NationStates Jolt Archive

The Dwarven city of Tronjheim rose majestically up the mountains in the kingdom of Khaz Modan. The city had twelve levels which extended to the peak of one of the taller mountains. The city itself was surrounded by high walls of five meter thick polished black granite defended by towers at regular intervals. It was an impressive sight that took the breath away from many a traveler. Tivmar Giantcutter however was far from being a traveler, he was one of the kingdom's most respected nobles.

On this day, Tivmar was returning to the city after nearly a month of traveling. As his contingent approached the menacing walls of the city, they were stopped by the guards on the wall.

"Who goes there," shouted the lead guardsmen from atop the wall.

"Tivmar Giantcutter returning from the Hindlands with urgent news for King Yiva Ironglider," replied Tivmar.

As his response faded away into the mountains, it was replaced by a great scraping noise as the giant stone gate slid open to admit them. Tivmar and his company proceeded through the gate and into the bustling city. Tronjheim was the capital of the kingdom of Khaz Modan and the crown jewel of King Yiva Ironglider. The city gleamed in the early morning sun as the rays reflected off of the black granite streets and buildings.

Tivmar and his group proceeded through the city climbing higher and higher until they reached the final level which housed the King's palace. On either side of the palace doors stood a Dwarven Axebearer, their mithril armor resplendent in the morning sun. As Tivmar approached, the guards moved to block his path.

"Tell his majesty that Tivmar Giantcutter is hear to request an audience," Tivmar said to them.

The guards nodded slightly to a servant who had appeared and the servant promptly ran off. The guards barred the way until the servant returned granting them access. The guards moved out of the way and bowed Tivmar through the doors.

The great hall of Tronjheim's palace was truly a sight to behold. Every inch of the hall gleamed of black granite with massive pillars supporting the intricately carved granite ceiling. At the head of the hall sat Yiva Ironglider atop his massive throne. His beard was graying now and hung far below his feet. Tivmar approached the throne and knelt before the king. The king regarded Tivmar for a moment with his stone gray eyes before speaking.

"What news do you bring from the Hindlands Tivmar?"

"My lord, during my visit to the Hindlands, my team and I were able to catch a glimpse of several native cities. I must say my lord that are something to be seen. One city in particular built on an island seemed to be built from pure gold."

"Pure gold you say," replied the King. "Well that is interesting."

"Indeed my lord," Tivmar replied. "The civilization that resides there seems to be very advanced, but there seems to be a lack of metals suitable for weapons and such. Their troops use primitive leather armor and carry weapons with obsidian blades. I believe that this in an incredible opportunity my lord. We should establish some type of relations with these people and perhaps develop a trade, their gold for our weapons. Everyone knows that we dwarves make the best weapons and armor. Also, the Union needs all of the allies it can get if we plan on expanding our territory."

"I must agree with you Tivmar," said the King. "This is a wonderful opportunity both for out kingdom and the Seven Realms. I would like you to be the ambassador on this mission, assemble your team and depart at once."

"Thank you my lord," said Tivmar as he stood to leave. He was bowed out of the doors and he set off into the city to find his team.

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It took Tivmar two days to assemble his team, drawn from the ranks of the Union Army stationed at Tronjheim. It would take far too long to march back to Hindlands on foot, so he assembled a team of Elven warhawks to fly them to the border of the Hindlands. They would make the rest of the journey on foot from there. Without further delay, his team set off to the skies as the warhawks sped towards the horizon.

They reached the border in about three hours time, and dismounted and set off into the jungle. The jungle was very dense, but Tivmar lead the men quickly through it as they marched towards their destination.

They marched for about a week when they came across their target, a large city on an island made from what appeared to be gold. It was still a ways off yet, but as they approached the city, they were stopped by a large contingent of armed lizardmen.

"Who are you and what do you want," the lead Lizardman said to Tivamar and his companions.

Tivmar replied, "I am Tivmar Giantcutter, a representative of the dwarven kingdom of Khaz Modan and the Union of the Seven Realms. I seek an audience with your leader."

Seairo was not a city to have a large standing army. When the times called for it, a huge horde could be mobilised, but during the long years of peace that served as the calms before the many storms that plagued this land of jungles, all that stood between Seairo and an enemy was the lake, the towns upon that lake, and the folk who choose the army as their life rather than have it choose for them.

Rimacha was one of these, and a reasonably successful one at that. While not of the calbre of those who guarded the king himself, he had worked himself up to the respectful position as the leader of 39 lizards - all of whom were now readying themselves against these new arrivals. The Dwarves. They were dressed as the guard expected - and he esspecially took note of their weapons - hard gold, it was called, which he had learnt would make short work of his ornate and colourful hardened leather lamellar, and obsidan spear that he beared.

"I am Tivmar Giantcutter, a representative of the dwarven kingdom of Khaz Modan and the Union of the Seven Realms. I seek an audience with your leader."

The common language was not one that many Tepalcyn were familar with. Rimacha, however, was an exception to this rule. In the heavy accent of his species, he replied:

"Yes. But you leave weapons and armour with us, yes?"

He had always found dwarves a rather hilarious species - after all, the Tepal were a lanky race, and the prospect of pint-sized, soft-skined beings was alien to them. Mumbling to himself in his own tongue, he remarked "Best not insult these Waccyn". People who meant trouble usually came in bigger numbewrs than this. Runners had been sent to the King, who by luck was recieving audiences on this very day upon his throne of gold. He would be waiting for those who he knew had a love for gold.

"Yes. But you leave weapons and armor with us, yes," came the reply from the lead lizard.

"Our weapons we will leave, our armor we will not," replied Tivmar and with a nod to his men, they began to turn their weapons over to the other lizardmen. As the lead lizard opened his mouth to object to the armor, Tivmar cut him off. "You must excuse me, but I would rather not meet your leader wearing nothing but my underclothes," he said with a quick grin. "It probably wouldn't speak to well of us, if you know what I mean."

When the dwarves had unloaded their weapons, Tivmar turned to the lead lizard and said, "Lead on." And they set off down the hill towards the golden city. The closer they got to the city, the more and more amazed Tivmar became and the quality of the construction and and the utilization of gold in nearly all of the architecture.

Tivmar walked side by side with the lead lizard who hadn't said anything since they discarded their weapons. Tivmar glanced at him one more time before saying, "I thank you for taking me to see your leader, but I am afraid that I do not know his name, nor yours either come to thing of it. Would you care to enlighten me?"

OOC: Jolt ate my post, so there's going to be a bit of a delay.

There are two types of Seairon. There are the open that are born with the silver spoon of nobility in their mouths, and those who aren’t. The former enter into a world of garish luxury and delight upon the city proper, separated from their poorer cousins upon the mainland who are born into a much more modest existence. This was perhaps the main fuel for the darkness in Rimancha’s heart – he was not an evil being, but the sheer contrast between his upbringing on the shores of the lake and the lives of the rich upon this island disgusted him – and the fact that he had to stare upon the vulgar monstrosity every day only fueled his absolute hatred for the city and the people on it.

It is for this reason, perhaps, that this guard’s reply was a irate, begrudged one:

“Yes, my name is Rimancha, yes, King’s name is Acaeninca Seairo, yes…”

The group trotted along, Rimancha leading the group as fast as possible so to get out of the ostentatious nightmare of the city. The main causeway’s continued into the city as a large boulevard that led right up to the King palace. It was here that the guide left the visitors to the staff of the palace, whho would ensure that the dwarves would indeed see the ‘Most high and holy Acaeninca Seairo’…

OOC: Third time lucky. Lets get to the audience.

Tivmar noticed the shortness of Rimancha's reply and decided not to mention the city again, and instead contented himself with walking silently beside Rimancha staring around at the city. They were received at the steps of the palace by the palace staff, and lead straight into the throne room, where the riches continued to impress the dwarves.

At the end of the hall atop a golden throne was a lizardman dressed in what seemed to be pure gold from head to toe. He say regally atop his throne gazing down as the dwarves entered the hall. As the dwarves approached the throne, they each dropped to one knee and waited for the king to address them.

He regarded them silently for a moment before saying, "My name is King Acaeninca Seairo, what is your business in my kingdom?"

To which Tivmar replied, "My lord, I am Tivmar Giantcutter, and I come here peacfully to represent the Union of the Seven Realms your neighbors to the southwest, and also to represent the dwarven kingdom of Khaz Modan. At the request of my king, I have come to establish a dialogue with your great kingdom and also to perhaps negotiate some sort of trade between our two kingdoms."

This was interesting. For years Seairo had been too concerned with the issue of its enemy to the south to open dialogue with its neighbours. Yet, all of sudden, the young king was to be perhaps the first to meet with two other neighbours. A feeling of self-importance arose inside the lizard - for this milestone, he was sure he would at least get a footnote in the annuals of time.

Back in the real world however, there were more pressing concerns. Before him stood a key player in a neighbour's nation - one who had to be addressed as an equal almost, a new feeling for the king. Yet, he hid the little comtempt that he held, and plastered over it with a aura of majesty.

"News spreads fast in this world of ours, does it not?" he started "Yet little gets done. We have each had our concerns that have prevented us communing in the past, yet now we are free to speak about matters of state.

"As you know doubt know, we have a certain abundance of one metal and a lack of another - the gold I wear being the former, the latter the iron you wear. We both have a desire for each other's goods. Thus it makes sense that we trade."

"Yet, there is one thing I ask of you. I have... counterparts to the north and south. Those to the north are timid brutes who dare to exit their mudhuts, but those to the south are much more of a threat to civilisation. I ask that you refuse to recognise this rebels as having any authority over this land - they have little gold, and the brutish sort that sacrifice their own to their unholy gods. I would appreiate that you stay away from these primitives - they are not the most pleasant of people, and have been a thorn in the side of this city for countless generations."

He made no mention of his diplomacy with the east, for fear that this may cause difficulties in this meeting - after all, the high elves were not a liked species, and it would not be good to have any hint of friction at this stage.

Tivmar pondered the King's request for a moment before saying, "I understand your concern my lord. I will have to present your request to my king, however, I can make no promises. This contact is very important to my kingdom, but the prospect of two paying customers rather than one may interest my king. You have my word that I will do all in my power to make sure that your kingdom has exclusive rights to our products." Tivmar paused for a moment before continuing.

"Payment for the materials will be decided when we have decided what your needs are. If you would kindly have someone draw up a list of your needs, we can take it back to discuss with my king. All of our armor is custom fitted for the soldier in question, so it will probably be necessary to send the units that need outfitting in groups to my kingdom so they can be fitted for their armor. Then we can begin production." Drawing the conversation to a close Tivmar said, "If that is all, we await your list and then we shall depart immediately for our kingdom."

OOC: Weccanfeld, you can take care of the list of items and any other dialogue and then send my guys on their way. I unfortunately am going away from the 13th to the 21st so I will be unable to post during that period of time. I apologize for the inconvenience.

"As far as I am aware, my army, at present, can be quickly brought up a strength of about 75,000 should the need be there. Obviously, I do not want all of these equipped. I would say, 2,000 heavily equipped, and a further 15 thousand less heavily armoured? Should these orders be satisfactory, we may request further armour in future."

Almost just after this, he clicked his fingers and took one of the weapons the royal guard was wielding. It was a Polearm very similar to a voulge, save for the end which instead of tapering to one point split into two. It had been salvaged from the enemies from the south - and beneath the gold veneer there was a rusted wreck of a weapon. He continued...

"Here I have one of the main weapons of my people. I require 12500 of these, 500 of which must be ornate. Also, one of my servants tells me of some of the weapons we confiscated from you. I shall have 2500 of these."

With that, he sent the vistors off, and gave orders for the troops to be prepared. They would be sent in groups to be outfitted. He had taken care in not choosing weapons they were unfamilar with - he wanted the vile southerners to be eliminated as quickly as possible. He was aware that he would have to wait a while for this order. He couldn't stand to wait any longer than he had too. The prize his ancestors had lived to attain was finally within his grasp. He was not content with being a mere king.

He wanted to be an Emperor...

Tivmar was a dwarf, and therefore was a master of greed and he could see in the king's eyes that there was something more to what was going on, but he didn't care as long as this alliance brought wealth to his people. So he accepted the poorly crafted weapon from the King, inspected it briefly for a moment and then looked up at the King and smiled.

"My Lord, this weapon pales in comparison to what you shall have when we are through, your new weapons will be lighter, stronger, and have much better craftsmanship than this poor excuse for a blade. Once outfitted with your new weapons, the other tribes will not dare challenge your superiority," said Tivmar with a greedy dwarfish grin.

"As far as the rest of your order is concerned, I would request that you send the two thousand men who are to be heavily equipped first as their armor will take longer to produce and once we are finished processing that set, the rest can be sent in groups of about five thousand each. Also," continued Tivmar, "just so your Lordship is aware, the weapons can be produced much faster than the armor can. Your weapons should be completed within the next month. As far as the armor is concerned, each soldier must be measured for dimensions before we can start. The next phase is the casting and then the final phase is the test fitting where each soldier must try on the armor to check for comfort and correct sizing. As you can imagine all of this can take some time and with that in mind, the whole armor order will take between three and six months to complete due to the custom nature of it. Payment for the whole order shall be required after the first group of two thousand return so that you may inspect the workmanship yourself. The order total will be sent with your men when they return."

With that, Tivmar bowed once more and turned on his heel and was lead out of the throne room, out of the city, and across the causeway. There he and his comrades were left to once more don their weapons and set out on the journey home. They marched back through the thick jungle following the path they made coming in and after a few weeks, they emerged on the other side to find their elven warhawks waiting to return them to Tronjheim.

A short flight later, and Tivmar found himself once again before Yiva Ironglider, King of Khaz Modan.

"What news do you bring from the Hindlands Tivmar my friend," boomed Yiva from atop his throne.

"I bring excellent news my Lord, the inhabitants of the Hindlands call themselves Seairon. They are a species of lizardmen divided into three groups. There seems to be one main powerful group with which I had an audience. The two others appear to be much more primitive and would not be worth our time to court. However, after speaking with the leader of the main faction, I was able to convince him that dwarven weapons and armor would suit his needs much better that the current arms they employ. This," said Tivmar with a grin, "is currently the main weapon they are using."

With that, he held out the Seairon polearm for the King to see. Upon quick inspection, the King nodded saying, "I can see what you mean Tivmar, the humans even make better weapons that this."

"Agreed sire, that is why I took the liberty of securing an initial order from their King." Tivmar read off the list to the King who listened carefully and then waved for one of his servants.

"See that this list makes it's way to our foundries and armories and have them begin production of the weapons immediately while we wait for the Seairon soldiers to arrive for armor fitting."

Nodding swiftly, the servant sped off and out of the palace. Turning back to Tivmar, the King said, "You have done our kingdom a great service Tivmar. I thank you and your kingdom thanks you."

Later that day, when the first droplets of an incoming storm fell upon the city, the news of how soldiers had left the city reached the ears of Ayar, a mysterious man who little had heard of and fewer knew. He was an agent of the south, sent to keep vigil, report any interesting occurances to his employers. And those included mass movements of troops.

This was an anxious moment for him, and soon the same would be true for his handlers - many times had this meant war, and the present uneasy peace seemed to have overstayed its welcome - both sides waited for the other to throw the first stone. And this could be seen as the stone.

Yet, later news told of how the group was heading elsewhere, west instead of south. It would seem this peace was to last a little longer...

(OOC: Mind if we skip forward a bit?)