The Slavers of Ushart

[Maggot]

As every Eshal is slowly beginning to learn,the Brave People are not alone in their supremacy. Fleshy air breathing demons from from the infernal realm of the dy lands have landed on their shores. And they bring change with them,change that threatens to unseat the power of the hitherto unchallenged Eshal..

And nowhere is that change more evident than in the settlements of Ushart,the first sign of the human taint that is slowly encroaching on the previously isolated watery borders of Tarrod. Once a wide swath of swampland and estuary it is now the site of a booming Snake Rider settlement that increasingly amasses great wealth and power,often at the expense of the Brave People. Two year after the first Snake Rider mariners first stumbled on the wondrous submerged continent of Tarrod,a band of renegade merchants and their retainers who had landed in some hot stew over a violent brawl with the village chieftain,sailed for the western flank of Tarrod,determined to seek their fortune in that mysterious land that had enthralled their imagination on previous expeditions,with its heady mix of monstrous,violent denizens and fabulous riches. There they could obtain great riches and power. A voyage of five days lasted before they finally reached the strange submerged continent.

A couple of days passed following the coming of their ships and mounted riders,and they quickly found themselves assailed by a vast detachment of the Brave People come to investigate reports of demons invading from the infernal lands of no water. Prepared for an encounter of this nature,they fought back. A savage battle soon ensured during which both sides fought with great ferocity. But ultimately,the superior steel weapons and Serpent riding skills of the voyagers prevailed and for once in open warfare,the Eshal were forced to swim to safety. They had lost five hundred of their warriors for just fifty of the fighters of the Serpent Riders. No,the voyagers had no fear of them returning for more punishment in the near future.

Industrious and hardworking,the explorers soon set to work erecting a rough makeshift collection of reed huts and cypress cabins. Once these crude shelters had been erected,they sent armed parties to pan for the gold ore that lies so abundantly in Tarrod's numerous watercourses and forage for precious scented woods that thrived only in the swamps of this weird land. Soon,they had begun to amass vast stock piles of these valuable resources.

It wasn't long before news of this new settlement reached the ears of other Serpent Riders who had fallen out of favour with their chieftains. Men eager to exploit the resources of Tarrod set off with their families to to swell the settlement's rapidly growing population that soon quickly hit the mile stone of five hundred souls,all in all. At this point,the founding fathers of the town formally declared their booming town the independent nation of Ushart,naming it in honor of their leader.  

It proved to be a vital turning point. As word of the emergence of this new nation spread far and wide,numerous trading vessels begun to call at Ushart's ports,eager to sate their hunger for the gold and scented woods of Tarrod. And they weren't limited to the ships of the Serpent riders. Huge trading galleons of nations like mighty Caladin and even far off Banhosea were quick to follow and it wasn't just gold and scented woods they were keen on selling to hungry markets back home.

They had another demand which soon became clear. Wealthy collectors among the pampered nobles and merchant princes of those prosperous lands were eager to add some of Tarrod's fearsome ''monsters'' to their prized collections of exotic beasties. And they were more than willing to pay generous prices to the people of Ushart in order to obtain the creatures.

It was all the encouragement the people of Ushart needed. Before long,greedy bands of slavers had emerged,intent of abducting as many of Tarrod's natives as they could to feed the appetite of the exotic animal parks that craved their services. Sneaking into the interior at the first crack of dawn,they return late at night,carrying crude wooden cages filled with captured Eshal,Anura and Curd alike. These wretched things are then dumped into large submerged pens created by ringing a part of undeveloped coastline with unscalable boulders and rocks. At first,captives of different species were housed together,but when mortal fights broke out between these bitter foes forced to interact in an enclosed environ,the slavers realized that in order to keep their bounty alive,they would have to house them according to respective species. Ans so these unfortunate races languish in their squalid prisons until the galleons come to spirit them to a world beyond the boundaries of the Vaet,one that they previously never knew existed.

This lucrative trade in enslaved natives has generally been good for the populace of Ushart,with the considerable proceeds going towards furthering the town's growth and building up a formidable military presence. A rising peril that might one day menace the very existence of the empire of the Brave People itself..

[Maggot]

The city-state of Ushart is still dominated by the powerful merchants who have taken to styling themselves as lords and rulers on equal par with any tribal chieftain among the tribes of the Serpent Riders. Proud of their new statu as as the rulers of one of the most thriving commercial centers in existence,they have taken on the formal titles of ''Lords of the Seas'', deliberate reference to their long term hope of one day expanding their city out to dominate the tribes that live on the islands situated off the east of Tarrod. For now however,they are content to simply accumulate as much wealth as they can from peaceful trade.

There are five Lords of the Seas,all told and they are led by their leader,Ushart,the great man for whom their city is named so. On him is conferred the rank of Master of Trade,a designation that gives him total control of regulating the trade that keeps flowing in to fill the coffers of Ushart. Nevertheless,he is not truly a king but merely first among equals. Every time an important decision is to be made, he has to summon his confederates and obtain their permission in order to push forward with anything. And should they decided to veto his plan, he cannot override that decision on their part and must accept it with good grace. Moreover,he is also expected to split the profits equally among the other five,reserving for himself but a slightly higher share of the profits. Auditors put in place by his fellow ruling merchants se to it that attempt to rob them out for their rightful share is made,something that to his credit he has never done,knowing that to succumb to sheer greed would mean endangering everything and his colleagues have worked so hard to establish.

Administration of the city is split among the Lords,with each ruling the part of the city he desires as his own. The power and control they have over the people under their jurisdiction is absolute,and should they decided to seize a beautiful woman who catches their eye and imprision them their harem or put to death someone accused of besmirching their honor,nothing can be done to prevent it. For all their stern rule though,the people are careful not to protest it,thankful to enjoy the riches that they currently do. Their success was made possible only by the shrewd stewardship of the lords and they do not wish to endanger that by agitating against their rulers.

As stated earlier,Ushart has begun to flex its muscles. The original force of warriors they brought with them,had been increased substantially with the steady influx of men on the run from their own tribes and foreign mercenaries from Caladin eager to sell their skills for gold from Tarrod. Divided into five commands,each one is led by one of the Lords, with overall authority given to Lord Ushart himself.

These forces have begun to make inroads into places that had never seen a human in the entire history of Tarrod previously. The soldiers are sometimes dispatched to aid the slavers in their brutal endeavors and more frequently,on missions to secure rivers and streams rich in gold ore. These little trips in the soggy interior of Tarrod,have quite naturally,brought them into frequent violent contact with the natives. Armies of Brave People ,shocked and appalled by the enslavement of their kin, have attacked these hated dry lander ''demons'' with bestial ferocity,often slithering from the dark waters of Tarrod when the soldiers least expect it, giving them a great edge against the foes armed with superior weapons and tactics. But the greatest threat by far,has been posed by the Lurdi that have taken with great relish to feeding on the tasty, soft flesh of these new comers. Finding them sweeter than even Eshal flesh, these little monsters have been known to ambush entire units and strip them to the bone,earning them a rather dire reputation among the men serving in the army of Ushart, even battled hardened Calan mercenaries that have fought in bloody campaigns against Ogre insurgents back in their homeland. The land of Tarrod,as the soldiers of Ushart are beginning to learn, is far from being cowed. If they ever seek to master its savage inhabitants,they must be prepared to make the waters run red with their blood..