Of Argathollas (Colony Challenge)

Demographics

The Foremost inhabitants of Argathollas are the Agepid, being the true children of Argathos. They reigned foremost as masters of the colony, but suffered the worst in its downfall. Not one of that race survives in the world, for each was hunted to annihilation.
Etayen wanderers were another people of Argathollas. They were most often those exiled from local Etayen settlements- murderers, apostates, the dishonored, thieves, and others. Argathos was quick to harbor them and exploit their knowledge.
Foreigners from Voryndal were the third demographic. They were diverse in appearance, temperament, and motives. Argathos was swift to incorporate them, but as members of lesser power, so that they fought, labored, and died without holding stake in the colony.

Government

In the zenith of its power, Argathollas was a middling outpost of Voryndal transplanted into foreign Qadal. Argathos himself reigned as master, while Agepid masters were his subordinates in command. At the heart of Argathollas was a palace named Tegarit, or Wisdom in the tongue of the Agepid. It was a vast complex, clambering upon rocky crags which fragmented forth from the land. Each floor was built upon a separate shelf of stone and the jungle lapped upon its shores alike the ocean. This was the bastion of government.
When Etayen and foreigners arrived, Argathos allowed them to choose their own leaders. Each of these, however, were bound to the ultimate whims of the Agepid and himself. This system came to great ruin when combined with the abuses and trespasses against these lesser races, particularly in terrible wars against the Etayen. Lesser racial leaders became the focal points of resistance and Argathollas' doom.

Defences

Defenses were manned by the Agepid in the first, peaceful years. No offensive campaigns were waged. When the first boats of foreigners from Voryndal arrived in -4232, however, Argathos perceived great opportunity. He felt no love for them, but desired their bodies for the military of Argathollas. He commanded that these newcomers earn their place through strength of arms. Elders, youth, and children alike now wielded spears in defense of Argathollos. No exemptions were granted to the contrary. Those who refused to fight were expelled into the wilderness of Etal, doomed to die against the Etayen. A militia was thus mustered from the unwilling. Now, these warriors were unprofessional, unmotivated, and under-equipped, but this meant nothing to Argathos. Corpses for the slaughter and the capability to campaign further afield was more than sufficient benefit to match any misstep.
The next year, Argathos undertook an ambitious scheme to combat the Etayen tribes of the north and west. These peoples were on-and-off trading partners, but their lands were rich and much desired. Armies of foreigners became the footmen, so that they perished while the Agepid survived. These battles struck a heavy toll upon the Etayen, so that Argathollos expanded at their expense. Yet, all came to swift ruin in -4224. The foreigners who fleshed the militias turned against the chosen Agepid race. Lesser warriors bearing spears slaughtered the Agepid masters and brought the colony to the brink of annihilation.

Industry & Trade

In the early years, Argathollas traded with native Etayen tribes to the distant north and west. Agepid merchants clustered into familial trading bands to navigate the trackless jungle which dominated Etal. These bold profiteers carried trucking-stuff such as sea stones, fresh timbers, animals pelts, criminal slaves, home-hewn craft works, and fragmented knowledge of enigmatic Voryndal. In return, the Etayen offered them seeds, food, large finished goods, and local knowledge. This trade remained until around -4231, when foreign warriors were employed by Argathollas to wage campaigns against interior tribes. After those years, the Etayen were vigorous enemies of Argathollas and its expansion, seeking to undermine it wherever it blossomed.
Argathollas also traded with Agepidos. What was shipped back? Timber, principally, which was found in greater amounts than ever required. A blackened breed of stone came second, for it was unique to Etal and much coveted in distant Voryndal. In the earliest years, a few Agepid families back wealthy in such trade, but it was fleeting. The unfortunate truth was that Argathollas never became a bastion of prosperity. Only paltry wealth was shipped back to support Agepidos, wherein everything was used up with yet more required. In later years, Agepidos was destroyed without the knowledge of Argathos, and these precious resources landed upon barren beaches.

History

The Eshan (being divine masters) are numerous and their peoples diverse. In Voryndal (being the lesser half of the world) the domains of the Eshan clash relentlessly beneath the watchful gaze of Acolitus, the Creator. In such circumstances of competition, certain races became the inevitable losers. Their cities were cast down, traders murdered, temples ruined, and inhabitants shamed. An Eshan named Argathos and his people, the Agepid, were such victims and became destitute on their native continent of Solemilis.
In sorrow and desperation, Argathos appealed his case to Acolitus. Every charge against his Eshanic siblings and the trespasses against him were made bare without challenge. Indeed, the corpses of his people were left unburied, the temples were yet ruined, and the whole Agepid race consumed with hopelessness. Acolitus witnessed these evils, but was unmoved. These were the manners in which Voryndal flourished. The weaker races were crushed beneath their superiors, and these superiors slaughtered one another into balance. Intervening in the natural process would destroy the careful concert developed in the Lesser Half. Acolitus instead suggested that Argathos and the Agepid offer themselves into vassalship beneath another race, for such concessions to necessity precluded shame. Argathos was devastated by such a verdict, but was proud enough to oppose it. Returning to ruined Agepidos, he watched the shimmering horizon in its dream-like aspect. What fortune might lie in another land so untouched by invaders? The thought consumed him utterly. It was such that in -4255 schemes were devised to remove his entire people from Voryndal to Qadal (being the greater half of the world) which was occupied by a whole other breed of Eshan.
Convincing the Agepid race of such drastic movement compelled Argathos to openly slander the Creator. Through the mode of his chiefest worshippers, he woven narratives of Acolitus' injustice and evils, so that he became known to the Agepid as Ebinal, or Vilest in the Agepid tongue. His people then constructed a great fleet for themselves using the timbers of their ancient halls. Provisions were stocked through the complete exhaustion of the nation's grain. No treasures were left behind. Those who chose to remain behind were left simple tools to restore Agepidos. Families who were divided bid one another farewell. No expectation was reserved that anyone should return to Voryndal from this venture, nor that lives be preserved. Final prayers to Argathos were observed in the ruins of that people's greatest temple, known as Hetrogarit, or Felicity in the Agepid tongue. Each wept, then boarded, and was lost into the sunset.
The Agepid journey was silent, for Argathos personally attended every hardship. 80 days were passed in travel before they arrived in Etal, being the southernmost continent of Qadal, in -4254. Yet, it was not open to him. Ancient treaty between the Eshan dictated that Qadal and Voryndal be divided between their respective inhabitants with no crossing between them. Argathos was aware of this truth, and now appealed to Atûn, being the Eshanic master of Etal. He explained that Acolitus failed the Agepid race in dooming them to slavery among neighbors. Violation of the ancient agreements was a sole means of salvation. Atûn considered the position, and from sheer interest of these foreigners assented, only adding that Argathos cease communion with Voryndal. He reluctantly agreed. A colony was thus organized in Etal, which the Agepid titled Argathollas with great honor.
Peace reigned in Argathollas from then until -4232. In that year, the first of the foreigners arrived. A single boat it was, departed from distant Amoteras in Voryndal, bearing upon it 200 newcomers who were themselves ruined by invaders. Each one among them heard fantastic tales of Argathollas and Qadal, for that was the promise land to an ignorant people who knew nothing beyond their shores. Argathos breathed a deep sigh of terrible grief. This was beyond the compromise with Atûn. Great evils were to arise from it, and the Etayen no longer trusted Argathos nor his people. Raids and battles erupted between them which lasted the next nine years. Argathollas soon stood alone amid a sea of native enemies. Life deteriorated from dim hope into crushing despondency. Argathos expended great powers to protect Argathollas, and became weakened in mind and body.
The year was now -4223. Etayen warriors were crashing against the borders of Argathollas; newcomers from Voryndal clamored with rebelliousness, and those who remained loyal were disordered. All now descended to ruins. Argathos suffered bitterly, watching day follow night and night follow day while he gazed from Tegarit into the jungle. His people cried forth to him from below, begging that he deliver them now as was done in Voryndal. Yet, Argathos' power was wasted in bolstering his warring race. Nothing more was left for him to give. Fear reigned in this moment, for to admit such weakness would be utter ruin. With great injustice, he turned harshly against his own people, chastising them for impiety and cowardice. He painted the powerless condition as punishment against them, chiefly for the rebellion of the foreigners which devastated the colony. No further assistance was forthcoming until the Agepid proved themselves worthy. Argathos then secluded himself in Tegarit, refusing to hear the appeals of his race.
Days thereafter, the loyal attendants of Argathos ascended the great passageways to meet their Eshanic master, as was common practice. They pressed forth through the towering gates, and there discovered nothing. Argathos was gone. No mortal stood to take his place nor offer his whereabouts. Panic among that beleaguered race was swift and complete. The attendants scrambled among the common people, squealing how Argathos abandoned the chosen race to its doom. Those chiefest in the Agepid elite attempted to commandeer vessels back to Agepidos, but were utterly lost without Argathos' guidance. Other scrambled into the jungles to escape the wrath of the foreigners and Etayen alike, but were hunted and slaughtered like animals. Within weeks, the neighboring Etayen tribes who rivaled Argathollas learned of the collapse and fell upon it. They plundered the settlement with ravenous greed, destroying everything which was worthless. Those who remained were taken for slaves. Not a single soul endured in Argathollas which now stood as a haunted monument to misfortune.
Argathos returned now to Agepidos, being the depopulated motherland to Argathollas, but was shattered to see its fate. The whole country was ruined in those interim years. Invaders roved the countryside thick as insects, putting the Agepid to death and torching the settlements. No master was left among the Agepid to rule them. No survivor desired that tarnished crown. It was such that warriors of Acolitus repaid the earlier slanders with devastation, proving that no Eshan might slight him nor prosper beyond him. Argathos collapsed in terrible anguish upon the ragged shores of Agepidos and never rose again. The name of Argathollas now endures among the wise to describe such endeavors which are pursued and abandoned by one mind.

Geography

Etal was in those years a disdainful wasteland of jungle which wandered beyond the horizon. The whole country was blanketed by the same pale green expanses, save from outcroppings of dark native stone and isolated pools of crystal waters. Nothing of civilization manifested, neither roads nor cities, given the ruggedness of the undergrowth. Argathollas reigned on the easternmost shore of this continent. Here the trees charged straight to the brink of the sea. Every stride of the colony was claimed through bitter labor. The Agepid learned to despise such wilderness and torch any nature which encroached upon the borderlands.

RUINED SETTLEMENT
-4221

Type

District

Population

0

Inhabitant Demonym

Agepid