Red Tower Pass

The **Red Tower Pass** is a series of passes that lead over the Zabirath in eastern Ahargan. As both headwaters of the Black Šyul are situated in the near, it is also called the Path of the Two Rivers.

Hadašham traditionally followed an isolationist policy apart from steady Dabrakhami immigration. During these times the pass was heavily fortified by a structure constructed of red granite what was known as the Red Tower among the merchants. At first it consisted a single lookout at the highest point of the pass. It encompassed later an entire garrison, alongside a zig-zagging road full of gatehouses on the way downwards. The place was both strategic as other nearby paths were impassable even on foot and impenetrable as the steep serpentine offered no cover from projectiles coming from the upper levels.

Luxury goods came from the tropical north, while manufactured produces were exported into the other direction. Tolls, duties and customs were applied in the shadow of the Red Tower, while both the products and the merchants were inspected for counterfeits and spies among them.

After the Empire was broken into the Pentarchy, the pass remained one of the few imperial prerogatives. Lacking funds the garrison turned to corruption for its upkeep what was an extremely lucrative business given the immerse wealth passing below. Commanders became rich beyond imagination, serviemen extorted a fortune large enough to retire in a matter of years. Both Ahargan and the Freelands tried to control the garrison that led to assassinations, mutinies and general violence. Merchants started to frequent the much longer eastern way, before the surging luxury prices forced the rulers to a rare compromise and power sharing agreement. The extortion remained, albeit in a controlled manner, and the revenues were shared between the two courts.

When it was the most needed, the fortress was in a state of disrepair. Instead of soldiers a bunch of corrupt rable occupied it, skilled in extorting money, uncapable of any kind of resistance. In the northern lands of Šalmaram a brutal conquest had raged sparing none who dared to resist. Iftin Sârkanu a young prince of nomadic herders was pressed against the Zabiraths and had no way out but through the pass. In the spring of 777 AGV a small group of his disguised soldiers were able to open a way up until the innermost yard of the defenses. After the alarm bells were rung many guardsmen were preoccupied with gathering their spoils, or outright fleeing the scene instead of battling the intruders. As such the takeover was completed in a matter of hours.

The Socotca nation passed through in the coming days. The Court of Ahargan assembled an army with the entire nobility present to confine the emerging threat, but it was annihilated in the Battle of the Zabiraths near to the pass by the better trained, highly motivated Socotca fighters. Iftin originally planned an escape as wanted to secure his nations survival and did not know much about Hadašham besides some telltales. After the opportunity presented itself the Socotca quickly occupied the lands north of the Šyul, creating the Aharganite Kingdom. From that time onwards the pass served and the main nerve of communications between Ahargan and Šalmaram. Widescale population movement took place, with Ahargan giving refugee to ordinary people escaping violence and undesired heterodox thinkers alike. The Red Tower was once more repaired and garrisoned with elite forces, impenetrable from the north.

It took almost three centuries and a similarly capable commander in the person of Nimir "Nebanakhan" Harkanalis for Hadašham, to retake the pass and impose once more complete control over the communications of the Subcontinent.