A History of the SheldomarA History of the Sheldomar
By Kirt Wackford (wackford@biology.utah.edu )
Edited by Scott Rennie (scott.rennie@virgin.net) for 'Black Hart' campaign consistency, and
subject to revision.
c. CY 20 [29]
Trade interests extend further west and east than settlements.
By the dawn of the Common Years,
Keoish settlements spread patchily across the forests right up
the edges of the western hills. Towns and villages were connected
by a network of trails and roads. There was much settled land,
but much wilderness as well, all interspersed. Between the fields
lay forests too rocky for ploughing, too wet, too steep or too
remote, and many fell places "better left to
themselves", as the peasants said.
At the same time, Keoish trade was moving further afield. The
large human populations and the extensive settling efforts
required great quantities of metal goods. The Ulek dwarves and
gnomes found an insatiable market in the humans of Keoland. Human
mining communities, financed by nobles, spread east through the
southern lands, including the Pomarj Peninsula. The supply of
ores and metal goods further increased when Keoland established
contact with the gnomes of the Good and Little Hills. The towns
of Flen, Cryllor, and Longspear were established as permanent
posts to facilitate this trade. In return for their goods, the
demi-humans received all manner of agricultural fare, such as
foods, rice wines, tobacco, hemp ropes, linen and cotton cloths,
and burlap sacking.
Human traders sought not only useful metals, though. What had
once been a small nation dominated by a warrior-king and
horsemen-nobles had grown to a large one, with a prosperous royal
house and a wealthy upper class. The rulers of this bountiful
land desired fine things for themselves - precious metals and
gems fashioned into beautiful and expensive items, treasures from
foreign lands.
Trade interests as well as rich fishing resulted in the
establishment of many ports along the southern coast, including
Gryrax and Gradsul. Noble-sponsored merchants began to ply the
seas, seeking out Hardby and other ports along the Woolly Bay.
By now the Oerids that had conquered the valley of the Sterich
had established a strong, unified nation. It was based, as
Keoland was, on an elite cavalry and common infantry army
supported by farmers and herders. In time, relations with the
dwarves of the Crystalmists had warmed, and trade had developed.
This trade increased greatly in volume when the Keoish discovered
it. The Sterich soon found themselves the middlemen in exchanges
of food, drugs, and cloths from Keoland for the electrum and
silver of the Sterich dwarves. Given the non-aggressive postures
of the Keoish, and their warm, if superior, welcome to this new
nation, relations were good between the two countries.
Considerable intermarriage of Keoish and Sterish nobility would
take place over the next century.