Khorotz
Created for the "The Colony" Challenge
History
Founding of Khorotz
In the Second Age, the newly crowned Golden King sought his conquest of the continent of Elgerlia starting in the region of Mylrondia. The peoples that didn't bend the knee were forced to either stand up to his dark armies and be crushed or put to slavery, or flee for some relative safety. One settlement of refugees was created out into the Frozen Sea north of Mylrondia, using the outcroppings of islands and extremely deadly wildlife of the deep as protection against the Golden King.
As the Golden King's dominion spread, refugees came to the legendary colony of Khorotz, named after the man who became the de facto leader of the survivors; Khorodoz Smekalka. During this time, the collective peoples of Khorotz undertook a guerrilla campaign against the Golden Empire until it's collapse marking the start of the Third Age. The colony was then abandoned and the collective communities of the original refugee's descendants repopulated the north of Mylrondia, setting up the majority of fishing settlements on the coastline of the Frozen Sea.
Later in the Third Age, when Mylrondia was united under a single Kingdom of Mylrond by Phoeni the Uniter, and then integrated into the Great Western Empire, Khorodoz's only living descendent Count Ordgar Smekalka petitioned to the Emperor to resettle the old colonies of Khorotz. The Emperor however, was unimpressed at the notion concerned about the costs of establishing a fully functioning colony and the riskiness of general travel in the Frozen Sea. This was until Ordgar showed the Court the secret of Khorotz; the fact that every island, every outcropping of rock, was made entirely of rarer resources the GWE needed to import such as tungsten. Almost immediately, the Emperor gave funding for Khorotz, the first ever GWE colony, to be re-established.
Current Relations with the GWE
Things were going well for Khorotz. With strong protection from the GWE and solid trade agreements, the colony expanded to over 170 islands of varying sizes, with the populace being split into either fishing or mining communities. This all changed however when now Duke Ordgar married a seemingly foreign courtier Gethwine from the obscure House of Skatos. Gethwine was in fact a Vampyre from the Upir Bloodline and had started the shadowy infestation of Khorotz.
After some years, the newly established Skatos Bloodline with Gethwine and Ordgar as Matriarch and Patriarch had almost complete control over the colony. Through magic or just a natural reaction to the darkness, Khorotz and the Sea around it was plagued with periodic thick fog that caused the colony to disappear from the outside world entirely. The private Skatos School for Girls was established to bring in children and cut them off from society, impregnating them and spreading the Vampyre gene into their crossbreed offspring.
Now, Khorotz has stopped sending over its resources to the GWE and any imperial navy vessels never return from expeditions to the islands. It is assumed in the Emperor's Courts that Khorotz is still a colony, but now to their mortal enemy of the Kingdom of Veperit.
Khorotzik Legacy
The legacy of Khorotz is one of fear and failure, proof to any that think otherwise that the Vampyre threat is still alive and dangerous even centuries after the death of the Golden King. The Frozen Sea is now more dangerous than ever, with the natural wildlife a consistent problem but now the Vampyres of the Kingdom of Veperit have almost free reign to raid the coastlines of Mylrond with the help of Khorotz.
For the people of Mylrond, Khorotz has become a legend once again, with fishermen of the villages established after the first colony was evacuated telling tales of thick fog settling around their ships and the cries of help from small girls drawing the unsuspecting to the docks of Khorotz before being captured and ravaged by the Skatos Vampyres and Count Kristoph Skatos.
Sometimes, though, Khorotz has been known to comply with the GWE on odd occasions. Small trade agreements have opened up and with prior notice, ambassadors are allowed back on the colony. However, the Skatos ruling family can never guarantee the safety of these Imperials.
Industry & Trade
Worth
By far the most influential factor for the colony of Khorotz to be re-established was the value the islands in the Frozen Sea were worth. Each rocky outcropping and island contained minerals and rocks the GWE needed to import but now, with it's borders expanding into the Frozen Sea with a colony, they would have their own direct supply of the much needed resources.
Infrastructure
Port Seafury
The main area of the colony is the large port which faces out into the Frozen Sea, once full of Imperial trading ships but now the rotting hulls of the Veperit influence. The Skatos Bloodline have a personal villa on the hill presiding over Port Seafury and so this part of the colony is infested with the militias and personal bodyguards of the Vampyres.
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