Meandros

Ruler: Ruled by an unknown mysterious King of the Orcneas. Economy: Trades in plundered goods, particularly those of former orcnean tribes, Underrealm merchants, chief manufacturer of orcnean-made weapons and armor of all types. Militia: The Citadel has 1,000 orcs on guard and another 1,000 patrol the wilds at all times. In times of need, 18,000 warriors can be summoned quickly and a total fighting force of 40,000 raised if given enough time. Points of interest: The Orcneas Gates, Meandros Hold, Citadel of the Orcnean King, The Mines of Meandros
The Orcnean Gates, Kingdom of the Orcneas, this fortified city was once the dwarven hold called the Citadel of Rafelbarr, part of the realm of the First Dwarven Empire. When that ancient realm began to falter, the dwarves abandoned ancient Felbarr and its nearly exhausted mines. The nearby human city of Aethermyst brought its troops to the Citadel with the blessing of the dwarves. The folk of Aethermyst hoped to use it as a base for exploration of the Thanatos Woods and the needle-sharp Elderpeaks north and east of Crulug Pass. There they hoped to find giant trees for use in shipbuilding and new sources of gold and the increasingly scarce silver. Unfortunately, the orcneas of the mountains had other ideas. The humans were under attack from their first day in the Citadel. Fifty years later, an orcnean horde came down from Crulug Pass in such numbers that it simply overwhelmed the defenders. The famous monologue of the fictional lone survivor Manneya Rowes, in the play and fireside tales by the bards of Mythlore Keep, says the orcneas simply “Hurled themselves at the walls. We slew them with arrows and arcane power...The sky lit up and it rained arrows, with orcneas packed so close together that no shaft or strike could miss. But the time came when all our arrows and spells were gone. By then, there were so many dead orcneas that the living ones just piled them up against our walls in a heap. It was so high that they could climb it like a mountain and walk in over our battlements. The end wasn’t long in coming, then.” Since that day of slaughter, known as the Battle of The Last Stand, orcneans have ruled the city. After much bloodletting, Bodoul, a giant, bald-headed orcnean as tall as any two large warriors, proclaimed himself king. Bodoul held his throne by shrewdly entering into alliances with some human mages and mind flayers of the Underrealm while carefully devoutly obeying the demands of his shamans so he couldn’t be accused of turning from the gods to embrace the magic of outsiders. Under his rule, the orcneas in the citadel became far too numerous to dislodge. For the next fifty years, they constantly harassed travelers between Aethermyst and Nethlund, even attacking caravans in plain sight of the city gates. The citadel grew to the point of overpopulation. Life in the overcrowded Citadel became hard. Those who wished to better their lot were given black-bladed scimitars and told to go out and find what they can take. This practice led many orcneas to plunder caravans or raid southern villages and towns on an annual basis. Those who returned were often slain and robbed by Bodoul’s guards when they returned in order to add their treasure to his funds. In response to this practice, the land around the Citadel is now dotted with thousands of tiny treasure caches placed by orcneas about to return to the Citadel. Most of the rest of the economy came from trade with other orc tribes and unscrupulous merchants in need of weapons and armor. The Citadel has produced such goods ceaselessly from metal seized from human and dwarven miners or dug out by slaves working what mines remain north of the Citadel. It was death for a nonorcnean to visit the Citadel except for a few powerful human and half-orc merchants and mercenaries under the king’s prearranged protection. Humans are tormented and then enslaved. Some put to work in the mines, while others are put to work for more personal pleasures. The latter sort of slave survived only at the whim of their master, and those who managed to survive were often tortured, always branded, and wear the scars of the manacles worn when outside their Master’s abode. The mining slaves were never fed and swiftly starved to death or killed by the hazards of mining. The mines never had props holding the ceilings up; slaves simply dug away rock until cave-ins occurred. The survivors were then set to dig out the same corridors again. Halflings, gnomes, and human children were often kept to be tormented to find treasure. These captives were slain when the treasure found, so the usual trick of wise captives to never admit that they had only one treasure cache saved them. Although usually dealing primarily with stolen goods there are stories of kidnapped nobles traded for ransom, or if none came, one slave was as good as another to an orcnean. The Citadel resisted determined attacks from Aethermyst and others over those fifty years but were unable to with the battles due to the sheer number of orcneas it holds. Additionally cave holds in the mountains continually generated more orcneas hungry for their own place in the Citadel and ready to do battle to get it. Then, a few years ago, as Yrdahn pushed the tribes of The Broken Lands out of their traditional lands a new order was established. Whispers have been spoken of a new King, one who was said to be not only the blood of the god Kthon but a halfbreed prince of the Ancient Noble Houses. What is known for sure is that no further raids have happened since and all the slaves were freed to return home telling tales of a new half-orcnean King who in one night bloody removed all opposition to his power, promising a new and better age for the orcneas and freeing all slaves on pain of death to those refusing his commands.

Type

Large city

Location under

Ethigoviel