For the first hundred years, the trade with the Ulgos was woefully unprofitable. Many times Tolnedran merchants made the long and arduous caravan journey to Prolgu and waited the appointed three weeks without a single customer coming up from the depths of the earth to view their goods. Appeals to the Emperor to dispatch a military expedition to force the Ulgos up out of their caves so that the merchants might tempt them with their goods were largely ineffectual, since there was nothing in the treaty requiring the Ulgos to buy, and the city at Prolgu, situated as it is on the top of a sheer mountain, is perhaps one of the most totally unassailable places in the world. As one Ranite Emperor said, ‘I could pour the wealth and young manhood of the Empire into those barren mountains and gain nothing thereby.’
In time our caravans grew smaller and were frequently unaccompanied by troops, and occasionally they disappeared without a trace. The Ulgos vaguely mentioned ‘monsters’, but refused to elaborate.
During the invasion of the Angaraks in the 4860s and 70s, the Algar cavalry and Drasnian infantry elements which closed in behind the enemy on the way to the battleground before the Arendish city of Vo Mimbre were startled by the sudden emergence from their caverns of thousands of curiously armed Ulgos, all, as usual, hooded and with their faces and eyes veiled against the light.
It is evident that there is some eons-old dispute between the Ulgos and the Angaraks, the origins of which are lost in antiquity. The Algars and Drasnians soon had no difficulty in following the Hordes of Kal-Torak, since the trail was littered with the bodies of the unfortunates whom the Ulgos systematically ambushed. Because of the sensitivity of their eyes to the light, Ulgos function best at night, and the toll they took of the sleeping Angaraks was ghastly.
At the Battle of Vo Mimbre, the Ulgos participated in the assault upon the Angarak left with the Algars and the Drasnians. When they shed their robes and hoods for battle, they revealed the traditional armor of the Ulgos, a curious leaf-mail, shaped much like the scales of a serpent and overlapping in such fashion that it is virtually impenetrable. The armor is colorfully referred to as ‘dragon-skin’. During the battle, the Ulgos displayed uncommon valor, closing savagely with the much larger Murgo warriors who held the left flank; and after the battle when darkness had fallen, Ulgo warriors roamed the battlefield making certain that no wounded Angarak escaped.
When things had returned somewhat to normal following the war, limited trade was resumed, but the Ulgos have retained their secretive ways.
The current Gorim of the Ulgos appears to be extremely ancient, though the dimness of the light in their caverns makes such fine distinctions difficult. The mode by which the Ulgos choose their Gorim or how far back into the dim reaches of the past the line extends are questions, of course, which are likely never to be answered.
Ulgoland
COINAGE
Ulgos do not use coins, but rather barter for items both useful and ornamental. Ulgo jewelry is so exquisite and so finely wrought that it is nearly priceless in the west. They will also trade in raw gold and silver and in cut and uncut gems.
COSTUME
Standard garments—linen pajama-like affair. Hooded cloaks of the coarse cloth. All dyed quite dark.
Linen—cloth (wild flax gathered near cave-mouths).
A coarse cloth woven from the fiber of a tree bark similarly gathered.
Soft leather—deer-hide taken by nocturnal Ulgo hunters.
Personages wear robes—quite heavy—one solid piece. White.
Armor—overlapping, diamond-shaped steel scales sewn to leather.
Weapon—the knife—designed and perfected by Ulgo craftsmen—quite ornamental with lots of hooks and saw edges. Long ice-pick. Short-handled picks with needle points, etc. Women wear soft robes. Hair is elaborately plaited. Jeweled head-bands.
COMMERCE
Strictly barter in useful goods or in services. Ulgos do have fields, planted and harvested at night. Planted at random so as to be undetectable. They also hunt meat—meat is a rarity in the Ulgo diet. Lots of root vegetables, grains and nuts.
SOCIAL ORGANIZATION
Ulgo society is a theocracy. The Gorim is a Moses figure, a lawgiver and a judge. People divided into tribes. Elders of the tribes advise the Gorim. Scholars study the writings of the original Gorim—a very Jewish society in that respect.
Ordinary people live in chambers cut out of the stone along the various galleries in the vast limestone caves.
Note: The caves of the Ulgos are naturally heated by geothermal forces. Cooking is with small coal fires. Smoke and fumes are carried off in cunningly constructed vents. Light provided by tiny oil lamps or by refracted surface light (through glass prisms).
Ulgo society is totally involved with religion. Much time is taken up with prayer. Prophecy and the casting of Auguries is enormously important. Upon special dates certain special openings with special glass prisms allow the light of certain stars to enter the caverns, colors and shadows are then interpreted. (Ulgos are masters of primitive optics because of their work in glass.)
They also have extensive knowledge of ‘the monsters’ and know how to deal with most of them.
They are not prolific. Many restraints on population. Infant mortality is quite high among them. A static, unmoving society with no real hope of growth. Philosophical, somewhat melancholy. Much emphasis on scholarship, study and attaining holiness or righteousness—a mass effort at attaining sainthood—Essene, possibly. Religious ecstasy or religious excess common. Hermits in the farthest caverns. (Ulgo artifacts are so beautiful because they are the work of zealots.)
The Ulgo Holy Books are the Journals of Gorim kept on his quest in search of the God UL. These rather pedestrian daybooks have been elevated into something mystical. Holiness is often predicated on some new and unusual interpretation of a quite ordinary event. The Book of UL-GO is a much later poetic version of the original Daybooks of Gorim. There have been internecine wars in the caverns of the Ulgos over interpretation of certain obscure and delirious passages from Gorim’s journals. A totally closed and inward-looking society EXCEPT for their universal hatred of Torak, the one whose action condemned them to the caverns.
UL-GO theology is split rather violently. One branch holds that the caves are what UL intended. The others that a deliverer shall come and destroy Torak and the Ulgos will be allowed to return to the surface.
RANK
The Gorim—High priest and King.
Oldmen—Leaders of each tribe.
Tribal Elders—Seven in each tribe. Seven tribes of Ulgos— fairly significant racial differences between them.
The priests of UL—very numerous.
The selection of Gorim, Oldmen and Elders is a process that is part election, part prophecy, part lottery and part gut-feel. The Gorim is not hereditary. No one but an Ulgo can understand the process. Age is very important in the selection.
MODES OF ADDRESS
To the Gorim—‘My Gorim’, ‘Holy One’, rarely, ‘Holy UL-GO’
To the Oldmen—‘Beloved of UL’, ‘Wisdom’
To the Elders—‘Righteousness’, ‘Selected of UL’
To the Priests—‘Master’
To the Scholars—‘Learned One’
To the Commoners—‘ULGORIM John’—meaning approximately ‘Just and righteous in the sight of UL’
MANNERS
Quite formal modes of address. A great deal of formula recitatif and response in conversation. ‘Great is the power of UL’—‘All praise the name of UL’. Entire conversations can consist of stereotyped phrases. Personal chambers are absolutelyprivate. Temples are huge chambers. Ulgos attend religious services daily. Work in open galleries on studies, art-work, crafts, etc.
People are strangely apart from each other.
HOLIDAYS
The Day of Acceptance—The day UL accepted Gorim—the Holiest Day
The Day of Despair—When Gorim went to Prolgu and cursed his life
The Day of Following—The day the few
followed Gorim.
Also some 130 other observances of key dates in the Journals of Gorim
POPULATION
Population—perhaps 750,000 total
NYISSA
GEOGRAPHY
The kingdom of Nyissa lies on the southern boundary of Tolnedra, below the River of the Woods. It is bounded on the west by the waters of the Great Western Sea and on the east by the low range of mountains which mark the doorstep of the vast, uninhabited wilderness of western Cthol Murgos. The southern boundaries of the kingdom are quite indistinct, since there are only trackless jungles in that quarter. It is the claim of the Nyissan court at Sthiss Tor that Nyissa has no southern boundary but continues on to the southern edge of the world, but few take such grandiose claims seriously, since no kingdom can with any authority claim lands which it cannot occupy.
For the most part, Nyissa is densely forested, enveloped as it were in a vast, trackless, sub-tropical jungle. The land is marshy and the soil extremely fertile. Despite this, farming in the land of the snake people is minimal. The vast effort required to clear and maintain fields appears to be beyond the capabilities of the somewhat sluggish inhabitants.
The capital at Sthiss Tor would seem to be the only city of any size in the entire kingdom, although it is difficult to verify this, since the Nyissans, always secretive, forbid travel by foreigners into the hinterlands. Casual observation, however, indicates that the bulk of the citizenry reside in small villages usually located on or near the major river system of the country, aptly named the River of the Serpent. No hard evidence exists of any significant mineral deposits in the kingdom, but again, this is impossible to verify.
Sthiss Tor itself is a large, well-fortified stone city some eighty leagues up the River of the Serpent. It is considered a hardship post by members of the Tolnedran diplomatic corps because of the pestilential climate.
THE PEOPLE
The Nyissans are similar in stature and complexion to the Tolnedrans and Arends, and are, therefore, quite obviously members of the same broad racial group. As observed previously, they are a secretive and somewhat indolent people, difficult to know and even more difficult to like. Their worship of the Serpent-God, Issa, has led them to adopt certain reptilian mannerisms which most outsiders consider repugnant.
While the nation is referred to as a kingdom in conformity with the practice in other western countries, this designation is not precisely accurate, since the ruler of the Nyissans has always been a Queen. The traditional name, Salmissra, appears to have no particular hereditary significance, and the process by which successors are chosen is a closely guarded secret intimately involved in the religious life of the Nyissans, since the Queen is also the high priestess of the national religion.61
Because of the abundance of strange flora in the Nyissan jungles, the snake people have developed a vast lore having to do with herbal compounds and drugs, and it is generally believed, though probably erroneously, that the entire nation is addicted to one or the other of these compounds. The drugs do, however, play a significant part in Nyissan religious observances. It is also unfortunately true that one of the sidelines of Nyissan pharmaceutical experiments has been the development of a vast range of poisons and toxins which have intruded upon occasion into the politics of Tolnedra. The removal of a political adversary in Tolnedra has always been too simple a matter largely because of the lamentable proximity of the Nyissan border.
Sadly, the basic industry of Nyissa has always been the slave trade. The battlefields of the wars and insurrections of the west have for thousands of years been haunted by Nyissan slavers. They are indeed sometimes as prevalent as ravens. Although the trade is generally condemned, captives without the means to afford ransom all too frequently end up in chains on Nyissan slave ships. The fate of these unfortunates is unknown, but since the Nyissan slavers almost invariably pay for their goods and supplies with Angarak gold (which has a distinctive reddish cast by reason of the iron deposits in the vicinity of the mines of Gar og Nadrak and Cthol Murgos), it is generally assumed that the ultimate destinations of the slaves are the Angarak Kingdoms to the east. One shudders at the thought of what may happen to them once they fall into the hands of the Grolim priests in those dark lands.
THE HISTORY OF THE SNAKE PEOPLE
Because of the secretive nature of the Nyissans, attempts to gather historical data about them are extraordinarily frustrating. Indeed, beyond a few cursory facts, most of which came to light during the Alorn invasion of 4002–3, little is actually known about the country’s history.
Generally it is assumed that the Nyissans were a part of the vast westward migration which took place during the first millennium, at which time were also established the kingdoms of Aloria, Arendia, Maragor and the Empire of Tolnedra.
It is a commonplace to observe that history is a by-product of war, and with the exception of the Alorn invasion mentioned above and a legendary conflict between Nyissa and Maragor late in the second millennium, the Nyissans have had almost no conflicts with the other kingdoms of the west.
The causes of the Maragor–Nyissa war are shrouded in the mists of antiquity, and what few actual records we have of the conflict are at best fragmentary as a result of the excessive zeal of Tolnedran soldiery during the extirpation of the Marags in the third millennium. What remains is a sketchy body of reports, requisitions, diaries and the like which provide a shadowy outline of the conflict and little else.
Whatever the unknown cause was, it appears that the Marags considered themselves the offended side, and the mounting of their expeditionary force was something in the nature of a holy crusade.
At any rate, during the mid-nineteenth century, Marag columns struck down across the northeastern frontier of Nyissa and plunged toward Sthiss Tor, 250 leagues to the west. Field commanders reported the existence of broad highways through the jungles and mighty cities which were besieged and pulled down. While some of this may be shrugged off as primitive exaggeration, it must be conceded that there may indeed be some grain of truth in those reports. Tolnedran expeditions into northern Nyissa following the Alorn invasion of the fifth millennium noted the existence of vast, jungle-choked ruins62 and barely perceptible highways through the dense growth. Whatever the truth may be, the Marags pressed on, pausing only to violate Nyissan temples and to perform their own disgusting rites upon the altars of the Snake God.
At the approach of the Marag columns, Queen Salmissra and her retinue fled the city of Sthiss Tor and sought refuge in the jungles to the south. The Marags found that they had conquered an empty city surrounded by unpeopled fields.
At that time occurred one of the most monstrous incidents in the history of warfare. After the Marags had occupied the city for perhaps ten days, the soldiers began to sicken and die in alarming numbers. The frantic pleas for food sent back to Maragor by field commanders camped in the midst of a fertile plain burgeoning with unharvested crops provide poignant substantiation to what had taken place. Before their evacuation of the city, the Nyissans had systematically poisoned every scrap of edible food in the vicinity of the capital. They had even, by means known only to them, poisoned fruits and vegetables while they still hung from trees or nestled in the fields. Such cattle as were left for the Marags had, with a technique that staggers the imagination, been poisoned in such a way that, while the cattle remained healthy, all who ate their flesh died.
A decimated and delirious column of the few pitiful survivors stumbled out of the jungles and back to Maragor, leaving their trail littered with the bodies of their dead.
While it is conjecture only, it is fairly safe to assume that the lessons of the Marag invasion were not lost on the Nyissans. The highways (if indeed they were highways) provided easy passage through the jungles for invading troops, so they were permitted to fall into disuse, and the jungles reclaimed them. Since the Nyissans are not a prolific people (their use of drugs inhibits reproductive activity severely), large cities simply provide larger concentrations of peop
le to fall victim to surprise attack, and the limited population can be severely depleted by only a few such attacks. Thus, it became in all probability a matter of state policy to disperse the population broadly in small cities and towns and even villages—except for the capital, of course.
And so it is that we see the truth of the adage; history is the product of war. Had there been no Marag invasion, Nyissa might well have developed along entirely different lines. Cities might have arisen and the jungle been cleared, but it was not to be. The motto which appears above the door of the throne-room of Queen Salmissra in Sthiss Tor speaks volumes: ‘The Serpent and the Forest are one.’ The jungles of Nyissa are the refuge and the defense of the snake people, and we must not expect that they will ever be cleared.
During the reign of Ran Horb II of the First Horbite Dynasty (sometimes referred to as the architect of Empire), a sustained effort was made to conclude the customary trade agreements with the Nyissans. Vordal, a noble of the Vordue line of the Imperial Family was entrusted with the delicate task of negotiating with Queen Salmissra. His reports provide graphic and chilling details of the lethal intrigues which prevail in the Nyissan Court. Each noble, functionary or priest normally employs a sizeable staff of herbologists and chemists whose sole purpose is the distillation, compounding and mixing of new poisons and antidotes. A breakthrough by one of these professional poisoners is usually marked by the sudden and frequently ghastly deaths of all members of an opposing faction. Since most Nyissan politicians are able, as a result of heavy preventive dosing with all known antidotes and a brutal regimen of desensitization involving the eating of gradually increased amounts of the toxins themselves, to ingest quantities of poisons sufficient to fell a legion, the new poisons which are developed are of terrifying potency.
The Rivan Codex Page 21
