The Horse People did not follow their own elders advice. They were corrupted by the Ground People, by the gold of Lord Labrygon, by the strong liquor of the city people. By false beliefs in the luck or otherwise of horses of differing colours.
A new and dangerous pastime has taken hold amongst the young river people; river rapid canoeing! Several lives have been lost, but the thrill seekers persist.
Kralorelan figurines have become collectible curios. No one can explain the strange desire to own these peculiar little frogs, fat bald merchants, lion-dragons, newts, coiled serpents, and other eastern totems, which become known as Boshan idols.
In the hinterlands of Paragua's walls some of the farmers are giving up hope, believing the lands to be unsuited to agriculture. Their crops suffer drought, their herds suffer from starvation, Praxburrs, and wool canker. Some clans have performed the Orlanth and Aroka quest, only to suffer damaging flash floods. Some of these farmers are leaving their stake-lands and coming to the city to survive as beggars or to labour on the immense constructions of Lord Labrygon.
The displaced people of the cities, some of them farmers who have sold their last cow, waste their money on the Boshan idols. Some believe them evil gods, and propitiate them in an attempt to prevent further ill luck.
Ranghish, Gravis and Rolo spread tales of terror among the desperate people. Their stories of the Black Sorcerer do nothing to assuage their ignorance and greed.
Lord Pavis issues a proclamation that farmers must work their fields, even though it is generally agreed to be hopeless. His government, such as it is, is seen as desperate and weak, and no one is convinced that merely putting more effort into failing crops and dying herd beasts is going to save them.
Some argue that the tyrannical edicts issued in Lord Pavis's name are merely the statements of a cruel and inhuman Newtling shadow government, some say sent by the Dragon Lords to undermine the independence of the Valley, others merely that the malicious slimy amphibians wish to poison all who are not spawned in water. Antinewtling pogroms, particularly the Campaign for Newtling Dismemberment, drive the Newtlings downriver.
The minions of the Black Sorcerer organise a Newtling protection service. Whether this shady organisation protected Newtlings and helped them escape downriver, or protected people from the Newtling threat is not recorded in the annals of history.
Rich city folk, protected from Newtling sorcery by their evil frog idols, take to hunting the newtlings and eating their tails.
Other city folk, believe that the Newtlings are the gods, or at least the minions of a dark Newt god, and that the idols are merely increasing this daemons power.
The most valuable Boshan idols are those of the Righteous Lion Dragons, most valuable if one can obtain a matching pair. Those lucky, or rich, enough to get hold of these treasures form a secret society; the Cult of the Golden Lion Dragon.
Lord Pavis declares it illegal to hunt, kill, eat any part of, or worship Newtlings, without their express permission.
Horse People, convinced that the city folk, and by extension all ground people, are absolutely depraved, view themselves as a superior race.
Evidence that Newtling Tail cooking equipment, and specialised amphibian hunting gear is being sold to broos merely confirms to the Horse People the depravities that ground men will deal with to sate their wicked avarice.
Merchants involved in this horrid trade are blackmailed by the Black Sorcerer, and he grows richer still.
The Horse People begin to see that some Pure Horse are Purer than others. Those who possess white horses view Black horses as unlucky, more prone to corruption.
Death is the profit that the merchants make for dealing with goatkin. Broo warbands gleefully rampage across the valley, slaughtering isolated travellers and then fleeing back into the marshes and wastes.
Cheap liquor, brewed in the city by ex-farmers without hope, takes its toll among the Horse People who succumb very easily to the cheap and strong firewater. They are a danger to all.
A certain dwarf begins to propagate his heretical beliefs, a new idea for the individualist movement. He extends the idea that if a dwarf can be an individual with it's own intrinsic worth, not merely as a cog in a great world mechanism, then that individuals living quarters should also reflect his new found soul. His bare quarters are no longer for rest and self-repair but have a purpose and function and beauty of their own. The dwarfs cease collaborating with the city building. Joraz Kyrem said that it was to: "feather their own nests"
Lord Pavis tried to infiltrate the underworld machinations of Ranghish, Rolo and Gravis.
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