Okay, before I start this report, I would like to submit some documents I have been working on. They are all WIP, some informations may not be accurate or up to date, but they are mostly correct. They will need more work that is for sure.
Geographical map :
Political map :
Cheat sheet on Minbazkar's human kingdoms :
Spring 157The huntersIt was the morning of the fourth of March. Because a cold shower was dripping from the gray sky, birds were mostly silent. The town was waking up on the eastern side of the bridge. It would be a slow, uneventful day, spent rather at home or in a heated workshop – it would still take a couple weeks for the spring warmth to settle over Kimaeslo Ori.
Despite the cold and the rain, a brave – if small – hunter was hunting for its prey. Perhaps it was his ancestral instincts, hunger or boredom driving the little feline to brave the weather – from dawn onward, he looked for wild hamsters, chimpunks and mices. Finding nothing in town, he first scoured the outskirt, where he was equally unlucky.
Hours past and the feline started to grow restless. He crossed the bridge to the western side – perhaps the relative widlerness of the western bank would be more gamey.
Unlike the little cat, there was no reason for Bosa to hunt. As a goblin, he wasn't hungry, and as a retainer of Ngom Snunngoso, he should have been with his comrades preparing for the attacked they planned.
But from the moment he saw the cat, alone and within reach, Bosa decided he wanted to ruin the smal animal. To hell with the preparations : he had the opportunity of ruining the day of something and decided very quickly he would not let it slip.
The hunter, sudently, had turned into a prey.
A note on warlord Ngom SnunngosoIn the year 83, the small central agrariuan kingdom of Egapesor was ruled by King Ases. In western Tadecen at the time, the political going were mostly influenced by the shifting war and alliances of human and elven kingdoms – goblins of the east had yet to manifest themselves in great numbers, and their crimes this far were not as commonplace.
One day, when an Osmite child snatcher made his way in the city of Cusithamec and abducted his third born, King Ases did not know how to react, and the abductee could not be retrieved.
King Ases of Egapesor had a large legacy, life continued and the incident was soon forgotten – King Ases lived a relatively calm life until 146, where he died peacefully in his bed. The power went to his first son, King Kara, still in power to this day.
For the poor abductee, a four years old boy by the name of Mubo, it was the beggining of a long walk through hell. He was imprisonned in Bosangasma, the capitale city of Osme to be reeducated by his new masters.
He left his irons at 10 years of age to work the earth, and at 12, he married a girl about his age, another abductee from Egapesor, and over the years, the couple had seven children.
Of those seven kids, Ngom was the youngest. She was born in 109, spent her early working life as a bowyer on the village of Slaxuzustun, east of the Thruniino salt lake. She however knew something about her upbringing. Maybe she heard her father mention King Ases, maybe it is the way she was raised – Ngom knew she was to have the destiny of a queen.
And so, as she was producing bows and arrows to keep herself fed, she also worked diligently to create her own warband, recruiting every single goblin and troll she could get an ascendant on.
When, in last year, Histekapap hills totally fell to pearlite control, Ngom knew it was her time. She had a couple hundreds goblins under her thumb, and she saw pearlite army busy in the north – it was now or never. She gathered her horde, and took the southern route to Sposmipo wetlands – the mud, especially in spring, was an ordeal – it took them a week to reach Kimaeslo Ori.
The first among her troops arrived in the night of the 3 march 157. Bosa was a small leader among them, and was tasked, of course, to prepare a temporary siege settlement ; that would hold un til the whole force could be gathered and launched like a projectile against the bridgetown.
Bosa took his task very seriously – until he saw that isolated cat, after which he forgot anything about it. Haven't Bosa seen that fateful feline, maybe he could have prepared the settlement – maybe Ngom main force would have gathered harmoniously, and maybe the events would have unfolded completely differently.
He signed his underlings to carry without him, and with his silver saber in hand, he approached the small fury creature – remaining as undetected as would allow his heavy copper mail. Slowly, very slowly gaining ground.
Nested twistsAnd so, it is where we left the action. Bosa, the osmite swordsman, under the cold morning shower of spring, saber in hand, ready to pounce on a cat whose martyr he deemed more important than the invasion he was task to prepare.
Suddently, he leaped forward. The poor stray cat was totally taken by surprize – the silver saber hit him in the rear leg. The crude and blunt blade did not cut him very deep, but its weight and force crushed his bones and threw him on the ground.
For a moment, Bosa thought he'd let the cat crawl away. With a leg broken, he'd probably die on his own. Bosa would then go back to his gathering comrades and participate to the preparations. He thought about it – and decided against the idea. He wasn't satisfied. Something, learnt early in his childhood, reclaimed satisfaction in not only death, but the infliction of senseless suffering.
It was not, as one could assume, something like lashing out, seeking revenge on weaker than oneself – it wasn't even boredom.
It was a feeling, common among goblins but unknown in human kingdoms, that consumes itself only in inflicting harm – a nameless feeling then, but which could aptly be named « evil ».
Bosa started to hit the poor cat again, with his blunt sword, with his foot, as the poor creature was hissing helplessly.
With his victim now throughly beaten down, Bosa felt satisfied at last : time to end up that game and go back to work. He lifted his sword – for the last time – and dropped it on the critter.
However, only half his arm came down – the other half, on the contrary, went straight up – with the saber still in hand !
It was Princeling Sothro, son of Prince Ryukan of Thomocemir – and with the pearlite army on his heels.
It was only when the gauntled hand fell on the muddy sylvan soil that Bosa understood that for the second time this morning, the predator had turned into prey.
Crushing engagementFrom the top of the bridge, the pearlite army could see the whole scene develop. The hissing of the poor cat alarmed the whole garrison, which armed and deployed immediately. Sothro, who was preparing a sword training for the morning, and who due to his young age was the nimblest of the captains, was the quickest to action.
Bosa was slain immediately – and the Osmite army was still gathering in their camp. They were wholly unprepared.
Having saved the cat from his gruesome fate, Sothro's squad charged the invaders.
We know from the first fall of Kimaeslo Ori that the Osmite army should not be underestimated – but their strenghts comes mostly from their greater numbers and their Beakdog calvalry. Taken flat-footed in a small sized engagement, they could leverage neither.
The Osmite vanguard evaporated on contact and their main force was pushed outside of the borders of the bridgetown. They tried, of course, to reorganize into a force to reach the critical mass necessary to overcome the pearlite defenders, but each time a group formed, it was engaged and destroyed by the armored infantry of the Nation of Pearls.
It was a complete rout – the invading army throughly wiped out.
Ngom Snunngoso, warlord and niece of King Kara of Egapesor, was found among the slain invaders.
AftermathThe cat survived the ordeal. His hind leg are broken and it is unknown if he'll jump around again, or if hunger, instinct or boredom will drive him to hunt on the western bank again. He his otherwise fed by the town – pearhaps a kind pearlite will adopt him at some point.
Maybe the town could give him a name ? Ideas welcome.
Seeking peaceThe sworncaptain Uzu participated into the defensive action. His mood, improving in winter, immediately fell through the floor again. Uzu was looking for a chance to bring glory to his family through martial arts since he was 12, but it is now clear that he is not cut out for the boots he tried to fill.
Being the son of Asin, nobleman of Thomocemir, one of the companions of Islas, and one of the best swordsman of the town, Uzu is a man that is dearly loved and help was provided to try to get him out of his progressing depression.
However, he is also occupying the post of Sworncaptain – one of the most important military office.
The elite swordsmen of his squads are a critical element of both our defense strategy and internal order, and cannot be immobilized indefinitely because Uzu cannot get it together. We also do not want to abuse him into his breaking point either.
It was then decided Uzu would be relieved of his command and assigned into a therapy squad at the end of the season. Should he overcome his hurdle, he would then rejoin civilian life as a craftman – he would, of course, always be welcome in the barracks as a volonteer instructor.
We are still looking for a replacement.
Mistakes were madeIt was a few days after the botched invasion attempt that the elves of Iferifiyopi decided to visit the bridgetown. The city was still unnerved, but relieved to see friendly faces at last. And so, as every spring, the craftmen bring their creations to the marketplace to be exchanged against fuel, exotic animals, pelts, or simply donated to the maintaining of good relations.
However this year, it was not to be. Among the goods offered to the Queen of Iferifiyopi, the merchant found an item made out of wood. It was pearhaps just forgotten there, and offered by mistake.
Extremely upset by their unfortunate discovery, the elves made a big scandal out of the situation and left immediately. The spring festival was cancelled. We have to make sure to be more prudent next year, as our relations with Iferifiyopi are very important for our diplomatic stability.
Urban developmentA last note on this seasonal report is to be made on our urban development. Currently, we have three projects udnerways worthy of note :
• The Queen's grave has been completed to the north of the town. It will be part of a larger burial complex built around it. That mausoleum will be strictly reserved to the Kings and Queens and the most important of the heroes of the country. The genral population will still have stones carved with their names in the underground and bodies pulverized.
• The palace's architecture is almost complete and a wee bit of work on the roof needs to be executed. Aside that, we need a lot of windows to complete some of the stories and, of course, furnitures a bit later. Because large parts of the palace are still without function, we might need to decide how to organize them later.
• Work is being done to reinforce the western bank – to make it both more defensible against invaders and more accessible to merchants. Roads have been paved, buildings expended. In the long term,a set of walls similar to those on the eastern banks will allow people to live there permanently.
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Topic: Mong Kima - The Nation of Pearls (DF 0.47.05) (Read 253871 times)