. The relations between the kingdom of Kima and dwarves was traditionally loose and distant.

They however came in contact in recent years on three major occasions ; firstly, from 125 onward, when Kima began to promote knowledge and litteracy, some of its forts -notably Tetzobsha and Thomocemuir – attracted dwarven scholars and nobles, eager to develop science and to report their scientific exchanges back to their Mountainhomes. A second encounter, far less peaceful, happened in year 126, when then War Minister Tis Spisbaoxa accused the dwarves of Desoruzol of hiding the secret of immortality from him and injoncted them to deliver it.

The dwarves of Desoruzol, confused and offended, did not respond to his request, leading to  Ithreksesta, the crazed conflict – still ongoing to this day.

The third time the kingdom of Kima and dwarves enter into contact was actually last year, when Kashi was commissionned to establish relations with Bomrek-Laltur, far in the north, but ultimately failed.

Ador, who was around when the caravan crossed the bridge, stopped the group and told them that the bridgetown was ready to trade with them. It wasn't really true, and the caravan wasn't planning to trade here either and was simply using the bridge to reach eastern Oak.

Nevertheless, exchanging some items was important, as it established Kimaeslo Ori as a steo on Nishtiz's trade route, and the Thaguk Alnos as the recognized owners of the bridgetown.

As for the trade in summer with the guildmen, trade was very bare. Nishtiz traders should had dwarven iron to trade, but the town simply had nothing of similar value to offer in exchange. The material itself was very valuable – the price of gold –  but with no way of appraising how valuable they were exactly, Ador did not took the risk to offense the dwarves.

Instead, she resumed the trade pattern put in place in summer by Histamine, trading crafted goods for tin items, to feed their fledinging bronze industry. Dwarven iron would have to come later.

Nishtiz traders did not stay for very long but promised to come back next year. A promise they would surely keep, as Kimaeslo Ori was by far the fastest and safest way to reach eastern Oak.

A man, his dog, his army

Another important happening of autumn 150  is the arrival of a group of travellers. Their leader was an aging man, dressed in travelling garments. His pale red mane had shifted to gray and a large, white hound, was pulling on a rope he had on his hand. Behind the man and his dog, eight other vagrants. They were travelling light but appeared unarmed. Although they looked similar to the countless bandits plaguing the continent, Pearlites were not in the habit of plundering live settlement, and especially not those inhabited by other pearlites.

In Minbazkar, teh rules of hospitality were pretty simple : sedentary villagers had an obligation to offer shelter to anyone asking for it – however, the quality of said shelter was up to the host, and hospitality did not extend to food – it was an unspoken rules to prevent travellers from being eaten by Darkness at night. Asking for more than what is given was a rude behavior – most of the time, the host would lay a blanket on the floor for the guest to sleep, and allow him to forage around the village to satiate his hunger. Those rules were plastic but pearlite of all people were known to observe them closely.

Therefore, having a group of vagrants approaching town wasn't always sign that a place was to be raided. The group approach cautiously. When they were spotted, Kimaeslo Ori decided also to be on the side of cautious and gathered – just in case.

Spoiler: Top row (click to show/hide)

Jol Licogite : A tall woman finding beauty in dwarven bismuth-alloyed bronze. She's trained with a crossbow, but would have prefered to learn to use two-handed swords. She does not enjoy fighting very much, but when she does, she's fearless. She is Ozo's wife and her goal in life is to raise a family.
Thep Orspaak:A hand to hand fighing instructor, who seems to like short swords and shields. He appears messy, disorganized and easily discouraged, and his lack of physical prowess would made him a poor recruit had he not already  a competent training. He's Dag's husband.
Ozo Anishasttol : Untrained but physically strong, Ozo is also a competent merchant and acts as a treasurer for Wuspin's band. He's familiar with accounting and does not like violence.
Cilko Ithritmedon : A pikeman. He's calm, undertoned and appears friendly at first sight. H's quite ambitious cand can be assertive but tends to pick his battles very carefullly.. He's Ino's husband.
Dag Fensastkiwan : A quite apathic, easy going and quiet swordswoman, doubling as a surgeon. She's Thep's wife. Not much to say about her.

Spoiler: Bottom row (click to show/hide)

Nino Nulceanu : A people person. She's extremely positive and gains people's trust easily. She's preofiscient with a crossbow and is Cilko's wife.
Osmos Ustrathura : Despite not having been trained in martial arts, Osmos is brave and incredibly strong and would probably make a great officier. In the meantime, he's trained in most farm related work, and can kill cattle, plow a field and brew alcohol quite competently.
Wuspin :Second child and only son of late War Minister Tis Spisbaoxa, Wuspin is a man who hides a very cheerful, happy personality under a mak of stoicism and severity. Even if he feels he has to uphold his fathers legacy, he has none of his ambition and values nothing above a worry-less, tranquil afternoon. Sabu Ranenastrisp, the dog, is his personal pet.
Kulur Pethitlipi : An ambitious woman, trained as a surgeon and a wound dresser. She appears to be a resentful type and seems to be ready to grasp any title thrown her way. She claims to be descending from an established family, but her familial tree does not reveal anything spectacular – only her grandfather, Lord Vispol, was once the lord of the western village of Uzidether, and the title was transmitten to her uncle, then lost.Oh, and her father married his niece, but incest is not uncommon in Mong Kima.

When Ipan and Ador saw them closer, however, their faces opened.

« This is Wuspin and his band ! » exclamed the spear instructor. « We fought together in Thomocermir ! »

Having developped to resist Osmite armies, the border fort attracted and nourished a militaristic society  - warriors came, bringing alongside them redsmiths, doctors, and later on auxiliairies, mercenaries, excellent tailors to finance the war, and merchants when the town became prosperous. The core of the border fort, however, was and remained its garrison of excellent fighters.

Even if Osme had postponed its invasion of Thomocemir, as the dwarves of Desoruzol seized the opportunity to try and raid the border fort.


These raids were easily driven back

Among the people who drove back Desoruzol raids were Wuspin and his band. Even if none of them held the prestigious title of Thomocemir knight, they all came back from the border fort with military training, battlefield experience and medical education. They were, assuredly a valuable lot.

« Not only that », continued Ipan. « But Wuspin is actually the son of late War Minister Tis  Spisbaoxa ! This is high nobility we're meeting today ! »

Of course, War Minister Tis Spisbaoxa was mostly known for antagonizing the darves of Desoruzol, causing the war in the first place, and not being very fondly remembered by a peace-loving Mong Kima – bt in the end, he was still one of the major historical figures of the country at this point in  time.


Luki and Tis, back in 135. Not a lot has really changed since then

 Because Histamine and Totten cultivated the ambition of raising an army and pacifying the region, they were overjoyed when Wuspin and his band asked them to immigrate in Kimaeslo Ori.  A band of fighters – a ressource that would have become necessary at some point.

Of course, Kimaeslo Ori could not – at this point – support that many soldiers and would have them perform civilian tasks : the glass workshop was reopened, and so was the gemcutter house. Idle hands were made busy by the construction work, made possible by the extraction of dolomite bricks from the underground garden, field work and trash disposal were to occupy what remained of the season.

When winter fell upon the bridgetown, work had start to gain some pace.

[TheFlame52]

I like Ozo. Do we have a bookkeeper yet?

[Cathar]

Not yet, but promoting him may be a good idea, what do you think ?

[TheFlame52]

Why the hell not?