Eptian LXXXII [82]

Some of the Mortal towns near the troubles had asked anyone that would listen for help and the message eventually made its way to Eptih. The message requested sending as many men as possible to fight the Druceans and made claims that this would be good for the whole of Mortal Existence not just the towns dealing with the Druceans directly.

Eptih decided not to assist the towns seeking help but rather to keep the welfare of the city of Reyam as his primary concern. There were just too many open questions as to what the future held and he was unwilling to gamble, not to mention it would be nearly impossible to get any sizable fighting force to the border from where he was in safety the way things were with many different towns and cities squabbling with each other. At the same time he’d be leaving his city in a weakened state and possibly open for conquest, something he was unwilling to do. This is the same stance many other leaders had taken which is why the message had made it as far as Eptih in the first place, only those closest to the troubles were willing to risk whatever could secure their survival because the problem was so close by and therefore they feared the future. Everyone else however decided to wait and see what the Druceans would do while trying to secure as much land and men as possible for an anticipated future where such things would be the difference between continuing to exist and a horrific ending.

This lack of response to their pleas isolated the people under attack from the Druceans making them desperate and as a result increased the numbers fleeing from these areas. The effect was the towns near the ruined border began to become depopulated enough that it made it ever harder for the Druceans to gain plunder. As such they decreed that no one flee on pain of a cruel and slow death of ten for every one caught feeing, and it only took a few examples to prove to the people that the Druceans were serious. The Druceans also at this time made it illegal to hunt down and kill the Narciogen. They wanted to weaken Mortal resolve much the same as the Velidicans had planned only they enacted this policy so that they could strip their wealth more easily.

To enforce this new decree the Druceans now had to police these Mortal lands. Before this they had never has a continuous presence in these areas, they only entered them to raid and would always return to their stronghold. They used fear and fear alone to manage the people. They did not appreciate this direct administration as few of the Druceans wanted to be tasked with the job and as such they created a system whereby they selected governors from the people and assigned them regions to oversee. These governors were now directly responsible for policing their assigned areas and would pay the price if they did not keep the people contained and make regular tribute payments to the Druceans. For all intents and purposes the Druceasn now ruled over these lands.

The lands just beyond these newly controlled areas were fearful and did not want to share the same fate as their neighbors. But the Druceans began raiding these areas for plunder and it seemed the process that had happened before was now happening again. From their stronghold was a first ring of control near the ruined border, now they began to push out beyond this first ring to a second ring of cities and towns. The people of this second ring started to flee eastward and this pushed the pressure further outward onto the next ring of towns and cities and so on. This second ring was larger than the first however so the pressure wave that radiated out was greater, so much so that it made its way to the lands of Eptih.

Eptih could see the developing situation. He saw the pressure being pushed his way by the Druceans which forced the need for the eastern towns and cities to reorganize and is some cases to consolidate. Although the situation was still fragile he believed he saw a general strengthening nearing Reyam and feared a rising power of the new combined cites in the East. He dreaded what may happen to his city if the current trends continued and he did nothing to fortify his position. Even though Reyam was prosperous it was now smaller than some of the newly combined towns which were becoming formidable cities. He knew if he did nothing Reyam would become a appealing target for these growing powers. As he had suspected long before now, it was impossible to leave the trouble of the world behind, wherever he would go the world would follow, he would never be left in peace to love his wife and raise his son. It was as if the world itself world not permit it.

Advertisement

Eptian LXXXI [81]

The majority of the people of the border towns now began to flee into the interior and although the various towns of the interior did not want them they had little choice but to take them in, it was either that or send them back which none were willing to do. There were consequences however of this migration as these new arrivals upset the delicate balance of power that was being established before the attack of the Traitor Mortals and was still in limbo before things had been halted by the actions of the Siradyt and the fear they brought.

Deep within Mortal lands it had not taken long after the main forces of the Siradyt had withdrawn for the Mortals to begin to fight amongst themselves. All the new shifts of power due to population changes provoked land grabs and a myriad of disputes which quickly led to fights. Some towns that had been weaker before actually courted the refugees in the hopes of increasing their populations and changing the balance of power in their respective regions. Additionally, many towns that were growing and near each other coalesced into a single town which now, being much larger, became cities and many of those became powerful city-states.

Many had predicted that when the Siradyt withdrew there would be a general upheaval and that the situation would be too imbalanced to facilitate harmony but few predicted the withdrawal and then an occupation of the frontier that would disallow a return to normalcy. All of which led to even greater chaos and then excuses to grab at whatever might seem capable of making a city or town safer. What people had not expected was how fast all of this would happen. It had been less than a year from the time the Siradyt had withdrawn and the Druceans had taken over a large portion of the ruined border and completely upset the balance of power in Mortal Existence.

At this most inopportune moment Reyam gave birth to a son [——– SP?]. He was a large baby, exceedingly strong and had caused his mother a great amount of grief in gestation. She had determined the baby would be either a great warrior or having done all his battles in the womb would be a man of peace. Eptih was initially very happy to have a son but it soon struck him what chaos the boy had been born into and a darkness fell on his spirit that was a fear he had not known before. If there was one thing Eptih knew it was that he had no clear idea of what the future would bring but he promised himself that whatever may come he would keep his wife and son safe. That would be his one true cause and everything he would do in the future would be to achieve that end and no other. The birth of his son focused his views to a singular point and for the first time in his life, the confusion of his birth and upbringing, all of it now meant nothing to him.
(Birth is probably too late, should have happened earlier)

Although Eptih’s city was far away from the ruined border it was getting to a point where the pressure began effecting Reyam (city), maybe not directly but very much in an indirect way as a growing sense of chaos and worry amongst Reyams’ closest neighbors grew louder. After the birth of his son Eptih worried more about the state of Existence, he wondered if he should never have turned over the PAMOAR. He now believed that with the army he could have kept things in order and held the peace, although, he really didn’t have a choice as he was forced to disband it. Maybe he felt he should have refused to disband it, making the case how necessary it would be in the future. And if they wouldn’t have agreed he could have convinced the army to follow him. Speculation of how things might have been is a waste of time when the future requires so much work.

The other larger Mortal cities were not happy, they did not want outsiders controlling land so close to their own property and they knew that eventually they would face the Druceans face to face. Some of the closer towns and cities began to crack under the pressure of the fleeing refugees unable to bring in so many new citizens. Regardless of their anger they wanted to come to a political solution with the Druceans more than they wanted a military situation. Most of these towns and cities were still exhausted from all that had happened before and many were still battling their internal Narcirogen problem, some more successfully than others. They did not so much fear the Druceans but assumed if they were to attack the Druceans the Siradyt may very well return with a vengeance and all the Mortals knew the Siradyt could have destroyed them during the war but did not. Many of the Mortals saw the Druceans themselves as a cancer, if they meant that they were only a nuisance that could be quickly cut out they were wrong, if they meant something growing rapidly out of control and continually gaining power, they were right.

Eptian LXXX [80]

Not long after the assassination attempt, Vispereyl and his men took possession of some land near the ruined border and stripped what little remained. They even stripped it of building materials to the point that now the ruined border was nothing more than ruble, and as this area was now worthless it became necessary for Vispereyl and his men to travel deeper into Mortal territory to find plunder. Eventually they rode beyond the ruined border to small nearby towns and began to raid and plunder these areas as well. It was at this point that Vispereyl and his men saw the real profits from their decision to stay behind and were able to build themselves a defensive outpost partly with the materials they had stripped from the ruined border. This lightly fortified defensive outpost was built within Mortal territory very near the ruined border from which they could launch their raids.

Vispereyl’s raids took their toll on the nearby Mortals who still remained close to the ruined border, and those feeling the effects directly, wanted it to stop. They erred however by sending messengers to Vispereyl seeking an audience which in turn legitimized him within the local area, instantly he was given authority. They should have gone to some of their neighbors who were more powerful than themselves and created some sort of coalition for the protection of Mortal border communities. Nonetheless, they were allowed to meet with Visperyel and begged him to stop the raids. Vispereyl told them that if they would pay him he would raid elsewhere and so this is how it went. Every new town he raided learned quickly that it was better to pay than to suffer the raids and so in a short amount of time Vispereyl and his men were becoming very wealthy with numerous payments coming in on a regular basis from many different small towns. These towns however had little money to give over as they were still recovering from the Traitor Mortal attack. They quickly began to run out of money and they feared what might come next.

Vispereyl and his cohorts choose a name for their defensive position seeing it as a basis for a future kingdom. They took the name of the regional name for the area where they were now encamped near the ruined border. The region had been called Drulansa-Siicea, Vispereyl and his men became the new Druceans. The name “Druceans” was not typically used for the original inhabitants because most people called themselves citizens of their town/city in which they lived not their region their town/city was in. Vispereyl chose the regional name as opposed to the town where he actually was located to give his developing kingdom an association to a much larger area. The Actual town was called were his encampment was located was called “Raimeranth”.

A lot of this idea of a future kingdom was merely the youth of Vispereyl and his men and their grandiose designs, they saw themselves as being more fated to be rulers, only time would prove them right or wrong, dreamers or doers.

At some point, and when their passion for plunder had been at least somewhat satiated, the necessity for women became predominant concern and the Druceans, as they were now called, focused on this more than on the getting of all other plunder. The nearby towns now had little money and so Vispereyl and his men would take only the best women as recompense. The Mortals did not think it right to trade away their women but they had no option and even if they had the Druceans wanted the women and not some meager substitute. They did not take individual or multiple wives personally but the women were the wives of the group, The “Drucean Wives” as they were called by others and meant as a derogative. These women did most of the work so that the men could focus on fighting and enjoying their plunder and women and would not be a threat the way male slaves might be, there was almost no necessity in creating an environment of intimidation the way it would be for male slaves. Any women who was injured, aged poorly or became overworked was quickly ejected, they wanted nothing but beauty surrounding them and it bothered them little at the lack of progress the women could make performing male tasks, they would just be required to stay at it longer and in greater numbers. Any women who rebelled would be executed immediately, a few examples and the Drucean wives knew the reality of their situation. Any male children created would be kept and reared to be like their fathers by their mothers but all female children were traded away to whoever would buy them or was forced to buy them.

The nearby towns were quickly financially drained and when they could no longer pay or had beautiful women to hand over they would be destroyed, the people fleeing toward the larger Mortal towns and cities in the East. This migration put extreme pressure on theses larger eastern towns and cities.

The Druceans could not satiate their desire for plunder, beautiful women and land. These desires made them absolutely ruthless. To the Mortals they seemed so different from themselves and people soon began thinking of all Siradyt in the same way even though the Siradyt were more like themselves than they were like the Druceans. On all matters they seemed different even down to their lack of families, their treatment of women and the abandonment of all their daughters. The Druceans for all their faults had one crime that they despised above all else, incest. This is why all daughters were sold away or banished and all sons, being raised by them, knew who their mothers were.

Eptian LXXIX [79]

The Traitor Mortals needed to return to their lands being that nearly every able bodied fighting age male was not farming his lands or doing all of the other work necessary to keep a community functioning. And so eventually they decided to withdrawal from Mortal territory and yet they wanted to protect their rear and so tasked [Saireus] with the job. He had with him the young man Vispereyl as second in command (who he was mentoring at the request of his father). Their job was specifically to keep up an attack to cover the withdrawing army but their task was not meant to be a short term project, on the contrary they were to lead their own long term campaign as it seemed a quick withdrawal might indicate a weakness and thus convince the Mortals that they should attack.

[Saireus] took this new assignment but he wanted to get home to his family and to his lands so that he might have a successful harvest of his crops (and to protect what was his from those who might be anxious to take his property in his absence as none of his sons were old enough to do the job). Even though, [Saireus] did as he was commanded, grudgingly, but for Vispereyl he quickly saw an opportunity to profit immensely from this new assignment. He worked on convincing [Saireus] to consider the riches that could be gained by staying and continuing to raid, even pushing ever deeper into Mortal territory (greatly expanding the purpose of their orders). Although [Saireus] did not want to stay he did put the proposition to the leaders (via messengers) and it was decided by them that it would not be a good idea as it might focus the rage of the Mortals and cause a second war of retribution. (which at this point they were looking to avoid at all costs.)

[Saireus] obeyed, having no real desire stay anyways with all that awaited him back home. Vispereyl on the other hand had very little to return to, no wife, children or property and did not like the idea of returning to his parents empty handed at some point in the near future. He made up his mind that he would not return anytime soon regardless of the orders given and that if [Saireus] returned he would stay on and attempt to implement his plan. All he would need would be a small band of followers who could see the potential before them and would be willing to take the necessary risks.

[Saireus] and Vispereyl disagreed on their next move and once their assignment had been completed (their main forces having withdrawn and a slow draw down completed) they separated, [Saireus] returning home and Vispereyl staying, having recruited men similar to himself who had little to return to with words of possible wealth beyond what they could expect back home. They decided not to turn away from the opportunity presenting itself and therefore to make their fortunes here and now by the sword.

When [Saireus] retuned the leaders of the Siradyt were not happy that Vispereyl had stayed behind and told [Saireus] that he should have brought Vispereyl back. They had made it clear before that any deviation from their carefully considered plan could risk provoking the Mortals into a new war of retribution. They had specifically designed a plan of action for psychological terrorism and Vispereyl’s actions could end up undoing the physical and psychological gains they had just made against the Mortals.

Messengers were sent to Vispereyl with orders to return at once but he refused to return and the messengers returned with the news that pushed (the leaders) further into a corner. Additional messengers were sent with a more adamant demand and as before they returned with bad news (Vispereyl will not comply). At some point the Siradyt leaders felt their only recourse was to assassinate Vispereyl and as many of his men as possible and so a small pack of killers was sent in the guise of messengers to assassinate Vispereyl.

This assignation attempt was a complete disaster and all of the men sent were themselves killed, their heads being returned to the Siradyt leaders as a message from Vispereyl to them that he and his men were now a force to be reckoned with. They were now brigands and the Siradyt leaders could attack them with their army and all the dangers that might bring or cut them loose. As Vispereyl and his men had been effective in becoming the primary focus of the Mortals the Siradyt decided to cut them loose, providing no support, figuring the Mortals would eventually kill them all. (they could even ally with the Mortals against them if that option became viable.) They could use the time to train their own army in case the Mortals killed Vispereyl and his men and continued onward for vengeance.

Eptian LXXVIII [78]

Soon after it happened Eptih learned the fate of the Pan Mortal Army and was saddened to know that the army he created and led to total victory over the Velidians was now gone and that one of his top generals, Atpref, was dead. He also knew that what he had feared Existence would become had finally come to pass only much sooner then he expected. Eptih now decided to move up his plans knowing that although he was far from the frontier that the traitor Mortals were attacking the onslaught might push people from that region to his and if not prepared he might be overwhelmed and lose what he had built in a swarm of fleeing refugees.

All the cities that had to this point been solely focused on gaining more territory and squabbling with each other now had to shift their concern to their own continued existence. Optimism for the future quickly turned into pessimism as the threat of the coming Traitor Mortals caused great anxiety and everywhere that anxiety turned to panic. With so little time to prepare and so little martial knowledge there was much confusion. Anyone that had served with the Pan Mortal Army from General to cook was looked to for advice and in fact salvation. This gave these ex-soldiers great power and some of these men knew that if they could withstand the coming barrage they would be in position to profit from their newfound power. With all this in mind some of these ex-soldiers jockeyed for position hoping to be in the right place when all was settled, looking out more for their own interest than the communities who had placed trust in them. Many however were concerned with saving their respective communities but the ones who were looking out for themselves were in place to cause much unnecessary damage.

Eptih was far away from the front lines but nonetheless he began setting up a bulwark system to defend the city of Reyam. Using the news that was coming to further justify his plans and creating an environment were he was able to take drastic steps in a short amount of time due to the prevailing fear. He gathering recruits for training from those that had come to him with their eyes on prosperity and they now found themselves in service to Eptih more than to their own welfare although many of them saw them as both one in the same.

While this was going on the traitor Mortals continued forward and attacked many of the towns on the frontier, looting what they were able and laying waste to everything else. Once the news of this spread the panic turned to pandemonium as it seemed all the worst fears were being realized. However as quickly as it had begun the Traitor Mortals stopped their advance, they occupied a large portion of the frontier and systematically looted these areas sending the spoils back to their own lands. The traitor Mortals were not stupid, they knew they did not have the resources to continue their attack very far into the interior, their main objective was to permanently burn fear into the soul of the Mortal populace hoping this would be enough to keep them from entering their lands ever again with the intention of retribution. The point had been made now the only question was when to leave, they could sense the weakness of the Mortals and felt no need to rush their decision. The Mortals were astonished that the attacked had seemed to stall but the horror stories continued forward even if the enemy did not.

Eptih was surprised like most were that the Traitor Mortals seemed so ruthless, their time spent serving the Velidians had truly turned them into something other then Mortal men. There were numerous stories of their barbarity, needless destruction and penchant for sending their heroes out to challenge and take out any heroes from the other side. How true these stories were Eptih could not determine but he had to assume the worst and as such he reestablished those that had served with him in the Hetharcyp as a command core for his personal army. All the former Hetharcyp were willing to take up arms again. He also enacted conscription and militarized a large part of his male populace. Additionally, he sent out notices among the Mortal world that he would accept any former Hetharcyp and solider of the pan Mortal Army. This was an indication to the people of various other towns that Eptih was creating a militarized self-contained state and many wondered what his purpose truly was.

Eptian LXXVII [77]

The Pan Mortal army, unable to draw conscripts from virtually any of the Mortal towns, began to break down and all of Atpref’s efforts (to recruit) were now totally ignored and as a result all of his gains in Traitor Mortal territory began to wither away under the stress of the Traitor Mortals counteroffensive.

Eventually, pressured by attacks and seeing the forces of the traitor Mortals building up in strength, Atpref had no choice but to retreat from enemy territory. At this point however a retreat would not be easily achievable and he strongly believed that by waiting for support from the various towns and not receiving it he had missed his window of opportunity. He realized that if he were able to get the army safely out of harm’s way it would be nothing less then a miracle. As he moved along in his retreat he sent messengers to many different towns to warn them how dire the situation was and that he would be followed by the traitor Mortals into their lands and was no longer able to provide any kind of real defense. He made one last request for support figuring they would have no choice but to assist him if for no other reason then to save themselves.

Having received the various messengers many were completely indifferent, those closest to the border who would be first to receive the angry traitor Mortals were somewhat more concerned but even these felt they could not drag themselves from their present rush to attainment without losing out to its neighbors, something they felt was a more pressing issue for their future. Additionally, they had no real fear of the traitor Mortals, not realizing the gravity of the situation and knowing virtually nothing about them other than their former support for the Velidian rule. This attitude was completely senseless but it’s possible they felt the traitor Mortals only wanted to drive the Pan Mortal Army out of their lands and would then return home to pursue the same sorts of objectives they themselves were engaged in, that being the pursuit of prosperity. However confident they were in the fantasy they had concocted for themselves many of the frontier towns assembled very small forces that in actuality were assembled more to keep the Pan Mortal army from looting their property than defending against the advancing traitor Mortals. They really had no idea how angry the traitor Mortals were and what scores they were looking to settle, they had after all experienced first hand the extremes of Velidian rule even though they were not enslaved by it.

As the Pan Mortal army withdrew the Traitor Mortals attacked from behind killing as many as possible and doing it in a way that would certainly leave an impression on those who survived or who came upon the remains of the battle at some later point. They had the ability to destroy the Pan Mortal Army at any time but that wasn’t what they wanted, they wanted to slowly take it apart, to cause as much suffering as possible by forcing the army to run for its life, to basically torture the army as a whole and then once the punishment had been meted out to end the game and annihilate it. The intent was to use psychological warfare, they wanted the Mortals to fear them so that no attempt would ever be made in the future to pay them back from their support of the Velidians. (they wanted to cause the Mortals absolute terror to prevent any further reciprocation.)

When, at last, the Mortal frontier towns saw first hand the fleeing Pan Mortal Army, the horrors that were being committed and the fear in the eyes of every individual solider they were absolutely shocked and horrified, but it was now too late to do anything, they could only absorb whatever punishment was coming, there would be no defense at least not for the towns closest to the frontier. The traitor Mortals would destroy everything they wanted, to whatever point on the map they wanted or until they met any real resistance.

An attempt was made by the frontier towns to force the Pan Mortal Army to turn and provide some kind of a defense. Their demands had little effect on the disorganization but when Atpref arrived at the tail end of the army and after consulting with the leaders that had assembled with their pitiful little policing forces he sent out messengers again and tried to organizes whatever forces he could and only by his sheer determination did he somehow manage to turn the army around and provide the town and those beyond time to mobilize. It was all for nothing however, when he managed to line up his frightened miniscule force it was the same moment that traitor Mortals decided, finally, to end the chase and annihilate the army completely.

The traitor Mortals were coming on strong, nearly their entire male population participating in the effort and there was just no hope for what remained of the pan Mortal Army. The army under Atpref’s command was now far too small for the job and as such it was immediately destroyed, the Traitor Army rolling over the top like a the water of a stream over a small pebble. In the onslaught Atpref was killed because his honor would not permit him to run. The moment he fell the Pan Mortal Army ceased to exist. Whatever remained was scattered as the soldiers that managed to survive ran off to their homes hoping to protect their families from the coming carnage. The army that had liberated the Mortals and allowed them to pursue their own destines had been left out to dry by those very people it freed and now it was gone.

Eptian LXXVI [76]

While Eptih was establishing his territory, the remnants of the pan Mortal Army had gone off to inflict retribution on all the various groups of traitor mortals, the most criminal of which was the Siradyt. Initially their actions were successful, as the element of surprise had caught many of these peoples off their guard, but quickly they adapted to the aggression and, banding together in varying alliances, battled well against the Pan Mortal Army. What was intended to be a short campaign of retribution quickly turned into a quagmire and it soon became obvious that the much-reduced Pan Mortal army was too small to be effective, even under the command of an experienced general like Atpref. And thus, what was meant to be a quick operation that would usher in an era of peace throughout Existence became the catalyst for a new conflict the mortals had no stomach to bear. Through all the years of struggle for freedom no one had ever planned for how Existence would survive after the Velidians, the emphasis was on securing freedom, all other concerns did not matter but, once freedom had been secured, moved quickly to the fore.

As soon as the confederate rebel Mortals realized that the Pan Mortal Army was too weak to control their territory they took full advantage and used some of their forces to hold the PanMotal Army in place while other parts of their forces attacked nearby Mortal towns, taking land and killing many inhabitants. This angered many and blame fell squarely on the shoulders of Atpref. As such he requested more soldiers but there was no longer a clear centralized power capable of meeting his requests. It became clear to Atpref that the army and its organizing authorities of united towns had disbanded and that they had sent him out with a task and had rid their minds of any further concern or involvement. He realized quickly that he was on his own, sent out with insufficient material for a task that was beyond their means.

At some point, after realizing the reality of the situation, Atpref called directly on individual Mortal towns to send [conscripts] men to bolster the army in hopes of overwhelming the traitor Mortals unexpectedly then routing the main force and cleaning up the smaller parts, but all who were called upon made excuses as to why they could spare no one; the most common being that they were busy fighting the remaining Narcirogen in their towns but in reality they just wanted peace and to use their men in increasing their own prosperity. Many towns were claiming land at an inexorable pace and as a result some conflicts had begun to inflame, many towns readied themselves to fight should it become necessary. There is no doubt that driving the Narcirogen out of their cities was a real concern but not at the expense of allowing the remnant Pan Mortal Army to be destroyed, but now few cared about the fate of that army.

It was the hope for prosperity that led to each city to establish for itself a charter and laws for governance. Out of this came many treaties, various cities joining together to establish order from which prosperity usually flows, at least that was initially the hope. There was however great confusion in who was supporting whom and for what purpose. In their captivity the Mortals had become inept in such concerns, they did however throw themselves into bad decision headlong and with great regularity. Some towns would sign treaties with a far away counterpart forsaking neighboring towns and as such the landscape became overly complicated. It quickly became obvious that freedom would spawn great conflict, and that no one was willing to compromise the moment, not even with the idea of future benefit in mind.

Along with the hopes for prosperity, however, came the necessity of division and establishment of towns based on purely political philosophies, one such was the Arcadyt, an order established by Fayareg, the one time Hetharcypian general abused than elevated by Eptih. Fayareg established his Arcadyt as a direct opposition to the Hetharcyp and what they stood for even though what remained of the Hetharcyp was very limited, most having left Eptih to find their own fortunes and many others spread throughout various towns and villages.

Within the context of a world quickly disintegrating, perceived sanctuaries become the object of desire and so as word spread of the hamlet Eptih had founded seemingly far from the troubles and its great prosperity more people came to live within Eptih’s lands. This is how the few farms grew to a town and in a short time it became necessary for Eptih to reorganize his holdings and found a city. He recently had learned that Reyam was pregnant with their first child and therefore in celebration of her and the gift she would soon bare him he named the city “Reyam”.

Eptian LXXV [75]

Eptih traveled a great distance with his caravan hoping to find some piece of land that was uninhabited and far from the troubles he knew where beginning. He also wanted to find a place of honor where he could bury the body of Thmascuid. As his journey took him further away from the Mortal realm, more of the Hetharcyp that were following him fell away from the caravan. Typically these men were the younger unmarried men who wished to find wives and build fortunes and when they felt they were getting farther away from those possibilities they could go no further and departed in good standing with Eptih. For his part he was happy to see them go to make better lives for themselves, he knew that the serenity he was seeking was no draw to the ambitious. In reality Eptih wanted to live alone with his wife but he would never turn away those that were following him and so he imagined himself living in concord with his wife and neighbors, farming his new lands and enjoying the spoils he had won in the war.

Eventually, Eptih found what he was looking for in a large valley that was encircled by hills with large mountains to the north. Here on the northern foothills, overlooking the valley, Eptih stopped and built his home. Many of the remaining Hetharcyp built homes in the same vicinity and soon afterward the land below in the valley was cultivated for farming, the land being equally divided amongst the Hetharcyp who settled their with Etih as the unquestioned leader. Many streams flowed from the mountains providing the necessary water year-round and the soil in the valley was richer then any they had seen before. It was obvious that the area had never been farmed and only a few old Sreoth ruins were scattered around the entire area.

Once his home was built, Eptih chose a special spot on his estate and buried the body of Thmascuid, he marked it with a small stone obelisk with the name “Thmascuid” carved in it. This spot would eventually become a place of pilgrimage where many would come in order to pay their respects to the man they felt as though had near single-handedly laid the foundation for Mortal freedom.

Eptih’s slaves and the other Hetharcyp worked the fertile land of the valley and abundant crops soon followed. The yield was so large there was an overabundance that needed to be transported to a far away market and sold off. This vast yield continued and as a result Eptih and the Hetharcyp became wealthy, but at the same time it drew many to the area looking for opportunity. Additionally as word spread about the place and the burial spot of Thmascuid the amount of pilgrims increased, many of which intended to stay, in hopes of making their fortune. The Hetharcyp did not relinquish ownership but they did allow some to work the land and build their homes there.

As the population increased and more people labored in the fields the yield from the farms increased and in time there was a constant flow of goods going in and out of the area. To make things more convenient many wanted to establish a town and a market but Eptih was initially not open to the idea. However when many of the Hetharcyp started to request these things as well Eptih relented and allowed the establishment of a town and market on the opposite side of the valley from his home. The mortals established the town and called it “Hero’s Tomb”, referring to Thmascuid’s tomb even though the tomb was a distance away and on Eptih’s private lands.

Eptih felt the establishment of this town was a bad omen for the future, it represented everything he had hoped to leave behind. He knew now that no matter how far he went to escape the evils of selfish men that evil would inevitably come to him. Due to these feelings he wondered if it might not be better to embrace the town and control it then to let if grow unimpeded and eventually control him.

Eptian-Part One, Draft-A Cover

Just received today. Above is the cover of the Eptian-Part One, Draft-A.
Eptian-Part One, Draft-A cover Episodes 1-30.

Vethrian being edited

Episodes 1-74 are currently being edited. When this editing process is completed new Episodes will resume.