Blue Reachman

# Blue Reachmen

The **Blue Reachmen** are a human people who live along the southern shores of the Giants’ Grave Sea. They are well-known for their seafaring ability, and hardiness in the face of adverse conditions. Similarly to their White Reachman cousins, the Blue Reachmen descend from Gerudians intermixing with local populations, northern Alenic tribes in this case.

## History

### Origins

The earliest expressions of Blue Reachmen culture are difficult to illuminate, as their traditional homelands have historically been extremely sparsely populated, consisting of small settlements hugging the coastline. Most early records of the region come from outside sources, as dominion over the southern coast of the Giants’ Grave sea was a constant point of contention between the Gnomish Hierarchy and Castanor during the Greater Castanorian period, especially following the Castanorian occupation of Gerudians following the Giant’s War. The extreme isolationism exhibited by their Old Alenic brethren in the surrounding Greatwoods made it so that culturally, the Blue Reachmen were far more connected with the Gerudians across the sea than they were with their terrestrial neighbors. Over time, this connection led to heavy Gerudian influence within Blue Reachman customs, as well as significant intermarriage between the two peoples. Though they still may bear the iconic Alenic distrust of outsiders, this history of multiculturalism has set the Blue Reachmen apart as some of the most tolerant in the wider Alenic family. A shining example of this can be seen in the thriving goblin community in Bayvec.

### Under Adshaw

In the aftermath of the Dragonwake, many Alenics saw fit to flee their ancestral homeland, either out of fear or hope for a better life. The resultant social changes across Cannor were drastic, but the situation along the Alen itself was no less momentous. Pressured by the rising threat of the Gawedi, many of the northern tribes living within Greatwoods united under the banner of Rygan of Adderwood, forming the Kingdom of Adshaw. The newborn kingdom quickly turned its eyes to the scattered and disunited Blue Reachman cities of the coast, and made short work of conquering them one by one.

It is, ironically, under Adshaw’s dominion that Blue Reachman culture saw its first flourishing. For the first time in history, the various cities were united by a single characteristic: opposition to their collective subjugation. Despite their distaste for the arrangement, the Blue Reachmen were still far too few in number to hope to face Adshaw in open rebellion. As Reaver raids grew ever more common leading up to the Era of Black Ice, their hopes of independence became even more untenable, as any independence from Adshaw would make the growing cities ripe targets for pillagers.

During their time within Adshaw’s dominion, the Blue Reachmen underwent a process of re-Alenization. Ties to the mainland were strengthened, while overseas connections steadily waned. Old Alenic migration into the Reach, as well as Adshaw-appointed governors, slowly drew the coastal culture away from its Gerudian roots, and brought it more in line with what was more accepted within the Greatwoods. However, such cultural exchange cut both ways, and the staunchly meritocratic Blue Reachmen found themselves staffing a disproportionately large number of non-inheritable positions within the kingdom’s administration. Combined with the Reachmen’s mercantile wealth, though Adshaw ruled the Reach, it seemed as if the Reachmen truly ruled Adshaw.

The power of the Old Alenics and the Blue Reachmen was thus locked into a perpetual struggle for power and influence in the north. This came to an end with the outbreak of the War of the Sorcerer King. After a bloodied Adshaw sided with the Black Castanorians to defeat their Gawedi rivals, the Blue Reachmen made their grab for independence right as the League of Free Realms began to turn the tide in Lencenor, kicking off the Blue Reachmen Wars of Independence. Supported by the elves of Migrant Ship Galsheáh, the Blue Reachmen were fully liberated in 1024 at the Battle of Coldmarket.

### Post-Independence

Free once more, the Blue Reachmen were able to return to their ancestral ways of bickering amongst each other. Though disunited, the newly-founded state of Celmaldor took on the role of a sort of first-among-equals amongst the Reachmen. Though it by no means ruled the Reach, the northern elves used their influence to make sure that the Reachmen stayed just united enough to pose a challenge to any who hoped to muscle into the region, but not united enough to challenge the elves’ trade dominance in the Giant’s Grave. Under their long-sighted aegis, the state of the Alenic Reach remained practically static for centuries.

The status-quo in the reach was only truly threatened in the fallout of the Small Country Rebellion. Gawed, having lost some of its most valuable land, turned to the north in hopes of offsetting the loss. It took many wars to fully subjugate the region, as the Blue Reachmen stood resolute in the face of another tyrant from the south. Out of all the Reachmen, Bayvic stood the most resolute, outlasting even the monarchy of Gawed. Eventually though, it too fell to the guns of the Northern League, cementing the magnates’ control over the Alenic Reach.

### In the Northern League

Unlike their former Old Alenic overlords, the Blue Reachmen had far fewer reasons to chafe under the rule of the magnates. This time, there were no monarchic customs to strive against, nor was there (blatant) cultural favoritism. In fact, the Blue Reachmen once more had much to gain from their subjugation. The fires of industry along the Alen were hungry for the bountiful timber of the Reach, and the ports of the Reach soon were packed with shipments of incoming resources and outgoing goods.

That is far from saying that things were perfect between the Reachmen and their overlords. Nascent industries in the Reach were swiftly outpaced by their domineering competition to the south. In a nation where wealth rules all, the once-powerful mercantile interests of the Reach were similarly left behind by the preposterously wealthy industrial magnates.