[h2][color=Chocolate]Caslan
Nasklan-Fesdan Feud[/color][/h2]

With all the trouble in the port of Kel Trach resolved, the zupans and their compatriots began to return back home, with a sudden and dark realization. Mel Coldfinger was away, and already the gears of ambition were turning in the heads of many Zupans. The Hazels were the only clan to return home with some relative peace and stayed quiet as other Zupans swiftly began to speak of Mel’s departure as either the best thing that had happened to them, or the worst. No clan was more thrilled then the Geuders, whose leader [color=orange]Dylon Geuder[/color] was to call for immediate return to the Kycer’s assembly, and that the assembly should meet in a more ‘less depressive’ place, such as the grand circular hall in the formal capital of Helgave. The two heads of the assembly sent out couriers denying such a request, and firmly entrenched themselves in that the Kycer will meet in the coming fall as was tradition.

However, Dylon did not give up so easily, and did not return to Helgave just yet, but meandered in Hilgas. Despite being an ‘honored guest’, Dylon’s purpose in Hilgas was more political. He was quick to meet up with Mel’s temporary replacement, the necromancer and priest [color=orange]Naya Coladdic[/color]. Dylon was practically wooing the young Kerk, who was nearly 20 years his younger, but was talented in magic. She was being advised closely by the lich and ancient elven librarian [color=orange]Gra’vyen[/color], whose spite for politics was obvious when he magically teleported Dylon three miles out of Kel Loch for trying to barge in on the two. Annoyed and distraught, Dylon was thankfully picked up by some Beurian clansmen who helped him back to Kel Loch.

Dylon was eventually able to get in a conversation with Naya, discovering her general anxiety in leading the Kycer, and that most affairs would be handled by Gra’vyen in his stead, but it was her voice that held final judgement. Although discomforted by Dylon’s persistence, she warmed to the Zupan who seemed genuine in his political career and pursuits, in which Dylon discovered the most important thing about Naya; her distaste for the Coladdic patriarch and his rival [color=orange]Shov Coladdic[/color]. Shov was more of a distant relative, but Naya’s line came directly from the children of Mel, which Mel held closely. However, her aligned clan may have bore the name Coladdic, but she Shov and his family viewed them as minor and irrelevant members, and Shov showed no compassion towards her, and often was dismissive of her family. Naya even recounted a tale of her father approaching Shov for a loan and a couple goats, and Shov dismissed him without as much as listening to him. Dylon knew from past experiences with Shov that this was fairly common with the old archconservative.

Dylon finished up his business with Naya, being reassured of her abilities before leaving for Helgave. Once back in his home, he was greeted by his adoptive brother, the Beurian [color=orange]Daygov Geuder[/color] and the rest of his clan. The only ones not amongst their number was his heir and his wife, who were out on business elsewhere. Dylon got to work almost immediately, sending out invitations to many of the Zupans aligned to him to meet in Helgave.

Many joined Dylon as he was laying out his ‘battle plan’ to become head of the Assembly before the Zupans of Telgan, Pemolas, Nasklan, and the surprising Zupan of Ushas. Dylon had made a deal with Zupan [color=orange]Molov Pinewood[/color], a Coladdic who had sympathies with Dylon, to run on a joint ticket for the Geuderic faction to run for the assembly. Dylon figured that a fellow Coladdic would make him seem far more neutral then he actually was, and maybe even get support from the likes of [color=orange]Lavar Brav[/color], whom Molov spoke very highly of. It was during this meeting, that an agreement was struck on how to plan for the election, which was divided up Shov’s voting base of conservative Kerks while retaining the support of various minorities, the slaves, and reformers.

The only Zupan who was not fully onboard was [color=orange]Pelkov Elkwood[/color], who was fairly conservative himself. Pelkov wanted stronger reassurances that Dylon and his faction would not go ‘too far’ with reforms related to the slaves, or damage the economic model of the Pelkovs. Although Dylon tried to reassure Pelkov, the Zupan’s single minded fury was more directed towards the Hazels, whom he complained were ‘foxes amongst hens’. It became clear that Pelkov cared very little for his clan’s economic model, and more about damaging the Hazels, bringing accusations that the Hazels were aligned with Okan bandits who prey on the roads of Telgan. The meeting eventually agreed to give Pelkov what he wanted, not wishing to remove his vital support, allowing any reforms passed by the group to ignore Telgas and the Elkwoods in general.
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Things seemed to be going well, at least at first, up until an incident came to fruition in Nasklan. Zupan [color=orange]Maryl Hydov[/color], who increasingly has become known as ‘The Lady of the Seal Peninsula’, had been in a partial feud with the poorer Gasner clan of Fesden. Zupan [color=orange]Tomov Gasner[/color]. For years, the Hydov have been looked down on by the Coladdic clans for having lost their Tomb City to the undead, a misery which the Gasners were quick to exploit. Sending in necromancers from time to time, small teams of Gasner clansmen were making off with large stone pieces of the Hydov tomb city, a grave insult to the clan. Although this had been happening for years, the recent excavation by the illegal pillagers dug their way into an ancient Hydov tomb and pilfered the grave of one of the Hydov’s ancient patriarches, a hero of a long gone age which tamed the Peninsula of Seals. In cruelty, the necromancers raised the ancient dead of the grave, had it dance for them, and then mockingly broke it apart to keep as trinkets. One of the excavators, a poor Okan who was helping the Gasners, was mortified by the show and reported the desecration to Maryl.

The Hydov clan flew into a fury, and a clan meeting was called. Insulted beyond belief, the entire clan was soon shouting ‘Gasner Delenda Est!’ ‘Fesdan Delenda Est!’. Maryl called for a meeting, wishing to retake their ancient tomb city from the rogue undead, but also to take vengeance on the Gasner clan who defiled their tomb. However, the necromancers of the Hydovs were quick to remind their angry clan the reasons why they lost their tomb in the first place, as the ancient powers within the vast burrows were far too strong for their clan to handle, and that any and all burials were done in secret. It was why the excavations of the Gasners brought so many necromancers, to mask them from the denizens within. Maryl however was unconvinced and mustered raiders to retaliate against the Gasners.

Although partly experienced from several internal conflicts, Maryl was confident in her campaign against them. Her first order of business was ‘cleaning up’ the expeditions into the tomb city. Several poor Okan masons had joined the Gasners in this illegal operation, which shocked and angered Maryl to no end, especially with the clan’s close relationship with many of the Okan villages in the north. These masons were found and hanged, much to the equal shock and horror of many of the Okan clans who did not fully understand the brutality against them. Maryl’s clan then began to make their way southward towards Gangave, and were on a crash course towards the home of the Gansers.

Maryl’s retaliatory raids were beyond brutal, targeting structures more so than civilians. Maryl knew that the Gasners were poor and valued construction, and thus Maryl and her clan began a slash and burn raid across Fesdan. Her main target was the city of Gangave, home of the scribes and a smaller and less traveled city.  Tomov Gasner was soon gathering his clan to counter the raiders, but was not prepared for the devastation Maryl and her clan wrought. Several smaller Kerkian clans were utterly annihilated, their sacred shrines desecrated, and many of the non-Kerks hanged in rows to mark Maryl’s advance. Tomov and an army of 1,200 Kerkian clansmen were able to catch up to Maryl and her 800 outriders, initiating the Battle of Feslow.

Feslow was a small kerkian village, although the size of a large town by normal standards, and was only a day’s ride from Gangave. Maryl and her clan were in the process of raiding Feslow when Tomov and a mostly infantry army caught up to her. Maryl’s cavalry were too busy dealing with Feslow’s militia, so Maryl and half of her raiders skirmished with Tomov’s warriors. The battle went poorly for both sides, as Maryl’s constant flanking saw severe casualties on both sides, to a point that both Maryl and Tomov were horribly injured. Bloodied and beaten, only 200 of Maryl’s clan limped back to Nasklan as Tomov secured the village, although ironically the Gasner clan raided the village anyways in a bloodlust of victory.

Maryl returned home only to receive worse news. Without her consent or order, many of her aligned clans were now swarming into Fesdan and were brutalizing the clans aligned with the Gasner. Although happy to know the Hydov honor was avenged, the border wars was now slowly killing both districts, and was now turning into a crisis affecting the rest of the country.

For the Coladdic clans, this trouble was an embarrassment, who were only made aware of the extent of the crimes Tomov and his clan had done, even though the Gasners swore their necromancers would never defile a tomb. The necromancers who did defile the tomb however were never found, likely either disappeared or fled once the fighting broke out. A Kycer army marched on Gangave and occupied the city to keep the Nasklan clans from destroying the city outright, but had to watch as the Hydov aligned clans burned and sacked their way around it. Although Tomov was able to beat back many of the raiders, the non-Kerkian populations of Beurian and Okan suffered horrifically. Both races were being captured by Nasklan clans and being dragged north in chains to become slaves, seeing as that many of them were abandoned to fend for themselves, as bandit clans slowly began forming across Fesdan. Norad Okan were especially enthusiastic to capture fellow Midad Okan, whom many blamed for the ruined relationship they had with the Hydovs.

For the Geuderians, this mess became a black spot on them politically, and only grew daily. Dylon Geuder was furious with Maryl and her actions, especially as Fesdan burned and Shov Coladdic was rumored to be preparing speeches for the next Kycer’s meeting to decry the violence by the Geuderians. The whole ordeal became quite a political scandal, especially amongst the reformer Kerks who felt disillusioned about the Geuders and their aligned faction of having any control over the country being little more then the same troubled clans with less religion involved. In order to try to fix this, Dylon Geuder sent his son [color=orange]Polchov Geuder[/color] and a contingent of Ghilmen to aid Maryl in bringing many of these new bandit clans down. Polchov however could not do much, even as the vast web of political ties between the aligned rogue clans and Maryl prevented him from enforcing his father’s will. In the end, it seemed the Geuders could only hope the fury of the Kerks died down.

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[h2][color=Chocolate]Mel Coldfinger’s Interactions with the Hill Tribes[/color][/h2]
[@OddlyParanoid]

A cloud of mist and fog comes over one of the tribal ports on the coast, and a small rowing boat appears. The port bears only two living figures, and a skeletal figure in a softer armor rowing at the oars. The two figures are cloaked entirely in a purple gown, their only features showing are their eyes and the tip of their nose, but those who can get close enough to them would see their sunken in eyes, the Kerks of Caslan. They wore no fine jewelry, and have nothing of value besides their clothes and two large books at their side. When they land at the docks, they are quick to try to find a leader to lead them to the former imperial capital, revealing themselves as envoys of the archlich Mel Coldfinger, and announce only in private that their master Mel was coming.

The two figures are entirely silent, and do not speak much, but those of any magical nature would be able to catch on that they were enchanted, as their eyes were very foggy, as if they were being watched. One of the Kerks was also a user of magic, having waved his hand at their boat and skeletal rower, in which it sunk below the waters and rowed into the abyss beneath the waves, but besides this, the two Kerks did openly try not to offend. They were quite studious and self aware, telling those who may try to confront them that any harm that came to them would be cursed, and would incur the wrath of their master, and that they simply only wished to convey their message to the ‘archduke’. It was clear that the Kerks nor Mel were informed on recent events, but did not seem to care much for the changes.

The message they wished to convey was relatively simple, they only wished to inform whoever was in the former imperial capital that Mel was coming, and that he wished for safe passage for himself, his servants, his slaves, and his undead. Once they got an answer, along with any demands from the current leader who greeted them, they would return to inform Mel.