Open Chronicles For Those In Need of Home and Homestead

[Mirielle Merlon]

By decree of Farid ibn Baha, Amir of Lazular

I cast open the gates of the region surrounding Fort Shalik in the headwaters of the Cairou. I offer you fertile plains and gentle foothills in the shadow of the Eastern Seret, two hundred miles northwest of the Portal Stone of Elbion. My horsemen and trained militias protect the region; my granaries keep famine at bay.

To the survivors of the cataclysm at Elbion, and to all those in need of a rich and promising home, I offer portions of my own choice land. I have taken this land by force of arms from peers and equals; no innocent blood haunts it. My representatives in Fort Shalik will accept tribute in my name and grant lands in proportion to your generosity.

But this I swear by the Gods of the Annunaki: none who give tribute shall leave empty-handed. Any beggar may hold his head high, offer his simple coin, and receive a parcel of good land for his own.

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FORT SHALIK
LAZULARI TERRITORY
EASTERN SERET FOOTHILLS

Today, and for the last several weeks, the Amir's representative here - the governor in all but name - was his sister-in-law, Lady Mirielle Merlon. And in these past weeks she'd learned more about surveying and cartography than she'd ever really wanted to know. A huge table of maps, each painstakingly copied by cartomancers who delighted in precision, dominated the great hall. Settlers brought tribute, swore armed service in time of need, and left with a precise map of their new holdings, great or small.

Rewarding work, fulfilling work. But today in particular, Mirielle had a powerful headache. As the door opened to admit the next settlers, she sat up a little straighter in her high-backed chair at the map table.

"Welcome to Fort Shalik," she said to whoever came in next. "Tell me, friend - what sort of land do you seek? Farm, hills, riverbank? Solitude, community? Security or challenge?"

 

[Pern]

The pony that pulled the small wagon was almost certainly dwarfed by the orcess that lead it and the old wolfhound that slumbered on the driver's bench. Tired and world-weary eyes met the face of the young representative, saffron irises having taken a tint of orange from long, lonely nights of grief.

Pern wiped the dust from her face with a clawed hand, attempting to offer the stranger a small and friendly smile. There were more orcs here than she'd ever crossed in Elbion proper, but that didn't mean anything. She didn't know this land or these people, but when the word got out about the opportunity to make a new home for herself she couldn't pass it up.

"Ah ... I shupposhe I never thought of what short of land I would need." She gave her retinue (the cartpony and old hound) a short glance, "Jusht enough for ush three ...uh, four." A small grey tabby cat yawned from her nap on a squashed bag of grain. "I have shome gold, and I can offer my blackshmithing shervishesh. I worked with Mashter Shmith Gibbshon in Elbion for 15 yearsh."

 

[Gauwyn Hind]

Gauwyn stomped slowly into the hall, leaning on his staff as his eyes scouted across the hall. It was a bustling place, to be sure, and it gave him a chance to assess the folks who would be forming a community. Decent folks, as far as he could tell.

He waited in line and leaned on the staff to take the weight off his injured leg. From there, he scanned the maps, settling on the contours of the coastline as he moved closer and bent down to inspect the course of the river. One finger traced its path while the other checked the other maps.

Gauwyn turned to some of the aides. "Are there any tidal or depth charts of the length of the river?"

 

[Mirielle Merlon]

As Mirielle spoke with Pern, one of her cartomancers - a Sereti ogre mountaineer, a blue orc named Algrin - unrolled a river chart for Gauwyn Hind. "Every sandbar accurate," Algrin said with pride. "As of the last time we did the updating ritual, less than a week ago. It's only for the first hundred miles down from the Cairou headwaters, though, and part of the Seh. What sort of land do you seek?"

Meanwhile, Mirielle to Pern-

"Keep your coin, blacksmith - your hands are tribute enough. In the Amir's name, five acres of good hills near Fort Shalik. You'll find plenty of work there - nails, pots, arrowheads, hinges. A modest stipend too, if you can be available to help the Amir's men when they pass by. I assume you can forge and fit horseshoes, fix a stirrup?"

 

[Gauwyn Hind]

“Less than a week,” Gauwyn grumbled. “It’s been a waxing moon lately. That’ll shift the sandbars and the water flow...” He paused and ran a hand along his chin, considering. “But not enough without excessive rainfall to add enough to shift its shape.”

He leaned over the table and ran his hand along the map, tracing the paths and inspecting the various depths. “Land along a deep portion of the river near the confluences, sheltered enough from the main current, but with easy access.”

A wry grin spread across his face as he looked up at the cartomancers. “I’m looking to build a river port trading post. Spent fifteen years trading between Arvalion and the rest of the continent. Decided it was time to try something...” His grin broadened. “Well, given it’s a river rather than the sea, one might say I wanted to try something.... fresh.”

 

[Mirielle Merlon]

Algrin grinned at the joke, a slash of white fangs across blue-grey skin. "I think we can provide. Skills and dreams like yours are exactly what the Amir hopes to attract here, and we control dozens of leagues of riverbank in the region. I'm not empowered to speak for the Amir, you understand, but let's take a look."

He unpacked a cartomantic device - sturdy, for mountain work - and set it on the river map. The device was a slab of glass in a runeworked brass frame on small wheels. It glided smoothly over the map, magnifying and updating as it went. "No need for the full ritual to update the whole chart. I think I know...yes, here. A natural harbor just downstream from the crux of the Cairou headwaters and the Seh. Less than a hundred miles southeast of here."

Gauwyn Hind

 

[Gauwyn Hind]

Gauwyn nodded and grinned back, "Excellent. I am glad to hear that. And understandable to not speak for the Amir. I would not speak for any of the Sea-Princes, even though I am kin to several."

He leaned forward over the table and rested his arms on the edge of the table, letting his eyes follow the device as the map shifted and updated to reveal the most recent conditions. He inspected the harbor and nodded.

"Aye, that looks like an ideal place."

 

[Mirielle Merlon]

The Sereti cartomancer's blue eyebrows went up. "Kin to sea-princes, you say. Excuse me."

He slipped away to bend Mirielle's ear, and came back a minute later. Though Mirielle was engrossed in talking with Pern, she sent Gauwyn Hind a smile and a nod.

"On the Amir's behalf," Algrin said, copying the map with a gesture, "five acres facing the water." He used a quill pen to delineate the already-marked parcel on both maps, and handed the new one to Gauwyn. "Your nearest neighbors are a logging camp twenty miles upstream, prospecters along the shore, and a number of smallholder farmers and ranchers in all directions."

 

[Gauwyn Hind]

Gauwyn just nodded and leaned on his staff to rest his bad leg while his eyes darted around the area, taking in the others who were in line or speaking with the other representatives. It was a bustling place and he appreciated the spirit that was being demonstrated here. It might take a while, but they would turn the area into a bustling community. That would be quite the thing to see.

It would take time, sweat and blood, and more gold than people probably anticipated. Gauwyn didn't consider himself a greedy man, but this was far too good of an opportunity to overlook. He could make enough to retire and rebuild the clan's village-boat. All in all, it was a good opportunity.

He returned the smile and nod from the woman who sent him one across the room as the cartogpraher returned with a new map and indicated the five acres. Gauwyn leaned over the copied map and inspected the delineated territory before nodding.

"Excellent. I appreciate that. ANd a good collection of loggers and prospectors are always a boon to a start-up harbor, while the smallholders and ranchers are good for long-term returns."

 

[Pern]

"Keep your coin, blacksmith - your hands are tribute enough. In the Amir's name, five acres of good hills near Fort Shalik. You'll find plenty of work there - nails, pots, arrowheads, hinges. A modest stipend too, if you can be available to help the Amir's men when they pass by. I assume you can forge and fit horseshoes, fix a stirrup?"

Pern's brows nearly disappeared into her sooted hairline. Five acres? Far, far more than she ever expected. She could build a modest home, a barn, a forge area, and still have plenty of room for a garden and field for the cartpony.

"Th-thank you," the orc managed after a breathless moment, clawed hand pressed at her chest, "yesh, yesh I can do all that and more." Much more than she lead on, but perhaps that was best. She still needed time to grieve and rebuild her life, let alone break ground for a new home.

"If you could point me in the appropriate direcshun of the hillsh, I will be on my way."

Mirielle Merlon

 

[Mirielle Merlon]

In the Fort Shalik region, the Amir had told Mirielle over wine, land is cheap but loyalty is priceless. To her mind, community was the opposite side of the coin - inextricably linked, but laterally bound rather than vertical. Privately, she thought her vision for the region exceeded his plan. Lazular's northeastern frontier, this whole area, had the potential to thrive in its own right, become self-sustaining reasonably soon.

At Pern's request, she nodded and beckoned for Algrin to join her. The big blue orcish cartomancer stepped away from Gauwyn Hind and offered Pern a friendly smile. "Five acres, did I hear?" He laid out a map of the nearby foothills and indicated several parcels near the fort's growing town. Relatively near, anyway. It would take her a good half-day to come to town for work and such. "This one might do for you," Algrin said. "There's a lodging-house at these crossroads here and other homes are going up. Plenty of blacksmith work."

Meanwhile, Mirielle went to greet Gauwyn. She surveyed the map of the territory she'd authorized Algrin to give him.

"I'm Lady Mirielle," she said, "the Amir's representative. You're Gauwyn, yes? The river-man who aims to build a trading post?"

 

[Gauwyn Hind]

Gauwyn had pulled out parchment and ink and sketched out the lines of the five acres he'd been granted, with the details on the river currents and sandbars, as well as beginning a list of supplies and resources he would need. He paused as Mirielle Merlon approached, and he gave half a bow, as well as he could manage with his bad leg.

"Aye, Lady. That would be me. More of a mariner than riverman, but the Sea-King's blood flows through all waters, be they salt or fresh. And a trading post would be the plan here." He tapped the main map with a knuckle. "Good current, based on the shelter over on the two sides, should be a fairly large eddy that can shelter the boats, with not too steep terrain to build the jetties with."