The Good Oerth

History of the North, Part 10: The Diminishing Storm When the hurly-burly's done, When the battle's lost and won. Shakespeare, MacBeth (1605), Act I, sc.1, l.3. The nations have spilled their lifeblood into the soil and soul of the Flanaess. Exhausted, they entrench and catch breath. They watch. And wait. Iuz controls the North. But his lands are poor and produce little. He gathers his strength. He watches. And waits. The Scarlet Brotherhood, their gambit played and played out, have a stranglehold on the south. They issue forth yet more spies. They whisper. They watch. And wait. Ratik understood its peril, and it began an ambitious project, one that taxed its resources, but was deemed essential by Luxnol. What good would minding the nations finances do were they slaughtered by the orcs and gnolls to the south, and the Fists to the north. Castles and fortresses and redoubts sprang up along the Kelmar Pass and the Flinty Hills, and in the northern Timberway. More rose up within the Kelten Pass, for surely the Fists would come again. Ratik is developing an ambitious castle building program, constructing strong keeps along its southern margins not far from the foothills of the eastern spur of the Rakers. They are digging in for a long struggle against the humanoids of the Bone March. Ratik is seeking mercenaries to defend the builders during the coming spring and summer. [FtA] The last we saw Lord Holmer, of the Shield Lands, he was hauled away in chains for a prolonged residency in Dorakka, A favoured guest of the Old One, himself. Most thought him dead. But there were rumours otherwise. A daring ... read more!