Chapter One: The Continent of Oerik
could control, with villages representing
the upper limit of the settlements, and
how far they could reach. But over the
centuries those settlements stretched as
far as the Jewel River beyond the Lortmils.
The largest group came only in the
last quarter century of the final war
between the Suel and Baklunish empires
before the Twin Cataclysms. Some were
legitimate refugees, their lands ravaged
by the wars. Others were the losers in
various internal conflicts, or disgraced
military commanders, fleeing to avoid the
executions of their entire families. Some
simply fled, afraid of the losses they would
suffer in the war, and hoping they could
make conquests in the new lands beyond
the Crystalmists at lower cost. A very few
objected to the war on moral grounds.
While admirable, such attitudes led to
their swift destruction at the hands of the
other refugees in the Sheldomar Valley.
For the most part, the early Suloise
migrants who came to the Sheldomar
preferred to do as little as possible to
build new homes. Wherever possible, they
would conquer an existing settlement,
enslave the survivors, and settle down to
rule their new “ancestral lands.” If that
was not possible, or if they lost such a
battle, they would move on in an effort
to find someone less able to defend their
lands than the last people.
Only in the most extreme cases would
they bother trying establishing new farms
and plantations, carving them from
the vast forests that covered the lower
Sheldomar in those days. While this
certainly saved time, it also outraged the
people they enslaved. The Flan and demi-
humans began a constant, low-level war
against the invaders. This worked well
for the demi-humans, and the Suel were
soon barred from the woods and hills
of the Sheldomar. The Flan were not as
successful.
Since the fall of Vecna, the old Flan
tribal associations of the region had
been shattered, and they could do little to
resist as wave after wave of Suel spread
out across the Javan. Thousands were
slain, and more thousands enslaved until
the establishment of Keoland and the
outlawing of slavery within its borders.
Having conquered their new homes, the
Suel saw to three critical elements. First,
defense so they would not be expelled by
the next refugees to come along. Second,
to securing sufficient slaves to maintain
themselves in the lifestyle to which
they were accustomed. And finally, to
recreating the lifestyle they had enjoyed
in the old Suel Imperium as best they
could. Said lifestyle involving gaining
more slaves, settling old scores with rival
Houses, creating new ones, and engaging
in magical research. All of this served to
keep them weak.
Unable to form alliances with the native
inhabitants, unwilling to form them with
their fellow refugees, they remained only
as strong as their own resources could
produce. As a result, most early Suel
principalities were little more than the size
of an average barony (about 1,000 square
miles.) Some few managed to conquer a
few of their neighbours, and leave enough
of them alive to form “Kingdoms,” but the
largest of these was less than half the size
of the Duchies of Gradsul and Dorlin at
the time of the founding of Keoland.
Around -450 CY, Zellif, the son of Emperor
Ad-Zol himself, fled the Imperium. A high
priest of Beltar, Zellif took with him over
8,000 fanatically loyal Suloise followers,
and fled the Imperium eastward after
a failed palace coup. Imperator Ad-Zol
diverted forces from the war in pursuit of
his disloyal son, but the pursuers were
never heard from again.
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