Greetings ladies and gentlemen, please gather round; for it is I, Ikun Dracor the Bard and I am here to tell you the history of the lands far off to the east where once I travelled as a boy; of a city in the dry harsh deserts, North of the Omarsh Mountains and South of the Great Borkan Sea.
Yes, it is a story about the great desert city of Is'Merith, once at the centre of a great empire, surrounded by lands which were lush and fertile. But alas, too good a target for the enemies of the Empire was this great city. You see the Empire was constantly attempting to expand, waging war on multiple fronts. Is'Merith was the keystone to their war effort however, for it supplied not only vast troop numbers, but the finest and most abundant variety of mineral resources in the world. To this day, that hasn't changed.
As battles raged, alliances were forged and many resisted the Empire; these forces became known as the free armies. A war lasting just over three hundred years ended in a final push which would last for less than six months! The final twenty years that made that possible consisted of a brutal war tactic, known as the Vastatio strategy, named after Archmage Kas Vastatio who oversaw it. Through careful reconnaissance, Vastatio co-ordinated the gradual destruction and de-fertilisation of the surrounding lands.
Under Vastatio, were hundreds of other archmagi who each commanded hundreds of powerful wizards of their own. Wizard scouts were sent out into enemy territory to magically report to their superiors when all was clear. Next, entire battalions would scry the scouts location and teleport in, then blight the land around for several miles before teleporting out. After removing the cities crops and source of food from the picture, the free armies focused all their efforts on cutting off supply lines, and starved the city half to death.
You see, Is'Merith always was and still is a highly populated city. After just one month, cannibalism had been legalised. By the third month, murder of anyone not in the noble districts was also made legal. By the forth month, the soldiers and the nobles controlling them lost control of their populous and they were overthrown. The people emerged from the city and surrendered, their population completely at the mercy of the free armies.
Vastatio's work wasn't quite done yet. He siphoned food in to feed the city for three months at great cost, while his wizards completely focused their efforts on the construction of a canal. This canal, 70 miles long, joined to the Great Borkan Sea to the north and with the thousands of wizards of the free army working non-stop, was constructed in just one month.
In that one month period, Vastatio helped the cities population to re-establish their mining operations and when the canal was completed and the sea water came rushing in, so did the free armies trade ships and war ship's. Finally, Vastatio created several never-ending water wells throughout the city as he could already see that the surrounding rivers were drying up, going deep underground in a soil that simply could not hold water. Is'Merith would survive, but survive only... Eight months after Is'Merith's original surrender, the Empire was declared officially defeated.
Today, Is'Merith has a newly established nobles court comprised of descendants of the free army. It's populous all have access to free food and medicine, provided by the churches of the sun god Pelor. The nobles above do not tax their people; instead the profits from mining mostly go towards paying for the upkeep of the city. The nobles take what's left.
The war ended just over seven hundred years ago. But that was not the first time Is'Merith had been destroyed. They say that there is a curse on this city. That there is a cycle of some kind that cannot be broken. They say that ruins thousands of years old lie deep below its surface; that these tombs of forgotten times whisper of doom as they slowly sink deeper in to the ground.
So, whoever you are, whatever you do for a living, however brave you are, I warn you, stay away. There is nothing there but death...
Yes, it is a story about the great desert city of Is'Merith, once at the centre of a great empire, surrounded by lands which were lush and fertile. But alas, too good a target for the enemies of the Empire was this great city. You see the Empire was constantly attempting to expand, waging war on multiple fronts. Is'Merith was the keystone to their war effort however, for it supplied not only vast troop numbers, but the finest and most abundant variety of mineral resources in the world. To this day, that hasn't changed.
As battles raged, alliances were forged and many resisted the Empire; these forces became known as the free armies. A war lasting just over three hundred years ended in a final push which would last for less than six months! The final twenty years that made that possible consisted of a brutal war tactic, known as the Vastatio strategy, named after Archmage Kas Vastatio who oversaw it. Through careful reconnaissance, Vastatio co-ordinated the gradual destruction and de-fertilisation of the surrounding lands.
Under Vastatio, were hundreds of other archmagi who each commanded hundreds of powerful wizards of their own. Wizard scouts were sent out into enemy territory to magically report to their superiors when all was clear. Next, entire battalions would scry the scouts location and teleport in, then blight the land around for several miles before teleporting out. After removing the cities crops and source of food from the picture, the free armies focused all their efforts on cutting off supply lines, and starved the city half to death.
You see, Is'Merith always was and still is a highly populated city. After just one month, cannibalism had been legalised. By the third month, murder of anyone not in the noble districts was also made legal. By the forth month, the soldiers and the nobles controlling them lost control of their populous and they were overthrown. The people emerged from the city and surrendered, their population completely at the mercy of the free armies.
Vastatio's work wasn't quite done yet. He siphoned food in to feed the city for three months at great cost, while his wizards completely focused their efforts on the construction of a canal. This canal, 70 miles long, joined to the Great Borkan Sea to the north and with the thousands of wizards of the free army working non-stop, was constructed in just one month.
In that one month period, Vastatio helped the cities population to re-establish their mining operations and when the canal was completed and the sea water came rushing in, so did the free armies trade ships and war ship's. Finally, Vastatio created several never-ending water wells throughout the city as he could already see that the surrounding rivers were drying up, going deep underground in a soil that simply could not hold water. Is'Merith would survive, but survive only... Eight months after Is'Merith's original surrender, the Empire was declared officially defeated.
Today, Is'Merith has a newly established nobles court comprised of descendants of the free army. It's populous all have access to free food and medicine, provided by the churches of the sun god Pelor. The nobles above do not tax their people; instead the profits from mining mostly go towards paying for the upkeep of the city. The nobles take what's left.
The war ended just over seven hundred years ago. But that was not the first time Is'Merith had been destroyed. They say that there is a curse on this city. That there is a cycle of some kind that cannot be broken. They say that ruins thousands of years old lie deep below its surface; that these tombs of forgotten times whisper of doom as they slowly sink deeper in to the ground.
So, whoever you are, whatever you do for a living, however brave you are, I warn you, stay away. There is nothing there but death...
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