The tranquility of the life in the Bay has been interrupted more often in the century–and-a-half since the Freeze began than before, but those events are rarely more than momentary inconveniences. In the past, raids by varkers seeking resources or merrow seeking slaves happened rarely enough that people needed not always be on guard, and even the odd appearance of a ghast or blackham was swiftly dealt with. Still, in the past decade things have changed, and people no longer even have the illusion of safety and security. The primary contributor to this state is the war.
Origins of the War
Some say that the war has been slowly brewing since the start of the Freeze, owing to Barton Butter revitalizing the people’s faith. One unforeseen consequence of this newfound faith was the conflict that it might bring. Each race has a somewhat different interpretation of belief in Voland. For the alfar and the elben that belief is somewhat more abstract than the other races; they believe that Voland and Bishal are not so much beings as personifications of ideals, ideals of thought. Simply put, the elben believe in reason, while the alfar believe in intuition.
To elaborate, the elben believe that the ideal and correct way to view the world is through the lens of reason and logic, and that decisions should never be made and actions never taken without careful consideration. For the elben Voland represents the supreme intelligence, a being that considered each step of his creation and foresaw the consequences of each decision; Bishal is little more than a wild beast who struck at the first sign of weakness.
On the other hand, the alfar believe that instinct and intuition are far more valuable than reason, allowing one to see the correct course of action in an instant. Agonizing over decisions and over-thinking details leads to nothing except indecision and self torment. They view Voland as a being who in his divide wisdom simply understood all; while Bishal was a scheming and calculating creature who spent long ages plotting against Voland.
These two opposing viewpoints seemed harmless enough at first, but tension grew over time. The event which many agree was the ultimate trigger of the war occurred at the Belltower meeting of 144 YotF. While the Kindred, an organization dominated by alfar, had possessed a Belltower seat for nearly a century, the Academy, an organization dominated by elben, did not. The Academy had petitioned for inclusion in the council for many years, and the matter, which had come to a vote twice before, was once again brought to the floor.
The elben, supported by the humans and uruks, voted in favour, while the alfar, supported by the hodekin and the Kindred, voted against with the Order choosing to remain neutral. The sonnen (human-alfar half-blood) Steward ruled that the Academy would not have a seat. Outraged by this result, the elben and uruk immediately left the meeting, declaring that they would not return until the decision was reversed.
In the months that followed, fights between elben-uruk and alfar-hodekin groups became increasingly common, culminating in a riot in Dunstable outside the Kindred’s lodge in the town. The Seer, leader of the Kindred, demanded that this threat be dealt with, but the human authorities were reluctant to anger the elben and uruk leadership. Ultimately, the Alder and Vidame decided to protect the Kindred themselves, which sparked a declaration of war by the Governor and Graf. A few skirmishes were fought before the spring, but the war did not begin in earnest until the harvest was complete the following autumn. In the three years since, the two sides have fought several major battles and a number of entrenched camps have been built. While healing magic means that fewer soldiers have died than one might expect, that fact has only served to make the deaths that have occurred sting all the more.
Before the War
Prior to the outset of the war, other matters were at the fore. In the late winter of 141 YotF a coordinated varker attack struck the Bay from several directions. Luckily, a hunting party that had ventured into the wilds west of the Friar’s Wall had a run-in with a varker scout and were able to bring a warning in time to rebuff the attack.
In response to increased aggressiveness by merrow in the past decade, Baron Ebraen Coel was organizing a push to secure more territory on the coast so that fishing and whaling vessels would be more secure venturing out into the sea. Construction of ships had already begun in Colvey, Cheslyn, and Wisbech when the crisis relating to the Academy turned violent. This mission was effectively cancelled by the war, with both sides using those ships in their war efforts.
Since the War Began
While the humans and the Order have thus far remained neutral, there are some who would like to change that. A religious group calling themselves the Blackwood Scions has risen in prominence advocating that the humans enter the war on the side of the alfar-hodekin alliance. Their base of operations, the Blackwood Abbey, was founded shortly after the onset of the Freeze by Palaster Sams, a Keeper who believed that the Freeze occurred because Bishal had returned to the world from Nifel through arcane magic. Because of their beliefs the Scions claim that the Academy is little more than a poorly disguised cult to Bishal and must be destroyed. There have been rumours in the last year that the Scions may be plotting to overthrow the Baron to achieve their goals.
The Baron, for his part, is focusing the resources of the human nation on protecting the Bay from merrow whose aggression seems to be ever-increasing. There have also been rumblings of renewed varker attacks, primarily related to the Redfeather varkers near the Riddelmere. One researcher has been warning that Koshac, the varker lich defeated by Barton Butter, is not gone for good and may rally the varkers against the Bay. Few among the citizenry, however, are paying much attention to these other threats with the war so close to home.
Monday: The Calendar used in the Bay
No comments:
Post a Comment