Karameikos - Vaults of Pandius
Karameikos - Vaults of Pandius
Karameikos - Vaults of Pandius
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
The History <strong>of</strong> <strong>Karameikos</strong>In the following years Stefan called to himmany cadet members <strong>of</strong> Thyatian noblefamilies, men and women gifted withheritage and skills to rule, but not destinedto inherit their family titles. Adventurers,nobles, and merchants came to <strong>Karameikos</strong>and they came to represent the largestimmigration ever experimented by thiscountry during its modern history.Intermarriage between Thyatians andTraladarans became increasingly commonafter AC 970, giving birth to young people <strong>of</strong>mixed heritage who more and more tendedto see themselves as Karameikans – not asThyatians or Traladarans anymore. Indeed,in the thirty years after Stefan’s seizure <strong>of</strong>Traladara, Thyatian presence has grown tonearly one-fifth <strong>of</strong> the human population <strong>of</strong><strong>Karameikos</strong>, with another fifth being people<strong>of</strong> mixed Thyatian-Traladaran ancestry.In his first thirty years <strong>of</strong> rule, the GrandDuke has improved infrastructure, fortifiedimportant communities and his realm’sborders, built an army to defend it, andcreated a network <strong>of</strong> loyalties and allianceswith the Traladaran clans and with hisThyatian vassals. Examples <strong>of</strong> this are thebuilding <strong>of</strong> Castellan, Rugalov, and Duke’sRoad Keeps, as well as the construction <strong>of</strong>paved roads like the Westron and the Duke’sRoads.Marilenev, like the Kopul <strong>of</strong> Radovar, the Dromilov <strong>of</strong> Dmitrov, andeven the support <strong>of</strong> the exiled Gogunov from Ierendi. The plancontemplated a rebellion <strong>of</strong> Specularum while a Traladaran armywould have descended upon the city from the north to occupy it.The capital’s rebellion failed, however, and the Traladaran armywas cornered in the ruins <strong>of</strong> Krakatos, where it fortified itself.Despite a fierce resistance, the Traladarans were defeated; theKopul were stripped <strong>of</strong> their title and lands, many <strong>of</strong> their memberswere executed for treason alongside most <strong>of</strong> the Marilenev clan.The Dromilov’s clanhead (who after all had had a limitedinvolvement in the events <strong>of</strong> the rebellion) chose to reach theGogunov in their Ierendian exile and thus the family managed tokeep their lands – albeit losing the whole northern half <strong>of</strong> them tothe Barony <strong>of</strong> Vorloi.Moreover, Stefan supported the Thyatianpatriarch Olliver Jowett, who had split fromthe Church <strong>of</strong> Thyatis, and his heterodoxideas, financing the creation <strong>of</strong> the Church<strong>of</strong> <strong>Karameikos</strong> to further improve the sense<strong>of</strong> autonomy <strong>of</strong> his country from theThyatian Empire and to weaken the Church<strong>of</strong> Traladara, which had opposed and stillwas opposing his rule. The new church hadan unexpected success, winning the favor <strong>of</strong>some young Traladarans and quicklybecoming the second faith <strong>of</strong> the country.This last migration <strong>of</strong> Thyatians has had amostly positive effect on <strong>Karameikos</strong> from ademographic perspective because, besidesgenerating a notable rise <strong>of</strong> the population,the Thyatian immigrants have given thecountry a new expansionist thrust towardthe widening <strong>of</strong> the arable lands and theconquest <strong>of</strong> the wilderness. Nevertheless, tooutside eyes <strong>Karameikos</strong> appears as aregion still extremely wild in most <strong>of</strong> itslands, where an adventurer or a pioneerwilling to risk their life fighting againstnature’s perils and monstrous enemies willfind cheap lands for the grab, and wherecivilization advances through constant strifeagainst he wilderness and their dangerousresidents.65THRESHOLD: The Mystara Magazine Issue #1