The History of Tarraocea - Chapter 1 - The Age of Humans

The World

Tarraocea is the world of OceanLords. It is basically an archipelago. Islands are occupied by a race or kingdom. The rest is oceans and seas, and beneath them lurk various sea monsters.

The Great Catastrophe

This was not always the case. Such situation came about after the world almost collapsed under great earthquakes that tore it apart. Sea levels rose until they covered most of the world, leaving only a large archipelago. Few races managed to survive and it took quite a while until the world recovered. The few-recorded histories here have been destroyed.

Island War I

The only race that survived was the Humans (at least it seemed to). The humans further split into different tribes. A means of transport to navigate between islands was needed. One human tribe called the Gokstads that lives on the northern parts of Tarraocea managed to invent the first ships. Tribes were further divided since the nature of islands further separated any union. Resources on each island started to diminish and were becoming few. Trading became common, however when trading was stopped due to disagreement between islands, the only course was war. So wars started between each island, until the best took over the others. During these wars ships started to improve from mere floating rafts to full transportable galleys. There is few recorded histories of these wars, it came to be known as Island wars or Island war I. Suffice is to say here that the result of this war gave birth to six human united tribes: - the Worchosts, Urkas, Gokstads, Pirolians, Lodans, Sendaos. There were many other tribes who were exterminated or simply forced to adopt the victor’s customs.

The First Council of the Sea

The 6 warlords of each tribe decided to form the Council of the Sea (which later came to be known the 1st Council of the Sea), so as to secure the peace in the future. It met twice a year to discuss global trade agreements and misunderstanding between the major tribes. The council consisted of 30 councillors called “Sealords”. Each warlord appointed 5 of each able Sealords. However the so called lords didn’t hold any absolute power over the whole council. Each lord was held equal among the other lords. This led to several inconclusive agreements and more than once the tribes were on the brink of war.

In one instance the Gokstads (one of the Northern tribes) refused to trade trade sealion pelts with the other tribes, saying that the demand for these pelts will lead to the Sealion’s extinction, which is vital for the warmth of their people. At first the tribes agreed but when these vital pelts left the Worchosts and the Urkas without any real warming mechanisms in the frozen north, they started raiding Gokstad islands for the pelts disguising their ships using Lodan sail masts. The council met in an emergency session. The Gokstads pointed out that two of its islands Guthrum and Orgonion had been raided by the Lodans. The Lodans obviously denied this and saw it as an act of perjury from all of the tribes. In front of such accusations the Lodans had to pay reparations to the locals of Guthrum and Orgonion, by supplying the locals with wood.

The Lodans slowed down the process of payment due to the scarcity of wood. It was noted by the Gokstads that the Sealion pelt warehouses of Guthrum and Orgonion were the most that got damaged. After an investigation led by the Gokstads themselves, it was found that the tribes of Worchosts and Urkas were the real raiders. The Gokstads returned to the council and pardoned the Lodans for the accusations made against them. However it was too late, the Lodans decided to secede from the council and declared their act of council union void and null. The current Lodan oceanlord Roden refused to let his “Sealords” attend, but just sent a letter to the council. The Gokstads soon followed suit on the grounds that the council had become ineffective. Theoretically it was never dissolved formally but all the other tribes refused to attend any meetings. The council was virtually dissolved.

Sealion war

The Worchosts and Urkas in an alliance continued their raids on the Gokstads and immediately captured Guthrum and Orgonion. The fortified city of Gokstamborg was spared while the Alliance continued capturing one island by after another. Sandarf and Otroborg fell as well. Meanwhile, the Lodans seeing the Worchosts’s and Urkas’s power growing considerably, declared war on the alliance of Worchosts and Urkas on the basis that they had led to the downfall of the council. The Sendaos and Pirolians (the other two tribes that are less influential) gave aid to the Lodan cause. Meanwhile the Worchosts and Urkas had started the blockade of the capital of the Gokstads – Gokstamborg.

The Lodans mobilised their fleet and found no real resistance apart from the locals of the capital of the Urkas – Tullaria. Tullaria fell after a siege of 3 days. The city was pillaged and almost raised to the ground, (only the ramparts were left). Soon after the alliance started to disintegrate, the Urkas wanted to re-capture their home while the Worchosts wanted to continue the siege, suggesting that victory was now at hand. The Gokstads on hearing that the Lodans were pillaging the Urkas Islands were filled with new courage; and they decided to put up a brave resistance. The Gokstad longships were no match for the galleys of Urkas and Worchosts, however during what has gone down in history as The Battle of the Frozen Walls, the Urkas left the Worchosts to fend for themselves. The Worchosts lost a vital flank to the Gokstads and were smashed at Gokstamborg. Their admiral Torlon was killed during the battle.

The war continued but the Worchosts and the Urkas went on their separate ways. The Gokstads recaptured their lost islands, while the Lodans directed their main fleet on the Worchosts. The Urkas main fleet was trapped by the Lodans from the south and the Goktads from the North and was crushed. After about a month all of the Urkas’s and Worchosts’s islands were captured by the Lodans. The Gokstads actually didn’t gain anything but struggled to regain their lost possessions. The war with the two had cost them dearly and it was some until they recovered.

The absolute of the Lodans

After the war, no tribe apart from the Pirolians and Sendaos, who found them in a weak position in relation to the Lodans jumped to the idea to recreate the council. The Gokstads abandoned the idea and began a long process of expansion to their east. The Lodans having access to greater manpower and resources saw that the Pirolians and Sendaos are too small for them. The Lodans immediately mobilised their fleets.

“Brotherly aid”

By this time the Lodans had invented fire cannons, which were mounted on their galleys. Oceanlord Roden took command of the main fleet and headed for Pirolia (now Danasgos). Oceanlord Perlai couldn’t believe his eyes, when he saw an immense fleet blockading the capital. Roden didn’t want to lose any time and immediately dispatch a letter to Perlai:-

“Oh warlord Perlai, great friend of the Lodans, deliverer from the Urkas wrath, how may I ever thank you for your support you gave us in defeating the Urkas and the Worchosts? I want to offer you the right for your tribe to coexist peacefully within the great Lodan tribe. Your people need to start living peacefully. It is an offer that you cannot refuse. To prove your genuineness that you are trustworthy we would need you to disarm your fleets”.

It was a thinly disguised message that demanded the dissolution of the tribe. Perlai had two options… either sacrificing lots of people for a lost cause or submit to the Lodans. The 2nd option was deemed to be the best for his people. So in order to avoid any bloodshed Perlai sent a reply to Roden saying that his people are were willing to submit to the new order, in favour of peace and security. Meanwhile Perlai took a small galley and his best men and fled the city to the west. He was never seen again. No one knew what happened. The gates of Pirolia were just opened and the Lodans entered in ceremonial order. There was no no rape, pillage or plunder. The Pirolians were amazed when Roden read out Perlai’s message to the Pirolians. He said that they need not fear because the Lodans and the Pirolians was one tribe. At first they greeted him as friend but when he started imposing his ruling the Pirolians started to rebel. The Pirolians didn’t agree with this and those who revolted were killed immediately on the spot. This was needed to subdue the population. In the absence of any leader like Perlai there was no real opposition. The Ships, which were anchored in the harbour, were captured by the lodans. Known admirals were assassinated. To further minimize resistance the Lodans banished the Pirolians to the distant parts of the islands. This came to be known as the “Pirolian diaspora”. Most of the other admirals either fled or succumbed to the new order.

The Sendao migration to the south

Farolian (current oceanlord of the Sendaos) using his spies spread over the Pirolian tribe was keeping an eye on what was happening. From the day that his spies informed him of the looming Lodan fleet, he immediately started arming his fleets – The storm was gathering. Farolian knew that his people didn’t have the resources or the will to fight someone who had conquered all the other islands. The Gokstads seemed not to bother and had interests of their own. He gave the orders for the construction of an immense fleet that would transport all the Sendaos to other unknown islands to the south.

The Fleet was built within 4 days and finally all the Sendaos migrated to the south. On the course of migration, the Sendao came in contact with the Orcs (primarily the Stormrider Orcs). It seemed that not only the Humans managed to survive after the Great catastrophe. The Sendao had to fight through the Orcs. After fierce fighting, the Orcs saw how courageous the Sendao were and so offered them for settlement the remote and useless islands to the north of them. The Sendao would just protect the Orcs interest interest in the north. The Islands to the north of the Stormrider clan are islands no-one would want to live in… not even the Orcs. They are wasteland islands. The Sendaos on the basis that beggars can’t be choosers, settled on the wasteland islands of the Redstorm, leaving their home islands open for the Lodans.

The hand of Jolvun

The human tribes in those days used to worship various gods. One god was Jolvun, worshipped only by the Gokstads, Lodans and the Worchosts. Jolvun is the God of the Purifying Sea. Legend says that Jolvun is the one who takes care of all the beasts in the sea and purifies the sea from any evil in it.

While the Lodans were establishing themselves in the west and south, the Gokstads decided to reinforce their islands bordering the Lodan ones. During one night Gokstad sailors on a Longship, patrolling the Lodan waters experienced and saw something that had never been seen before.

It was an ethereal hand, as big as the Longship itself. The hand pushed the Longship to the East seas and after about 6 days, the crew found themselves on a uninhabited island. The sailors left immediately for Gokstamborg (after a few exploration of the island) to tell their tale. The interpreters of the sky lost no time in coming up with an idea. Jolvun was giving them a sign, to navigate to the east. Everyone agreed with this interpreted idea. And it was most welcomed since expansion to the west was almost impossible, as it would have brought about a clash with with the power of Lodans.

The island on which the sailors of that fated Longship landed was named “Jolvun”. The Gokstads (being the able navigators that they are) continued on their navigation and colonization of the islands to the east. Dragon carcasses were found on these islands, which drew particular interest to the Gokstads. A human tribe called the Hermun inhabited most of the islands to the east. Ruthless in war, they saw the Gokstads as being a superior tribe. Before the great catastrophe the Hermundors were the best warriors on land. However when the few survivors of that tribe weren’t capable of distinguishing between driftwood and a ship, let alone owning a fleet, they willingly accepted the Gokstads as their overlords. The Hermundors remained quite powerful warriors even on ships and so were incorporated by the Gokstads into their fleets.

The next 35 years saw the build up of these islands of the east, and their transformation into Gokstads colonies and now the Gokstads themselves were in preparation for the defence of their islands. They were the last remaining free human tribe, which had not succumbed to the Lodans. It was only a matter of time, since Tarraocea would be again on war, since war resolves undisputed matters.