Danoran Mountain Clans

The assortment of human clans who lived in the Danoran Mountains in north western Auria.

## **Clans**

There were over fifty different mountain clans that have made it into record. However only a few were of particular note.

* Darkspeakers
* Hollow Phantoms
* Shore Watchers
* Spine Nesters
* Sunset Rising
* Thellow Greys

## **Culture**

The clans were originally family groupings that as they grew and interbred took on particular alliances and held to specific hunting grounds. When a couple joined they chose a clan to bind themselves to, normally it would be one of the clans they had been brought up in but it was not a necessity. Occasionally, they formed new clans.

#### **Religion**

The clans worshiped the spirits of the land as the various Avatars of the Wild. Though after the Dark Eruption some worshiped the spirit of Death and the Darkspeakers clan turned to the worship of Darkness.

Still, despite some anomalies, 9 in 10 clansmen have always held to the worship of the wild.

#### **Disposition**

The clans were volatile and survivors to the core. Hostilities between them were many but so were alliances that lasted into the generations. Sometimes clans merged usually though war or familial joinings.

## **Politics and Government**

The clans were run through a simple system of Clan Chiefs called 'Grands' with a council of senior clansmen called 'Ancien' to advise and support them. As well as these Ancien the Grands also had Deaak (Read Day-ak) who they used as war leaders under their Grand.

The Secours were the mothers and other female leaders of the clans. They tended to the needs of the clans rather than leading them. The Secours traditionally would say The chose to follow the Grands for their own good but were more interested in what was for the best rather than following the plans of men.

#### **Economy**

The clansmen didn't use metal coins but they did have the concept of value in trade and riches. Later on after the founding of Kolaran the concept of the minerals found in the mountains having an arbitrary value and trading with lowland cities took root.

By 550PE the clansmen were using coins just like the lowlanders.

## **Military**

Clansmen typically fight under the overall leadership of the Grand. Though his Ancien would advise him even in war they never had any authority in military matters. So the Grand was the ultimate strategic authority with the Deaak under him leading the warriors tactically.

Their strategies tended to be based on careful scouting and flanking manoeuvres followed by all out charges into pitched melee battles. These would often favour ferocity over formation and retreats would typically turn into routs the the losing side.

## History

1000-100BE: This was before humans in this area kept records. During this period human tribes out populated the dwarves in the mountains and turned on their former tutors driving them out of the mountains. Most went underground and into their strongest fortresses the ruins of many which survive to this day. These events were part of a continent wide phenomenon which became known as the Wars of Betrayal by the elves and dwarves.

60-20BE: There were some clan sites such as the 'Nest' on Spine Ridge that had carvings and artifacts that suggested there were clansmen in the Danoran Mountains during this era.

59PE: This was the year of the great Grand known as Stormscreamer and his uniting of several family tribes into the Thellow Greys.

190PE: Kolaran inland trade had been raided regularly by the **Danoran Mountain Clans**. In this year a Kolaran man called Phineas Kole led a force of city men to defend against incursions and raids. They were initially very successful which led to Kole being able to raise an army sized force and go into the mountains to fight the clans to put an end to their attacks.

190-1PE: Kolaran forces fight in what was later called the Kole Conflict. Initial successes for Kole's forces caused the clans to change their behaviours. So the Shore Watchers, the Spine Nesters and the Hollow Phantoms united their efforts in protecting their hunting lands and drove the city men down the mountains. The battle of Avalanche Falls was the deciding confrontation. Many lesser clans were wiped out during this conflict the remnants uniting with the three greater clans who united to protect the mountains.

208-250PE: Sometime during this era the bitter feud between the Thellow Greys and the Spine Nesters began. A series of raids and battles were fought and though little is distinctly clear due to neither using written language at the time other than crude pictographs one result seemed to be undisputable. The site known as the Nest was taken and held by the Spine Nesters after the conflicts settled into a cold rivalry.

290PE: The Dark Eruption of Darkspeak. The dark volcano erupted but rather than the natural result being magma and lava instead it rained soulcraft tainted Talium. This event destroys huge areas around Darkspeak, but as no cities were close by only the Danoran Mountain Clans really suffered. The survivors of the clans decimated by this event either fled to the refuge of other clans or joined the mysterious Darkspeakers and claimed the peak as their home. The Darkspeakers from their inception were a clan apart, treated with mistrust and suspicion by the other clans.

335-6PE: The High Ridge war. The clans of Sunset Rising and Thellow Greys warred along the series of mountains called High Ridge. The war lasted for over a year and resulted in many casualties but also in several smaller clans being absorbed into the two antagonist groups. After months of combat the Thellow Greys retreated from the ridge to the south and created a killing zone at the bottleneck to the south called Grim Fell. Sunset Rising only tried once more to continue the fight and suffered a painful defeat the Deaak entitled the Scarred One died in the fight and the Grand of the Risings was able to persuade his people to end attacks as they now had the ridge.

362-366PE: During the reign of Wilhelm, Auria makes military alliances with Kolaran in addition to its previous trade alliances. This led to the first conflicts between Imperial Military and the mountain clans.

445-449PE: The Third Commerce Wars or the Tatrak Conquest. The Kingdom of Tatrak embarked in aggressive raiding against Kolaran and all sea borne trade in the Shining Sea. It is a direct effort to break the Traderoutes Alliance Auria had established. The Empire however directly moved to counter this and in the name of supporting Kolaran waged a three year war resulting in the conquest of Tatrak by storm. The southern clans were affected by this as one the Ridge Warriors officially fought with Tatrak to assist in the trade blockade as a move against Kolaran and Auria. During the war Auria suffered various losses and in the end responded with a deliberate and calculated thrust right into the mountains. They found the Ridge Warriors main hold and raised it to the ground slaughtering all they found there. Many of the other southern clans were also heavily weakened as the Aurians could not tell them apart.

505-507PE: The Wargak Invasion reaches the northern ranges of the Danoran Moutains and the area around the great city state of Kolaran. There are many battles and smaller conflicts especially involving the Darkspeakers and the Shore Watchers. The invasion was turned back by Aurian Forces summoned to Kolaran's aid. Kolaran was saved and Aurian troops entered Kolaran as defense forces and left once the war was concluded. Pro-Aurian public opinion rocketed in Kolaran. Several powerful factions especially in the business-nobility argue for immediate membership in the 'Golden Empire.'

525PE: Kolaran officially joined the Empire realising all the benefits of such a move and those who resisted realising the likely results of continued refusal. This left the Danoran Mountains technically inside of the Empire's borders for the first time.

650PE: The Protectoran Mutiny in Kolaran is very brief. Only one Captain manages to turn his unit and he is summarily executed. This is not even noticed by any of the clans except the Shore Watchers.

674-675PE: The Danoran Mountain Campaign was planned and executed from Kolaran. The grand strategy of the Aurian offensive was designed by the Blue Protectoran's Grand Admiral Keele Masterton, who masterminded the campaign. Before he even initiated first contact he met with civilian leaders in Kolaran, representatives of the Sapphire Wizards' Guild and members of the Church of Celer. In these strategy meetings he explained his overall plan and negotiated the involvement of these specialist auxiliaries. There was later a suggestion that use of a spy network and rogue clansmen were also crucial to his success. Masterton struck into the mountains with decisive and bold strokes taking significant sized forces often entire legion groups and supporting them with extensive civilian support trains. They struck out for the clan holds, surrounded and took them by storm where it was possible and by siege where it was not such as at the Nest. One by one the clans were broken and fled into the mountains in dispersed groups. Many rallied to the great clans and Masterton suffered a few defeats such as at the first storming of the Nest and the ambush at Windy Pass. Yet as the better weather arrived in 675PE and the snows melted the additional reinforcements were levied and crushing victories over the Spine Nesters when the siege starved them into a crazed desperate strike and the breaking of the Sunset Rising and the Shore Watchers during the 'longest day of blood' on High Ridge.

The sheer numbers the Empire called on, their cohesive approach, the heavily organised military, their use of trained battle wizards and clerics in significant numbers and their effective logistical plans which prevented the winter from destroying the army, proved decisive in bringing the mounatin clans to heel.

It was worthy of note, that the Thallow Greys hunting lands and clan hold were located in the south of the Danoran Mountain range and as such they were little involved in the fighting and thus escaped the crushing of the other clans. In the aftermath as the remnants were brought to assign themselves as Aurians the Greys were the most accepting of the stricture and so have become the most populous of the clans.

Also of note no one in the war officially fought at Darkspeak. There was a confirmed eruption during these years but records are silent on the subject other than that. The Darkspeaker Clan never officially swore to the Empire but at the same time they have never asserted their independence either. Though Darkspeak remains in impoerial lands no one wise tries to climb its jagged sides.

675PE: The town Dardon Point was founded (it was previously an independent fishing village) as an auxiliary port to Kolaran. It was now no longer under threat from Shore Watcher raids.

676-685PE: The Empire absorbed the mountain clans into its citizenship.

* Darkspeakers - not officially brought in, left to their isolation in the cursed volcano.
* Hollow Phantoms - brought in and their hold destroyed. Many chose to still live wild in the mountains
* Shore Watchers - Hated the Kolarans and were almost entirely wiped out refused to surrender, remnant live wild in the mountains.
* Spine Nesters - Brought in the hold survives and many still live there. They pay tax and allow recruits to go into the Blue Protectoran. Most still live in the Nest others move to lowland towns.
* Sunset Rising - Brought in after heavy defeats, Grand died on the longest day of blood and son swore to Masterton. Making the clan officially Aurian, the accept taxation and levy troops for the Protectorans. Their hold on High Ridge was later rebuilt, some live wild others move to low land towns.
* Thellow Greys - borught in, unbroken, hold still in tact many move to live in lowland towns.

687PE: The failed Saracan Invasion formalises the Aurian northern border. Several Clansmen were involved in the invasion and suffered defeats along with the rest of the Blue Protectoran warriors they were fighting alongside. In some cases this led to division the clansmen seeing the Empire weakened struck and there were some mutinies and several hundred clansmen under Agen 'The Brute' disappeared into Saracan after turning on their own side. However for others, such as the 56th legion, it bound them in blood the young clansmen finally able to bury the shame of being conquered in fighting together with their previous enemies. The 56th becomes something of a talisman and the Grand Admiral Masterton allows the clansmen to choose to group together there rather than splitting them as had been previously suggested. The 56th became known as mountain fighting specialists and gained the nick name the Ridge Warriors.

980-1003PE: The Huntings. In the early 980s several Shore Watchers and wild living Hollow Phantoms staged dangerous strikes on Empire-loyal clansmen. Now over three hundred years since becoming part of the Empire most Danoran Clansmen consider themselves Aurian first with their old heritage a simple local variance. These attacks were investigated and then bounties were offered on those clansmen who engaged in the attacks. In some cases entire cohorts were sent to deal with these forces but most of it was brought to an end by clansmen and opportunists taking up the bounty hunter roles.

1188PE: Blue Protectoran Mutiny in Tatrak. Kolaran forces are part of the mobilised naval teams to create the pincer attack to retake Tatrak. The clans provide scouting support and the 56th Legion, which included a majority of those with clansmen heritage plays a decisive role in the landward infiltration. The mutiny is brought to an end decisively and this conflict brought attention again to the skills of those who had retained their ancient heritage. Though few now live in the wild of the mountains the great holds of the Nest and Grey Founding were large enough to be considered cities of a sort. These efforts were said to prove their loyalty and so those locations were allowed to call their town leaders Grands again and the 56th Legion were given special dispensation to use the ancient terms of Deaak for their Captains.

1512-1514PE: The First Dragon Army Invasion affects the mountain clans very little. The large clan holds send levies to the assistance of the Aurian Protectorans that are engaged in the fighting but few see any battle.

1643-1677PE: The new coast road and the passage east road to Free Country are built enhancing Kolaran's landward links. These roads reduce on wild bands effectiveness at raiding and reduce the need to go into the mountains for trade.

1690-1760: During this period many of those of clansmen ethnicity and heritage leave the mountains for easier living in the lowlands. Most of those who continue to live in the moauntains are now more likely to be based on mining, herding and dealing in the lucrative gem or ruin running trade. Ruin Running was seeking treasures in the ancient and now abandoned dwarf holds.

1898PE: The Second Dragon Army Invasion