Re: Volsaxi, Volsaxar, Vingkot

From: jorganos <joe_at_...>
Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2004 12:47:09 -0000

A few comments:

> Hendreik and his followers helped Harmast, supported Arkat and made
> Owenrath High King of the Heortlings. Hendreik and his followers were
> granted the old Garanvuli lands and the Heortland Wilds by (Owenreth,
> OOO, Arkat?). The Freedom of the Hendreiki was protected by the Larnsti
> and the Hendreiki chose their High King from amongst the Larnsti. The
> Larnsti reformed the Hendreiki twice prior to Andrin's reforms (NB: when
> they became a tribe? when they joined the tax revolt? to keep them
> from being subjected to the EWF? The God Learners? After the
> Dragonkill? Does it even matter?).

I do think the cause and course of the reforms should matter. They made the Hendreiki peculiar, and it would help to have an idea in what regards.

I'd posit that one reform - likely the second - dealt with the influx of non-Hendreiki refugees from the downfall of the EWF.

> ------
> The Garanvuli ceased to exist as a tribe during the Gbaji Wars or
> shortly thereafter (e-mail discussion with Greg). After the Gbaji wars,
> the Volsaxi clan became the chieftain clan of the Volsaxi tribe, and
> their tribal territories were much larger than Marzeel vale. The
> Volsaxi were a component part of the High Kingdom of the Hendreiki - as
> were the other new tribes of the Hendreiki (NB: were these Heortling or
> Vingkotling tribes).

A goodly portion of the new Hendreiki people were Berennethtelli refugees from the wars in Saird who had gravitated away from the Talastari. They may have brought some of their ancient tribal specialities - like horsemanship, Kuschile archery etc.

Jeff leaves a great gap between the Gbaji Wars and the Pharaonic conquest. While I don't think that exploration of the God Learners or the EWF will help us, we should take up the history again at the Dragonkill War and the resettlement of northern Heortland.

Apparently, no humans wanted to live even near the Crossline. During the first century of the Inhuman Occupation, the Troll Woods were a powerful player in the conflicts in Kerofinela. There is no mention of Kitori presence in the Troll Woods then, but neither is there negative evidence.

The Stagwood - extending across the Crossline - saw the end of the True Golden Horde in grisly detail (DP:LoT 28 (Ghost Hills), DP:LoT 52). The surrounding lands were left unsettled until the Pharaonic conquest (DP:LoT 23, Dreven Vale):

"The Curtali live here now. The valley had been unsettled since the Pharaoh changed the course of the Creek-Stream River. The Curtali clans arrived as ragged refugees seeking peace and survival and thought they had found it here in the shadow of Vorda Hill. They welcomed others to join them, provided they "sought another way." Their peaceful ways were of no help when the Empire came, and now the Curtali live under Lunar overlords who have established huge slave plantations in the valley."

Personally, I think that most of the Kitori still lived in and around Akez Loradak. I have no idea whether they herded and rode camels, or some other whacko human tribe did (if there is any flesh to the rumor), but since their disappearance from public view after the defeats against Palangio they seem to have hidden near Ezkankekko, rebuilding their population.

We know that Ezkankekko sent a sizeable army into the Dragonkill War, which may have included Kitori, so there needn't be any population pressure until after the dragonewts and beastfolk broke the troll ambitions in Dragon Pass. It is possible that by 1200, the first Kitori clans had left the Plateau and practiced their slash-and-burn agriculture and hunting south of the Crossline, unharmed by the trolls who still recovered from their losses.

The Bacofi appear to be the first Heortling reclaimers of the northern region. Hagard the Blond recovered the Marzeel Valley from the trolls (DP:LoT p. 40):

"The lands here were unsettled for centuries until Hagard the Blond and his four clans moved in and cleared it, driving out the trolls. His descendants are the Bacofi Tribe."

Without dates given, I'd make this sometime around 1200, too.

No dates are given for the Sylangi migration into Markdale. The Curtali tribe appears to be quite recent, definitely after the Pharaonic conquest. Probably First Wave refugees who didn't go all the way but stayed south of the Crossline. They appear to have controlled quite a large territory (Dreven, Vusvan) compared to the Sylangi. The Kurtali clan mentioned in Tarkalorsaga might have been a Curtali clan, perhaps even among the founders, although by Tarkalor's arrival they appear to have been Volsaxi. (And they show neither peaceful traits nor "Another Way" tendencies).

This leaves the Volsaxi proper. They seem to have been fairly small. Enfrew's migration into Suchara Vale joined the Jondalarings of Karhend rather than the Volsaxi. This leaves the Volsaxi the region between Vingastead and Whitewall as tribal lands, with Smithstone the economic center and the Derensev library at Karstanstead the seat for the political center. I prefer the library to predate Karstan's stead-founding, with the library holding out since the early Imperial Age.

Belintar's conquest of the Shadow Plateau left the Obsidian Palace Kitori who survived the fall of Akez Loradak homeless. IMO they migrated down from the Plateau into the lands their roving kinsfolk had started to claim a century or two earlier.

They regard the Pharaoh as the cause for their emigration from civilized city life, and IMO keep a grudge. When they work on his behalf later in the history, they do so most likely as mercenaries.

> ------
> The Volsaxi fought ferociously against the Pharaoh at the side of their
> High King Andrin.

Meaning they spent a lot of power and influence in the losing struggle, until Belintar shortened the conflict by killing Andrin.

> When Andrin returned from the dead as the slave of
> the Pharaoh, they fought against Andrin the Zombie, but were ultimately
> forced to accept him as High King (c. 1350) .

Jeff's Heortland King list has Andrin returning in 1325. That's way too late - IMO Andrin was returned just a season after he was killed. Too late for ordinary Chalana Arroy resurrections, but that's about it.

> Nonetheless, they
> resisted many of Andrin's reforms and never allowed sheriffs to replace
> their chiefs or earls to replace their kings.

Acting much like the out-of-the-way highland clans and tribes in the Stormwalk foothills - those Jeff dubbed "Heortlending".

> They permitted bands of
> refugees and exiles to cross their lands into Dragon Pass.

I can imagine they ushered the second wave groups (around 1350, regardless of the 1325 typo for the Malani migration in Jalk's Book, unless that has been changed into 1325 Malani occupation of the Malani Hills, 1350 settlement on Two-Ridge) on into Balmyr territory rather than playing host to foraging migratory clans...

> During the
> reign of High King Arkellor the Clerk, King Karsten Nine-with One of the
> Volsaxi feuded with the Bacofi tribe and warred with the Earl of
> Karhend.

Karsten could be seen as the builder of Volsaxar?

> During the reign of High King Eparikondos the Holy, the
> Volsaxi participated in the Great Sacrifice along with the other
> Heortlending tribes. However, when ***** Earl of Gardufar was selected
> High King, the Volsaxi rebelled. King Hardrand the Green - a member of
> the Larnsti brotherhood - was proclaimed High King of the Hendreiki
> despite of the Pharaoh's acknowledgement of the King of the
> Heortlendings. The High King and his companions took up residence in
> the impregnable fortress of Whitewall to resist the Pharaoh (circa 1405)
> and King *****. Although the Volsaxi failed in restoring the Kingdom of
> the Hendreiki, they remained independent of the Pharaoh and the
> Heortlending kings.

Yup. The date might be a bit late for my taste, but otherwise I agree completely.

> The Pharaoh got his revenge when he unleashed the Kitori Darkmen upon
> the Volsaxi and they conquered the lands from the Kitori WIlds to the
> Shadow Plateau (circa 1500 or so).

I think that the Kitori don't see the Pharaoh as their legitimate ruler. Neither will there be much love lost, after all Belintar's conquest destroyed Akez Loradak (and don't tell me the Kitori differentiate that it was their troll allies who summoned the Leaden Serpent who actually caused the destruction).

> The Volsaxi held out in their
> fortress of Whitewall, but their fields and herds were subject to annual
> raids by the Darkmen. The other tribes paid an annual tribute to the
> Darkmen. During the Kitori Occupation, the Volsaxi Night Jumpers raided
> the Darkmen.

The Kurtali clan basically ignored King Enfrew's wishes, weakening the High King. This probably allowed Tarkalor to enter as warlord (similar to Argrath of Sword Hill).

> The Volsaxi aided Prince Tarkalor in conquering the Kitori
> and formed the Volsaxar Confederation with the other liberated tribes
> (Bacofi, Curtali, and Sylangi).

"The Volsaxi" as united people under the High King, or Volsaxi volunteers uniting behind Tarkalor's banner?

Besides, Tarkalor was "prince" only in the Vingkotling sense of "son of a dynastic king", not yet a ruler of anything. Either his father or his half-brother ruled Sartar during this war.

> -------
> It is pretty clear that Volsaxi kingship is a complex affair - we've got
> a tribal kingship, a tribal confederation, and periodic claims of being
> King of the Hendreiki. I now think that the Volsaxi kings follow the
> Vingkot rites and not Dar. Lots of reasons for that - their tribe was
> formed after the Gbaji Wars and thus don't have to be truly Heortling,
> they are much older than the Sartarite tribes, and they had a ruling
> clan, so we've got kingship restricted to those who share descent from a
> single ancestor. As a result, I think we need to rethink Broyan's
> father - he was either king of the Volsaxi or part of the Volsaxi ruling
> elite. I actually prefer it if his father was king (and killed by the
> Pharaoh, or the Kitori, or Seshnegi mercenaries).

If Broyan's father was king, I'd prefer there to be other members of the dynasty taking over the crown because Broyan was just a minor when his father was slain. A little bit of Shakespeare's Richard II/Henry IV won't hurt.

Fazzur's strike towards Karse will have rearranged the dynastic affairs.

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