Chapter One: Proposal
Volgis Highlands, Central Essalanea
"Beware the decadent people to our south, they who dress in silks and drink strong wine and whose words are always honeyed and inviting, but neath that guise of friendship hides a knife waiting to bury itself in the back of the unsuspecting, beware Aydini's bearing gifts my kin for that which they cannot destroy they will seek to corrupt and control"
-From the Stone of Odoacer
Volgis Highlands, Central Essalanea
"Beware the decadent people to our south, they who dress in silks and drink strong wine and whose words are always honeyed and inviting, but neath that guise of friendship hides a knife waiting to bury itself in the back of the unsuspecting, beware Aydini's bearing gifts my kin for that which they cannot destroy they will seek to corrupt and control"
-From the Stone of Odoacer
Doom had come to the highlands, clan Volgis’s attempt on the king's life had failed and now the time for violent retribution had come. The rite of annihilation was an ancient and terrible punishment reserved only for those clans that had heinously violated the laws of Essalan and now for their treachery, the Volgis would suffer this fate. Tanks rolled across the barren plains their tracks kicking up great clouds of dust, outriders raced past on combat bikes as they hunted for any would-be rebels. The full force of the national army had been brought down upon the Volgis, all the horrors of modern war unleashed.
Gaiseric watched from upon high as his forces advanced, the cliff he stood on offering a commanding view of the lands below. The battle, if it could even be called so, was largely over now having been a one-sided affair from start to finish. What little resistance the Volgis had offered had been swept aside with almost contemptible ease, leaderless and already demoralized the clan had been unable to offer more than token defiance.
It wasn’t the punitive campaign that had brought Gaiseric south however, he had come to the highlands with a very different agenda in mind. The heavy footfalls of his summoned guest indicated that the time to attend to that agenda was now. Helbrandt Karg strode up the rock-strewn path toward Gaiseric with a wary tread, he had been tasked with punishing the Volgis and he had carried out his task with ruthless efficiency.
“You pick a strange time to summon me Gaiseric!” Helbrandt called out as he approached
He was a giant of a man, well over six feet tall and sporting an unruly red beard that lent him a feral air. Helbrandt was dressed in green battle fatigues and judging by the muck and blood clinging to them he had been in the thick of the fighting. The Karg chieftain had been tasked with leading the campaign against the Volgis and he had not disappointed.
“Clan Volgis is no more, you have done well, but it is not their fate I came to discuss, not entirely anyway” Gaiseric replied cryptically
Helbrandt frowned, Gaiseric had a way of running rings around a person when he wanted something. The Volkmann hadn't made himself Essalanea’s first king because he was lucky, Gaiseric knew how to manipulate and motivate in equal measure. Helbrandt suspected that whatever the king wanted he wasn’t going to like it.
“Speak plainly Gaiseric! What is it you want?” Helbrandt snapped
“to discuss an arrangement that would benefit both of us” Gaiseric replied calmly
“You are spending too much time around unhorsed Volkmann!” Helbrandt said with a disgusted look
“Perhaps I am” Gaiseric replied with a grin “But that doesn’t mean this offer won't benefit us both” he continued in a conversational tone
“Speak then! What is this arrangement?” Helbrandt growled impatiently
“The Sultan of Aydin has sent envoys with an offer of marriage to one of his sisters, I would like you to accept,” Gaiseric said in a matter-fact voice
Aydin and Essalanea had a long and complicated history, perhaps not as volatile as the messianists to the north but not without strife and distrust either. Throughout history they had fought, traded with and on occasion hired the clans to fight their battles for them, but that shared history didn’t make them friends. For their part, the Essalaneans despised the flowery speech and love of money that seemed to define Aydin and the constant attempts by Aydin to worm their way into the clans' affairs and graces did little to endear the scions of Essalan to their Neighbours.
Aydin had their own reservations; the clans were infamous for being unruly and aggressive Neighbours and the continued raids on the Aydin border by smaller clans were a constant source of diplomatic spats. However, now the sultanate seemed to be trying to offer an olive branch and the clans were deeply suspicious. All this made Gaiserics request seem insane or at very least utterly out of character with the mentality the clans had long adopted with regards to the south.
“Those snakes to the south come to the steppe with their plots and deceptions and you want to humour them by whoring me out to some pampered unhorsed noble!!!” Helbrandt yelled his anger echoing across the highlands
“Aydin is rising again, taking a more active role in world affairs once more, I want to keep a close eye upon them and having one of my most trusted chieftains as the sultan's brother would aid me greatly in this, think of it as shielding the steppe from southern treachery” Gaiseric replied unphased
That was true enough, the new sultan might have been a pampered snob but his nation was emerging from obscurity all the same. Membership in the luscova pact and increased participation in politics and business were all signs that Aydin was on the rise once more. Essalanea needed to have the means to deal with the sultanate on equal terms, else risk being co-opted by the cynical realpolitik of an unhorsed nation.
“have you lost your mind!? My clan has shrunk in both prestige and size since the end of the war and now the man who promised to spare us wants to double our shame by marrying me off to an Aydini!” Helbrandt said in an incensed voice
“I wasn’t finished Helbrandt, the marriage is an inconvenience yes.... but what I offer in return will ensure your clan's survival” Gaiseric replied his tone like a silken hook
“what are you talking about?” Helbrandt asked exasperated
“The Volgis are no more, but their lands and bondsmen are still very much a matter to be dealt with, as king I have the right to grant their number and territory to any clan I see fit by the rite of amalgamation, accept my proposal and I the Volgis lands and people will join your own, clan Karg will be larger and stronger than ever before,” Gaiseric said motioning to the vast land in front of them
The Volgis had been a powerful clan before their fall, their lands were large and fertile and their people numerous, now all that was up for grabs. Helbrandt could still refuse, but he knew he couldn’t, the implication was there, accept and his clan would recoup all it had lost, refuse and they would continue to stagnate. If marrying some spoilt unhorsed princess would give his clan a chance to rise from its decline, Helbrandt had no choice but to acquiesce.
“And this woman's name?” Helbrandt asked
“Emel” Gaiseric said
Helbrandt sighed, he knew he had been ensnared in yet another of Gaiseric's plots.
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