Interlude: Sarcona and the tribes of men.

Twelve thousand years, after years of tribal warfare and petty rivalry, the gods worshiped by the tribes of Sammar on the world of Sarcona, had chosen eight champions, who were to fight each other. Instead of doing so, the champions agreed that they should lead their tribes and rule the countries in peace without divine interventions into matters so trivial as warfare.

After their respective deaths, they had become half-deities, patrons for their race, who were called upon in times of trouble to deliver fair and unchallenged judgement. Together, they are known today as The Sleeping Eight.While some theologians differ on their actual position universe, all the major religions treat them as early prophets of either a singular True Power or blessed by spirits of the natural world.

The planet of Sarcona is the only inhabitable planet in its space system, second planet form the sun, lying on average just over 1.07 AU from the star. Majority of the planet is covered in oceans and there are some polar caps on both poles, though there are no great polar landmasses. Axial tilt of Sarcona is much smaller than on Earth and the contrasts between seasons are less severe. Generally, the planet is milder than Earth with climate ranging between subtropical and subarctic in the inhabited areas. There are some equatorial jungles on the Dragonlords, but they are far less substantial than those of Amazon Basin, Borneo or Congo.

There are four continents on Sarcona: The Dragonlands – stretching from the high northern latitudes towards temperate southern ones, dominating the western hemisphere, The Dreadlands – the great southern continent, which is somewhat unexplored with polar regions covered under glaciers and some ice sheets, where there are quite a few demi-human population present and humans are mostly farmers and fishermen in the coastal areas, Auzkal - a hard and bloody lands dominated by the warrior castes and warring princes of the ruling family, a smallish, dry continent with steep mountains and a few cities. Most developed and civilized part of the planet, however, is Sammar, known now by most people as The Scarlet Land, although most of the inhabitants of The Dragonlands would contest this finding.

The humans on Sammar are descendants of at least eight major "sub-races" of humanity, of people lead by those aforementioned champions, though some scholars and diplomats dispute this finding, adding three more "sub-races" living in The Dragonlands and two in The Dreadlands. There are also many demi-humans and even some humanoids throughout the realms. Though orcs, ogres and giants appear as savages and barbarians to members of the most refined societies, they make organized tribes which would rather export mercenaries and herdsmen than actually pillage a land.

 The Sleeping Eight have agreed to not casting again a spell that would have summoned an evil entity onto Sammar. They, as half-deities had cast a degree of protection that means that any spell versus good (such as protection versus alignment (good)) or any that could have summoned an evil creature (summon monster for evil characters, gate). Also, the whole universe is under permanent non-detection spell. This means that there are very few outsiders in this world and even fewer evil ones. Sammar plays a home to some of the outsider, but most of them are members of tiefling and celestial lines that have been living on Sammar for thousands of years.

Humans are still, one of the original races of this world, as well as dwarves and gnomes, who have made their mountain kingdoms in the southern part of the continents. Elves were introduced in this world after The Eight had already left and their are only few of their kingdoms, though they inhabit some of the forests in the central part of the landmass. Orcs and other evil inclined humanoids are more civilized than their folk in other dimensions and have established some tribal border states between the far larger human polities. Halflings are relatively uncommon and they usually live in rural enclaves in the demi-human controlled areas or on arid plains.

 There are currently more than eight nations in the Scarlet Lands, though most inhabitants are the descendants of the original tribes, while there are at least a couple of areas with decisively mixed ethnicity, especially in southwestern part of the continent and the land currently occupied by Knight Palatines. 

In the northern corners of the land live the Norse, descendants of Tilbur Waraxe. They have pale complexion and they are generally taller than their Southern counterparts. Blonde and red hair is most common among them, although other colours are not unheard of. They inhabit archipelagos of Finn and Vaesterjytland and some live within the lands of Voort and Levland.
Frederic had been ancestor of the Teutones, who have on average light skin and blonde or brown hair, though black hair is more common the further south and east one travels. They rule the lands of Teutones and Franca, and made about half of the population of the Voort and Levland. Also, some of the most prominent members of Knight Palatines come from these families.
Khoraf the Wise has been the ancestor of the Medes, men of olive and brown skin and dark hair, riding their horses in the plains of Zabrak, Parthe and Oyyugh. The human inhabitants of the racially mixed kingdom of Orem claim to be also part of this ancient mage's original tribe.
Mustafa the Saint has hailed from the lands of Ar-Ibiya, believers in One True Faith, spreading throughout the civilized world. The humans who had infiltrated Rockholme and Ossen also often come from this desert land. Olive and brown skin and dark hair stands out as much as their belief in a single faith.
Shou the Patient has been the only person that has united the Lua, people of Nara, Choison and Celestial Empire. The Luanites had been more xenophobic of all humans on Sammar, treating other races with contempt and disdain. Their yellow skin and jet black hair makes them very distinct and the clothes they wear are heavily affected by region of origin. People of Mapacu and the Auzkal with their brown and olive skin also are descendants of the Shou, although Celestial Emperor would prosecute anyone who voiced such a heresy as an infidel.
Ellades Archipelago, Sea Kingdoms and Arkach are places where Margard the Brave ruled. Brave warriors and merchants with curly hair and fair or olive skin created the Empire of Vamon, only to see it destroyed under internal squabbles.
The people of Troye and Brittany are sometimes called Eneiades by the noble squires as they came from the same tribe that gave birth to Eneiada the Swift. They are people of great intelligence and are also great believers in tradition. The Eneiades are little higher than most of other humans and they often have fair or red hair.
The people of Zabrova descend from the great ranger Milo. They are fair-haired folk that is in tune with nature, also some of the other folk sees them as sick and of lower stature than other humans. Most of the Zabrova who leave their country, join the ranks of Knight Palatines.

While few men have had contact with inhabitants of Dreadlands, some stray sailors or a diplomatic mission once, perhaps, in every ten years do visit Dragonlands and there are almost certain that almost every stock of man found in the Scarlet Lands is represented there. They tell also a story that the continent that is dominated by the single polity known as The Empire. There are still tribes of the fearless and a bit primal warriors in the north and uneasy alliances of merchant city states in the eastern part of the landmass, together with some rebel feudal monarchies in the south, but the truth of it is, that no other state dominates its neighbours like The Empire

The Norse in the Dragonlands are found mainly in the icy wastes and forests of northern part of the continent, more warriors and hunters than the seaman of their eastern brothers.
The Eisen, the Vrouw and the Gran are the Teutones of the western continent, the first group are the powerful people that have populated mainly northwestern part of Dragonlands, famed as hardy miners and craftsmen, and ruthless soldiers. Vrouw are a minority found mostly in the city states of the Inner Sea, a rich and influential one, but a minority none would overlook. Both groups are pale in numbers compared to Gran, the second largest group of the Dragonland inhabitants, which dominate the lands the central southern region of the continent and are well-represented in other areas of the Inland Sea – this group is famed for its love of arts and food.
The descendants of the Ar-Ibiya and Lua people are few and far between, mainly inhabiting the most populous cities, often taking up merchant shops or researching science.
The minority group of southern Dragonlords, the Eszter seemingly comes from a mix of Vamon stock, resembling a bit culture of people of Arkach and Zabrovans with their folk traditions. The majority group in this part of the mainland are the Serrans, whose culture does incorporate a bit of Medes tradition with their love of horses, pride and hot headedness and Vamon with their hard bargain driven trades.
But by far, the largest group of human inhabitants of Dragonlands are descendants of Eneiades that have themselves in five distinct groups – the Northmen in the north central parts of Dragonlords, the Scotti in the northeastern parts of coastland, the Irrai, who inhabit the areas directly south of the Northmen and stretches of land between Flake Valley and Deepwood, the Islanders of the Inner Sea and the Narrowlanders in the western part of the Inner Sea.
Gran, Serrans and the Free Folk (as Northmen, Scotti, Irrai, Islanders and Narrowlanders are sometimes called) are sometimes considered by scholars to be of different origins than tribes adhering to The Sleeping Eight. In fact, there is a folk tale in the Dragonlands that tells a story of Thirteen Princes of Maudung, which were betrayed by their own suspicions during a battle with a powerful demons, that might throw a new light upon origins of the civilization.

Late afternoon stroll.

Late afternoon in Queen's View is not a particularly encouraging time of day for its citizens. The occasional showers should have died down by now, but they enhance the hot and humid conditions, rather than providing an occasional relief. They also bring out a stench of gutters and workers in the market and craftsman shops making their exit from the city proper towards the godforsaken shanty town outside the walls. You will probably call them a slum, a place nobody should visit of their own accord, for the fear of robbery, rape and beating. This, however, is not the whole tale, and as much as it pains the bleeding hearts and the almoners alike, the conditions in the suburbs were poor, manageable and while some of the streets beyond the wall were unwelcoming, nevertheless, it was not a place that was as lawless as many of its counterparts.

Well, still, at this time of year, with no university in session or unruly would-be magicians starting out at the Academy to look after, it was perhaps a rational decision for me to walk down the wide streets from Tax Office down the Guild Broadway, where most of the mansions of city's merchant and craft guilds were located, than turn right towards King's Boulevard, which runs parallel to the coast of Inner Bat. Looking at the petitioners leaving the offices, craftsmen in their best suits coming to the guild meetings and apprentices speeding away to their houses (or alehouses in any case) in the more affordable neighbourhoods, provided me with a glimpse into the city life that I did not have. Anyway, not since my studies at the university, which severed my ties to the brawling and bustling communities of youths and young adults reveling drunken and carefree.

Personally, I thought that the location of those guildhalls so near each other was a recipe for disaster, when the city population would be incised to riot. The patricians on the other hand, though that being near the government district would extend protection from troops patrolling the sites of Imperial power. The ever-burning rivalries between the guilds might have played a part in the selection of this raw of houses for debating professional choices, it made the spying on your competition so much easier.

I pushed through couple of debating bakers (seems the prices of wheat have gone down, but the shipping costs were up, again), turned the corner, glancing at the windows and stalls of couple of armourers, a lending office (only five coppers per golden owl per tenday) and looked with a certain curiosity at pet emporium employees, currently trying to convince some lesser noblewoman or banker's wife to purchase a crimson and tangerine mesh of feathers that I supposed to be a parrot or other jungle bird.

After a few more seconds, I did cut a corner, causing a string of expletives to be issued from the driver of a wagon filled with what looked like a desk of drawers and cabinet, ready-made for middle-income family of artisans. This has not slowed me down, and right on the hour, with the bells ringing in some considerable distance in the Temple District, I entered Queen of Gran's luxurious interior.

The Queen of Gran

The Queen of Gran was a nice little place... Right, let me start again. Felix's restaurant was a cozy, pretty upscale place with fresh meats, ripe fruits and vegetables and pretty decent card of wines, if I may say so. The prices were reasonable enough that an occasional student intend on impressing a young lady or lord of her or his choice would find them agreeable without a wealthy patron to back the expenses. The two doormen, of course, looked competent enough for their job; while they made sure also that there was no doubt of their equally competent background in the military.

It was located in the northern part of King's Boulevard, the wide and often congested linking the Imperial Market and the Temple Quarter. The location was good enough to attract the top tier clientele - wealthy nobles, artisans, bankers and traders, while ensuring the less desirable types usually quit before making trouble far from the poorer neighbourhoods of capital or slums outside the city walls.

The four storage building housed three tiers of dining halls and private rooms, and also a club aptly named Kings of Gran on the last floor. While there were quite a few more splendid buildings and mansions along the city's major throughway, there was something about this yellow limestone house with blue and white rooftop that made it seem elegant. The fact that it was splendidly decorated with Gran-style tables and chairs, and held quite a few of well-received works of contemporary paintings and sculpture, ensured that it did not lose much of appeal, when inside.

The other thing that made the restaurant so successful is that had a quiet reputation of being 'reputably scandalous' as at least one of the capital's newspapers claimed, challenging the imperial authority with its name and highbrowed moralists with its discreet private rooms. The management, of course, was not condoning any illicit affairs and required patrons to sign a waiver in case of a lawsuit against the establishment; however, the truth is that an occasional outing of clandestine meetings spread an air of exclusivity and daredevilishness around the place.

Is there a point about me babbling so much about one upscale club and restaurant? Probably, there wouldn't be in normal circumstances, unless I was writing a book about Queen's View and its many attractions. These were, unfortunately, not the normal times, where you could read a newspaper, and the most important story would be about plight of the poor, or how two renowned and tenured professors spat at each other at the Opera. No, these were those interesting times that one comes to dread.

Beside, despite all the venom from other proprietors and accusations of improper naming, Gran was unknown to anyone, but a few people, an acronym for initial of its owners and noble patrons, the people that have invested money (by the way of buying this building and bribes issued to the health inspectors), influence (to gain a liquor license by intimidation rather than outright thuggery) and time (to filter out trustworthy chef, staff and reputable suppliers) - Messrs. de Glanville, de Ruyter, Albrecht and Nolan. 

Is there a point to all of this, you'd ask? Oh, yes, there is, for I'm one of those masters of the house, and my name is Meert de Glanville.

Hangover

This was a bad day. That was the first thing that came to my mind after I came into the office. I slumped in my chair, feeling a tad bit sleep-deprived. No one developed a permanent morning after cure and while I was tempted to cast a little cantrip, which could have dulled my pain, the sheer force of the headache made me reconsider.

So this is it, any further attempts at reconciliation with Ms. Wegemann will be futile. The heavy and sweet Gran wine dulled the pain somewhat last night and eased me into bed, but in the morning light, everything seemed cold and bleak, despite the fact that in Queen’s View the temperature never dropped into single digits. At least, the northwesterly breeze made sure that air was pleasant in the morning, unlike the more humid conditions experienced with the winds blowing from Inner Sea. Today, I was thankful, even for that tiny bit of relief.

Still, the matter of fact is that by ten in the morning, I was in no better shape than when I woke up. To be honest, morning coffee (Coffee Bay Finest) brought out only the worst part of the hangover to life – the sudden realization that your life is not going to get better, at least not anytime soon. And with that startling reminder of why one should not overly indulge himself in drinking the sorrows away, came the sudden urge to walk down to the office. At least, beside painstakingly boring process of making top level official correspondence tamper proof, there was a greater chance of something happening there than in the familiar surrounding of my home.

Well, to be honest, Imperial Revenues Bureau was always busy with clerks and lawyers, bookkeepers and petitioners, tax men and couriers, the kind of folks, you would be urging to hang on the nearest lamppost if they haven’t usually come armed with grim-faced retainers and if, without them, this shambles of actual society could actually work. And while as a whole, all governments are a fine rubble and cannot be trusted to find a sailor in a port side tavern, I did find an employment there, enabling me to pay my taxes and most of other foreseeable expenses. And as a ministerial aide, a wizardly sort at that, I could spend as much as time as like, i.e. not much, with aforementioned dabblers in financial matters.

So when, one of our own came calling, I was relieved to be able to disassociate myself from the daily proceedings at the office. Even, if that meant that my hangover would not be cured until I could find my next dosage of an uninterrupted sleep with no alcohol imbibing involved.

‘So tell me, what is the point of drinking over her?’ I heard the familiar voice. ‘You should really spend some time in a finest companionship establishment in the city. You should be flirting with the female students at the university or with some cute and uninhibited witches at the academy. But you should never ever whine over her.’

Oh, bother. Was it that obvious? In all honesty, I probably should admit that it was. And the scorn in his voice was filled with concern rather than blatant disapproval of my dark brooding self.

‘Well, pardon me, dear Sir, but coming from the man, whose fiancée worships the air beneath his feet, this advice is not as sound as it may feel.’ The sarcastic pangs of jealousy in my voice sounded very silly. ‘I am sorry, Robin, but somehow I do not think that you would ever found yourself in my situation. Being a baronet makes you pretty much immune to being a laughing stock of the capital.’

‘That is just not true.’ Baronet Robert Watson made a sad face, than smiled. ‘I am not immune to gossip, you know? I do understand that Ms. Wegemann’s family would have made her re-think her exit strategy, if you were not just a wizard. Although, look on the bright side, it’s not like you are going to have to marry the hag.’

I did force myself to smile. While Robert was not an extraordinary sort of chap, he was steady and dependable. And that made him irresistible to a certain blond Eisener that was going to marry her. Also, that made him an above-average friend and a person at the office that made sure that ordinary affairs of the Imperial Treasury run smoothly and with a necessary expedience.

‘ I suppose not.’ The huge sigh that escaped from my lips must have been heard in the darkest corners of the buildings. ‘But it does not hurt any less.’

Robert looked at me with his blue eyes, but did not press the issue. He reached out to me and helped me to my feet.

‘Still, drinking away a sorrow is not something that is very helpful either.’ There was something a bit thoughtful in his voice. ‘Still, there is no indication that a good meal at Felix’s will make matters worse. And he can keep an eye on how much you drink’

Stubborn bastard, always trying to cheer me up.

‘Do I sound that desperate that you would invite me to one place in Queen’s View that I have invested my money in?’ I tried to whine, but the though of a good medium-rare steak at Felix’s dulled the sarcastic tone of my voice somewhat. ‘You know, it’s like getting the King to pay his own taxes.’

‘I might have expected that you may say that.’ Robin’s eyes were curiously filled with an intent. ‘I do think that if my sources are correct, you might find tonight’s company invigorating.’

My face must have told him that I sincerely was not expecting that to happen, at least anytime in the nearest twenty years. But his enthusiasm could pull it through.

‘So come on, should I send a message to hold a table for you?’ He asked with a mischievous grin that should have alerted that it was not his idea. But well, hangover made me unable to resist or to get a much more insight at the time.

‘Yes, you should.’ I blurted out after a long pause.