Your memories of the city of Bride Price are rather faint. You only spent a few months there before you were even five years old. To avoid causing a scene, your party drops off its fifty excess hunters at the raider camp three miles downriver from the city walls, and passes through the gate wearing the practical attire of desert explorers. Some people recognize the iconic mustache of King Penteram, and others the large frame of your brother Andre, but if any of the residents of Bride Price suspect that their king is among the party, they are unable to guess which of the young men in your group he might be.
The city strikes you as rather run-down and impoverished. Perhaps the filter of a child's innocence prevented you from seeing this before, or perhaps the economic damage caused by the Volcanique Confederation's blockade is beginning to set in. The ugly fortress that you call home is painted white now; Phillip tells you the locals refer to it as 'the molar' nowadays as it resembles a flattened tooth. The inside of the building is now much nicer; much of the furniture is now human sized, crafted from wood, bone, and ivory. Giovani brags (and Penteram complains) that every elephant and rhinoceros within a week's journey from Bride Price was slaughtered for your furnishings.
Meet with our great uncle Archdruid Tamar.
From your chambers near the top of The Molar you have a good view of the city, and can see that the only real nice part of town surrounds the only building larger than your home: The Mahallo Grand Temple. You send servants to contact the temple and arrange a meeting with the druids.
The following day you cross the city and are met at the Temple by your great uncle Archdruid Tamar, who gives you a tour. The temple is a large building, but with the exception of a library containing both general magic knowledge and lore of the spirits that the Mahallo worship, and several communal sleeping areas, the vast majority of space is open with sparse floorplans and high ceilings. Some rooms include small plots of soil and exotic plants, which you know are called druid gardens. In addition to maintaining unusual flora, the druids who dwell at the temple also practice magic; At any given moment in any given room, you are likely to see peers sparring or mentors teaching a small group of students. Spells fly with little warning, and you note that those not participating in the lessons tend to stick to the edges of whichever room they are in.
Tamar seems to be a friendly, if somewhat quiet, old man. He confesses that these days he and his temple are mostly out of politics, at his age he was more than happy to hand affairs of state over to your mother and Penteram, who both strike him as reasonable rulers. He admits the blockade has been bad for the city, but people are not starving yet and the druids of the temple can feed themselves anyway.
He shares a few concerns with you. Like your brother Anders, he is worried about the orc leader Korrag. While your brother frets about the neighboring ruler's spy network, Tamar is more concerned with his magical talents. "There have been far more wicked spirits active in your lands since Korrag arrived, and the benevolent spirits that I commune with... many are afraid of the Orc. I don't know the exact nature or reach of his power, but he or somebody close to him is at the very least a powerful druid in service of malicious beings."
Secondly, he expresses worry about a young religious movement in your lands, which he calls the Frontier Heresy. Followers of this cult cite the ambiguous prophecies of Agusta's eldest son, the late Archbishop Lucius, and various whispers from Finna, a sea spirit in the Mahallo pantheon who was just recently heard from for the first time since the people moved to the frontier. Their core belief is that a ritual can be devised that will reverse the flow of the Frontier River, cause it to tunnel under the Titan Lands, allow the Mahallo to reach the sea once again, and the stranded crusaders the means to either go home or continue their crusade.
Although true believers in this heresy are few in number, most of them are powerful druids and imperial clerics. Many in politics, including your mother and most of her court, offer the Heresy protection and financial support, as they would rather see the crusaders and the locals cooperating than fighting. Tamar, however, understands the magic involved and believes that there is a good chance the prophecy is true; It is possible that the ritual can be worked out and performed within your natural lifetime. He warns the reversing the flow of the river would flood much of Bride Price, and cause a terrible and unnatural shift to the local ecosystem.
Lastly, he warns that it may be best to have your heirs trained in Druidism at the temple. Traditionally the Mahallo have been ruled by druids, and although Tamar and all of his likely successors are fine taking a back seat to secular rulers, this viewpoint is not shared by every druid, and the desire to return to a druidic monarchy may become a grievance for populist movements against the crown at some point down the line.
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In the meantime, I think we should discreetly make inquiries into political marriage options. Given the state of our family, it might be a good idea to get an heir sooner than later.
Considering the state of your younger brother and probable heir Prince Alan, you decide it may be beneficial to start producing your own children sooner rather than later. You don't doubt notable locals will start offering your daughters to you sooner rather than later, but there are some steps you can take to speed the process along.
As marrying for a powerful political alliance is likely off the table, you best political marriage would be local. The upper echelon of Mahallo society is make up of the Druids, the Merchants, and the Raider Clans. Marrying into one of those three castes would win you local friends and endear you the common people of New Mahallo, and getting a handful of marriage prospects offered to you would be as simple as drafting a few letters to prominent raiders, merchants, and/or druids expressing interest.
There is also the matter of the crusaders, who could very well become troublesome if you abandon your Imperial roots by leaning too far into Mahallo culture. A marriage could help there, but most of the crusaders are male soldiers who left their family behind to try and fight the Eunuch League, so potential brides amoung their ranks may be few and far between. Your best bet to use marriage to display loyalty to the Imperial culture and religion would be to ask you brother King Penteram to help you search for a bride among the families of the Imperial Clergy of The Titan Canyons.
On the topic of Imperials, you are sure many powerful leaders in distant nations would be interested in the claims you hold against your brothers' land. You could deploy the merchant cartels next cold season to skirt the edge of the desert and bring your tidings to distant human lands. Although geography and politics would make a military alliance with a distant human lord impractical, someone might pay you a healthy dowry to take a daughter off their hands on the condition that you eventually send them back a grandkid or two with claims to press. Considering the state of your economy, an influx of money could be helpful. Such a marriage would, however, likely take at least four years to complete: One cool season to get the message out, a second to receive offers, a third to send good news to your lucky in-laws, and a fourth to receive the bride and dowry.
Do you start actively pursuing marriage offers from any of the above groups?---
Scout out the animal husbandry and hunting industry in our new realm and establish business contacts.
Hunting and animal husbandry are both present in New Mahallo, but neither field could be considered much of an industry.
Ranching is difficult on the savannas of New Mahallo, as livestock easily falls prey to dangerous predators such as lions, hyenas, and wild dogs. Some brave and talented druids tend to herds of native wildlife for milk and the remains of whatever dies naturally, but druids are rarely the sort of people to heavily exploit wildlife for personal gain.
Horses were never a part of Mahallo culture before they came to the frontier, and are just now starting to catch on among your subjects as a means of transportation. Most horses in the Kingdom are imports from The Titan Canyons. The Mahallo know so little about the creatures that some unscrupulous forigners get away with selling mules advertised as breeding stallions.
The merchant families employ Camels and Dire Kangaroo rats for their journeys across the desert. Some purchase their stock at The Nameless City. Others run small breeding operations at their compounds at the edge of the desert. As the market is pretty much limited to other merchants, nobody in New Mahallo goes out of their way to try and make money by selling such creatures.
Hunting is more a hobby for the rich and a survival method for the poor than it is an industry. Meat doesn't keep long enough to serve as a consumer good, and the climate is too warm for most people to want to wear leather or hide. You imagine that if you were to build up an actual proper military, you could easily increase the demand for leather, but in doing so you'd make your own treasury the primary customer on the market.
Some of the raider clans supplement their income by leading hunts, either through the savanna of New Mahallo or the woods of the neighboring Moon Elves, for visiting Imperial Nobility in search of adventure. The blockade has hurt this side business quite a bit, but nobles from The Titan Canyons will still follow the lead of their King and seek a grand hunt from time to time.
---
You sit down with Raid Chief Hau, an imposing man with imposing tattoos. He is planning to raid a major riverside forest retreat right around the time of your birthday, and would be glad to have you along in the position of honor in the first canoe.
"Elves live slow and adapt slower. For aeons they have been safe, protected by dense woods and druids. Then the Mahallo came, with canoes to bypass the woods and attack by river, and druids to match their own. For us it been generations since that started, but for the timeless people our raids are still a new experience, and they rarely have a good answer." Hau explains, "I obviously cannot guarantee your safety, especially considering the size of the target, but I can assure you raiding is somewhat less dangerous than you'd expect."
He puts a hand on your shoulder. "Of course, there is absolutely zero shame in a high profile young man such as yourself requesting a less risky coming of age. I know of an orchard a half day closer by river than our primary target. Once we hit the forest retreat, the elves will focus their forces there, so if we hit the orchard with a smaller group... say twelve to eighteen hours later... those raiders would likely be unopposed."
Would you like to raid the orchard or the forest retreat?Once you pick your target, Hau begins running down some of the roles you can play once the raid begins. You consider your options.
Possible Raid Roles -Patrol The Perimeter of the Raid: Pick off runners and alert your comrades to enemy reinforcements from the safety of a Dire Kangaroo Rat.
Challenge the Defenders: Prove yourself by joining the front line to attack the enemy where they are strongest.
Clear Buildings: Get first dibs on both the loot and the squishy civilians.
Guard the Canoes and Druids: You can lay low if you want, but it will be your responsibility to step up if the enemy decides to go after your means of safely returning home.
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Thirteen years of desert experience earned us a specialty in swimming. No need to flirt with words, just hang out the pool and flex a little, or dive from the high board.
I mentioned in one of the first Nameless City posts that your manor was on a lake and had a pool. Arawn got to swim almost daily.
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Topic: (SG) Petty Kingdom of New Mahallo: Reign of King Arawn (Read 20244 times)