Stragglers of Brossal
The Stragglers of Brossal is a national myth about missing Groups of early Drusseodian Settlers said to someday find their way to the city.
Summary
Before early Drusseodia had found a Capital in Brossal, the young Nation was not much more than a Diaspora built from fleeing Inhabitants of the Lands between Olivaria and Prosenial.
Driven like cattle from north, over east, to west, and back again, by armed forces of either State, a final Decision was made: 8 Groups of Settlers were to be sent in either a cardinal direction or one in-between, in an attempt to find and settle on a save (and defensible) spot of Land.
It is said, that after a year, a month, a week, and a day, after a peculiar bloody battle between the two warring states in which the Diaspora had been caught, a Formation of Brossal Riders routed both Armies with a surprise attack.
The Diaspora now had a target and finally found peace and a home behind the cities walls.
The myth ends with the prophecy that only when the remaining 7 groups of settlers (referred to as Stragglers after this point in the story) have safely returned to Brossal, the crimes against Drusseodia can be forgiven.
Historical Basis
Discussion about Drusseodias emergence and the founding of Brossal are as far removed from actual science as can be. Any investigations into the topic are met with hostility and usually brought to a halt through politics and sometimes outright violence before they could unearth anything of worth.
What remains are studies of contemporary sources from surrounding countries and copies of local records that were sent away for safe-keeping.
There are two historically accurate and confirmed observations in this national myth:
- Drusseodia was created as a reaction to continuous fighting between Prosenial and Olivaria
- Brossal as a City was established to harbor the Diaspora. It is not certain if there was a predecessor or different settlement at its location.
Every other detail is up for debate. International Specialists specifically denounce the notion that Drusseodia was an innocent victim, a perspective regularly used as casus belli against Prosenial.
Looking at the military power distribution in the most probable time period, it is more reasonable to see the Diaspora as being equal parts displaced minor warlords, mercenaries and real refugees.
The Bit about the Settlers
The Question about who did establish Brossal is perhaps the most important one. There is barely enough factual information on the topic as it is but the two mainstream assumptions, that those Settlers truly where Settlers in the full meaning of that word, or if it was just a noncommittal way of saying a big war-band of blood-thirsty war criminals, have both merit.
A relatively new opinion is that perhaps they were both because Settlers being War criminals or War criminals being Settlers, is not mutually exclusive.
It's almost as dangerous stating that Prosenial and Olivaria might've used their propaganda to defame the People of the Diaspora, as it is to explain that it might not have happened in the recorded way at all.
A further common assumption is that the Settlers either arrived at an empty location to establish Brossal, or that they took a prior existing settlement by force and through violence of a sort that left no trace of the people, when it might also be a normal case of a small isolated city-state taking in an enormous workforce for the low price of a name change.
From there it's easy to see how local royalty and population might've (perhaps even unintentionally) been suppressed.
Spread
Drusseodias national myth is universally known internationally and by most averagely educated people.
Variations & Mutation
There are many small differences in local retelling, especially about when the Diaspora happened and how many Settlers were sent.
A fine sidenote is that the severity of the fights and number of victims, as well as the overall state of the Diaspora at the End, become much less dire or catastrophic towards the Borders of Prosenial and Olivaria.
Cultural Reception
As is common with national myths that directly address other political entities, the reception is ultimately a matter of personal affiliation.
It cannot be far away from the truth that all the peaceful, level-headed decisions to create a Living Place were made by normal people suffering from war and famine.
And that all the propaganda and accusations were later slathered on the truth like honey on a roast to get those war bands back into the business.
More cynical observers of the discussion like to propose that instead of tired and scared settlers desperately scrambling for a save space to call their own, it is more aligned to Drusseodias current political disposition, that those Settlers were truly disguised soldiers, and that Brossal had been a city-state that had been subjugated, explaining how a sprawling city with vast defensive fortifications could've been built in only a year.
Content
Now in Theaters
The overall Plot of Drusseodias national myth has been recently repackaged and modernized into a melodrama called "I send thee" where a small Town and its Inhabitants take over the Roles of the Nations.
Drussiana, played by the delightful Chirpful Tenseray, is a down-on-her-luck elven father, finding herself with children of both Oliver, played by Thom Ber, the sickly Farmer, and Prosefius, played by Charklin Phelps, the local Butchers Daughter.
After being made homeless by her landlord, and failing to get support from either mothers, she resorts to sending all of her eldest children to look for a place to stay.
The finale is sadly tainted by overburdening tones of Drusseodian Nationalism and ends in an hour-long tirade about increasingly unrelated topics.
We reached out to the directors for comment, If this is part of a greater artistic vision or a badly explained symbolism, but were as yet unable to receive it.
This Article takes part in
World Anvil Summer Camp 2021
A MYTH OR FAIRYTALE ABOUT A PROPHECY, ORACLE, FORTUNE-TELLING OR OTHER REVELATION
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Nice article! It is a pretty interesting foundation myth. I like how it is also used a political tool to make the people themselves look better. My one question about the myth itself is that it is perhaps not completly clear if Brossal was created by the settlers or already existed before them?
Thanks! :D Well, if you ask someone of Drusseodia, the Settlers did it, if you ask anyone else, it's a big Maybe :D I think I have to make that more obvious. Thanks for the Feedback!
Island-Inquest awaits!
Allright thanks for the clear up! Then it is like I thought :p