Chronicler Vian's Log

Twentieth of September, Seven Hundred and Sixty Ninth year since the Seminal War

Skirmishing continues to the south of the fort. The orc Clans are restricting themselves to passing warriors through the goat trails instead of bullying past our flanks. Wise of them, for even with only seven hundred men of Ironbark fit for pitched battle, we could savage any attempt to do so. The orcs may have the advantage on the narrow winding goat trails, but we hold it in the open field.

Something was puzzling me about the whole festering situation in this area however. Why would the Council of the Jeweled Cities want to engineer an atrocity to justify going to war with the orc Clans of the Glacierheart mountains? The officers, the Captain included, and many of the veterans seem puzzled by this as well, but the new recruits and the Westmarchers do not. So I went and asked around, and the best answer came, surprisingly enough (or perhaps not, once you know him), from young Aris. It all boils down to local politics, so I will set the pieces into place before describing their moves.

On the side of the Jeweled Cities, there is Sapphire, Ruby, and Opal (Emerald and Ebony are further from the coast, and take no hand in purely local matters). All of them together form the Council of the Jeweled Cities, and present a united front to the rest of the world. Quite successfully too, as we outsiders simply refer to the Jeweled Cities without distinguishing between them. But internally, each strives to gain precedence over the others, and they league together to prevent others for doing the same. So if Sapphire makes a grab to secure new land for themselves alone, then Ruby and Opal would put on enough pressure to prevent Sapphire from doing so.

On the side of the Independents, there are the farmers of Westmarch and the orc Clans of the Glacierheart mountains. The Westmarchers form a semi-independent region, selling their crops to any of the Jeweled Cities who wish to buy them. The farmers come from all three of the local cities, though I understand that some of them do come from far off Ebony and Emerald, and are not particularly inclined to follow directives form one of the larger Jeweled Cities (even the Council) on the best of days. The orc Clans of the Glacierheart mountains have been mentioned before, but they serve as both target for and assistant to the treacherous politics.

Now as to who is doing what onto whom. Sapphire wants to claim Westmarch and the Glacierheart Mountains for themselves. Westmarch for the food and farmland, and also for its access to the Glacierheart mountains. The Glacierheart mountains themselves for the mines (mostly coal) and forests (for timber) they contain. But if they hire up mercenaries and charge off alone, then Ruby and Opal will muster troops of their own to restrain Sapphire, limiting them to pushing back the orc raiders and securing their borders.

So Sapphire needs a cause for war that will justify their taking of land outright, and pull Ruby and Opal into the war at their backs. Thus, soiling their hands and making them complicit in the war and rendering them unable to refuse Sapphire taking land outright if they want to do the same. So they hired Ironbark Company and sent us to Westmarch, probably using the official Council stationary and funds to conceal their ignoble intentions. Our presence was to trigger the orc Clans into raiding more heavily, and our cries for reinforcement could be spun out into an orcish war of aggression. This would give Sapphire the cause for war they needed, and they could call in Ruby and Opal to aid them.

Looking also at the number of orc warriors that Ironbark scouts have reported, it is clear to me that Sapphire would need aid from Ruby and Opal to take the Glacierheart mountains. We have seen as many as a thousand orc warriors, and it is not unreasonable to assume that there are as many again either guarding their camps or held in reserve. Add in another two thousand or so females and craftorcs (who can fight but are left home for wars), and another five hundred non-combatants (the children and the old)... Four thousand war-ready orcs, if they are all lumped into one pile. Sapphire can field at most fifteen hundred, and afford one mercenary company (Ironbark) of another thousand men. Were the orc Clans divided, split into three smaller groups to be carved up one-by -one, then perhaps that would be enough men…

But Sapphire has made a fatal underestimation. There are no orc Clans of Glacierheart, to be attacked one-by-one or fractured against each other. Only one banner flies over the captured outposts. Only one Clan name passes the orc warriors lying injured on the battlefields. There is only Clan Glacierheart, with every orc in the mountains at their disposal. It will fall to Ironbark to redeem Sapphire's error.

Or it would, were the Westmarchers not inclined to tell Sapphire and the rest of the Council of the Jeweled Cities to take their claims and cram them up where the sun doesn't shine.

Shaman's Records

Twenty-second of September, Seven Hundred and Sixty Ninth year since the Seminal War

Shaman Koroc the Singer of Clan Glacierheart recording.

I have traveled forward to the outermost of the human's outposts. They are not terribly impressive, being only a wooden wall and a short tower. I can see how Warlord Elder Lokk the Brutal struggled to take them intact however. Fire may have forced the humans out where his warriors could get at them, but only at the cost of leaving the outpost in ruins.

With the outposts intact however, Clan Glacierheart now has forward camps from which to operate. No longer will we have to march for two days just to get to the battleground. Already the craftorcs have come forwards, building housing and extending the walls. Hauling so much wood down from the mountains is difficult, but stone would be even more so. The slaves that Warlord Elder Lokk took are of profitable use here, and for their efforts they are rewarded with improving their own cover and conditions as well.

I am of two minds considering the habit of enslaving non-orcs. On one side of the coin, they are prizes of war, and surely a life enslaved is better than simply being slaughtered out of hand? On the other side of the coin, it inspires our foes to fight ever harder, and forces some number of warriors to watch the slaves always, lest they revolt. Among the Elders, only Warlord Elder Lokk the Brutal still takes slaves, but he treats them fairly, so long as they are willing to work hard and remain complacent. The Records recall times when Warlords treated their slaves harshly, and the bloody wars that followed. There is a keen mind behind Warlord Elder Lokk's simplistic mask, and he hides it well unless one knows how to look.

The other thing that puzzles me is the banners that flew over these outposts. The records recall in great detail the banners flown by the Pikes when we were driven from the Westmarch valley: fields of white or gold surrounding a colored gemstone icon. The two that flew here do not match these at all. One is a simple crossed scythe and pike in black on a red field, the other is a silver tree on a black field. These humans fought hard for their land, but they are not the ones that took it from us. What has happened among the human clans? What has torn them apart? I think I will find if any of the slaves are willing to talk to me. perhaps there is something else going on here. Perhaps one of them can shed light on the blind paths we are following.

Shaman's Records

Twenty-third of September, Seven Hundred and Sixty Ninth year since the Seminal War

Shaman Koroc the Singer of Clan Glacierheart recording.

I have found out at least some of the story behind the change in banners, and it is almost too much for me to believe. We of Clan Glacierheart have come together, but the Humans have splintered into tribes of their own. Or perhaps they were never one clan to begin with. Whichever it was, it matters not for this season. The scythe and pike on a red field belongs to the humans of this valley, who have named their clan after it. The silver tree belongs to a roving war-clan that calls themselves the Ironbark Company. Both the slaves from Clan Westmarch and from Clan Ironbark are angry at a third clan, Clan Sapphire, for setting this war in motion.

It is a story that we orcs are all too familiar with. Clan Sapphire wants to claim the Westmarch valley, and perhaps the Glacierheart mountains, but at least two other clans (Clans Ruby and Opal) do not want them to grow too strong. Clan Sapphire cannot fight three human clans at once, much less Clan Glacierheart, so they have set two of their rivals to fight before sweeping all aside.

I must take this to the Elders. Perhaps there is a way for all three clans to discuss this. Would not Clan Westmarch and Clan Ironbark be willing to give up some land in the valley beyond the fort to clan Glacierheart in exchange for Clan Glacierheart's aid against Clan Sapphire? This notion is sure to spare furious debate.

I cast the runes once more. Once again, the runes for human and orc were in alignment and crossed by war. Perhaps it is a hopeful sign that Clans Glacierheart, Westmarch, and Ironbark need not bleed each other to death while Clans Sapphire laughs. One rune still landed in the shadows however, so perhaps all is not yet revealed.