[color=steelblue][h3][b]=-=2201 SE, Late Winter=-=
Northeast Kevica[/b]
[i]Morning Breeze[/i][/h3][/color]

The lands of Cesia had been settling down from the drama happening between themselves and the Polavians. The newly formed kingdom of Weskov had been given legitimacy by both realms, with [color=steelblue]Radomir Macak[/color] calling Weskov's chosen nobleman, the highly honorable [color=steelblue]Aleksander Krawiec[/color] as his equal in the east and granted him the title of King of Weskov. Yet, as the year dragged from 2200 to 2201, some issues had begun to arise. Weskov had formed from no history of real background, having always either been partially in the hands of the Noravar, but has otherwise been apart of the Kingdom of Luthugaria, effectively splitting the nation in half. One part of the deal was that those in the new nation would not call themselves Luthugarians, for Polav was still a commonwealth and it would break the kingdom far more then it should. As part of the peace deal with the Cesians, Weskov was to remain a neutral buffer zone, or 'Marcher Kingdom' as some of the Cesians were calling it. Yet realistically, the Cesians and the Coalition were vying heavily with the territory.

King [color=steelblue]Thorald Bramsson[/color] respected the code of honor of Aleksander, and the powerful king ruled his realm with kindness and charity, but albeit a bit too much. Both Thorald and Radomir threw money and resources at the kingdom by supplying the efforts to rebuild the Otem city of Wesa'hol, which began to draw in many Polavians and Cesians who began to try to profit off the rebuilding efforts. Wesa'hol had seen heavy activity before, but the political pressure by both nations made it a booming city the Otem could not even dream to imagine, but their people were relugated to a enclave which saw very little development and was separate from the human sections. Foreign races and merchants even began to settle the city fast in the coming winter, adding more materials and structures, but neither Cesia or the Coalition was able to outcompete their gifts to Weskov to gain Aleksander's full support, nor that of his nobles. Thorald had once loudly wondered to his court if the Weskov nobles intended it to be that way.

Regardless, Thorald had still created a peace which for now was still active, but the coalition still felt they had missed an opportunity. While for some Noravar kings this had been a utterly embarrassing move between them and their new ally, but for some nobles, they saw the reasoning behind Radomir's actions. If Weskov had not been created, it was perhaps inevitable for a revolt led by Aleksander or some other disgruntled nobleman or former loyalist to rise up and give Cesia an opportunity to strike. While some more war like figures wanted war to happen sooner then later, others were content with the mediocre peace created to deal with more local concerns.

Yet Weskov's concerns and issues still had to be dealt with, especially when it came to religion and government. Aleksander was a generous and kind ruler who often forgave his nobles for even very serious transactions due to the sway of protecting their families or believing they could be redeemed, but many of his own nobles were rather livid that they had not been promoted to a new high nobility and had to share their titles and even portions of the new lands to many smaller noble families, rich estates, and Otem landowners who had survived the initial purge. To counteract their issues, Aleksander set up the Krejeck Rada, a council of nobles from Krejeck who would act as a representative council to advise the king and to help set up the territory to their fitting. The Rada reduced many smaller landholders into vassal territories of new overlords, viceroys from their own families in Krejeck to collect taxes, raise armies, but otherwise were loyal to their families back home and were more or less administrators rather then nobility. Wesa'hol was to build Wicekról Izba, a small government office in which these viceroys and their retinue could rule the new territories from. While highly unpopular amongst the smaller nobility around Wesa'hol, they didn't really have much chance with their depleted armies when facing the mostly untouched Krejeck soldiers.

Religion had also been a major issue in Weskov as far as Thorald was concerned, mostly because the new nation had soon been recieving a number of Noravar in droves, especially into Wesa'hol. These Noravar built a shrine to Olavan, with smaller shrines dedicated to smaller gods. The main gate of Wesa'hol, which was being revised by a Noravar mason, had built two stone boar pedestals representing Hogi and Lomki at the top of the gate. Polavians had their own pagan gods, but rather specifically worshipped Trugula, a god of war, iron, honor, vengeance, and nobility who was represented by a human-like demigod who was said to have slew the dragons of Ophad and used their bones as his armor, and ascended to godhood by his deeds. Trugula's statue and grove was made the centerpiece of the Wesa'hol church grounds, based in the ruins of a Polavian Stave Church which was built by and for the Otem of Wesa'hol. Thorald has specifically wanted this kingdom to be drawn closer to him, and he believed faith was perhaps the biggest draw of all, and sent a request for several druids to enter Weskov to show them the true way.
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It has been a morning with a light chilling breeze in the villages along the coasts of Nauberad. On the lonesome tundra, over a hundred armored riders were riding out in the chilling weather, 99 Nauavar Maruds and their Jarl, [color=steelblue]Barnolf Vogsson[/color] were racing along the coastline to the outcrop of a smoking settlement. With them was the Jarl's elder son, [color=steelblue]Mar Vogsson[/color]. The Jarl stopped, and looked in all directions as they near the ice laden coasts. He and his group stopped as they approached the first village, and bore witness to the whale skin flags of a Tuesab raiding fleet passing on by. The Tusked creatures didn't bother to look at the horsemen as the Jarl looked on with a spout of anger in his eye.

"My lord, the villages." One of the Maruds behind him warned. The Marud pointed to the villages up the coast, their smokey houses had a bright orange glow. Barnolf took up his axe and called to his warriors "I'll give each man his weight in treasure for each tusk you bring me! Now go! You five with me, these mangy curs are as greedy as ever, these raiding ships are no doubt heading back to their homes, but their leaders tend to stay a little longer." The Jarl, his son, and his men rode off while the rest went to deal with the remaining raiders and secure the villages.

As the Jarl rode past the rubble, he noticed the brutality of the Kayek'kalee first hand, their shrines of bone scattered along the tundra, their unnerving sacrifices in blood, and their slain piled high on the shoreline. For several weeks, the Jarl and his retinue had been coming to call of coastal villages, fleeing from resurgent raids along the coast. As Barnolf and Mar raced through the coast, losing men who began to check homes for survivors, they soon came across Nauavar clansmen battling the Kayek'kalee. The Tuesab bore great bone axes and were covered in purple and black runes which covered them from head to toe, in honor of their dark god. Six clansmen had been buying time for their families to make for the colder marshlands further inland, and were relieved as the Jarl and his Maruds came charging from the coast. Yet, as one man looked on in amazement, his face was caved in by the chop of a furious axe. The Tuesab warriors drew their large wooden bucklers, forming a shield wall as the cavalry approached, and prepared for impact.

The Maruds galloped however around the beastfolk and quick succession stabbed them from behind. The Tuesab slashed into one horse and threw it's elite soldier into the ground with a sickening crunch. The Jarl spun his horse and threw an axe at one of the creatures, hitting him directly in the head, and drew his sword and charged the ill prepared tribal zealots. The battle lasted for about a few minutes, but it was brutal as both forces were stubborn. The one sided victory was won, as the Jarl looked at the Nauavar clansmen, happy to see him.

"My Jarl! The Tusked Ones are burning our villages! They came in the night, and we've been fighting them all morning!"

"How many ships?" Mar asked

"We counted several, my chief son. Thirteen I think. They were led by a larger horror, hu--"

Barnolf paused the man, speaking up swiftly. "Bloodaxe. Cursed name as any. Their infernal family has haunted our shores. . .you men come with us. We have battle ahead."

The clansmen formed up and followed the Maruds who galloped forward. It took them a few hours, but the group eventually caught up with the Tuesab marauders, saving and recruiting Nauavar clansmen as they did, and were soon reinforced by several other local clans who came to their aid. In the village of Elgago, the Teusab were brutalizing the village, stealing away salt, fish, and wood onto their flatbed boats. The leader of the raid, [color=steelblue]Olgali Bloodaxe[/color] was using the cloths of a dead man to clean his great war axe, a massive iron war axe stolen from the corpse of some dead ancient Noravar prince which had been passed down in generations. As the Jarl, his Maruds, and the clansmen arrived, Olgali looked up and mumbled to himself before he set his warriors to a defensive line while he personally charged into the Nauavar lines. The Nauavar and the Teusab clashed, with the Jarl personally targeting Olgali, identified by him due to the Tuesab's size and much more brighter tattoos. During the battle, Barnolf charged on his horse towards Olgali, and the Tuesab in turn rammed his axe into the Jarl's horse. Barnolf fell off, only to witness the ever angry raid leader tearing apart his horse. The Tuesab drove his axe into the horse's neck, nearly decapitating it and angrily tore off one of it's hooves and threw it at the Jarl. Still on the ground, Barnolf crawled to his sword and looked up in a panic, but saw that Olgali was gone.

The battle didn't rage on much longer, as the Teusab retreated to their boats seeing it as a losing battle. Several of the warriors who had been making prayers on the dock stayed behind and became fresh troops, but their purpose was to die in glory and buy time for the other more experienced warriors such as Olgali to escape. The Jarl, angry at their escape attempted to throw a spear at the large Teusab, but it landed softly in the water and sank into the waters. The Teusab ships disappeared on the horizon as night began to fall. The Jarl, collecting himself, inspected what was left of his villages.

For the past few weeks, Bloodaxes and their Kayek'kalee minions had been raiding the coasts of Nauberad. The attacks came for Cesian goods, such as good rope, wood, salt, and iron. The Teusab had no need for slaves, they had no need for them, and their god looked poorly on such things. So thus, the brutal raiders came and slaughtered the Nauavar and disappeared back into their open waters, but no one knows if they would come again next week. The Jarl looked over the broken docks and homes, ordering his people to move into the inland clans with due haste. He gave command to his surviving Maruds to build a barracks on the western shores and to begin building defenses on the coastline, for it was all they could do to watch for the creatures.

Barnolf returned home along with Mar, and sat on his throne, complaining to his court his anger against these beastmen. Several of the Nauavar angrily declared it was the fault of Cesia that did not send ships to help them, but these voices were silenced by Barnolf, proclaiming it was the duty of the Nauavar, not their 'tamed cousins' to deal with the creatures. It brought him no end of grief that the Beryul clans were eyeing his lands more and more often, especially as a Noravar colony which sat next to him was growing more and more crops which drew unwanted attention from hungry rogue Beryul wanderers. Now with the Teusab raiding his lands, Barnolf wondered if the Noravar had been attracting the Beastfolk like flies to his kingdom.

Yet, troubling word came from the northern tribes. A scout had come into his court, a spy amongst the Beryul who had been tracking their movements, made his report to Barnolf. The Beryul tribes had been slowly coming southward, and some clans have been outright ignoring their traditional nomadic paths. The tribes normally circled what could only be described as borders, occasionally raiding one another and stopping at icy groves to rest and eat. Now, a number of rival clans had been seen camping on top of one another. Barnolf heard the scout's recollections and looked more and more worried as he spoke. It sounded as if the Beryul were uniting, putting aside their differences aside, and making their way towards them. Barnolf asked the scout if any tribe was leading them, but he couldn't give an answer. He said he could only track their movements, but the Beryul seemed more likely to head into Granland by the look of their camps. Barnolf ordered for one of his Marud to ride hard with the scout to the court of [color=steelblue]Gorlof Hroksson[/color], Granland's Jarl.

When the two Nauavar came to the Iron Port of Ioaran, the two warned Gorlof of the danger. The Noravar Jarl stroked his beard as he heard the warnings of the Nauavar, but he instead laughed. Gorlof smiled, and commented that his slave traders has complained to him months ago that the Beryul had not come as much south as they wished, and now they would directly come to his port? Gorlof made it clear to the two stunned Nauavar that he would as much order his smiths to work overnight building shackles rather then weapons for the inevitable invasion, confident his soldiers would take on the Beryul with aid from the Nauavar and his king. Gorlof dismissed the messengers and sent word to the capital, demanding reinforcements. Yet, Gorlof's request was recieved poorly, as King Thorald only sent several Maruds to reinforce the barracks, being informed by Gorlof's messenger who more literally took Gorlof's words of "We shall need more soldiers to deal with this influx of new servants of the Noravar in the coming months", and not as liberally as Gorlof wanted.

When the Nauavar returned to their Jarl to tell him what had happened, Barnolf sighed and cursed Granland's Jarl under his breath. Barnolf ordered his messenger to give 'a more accurate warning' to the Cesians, while he began making preparations. While Mar and the household Maruds were training Nauavar clansmen and inspecting their northern villages, Banrolf went northward towards the borders of the Nurs'sak clan. When Barnolf and his Maruds entered into Nurs'sak territory, they lit a bonfire near the coast and within three days, two Ber'yul appeared in their white cloaks. The two Beryul greeted Barnolf in humility, [color=steelblue]Jarger Nurea[/color] and his son [color=steelblue]Kalgo Nurea[/color]. Jarger smiled and even hugged the Jarl, much to both the fear and annoyance of his Maruds. Jarger had a rather long history Barnolf, the two once having been mortal enemies. The Nurs'sak had once attacked the Nauavar when they were still an independent kingdom, and Barnolf's father slew Jarger's father, and Jarger killed Barnolf's younger brother. The two warriors had fought long and hard, and both earned their own glory as a bane of each other's race. Yet, Jarger had once saved Barnolf's son, Mar, from a polar bear which he was already hunting and spared the youth not really knowing who he was at the time. Days later, Jarger's wife and infant son was captured by Noravar raiders and nearly sold into slavery, but were saved by a grateful Barnolf who took them into his home. Jarger and Barnolf had been allies and friends since, especially when Jarger left his clan to become a fisher.

Barnolf greeted his old friend and asked him what was happening with his people. Jarger himself had only heard rumors, but a strange cloaked prophet had been slowly rekindling the Beryul faith, and disappeared, only for a powerful zealous warchief named [color=steelblue]Nausgar[/color] to suddenly rise through the ranks of the Beryul. As to what he wants, why he moves, or his plans it wasn't entirely known. Barnolf sighed, telling of his plight to Jarger who gave a hearty laugh. Jarger told Barnolf that these sudden southern migrations wasn't really a prelude to invasion, but rather a religious revival. As shadow worshippers, the Beryul moved into what is now the northern parts of Granland to rekindle the shrines of several sacred groves, make some burnt offerings, and then go back to their nomadic ways after a month. This happened every 50 to 100 years, often when the tribe was visited by a mysterious prophet or a powerful shadow shaman had appeared amongst them, or even passed away. Barnolf looked confused, but he was also relieved, yet he didn't seem as convinced as Jarger was. Jarger offered to send his son, Kalgo to Nausgar's camp, for the young Beryul wanted to honor his gods, and perhaps spy on the camp and the possible invader. Barnolf accepted, and agreed to send a entourage of his Maruds to guide the young Beryul to the border. Barnolf returned back to his capital with the Beryul in tow, but seemed to notice that the morning breeze had gone. When the Beryul stopped and sniffed around him, he made a sign to the east and west.

"Something wrong, Kalgo?" Barnolf asked.

"I forget you are not true to the north gods, my lord. It is just, when the wind stops, it means we have not honored the Shadow. I honor him, and perhaps he will restore our good graces?" The young Beryul said, but Barnolf only shook his head.