Somewhat to the west of the tarn rises the solitary peak which is the site of Rak Cthol, the forbidden theological capital of the Murgos. The sides of the peak are smooth basalt, and the only approach to the city is by way of a narrow, inclined causeway, built in the distant past by unspeakable amounts of human labor. One is sickened at the thought of whole generations of slaves toiling away their lives to lay this pathway to Rak Cthol. The walls of the city are as high as the peak itself. What lies within the city is a mystery, since no outsider is permitted to enter.
As is the case with Nyissa, which forms the northwestern boundary of this bleak country, the southern border of Cthol Murgos is indistinct. The western reaches of the land of the Murgos are arid mountains, bleak and uninhabited.
THE PEOPLE
While they are all Angaraks, there are subtle distinctions between the inhabitants of the three eastern kingdoms and between them and the Malloreans (also Angarak) who dwell in unnumbered hordes in the uncharted lands beyond the Eastern Sea.
THE NADRAKS
These northern-most Angaraks are more volatile than their brothers to the south. While all Angaraks are war-like, it was the Nadraks who conducted the centuries-long campaign which continually probed the borders of Drasnia and Algaria during the third millennium. Fortunately, the Nadraks are also acquisitive, and it was this characteristic which made possible the opening of the North Caravan Route from Boktor to Yar Marak. With the growth of trade, there has also been a growth of information, and as a result of more frequent contact, we know more about the Nadraks than we do of Thulls or Murgos or Grolims. Nadrak hunters range the vast forests of the north, providing the luxuriant furs for which Gar og Nadrak is so justly famous. Nadrak miners, unlike the Murgos to the south, scorn the use of slave labor and hack gold and gems from the living rock with their own hands. A rowdy group, these foresters, hunters and miners are susceptible to the pleasures of keg and flagon, and Drasnian agents, posing as merchants, have for centuries used this susceptibility to their own advantage. Much information can be gained concerning concentrations of troops, movements and even the temper of officials in Yar Nadrak, the capital, for the minor investment in a few kegs of ale in wayside camps and villages.
The present King of the Nadraks is Drosta lek Thun, an excitable man in his early forties who has made some effort to make the court at Yar Nadrak a more courtly and civilized one, but the ambassadors of the western kingdoms realize that beneath his shrill charm, Drosta is a treacherous and dangerous ruler.
THE THULLS
These central Angaraks are bulkier than the Nadraks to the north, who tend to be nearly as rangy as Alorns. Thulls tend to be broad of shoulder, wide-backed, thick-hipped and somewhat slow-witted. In battle we have observed that the Thulls are more likely to rely on brute strength rather than on any degree of skill or tactics.
While it might appear that such people would be easy to best in any kind of trade, merchants renowned throughout the west for their canniness and the sharpness of their dealings have been frustrated by the Thulls who display that suspicion that is frequently a characteristic of the less-intelligent. Further, dealing with the Thulls is a dangerous business since they tend in the direction of homicidal rages at the first hint of chicanery—real or imagined.
Perhaps the fairest indication of the Thullish character is the fact that the favorite sport at village fairs in the back-country of Mishrak ac Thull is the head-butting contest— a form of competition that is not infrequently fatal to both participants.
The Thulls are prolific, perhaps as a result of the legendary appetite of the generously proportioned Thullish women.
The aged King of the Thulls, Clota Hrok, still sits firmly on his throne in Thull Mardu, despite the efforts of his eldest son Gethel to persuade him to retire.65
THE MURGOS
These are the most savage of the Angaraks. All Murgo men are warriors and habitually wear armor as casually as civilized men wear wool or linen. They are stockier than the Nadraks, but not so bulky as the Thulls.
The Murgos are close-mouthed to the point of rudeness, which makes trade with them extremely difficult. The bleakness of their homeland has perhaps infected their character. It is not uncommon for a Murgo merchant to conduct negotiations without ever speaking. He will examine the merchandise offered, lay a certain amount of gold on the table, and, if the trader objects to the sum, he will simply pick up his gold and depart. For the trader, for whom haggling is often more important than profit, this can be frustrating in the extreme.
Murgos will not discuss their theological capital at Rak Cthol (or even admit that it exists), and large portions of their uninhabitable country are absolutely forbidden to outsiders.
It has been persistently rumored that the Murgo population is much more extensive than the scanty numbers which are evident along the South Caravan Route or in the streets of Rak Goska would indicate, and many have suspected the existence of vast Murgo cities lying in the southern mountains of Cthol Murgos below the river Cthrog. Since those areas are strictly closed, however, the rumors are impossible to substantiate.
One note of caution must be sounded in any discussion of the Murgos. Murgo women are kept closely confined and are never seen in public—not even the youngest female children. To the casual observer it might appear that Cthol Murgos is inhabited entirely by males. This, however, is not the case, and travelers and merchants who visit would be well-advised to avoid those portions of Murgo houses normally marked by black doors, for to violate the sanctity of the women’s quarters in any Murgo household is to invite instant death.
The King of the Murgos is Taur Urgas, a man of uncertain sanity, who holds the country in an iron grip.
THE MALLOREANS
Little is known in the west of these strange people. Occasionally, by chance, Mallorean merchants are encountered in Yar Marak, Thull Zelik or Rak Goska. Since they speak an Angarak dialect that is virtually unintelligible to westerners, direct communication with them is almost impossible. The extent of the Mallorean Empire is unknown, but the traditional words, ‘limitless’, ‘boundless’, ‘vast’, and so forth indicate lands of staggering dimensions.
Agents of the Drasnian Kings, who from the time of the establishment of the North Caravan Route, have probed the Angarak kingdoms in the guise of merchants, have devoted centuries to the unraveling of the mystery of the Malloreans, but with only small success. What little we do know of them, however, is a tribute to the patience and perseverance of these Drasnian agents.
Physically, the Malloreans appear to be the archetypical Angaraks, neither as tall as the Nadraks nor as thick-bodied as the Thulls, nor are they quite as muscular as the typical Murgo. Their dispositions would seem to be more open, but the keen-eyed Drasnians have noted a tendency among them to be—if not precisely fearful—at least apprehensive in the presence of Grolim priests. Drasnian intelligence speculates that Mallorea is in all probability a theocracy dominated by Grolims who rule by terror in the service of Torak, the Angarak God.
NOTE
The only Mallorean who has played any significant part in the history of the west was the 49th century conqueror, Kal-Torak, who led the invasion of the Malloreans and western Angaraks and who was defeated at the famous Battle of Vo Mimbre. The prefix ‘Kal’ is untranslatable, but would seem to signify that the meaning of the name was ‘Arm of Torak’ or possibly ‘Spirit of Torak’. The popular superstition that it was the God Torak himself is, of course, nonsense.
THE GROLIMS
These are the ubiquitous Angarak priests who are seen in all parts of the Angarak kingdoms. Little can be known of them except by implication, since they steadfastly refuse to even speak to non-Angaraks. No hints can be gathered as to their physical appearance due to the shrouding, hooded black robes they customarily wear and the soul-chilling steel facemasks which are the marks of their priesthood. These masks, supposedly replicas of the face of the God Torak, conceal the entire face and help to explain the awe with which the
Grolims are regarded.
It is unknown whether the Grolims are an order, selected from the body of the Angarak populace, or if they are a separate tribe. Drasnian agents have attempted for millennia to unravel this mystery, but without success, since not even the most drunken Nadrak miner will ever discuss the Grolims.
Fragmentary reports from the battlefield at Vo Mimbre hint at the possibility that the Grolims are not exclusively male, but that there were also priestesses among the bodies on that field, but the necessity for rapid disposal of the dead to avoid the possibility of pestilence made verification of this impossible.
Whatever their origins and true nature, however, the Grolims dominate Angarak life. The hideous orgies of human sacrifice which characterize the Angarak religion are presided over by Grolims, and the sacrificial victims, despite popular belief in the west, are not drawn exclusively from the ranks of slaves. Even the remotest villages of Nadraks and Thulls have the traditional black altar of Torak, stained with the blood of the unnumbered victims who for millennia have gone screaming under the knife.
No information exists, of course, about the nature of the organization of the Grolim priesthood. One suspects that there exists somewhere—either in Mallorea or perhaps at Rak Cthol or some other inaccessible place—some high priest or chief priest or some such figure, but this is sheer speculation.
THE HISTORY OF THE ANGARAKS
Little is known of the early millennia of these people. It appears that their migration across the northern land bridge from Mallorea took place at the end of the second or the beginning of the third millennium, much later than the western migration of the other peoples of the west.
The first western contact with them came, as is almost always the case with primitive peoples, in the form of war. It was the Nadraks who led the probing attacks against Drasnia and Algaria during the third millennium until the time of the great unnamed battle in eastern Drasnia which has been roughly dated to the 25th century. It was at that time that a major Angarak penetration occurred. The decisive defeat of the Nadraks at this battle quelled Angarak expansionism in the north until the time of Kal-Torak.
As relations between Gar og Nadrak and Drasnia normalized (roughly by the end of the third millennium) trade between the two nations began—tentatively at first and with great suspicion on each side—but gradually growing until the North Caravan Route was established, more by custom than by any formal agreement between the two kingdoms.
It was in 3219 that the Kings of the two nations met at a great border encampment astride the Caravan Route to formalize what had simply grown as a result of the human need to trade. Kings Reldik III of Drasnia and Yar grel Hrun of Gar og Nadrak ultimately concluded the treaty that has been the despair of Tolnedran commercial barons for over two thousand years. Under the terms of the agreement, only Drasnian caravans are permitted access to the Nadrak portions of the North Caravan Route and conversely only Nadrak caravans may enter Drasnia. Thus, even as Drasnia dominates all western commerce generated by the Caravan Route, so Gar og Nadrak dominates all trade with the other Angarak states. Thus, it is as rare to see a Murgo or a Thull in Boktor as it is to see a Sendar or a Tolnedran in Yar Marak, since the fees charged by the rapacious caravan masters of both states quite literally eat up any possible profit.
Efforts by Tolnedran negotiators to break the strangle-hold Drasnia held over the northern trade at the time of the conferences which brought Drasnia into the Tolnedran commercial Empire were totally without success, and at that time Tolnedra began to look for another route to the east.
Enlisting the aid of Nyissan slavers, who had regular contact with the Murgos, Tolnedran commercial envoys were able to finally institute talks at Rak Goska. The difficulties involved in dealing with the grimly laconic Murgos can not be exaggerated. The talks—if they could be called such— continued intermittently for seventy years. Infuriatingly, the Murgos appeared indifferent to the fact that between them the Drasnians and Nadraks had a virtual monopoly on all east-west trade. Finally, however, in 3853 an agreement was finally reached which established the South Caravan Route between Tol Honeth and Rak Goska. This is a brutal route, and fully half of all caravans which attempt it are lost. The Murgos scrupulously patrol the route, and, while they respect the protected status of the Route itself, they regard all who stray from this often poorly-marked trail as invaders and fall upon them with great savagery.
The only possible alternative route is forever closed since it would involve crossing the Vale of Aldur on a direct line from Tol Honeth to the borders of Mishrak ac Thull, and the stubborn Algars steadfastly refuse even to discuss the matter or to permit any contact with the Angaraks across their eastern frontier.
Thus it is that most of the traditional sources of information concerning the history of a people are denied to us in our study of the Angaraks. The merchant has ever been the truest friend of the historian, and in a situation where trade is so severely limited, information is so scanty that much of our understanding of the Angaraks is the result of speculation and guess-work.
In essence, then, we have three tribes (or four—if one counts the Grolims as a separate people) who migrated out of the dim reaches of western Mallorea sometime at the end of the second millennium. Some ancient and unknown enmity existed between them and the Alorn peoples of the north, and for a thousand years they attempted to penetrate Drasnia and Algaria but were steadfastly repulsed by the legendary warriors of those lands. In time, those hostilities were reduced sufficiently to permit a certain minimal contact between the Angaraks and the peoples of the west.
In the fifth millennium, the Mallorean hordes under Kal-Torak moved across the land bridge in northeastern Gor og Nadrak and were joined by the Nadraks, Thulls and Murgos in the invasion of the west. Defeated finally at the Battle of Vo Mimbre, the surviving western Angaraks fled back to their kingdoms along the shores of the Great Eastern Sea.
For a century following the invasion, there existed a state of virtual war along the borders between the Angaraks and the west. Skirmishes and ambushes between the opposing sides made those frontiers the most dangerous places in the known world.
Gradually, once again, relations began to normalize, and trade—though severely limited—was resumed along the North Caravan Route. Almost five hundred years, however, were to pass before the stiff-necked Murgos permitted the reopening of the South Caravan Route. Then, almost overnight, they quite suddenly relented—indeed seemed to welcome the resumption of commerce. Oddly, for the first time, there has been significant caravan traffic from the east, and the sight of mailed Murgo merchants and their Thullish porters in the streets and along the quays of Tol Honeth have become commonplace.
Alarmists have contended that these Angaraks are in fact spies probing the west in preparation for yet another invasion, but these are the counsels of timidity. Our own merchants in the south and those of the Drasnians in the north have witnessed no unusual military activity, and the numbers of the western Angaraks are so limited that without the aid of Mallorea they could not hope to mount a sustained campaign against the west. Kal-Torak is dead. His like will never appear again, and without such a leader to spur them on there is little likelihood that the hordes of Mallorea would ever again join with the western Angaraks in those desperate adventures which so nearly exterminated them in the past.
Gar Og Nadrak
COINAGE
All coins have the likeness of Torak on the face, and all coins—even though stamped in either Gar og Nadrak or Cthol Murgos are universal among the Angaraks. (Coinage originated in Mallorea.)
GOLD
Angaraks use large gold bars or ingots for major transactions. 10 lb. bar called a gold tenweight, worth about $20,000 5 lb. bar called a gold fiveweight, worth about $10,000 1 lb. bar called gold pound, worth about $2,000 ½ lb. bar called goldmark, worth about $1000
GOLD COINS
4 oz. coin called a goldpiece, worth about $500 2 oz. coin called a half goldpiece, worth about $250 1
oz. coin called quarter goldpiece, worth about $125 ½ oz. coin called gold token, worth about $62.50
SILVER
4 oz. coin, worth about $25
2 oz. coin, worth about $12.50
1 oz. coin, worth about $6.25
½ oz. coin, worth about $3.125
COPPER
Coins called ‘Coppers’, worth one hundredth of a silver token
COSTUME
Nadraks wear a lot of fur.
MEN
Pants, jackets of leather, mid-calf boots, fur caps (pretty Hunnish or Mongolian). Felt overcoats, belted and ankle-length. Fur robes in bitter weather. Leather vests in summer. Dress clothing for indoors is wool, linen or silk.
ARMOR
Breastplates and pointed helmets. Leather jackets with steel plates sewn on cover arms and shoulders. Same with pants. Long, slightly curved swords. Daggers. Nadrak clothing is usually black.
WOMEN
Gowns of fairly heavy material—richly ornamented and pretty concealing.
SOCIAL ORGANIZATION
The Rivan Codex Page 23
