Gyrahzym Okand - Shadow Pass

The austere beauty of the Great Northern Mountains is dotted with the wreckage of the once-great Kuzaarik culture. The sweeping vistas and lofty mountain peaks gleaming with ice can only distract the focus of its viewer for so long before the overgrown ghost towns of the ancient Kuzaarik Confederacy come into focus and remind one that there used to be a vast and vibrant civilization inhabiting the far-flung rugged terrain of the north.
East of the Vinyabah Gohrahd, along the once busy and well-cared-for road that connected the Eastern City States of the Kuzaarik Confederacy, lie the remains of a multitude of ancient strongholds. They speak of the former glory of the old Kuzaarik, a time and way of life now all but wiped from memory by tragedy and the Long Way. There is little life in them now save for nature reclaiming them and the scattered outposts of the desperate but hopeful Resettlement Council.
One, however, has been stubbornly clung to despite the tragedy and political machination. It has become well known (and oft-maligned) in modern times as an independent town on the eastern frontier of Kuzaarik control. Known for its lawlessness and rumored to be a hideout for dissidents and outlaws, it is despised and plotted against by some. For others, it has gained a reputation as a model for what the Kuzaarik culture could be in a few hundred years.
Although the High Council believes the small town is under the control of Vinyabah Gohrahd, the residents of Gyrahzym Okand do not share that same sentiment. The residents tolerate the light hand the Council and Industrial Unions keep upon them, but revel in the independence they take. For the residents, their small town nestled in the mountains is a reminder of their glorious, distant past and a hope of things to come.
Gyrahzym Okand, or as it was known before The Long Way, Gyrahzym Okand Vorat - sits on the lower eastern slopes of Mount Yoozh, whose soaring rocky parapet forms the western wall of the Varzaht Valley. To the west is the Gyrahzym Okand - The Shadow Pass, a high and dangerous path twisting around and sometimes through the mountains that eventually leads west into Vinyahbah Gohrahd. Northwest of the city sits the high peaks of the Drryvehneen Brahtz, the impossibly high ice-covered giants of the Great Northern Mountains. The highest of these - Tehy Kogundah Nulgronkyre - The Voice of Thunder, makes the view from Gyrahzym Okand one of the most beautiful in the north.
As beautiful as the city and its vistas are, the history of this city is, like the story of the Kuzaarik Confederacy, one of tragedy. Once a busy fortress city along the trade highway, its grandeur was stolen by the cataclysm of cooling thermal vents that rocked the old Confederacy and beckoned their decline. Gyrahzym Okand Vorat became a major stopover on the refugee path west from the Eastern Kuzaarik City States as the crisis took hold and the residents of the eastern City States sought refuge and new homes.
Gyrahzym Okand was the last stop before a dangerous passage around and through the high peaks to the west of the fortress and served as a way station for the refugees pouring out of the fallen cities westward.
It was full to bursting with refugees traveling west when a combination of horrific weather and the arrival of a fever plague spelled disaster for the fortress. A Kuryihn Ryansk - The Storm that Flays - set in, shutting down the Gyrahzym Okand to large numbers of civilians. Sadly, the road closed just at a time when a group of refugees with Mountain Fever came through the eastern gates. With the road closed and nowhere for the refugees to go, the fever spread rapidly through the sprawling tent cities full of refugees. 
The citizens were not immune either. With the roads through the pass shut down, there was nowhere to escape the fever. By the time the roads cleared, the inhabitants of the city had nearly all perished.
Shortly after the initiation of the Long Way, Gyrahzym Okand was occupied again by the Longbeards, a group of dissidents who fought the newly formed High Council and legislated Long Way. They came upon a grim scene when they reached the fortress, as the few survivors of the Mountain Fever had escaped and left the dead where they lay. It was a somber task to make the fortress ready for what turned out to be another disaster for the Kuzaarik of Gyrahzum Okand Vorat.
A war was prosecuted against all dissidents, and Gyrahzym Okand Vorat would not escape its wrath. When loyalists came to besiege the town, they found their opponents well-armed and behind the then-stone walls of the town. Unable to negotiate the pass to properly besiege the city, the Kuzaarik loyalists did the unthinkable - they brought the mountain down on the stronghold. The avalanche and rockslide swept the walls and defenders of the city before it, burying the dissidents in the rubble.
The stone walls and most of the city were carried away in the murderous landslide. The defenders were buried beneath the stone and the rebellion in Gyrahzym Okand Vorat was crushed. The loyalists marched back to the last remaining Kuzaarik city-state, Vinyabah Gorahd, leaving the Longbeards buried in the rubble. The few that survived this onslaught would call this battle Keev Tasyiz Tos - Blood from Stone.
After the war, the Kuzaarik retreated behind the walls of Vinyabah Gorahd, licking their cultural wounds and trying to survive as a people. The dissidents to the Long Way were mostly killed, but those who survived either traveled into surrounding Kingdoms or found hideouts throughout the mountains.
A few eventually trickled back into the ruins of Gyrahzym Okand and began to rebuild. Left alone by Vinyabah Gorahd as they tried to preserve their people and culture, the re-settlers were able to clear the rubble of the once-great trading town and raise an independent society from its ruins. The town was renamed and the modern era of Gyrahzym Okand was born.
In 342 there was a patriotic resurgence in Vinyabah Gorahd - a yearning for the glory days of the Kuzaarik Confederacy. Though it was agreed by the High Council that the Kuzaarik were nowhere near ready for a cultural renaissance, they gave their consent to an expedition east along the old roads to see what had become of the outposts that dotted the road.
This expedition would be led by the The Resettlement Council. Though an old organization set up in the second generation after the Long Way was instituted, internal politics and a standing feud with the High Council had kept the group from having any real power. The resurgence of patriotic fervor in 342 and the social unrest it fomented changed the minds of the ruling Kuzaarik, relinquishing their political misgivings about an expedition.
By this time most of the cultural knowledge of Gyrahzym Okand Vorat’s tragedy had been lost, known only to a few scholars or those who knew where to look. Imagine the shock of the expedition when they descended Shadow Pass and found a thriving Kuzaarik civilization built on the ruins of the old fortress city! Also noted by the Expedition’s Leader, Ulga Tahlynah, was that the residents of Gyrahzym Okand did not seem nearly as happy to see the expedition as the expedition was to “discover” the settlement.
Ulga, a member of the Priesthood and Resettlement Council, immediately reported the existence of Gyrahzym Okand back to the High Council. This was done for purely political reasons - the Council was shown the error of their ways, and hope was re-kindled that other such Kuzaarik civilizations awaited the Resettlement Council just over the next pass.
Of course, this turned out to be wishful thinking, and beyond Gyrahzym Okand no further Kuzaarik were encountered. Before the next winter had settled in, Ulga and her expedition found themselves once again marching through Gyrahzym Okand on their way back to Vinyabah Gorahd.
Only a short time later, Ulga would come to live in Gyrahzym Okand. Her deeds in defense of the town would establish both a priestly line and a connection with the Resettlement Council that remains to this day.
The years after Gyrahzym Okand’s “discovery” by the Tahlynah Expedition were violent and complicated for the small town. The High Council, the PDC, and the Industrial Unions all sent people east to assert control over what they considered their political spheres and domains.
They did not meet with the enthusiasm they believed was appropriate.
The laws of Gyrahzym Okand were almost copies of the old Statutes of the Kuzaarik Confederacy, and the people were not keen to give them up or adhere to the Long Way. They found it restricted their way of life far too much. The benefits the Council promised were already enjoyed throughout the Varsaht Valley.
The Industrial Unions encountered artisans and workers who had lived and worked without oversight and held their association with whom they pleased. They resented being forced to restrict their markets and live by the Union rules that gave much of their profit back to their new political and economic masters.
The PDC found a completely ungovernable people with a frontier mindset that didn’t care for the greater good that the High Council spoke of, especially when it came with a whole new set of rules, regulations, and sacrifices that they felt had nothing to do with them. Having been cut off from the rest of Kuzaarik society for so long and fending for themselves, the citizens of Gyrahzym Okand had come to feel they were a people all their own who didn’t need the laws of the Vinyabah Kuzaarik to govern them. Whatever sacrifices they made were not necessary in the little village, and they had several hundred years of history to prove it.
As more officials from Vinyabah Gorahd poured into the town, the tension rose. Predictably, violence broke out as the PDC claimed the citizens to be under the laws of the Long Way. Things came to a head when over fifty citizens were rounded up by the PDC and imprisoned in a makeshift stockade within the city barracks.
None other than Ulga Tahlynah led a militia of citizens demanding their release. There weren’t enough PDC in Gyrahzym Okand to handle the unrest, and on a horrific Gavahol in 356, all “foreign” Kuzaarik in Gyrahzym Okand were killed after clashes with the citizens became violent.
Word did not get back to Vinyabah Gorahd, as there was no one left to bring it back. The winter of 356 was the beginning of an unnatural period of harsh and long winters in the Great Northern Mountains, and although The High Council eventually realized something was wrong, there was little time to organize and carry out reprisals with food shortages and social unrest within their walls.
Gyrahzym Okand was given a respite as both they and Vinyabah Gorahd dealt with the Withering Years, a period between 356 and 375 where the longer winters caused both issues with crops in the lower valleys and changes in Urdaggar raiding patterns as the Tribes became more active and desperate.
In 375, when Spring came at the correct time and hope again filled the people's hearts, a massive war kicked off against the Urdaggar who had coalesced around a powerful and dangerous Spider Tribe Sorceress, Shadak Fatespinner. Violent Urdaggar raids surged with the spring thaws, carrying before them the villages and farms of the lower valley. Thousands of Kuzaarik were killed or enslaved. Kuzaarik citizens nor patrols could be guaranteed of safety beyond their walls. Even Vinyabah Gorahd was threatened.
Gyrahzym Okand suffered no less than their kin across the passes. The Urdaggar raids, a perennial threat, were far more intense in 375 than they had ever been. Twice raiding parties had even threatened the walls of the town itself. The farmers of the Varzaht Valley took refuge within the walls as their crops and livestock were looted by the rampaging Tribespeople.
A now aging but resilient Ulga Tahlynah, the town’s headwoman, fended off the attacks against the walls but could not break the sea of Tribespeople arrayed against them. Outside the walls, the smoldering remains of the valley’s farms sent palls of black smoke into the sky. All seemed lost, but in a twist of irony and fate, Vinyabah Gorahd would be their savior.
An envoy had been dispatched to seek aid from Gyrahzym Okand, and with them came a contingent of Koyzal Cavalry, the utilitarian Kuzaarik light cavalry mounted on the large goats of the Northern Mountains.
Coming out of the pass, the Koyzal Cavalry surprised the Tribespeople. The Urdaggar no longer had the initiative, and Ulga decided it was the moment to strike, sallying out of the East Gate just as the Koyzal Cavalry fought their way to the West Gate.
With the siege broken and the Tribespeople on the run, Gyrahzym Okand was saved. Ulga and the town Greyhairs parleyed with the envoy from Vinyabah Gorahd and it was decided to ally with them in the fight against Shadak Fatespinner’s horde.
Thankful for their deliverance but not trusting the designs of the High Council, Ulga and a small contingent of Kuzaarik from Gyrahzym Okand traveled back to Vinyabah Gohrahd to offer their help with the Urdaggar problem and hopefully work out a mutual agreement of governance and aid with the Council.
The Gyrahzym Accords were the result of that visit. Ulga’s visit to Vinyabah Gohrahd was eye-opening. The Kuzaarik were beginning a resurgence, especially their military. Everywhere armored Kuzaarik marched to and fro, and Ulga learned from some of her old sources that the city had instituted a program of conscripted military service for every citizen.
Knowing the High Council as she did, there was very little stopping them from taking Gyrahzym Okand if they wanted to. Asking her here was a threat, albeit veiled. Calling on every contact from her past life in Vinyabah Gohrahd, Ulga negotiated with the Council, the Industrial Unions, and the military.
Rather than meet with them together, she dealt with each separately and was able to negotiate terms without being outnumbered and overwhelmed. The deals she made would change the face of Gyrahzym Okand, but would also ensure the survival of their ideal and culture.
The town would become part of Kuzaarl but would be run by an administrator of their choosing. The Industrial Union rules would hold sway, but locals would be put in charge of seeing those rules enforced. The militia would also have local leaders but could be called upon at any time by Vinyabah Gohrahd if they were inactive. A smaller local force would always be bound to Gyrahzym Okand for home defense.
Ulga brought the accords back to Gyrahzym Okand to present to its residents. She met with stiff resistance to the loss of any independence, but after explaining the situation they found themselves in, most of the townspeople and area farmers knew the accords were the only way forward. Ulga remained hopeful that time and distance from the influence of Vinyabah Gohrahd would keep them mostly free of oversight and preserve the freedoms they had all grown accustomed to.
She was right.  Not everyone agreed with her though, and before her predictions could be proven correctly, a group of citizens packed their belongings and headed north through the mountains to find a new home.  They settled on the ice shelf north of the mountains, where not only was the hunting and fishing plentiful, but there was little chance that the government of Vinyabah Gohrahd would find or bother them.  They called this frigid outpost amid the lonely permafrost Paradise.  
Over the intervening years, Vinyabah Gohrahd has shown very little ability or interest to get involved in the affairs of Gyrahzym Okand. Military patrols pass through regularly. They are a welcome sight and stay in the small keep on the northwest corner of the town. Occasionally a high-ranking member of one of the Industrial Unions will visit, and although despised, the townsfolk entertain them heartily as the craftspeople clean up and bring their paperwork up to date.
Life goes on much as it had without Vinyabah Gohrahd, a situation that most of the citizens are quite happy about.
The Resettlement Council keeps a permanent garrison in Gyrahzym Okand, a small waystation for the The Kahzkyt as they spread across the Northern Mountains seeking a foothold to re-establish the Kuzaarik Confederacy.
The Resettlement Council and Gyrahzym Okand mostly ignore each other. The Kahzkyt don’t run to Vinyabah Gohrahd and tell them what rules are being broken, and the town provides for and outfits the small garrison there.
And there are plenty of rules broken. While not a warren of villainy, the citizens of Gyrahzym Okand ignore more of the rules than they follow, depending on who is in town and what catches their mood. Trade is carried out there with whomever the craftsman cares to trade with, despite treaties, taxes, or edicts from their Industrial Union. Its markets are lively and well-attended.
The Varkraalans trade actively in town, as do the tribespeople of the Urdaggar. Other folk find their way to the mountainside town as well, including those of an unsavory nature whose business there might not be above board or welcome in Vinyabah Gohrahd.
This activity leads to Gyrahzym Okand often having a bad name among the Kuzaarik in Vinyabah Gohrahd who strive to uphold the Long Way with its rigid cultural structure. However, because prices are negotiable and many interesting goods can be found there, the town continues to grow in both population and stature.