Crusade 2

“Yesterday, the sun was shining, the animals spoke and the world was right.  Today, the sun is gone, the animals are in hiding and nothing is right.”

-Agi-Tume, Illietheril Runner

“I was watching Laakasa in the night sky, when she disappeared.  Why Tak’gaar, has Laakasa disappeared from the sky?”

-Chakk, Korogin gha’tok initiate

“As we moved into our positions above the Om’rhak hamgar, the mountains roared and the hills shook and the night sky disappeared.”

-Mutaag, Herg warrior

“I thought something was different when I got up and the sky was gray and thick clouds hung in the air as far as I could see.  I knew something was wrong when I arrived at the gates of Nairn-vel-toth and nothing remained, but a giant hole in the ground.”

-Burke, Merchant

For centuries on end the wise and generous Mairhzba governed the land and peace reigned over it.  All across the Empire the people lived in harmony with one another.  The Mairhzba and its vassals traded freely with distant lands and there little was needed by anyone.  Markets throuought the land boasted all manner of trade goods and brought in visitors from across the continent.

Artists and scholars thrived and literacy was common among even the poor.  The works of great philosophers such as Suh’tan were available to all and formed the basis for many of the laws of the land.  Doing good to one another was considered to be the paramount law and respect for each other stemmed from the need to follow age old dictates of politeness and decorum.  In all life was good for the people of the Empire. 

Then it was gone.

With the disappearance of the great cities of the Empire the infrastructure of the nation was brought to a screeching halt.  Trade routes lay empty and fields were left to go to seed.  No one knew what to make of the disappearance of the Mairhzba and the attacks by all manner of raiders and marauders left much of the nation in shambles. 

Here and there small enclaves arose that were able to return their protected areas to a semblance of the lost civilization.  The age old mantra of Might-Makes-Right has returned to the forefront and these self-proclaimed leaders of the people prove that every day.  While it is true that most of the new settlements are led by honest men there are a growing number of stories detailing the atrocities and evils perpetrated not only by raiders, but also by those the populace looks to for protection.

The forces of the herg and korogin have taken great advantage of the disappearance of the Mairhzba and their armies and are raiding deeper into what’s left of the Empire every day.  Even age old allies such as the cymean and nemtsa are sorely tested by the loss of the Mairzba and both of these nations have done their best to withdraw from the Empire.  This withdrawal is not done out of spite rather it is from the fear that aiding the people of the Empire will draw the attention of the many raiders that are tearing at the remnants of what the Mairhzba had built.

Already the cymean city of Kar-met-Istan is under siege by a large contingent of barbarians from the north and it is feared that it is only a matter of time before herg mercenaries are brought in by the north-men to assist in the breaking of the city.  If Kar-met-Istan falls it is feared that there is nothing that can be done to stop the barbaric tribes from over-running the entire region.

All of these events have taken place in a year’s time and to say the future is uncertain is as great an understatement as one can make…