Harthas Bird Prequel Part 1
Heulog Fraan grew up as the favorite son of a general who had seized control of the Altane Hegemony after the previous ruler showed his weaknesses through a series of political blunders. When his father made his grab at power, Heulog was old enough to recognize his father's wise moves as well as his mistakes. Years later, when Heulog left his father's crumbling nation to establish himself as the Lord and protector of a distant, uninspiring piece of land, he made an effort to appeal to the interests of his new subjects. This land (known after Heulog's arrival as Fraan's Land) was home to a remarkable number of bird species as well as a dull, superstitious group of people who were inordinately fond of these avian distractions. Shortly after he declared himself Lord over the region, Heulog made a brief (later acknowledged as futile) attempt to establish a taxonomic catalog of the birds he technically possessed. Of all the projects Lord Fraan unwisely began, this bird census was the only one not supported by one Harthas Droigan. Harthas Droigan was an occasionally wealthy citizen of Fraan's Land and the only man in the region able to manage a profitable mercenary army. Droigan had, for sizable fees, helped Lord Fraan deal with various problems that had become difficult to control. Fraan's bird census was one such issue, but Droigan refused to become involved for any reward Lord Fraan was willing to offer. Droigan's uncooperative attitude did not reflect contempt for taxonomy or for the census techniques being used. Harthas Droigan just hated birds. He hated their feathers, he hated their beaks, and he hated their songs. This sentiment was not unjustified, as Droigan had endured a series of incidents involving birds that can only be described as unfortunate.
Harthas Droigan's relationship with birds took a sour turn over a decade before Fraan's Land became Fraan's. Droigan had recently completed a perilous and costly sea voyage and had endeavored to rebuild his lost wealth by embracing the life of a common mercenary soldier. He moved from the eastern coast of the Thot continent to its southern, more mountainous regions, as these places were renowned for banditry, barbarism, and short, bloody, expensive wars. It was here that Harthas Droigan truly began to understand the profit to be had in taking advantage of people.
Having no reputation, shoddy equipment, and a complete lack of military experience, Droigan was forced to begin his mercenary career as a grunt in the army of Otaceni Vozidel. When this army was paid to go to war, Droigan's job was to kill as many enemy soldiers as he could before being killed himself. For this duty, Droigan was given enough compensation to purchase a sword, shield, spear, and minimal armor. The rest of his salary was dedicated to keeping these items in good repair. Droigan was given bonuses for delivering the scalps of slain enemies, but this money usually went to support habits that, though unsavory, were difficult to break.
Harthas enjoyed mercenary life. He was good at killing people, and his skills at swordplay became so refined he grew exceedingly difficult to kill. He was popular among the other soldiers, and an earlier career as a sea captain had endowed him with charisma and an aptitude for leadership. The general, Vozidel, recognized Droigan's skills and popularity and began to give the grunt assignments that made better use of his qualities.
Within two years of his joining the mercenary army, Harthas Droigan was one of the senior officers under Otaceni Vozidel. During open battle, it was Droigan who was expected to bring down the opposing army's most powerful soldiers and leaders. When it was called for, Droigan would make gruesome examples out of resistant towns and villages. If there was dissent within Vozidel's army (and there was very little during Droigan's tenure), it was Harthas who inflicted the punishments. Vozidel even granted Droigan to the rare honor of commanding a small force when a job was considered too small for Vozidel's attention or acquiring more finesse than the entire army was capable of producing. Unfortunately, it was one of these small missions that nearly brought Droigan's career as a mercenary to a violent end.
A job was offered to Vozidel that involved hunting down raiders somewhere near a mining colony for a substantial reward. The colony was the property of a town that relied on iron ore as its sole source of income, though the ore was a high quality and the town itself was prosperous. Chasing bandits up mountains did not appeal to Vozidel nor did it require a full army to complete, so the general gave the assignment and 200 men to Harthas Droigan. The job seemed easy enough, but this proved to be an illusion shortly after Droigan's forces arrived at the client town of Llamp.
Droigan started to suspect he would not be hunting typical bandits when he heard about the victims of their raids. Not a single man, woman, or child attacked near the southeastern mountains had been spared and their corpses were often slashed to bloody, chunky ribbons. Another interesting aspect of the raids was that nothing was ever actually taken; the people transporting goods to and from the mining colony would be slaughtered, but the goods themselves would remain untouched. Droigan hated complications, and he was in a foul mood when he started his soldiers on the march toward the mining colony. It was on this march that the mercenary captain learned there were no bandits hiding in the mountains southeast of Llamp.
Harthas Droigan's relationship with birds took a sour turn over a decade before Fraan's Land became Fraan's. Droigan had recently completed a perilous and costly sea voyage and had endeavored to rebuild his lost wealth by embracing the life of a common mercenary soldier. He moved from the eastern coast of the Thot continent to its southern, more mountainous regions, as these places were renowned for banditry, barbarism, and short, bloody, expensive wars. It was here that Harthas Droigan truly began to understand the profit to be had in taking advantage of people.
Having no reputation, shoddy equipment, and a complete lack of military experience, Droigan was forced to begin his mercenary career as a grunt in the army of Otaceni Vozidel. When this army was paid to go to war, Droigan's job was to kill as many enemy soldiers as he could before being killed himself. For this duty, Droigan was given enough compensation to purchase a sword, shield, spear, and minimal armor. The rest of his salary was dedicated to keeping these items in good repair. Droigan was given bonuses for delivering the scalps of slain enemies, but this money usually went to support habits that, though unsavory, were difficult to break.
Harthas enjoyed mercenary life. He was good at killing people, and his skills at swordplay became so refined he grew exceedingly difficult to kill. He was popular among the other soldiers, and an earlier career as a sea captain had endowed him with charisma and an aptitude for leadership. The general, Vozidel, recognized Droigan's skills and popularity and began to give the grunt assignments that made better use of his qualities.
Within two years of his joining the mercenary army, Harthas Droigan was one of the senior officers under Otaceni Vozidel. During open battle, it was Droigan who was expected to bring down the opposing army's most powerful soldiers and leaders. When it was called for, Droigan would make gruesome examples out of resistant towns and villages. If there was dissent within Vozidel's army (and there was very little during Droigan's tenure), it was Harthas who inflicted the punishments. Vozidel even granted Droigan to the rare honor of commanding a small force when a job was considered too small for Vozidel's attention or acquiring more finesse than the entire army was capable of producing. Unfortunately, it was one of these small missions that nearly brought Droigan's career as a mercenary to a violent end.
A job was offered to Vozidel that involved hunting down raiders somewhere near a mining colony for a substantial reward. The colony was the property of a town that relied on iron ore as its sole source of income, though the ore was a high quality and the town itself was prosperous. Chasing bandits up mountains did not appeal to Vozidel nor did it require a full army to complete, so the general gave the assignment and 200 men to Harthas Droigan. The job seemed easy enough, but this proved to be an illusion shortly after Droigan's forces arrived at the client town of Llamp.
Droigan started to suspect he would not be hunting typical bandits when he heard about the victims of their raids. Not a single man, woman, or child attacked near the southeastern mountains had been spared and their corpses were often slashed to bloody, chunky ribbons. Another interesting aspect of the raids was that nothing was ever actually taken; the people transporting goods to and from the mining colony would be slaughtered, but the goods themselves would remain untouched. Droigan hated complications, and he was in a foul mood when he started his soldiers on the march toward the mining colony. It was on this march that the mercenary captain learned there were no bandits hiding in the mountains southeast of Llamp.
posted by Simon at 9:23 PM
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