Tikul Farfell
East Meets West:
The Cultural Interchange of Kepta and Xamaclan
by
Feanimus Cook
of Gradsul
560 CY
Though I am the foremost scholar of the Amedio and its peoples, I could describe nothing effectively if I did not study Suel history also. I have spent many long hours of research beside Maestro Benizio de Scuzarro, the foremost expert on Suel history, piecing together mysteries where these cultures collide. He also has been quite instrumental in obtaining funding, at extensive cost I might add, for my various missions of fieldwork in the Amedio. Maestro Scuzarro has friends in the right places.
I cannot say that I have been very successful in many of my expeditions, but I have learned something from each of my failures, except Tamoachan, which ended in a tragedy I do not wish to repeat. The writings I have read in Chetanicatla and Hucanuea and Telaneteculi have been immensely valuable to the overall story of the Amedio and the extensive research I have been graciously allowed to conduct in Xamaclan has also turned up some interesting facts. Though I found references to it many years ago, only now do I feel ready to undeniably link the Suel Imperium with the Amedian Empire in a significant way. We know that the Suel made their final migration east through the fabled Passage of Slerotin. Though lost, we are certain it exists in Geoff, the Yeomanry, or in the northern Hold lands, for this is where the greater Suel ancestry in Keoish bloodlines derives. The Suel who arrived through the Passage, though, either stayed or traveled north and east, definitely not south. So then, from whence come the Amedian Suel in such great numbers?
Some say that the Suel traveled around the midland seas and south along the Tilvanot Peninsula where it was a short hop to Hepmonaland, where there are currently also many Suel savages, and then west across the sea to the Amedio. Such historians are not paying attention to the dates. There are Suel artifacts and stories of Suel invaders in the Amedio predating the Cataclysm when Kevelli Mauk led his people through Slerotin and into the Sheldomar Valley. The existing evidence of Suel habitation in the Amedio is of too great an amount to attribute to minor exploratory forces struggling through the Hellfurnaces. Though such instances certainly did occur, by no means could it be responsible for the preponderance of existing evidence. The very jungles have a Suel breath. There had to have been a larger gateway.
Opponents of my position, including Maestro Scuzarro on some points, note the extreme lack of true ancient Suel artifacts to be found anywhere as of yet. What they refer to specifically is steel. At the time when most peoples were crafting tools of stone, wood, and bronze, the Suel had already created steel armor and weapons thus making them the true superpower and launching their empire. To date, there have been found no steel artifacts of any kind. I must admit some consternation at this lack of evidence, but I am only half as convinced as any of the naysayers, because I have been to the Amedio. Anyone who has seen it can verify that the constant wetness and therefore the ubiquitous mud act both to bury heavy metal items deep within the slop and to rust metal to porridge at a rapid rate. Until we can find said items in a sequestered area such as a tomb or dry storage space we may just have to assume that the old Suel steel vanished along with the knowledge and culture of their bearers so many years ago.
My claim that the gateway to the old Suel world is south of Xamaclan has also stirred up dissent. If such is the case, then why is it that the further south you go from Jerlea Bay the darker the people get? One would assume, as in the case of Keoland, wherever the Suel emerged from the mountains there should be greater numbers of Suel related peoples. Yet, Xamaclan is entirely Olman. You will find not one blue or grey eye in that city. I think, however, the lack of integrated bloodlines is a cultural phenomenon born of the circumstances.
Suel peoples who found themselves in the northern Amedio most likely had realized they would never return home. Trapped in an environment that would not allow them to maintain their original lives, they succumbed to the necessity to adapt or die. They changed their dress. They married Olmans. They altered their beliefs. Cut off from their heritable lifeline they left it behind. Now, if there is a gateway to allow easy access to the Suel lands far to the south, then any Suel travelers to the Amedio would never feel trapped or cut off. Abandoning their superior way of life was never a concern. When they came to Xamaclan they stayed Suel and claimed it proudly. They would not sully themselves with Olman women. They would not dress like savages. But they were not alone in their practice of mere tolerance.
Xamaclan is a proud city. Though not totally averse to change, opposition, by example or threat, is not received well. When I have gone there myself, I am never asked about my people, traditions, or beliefs and if ever I offer such information, even in passing, they will walk away or bluntly inform me that they don't care at all about what I have to say. They also find complements and flattery from me to be neither complementary nor flattering. Moreover, they just want me to get to the point. This seems to me to be the height of respect for humanity as a whole. While many find them rude or standoffish, I find their position to be one of unconcern for those factors which divide us and their conversation is refreshingly direct. So if the Suel came to Xamaclan with all of their classic pomp and importance, they may have found the Olmans to be unwilling to accept their terms. They may have instead opted for a distinct separation from the Suel including cultural exchange and sexual relations.
What the Suel did bring to Xamaclan which the Olmans took was ideas. Book writing and ledger keeping, different styles of clothing, armor, and weapons and arcane knowledge, among other things, were all concepts that the Olmans of Xamaclan stole from Suel explorers. If you go to Xamaclan, you will see a strange mix of northern ingenuity done with Amedian style. Warriors wear chainmail of copper and bronze and fancy helms of bronze and use northern weapons fashioned of bronze and teak. You see various articles of clothing of rough fiber—shirts, pants, hats, capes—dyed brilliant Olman colors and decorated with feathers, beads, shells, scales, and skins. The loincloth is still the preferred raiment for the jungle, as it is most practical, but in Xamaclan alone the people have a few more choices. The fact that they have no steel and no advanced arcanists suggests that the Suel did not teach the Amedians these skills and designs, rather the Amedians took note of the Suel lifestyle and adopted those aspects they saw had value. Steel is beyond them, so they use bronze. They do not have silk or cotton, so they use known coarse plant fibers to make a new Xamaclan fashion. They did not have paper, but when they saw it for the first time somebody figured out a way to make it. They took from the Suel and made those parts distinctly Amedian or more succinctly Xamaclan. Suel presence in Xamaclan is therefore undeniable even if the people no longer exist. But there is more that many do not know.
According to Xamaclan records there are pale savages south of Xamaclan. Along the river that runs out of the jungle, where the Keoish settlement of Port Elizabeth was built, in the river valleys closer to the mountains there are purportedly two or three tribes of Suel-Olman peoples. One tribe is called the Mallata and they live peacefully along the river trading with white settlers in the region. I hope to speak to them and learn their heritage some day.
If this is true, though, then it is my thought that this pocket of Suel mix peoples marks the site to the gateway through the mountains and to the Suel homeland. Maestro Scuzarro (less so) and I are both intrigued by the possibility as it may contain some of the best Suel artifacts to date, not to mention access to the Sea of Dust, which should be a treasure trove of history and arcane knowledge. It has been said before that those who can plunder that land will have the key to all of Oerth. Such a passage will attract much attention.
That it once existed there is no doubt. Xamaclan historians have recorded the event of its opening. Where the passage is located is as yet unknown, shadowed like Slerotin. Currently very few people know it exists and though it was a common fact in Xamaclan for many years, ignorance of its value has faded the fact into an obscure fable. What truths I have discerned in the readings of Xamaclan have had their veracity tested by Scuzarro and myself and we are confident of their natures. The story begins in the Suel Imperium.
Along the eastern mountain chain was a state of the Suel Empire called Kepta. Though the Suel had a great unified nation, it was subdivided into various states formerly allied yet then slowly disintegrating into squabbling kingdoms nearing the Cataclysm. Each state wanted dominance and power, each struggled to obtain it. Kepta, it seems, was no different. The king of the state was named Terazel who sought to conquer his neighbors to the north, south, and west. These were the only apparent directions available for expansion, but Terazel was wise enough to realize that he had not the army or resources available to him for a sustained conflict on three of Kepta's borders. Expansion had to occur in the mountains.
For Kepta to claim a chunk of the Hellfurnace Mountains alarmed nobody. It was not unlike Kepta had claimed rights to a passing cloud of dust over head. More or less it was a pointless acquisition. But it wasn't the mountains that Terazel was after. It was whatever was beyond the mountains that he was interested in. He gave the task to get beyond them to his court wizard, Kahaotep.
Let's step back and take a look at these Suel players for a moment. Remember, all history we have obtained about Kepta actually comes solely from the Xamaclan histories. So when we look at Terazel, we see a figure who has no description and no substance. Terazel never crossed the mountains himself, and he never set foot in Amedio lands. He was merely the force behind all Suel actions in the southern Amedio. Suel soldiers came to Xamaclan pronouncing this and that in the name of Terazel, but the Olmans could only guess at what they were talking about. Some thought that Terazel was a god, but most would not accept that because they knew there was no god "Terazel," and in any case, in Xamaclan they worshipped primarily Kukulkan, and so would not care to bow to any "Terazel." Initial demands by Terazel were regarded as humorous by the Olman, but when the Suel became insistent, the people of Xamaclan became gravely serious. So who was Terazel? The only mention of him we have anywhere is by the Olman people who never met him and who did not respect him. Though a primary character in the story, as he is the one who precipitated any of this, he is secondary and unreal to the only historians who we know have record of him. So if I describe Terazel in any way the reader must realize that this is a highly subjective impression defined by his relationship to the historians' people. If you ask me, "Was Terazel evil?" all I can say is, "Well, the Olman thought so."
Kahaotep is an entirely different situation. He was given the command of the Suel army that poured from the mountains and the Olman knew him well. Unlike Terazel, he was no joke. His different appearance to the rest of the Suel was well noted. He was brown skinned with a thin pointed beard on his chin and penetrating black eyes. He slicked his eyebrows and beard with an aromatic oil and did the same with his black hair, which was neatly pulled back, tied, and braided down to his lower back. He wore gold trimmed robes of blue and his appearance was as immaculate and exacting as his demands. Every single account of him is described thusly. It is so ironic that the best-known Suel to the Olmans was not Suel at all. He was without a doubt Baklunish. Though most would be alarmed at this fact, Maestro Scuzarro was not surprised at all.
In any border war situation the opposition culture is always at the forefront of attention. Suel and Baklunish merchants traded with each other constantly, because there was need and so there would be money to be had. Kings and sheiks would hire spies and emissaries from the other side all of the time. The leaders needed them and the foreign mercenaries would always be paid quite well. Though this kind of commerce undoubtedly prolonged the conflict, it couldn't be stopped. But this also redefines the Suel-Baklunish conflict in a way not generally considered. Though they hated each other in theory en masse, they had no animosity toward individuals. It wasn't a race war. It was a struggle for existing arable land by two rapidly expanding empires couched in terms of cultural differences that could only be solved on the field of battle. Traditionally, the fight has been characterized as the war between divine power versus arcane power, but such a broad brush stroke ignores the actual diversity of these peoples. The Suel did have gods and temples and the Baklunish did have powerful wizards, such as Kahaotep. So it didn't really matter what color your skin was. Each only cared what side you fought on and often Suel fought Suel and Bakluni fought Bakluni.
The only place where race actually was significant was in the enslavement of opposition forces after a battle. Suel slaves would be taken by Baklunish victors and vice versa and bondage could be expected for the rest of one's life. Taken as a slave, your life was meaningless, and you would work in the fields or the mines until death, whereas mercenary forces captured by same race victors would be treated as businessmen whose ventures unfortunately went awry. They would be freed to melt back into the population or to procure another mercenary contract. Needless to say, mercenary contracts were highly profitable with less risk than being in one's own nation's army, unless, of course, you died. But mercenaries were the exception rather than the rule. Rulers only paid for quality.
Being so far south from the war zone, Kepta had little relation to the war aside from sending a yearly supply of soldiers to aid the war effort and housing Baklunish slaves to prevent their being freed as they might if they were closer to the fighting. Kahaotep, was not concerned with the war at all and was merely looking for a patron who would pay him well for services rendered. For Terazel a good loyal wizard was worth the expense, Baklunish or not. Besides these two clearly had their own agendas apart from the conflict in the Sulhauts. What brought Kahaotep to Kepta? We can only assume easy money.
In Terazel's court we do not know how Kahaotep lived and worked. We think he was probably very busy organizing plots and making investigations for the king as often happens to advisors when a king becomes interested in expansion. Eventually, Terazel told Kahaotep that he wanted to get his army on the other side of the mountains. This demand would have seemed eccentric and impossible to most, but Kahaotep saw value in that move and was willing to take a shot at the crazy scheme. So he started at the beginning.
With a horde of slaves wielding an assortment of picks and shovels he attacked the base of the mountains intending to bore a tunnel straight through with sweat, muscle, and lives. After a couple of unfortunate collapses Kahaotep brought some engineers to help design the tunnel. He hated doing this. He didn't like asking experts what they thought about anything. He knew, though, that their help was required to complete the project, so he suppressed his indignation. When the task was completed and he figured he had learned enough from the engineers to make his own additions, he had them executed. Kahaotep was not a nice fellow.
The tunnel was completed in five years and is reportedly a straight shot through the mountains. Though this seems unlikely it is verified in Xamaclan reports that any obstructions encountered in the mine, be they natural caverns, flooding, lava flows, etc. were all removed or diverted by Kahaotep's magic. His course was set. He had a plan and he would not change for some random anomalies. Kahaotep would not bow to nature or fate.
When the tunnelers emerged on the other side of the mountains, Kahaotep was pleased with his tropical find. He immediately sent back runners to tell the king that he was giving Terazel the gift of empire. Then he turned to the exhausted slaves, joyous that their travail was over, and told them that the only way they would return alive would be through the rock. They proceeded to dig another tunnel parallel to the first all the way back to Kepta. Kahaotep was very pleased with himself indeed.
But before even the second tunnel was completed, Terazel sent an expeditionary force to explore the new land. They quickly met friendly natives in the jungle near the tunnel, today called the Indicara, and these people guided them about the land showing them the wonders and treasures it contained. They were taken to Xamaclan, the seat of the southern Olman empire, and introduced to the priest king there. The Suel took careful notes of the people and civilization, but most of all they recorded the vast amounts of gold, silver, copper, and precious stones that adorned the people of Xamaclan. The Suel explorers were very excited to tell their king what they found.
Terazel wasted no time in sending his army through the tunnel to conquer the land, take the treasure, and enslave the savage population. Upon exiting the tunnel the Suel immediately began brutalizing the Olmans of the Indicara. A messenger was sent to Xamaclan to warn of the coming army and the Olman defense was rallied. The Suel army struggled through the jungles and swamps, contracting diseases, losing supplies with no way to restore them, falling prey to beasts and being harried by Olman hunters. They emerged into the open lands surrounding Xamaclan and were met by an enormous Olman army. Olman priests neutralized Suel battle wizards and wracked the battlefield with swarms of insects, snakes, and rats. Then the Olman warriors attacked and fell upon the beleaguered Suel with such ferocity their ranks broke immediately and they fled back into the jungle where they were hunted down until only a very few limped back to Kahaotep's tunnel. Terazel had lost three quarters of his standing army including his military command structure. Terazel's plans for expansion were stopped dead.
Maestro Scuzarro at this point would waste no time reminding me that this story is told entirely by the Xamaclan Olmans. It is common knowledge to the Olmans that the Suel attacked them, but Scuzarro suggests the reverse may be true. Giving his position fair acknowledgement, it is possible that the Olmans of the Indicara perceived a threat before it was warranted and attacked. It is assumed that the advancing Suel group was gathered for warfare and not an ambassadorial enclave. We will never know since they were wiped out. And figures of Kepta's military losses are a puzzle because why would the Olmans be privy to this information? It is possible that early Xamaclan historians liked to claim truth as the greatest treasure gleaned in victorious battle.
Terazel did not want to just let the wealth of Xamaclan go. Instead of conquering the land and subjugating its people he opted to open friendly trade relations with the Olmans. He sent an ambassador with gifts to the Indicara portion of the jungle most near the terminus of Kahaotep's tunnel. In time, the Olmans there were willing to accept the Suel again. The Olmans traded raw gold nuggets for food and supplies. The Suel began to settle in very small numbers along the river and learned that the river flowed with gold nuggets. An organized panning operation was implemented and the river was mined. To this day the Mallata settlement on the river is a panning operation founded and maintained by Keoish interests. It is not a free for all and assuredly the Mallata are controlling the extent of Keoish presence in their lands. Xamaclan leadership has consistently secured sovereignty for all neighboring peoples when negotiating foreign relations. Since the first Suel invasion, Xamaclan has been smart in their dealings with outsiders. They have not and will not be dominated physically or economically. They control their fate.
Similar to the Keoish today, the Suel presence was tightly restricted—there was no gold rush. Xamaclan, however, was not the champion of the Indicara Olmans, as Xamaclan still did not know that the Suel had returned or they didn't care. The king of Kepta controlled his agents in the Amedio and they stayed in the Indicara region quietly taking gold from the river. These Suel people worked directly for the state. There were no private interests represented, so for quite some time the Suel operations stayed rather small. The Suel became accepted members of the Indicara community working together with the Olmans, defending each other, helping each other and even becoming friendly. Of all of the Kepta Suel to come through the passage, these first settlers were the most altered by their life in the jungle with the Olman. The second generation of these settlers actually began intermarrying with the natives, but this level of comfort did not last much longer.
The gold pulled from the Amedio rivers was making Terazel wealthy quite fast. With it he was rebuilding his army and making Kepta a powerful state in the Suel Imperium. But it wasn't coming fast enough. He was going to send his agents in deeper.
Meanwhile, Kahaotep never stopped working on his tunnel. The finished tunnel system now had a passage for each direction of traffic and all along he built storage rooms and guard stations for defense and maintenance of the pass. But it was long and parts of it were unbearably hot. Staffing the guard stations was also needlessly costly for the nature of the tunnel and his magical ability. He should have been able to do better than conventional means to protect the passage. He buried himself in his research. When the state coffers were sufficiently replenished from the Indicara mining operation, Kahaotep proposed a bold and expensive magical transport system that would make the journey under the mountains take only a couple of hours instead of many days. This method of travel also allowed Kahaotep to viciously ward the tunnels making them impassable by any other means. Terazel was immediately interested. It is hard to say if Terazel sought to further Suel presence in the Amedio first and saw this opportunity to do it, or if Kahaotep's proposal made him think again of expansion, but in any case Terazel opened his treasury and Kahaotep began constructing his magical transport. Kahaotep gathered many lesser wizards to aid him with the magical castings and construction of the reagents. They became his personal guards and servants when the work was done and were known as Arcanis Azule later on when they played a more active political role in the Amedio and in Kepta.
Time was taken with the transport system to avoid mishaps, but eventually it was finished. Terazel wasted no time in sending more Keptanese state merchants to the Amedio to establish more trade relations with other tribes surrounding the Indicara. The Suel were back in force in the Amedio. To the Olmans these strange looking foreigners with too much clothing were "not right people" and especially since the last visit to their land seemed more aggressive, trust was not easily procured. Those Olmans in the Indicara, however, would speak well of their Suel friends and with their endorsement, negotiations and trade soon grew until the city state of Xamaclan once again admitted them to an audience with their priest-king. Remember all of this is documented in Xamaclan.
How did Xamaclan historians know of the tunnel and magical transport system? This is where the story takes an interesting turn requiring a little more assumption than usual. Kahaotep's blue clad wizards traveled with the Keptanese trade missions. Now, Terazel allowed Kahaotep to organize a construction crew to help him with building the transport in the tunnel, but he surely would not have allowed his wizard to maintain a cadre of followers and agents loyal only to him. Terazel surely did not know about Arcanis Azule. The Olmans innocently explain that Kahaotep's men met the traders in the tunnels as guides to the transport system and then the jungle beyond. The wizards were quite fluent in Olman by this time, though not very knowledgeable about the land or its peoples. I think the wizards had been learning Olman and with the aid of comprehend languages spells they became passable interpreters between Suel and Olman. But what confused the Olman for the longest time was the intricacies of leadership in Suel groups, as there always seemed to be two leaders of each mission. Those Olmans, especially those of the Indicara region, who could understand Suel speech themselves would be introduced to the leader of each mission, usually a military commandant, while in Olman the blue robed man with them would likewise claim leadership of the mission. This peculiarity was never openly discussed because really the Olman didn't care, but they usually deferred to the individual to whom they could speak their native tongue. Such an individual was usually seen as more respectable and more deserving of attention. So wherever these trade groups went, Kahaotep's aid was usually considered the representative of the Keptanese king. He would in fact tell them so. Eventually, Arcanis Azule reached Xamaclan itself where they told the people some of their history, including the construction of the tunnel and the transport system. This is how we know about it today.
Intrigued by these visitors, Olmans from all the nearby lands went to the Indicara to see the tunnel and the village of the white men. In very little time the village turned into a trade center. The Keptanese traders could not deal with the influx of goods and could not meet demands. As a government program trade would have remained stifled. Access to the tunnel and the new world could no longer be restricted. Kahaotep suggested building a trading post, which would eventually turn into a town, at each end of the tunnel and he urged that private interests be allowed paid access to the transport. The idea was to let merchants do what they do best, purchasing and organizing shipments of goods to be brought home. The economy would be stimulated and Terazel could collect taxes, particularly on use of the tunnel. Terazel agreed and the stage was set for two trade centers to grow naturally at the ends of the tunnel, Windgate on the Kepta end and Terabar on the Indicara end. The idea exploded and commerce increased to fantastic proportions. Kepta got even richer.
Now when I was saying that the differences between the peoples remained by their choice, this was the period of time I was referring to in particular. The Suel came for business and that's how it remained. For the most part, there was nobody there trying to start a new life. The Olman too knew that Terabar was for trade and that was why they went there. The place was not "right." A few merchants went deeper into the Amedio or to Xamaclan to tap new sources for trade, so Suel presence in Xamaclan was no longer so rare. In fact, one trading company set up a small post within the city, a fact which is barely discernable today. It was all business. And it was all carefully watched and orchestrated by Kahaotep and his men. Anything that passed through the tunnel was their jurisdiction and within Terabar and Windgate, their word was the law. Terazel had no idea.
As time passed there were a few individuals who crossed over who sought not wealth but glory and power. From Kepta they came because they saw a weak people who could be easily exploited and used as steps to obtaining their own lands and kingdoms. Most of the Suel did not regard the Olman peoples well, and eventually the deceptions toward enslavement began. The Olman who crossed over into Kepta were brave indeed. Generally, they were the rare individual who wanted to leave behind the primitive life and become like the more cosmopolitan Suel. Near Xamaclan, Olmans usually didn't have these kinds of identity crises, thus this individual would be found in the Indicara, being swayed by the constant Suel presence. Then there were the even rarer individuals who wanted to save the Suel from their godless ways. Most residents of Xamaclan would prefer to let life teach its lessons. Giving sanctuary is to them a fool's game as they say, "If you follow the feathered tail you do not need safety. It is true that most things that ask for protection do not deserve it." But there were those that would cross into the Suel lands to teach and spread their faith, and often they would be swallowed by the dominant Suel disregard and murdered for their naïveté. A few of these people did make an impression.
The first Suel to really try to establish himself in the new world was Caius Lucan. He was a wizard who passed through to the Amedio with a diverse group of mercenaries. Their ultimate mission is not known though we suspect them of some opportunistic reason for being there. They went to Xamaclan and tried to obtain an audience with the priest-king. When their request was denied they attempted to break into the great temple, but were caught before they got in. Caius then unexplainedly boarded a Xamaclan trade vessel headed north to the city of Tamoachan where he disappears from history. Now "Papa Lucan" as his men called him, was one of many leaders of lost expeditionary groups taken by the jungle, so really his story is not special except for the fact that his name is a defined term in northern Amedian language. I did not know of Lucan's existence until just recently and with his discovery I would be sure of his impact and fate in the north.
The term "Popolocas" means basically "Outsider" or foreigner but more exactly it has friendly connotations. Suel invaders had come before, but they were "Nanacatacal" which describes foreign attackers. When Lucan arrived in Tamoachan he was decidedly a different Suel since his group was not outright attacking the Olman. So they received a different designation. I've studied Tamoachan, as part of an earlier attempt to find it, and know of the priest-king Tloques Popolocas. He was a ruler of Tamoachan who destroyed the great city and then, as the tale is told, continued to rule over its ruins afterward.
I think Caius Lucan found his pigeons to pluck and took the city of Tamoachan unfortunately causing its destruction in the process. To the people of the Amedio the story tells of the final straw of spiritual infirmity suffered by the Olmans, one last tragic example before leaving behind the life of the gullible fools. I suspect Lucan died as king of a shattered city. The actual events still remain hidden by the jungle.
Another notable settler from Kepta came to reside in Terabar. He was a personal friend of Kahaotep's and was likewise a wizard. His name was Mallestra, and he was known for his private existence, choosing to do things for himself so as not to be bothered by nitwits. He was known to say, "If you want something done right, you have to not let anyone else do it." This explains his choice of companions. He had eight perfect and active copies of himself that would go about and take care of necessary tasks in his stead. They would purchase supplies and deal with visitors and would aid him in his lab or doing research, but Mallestra was not in Terabar to do research. He was there to bring civilization to the Amedian savages. He built the House of the Eight Mallestras wherein any Amedian native could come and learn the proper Suel way of life. Students would be taught the language, how to dress, how to use tools and utensils, how to write, how to speak respectfully to Suel people, and of the glory of the Suel Imperium. With eight of him he had a full school with each class being taught exactly as he wanted. Enrollment was not great because most Olmans didn't respect the Suel way of life, but some wanted to be Suel and have the things the Suel had. Others, hired by Suel merchants in Terabar, were compulsorily forced to attend as a necessity of their employment. Whether this school was Mallestra's idea or Kahaotep's or ultimately Terazel's we cannot tell, but it was definitely an attempt to de-culture the Olmans of the Indicara. The attempt failed except for a number of fanatical followers of the Eight Mallestras who viewed their teachers almost as divinities. The authors of Xamaclan described these individuals as god-forsaken, as they no longer had pride or dignity for who they were or what made them. The gods did not fill them enough to prevent them from becoming Suel pets. In any event, Mallestra now had a Suel-loyal Olman squad. Terabar was mobilizing for something.
On the other side of the mountains grew something similar to Mallestra's school with less sinister motives. A priest of the animal spirits in Xamaclan found his faith limited by the many more better-defined deities in the city. His name was Teaxicotl and before he left the city he spoke before the assembled masses, as was customary for a leader in the city, to explain his sorrow and reason for departure. (Xamaclan's wisdom in their traditions never ceases to amaze me.) He said that in his faith passions of all kinds abounded and that when one chooses to honor the animal spirits then one must honor them all. The people of Xamaclan were afraid or offended by some animal spirits and would not honor them. Teaxicotl said, "When you deny a spirit you deny a part of yourself. You cannot deny a part of you and have a good soul. You cannot threaten, denounce, or fear a part of you and be a healthy person. You must be able to see and embrace Piranha when he swims through you. You must be able to know Snake when it coils about your heart. You each will only see one side of life. You are afraid of the others. I must find a place where the people will not hide from their natures." And he and a small group of lesser priests set off to find a new home.
Teaxicotl knew of Terabar and went there to preach and tell of the animal spirit guides. He found the reception there to be cool and the Arcanis Azule watched him closely. When the Eight Mallestras opened their school, he was one of the first to enroll. He didn't want to be Suel, but he wanted to learn the language and get an idea of who they were to see if maybe Kepta should be his new home. Through his teachers and conversations with Suel merchants, he learned that the Suel were relatively godless and generally uninterested in paying homage to any of the real deities. They loved themselves too much. However, those Suel of Terabar who he spoke to were of a definitely different class than many of those on the interior. Merchants and magicians had no need of hope or spiritual respite, but slaves and workers of the empire most certainly did. They did not go through the tunnels. They maintained the infrastructure near its heart. Teaxicotl had to go to Kepta.
It is at this point that our Xamaclan historians stop being concerned with sources and go off recounting events surrounding Teaxicotl and Kahaotep that we have no reason to believe. Knowing the Olman penchant for filling in the details when facts are lacking, I would say that at this point Teaxicotl goes off to Kepta and is never heard from again—the end. But the Olman have a whole vast series of events telling the story of Teaxicotl in Kepta, most of which are mundane or miraculous but having no historic backing. So I choose to leave those stories out and tell those eventualities that may be, however specious, pertinent to the overall historic time period. The only indicator I get of how any of this could be at all factual is an animal spiritualism revival in Xamaclan brought about by the return of the priest Manu Lipozolotan. We don't know from where and we don't know how and there is very little written about him. Here is the story abridged.
Teaxicotl paid for passage to Kepta for himself and his priests with a priceless item of temple treasure. The mages were happy to receive it and let him pass. At Windgate he was detained because Olman access to the Suel interior was apparently restricted unless specially contracted by a Suel employer. Windgate itself was free to all who could pay the toll to get there so this trade nexus had many Suel dressed Olman citizens trying to escape their heritage with poor attempts at mimicking Suel culture and behavior. Yet they were clearly not accepted as exit from Windgate into Kepta required official business of a pale skinned nature. Teaxicotl was not prepared to settle in Windgate and preach to the vainglorious souls there. In perfect Suel, Teaxicotl said he and his men were on an urgent mission for the Mallestras. That was enough for the guards at the gate and they passed into Kepta without further issue.
Time passed. Teaxicotl found he was most effective constantly on the move. His life was hard, but it was rewarding. He and his priests traveled to mining camps and quarries. They moved unnoticed amongst the slaves and laborers, the artisans and engineers. Bandits in the mountains and poor mercenary units would invite them into their camp and feed the priests in exchange for a sermon, a story, a blessing, a healing hand or a kind word. They moved like ghosts through the throngs of chained Baklunish slaves distributing healing and hope, speaking of the leopard and the eagle and the jackal, promising soon a time of the tiger followed by the joy of the monkey. The slaves, laborers, and bandits of Kepta began to develop a language of spoken words and gestures behind the pantheon of Amedio animals and this unified these disparate groups into one movement against oppression. Mercenaries hired to guard slaves in a quarry would signal to the slaves and workers which guards were "Amedian" and which were not part of the group. Even some high-ranking engineers joined the "Amedians" and it became almost a grand joke for all of these people to come together against Kepta within Kepta. Slave, craftsman, and warrior all became equals and hope too was dug from the mines.
The Cult of the Amedians grew so abundantly within the fertile fields of Terazel's disregard. At this point the king was so outworldly looking, he paid very little attention to what was happening in the mountains or in his own nation. The treasury was fully stocked with Amedian gold, precious stones, and exotic spices. He built up his army and looked to his neighbor states for conquest. As long as the money kept coming in, Terazel would continue funding his wars and paying his mercenaries. He was surely intent to rule the Imperium.
Kahaotep was left on his own to run the tunnel and its trade centers. This he did as it pleased him, and his loyalty to the king had by now clearly been exchanged for antipathy. Arcanis Azule began skimming the passage fees and taking trade goods. Merchants who contested the abduction of their wares would often suffer a mishap during transportation. Arcanis Azule had a strangle hold on the tunnel, and therefore Terazel's war chest, and was beginning to amass quite a bit of wealth on their own. But Kahaotep was not stupid and he allowed a significant amount of money and treasure to reach Kepta and Terazel so as not to arouse suspicion. Kahaotep had a tiny nation of his own and he was making plans.
Apparently, the tumultuous roar of events first began in the heart of Kepta in a stone quarry somewhere. A slave being beaten by a guard raised the willfulness of the Amedian Cultists, of which I would like to remind the reader that none were actually Amedian. The guards responded to the slaves' outburst, but the half of the guards that were also cultists quickly overcame the others and coldly butchered them on the dusty quarry ground. A boundary had finally been crossed and the rebels knew they had to continue their onslaught or it would be stopped early and all hope would slip away. They continued their rampage through other nearby quarries and mines killing guards and freeing the slaves. Word was sent to bandit groups and mercenaries who made camp close by and to Teaxicotl himself saying only "The tiger is here." The cultists quietly converged upon the eastern side of the Hellfurnaces and formed a large war party. Some came to the gathering with hate, some filled with relief or fear, and others sought power and wealth. Talk began of what to do next and arguments broke out. The group found that they were not as unified as they thought. Everyone wanted something different from the revolution.
Teaxicotl stood and silenced the throng. (Olmans tend to do this sort of thing a lot in epic stories, but I've found they tend to actually do this in life. They have no problem standing at a meal table, raising their arms to silence the conversations, and forcefully requesting that someone pass the cinnamon. Making dramatic public declarations is a way of life.) He explained that the jungle was filled with many animals all at odds in their existences, but together they made the forest a living beast of great power. Their differences would complete the jungle where otherwise it would not be as strong. He said he saw three spirits guiding the group. He saw the jaguar, hunting alone, strong and skillful, seeking to feed a hunger within. He said he saw the deer, a quiet, afraid, communal beast seeking solace in a secret place, but willing to fight when trapped. He said he saw the ant, a communal creature that strips the land of its wealth to become stronger, that builds for the future and the greater glory of its community and its children to come. Teaxicotl said that they all lived beside each other in the jungle and so could exist here together too.
That week three groups were created: the Jaguars, the Deer, and the Ants. The Jaguars were skilled individuals who were sent into the heart of Kepta to disrupt organizations and kill high-ranking officials. Since most of them were vengeful Baklunish individuals, the Keptanese figured the Baklunish from the north were striking deep in the Imperium for some reason. Most hypothesized that the Amedian treasures had been reported to them and they sought to disable the state and break its spirit from within. This makes no sense at all from a tactical point of view, but to the Keptanese ego it was quite logical. In fact, Terazel was probably secretly thrilled that the Baklunish were threatened by rustic little Kepta. Truly, though, the Baklunish horde to the north didn't even know Kepta existed. The Jaguars terrorized the Keptanese court until the end of the Imperium even after they were discovered as in internal threat.
The Deer were those Baklunish and Suel peoples who were tired of the bloodletting and wanted only peace and good honorable work. This group also contained the non-professional women and children—the family side of things. They were the true believers in the animal spirits and Teaxicotl and his priests led them to a valley where they built a temple and a town they were proud of and so were willing to fight to defend if needed. They were the home base for all "Amedians" where they could rest and regroup. Once the cult had firmly entrenched itself in a sizable portion of the land, the Deer built a tall spire over the temple as a beacon to the "Amedians" to guide them home.
The Ants were the army that patrolled the lands, freed slaves, raided caravans and took food and supplies from Suel loyalists. They were largely Suel themselves but came from the ranks of bandit and mercenary raiders who had been roaming the lands for years. This position with the "Amedians" was really an extension of their earlier lives, however, now they performed for the cause of freedom and protection from the evil king Terazel. Surely, it was preferable to be ordained to do what they liked to do best. It was the Ants who alerted Terazel that something was amiss. Suddenly his shipments of gold stopped coming.
Terazel sent some people to Windgate to inquire about the missing shipments. They never arrived. Terazel communicated tersely to Kahaotep, somehow, something like, "What in blazes is going on over there." Kahaotep figured his deception had been discovered and jumped into action in Terabar.
All Olmans in Windgate and Terabar were taken into custody and given a choice of joining the Arcanis Azule or death. Most Olmans in the trade centers were already quite willing to join the Suel. Next, they attacked the Indicara region and those Olman taken alive were given the same ultimatum. With the momentum rolling many were easily pressed into service. As he moved out he did the same to each tribe encountered and his army grew. It was apparent that Xamaclan and the whole Amedio was the end goal. Kahaotep needed to establish his empire away from the Suel Imperium or it would be crushed in it infancy.
To defeat Xamaclan Kahaotep knew the advantage would be his if his army was outfitted with steel weapons and armor. He had been forced to act prematurely, so his armory had not been sufficiently stocked yet. He had to make a quick foray into Kepta. He had assumed that now Terazel was his bitter enemy and would strike Windgate soon. Windgate could fall for all he cared. The tunnel was a blockage and Kahaotep controlled it. But if he was going to raid Kepta, he had to act fast. His plan was to attack and ransack the camps of his strung out and exhausted troops on the southern border. They had been fighting numerous protracted battles to take the nation to the south. An attack from behind would decimate them, they could grab the supplies, and then the opposition troops would surge into Kepta leaving Terazel even more to deal with than his upstart wizard.
By now, however, Kepta had had a large portion of it carved off on the eastern side along the mountains that had been completely taken and occupied by the "Amedians" including the trade route to Windgate. Terazel could do nothing because the Keptanese army was now in a defensive posture on the nation's borders. He assumed that Windgate and Terabar had been taken. He had foolishly overextended himself and now the only option left to him was to flee before he was directly attacked.
Kahaotep moved his forces out of Windgate and was immediately spotted by the Ants. They closely watched the tunnel for they knew that valuable supplies and treasure came and went through Windgate. The Ants reported the incursion to their commander who now assumed that Kahaotep had been commanded to destroy the "Amedians." He roused his warriors to defend their freedom. The Jaguars, the able Deer, and the great force of Ants all rode out amongst the hills and rocks and cliffs and prepared an ambush at the valley entrance to Windgate to assault Kahaotep's army as they began to leave. The attack sent Kahaotep's army reeling. Many of the Olmans gave up immediately. The others fled back to Windgate. Teaxicotl himself battled four wizards of Arcanis Azule and soundly bested them. Kahaotep fled, opening a gateway of horrors behind him to keep the "Amedians" from following. Some of Kahaotep's own forces were trapped on the Suel side of the mountains at his departure. Windgate became a cursed place and it was abandoned forever.
This battle occurred around –420 CY, a very important date because not long after came the Twin Cataclysms. Volcanoes erupted giving the Hellfurnace Mountains their name. The mountain above Terabar erupted and it is said that Terabar was completely destroyed thus ending all threat from Kahaotep and his wizards. There is no further information about Teaxicotl or Kepta to be had. We assume death and total destruction round out the story as the Rain of Colorless Fire commenced.
Curiously, Maestro Scuzarro does not think that actual invisible flame fell from the sky. He thinks it is a metaphor. He thinks that it is more appropriately the Reign of Colorless Fire meaning hot spirits and hatred. It was a time when conflict overtook sense and hatred ruled the Suel Imperium until the states destroyed themselves. Given the story of Kepta this possibility seems plausible, but the mounds of shifting dust filling the once arable land seems hard to explain. A mere affectation of the volcanoes? I think not. But if the Suel had no qualms about releasing the Invoked Devastation upon the Baklunish then why would opposed houses in the Imperium not react similarly with extremity toward each other. The Suel may have destroyed themselves. I don't think so.
Xamaclan has its own story of the Twin Cataclysms. The people of Xamaclan never liked the Suel. They did not follow the ways of Kukulkan remotely. When the Suel came to the Amedio, Kukulkan began watching them interacting with his children. When Kahaotep enslaved the Olmans of the Indicara, he was enraged. On the day of the Rain of Colorless Fire a great feathered serpent flew over the city and over the mountains stretching his body across the sky. And the people of Xamaclan knew that the Suel had been judged. This is how they leave it. They do not care to know more.
Now like I mentioned before, we have no reason to believe any of this. All of my research was done in Xamaclan, but the latter part of the story is told in only one text. The rest seems substantiated by other documents. The fate of Kepta can only be discovered by the next individual to traverse the mountains. Unfortunately, the Indicara river valley is known to be inhabited by really vicious natives who kill all trespassers of their territory. Even I won't be going there soon unless I can secure a competent escort.
Of Amedian culture and lore there is none better than I. One thing I have learned is that a nation usually does not exist without having its neighbor involved somehow in its history. Even though the Suel did not play as great a role in the Amedio as other nations have more recently, it seems that the Amedians suffered aftershocks from the Twin Cataclysms despite their lack of interest in anything Suel or Baklunish.
When I mentioned earlier the rather nonchalant and carnival atmosphere of the Suel-Baklunish war I did not mention at what point the war finally got serious. There are some rather inflammatory tracts that can be found in Mullah Aidib's Times and Events describing the rage and rabid offense taken by the Baklunish at the Suel implementation of the Invoked Devastation. The Suel had crossed a line of unconventional and dastardly warfare that could not be accepted without malice.
For a period of two to five years as the wasting plague crept north from the Sulhaut Mountains causing people and animals to lose hair, teeth, and nails and develop festering sores upon their skin, the Baklunish armies attacked relentlessly. This new violent assault was viewed by the Suel as unnecessary. Maestro Scuzarro claims that Suel nobles began to squabble about who was responsible for inciting the Baklunish to such fury. This bickering could have been responsible for Kepta's struggles with its neighbors and it could be said Kahaotep's schemes were motivated by revenge for the Invoked Devastation. It's hard to know.
The fighting was fierce for those years between the two Cataclysms, and then the Baklunish summoned the Rain of Colorless Fire and that ended everything in the lands of the Imperium. It also ended all of the questions and all of the troubles the Suel brought with them to the Amedio. No wonder the Olman considered the Cataclysm as judgment of evil.
So in my area of expertise, the Suel enter my story dramatically, but they are quelled by the ferocity of the land and its people. There is peace and profit for both peoples for years after and then came the Invoked Devastation. With the seriousness of that attack came a plethora of emotions that wracked the Imperium causing most of all confusion. This loss of control invites Teaxicotl's rise and then Kahaotep's rash play for power. Once again the Amedio is dragged into Suel drama as the wizard enslaves the nearby Olman population eventually leading to the destruction of Windgate and the sealing of the tunnel. The Second Cataclysm finally wipes out all organized Suel involvement in the Amedio forever.
To the Amedians the Twin Cataclysms are heaven-sent. They know nothing of the Invoked Devastation, but if that was the necessary precursor to the Rain of Colorless Fire, then it too was divine judgment. From the moment the Keptanese set foot on the Amedio, they schemed, killed, stole, cheated, belittled their culture, enslaved their people …. They began to question their faith. How could these pale-skinned egomaniacs survive the wrath of the gods? When Kukulkan stretched across the sky and sank his fiery fangs into the Suel heartland, the Olmans were vindicated. They were good, the Suel were evil. In many ways this test of faith saved them. While great Tamoachan to the north was falling to a spiritual lapse, Xamaclan regained its spirit and said, "See that! We are the ones who are right! We are the ones who are good and nobody will ever tell us otherwise again!"
Today that message saves them. With pride and determination they defend Olman freedom. They hunt slave ships—set ambushes or chase them down in war canoes and slaughter the crew. Kukulkan speaks against these Princes and to this day they never question him. With him they know they are right and someday they know he will save them from the Princes too.
Istus is our bitch mother. May she knit you a fine sweater.
~*~