Old Empire, The Kingdom of Swords
Highlands, Ummon, ca. 653 DR
Before the Yrūni Krûlln settled this land, the Dwürden fought protracted wars with the Ortor of Kiram along the slopes of Teredus. Farmers routinely find shards of old shields and swords buried in the red dirt of the regions many valleys. It was no mistake that the Temple of Īrul would one day be built at the region’s heart, and that the greatest warrior-general of the Old Empire would come to this place, and deliver its embattled people from their savage past. Many have claimed that Ummon was the heart of the Dekàli Empire, even before the arrival of Rûn. The great Pryn Īrul Garágan once said: “The Empire was born in Lanàdus, but its spirit has always lived here”.
Government
- Type – Dekàli Monarchy (Crown of Swords)
- Ruler – Dread Lady Narēa Dasàdrûn the Third of Ummon
- Capital – City of Ummon
- Cities – Ummon (22,300), Tavrus (14,980), Darkor (13,260), Irid (10,100), Kakal (9,430)
- Calendar – Dekàli Reckoning (DR)
- Festivals – …
People
- Population – Ummònyr (650 DR) 732,040
- Races – Yrūn 91%, Dwürden 4%, Gnor 2%, other 3%
- Ethnicities – Krûlln, Ummònyr
- Languages – Ummònic, Ortòric
- Religions – Īrul (Kændlan, Wōd)
Trade
- Currency – Kra (0.0625d), Audar (1.5d), Soras (360d), Krulan (4320d)
- Imports – Ale, livestock, metalwork, oil, produce, spices, textiles, wine
- Exports – Armor, gold, iron, silver, weapons
Since the time of Rûn, the Ummònyr have settled the region’s lowlands, no longer content with the security of mountain cliffs and high plateaus. Communities and farmlands have flourished in the once blood-soaked valleys. but the people remain ever-vigilant. With every provocation, troops march from Wyrthyr Tor (or from surrounding stations) to deal with Ortor and Yrūn marauders. All attacks are met with ruthless force often pushing invading forces back to their homelands where food stores and buildings are burned. In many areas this strategy of burnings would only incite the Ortor to do likewise to the communities of the Ummònyr. But the Ortor are generally “considerate” of the farmers, in as much as they tend to leave farms intact so that they may be raided again the following year.
Regions, Geographic
Regions, Political
Cities, Towns, and Villages
- City of Ummon
- Town of Darkor
- Town of Irid
- Town of Kakal
- Town of Tavrus
Landmarks
People
The natives of Ummon are a fair-skinned people, with brown to tawny hair and light colored eyes. Their squat frames set them apart from the rest of the Old Empire’s people, and in ages past they have been dubbed the Dwürden of Dekàlas (one reason perhaps that it is not customary among Ummòni men to have beards). All members of Ummòni society serve in the military from ages 14-15, a service that is considered necessary for each person’s religious indoctrination, necessary for the city-state’s security, and necessary so that all people are well-versed in the ways of arms and armor should they later be needed for service. Though most are competent fighters, few peasants can afford swords. Caches of weapons however are maintained in most communities.
Government
The Ummòni Monarchy of Dekàlas was peculiar. Each King or Queen was required to reaffirm their Crown at an annual tourney which culminated in a fight to the death. While most contests were determined by first-blood, Crown contests continued until either the monarch died or pardoned a defeated adversary. The Crown Tourneys were very public affairs held at the great plaza of Wyrðyr Tor. By winning the Crown contest, the monarch proved that he was a capable warrior, leader, and blessed of Īrul. Monarchs that brought shame upon themselves during the contest were publicly dethroned by the Pryr Īrul. The only exceptions to holding a Crown contest was if the monarch was a minor (i.e., under aged 16) or had led an army into battle that same year. Though the High Lords of Ummon (i.e., post-Dekàlas) no longer test their rulers so harshly, the Saránðyr continue the tradition.
High Lords and Ladies are titled Dread Lords and Ladies only after leading their forces to victory.
History
The first inhabitants of the Land of Krûlln came to the eastern high valleys along what is now the Western March. The journey must have been a perilous one for there is plentiful evidence that the region was inhabited by Ortor and Eylfāe long before the Yrūn came to that area. Some have speculated that the Dwürden aided them in their march east from the ancient (by Yrūni reckoning) lands of western Teréðor. The Dwürden claim no knowledge of this.
Early stories of the Krûlln people tell of a guide from the Lone Mountain, which for many years was believed to be Wyrthryr Tor. Recently however, some sages have suggested that the peak may have in fact been Athalsyreel, deep within the Central Vale (known also as The Manless Lands, or the Lesser Anahl). If this is true, then the guide (if he ever existed) may not have been Yrūn, but more likely Eylfāe or Feyri. Another question that arises is why a beneficent guide would lead a wayward people to Krûlln, which is debatably the most hostile region within all of Teréðor. Others have guessed that the first Yrūn did not migrate at all, but were brought to the region as slaves for the Ortor.
When the Dekàlans came to the area, the natives told stories that in the earliest times of their people, there had been great wars. The Krûlln claimed that they were descendants of the last people to survive from that early time they claimed, the only others to survive were the Urkru, those that lived in The Knot (to the south and east). The Dekàlans of that time went to speak with the Urkru but soon left the people of The Knot alone, and have not returned there.
The Krûlln histories tell that there were hundreds of tribes that lived in the high valleys, and because resources were sparse there was much fighting between them. In the heaviest months of winter, the Ortor would swarm down from the high places and steal the stored foods and take women and animals back to their high snowy homes. Whole tribes disappeared (mostly from starvation) and it soon became apparent that the strength of numbers was the only way they might survive. So the many tribes became a few, and the few built walls around their communities and when the Ortor came they fought back with spears and knives and arrows. But the Ortor were fearless and stronger than the Yrūn tribesmen, and soon the palisades were torn down, the food stores were emptied, and the women were again taken away.
For many years the Yrūn numbers dwindled, and the few tribes became one. In this time the Dwürden came to the tribesmen and shared with them powerful lore. Foremost among them was the lore of iron, so that the tribesmen could make better weapons and shields. Many of the tribesmen were skeptical (and even fearful) of the new lores and resisted the changes. One of these groups left the community and marched out into the mountain plains. These people were never seen again, but are believed to have been the Urkru.
With weapons of iron and the training of the Dwürden the Yrūn survived the next winter, and the winter after that. Soon their population began to grow for the first time since the Ortor had come, for their women were not stolen away to the high places. Many years came and went, and the Yrūn numbers grew great once again, and their communities flourished behind walls of stone.
In the centuries to follow the people of Krûlln grew numerous and strong. Eventually, even the Ortor grew to respect their combat prowess and seek the fine weapons that they made. The people now worshiped a great god named Irul, who commanded that they protect their families and friends, but be merciless to their enemies. Under this guidance the warriors of Krûlln began their own campaigns into the mountain high places, seeking the Ortor where they lived and burning their villages to the ground. The priests of Īrul commanded that no Ortor remain so the females and children of the mountain people were also slaughtered to the last. The Ortor had never been attacked, so they had not been prepared, but there numbers were far greater than the Yrūn imagined, and now their bestial anger had focus. All that the Yrūn had gained and learned was to be put to the test as the great Ortor clans gathered and declared war on the Krûlln.
Details of Krûlln-Murdru Wars are sketchy because they lasted for many years. During this time, the Krûlln began construction of a citadel on the high mountain Wyrthyr Tor (circa 362 AR), built upon a more ancient fortress that existed in the peak (probably Dwürden, too little of the original tunnels remain to know). It cannot be said that the citadel was completed for it is still built upon today, but when the early walls were finished and the inner temple consecrated to great Īrul na Krûlln, the people of Krûlln believed for the first time since the Day of the Hundred Tribes that they would survive in this high mountain place; perhaps they would even thrive. The priest-king Tolor is said to have beheaded twenty Ortor to baptize the stairs of the temple. The baptismal stains remain to this day.
Over four hundred years later, a ruler of a small island kingdom (Lanàdus) ordered an extraordinary warrior into the mountains beyond Kændal to conquer the distant lands of the Nūlēun Vale and the distant Eldorn (Dekàlic name for uncharted regions thought inhabited or abandoned by the Eylfāe). Ruun, a veteran campaigner, accepted his liege’s command and led his armies through the Snaking Pass and into the Nūlēun Vale. His armies pushed forward along the river despite great resistance from the indigenous people. In Wyrthyr Tor, reports returned about an unstoppable army was marching through Krûlln, and leaving their outposts smoldering cinders in their wake. Armies were sent to meet the conquerors, but few returned. The priest-king Harak decreed that they had angered Irul, and that the god’s own army had come to punish them. This pronouncement spread quickly through the ranks of the Krûlln and the armies of Wyrthyr Tor stopped fighting. Rûn marched his armies past thousands of standing armies, their blades sunk into the ground in the symbol of surrender. At Wyrthyr Tor the panicking priest-king ordered his temple’s High Guard to defend the citadel, which they did for two months. When finally Rûn’s army punched through the citadel’s defenses he found the priest-king Harak dead upon his throne (some tales claim suicide, others that Rûn battled to the very throne and defeated the priest-king).
Rûn had gained great respect among the Krûlln he had fought. After a day of prayer he sent messengers back to Lanàdus explaining that he would stay and take the throne of this faraway land. When Mordun II received word of this he was outraged. He stormed through the halls of Kryr Trèmendūm screaming and cursing the name of Rûn. When those close to the High King could stand no more of his tirades, the mad High King was seized and imprisoned deep within Lanàdus, and a new High King was chosen.
The Dread Lady Narēa Dasàdrûn the Third descends from a long line of warrior rulers to have sat upon the Throne of Rûn. The rule of Narea III has been marked with endless battles with the surrounding Ortor tribes. In the last eighteen years the level of warfare has escalated to siege levels which are draining the city-state’s food and supply reserves. No-one is sure what is sustaining this elevated level of friction with the Ortor, but many are wondering what the Dread Lady will do to preserve her lands against the unceasing onslaught. There are many whispers in the Hall of Wyrthyr Tor that the Dread Lady should ask for help, but no-one dares speak that suggestion for the no High Lord (or King for that matter) of Ummon has ever begged assistance from outside lands. It is considered by most to be acceptable, that the pride and traditions of the ancient Throne of Rûn should be upheld, even if the downfall of the this great city-state should be the price.
Time Line
(Dek) History of Ummon
- 80 HK, 4/638 ER; (Dek) Mordun II orders Rûn into Eldorn against the tribes of Krûlln
- 85 HK, 4/643 ER; (Umm) Rûn battles to the threshold of Wyrthyr Tor and is made Prydyrim Gor of Irul
- 85 HK, 4/643 ER; (Umm) Order of Mordun; Soldiers faithful to Rûn commit regicide
- 87 HK, 4/645 ER; (Dek) Priest of Īrul admitted to High Council
- HK, ER; (Dek) King Dēōdin I, son of Rûn, becomes High King
(Umm/Sha) The Shar Crusade
- 201 HK, 4/759 ER; (Umm) Shar Crusade to find Tomb of Shōjum begins
- 206 HK, 4/764 ER; (Umm) Tomb of Shōjum discovered
- 208 HK, 4/766 ER; (Umm) Shōjum elevated to Vældyrim
- 1245 HK, 4/1803 ER; (Umm) Ummoni army begins march from Wyrthyr Tor to meet Acèntyran threat (rf. Saránði)
Dynasties
Dekàlas
- First Ummòni House of Ðrûn (1 HK -)
Post-Dekàlas
- First Ummòni House of Dasàdrûn (246 DR – present)
Nomenclature: Ummon Dekàlic: Ummon (place), Ummòni (pertaining to), Ummònyn (resident), Ummònyr (people), Ummònic (language)