When Sharzeer finished, A Ahmud Ki returned to gazing out the window at the sprawl of Port of Joy. By standards in his adopted country, and even across the Ranu empire, Port of Joy was a tiny city, hardly worthy of recognition, but its importance lay in being a strategic gateway to the eastern continent. So it had to fall, according to General Jaza. He was satisfied with his general’s strategies. In ten years, Jaza had never lost a single battle. Nor had he made a strategic error in preparing to invade an area. Port of Joy would fall when Jaza declared it ready.
The sight of the palace ushered in memories of the red-haired beauty with whom he’d fallen in love in their frantic escape across the strange land thirty years ago. He’d hoped to find her when his armies captured Andrak, but she had long vanished and his efforts to track her down resulted in nothing. The dream he’d harboured when he parted from her—to find his own amber relics and return to her as a Dragonlord—had never come to fruition. Instead, escaping by chance from Se’Treya through a portal that led to the mountains in Ranu Ka Shehaala, he had discovered a different form of power in Ranu politics. Using his charm, his innate ruthlessness, his naturally handsome and exotic features, his intelligence, his rhetoric and his knowledge of the Ranu culture from the distant past, he quickly established himself as an astute representative of the people and his rise to prominence with the support of his political colleagues saw him nominated for the presidency of the Ranu People’s Republic in a very short time. ‘Power is formed in its own image,’ he murmured, recalling a prayer to Berak N’eth, once considered the most potent god in the ancient Ranu pantheon. He knew that he was always destined to be powerful. In the old time, he had almost become a Dragonlord but for Mareg’s and Dylan’s interference. Times had changed. Now he was a president.
‘President Ki?’ Sharzeer interrupted. ‘We are about to land.’
A Ahmud Ki nodded and smiled at his aide. He was about to meet King Shadow, a minor potentate ruling a backward nation. The new king should be grateful, because he was about to meet the most powerful being in the world.
APPENDIX
A BRIEF HISTORY OF WESTERN SHESS
The title of Shess for the vast western regions first appeared on cartographers’ documents during the seven-century reign of the Ashuak Empire, when Emperor Haarva began his expansionist crusade, and the Ashuak word ‘Shess’, meaning ‘foreign ones’, referred to a conglomerate of tribal factions with diverse cultures and languages. Despite disharmony and constant factional fighting between the many tribes, the great Ashuak armies failed to control the land they invaded. Instead, they learned that a disunited enemy was more troublesome than a united one because they were constantly harassed and confronted by new tribal groups who did not accept that the defeat of their neighbours also signified Ashuak rule over them. During the period of the Ashuak Empire, individuals sometimes tried to unite tribal groups against the common enemy. The concept of nationalism never superseded parochial tribalism, but the Ashuak principles of expansion and imperial rule took root, and after the Empire collapsed the strongest tribes in the north and west gradually dominated their neighbours to establish fledgling kingdoms.
Western Shess first took shape under the warrior chieftain Bigaxe Royal, a veteran of several battles with the Ashuak invaders. Bigaxe declared himself king of his region, demanding that his neighbouring tribal leaders recognise his sovereignty, and ruthlessly enforced his leadership over the many dissenters. Curiously, Bigaxe retained the Ashuak name for the region, probably because the only existent maps of the land were Ashuak in origin.
Royal successors settled their capital at Port of Joy and extended dominion further north and east during three centuries of Royal control, but rival kingdoms in the north in mountainous countryside eventually halted expansion. To the south, fierce tribal resistance, reminiscent of the war against the Ashuak invaders, stopped the kingdom from growing larger.
Although a patriarchal lineage, the death of King Godson Royal from illness shortly after the death of both his sons in battle left his only remaining child, his daughter Sunset, to succeed to the throne. Queen Sunset Royal defied numerous political manoeuvres to prevent her succession and assassination attempts once in power to successfully rule for twenty-seven years, before her son, Future Royal, began to fight for the throne, backed by religious rebels.
RELIGION
Religion is split between the ancient shamanistic forms with a multiplicity of spirits informing their followers, and the spreading monotheistic Jarudhaism imported from the eastern lands.
Jarudhaism is a corruption of the faiths originally started in the old eastern empires and kingdoms, a blend of Hohdaism and Jaru, along with some of the teachings of the philosopher Alwyn, called Alun in the Shessian sect, as well as aspects of the shamanistic beliefs of the earlier Shess tribes. In its simplistic form, Jarudha is the one god who created the world and all of the people, and who has set down his laws for life through a series of great books collectively called The Word. The Word’s origins can be traced back to the Hohdan priests of the Ashuak Empire and a text called Jaru’s Gift that arose from earlier works written by Jaru philosophers, but subsequently The Word has been expanded to encompass at least fifteen known philosophical and religious works. Followers of Jarudha believe that Jarudha’s hand guides the affairs of the world, and that Jarudhan disciples only act according to His Will. They also believe that the world is corrupt and sinful, and that the time is approaching when Jarudha’s disciples will rise and assert dominion over the unfaithful who will be converted or destroyed.
In Western Shess, Jarudha’s disciples are synonymous with magical ability that is called the Blessing. Acolytes who demonstrate genuine magical skill are elevated to the rank of Seer, and the Seers believe that they are the vehicles for moral and spiritual consistency and reform. Jarudhaism is confined to the capital city, Port of Joy, and nearby towns. Outlying villages do not have Jarudhan representatives living in them.
WESTERN SHESS POLITICAL STRUCTURES
The political structures are quite simplistic because of the tribal roots and brutal determination of Bigaxe Royal and his successors to keep control. Essentially the regent is the supreme authority and law, and the leadership beneath is militaristic. The religious leadership is the only exception, and tensions between the Royals and the Jarudhan disciples have been taut throughout the kingdom’s history.
The Royal influence as a physical presence seldom extends beyond ten days’ travel from Port of Joy, so many of the outlying farming districts and villages are not directly affected by the laws and edicts enforced in the city and close towns. Many of the distant villages are operated communally or in loose democratic ways, and taxes are paid, sometimes irregularly, as tithes to representatives of the local Tithe Lord.
WESTERN SHESS NAMES
The naming tradition has always centred on people being identified with their employment or place where they were born. Before the rise and fall of the Ashuak Empire, Shessian inhabitants had single names, but the Ashuak use of surnames was adopted and retained after the Empire collapsed. A woodcutter or butcher would be called Woodcutter or Butcher as the surname and then words commonly used in the trade were often used as first names. Hence there might be a family of three boys named Log, Crossgrain and Handsaw Woodcutter. Children born into the Butcher family might be named according to cuts of meat or implements or even animals.
Surnames do not automatically identify related families. Farmer is a common surname, for example, and there would be unrelated Farmers in the same village and across the entire kingdom. Of course, descendants of a family of Sailors can move into other working industries, in which case someone named Hawser Sailor could well be the bartender in a local tavern, while Seam Clothmaker could be a farmer. Sometimes people also change their surnames when they change work. So Labourer Pullman, whose father was working on the wharves, could join the army and change his name to Labourer Onespear by choice. Western Shess has not yet conducted an official c
ensus or established a corporate identification system and so personal names are only useful for personal identity. Foreign names are evident in the cities and large towns, but the rural communities generally retain the traditional and simple name forms.
WESTERN SHESS LANGUAGE
Shessian language has specific grammatical rules. A sentence is organised with the verb, the subject and then the predicate. Common usage has reduced many sentences to phrases best understood in expression than in straight translation.
The English sentence, ‘I am eating my food’ becomes approximately ‘Eating I am my food’—‘Doshalinae emahdu mahdu shali’—although its more accurate expression would be ‘Doshalinae emahdu’ (‘I’m eating’). In common usage, however, it is expressed as ‘Doshemah’.
Thus, ‘If you touch my wife, I will kill you’ becomes ‘Kill you I will, if touch my wife you do’—‘Sunahso yahwu emah, ha kaso mahdoos yahwu.’
Greeting is simple. ‘I’m pleased to meet you’ in formal form is ‘Jahn yahwu emahdu tessa’, but it’s common usage is a brief ‘Jahntess’, which serves as ‘hello’ does in English. The equivalent to ‘good day’ is ‘Jarubahn’, which originated from a very complicated ‘Umen emahdu ehae yahwu nena fueppo bahn t’Jarudha’, meaning ‘I am happy to see that God has given to you another day’.
‘I have planted the rain crop’ is expressed as ‘Nesoss emah epphanuhk’, and ‘Light the fire’ is ‘Ooh shah’, often expressed as a single word. The common soldier’s insult ‘Your mother fucks everyone!’ is ‘Hur yahwudo oyehn epyahn!’ although it’s generally expressed as ‘Hur epyahn!’
The language has developed some pleasantries, so that the English ‘please’ is expressed as ‘tessa’ at the completion of a sentence, as in ‘May I please speak to you?’ - ‘Casan emah yahwu, tessa?’, and ‘Excuse me’, becomes ‘Mahni mah’. But Shessian is an abrupt, focussed language in the main, and niceties are generally reserved for the royal courts.
Verbs are simplistically broken down into identified action, past (ne), present (du) and future (so) forms. For example:
A SAMPLE OF WESTERN SHESS VOCABULARY
English/Shessian
afternoon fulanbahn
air hor
am du
and ut
another fueppo
are hi
army eppodofahmah
big jasu
by t
chair doahpin
crop epphanuhk
cycle ejas
day bahn
death doyanah
die yanah
dying doyanahae
early lan
earth dun
eat doshalin
eight bada
eighty-eight mekbadabada
eleven tata
evening lanfubahn
excuse (verb) mahni
farm shukoh
father doshoh
fifty-seven mekdenja
fire shah
first tay
five den
food shahlin
four ay
fuck hur
give na
grain/seed nuhk
happy umen
home dohahni
house hahni
husband doos
I emah
if ha
jump naep
kill sunah
late fulan
less enno
light ooh
little fujasu
man dosh
many ep
me mah
meet jahn
men epdosh
midday midbahn
middle/between mid
midnight midfubahn
mine/my mahdo
moon fubahnooh
more eppo
morning fujasubahn
mother oyehn
night fubahn
nine lun
no/not fu
one ta
own/belong do
plant soss
please tessa
rain szash
rebel nahsten
rebellion dunahsten
run ahfu
see/look eh
seven ja
sit ahpin
six net
sleep ahnubi
soldier dofahmah
speak/talk casan
sun horshah
ten mek
thirty mekest
thirty-three mekestest
three est
touch ka
twelve ota
twenty mekot
two ot
unhappy/sad fu-umen
walk ahfudhas
war fahmah
water ar
wife mahdoos
wine chen
women epyehn
woman yehn
yes hah
you yahwu
your yahwudo
WESTERN SHESS MILITARY DIVISIONS
Army: usually a grouping of one hundred thousand soldiers, led by a Warmaster.
March: a grouping of twenty thousand soldiers, led by a Marchlord; an army consists of five Marches.
Shield: a grouping of one thousand soldiers, led by a Shieldmaster; a March consists of twenty Shields.
Group: a grouping of fifty soldiers under the command of a Leader; a Shield consists of twenty Groups.
Party: a grouping of ten soldiers; a Group contains five Parties.
TIME, MEASUREMENT AND TRAVEL
Length measurement is a direct derivative of the human body. The smallest measuring unit is called a ‘width’, which is the original equivalent of an average person’s thumb width, although there is a standardised rule. Ten ‘widths’ makes a ‘hand’ length, and five ‘hands’ is the equivalent to an arm ‘length’. Thus for measuring purposes Shessian people talk of ‘widths’, ‘hands’ and ‘lengths’. They also link length measurements to travel distance measurements through ‘paces’ - the length of an average man’s stride when walking - with a ‘pace’ and a ‘length’ being accepted as an interchangeable measurement.
Travel distance therefore begins with the smallest measurement being a ‘pace’. Ten ‘paces’ is called a ‘measure’. A hundred ‘measures’ is collectively called a ‘walk’. Thereafter, Shessian practices vary, but the most common measurements are ‘days’, ‘half-days’ and ‘quarters’. Forty ‘walks’ is generally agreed as a ‘day’ travel measure; twenty ‘walks’ form a ‘half-day’; ten ‘walks’ is a ‘quarter’, or the equivalent to ten thousand ‘paces’. The increasingly wider spread of the use of horses, however, is slowly altering the view and terminology of travel measurements across the kingdoms and tribal areas.
The determining time factors in most villages and towns throughout the lands are the obvious day and night, with a full day divided into pre-dawn, dawn/sunrise, early morning, midmorning, late morning, midday, early afternoon, midafternoon, late afternoon, dusk/sunset, early evening, late evening, midnight, post-midnight. Experimentation with timing devices is common in cities and larger towns. Ringed candles are usually divided into ten equidistant rings. The carefully measured and manufactured wax candle called Waxman’s Timer generally takes about half a day to burn down. A water-based dripping device called Fletcher’s Timer works on the principle that a specificsized water container with a set hole size empties at the rate of eighty thousand drips per day. Fletcher, the inventor, divided the day into twenty ‘pails’, each ‘pail’ the product of four thousand ‘drips’. He further subdivided the ‘pails’ into forty ‘pots’, or one hundred ‘drips’. Thus his timing scheme became: one hundred ‘drips’ makes a ‘pot’. Forty ‘pots’ makes a ‘pail. Twenty ‘pails’ is the length of one full day. Cumbersome as it is, a host of professionals in the larger cities apply the system to enable them to accurately measure and complete a wide range of tasks. Some have chosen to combine Waxman’s and Fletcher’s systems and talk about a ‘pail’ also being a ‘ring’.
WESTERN SHESS ANNUAL CYCLE
We
stern Shess recognises nine cycles of forty days each cycle. In Shessian language, the English word ‘month’ translates to ‘ejas’, literally meaning ‘cycle’ and refers to the full passage of the phases of the single moon. The Shessian Year is divided into four distinct seasons: Akim (Rebirth), Fuar (Dry), Doyanah (Passing) and Shahk (Chill).
Akim brings very pleasant, mild weather, with occasional rain and regular sunny days. Plants flower and the animals give birth to young in this season. Rebirth is the beginning of the Shessian yearly calendar, and represents the original time that the Shessian god, Jarudha, created the world. Rebirth runs for two cycles or eighty days.
During Fuar, the temperature can rise up to 45°C and rain is scarce, especially along the plains. Drought is not an unusual phenomenon. Farmers traditionally harvest their crops in this season. Dry is the longest season of four cycles or ejas.
Doyanah is a time of rain and dull days when deciduous plants lose their leaves. The temperature is variable, but often mild, thoughout the eighty-day period.
Temperatures in Shahk, a forty-day period, can drop to 0°C on the plains, and, in the higher regions, particularly the mountains, snow will fall. Rain and storms are regular features of this season and flooding is also a common event around the main rivers. Shessian religious culture teaches that the world will end in a cold, freezing state.
The Shessian Year is divided as follows:
SEASON: Akim - Rebirth
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