Tholis Mesa

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Tholis Mesa was the name of the city built onto the Mesa on south-western Auria. It was a major city in the Aurian Empire.

The city was the centre of its Duchy which in turn forms a crucial part of the Tor Zeric Trading Area. A very large contingent of Yellow Protectoran legions were based on and around the mesa.

## History

1500BE: The Mesa already existed at this point along with the legend of the djinn creating the crystal caverns and blessing the area with its immense mineral resources.

1300BE: By this date there was evidence that the dwarvern city of Thornilm already existed.

1250BE: The legend of Carbal Oremaster and the Ravenwatch was routed in this era.

990-800BE: During the Wars of Betrayal some of the human tribes turned on and drove out the dwarves from many settlements. Many dwarves from the south drew in towards the Mesa and the safety of Thornilm. The exact nature of these wars and conflicts has been lost in human records. Though all records found agree that in this first century the dwarves remained in control of the city and the Mesa itself. Apparently the humans of the Ravenwatch maintained their alliance with the Thornilm even against other humans.

700BE: Ravenwatch humans were wielding iron and steel weapons by this century.

450BE: The Ravenwatch humans stand with the dwarves in a series of wars. There was a mural made of the battles in the lower halls of palace complex known as the Emerald Arch. These murals showed many battles with the dwarves and the humans fighting together. It also showed some of the humans with the heads of ravens. Historians suggested that it was in gratitude for this alliance that the dwarves gave the human tribe honourary status as clansmen. The Watchstone was entrusted to the humans according to legend at this point.

370BE: 'The Duke' rallied the Ravenwatch to fight with the Thorn Clan against a series of greenskin and human attack. After they succeeded the Duke took the title Duke and was renamed Duke Ravensee. He was the progenitor of the modern Ravenscar family.

300-250BE: Dwarvern exodus. For uncertain reasons though surely as some consequence of the Wars of Betrayal many dwarves left Thornilm and it surrounds. It was mainly those of a militaristic or political persuasion and left the majority of dwarves in the city craftsmen, rune workers and miners.

210BE: Thornilm suffered a major defeat it is unsure exactly how. What seemed certain in the evidence was it involved betrayal and the deaths of many dwarves. After this time Thornilm started to become known as Tholis or Tholis Mesa. It was now a human city with a large dwarvern population rather than dwarvern city with human inhabitants.

180BE: The Duke Thakal Ravensa declared Tholis Mesa to be the centre of his dukedom. He ruled it like a king and started wars of conquest that raged on and off for the next ten years.

180-170BE: The Raven Dukedom conquers the area around it.

180-179BE: First, Ravensa subjugated dissenting factions in the Mesa itself. He centralised power in himself, but though he was not averse to using military power there were very few dwarves killed in this era suggesting the dwarves accepted his leadership of the city without undue protest.

178-176BE: The conquest against the riverfolk. The riverfolk for leagues along the Sirial river are brought into the Tholis Mesa Dukedom. Ravensa used longboats on the river with sails, ores, sunken rams and dwarvern rune weapons. Those who refused to bend the knee to Tholis Mesa were either beaten or fled the river.

174-171BE: Tholis Mesa Dukedom secured the land around it to the north and south. Some frontiersmen were forced into the duchy this way but there were also some civilisations though information on those was lost. One appears to have been an elven community in the woods north of the Sirial river. This was of particular note to historians as it is clear the duchy enjoyed strong support from its continuing dwarvern population and dwarves and elves have almost never been willing to fight each other.

105BE: The first war with Cthol Tatrak was recorded in these years. It appeared to have been primarily defensive and ended with an expansion of Tholis Mesa's land borders. Records from this war were the first written reference to the Ravenhood or the personal ducal guard.

5BE: The powerful seaborne nation of Tatrak forms alliances through marriage with its previous rival kingdoms and they are renamed Gan Tatrak (Later Gan Tarak) and Cthol Tatrak (Later Cthol Tarak)

0BE: Aurian Empire announced by Jomark.

12P-14PE: The Kingdom of Tatrak attempted to take control of the Sirial river west of Tholis Mesa itself. They believed they were so much larger than the duchy that they would be able to control the area without needing to fight. They were wrong. This resulted in the Riverwar between Tatrak and Tholis Mesa. Tholis Mesa won in no small part due to Tatrak being a seaborne power and inexpert at fighting on land. Other key factors were the dwarvern hero Jeor Axehand and the Duchy's incredible skill at fighting on rivers. There was an attempt during the war to hit Tholis Mesa itself but this was an unmitigated disaster for Tatrak and simply cost them resources, men and reputation. The duke was Therin Ravensa during this conflict.

43-48PE: The Second Commerce Wars alarmed Tatrak who responded by tightening their controls on Gan Tatrak and Cthol Tatrak. This makes it very unlikely they would reach out against Tholis Mesa. Yet the wars alarmed the Duke as he saw the Aurian Empire as a much greater danger than Tatrak had ever been despite the great distance between Tor Honarik and the Mesa.

64PE: Kolaran creates a formal trade alliance with Auria. Tatrak formally banned their vassal states from copying and tried to pressure Tholis Mesa into refusing such a deal as well. To oppose this they offered their own deal to the Duchy. Tholis took this deal but maintained some trade links with Auria as well.

65-70PE: Increased raiding led to Tholis Mesa powerfully increasing its landward forces. The raiders were mainly Elygian. Most of the bands were put down within five years but the tensions continued from now on. It was possible that these raiders were sponsored by Tatrak in an attempt to expand as Trash had in order to stave off Aurian expansionism.

81PE: The 'Reprimand' in response to belligerent leaders in Cthol Tatrak, Tatrak itself launches a naval attack on Cthol Tatrak and Gan Tatrak is forced to assist. Cthol Tatrak is brought to heel but the conflict polarised factions in the vassal states and Tholis Mesa that eventually led to a pro-Aurian movement.

85-100PE: Border trouble with Elygia. Tholis Mesa mobilised against the northern Katan tribes and fought regular skirmishes with the Strange Sand raiders.

123PE: The Princess Fiasco. Tatrak attempts to completely take over its vassal states by marrying their princesses into the royal families by force. There was even some Tatrak nobility who tried to marry into the dutchy. Most failed but Kyle Westerman, who was nobility, but not royalty, in Tatrak. He married the Duke's second daughter. This began the Westerman branch of the Ravensa family. A line that continued unbroken for the next two thousand years.

127PE: The attempted kidnapping of the Ravensa/Westerman scion was foiled by a group of heroes including the baby's parents.

129PE: A strike team from Tholis pursue those who took the Westerman babe. They track the kidnappers to the northern Elygian power of Katan.

208-209PE: Cthol Tatrak, with backing from the Kingdom of Tatrak, engages in another aggressive war with Tholis Mesa. These conflicts went better for the seaward nations than previous efforts and though no direct attack is made on the Mesa their army was defeated in the field. The Duke was forced to sign a treaty which gave Cthol Tatrak concessions which included stiff war reparations as well as a change of land borders between the two nations. This included the Choral Forest and the villages and towns which used its natural resources. Tholis had been quite reliant on the wood and now was forced to buy the resource from Ctholian merchants.

364PE: Kolaran signed the military trade-routes mutual defence treaty with Auria. Tatrak pressured its vassals and Tholis Mesa in order to ensure they did not do likewise.

439PE: Gan Tatrak reasserted its independence by agreeing to trade deals with Gilgan and Auria without going through the Tatrak envoys. When the Tatrak objected Gan Tatrak simply removed their envoys and ignored their threats. This made Tholis Mesa realise that improving its military was key to keeping its independence.

445-449PE: The Third Commerce Wars or the Tatrak Conquest. The Kingdom of Tatrak embarks in aggressive raiding against Kolaran and all sea borne trade in the Shining Sea. Auria supported Kolaran and took Tatrak by force.

505-507PE: Wargak Invasion was turned back by Aurian Forces. Tholis Mesa was never attacked. Several powerful factions especially in the military that they should join the 'Golden Empire.'

510PE: Gan Tatrak officially joins the Empire realising all the benefits of such a move and those who resisted realising the likely results of continued refusal.

523-524PE: The southern campaign to take Tor Zeric put Auria on the edge of the duchy of Tholis Mesa. This runs alongside the simultaneous western campaign to take Cthol Tarak.

527-529PE: Auria conducted the focused Sirene Campaign to take **Tholis Mesa**. This resulted in the Raven Dukedom being absorbed into the Aurian Empire and the Duke swearing fealty to the Imperial Throne.

650PE: The Protectoran Mutiny in Tholis Mesa was interesting in Tholis Mesa. Several battalions were directly involved in Tholis Mesa. Importantly the ducal guard the Ravenshood helped secure the palace and though the city was governed by lawlessness for three days eventually as the mutiny failed across the Empire many of the mutineers fled to Elygia. Most of these became bandits or outlaws of some kind and many became what would later be known as the Sandsliders.

1088PE: Borderland bounties are given on Elygian raiders, outlaws and even unlicensed slavers.

1245-1246PE: The War of Chains was started when Yellow Protectoran forces marshaled in Tholis Mesa and Tor Zeric pushed into Elygia. The two pronged strike under Commander in Chief Vald Lorkan was devestatingly effective in one way but utterly ineffective in another. The battles were almost all Aurian wins and many were decisive and conclusive. Thousands of nomads were slaughtered in the northern tribes. Dozens of border towns were raided, taken or razed. Thousands of slaves human and visk were taken by the Aurian military. However Auria was unable to make successful significant expansion to its borders. These results were mainly due to the same facts. Sariport and Kaladire did not fully mobilise against the Aurian Empire. They left the northern towns and tribes to die without even trying to engage the EMpire with their true forces. As they didn't it became too tempting for Auria to decalre the war and win and avoid the major losses going after the Elygian heartland would have required. Those from the Raven Dukedom certainly had no interest in pushing on a hundred leagues through deserted land to bleedmon the sands of Elygia.

1512-1514PE: First Dragon Army Invasion affected Tholis Mesa very little. They sent levies to the Yellow Protectoran, which engaged in the fighting but little more.

1643-1677PE: New roads are built enhancing Tholis Mesa's non-river transport links. Specifically a road to Cthol Tarak and additional southern roadways into Elygia.

1898PE: Second Dragon Army Invasion

## Geography

Tholis Mesa was located in the south-western reaches of the Aurian Empire. It was a large walled city. It covered the top of the hollow mesa and eventually spread down into the rock itself. Fortunately it was blessed with a lot of surrounding flat land, that was used for farming which supported the population.

## Economy

The duchy was extremely wealthy. It was a remarkable find mines with veins of different ores all in one place. The caves within the mesa contained silver, iron and copper ore, all lucrative and important natural resources. It was best known however for the discovery of the so called Crystal Caverns, where incredibly large gem stones were able to be cut directly from the rock. This many natural resources of different types were so unlikely to be found in one place there was a legend of Djinn creating the Mesa as a reward to the dwarves and elves who once did them a great service. The story has many versions. Regardless the result of these previous points has meant that Tholis Mesa has always been incredibly well off and a place often sough.

## Demographics

 Dwarves
 Halflings
 Half-breeds
 Greenskins

### Religion

Knowledge was by far the most dominant religion in the aspect of Celer, unsurprisingly in an Aurian city founded on riches. All six Avatars have shrines representing their different aspects present in the city but the others are little remarked. Religion here was always caught up in the remarkable fortune of the city. The temple was called the Gem of Gratitude for that reason. It contains the Djinnhold however which was always another thing that kept religious fervour high in the city.

## Politics and Government

Tholis Mesa had a Senator to represent it in the Imperial Senate. It also had an imperial Governor as the installed leader of the city. However importantly the Duke or Duchess of Tholis Mesa was also a leader in the city even after its succession into Auria and was given specific powers and right including that of overall head of the city. Though they could not affect votes in the Senate, nor could they impact financial rulings, which fell under the Governor who operates as Trademaster of the city reporting into the Trademaster of the Tor Zeric Trading Area.

## Military

The Yellow Protectoran had significant forces present in Tholis Mesa at all times. A full two legions were stationed in the Mesa on a regular basis. They and surrounding legions would report into the General of the city.

These legions as many of the Yellow Protectoran were defensive specialists and trained in the use of Tholis Mesa's unique defenses. The Mesa itself operating as a wall for the city and the River Tunnel.

## Culture

Tholis Mesa though positioned in Auria and on the northern edge of Elygia had a culture defined mainly by its own unique history. The city was always heavily invested in the mines underneath its bulk. The role of the Duke and Earls defined polite society even after they were absorbed into the Aurian Empire.