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knighthood and was forever seeking ways to put the well tramed flower of Kaldoric chivalry to practical use. When a dispute with the Thardic League over the salt trade erupted, Torastra is believed to have been ecstatic, simply for love of battle. But his eagerness to enga~e in battle betrayed him. Quickly gathering some of his knights, he undertook the long westward march with indecent haste. Seeming to care little for the logistical requirements of a campaign at such distance from his home bases, he led his followers straight into what am mounted to a clever ambush laid by the Autarch Aglir. Effectively beaten at the battle of the Chelna Gap (672), he returned to Tashal and contemplated the merits of the "dishonourable" style of warfare his opponent had exhibited.
The following year Torastra set out again with a larger, better prepared army. This time it was he who surprised and defeated the League's army at the battle of Ramala Gap in 673. Leaving the peace settlement, whereby Kaldoric merchants gained valuable trading rights in Tharda, to his lieutenants, Torastra began looking for another war.
The Treasure War[edit | edit source]
In 674 thieves broke into the treasury of king Torastra of Kaldor and stole a jewel-encrusted, allegedly enchanted sword that had belonged to Calsten, the second king of Serelind (142-162). The thieves smuggled the priceless weapon to Burzyn and news soon reached Tashal that it had been sold, in open market, to a Chybisan nobleman. Torastra sent word to king Balesir of Chybisa demanding the return of the ancient heirloom. Balesir was unable or unwilling to recover the blade and may have doubted its very existence.
Still savouring his victory in the Salt War and always spoiling for a good fight, Torastra marshalled his men and knights, marching them south in the spring of 675. His army swept down the Genin Trail and crossed the Ulmerien on both sides of Burzyn. After almost 400 years without a real war, the Chybisan army was easily routed by Torastra's veterans. Withdrawing into Burzyn, Bale sir held out for three years, supplied only at night by small boats on the river. With plague and rebellion rife, Balesir sought and obtained the honours of war in 6 78. Only a few score of his retainers followed him into exile. The stolen sword was not recovered, but Chybisa became a Kaldoric fief.
Balesir journeyed to Thay, then to Melderyn to petition King Etobran for aid . The Melderyni king not only refused, but went so far as to forbid any oT his vassals to assist the deposed monarch. Returning to Thay, Bale sir continued to seek assistance, but to no avail. It was not until Chunel came to the throne that he obtained any sympathy. In 685, Bale sir promised to swear fealty to the Melderyni king if he should ever recover his kingdom; this seemin~ly softened matters. Chunel lifted the proscription agamst aid to Bale sir, saying that any who wished to aid him might do so. In 687 Balesir had raised an army; he crossed Anadel and defeated the small army Torastra had left to garrison Chybisa at the battle of Geda. However, once Ba1esir had recovered his crown, he renounced his promise of fealty to Chunel. Chunel is reputed to have expressed a lack of surprise at this turn of events and has since hinted that Chybisa is unlikely to have things her own way forever. Torastra denounced Balesir as a treacherous churl but declining health prevented him from pressing his claim to the Chybisan throne. The aging Torastra was to fight only one more campaign, against the Kath in 689, before his death from old wounds in 693.
The Jarin and the North[edit | edit source]
The mountainous, fjord-indented, northern part of Harn is now called Orbaal but this is a recent name. Formerly called Jara, it was occupied for more than a thousand years by the Jarin, the first human settlers on Harn, many of whom had fled north to escape the Lythian barbarians after the Atani Wars. Their 600 year exposure to the Sindarin and Khuzdul gave the Jarin a kind of mystique, which even today, sets them apart from other human societies.
Since the Tyranny of the Foulspawner, the Jarin of the north have been constantly plagued by bands of Gargun who also found the Jahl Mountains a fine refuge. The Jarin built most of their settlements along lhe coasts, fortified against Gargun raids. By the middle of the 7th century, the north was dotted with Jarin keeps and manors and although fragmented into more than a dozen petty states, a crude feudal society developed.
The Ivinian Conquest[edit | edit source]
The Jarin were now confronted with a more deadly foe than the Gargun. To the northeast of Harn, is a land called Ivinia. This rough land spawned an equally rough race of seafarers. In their swift and dreaded dragon ships, the Ivinians began to raid the coast of Jara around 645. They came for booty, but finding the fjords of Jara much to their liking, and judging the Jarin to be disorganised and cowardly, some Ivinians decided to make Jara their own. In 652, Sherwyn Keep on Gedil Island was sacked and captured. One by one, the isolated Jarin communities suffered the same fate. The capture of Lethwyn in 667 was the death knell of Jarin independence. This was the strongest Jarin hold; its Ivinian captors renamed it Geldeheim. The last coastal Jarin keep (now called Vold) fell in 676. The Jarin still held four inland keeps (Gwaeryn, Leriel, Quimen and Pethwys) but the sealoving Ivinians lacked interest in these.
The Kingdom of Orbaal[edit | edit source]
The various keeps held by the Ivinians were in no way a unified state. They had been conquered over twenty five years by many different clans and each was a jealously guarded, independent domain. The most powerful was Geldeheim, held by clan Taareskeld and ruled by Hagined. His first act had been to turn the former Jarin keep into an impressive castle. Between 680 and 685, Hagined expanded his power by conquering nearby Ivinian clans. In 686, Hagined proclaimed the Kingdom of Orbaal, claiming kingship over all Ivinian domains situated in the Harnic Isles. He was able to force most of the clans to submit to his will and pay him tribute.
Hagined died in 692, to be succeeded by Ale gar, his eldest son. The first years of his reign were marked by disputes and skirmishes between the Ivinian clans and the Jarin they had enslaved. Although a few Jarin lords still held land, most of this proud race had been forced to work as serfs or thralls, on land that had been their own. Tension between the Jarin and the Ivinians was further inflamed by the Ivinian tendency to perceive their subjects as an inferior race. The resentment came to a head in 701.
The Jarin Rebellion[edit | edit source]
The immediate cause of the Jarin rebellion was the moving to Orbaal of the Order of the Crimson Dancer from Rethem in 701. It is assumed that Alegar was seduced by a member of the order; he not only allowed these dangerous women to move to Orbaal but also gave them the Jarin keep at Quimen. It is also possible that Alegar was anxious to have a solid ally in his troubled kingdom. The Crimson Dancer attacked and captured Quimen, using such savagery that the smouldering Jarin resentment burst into flame. Had the Jarin been better led, it is possible that they would have driven the Ivinians back into the sea. Lorkin castle was captured and since the Jarin outnumbered their overlords by almost 10 to 1 they might have won if they had managed to organise the sporadic revolts which errupted all over Orbaal. Fortunately for the Ivinians, this was not done; the Jarin rebels were subdued one by one.
The Rape of Thay[edit | edit source]
The Jarin rebellion ended in 703 and the revolt had served to bring the squabbling Ivinian clans c'loser together as they fought a common enemy. Alegar hoped to preserve this temporary unity by means of a bold new adventure; a major raid down the east coast to capture the Melderyni city of Thay. The Ivinians needed little encouragement to sample the wealth of Thay and Alegar's plan was quickly adopted. The island of Keron was occupied and settled by the Orbaalese in 704. The next year, a fleet of some forty ships descended on the unsuspecting TI1ayans. The Ivinians landed and invested the walled town but could not breach its defences. For
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