Introduction: Dran - The Hammer of the East
When Nurian Mondrias established
dran during the reign of Drassa Askar, encouraged by the empress to do so in a bid to rid herself of the dangerous, treacherous general , it was intended as Arc's tool for projecting power eastwards.
The first Arcish nobles encouraged to settle in Dran and become the vanguard of its new ruling elite were the barons and princes of lesser noble houses who had struggled to penetrate the circles of real power that existed around the imperial throne and the
The Azure Chamber in Arc. These were ambitious and often resentful men and women who believed that greater opportunities lay northwards.
Those leaving Arc were simply referred to as the 'rats' and were publicly shunned and humiliated by the Arcish ruling elite, the manner of their departure from Arc stoked simmering resentments amongst them and were never forgotten. Generations of Dranian rulers have educated their children in the various slights and humiliations heaped upon them by Arc.
Nurian Mondrias sought to foster this resentment, his initial brief had been to establish a military outpost that could project power across the great plains, reminding the eastern Elsari and other tribes who was in charge. The establishment of Dran long pre-dates the establishment of
Ghotharand and
Veska, and Mondrias believed that Dran could become a city state in its own right, one which could eventually rival Arc for the leadership of the empire.
Nurian knew that the social class that had escaped Arc, a demographic with wealth and political power which was shut out of the most significant roles in the administration of the empire would be eager and enthusiastic initially, especially when they were able to establish large estates at the expense of indigenous tribes thrown off their ancestral lands. However, the scale of work required to build the outpost into a city and the wars fought to expand the limits of Dran's hinterland meant that some returned to Arc, greatly diminished in stature and wealth, whilst others died, the demands of frontier life being too great for them.
Dranians, despite the agendas they might have had, also were duty bound to serve the Arcish throne. The creation of Nurian's Rock as a training facility for troops from across the empire meant that when Dranian armies were not marching to fulfil the emperor's wishes, the city was performing a vital service for the various parts of the empire. Even in the year 295, Dranian military training and principals can be observed in the martial traditions of almost every nation or state in Aestis.
At around the time of the Gorer dynasty in Arc, Dranian expansionism became a powerful political idea. Dran was ruled by a marshal, its first one being Nurian Mondrias, and during the era of the Harithian Marshals the vast plains that stretched to the east ceased being seen as an obsctacle or a barrier to expansion, and instead became seen as a route to the east. The development of the Second Elsari kingdom brought the riders of the Elsari to the gates of Dran and the Dranian nobility and gentry clases enjoyed the spices and silks that the brought from the east.
The avarice of Dran's gentry meant that they quickly looked to the possibilities that the east offered, they believed that it would be possible to steal trade from Arc (which was the main marketplace for Elsari goods) and channel it through Dran; long before Dran broke away from the Arc Empire there was talk of an 'empire of the plains'. This was a term that Dranian soldiers, nobles and officials used to describe an system of Dranian controlled trade, nominally within the Arc Empire but in reality a challenge to it. The belief that many marshals shared was that Arc's wealth, not its military prowess, guaranteed its prominence. Most sages and thinkers agree that this is a fair assessment of the origins of Arc's power, and Dran's marshals hoped that by becoming richer they would break out of the role Arc had crafted for them. The establishment of the Ghothar and Veskan nations to the east and the eventual break up of the Arc Empire, and Dran's key role in bringing Arc to its knees changed the concept of the 'Empire of the Plains' to something far more warlike. For at least half a millennia, the lords of Dran who replaced the rule of the marshals have toyed with a future for the city not as a hub of trade, but as the metropole of an empire of conquest.
The Long History of the Great Eastern War
There have long been plans for a great eastern war over many centuries, they are the product of Arc's historic relationship with Veska, the growing veteran population in Dran and the idea that Dran's historic role was the hammer of the east. From the year -568 onwards there were regular 'pilgrimages of barley' where Dranian settlers were encouraged to build forts on the plains and cultivate the land to supply Dran with a wheat surplus. The building of the
The Prayadine Canal gave additional impetus to this colonisation, but most 'barley forts' failed. Poor soil, high winds and raiding tribes saw several generations of settlers eventually retreat to the Dranian hinterlands. A more gradual process of colonisation, initially unintentional, took place from the -470s onwards. As Dran became an ever more effective exporter of its mercenary armies, which garrisoned remote fortresses across Aestis, patrolled vulnerable trade routes and fought small wars where necessary, it experienced the problem of where to house and how to feed its growing army of veterans. Dranian officials began to insist, by way of part payment, on the resettlement of veterans to verdant lands controlled by the client state. Across Ghotharand, where decent farmland is scarce, Dranian veterans (many of whom were Ghothars) were settled with 'twelve acres and an ox'. In most instances, the Dranians contributed to their new adoptive land, knowing that they lacked the wealth or the social capital to be accepted in the city of their birth. Across the east, in Ghotharand and Veska, southwards in Del'Marah and across the southern shores of the Arclands there are hundreds of small villages and hamlets with Dranian names, and taverns with a Dranian sword over the hearth. In Ghotharand there are more Dranian veterans than in any other nation and owing to the relative weakness of the Ghothars, they have become a powerful bargaining chip in the hands of Dran's current ruler, Sorias Varren. Varren knows that the Ghothar Skalds are increasingly resentful towards the existence of non Ghothars on their soil and that this represents a threat to Dran's veterans. Dran, a warlike martial civilisation knows any attack on its citizens and former soldiers would be a cassus belli. King Roharradh of Ghotharand knows full well how tense and serious the situation is, he has traditionally looked upon the Skalds as an irritating anachronism, one that he would sweep from the kingdom if he could. However, the Skalds, the repositories of lore and knowledge for the Ghothar people are still popular and command immense and widespread respect. As the country spirals into poverty, bitterness and anger dwell in the hearts of many, and it is the feared reputation not only of the Dranian veterans, but also the retribution that Dran would seek that keeps the Ghothar nobility, gentry and peasantry from acting.
Varren's Vision
Several Marshals and Ruling Masters of Dran have considered a broad offensive in the east, to march 'from sea to ocean' and to sweep all in their way. Akayurdes Colorin, grandson to Nurian Mondrias himself first considered harnessing the power of the Arc Empire, which did not stretch beyond the Arching Mountains and using the vast manpower avaialble to cross the rest of the continent and seize the east. Since the independence of Dran, the option of using half a million or more soldiers (roughly what it was estimated to conquer Ghotharand, Veska and Oloris), is no longer there and Dranians have often looked to the Ghothars as a partner. In most instances the Israena, the council of war planning that is specifically responsible in Dran for wargaming the outcome of planned campaigns, has predicted ruin for Dran. Sorias Varren, the brilliant, ruthless and ego driven ruler of the Varren family, the de facto masters of Dran has begun to review the previous plans presented to the Israena, the most recent of which is two hundred and fifty years old. The great strategic problem that bedevilled most planners previously, along with manpower, was the rumoured existence of the great and terrifying beasts known as the Gorin. Even though many, owing to the influence of the scholars in
Harenis, dismiss their existence as a superstition, soldiers are often too fearful to cross the plains; in addition to this, there have been sightings of tall, skeltal walkers across the flat lands which would suggest their existence is more than a figment of the imagination. Varren believes that there is a way of safely navigating the plains, the seizure of the Prayadine Canal. He hopes that this will help him attack the very heart of
Veska, whilst the Ghothars, who he has been in secret negotiations with, attack from the north. Varren's obsession is to defeat the entirety of the east, and to that end he will hope to send and army to seize Kallah and from there invade Oloris. Dran will declare itself the capital of the east, though Varren has secretly hatched plans to seize
Ingdor and make it his eastern capital, burning Kraul, the city of the Veskan kings, to the ground. Varren has come to believe that in the final decades of his life, something monumental needs to happen in a reign that was largely peaceful and uneventful, in order for his name to be remembered. He believes that a great war in the east, leading to the biggest battles that Dran has ever fought will either secure a Dranian imperium for a thousand years or lead to the city's glorious end. Varren sees himself as an agent of either outcome, knowing that it is more noble to fight and be vanquished than to fail to accept the challenge.
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