Chronicles of Toria: Setting the Stage (Vol. 0)

(Act 2) Chapter 15 - A Banner of Conquest

"Where the Vyatrogian flag was once raised, it shall never be taken down."

-Emperor Vasilyk, the Great, of Vyatrog.

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Nartika is the largest continent of Toria; its lands stretched from the frozen wastes of the north, all the way down to the savannah of the Horn of Solriha. Its mountain ranges created a shield, almost perfectly separating its vast and flat interior from the rugged and steep coasts—from its southern savannah to its interior steppes and the northern forests. It housed vibrant mercantile realms on the coast and nomadic cultures in the great valleys and deserts of the Nartikan Interior.

The Nartikan Southern lands were always the home of many of its more civilized cultures and states; the coast had been the power base of Nartika for centuries. Many empires, kingdoms, and republics would rise and fall from the coast, conquering east and west, but never deeper into the continent. Beyond the narrow hill passages that separated the Planitirres and Salian mountains, the so-called Nartikan shield, all one would find was a vast desert.

Without any source of water near the narrow entrance, challenging terrain, an unrelenting climate, and vicious tribes, the Nartikan interior would forever remain untamed. That is the vision of those who lived south of the mountains. For, across the mountains and the Gates of Nartika, civilizations much different from those of the coast existed.

For beyond the hilled and scorching Gates of Nartika, existed a great river—one so big that it surpassed all others—the Olotsk River. Born from the distant mountain peaks of Planitirres, it crossed the vast Yanov desert, continuing its journey to the northern lands of Nartika until it reached the sea from the Bay of Chechers. With its many tributaries, it created a nearly unified waterway from east to west and north to south.

The Olotsk River was the artery of the continent; whoever controlled it could control the continent. From its shores, many civilizations would spring up over millennia. In the Sands of Yanov, a centralized civilization centered around its fertile shores would be born. To its thick and cold woods to the north, many kingdoms and tribes would emerge, decentralized with diverse yet similar cultures that extended from east to west. Even in the central mountains, located almost at the very heart of the continent, realms would develop on the challenging interior mountains and hills of Nartika. However, none of these civilizations could ever unify the continent.

The riverine realm of Yanov was too reliant on the Olotsk River to maintain its population; its center of power was on the river and nowhere else. It claimed to control the vast desert that surrounded it, yet it only did so with the support of the nomadic tribes that knew how to ride its dunes. The northern realms of the Great Belnik Forest were too decentralized to project their power beyond their wooded homelands. The realms of the Uslochev mountains had little power to conquer the continent. Its mountains were both a blessing and a curse—away from any major trade route and incapable of sustaining a large population, the Uslochevian realms were confined to the very mountains and hills they called home.

But in between those three civilizations, existed a group of tribes that would forever change the history of Nartika.

In between the Osalian and Uslochev mountains, the Yanov desert, and the Belnik forest, existed the Strekian Steppes, home to many nomadic tribes collectively known as the Vyatrogians. Many times in the history of Nartika, these tribes would occasionally unite into confederations and ravage their neighbors, yet none were able to maintain control beyond a few years. Attempts to subjugate these tribes would be made by all the surrounding realms; however, even with the presence of the Olotsk River, no one was ever able to tame the hardened Vyatrogians. For centuries, this cycle of unity and disunity would continue—times of herding and times of sacking, peace and war, invasions and subjugations. However, in the year 1663 of the Imperial calendar, this cycle would end.