Empire Wagron. 1 Great Wagronian exodus
Two balding priests dressed in brown robes forcing smiles among the town's population accompanied a taller skinnier cardinal with a sneer breaking through the early wrinkles on his face. Rasvlan the Town's earl had sharp eyes and full cheeks also forced a smile as he greeted the representatives from the holy roman empire. Rasvlan was ambitious and knew how to lead, however it wasn't easy for Europe was a dangerous place with empires and kingdoms being created and destroyed in months. "Welcome good men of god, we have been working toward making our town more holy." The priests nodded as if sympathizing, the cardinal sneer formed into words with a tone that made Rasvlan want to go for his dagger. "You and your town's people must finish the church by next month, you don't want the Teutonic knights riding through your town do you?" Rasvlan didn't reply, the two men held a kind of eye contact that left them both bloodshot. Rasvlan wanted to plan an ambush that would see them gone forever. If it wasn't for the Vikings, the other Slavic tribes and the pompous Pomeranian empire he would have already done it.
The year 1025
Though Rasvlan would never have to deal with any of them. Despite being surrounded by hostile kingdoms, things would change for Rasvlan in his small Village called Torun on the outskirts of the Pomeranian kingdom(modern day Poland).
At a time when The Holy Roman empire was expanding across central Europe extinguishing what remained of Pagan Kingdoms and Influencing other empires and states to follow suit.
Torun had conformed to outside pressure to convert, however few of the 500 or so residents had truly converted. In a way their conversion was just a show and dance to avoid giving other territories and empires the easy excuse they needed to invade their territory on the basis of Religion.
The small local church building was often used as extra winter storage for grains and preserves. Which was cleaned out each time the cardinal stuck his nose in. This was because the population of the city would often go to worship their gods in the forest. It was not the only town that paid lip service to the pope, though it had something other towns didn't have.
The site in the forest where people from Torun would worship, contained a 4 meter high metallic arch that was curiously shaped with rune like symbols inscribed into the metal, none of which were associated with the local Slavic religion. Though that didn't stop the people of Torun claiming that it was the sacred hub to their faith. And every few years a faint glow would shine from the arch which provoked awe and reverence from the worshippers who would call the whole village to witness it.
As conflict was growing, wars becoming bloodier and bloodier in central Europe, the people of Torun would often gather at the arch and talk of preparation and defense for their town together. One week a debate Split the town in half. It was about whether they should join the Pomeranians in a fight to stop Viking tax collectors from settling in the north. After some planning, "Rasvlan" the chieftain and most of the village's men decided it would be best. It took Rasvlan days to convince them that it was the only way."People of Torun if we do not fight now we will become slaves to the north men, constantly paying taxes and tributes, even more expensive that what the holy roman empire already demands." A townsman spoke up despite his friends and Family trying to shut him up "Good Rasvlan the vikings are even more fierce than the teutons we will be destroyed for sure and they will still tax us!" Some of the other town´s people nodded and murmured. Rasvlan spoke "We will meet by the great arch before we leave for the north, some of you may stay behind but those of you who go will be fighting to save the future of our town and our country." On the eve of their departure, as the town' s men prepared to leave with their limited weapons and food supplies, a strong light began to shine from the arch. The town's entire population congregated near the arch, the men dressed and armed for war speculated over what the light could mean.
The town's Chieftain Rasvlan a middle aged man still strong enough to lead, walked toward the light and said "I can feel it's power it is time my people, come." Rasvlan's people stirred. And stared at the arch, it seemed the light itself was not shining out of both sides of the arch but the side that faced the sacred circle where people would sit and worship. Rasvlan walked directly into the arch and just before he disappeared he turned and grinned and said to the people "I've seen paradise people follow me"! Dumbfounded the men followed Some of the town's women became alarmed but the light that was emanating from the Arch calmed them.
So the women and children followed into the arch as well instinctively picking up some of the bags of food weapons tools and camping equipment the men had dropped. The Arch disappeared shortly after the last of them passed through. There was no evidence of their departure.
The population of the town of Torun had now disappeared, Torun became a ghost town around which many legends grew, it would only be inhabited years later, when deserters and refugees from local wars sought refuge there.
Empire Wagron. 2. Dawn of a new existence(first two months)
The people led by their chieftain Rasvlan found themselves on another planet.
There was oxygen, lush forests and fields it seemed they really had arrived in Paradise.
But nothing had changed with their physical form so this was a physical paradise on which they knew, they would still grow old in and die.
Some of the people from Torun tried to find the portal that they had arrived from, alas there was no portal no gate no evidence of their arrival, and Rasvlan spoke to them, "Do not try to find a way back friends this place is ours now, I'm going to lead us". His second in command who was 10 years younger than him was a man called Svaylar, it was he who often regulated when people went astray. He called out to the people who were slowly walking away from the group "It is time that we come together under Rasvlan and start our new lives here in this wonderful new land!"
Everything was new to them, the shapes of the leaves were different, even the blades of grass, they were green but seem to hold a deeper color than on earth that mesmerized
The air temperature was warmer than their Baltic summers and there seemed to be a lot of wildlife including small mammals that would run extremely fast and scatter as soon as any human got close to them. Some trees were abundant with berries and fruits. Although the reality of the planet had already awoken Rasvlan to the fact some would probably be poisonous. "People do not eat the fruits of these lands until we know which ones are poisonous" Knocking some berries from a boys hand with his sword scabbard.
Rasvlan proclaimed in the first hour of their arrival, that the planet would be called Wagron which came from the tribal name for the people who lived around Torun, they were known as the Wagri the most ferocious of the northern Slavic tribes. Rasvlan stood at the highest point of the field they had landed in and declared infront of his 500 people. "We will be known as the Wagronians, and we will create an enormous empire in this new place. It is more abundant here than on earth, so we will flourish and make this land our home, we will build a village right here in this field and it will be called Novo Torun."
The five hundred people murmured then group by group the people sounded their support.
The people Of Torun who I will now refer to as Wagronians followed him obediently during those first surreal days as they cautiously built their shelters coming across strange insects, fungus and tree dwelling mammals.
They had set up their camp on the edge of a clearing 7 kilometers walk from a small creek. Some of the men were appointed as scouts and within hours of their first perimeter searches, reported large footprints perhaps belonging to large reptiles and also some belonging to some species of large feline animal both were identified as predators. Certainly because of areas nearby where carcasses and bones were found. The scouts would only wear breeches as the temperature was too hot for them to wear their earth clothes. The leading scout named Drimli came back on the afternoon of the third day trembling and stuttering with the other scouts. He spoke to Rasvlan about what he had seen "Rasvlan we have found something terrible you need know what is out in the forests!" Rasvlan didn't want to hear any bad news he was so happy at having found this new land to start a new home, he laughed and responded, "You all brought all this meat for the village, there must be enough for three days here what could be the matter?" Drimli tried to keep it together as he reported the story. "Rasvlan we didn't kill the animal! Something much bigger and more vicious did, one of my men saw a gigantic lizard wander off from the place we found this dead animal, it was a fresh kill so we took it. But by the tracks we picked up from the kill the lizard is seven meters long."
This news scared Rasvlan and he made the men swear to secrecy. However it wasn't long until the reality of how vast the food chain on the planet was, would become obvious. Days and nights were longer than on earth. And what bothered most of the newly appointed hunting men and scouts was the long nights and what might lurk out there in the nearby forests. And each night the noises the people heard in their makeshift huts terrified them.
The role of the new settlement's women was to carry water, firewood begin the planting of wheat and potatoes close to the settlement, the small amount of wheat seed and potatoes were part of their food supplies but as the men of the tribe began hunting, Rasvlan their leader decided they should plant just incase they couldn´t eat the fruit or vegetables on the planet. The women had to cook and prepare all the settlement's food which meant skinning some of the strange chicken sized furry animals that the settlement's hunting men would bring in. The women would spend long hours thatching the rooves and making home improvements to the structures the men would build. No one ever stood still in the village it was busy from dawn into the night by firelight. The wagronians felt free they had no hostile human neighbors, no teutons, no Vikings, no holy army. Though the planet they had arrived on was more than twice the size of earth and of the millions of animals that roamed it's forests, a good few were predators.
Empire Wagron 3. Something in the dark.
Within the second week, something happened one night, after Rasvlan had put the Wagronians to work on digging a trench around their settlement. (telling the people it was just a precaution)
As most of the 500 inhabitants were sleeping an 8 meter long reptilian like beast made it's way through the makeshift huts and cabins breaking down walls and stomping on newly planted potato and wheat crops. It snorted and roared a roar that vibrated through the spine of every inhabitant in the village. It wasn't until an hour after the lizard left that the Wagronians came out of their huts to see the damage and check what had happened.
No one was hurt but everyone was in a state of shock. In fact the damages to the huts were easily repaired and the crops seemed to have survived. What created the bigger problem was the scout Drimli had told some of the women about the evidence of large predators after the event and now it made Rasvlan look like he was hiding things from his people.
He summoned all men between 15 and 40, there numbered 190. Rasvlan set them into three groups. The weaker group stayed in the new village to sharpen stakes and design more weapons from the swords and spears they had with them. The second group was the scouts, men that were fast on their feet that already had experience spying on neighboring armies back in Torun, their job was to find and report the whereabouts of the local creatures. The third group the strongest men were ordered to follow behind the scouts to capture and kill one of these creatures, these men were the hunters and trappers of the settlement spearing and trapping all forms of small mammal in the vicinity and keeping the settlement fed as half of the wheat and potatoes were planted for crops. In the early morning they were also the master builders and were in the process of erecting sound structures for the construction of Strong houses and the settlements defences.
The scout Drimli who had told the people about supposed gigantic lizards was put on a secret trial and sentenced by his peers to try the local fruits so the Wagronians would know what was poisonous and not.
In one month the condemned scout Drimli had tried four of the most appetizing and safe looking fruits confirming they were all good to eat, this gave the settlement new food sources and time for their earth crops to develop. The largest of the fruits was savory like an avocado with a big thick skin surrounding it like a shell and was bigger than a basketball. The shells were cut around their top half to make buckets. These buckets were used to store water and irrigate the first month´s crops. And the earth crops did flourish, they grew more steadily and quickly than on earth.
Drimli was summoned by Svaylar who brought him to the village hall which was really just a very spacious cabin built with logs and clay and thatched with thick umbrella like leaves that interlaced easily to create a perfect roof. It had enough room for the thirty people of the village who mattered the most to discuss town construction and hunting/gathering detail. Even though Drimli had experimented four of the local fruits, Rasvlan forced him to keep doing it for one more month. Svaylar had set a meeting to see if Rasvlan would show mercy. But that would prove difficult. "Drimli you were told specifically not to tell a soul, and what exactly do you think you achieved by doing so? If people panic at a time like that it will destroy us! So you must sacrifice yourself for the good of Wagron." "Rasvlan when the lizards passed our encampment it was impossible to keep it a secret any longer." Rasvlan raised his voice "Telling the people was not your choice to make." Svaylar tried to defend Drimli "Rasvlan you could show him mercy after one month he has shown us four new fruits we can eat." Rasvlan beat his fist on the table "I need loyalty from you all." And with that Drimli and Svaylar left the village hall. Drimli died a mysteriously quick death three weeks later after eating a berry from a local shrub. Months later the berry was brought into the village so all could learn of it's appearance. Drimli's death was made to look like his own doing for the trial had taken place secretly.
Drimli had been a friend of his second in command, Svaylar. Slowly Svaylar accumulated doubts about Rasvlan's leadership.
In two months of scouting and hunting, none of the Wagronians had been able to find one nest or habitat of the two suspected predators. But there were many sightings of the Huge lizards by scouts. Also the discovery of some large herbivore mammals like the dead one scouts had taken in the first week, there was one resembling a horse with a shorter snout. And one like an otter that lived on land but twice the size, a third mammal was identified but the animal was too quick for the scouts to get a description. Always found in areas where the undergrowth and thick neverending tangle of giant hollow jungle vines that would hinder large predators. Both larger mammals were now hunted providing more food for the village and their bones were used for cultivating tools and hunting weapons.
After two months crops were ready, there was wheat seed almost fully formed in the sprigs of the grassy crop. And potatoes as well. when they up rooted the potatoes and beat the wheat they swore that the yield was twice as much as their yields on earth. All was good in the three weeks of the first harvest. New foods were created with fruits and meats the planet had to offer, more women were getting pregnant and the village itself looked impenetrable to the local predators.
Empire Wagron 4. The Agordon Lizard(3rd month)
One thing was for sure this planet had large and dangerous animals on it, the consolation was both known local predators were nocturnal hunters. And had huge spaces to hunt. The catlike predator was extremely illusive and there were no real sightings of it. The lizards were common in the deep forest only coming into open areas after dark.
One month later three scouts got close to where there was a suspected nest of these large lizards, referred to by the settlement's plant and animal expert as the Agordon lizard. The three scouts were 17 kilometers west from the village when looking down from a low ridge they spotted a lizard with two young. When they approached they must have attracted the father's attention because they were ambushed, one of the scouts was bitten in half and died there on the ridge soon to be food for the rest of the Agordon lizard's family. The scouts that survived had both received deep cuts to their hips and waist area which took months to heal properly.
Rasvlan ordered most of the scouts to return and help establish another settlement closer to an area where there were fewer predators 20 kilometers south from their settlement near a big lake almost two square kilometers.
Everyone in Rasvlan´s new Wagronian society traveled between the area where they would build a new settlement and their old one. Curious to see more of the countryside that was apparently safer to travel.
A day after the fourth month, the new settlement was still not finished. And suddenly the second nocturnal attack on the first settlement occurred, this time there was more than one Agordon lizard, it had seemed human habitation had attracted them to the settlement. The deep trench forming a wall outward from the settlement with sharpened stakes sticking out protected the village well.
The Agordon lizards didn't even attempt to breach the narrow but vulnerable entrance and ran right into the trench, two of the larger lizards impaled themselves badly on the stakes the third must have sensed the futility of attacking without their help and fled into the night. One of the two larger impaled lizards managed to amble away from the settlement before dawn leaving an ugly blood trail that imposed the traumatic seriousness of the attack.
The other impaled lizard was too wounded and exhausted to escape, it had spent all it's energy on climbing through the sharpened posts harming itself badly. Now it simply lay there to bleed out while the braver of the wagron hunters raced down to make it look like they had single handedly slaughtered the beast.
Apart from the 2 tons of meat and the useful bones, the settlers in the first settlement had a new sense of safety that they hadn't had since they had arrived. Their small fortified village was protected for now.
Empire Wagron 5:Novo Torun and the new settlement of Vlanstead(5th month)
From this moment on the 1st settlement is referred to as Novo Torun, the new settlement by the lake 20 kilometers South was named after Rasvlan "Vlanstead". Both settlements were flourishing. Vlanstead the new settlement had become a fishing settlement as the lake was replete with fish most of which resembled earth fish the lake itself was rather like an earth lake. Except for one difference there were also underwater predators. The new fisher men who would fish in the safer tall grassy areas of the lake would hear great splashes and on the odd occasion see some gigantic reptilian body surface and slide along the surface of the lake. The wagronians at Vlanstead settlement dared not build boats for the things in the lake were too big and would most certainly attack.
Rasvlan took 100 of the settlers the other 400 stayed at Novo torun. The settlers of Vlanstead now answered to another man Svaylar, Rasvlan's second in command. Svaylar oversaw the fishing and farming interests in the area and the transportation of dried fish to Novo Torun. Although farming was not going to be as successful as at Novo Torun because the soils were rocky. The twenty kilometer stretch between the settlements was daunting for the settlers. The first traders used small wheel barrows of goods that proved difficult to transport, though there never seemed to be any evidence of many predators like there was in the north and the west.
The second harvest came about on the fifth month and food stocks were ample in both settlements. Scouts had found a new delicious herb growing 27 kilometers directly north of their Novo Torun, in the forest of tall trees that stood thirty meters high yet left great spaces on the forest floor where the herb would propagate itself under the dappled light and from the many birds species excrement falling and settling as fertilizer. At the time the scouts were running low on food supplies and on smelling the irresistible aroma of the plant they tried eating it, and used it to sustain themselves as they surveyed the land by day and slept up the trees by night. They then brought it back to Novo Torun, it became popular immediately and was integrated into most dishes. Rasvlan called it Pomer-herb(after a herb that grew in Pomerania their greater territory back on earth, although this herb was more delicious than anything they had ever tried during their earth years). The problem with the new discovery arose when a week into the fifth month another scout was killed in the area. This was exactly where the plant grew abundantly and naturally. But this time it wasn't by an Agordon lizard it was by a large spotted tiger at least three meters long standing five foot high, twice as fast as the lizards and twice as smart it appeared. The two scouts who were with their fallen comrade chased the beast off with their razorsharp bone handled, metal weapons. They took their comrade back to Novo Torun and discussed the possibility of staying out of that area. The scouts pleaded again and again "Rasvlan the monster that killed Snychel was much faster than the lizards, and it doesn't make any noise, it just appears out of nowhere and attacks" Rasvlan replied sternly "We must fight the predators of these lands off, they are but animals we will set traps and hunt them but never retreat." Rasvlan also told them that it was not possible for them to abandon the north areas because they had tried to cultivate the herb plant immediately in both settlements and it wasn't so successful. Afterall the herb was now the most valuable food item of both colonies. Rasvlan started planning a new settlement close to the área, where experienced well armed hunters would help harvest the newly discovered herb.
Settlement Vlanstead became a new concern as line fishermen there were being more frequently watched by the lake´s monsters. The monsters slowly but surely started to patrol the margins heaving great currents of water behind them with their long tails, their bodies not visible enough to be defined beneath the surface, just indistinguishable dark grey shapes. Rasvlan spoke to Svaylar and told him and his village to start looking for other sources of food or material to trade, and to not provoke the beasts by depleting fish stocks further. Rasvlan sent some of his fast scouts with fruit shell buckets to collect fish eggs from the grassy margins of the lake near his second settlement. As his scouts made their way from Novo Torun to Vlanstead settlement, Rasvlan mobilized his whole community to dig three ponds. The three ponds were situated on the highest point above the open fields, where wagron settlers had begun planting some of the local fruit trees to create an orchard. The ponds were fed by a hose that the settlers had fashioned out of a hollow thick vine that grew many dozens meters long in the thickest parts of the local jungles. They connected their hose extension to the creek and were able to fill the great ponds.
By the sixth month there were three fish ponds established at Novo Torun and below that a fast becoming orchard which also contained an area for wheat and potatoes. The newly found herb Pomer-herb was planted in many areas but grew slowly and did not produce very much compared to the wild plants.
Empire Wagron 6. First year, third settlement.
Svaylar scoured the flat low lying lands north of the lake with his men. He didn´t want to venture into the hills and highlands further South out of fear of what he might find, he felt safer going over the flatter lands between their settlement and Novo Torun. This started as fishing was only permitted in the early morning when most of the lake´s predators were not active. Which also meant fewer fish.
Svaylar grew wary that his settlement was being used as a refuge as Rasvlan was sending alot of the pregnant mothers there because of the absence of land predators. He also felt it was unfair to govern a village that had been given the name Vlanstead from Rasvlan and not his own name. He was set on finding something big that would rival Novo Torun and mean glory. And that is exactly what he did. He found traces of iron ore in the nearby rock formations of the flat lands. These rock formations stood little more than a meter high but spanned for 300 meters in an open dry area where a few wind swept shrubs were the only green patches for many kilometers.
As Rasvlan sent hunters to build a settlement near the Pomer-herb in the north, Svylar extracted Iron ore and began the process of melting it down to produce arrow and axe heads in coal furnaces that took him five months to build.
The third settlement was called Ronoth, it housed men who had the single task of harvesting the Pomer-herb from the forest floors of the north without getting attacked by one of the local overgrown predatory cats.
The Hunter builders used long high fences of vines and wooden posts to make enclosures where they could harvest and replant the Pomer-herb without attracting too much attention from wildlife. The enclosures joined up to six tree forts that stood four meters above the ground overlooking the enclosures.
Vlanstead settlement now had 80 babies and more were being born each week. It was now the first earth year that these people had become Wagronians, they hadn´t yet noted how long a year would be on this new planet. The seasons had changed from being very warm, 16-24c for 7 months, then hot 19c-27c for 4 months, now the temperature was cooling back down again to between 16c and 24c. Both settlements were flourishing Except Rasvlan had no knowledge that Svylar had obtained and forged iron ore to make his own weapons.
Empire Wagron 7. The rise of Svylar.
Rasvlan had ordered Svylar to send a certain amount of meat and fish from Vlanstead settlement To Novo Torun. Svaylar saw this as a kind of taxation. Yet if Rasvlan was to know that Svylar had designed and built effective furnaces and had began forging iron, Rasvlan would at the very least cast Svaylar out of both settlements. But Rasvlan didn´t know, even the women who were sent to the settlement for safety during their child birth and first years didn´t know. Only Svylar and his eighty men knew, and as he spent all his time with his men, the bond of trust would be difficult to break.
The women of the Southern settlement would attempt to make clothes out of a flax that Rasvlan himself sent down with them. Svylar headed east with thirty of his strongest men on a big hunting expedition. they would test the metal in the arrow heads in hunting and axe heads in tree felling to see it was even stronger than their Earth iron.
The east was Svylar´s new frontier, he and his men had found no evidence of land predators to the east, but had found alot of tracks and strange looking marks in the forests of the West and near the hills in the South which made Svaylar uneasy. The east had sparse forests and open fields and further east even arid spaces, most of the eastern áreas were ideal for hunting some of the grass feeding mammals that looked like fat rodents which grew up to 30 kilograms. One of the species´ meat was as delicious as beef and Rasvlan would trade Pomar-herb directly for that specific kind of meat .
This day more than a year from their arrival on the planet, Svylar´s expedition ventured far across the fields and forests and into the more arid spaces. One such space looked like a huge dried up lake.
One of Svaylar´s youngest men took some of the rocky looking material from nearby by instinct. he was the same age as Svaylar's son 12.
It wasn´t till he presented it to the other men at the feast in the late evening, that they figured out that it was halite, or rock salt which could now be used to preserve the meat they would produce. Svaylar knew he had discovered something incredible. As soon as the people at the feast and the rest of the folks who lived in Vlanstead had tried the salt on the meats they never ate any meal without it again. The name of the young man who had curiously discovered the salt was congratulated and honored among all at Vlanstead , his name was Bellion.
That month Svaylar sent a message to Rasvlan saying he would be willing trade this new commodity for extra fruit and pomar-herb. Rasvlan responded days after saying that he would want a certain supply sent to him as tribute every month. Svaylar sent a message back inviting him to see the salt for himself, in one month both men would meet. Rasvlan knew something was different and planned to replace him with one of his other men. Rasvlan dressed himself and his men in their rustic bone armor covering their chests and shoulders and helmets made of animal skulls.
He summoned sixty of his 110 men to accompany him and went straight to the settelement that was named after him. "Men it is now obvious to me that the man we have trusted to guard and lead our southern lands has become greedy and will not accept our taxes, we must replace him with somebody we can trust, follow me to the south, Svaylar shall not dictate terms to me or wagronia!" Some of the men applauded and hoorayed, others kept quiet as they knew Svaylar was a fair man and knew that Rasvlan preferred a vassal over a partner.
As Rasvlan and his soldiers arrived at Vlanstead the southern village, they noticed tables with food had been put in front of the thatched houses that made up the settlement, infront of the table stood Svaylar. Svaylar was dressed in armour that covered his shoulders chest and abdomen, the armor looked like it had been fashioned by some futuristic blacksmith by the way it glinted as if twinkling insects crawled over it, each little shine threatening to Rasvlan's eyes.
Rasvlan was shocked and intimidated by what he saw. None the less Rasvlan Drew his sword and made his declaration that Svylar was to come back to Novo torun with him and be replaced. Svaylar marched confidently toward Rasvlan and swung his sword down on him. Rasvlan was ready and defended himself, the only problem was Svaylar´s newly forged sword broke Rasvlan´s sword and even cut through some of Rasvlan`s bone armor. Rasvlan fell to the ground, his men ran to his aid but from behind the shrubs came arrows catching the men´s legs and hips and felling them like trees.
The rest of Rasvlan´s men dropped their swords knowing they were completely surrounded.
Svaylar announced that he would be now leading the people and settlements of Wagron and that Rasvlan would be sent out, exiled from the colonies to live out his days away from the settlements, with only the right to trade. "From this day forward follow me, I am a leader who will listen and reconcile, I am a leader who rewards the brave and steps down when a greater man challenges. So if any of you think you can lead better than I, then present yourself now before us all." A man named Mitglerk stepped forward from Svaylar's own group of archers and said "Great Svaylar I will not take your place, but will rule while you are not in Vlanstead, but mine is not to rule by my own right but to rule by your side great Svaylar you have my allegiance." With that soldiers on both sides cheered and greeted each other and talked of the time they had spent apart. A feast began and Rasvlan was shamed.
Empire wagron 8: Coronation of Wagron's first king
Then after feeding Rasvlan´s men and his own men Svaylar headed north to Novo Torun to declare himself leader there. Rasvlan was held by Svaylar´s men to await banishment.
In the end Rasvlan wasn´t banished completely, but ordered to train the younger men on becoming scouts, hunters and even builders. Living slightly out of the village of Vlanstead Rasvlan accepted their judgement.
When Svaylar arrived at Novo Turon the whole village came out to see, the workers and women in the field, some of the men who had been building and working in the village, as well as a band of hunters and scouts that had just returned with tales of an Agordon lizard they had managed to kill. With the exception of the northern settelement 20 hunters, and one other group of hunters and scouts all of the inhabitants were there.
Of course they were expecting to see Rasvlan. Svaylar had his men stood back as he addressed the village announcing that Rasvlan was no longer the leader and that Svaylar would be the new leader and the first king of all the settlements. Svaylar announced "You will all report to me as your new King, Rasvlan was defeated trying to replace me, and now I will reign over the three settlements and rid your local forests of the monstrous lizard creatures that have plagued these lands since we arrived." This came as a deep shock to the heart of all the wagronians at Novo Torun, their faces showing awe and most of them gasping in disbelief. Rasvlan was the leader who had given eveything to lead his people and build the settlement.
A brave soul named Arklin one of Rasvlan's most skilled hunters cried out, "How do you intend on killing the great Agordons when it takes twenty of our best men to slay one beast and that's when we are lucky enough to find one during the day, because after dark the land is theirs."
Svaylar replied "We have been forging iron in the south as you have been planting and harvesting, our iron is stronger and sharper than the iron we had access to on earth. And my fine hunting party not only knows how to use it but they can kill anything that moves with their arrows and axes. We move like the wind and if any of your best warriors would like to query that please let us prove our skills".
Arklin grabbed his sword and screamed "I've been fighting these beasts for months now and killed many, where you come from there aren't any predators, Let me see you fight me now to prove you can lead over us all."
The men were still arguing outside the village, where there was no trench protection and dusk was almost on them, though no one was paying any attention to the obvious detail, dusk, the night is dangerous!
Svaylar grabbed his sword and said "I will fight you myself to show the people I am worthy." As soon as Svaylar finished his sentence a huge agordon lizard 7 meters long standing 5 foot high ran through the assembly biting people in half and using his tail to knock all bystanders to the ground in it's wake. Svaylar and Arklin were both knocked to the ground, initially stunned they both got up and ran after the creature which seemed to be moving toward where the women were standing. Five of Svaylars men had already loaded their bows and as Svaylar and Arklin ran after the creature the arrows hit the lizard where it's tail met it's lower back. This must have hurt because the creature turned around and roared, something Wagronians had only heard at night in the distance. And here this beast was in the late afternoon confronting the whole village and roaring a roar that was so loud and grisly it sent most of the assembly men women and children running for cover. Svaylar's men stood fast and refused to seek safety from the lizard now fully provoked. Svaylar and Arklin simulataneously lunged at the beast, Arklin's sword cut a piece of grey green skin but little blood fell, Svaylar's sword penetrated the skin and stuck right into the bone of the lizard's skull jarring and concussing the lizard and drawing liters and liters of blood, both men were flung quickly and severly to the ground, awkwardly landing breaking fingers and cracking ribs, The lizard was gigantic. However Svaylar's sword was now embedded in the agordon's skull which gave the Svaylar's men and the northern hunters time to attack, Svaylar's men threw their axes and fired their newly forged arrowheads at the creature all weapons penetrated the creatures thick skin and wounded it horribly.
Svaylar lay on the ground unable to stabilize himself on his own limbs to rise up, Arklin however rose as he had met the Agordon's many times in great ambushes, then fights to the death.
Arklin took the sword from the lizards skull as it violently spun and swerved sideways, He ducked as the lizard went for Arklin's head heaving the sword upwards and catching a neck artery, the lizard fell on top of Arklin with a "thump". Then despite the blood hosing out of it's neck and other injuries it hobbled back toward the forest, though it was too late for the lizard now Svaylar had twenty men all armed with bows cutting the beast off from making a getaway, although at this point the beast would perhaps not even survive the getaway with the deep wounds Svaylar's men's weapons had inflicted.
Svaylar's men pulled back and released firing from the perfect angle right into the Lizard's forehead and temple killing him instantly. Svaylar now got to his feet despite the pain and ran to Arklin who had showed so much courage. Arklin was badly wounded but as the women children and other men returned to see the beast had been slain, he managed to draw enough breath to give his blessing to Svaylar saying, "Svaylar will be our king now for better or for worse, his weaponry killed this beast and his men and his courage protected us we will serve him until death."
Arklin was carried off and the whole village family by family paid homage directly to Svaylar as his men held him up, he was bleeding lightly from several body wounds and had broken two of his fingers but otherwise he was intact.
Empire Wagron 9: Legacy for two generations
Svaylar governed the three settlements fairly putting most of his efforts into raising and insuring the safety and education of the young who were born in the first years of their arrival.
He had also started a campaign to hunt the large Agordon lizards out of existence. Initially his campaign was very effective, infact dozens of the large lizards were killed and Svaylar aligned his men and the northern hunters to focus all their manpower on the killing of the lizards.
2 hunters and 1 scout were killed, two other scouts disappeared during the campaign, but not by lizards, see the lizards were slower and dossile during the day and if the ambush was planned right the lizard would not have any chance of retaliation he would be killed on the spot. However every time Svaylar's new hunter class ventured toward the north where the Pomar-herb grew they would be ambushed themselves by the spotted tiger that was faster and more cunning than the lizards and also huge enough to hold a fight between itself and five disciplined hunters. Though it would never remain to fight, even if it could, it would simply hit and run, sometimes dragging off a scout.
With the campaign in full swing most of the meat people at Novo Torun were eating was lizard.
Killing one beast a week provided Novo turon with enough meat to feed everyone for five days.
Svaylar had built himself a high ceiling bungalow it's frame made almost exclusively from the Agordon lizard's bones. Svaylar held great triumphant town assemblies to honour the hunters as the hunters would bring a beast in tied to long wooden poles that took ten hunting men to carry. On the first week he had spoken of a new era where the lizards would run from the wagron's in fear. "People of Wagronia fear not for we are no longer the prey, the Agordon lizard runs further into the forests as our hunters wound and kill them now with the sharp steel we have forged in the south, no longer do our noble hunters suffer the same injuries we have become the predators Wagronians, now it is our time!" Cheers raised up all over the village, laughing and clapping. And as Svaylar looked around he no longer saw those scared people of medieval Poland, their eyes were sharper their skin wasn't as pale. And a strange confidence had manifested. Svaylar continued the ritual each week that the hunters returned with another dead beast. He cut the tail with a long broad sword, then the tail was barbecued for the whole village as it was the most delicious and tender part of the beast.
On one hand Svaylar felt like he was slowly clearing the western forests of predators, on the other he had a sickly feeling the alpha Agordon lizards never even roamed near enough for the scouts to see.
Svaylar had brought Rasvlan back into a leadership position because Rasvlan's hours of weapon's and survival training had made him incredible, he had become too important. Over the long years of Rasvlan's time away from the settlements as a trainer he had proven to be so effective and so skilled Svaylar couldn't afford to be without his counsel and skill in the leadership aswell. Arklin had also come into the leadership running as his deputy with Svaylar's right hand man Mitglerk. Mitglerk and Arklin oversaw mapmaking, distribution of weapons and proxied for Svaylar when he left Novo Torun to administrate Vlanstead or when he went north to help with maintenance of the forest forts of Ronoth around the pomar-herb areas.
After five years the first of the wagronia born children were ready for their first light lessons at training and for Svaylar, Rasvlan and also Arklin to decide what their role would be within their civilization. Mitglerk was sent to the northern settlement they now called Ronoth which had it's own water supply and closed overland tunnels made from vines that were purposely planted and trained along distances of 500 meters to protect the inhabitance from illusive and highly deadly spotted tiger.
Svaylar's reign was successful and by the time he died 35 years after their arrival when he was sixty years old the population of Wagronians had jumped to 7000 from 500. The people lived slightly longer lives on the new planet and fertility was high.
Wagron society after Svaylar was stable and organized for a good decade, but that would all change.
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