Ethora

Ethora is a kingdom in the North of Oleran. It s a peninsular realm that stretches to the river Ennen to the south. The land was originally inhabited by trolls until the migration of the Ethoran people 3,000 years ago. Trolls still inhabit the land, mostly in the North. Ethora is the only kingdom that still practices the religion of Aren-Deram, which means "the Will of Order."

Early History
The first humans to migrate to Ethora were the Vendels, a nomadic tribal culture that subsisted on herding goats and cattle. For the most part they lived in peace with the trolls that inhabited the peninsula before their arrival. The Vendel had no writing or metal working skills and runes were unknown to them, but their shamans were well practiced in the art of healing magic.

Conquest and Unification
Andril Vorelos was the first to attempt to conquer all of Ethora. He did so under the pretense of uniting all of the worshipers of the Deramvir. He was king of the prosperous region of Ennendale in the south. The people of Ennendale practiced the religion of Aren-Deram, the will of the order. This was a more dogmatic group of Deramvirites, and unlike others had a holy book of scriptures. Andril gave the petty kingdoms and tribes of Ethora an ultimatum that if they did not yield to his rule and book he would declare war on them. Only a quarter of Ethora pledged their loyalty to him, so he kept his word and mustered his forces to march north. He was met with initial success but after the winter of his first campaign it became clear that the conquest of Ethora would take time.

In the beginning of his campaign his enemies were scattered and separate. During the winter of his first campaign a coalition of northern tribes and kingdoms was formed to oppose him. With better leadership and organization they were able to oppose Andril with some success. Though their forces were regularly defeated in the field, they enjoyed superior numbers throughout the war.

After seven years of campaigning, Andril had made significant progress. He had split the coalition lands in two, and had naval control around the entire peninsula. But the coalition was far from defeated and continued to meet his forces in open battle, hoping to gain a decisive victory against his smaller forces. Unlike many kings of the south, Andril led his troops to battle personally. In the end he did so to his demise. During a cavalry charge he was struck by a javelin in his side and died of his wound three days later. His son was by that time a capable military commander in his own right and continued the fight against the northern coalition. He spent the entirety of his 37 year reign at war until he died of a fever. His son, Cyron Vorelos, continued the fight for six years after his death until he had each leader of the coalition besieged in their own castles. They surrendered unconditionally and Cyron divided their land among the aristocracy and veterans of the army.

Following the long awaited peace, Cyron set to work on unifying his lands. Due to growing resentment and a lack of resources to suppress revolt, Cyron made many concessions in the religious rules that his father and grandfather had insisted on in the kingdom. He allowed other sects to practice their worshiping privately, provided that they make a sacrifice at an Aren-Deram temple once a year. After he had a firm grasp on his newly united kingdom his next move was to found a new capital that would serve for all of Ethora and not only his home region of Ennendale. He built the city around a waterfall which was sacred to all Deramvirites.

Early Years of Unification
Cyron named the new capital of the kingdom Arenevon after the chief deity of the pantheon, Aren. Those who had been dispossessed by years of warfare found a home in the city. Cyron worked hard to heal the wounds of hatred between the tribes and ethnic groups of Ethora. His own ethnic group was the Ennui, native to the region of Ennendale. The Ennui became the dominant and most wealthy group in Ethora. Most of the land taken in conquest had been redistributed to Ennui veterans. Only the tribes who submitted to Andril Vorelos at the beginning of the conquest remained self governing.

Cyron ruled the kingdom in peace for 15 years before he died of a fever while travelling in the north. He named his nephew Vittigern as his heir as he had died childless. Vittigern was a less usefull king than his predecessors and spent the majority of his ten year reign on family estates in Ennendale. During his lax rule the northern tribes were granted the opportunity to plan for revolt. Assimilation and unification was running smoothly in the southern provinces but the north had been biding its time for secession since Cyron had ended the war. That time came when Vittigern died in Delrioch at the age of 55, having spent a total of three months outside of Ennendale during his time as king. He named his son Ertan as successor.

First Tribal Uprising
The Northern tribes rose in rebellion in two separate parts of of the kingdom simultaneously with only a small amount of coordination between the two groups. The warlike tribes of Koros and the primitive Vendel tribes of Feldis. Priests of the Arend-Deram were the first targets of the rebels. Altars were destroyed and temples which had stood for little more than a generation were torn to the ground. The lords who had been granted tribal land as payment for wartime service were the next targets as many were killed or driven from their estates. They fled with their retinues to the small garrisons of troops that were left in the north after the conquest.

The tribes of Koros were more numerous and more ambitious with their rebellion. The Vendels contented themselves with driving out the foreigners from their lands and preparing for the inevitable retribution from the king. The tribes of Koros on the other hand expelled the foreigners within a month and immediately began organizing for a military campaign into the south where they hoped to inspire more tribes to rise in rebellion against their Ennui overlords.

There are five major tribes in the region of Koros, the largest of which being the Tegri. Although divided by tribal lines, the people of Koros have a sense of shared ethnicity and the dialect of the people in the region is distinct from the rest of Ethora. Collectively the people of Koros are known as the Korosoi. The high chieftain of the Tegri was chosen by a council of the five tribes to lead the Korosoi into battle. His name was Thradevix. He was a young man at the time of the rebellion and was only a boy when the war of conquest ended. During his youth he was bred to be a warrior against the conquerors. To defeat the Ennui and to drive out their religion from his home was his purpose, and his time had finally come.

The campaign into the south began with three warbands marauding the countryside surrounding the city of Carneron, the only major city in the north. Raiders were also sent along the coast of Vithrea to make it appear as though an invasion would come from the sea. The tactic worked and royal forces were first sent to Vithrea before realizing the main rebel army was still in the North. The royal forces were slow to mobilize and local lords were hesitant to send their troops away from their vulnerable fortresses to join the royal army.

The lands around Carneron that belonged to southern lords were pillaged and the small tribes of the region were given the choice of joining the rebellion or being given the same treatment. Most tribes chose to join Thradevix and his army. Soon the entire countryside was either liberated or ravaged, leaving only the city of Carneron, which still had a sizable garrison of 5,000 troops. The garrison was not strong enough to attack the rebel army head on but was a large enough force to show serious resistance in a siege. However, if Thradevix left the city untaken, the garrison would be free to pillage their lands in the army's rear. The city was also an extremely wealthy target which made his troops eager to storm the walls and become rich overnight. The northern tribes were not skilled in the art of siegecraft and Thradevix knew this. But his men were determined to take the city and he was swayed by their demands. The city was surrounded and siege towers were constructed.

With the royal forces now on their way north, the Korosoi needed a swift end to the siege and a full assault was commenced the day after the siege towers were completed. Four towers pushed by dozens of men from the base, and accompanied by close to one hundred ladders descended on the walls. It became immediately evident that the Korosoi were not familiar with the art of siegecraft. Two of the towers were up in flames by enemy arrowfire before making it half way to the walls. One of the towers made it to the walls but the height of the walls had been misjudged and it was barely tall enough for the men to jump over the battlements and was easily repulsed. The last tower was stuck in one of the many ditches that had been dug by the defenders prior to the battle. A good number of ladders made it to the walls and some damage was done to the garrison. All the while arrows were hailing down on the attackers who mostly lacked any kind of sufficient armor besides their wooden shields. Just two hours after the assault had begun, the horn of retreat was sounded and the broken and bloodied attackers returned to their camps. Thousands of Korosoi died in the conflict. Less than two hundred soldiers fell from the royal garrison.

It was clear that an assault on the city would not bring them the victory they desired. Starvation would have to be the key to their success. But the city of Carneron was situated on the largest lake in Ethora, lake Treias. The entire land perimeter of the city was surrounded by the rebels but their lake port still allowed the defenders to receive supplies coming from the south up the Veskal river. Half of the rebel forces were sent to the mouth of the river to intercept any supplies being sent to the city.