Mature Content

Mature Content

The adventurers laughed again, as they toasted with their ale for a succesful adventure.

"Thought I could hardly call an adventure going to clean a wine cellar -sorry, I meant a dungeon- from giant rats and a couple of sorry goblins who were trying to smuggle out some wine -I mean, treasure!-" joked a more experienced adventurer of the Zannas Adventurer Guild, as he combed his beard with hands full of -claimed- magical rings.

"Well, an adventure must begin somewhere!" said the rookie adventurers, laughing and ordering other round. The Zannas Adventurer Guild, a pompous name given by the Brown Orcs vanolosé lords of Zannas to their unsorted mercenaries -adventurers-, free to be hired by any citizen -to do a quest, was called the contract-, had a rather complex system of experience points, that allowed the mercenaries -sorry, adventurers- to progress to further levels: and so, often new adventurers were stuck with low level quests, that no one but the Vanolosé would call quests: delivering a letter, making an iron knife, collecting 20 or 25 of some itme or other, killing some oversided rats that seemed to LOVE the sewers of the city-: however, to access the higher level quests, the Guild demanded them to gain experience points... and the higher level quests were the most lucrative.

"I just find laughable how these guys, despise how HUGE they are, hire people 1/4 of their size to kill some pests!! They could simply SIT on them, and TADAH!! Work done!" Joked a wood elven ranger. Actually, she wasn't a wood elf, but she have always lived in the great cities of the south. Less was she a ranger, but her party needed a ranger, according to the guides of the Adventurer Guild to conform an adventurer party.

"They are real big softies!" a barbarian said. Barbarian was his class, as he actually was from a nearby village, and before joining the Adventurer Guild, he was a lawyer. However, he was clad in the Adventurer Guild Armor for Barbarians... that one could hardly call an armor. "I mean: who have seen a Vanolosé fighting?"

"They have grow to fat, lazy and rich they won't know how to even use their fists in a fight!!" other of the adventurers of the group said -the designed paladin, but he hadn't been a palace guard in his life-

"That's nonsense" a voice cackled from the end of the tavern. The rookie adventurers turned, to see how came hobbling a man with crutches: an old sailor, they could tell.

"What, old timer? You are going to say you lost your leg to a Vanolosé?"

"Indeed" he said.

"What? Did he stood over you while on the market?" The rookie adventurers laughed.

"You can laugh now. But you wouldn't be laughing when a Vanolosé come charging at you with half a tonne of weight or more" He said, sitting as he was offered a sit and an ale.

"You mean, you have really fought a Vanolosé?" one of them said, still incredulous.

"They may be Vanolosé, but the Vanolosé are orcs after all, and they hadn't renounced to violence" he explained.

"How come then, you never see them picking fights?" asked the barbarian.

"They abhor fruitless violence" the old sailor explained. "A Vanolosé wouldn't pic a fight, unless what he can win in that fight really overweights the risks involved, or the loss is too great" he explained. "Vanalose merchants may be near perfect pacifists until they are seriously threatened, or the expense of persecution becomes to high.  Than they might be as raging beasts.  A Vanalose 'coward' might give up their pocket money to a human gang quite readily.  But horribly rend those gang members apart should they think they can take the ruby in the special pouch sewn  into the powerful orc's clothes."

"Well, yeah" the wood elf ranger said. "But fighting in self defense is that. Fighting in self defense. Even the most peaceful creatures can be turn into beasts when cornered"

"So you tried to take a ruby from a secret pouch I take?" asked the paladin.

"No. It was in the War"

"...The War? What War?"

"The independence War of Zannas, in the Naval Battle of Raggmas, when they sunk the Imperial Fleet to the bottom of the sea. I was with the Unlic Imperial Navy, as part of a dumian corsair detachment." he explained. "Normally in war, the Vanolosé prefeer to hire mercenaries to fight their wars for them, often only with some few brown orcs officials to oversee the conflict.

However in times of need, when they have to fight, they prefeer to do it as sailors: and there are few ships in the ocean more scary than a Vanolosé War Galley, with Vanolosé rowers...
and then, the Zannas Infantry of Marine."

"What with them?"

"Think of an ogre, or a giant antorian orcs, like these Schlobomi brutes the Vanolosé hired: that's the strength, and the size.
Now give him intelligence"

No sir, don't laugh of the Vanolosé fighting skills... not unless you have fought and survived them."

"Well, they are slow" said the elf ranger.

"AH! Maybe on land... but I tell you, make race any galley of the seas of Tok and Caritz against a Vanolosé War Galley, and tell me who are slow, little elf!"

---

Zannas was a city in southeastern Aels, in the region of Rudlofurr, Nohalion.

History

Foundation

The city of Zannas was founded originally at the 983 a.a.H as a kanov colony of Blazakhov: However as was being fought the Second Blazik War (Dume-Blazakhov 981-1006), the colony was conquered by the Dumian armies, and human Dumian population arrived to the colony, given it a human character.

During the Third Blazik War (1054), it was used as an important base by the Dumian in their war against Blazakhov, who after this war was conquered by Dume.

Until the 1486, Zannas will be a human city of the Dumian Empire, but when it was divided that year Zannas became part of the Southern Dumian Empire, that later will become the Unlic Empire of Uslen. The division of the empire was done to better defend against the demonic invason, invasions that Zannas suffered constantly.

While the Northern Dumian Empire fell at the 1676 a.a.H, The Unlic Empire of Uslen would last much more centuries, and Zannas will continue it's existence under Unlic rule.

Vanolosé Traders

It was about the XIX century -during the Dark Age of Demons- when the Vanolosé orcs began to migrate to the human city of Zannas, migration that will change the city itself. Slowly, the Vanolosé orc rich traders will become the aristocracy of the city, and the vanolosé traders of the free cities -and from Zannas itself- will began to press the Unlic Emperor for more commercial rights of freedoms, being one of the most succesful non-human groups of the empire in such tasks.

During the First War of the Power, Zannas was first attacked by tokerí pirates of Tok-Thoria, and will later be sacked by the hordes of Satman the Apprentice at the 2207 a.a.H.

After the final defeat of the demons in the First War of the Power, the city was mostly rebuilt by the Vanolosé traders, who, using their influence, forced the indebted Unlic emperor to give the city the Status of a Free City of the Empire, at the 2229 a.a.H.

With the slow decline of the Unlic Empire, the human Imperial government autorities began to loss the grip of the power of the city to the Vanolosé orc guilds and bureaucracy, which expanded the economical power and commercial importance of the city.

During the last decades of the XXIII century, the tension between the imperial and city autorities worsened, and in three different occasions (2279, 2287 and 2301), Zannas vanolosé trader guilds will support economically and with mercenaries usurpers to the Imperial throne, which led to some open rebelions and armed conflicts (The Rebellion of the Tax Collectors, 2307-2315), in which Zannas was defeated, the walls of the city demolished and the Imperial autority reinstituted, and the category of Free City, removed.

So when Blazakhov returned to Nohalion, to contest the presence of Uslen, the Vanolosé population of the trading cities quickly joined the Kanov nation against the Emperor, being formally re-founded Zannas by Blazakhov at the 2.324 a.a.H, and will serve as a Blazakhovian base of power to their armies and navies against both Uslen and Tok-Thoria in the next decade.

However, at the 2.348 a.a.H, after 24 years of Blazakhovian rule, the Unlic Imperial Army retaked Zannas, which will fall in hands of Uslen.

The Emperor, to try to gain the loyalty of the now rulying Vanolosé Orc aristocracy, granted them a serie of excepcional rights, tax excemptions and commercial privileges, not only in Zannas but all around within the Empire.

As the economic importance of Zannas arised at the 2370's, the Emperor, having the Empire of Uslen in bankruptcy, tried to remove the tax excemptions and commercial privileges of Zannas.

This enraged the Vanolosé aristocracy of Zannas, and the tensions scaled up to the point that at the 2380, Zannas became an independent city-state.

In the following war, the fleets and mercenary armies of the Vanolosé of Zannas, aided by other Vanolosé Free cities of the seas of Tok and Caritz, defeated the Imperial armies and navies. And following their succesful example -and often, being paid to stage rebellions-, many former Unlic colonies declared their independence during the 2385-2391, forming new city-states and nations.

The Principality of Rudlofurr

The Thalasocrassy of Zannas, who had conquered many territories from the Unlic Empire, and that during their commercial expansion as well settled factories and trading outposts all over Caritz and Tok-Thoria, soon made contact with these newly formed nations who rebelled against the Unlic, specially the ones ruled as well by Vanolosé Orcs.

Then, as a way to organize all their territories was that was created the Principality of Rudlofurr, at the 2398 a.a.H, being more or less a confederation of trading city states, with a multi-ethnic and multi-species population ruled by the Vanolosé of Zannas.

Rudlofurr defeated then the Unlic fleet in the Naval Battle of Raggmas at the 2403, which left the trade of the sea of Caritz in their hands, which will be the first step in their campaign of expansion, trying to settle bases and colonies in the two seas, Tok and Caritz.

In this context, was the war against the Tokerí of Tok-Thoria, which will become in a proxy war with the Nigromante of Tok-Thoria at the 2.406-2.409 a.a.H.

Decline

During the 2400-2420, the military, naval and economic power of Rudlofurr only seemed to increase, as their territories and influence, and many Vanolosé said confident, they where going to replace the traditional powers of the region -Uslen, Blazakhov and Tok-Thoria-.

Navies and mercenary armies where recruited, fortresses and monuments builds, everything done with the mosts luxuries.

However, due their success and legendary riches, this bring as well unwanted attention, as from the north advanced the hordes of Nutk barbarians of Anutkahook, who will plunder and raid the territories of the Principality of Rudlofurr at the 2424 a.a.H.

Finally, the Nutks abandoned their Siege of Zannas, being stopped their rampage by the powerful walls of the city: however, they only retreated from the country after a strong payment in gold.

The barbarians weren't anymore at the gates of Zannas, but the damage and destruction they caused meant not only economic losses, but as well, will become an incentive to other raiders.

The Fall of the Principality

The arrival of the Gorbegeos, a nation of Kanovs from Western Aels, in principle shouldn't have changed much the situation of Rudlofurr: The Nutks had come before, and the walls did stop the invaders: and while the farmlands where ravaged and sacked, the fortifications proved too strong to the barbarians.

But the Earthquake of 2428 destroyed much of the defenses and powerful walls of the cities, and when the Gorbegeos arrived, theyeasily broke throught the cracked defenses, looting and destroying Zannas, capitol of the of the Principalty of Rudlofurr.

This left the rest of the Principalty in chaos and dissay, with many generals and officers of the principalty clashing to gather for themselves pieces of the shattered nation, when the Empire of Uslen brought the final blow to Rudlofurr, as they invaded shortly after