Philosopher's Information Concerning Rodnya Voknaz

Dear Delwath, formerly of Ainumarya, and companions,

Ah, hmm, hmm. The wand, yes, it was nice to receive. Simple, but old, and pleasing. Many thanks to you for the gift, yes indeed.

Hmm now, it is information on the Rodnya Voknaz you seek, yes, the politics of that land called Ursk. There is much that can be said of them, yes, but I sense the boring technicalities are not what you have asked for. No. And, indeed, you have not provided enough of a trade for the deeper mysteries, hmm.

Ah, yes. The politics. Well, you must understand a little history, you see. Ursk is a dangerous place, very dangerous, what with the dragons and monsters and all. Not a safe land, not a place one can easily live. For a long time few people lived there. It was only once the wizards got going that the cities could grow, yes, they need magic to survive against the dragons and monsters and such, not surprisingly. And then, of course, they discovered how much the rest of the Green Sea would pay for dragon’s teeth and remorhaz hearts and ice worm guts. Not the safest way to get rich, far from it, but get rich they did, a little anyway.

But I digress, you did not ask about economics. History, yes, that’s where I was. You know about the Great War, of course, about the battles that raged across Taelgar. Maybe you don’t know about the war against Vimfrost, hmm. Vimfrost, as any good student of history knows, was an ancient dragon of frost and ice, a white dragon as they are called, nasty as they come, who led an army of trolls and frost giants and ogres and other nasty things against the Vos. As you know, it was Derik IIIof the House of Sewickwho gathered an alliance, repaired the Gråstenvakt, and of course killed Vimfrost, obviously. But of course many died, especially among the giants.

Ah, hmm, right, maybe you don’t know. Well, you see, the frost giants of the north were long divided. Many fell under the sway of Cha’mutte, but far from all, no, definitely not all. Before Vimfrost’s War, one might imagine that, indeed, those who held with Cha’mutte were a minority, and a weak one. Not so much afterward. This created a power vacuum, you see. The dragonspawn were always held in check by the giants, but no longer, and of course, you must imagine that others crept into empty lands. Hmm, yes, for example you must know of Lord Rhodar von Glauer. Hmm, yes, as you can clearly see, things began to shift.

Of course in these days Ursk did not ignore the power vacuum, how could they? You must know this, hmm, yes. So after the Great War Ursk grew, out from their protected coastal cities. As Ursk grew, they met people. Ah, hmm, I guess you could say conquered people. The novja, they are called. You might call them the ‘new people.’ Ursk depends on magic for survival, and there is a cost to this, hmm, yes, that is more than I can say right now, the cost. But the new people, the novja, could not very well expect to live under Ursk’s protection without being part of Ursk.

Ah, hmm, right, well, that was perhaps a little long-winded. I was meant to be speaking of the Rodnya Voknaz. Of course as you know the eight Rodnya rule Ursk together, but each Rodnya has its own members, its own rules and politics. So, right, concerning Voknaz. Among the Rodnya, there is much debate about how to protect the country best. The price of the magic must be paid, and there are some who, hmm, perhaps you might say are uncertain that the novja are truly willing to pay it. Hmm, maybe uncertain is too gentle, right. There are some of the rodnye who argue that the novja should be driven out into the cold and the dark. Not Rodnya Voknaz, though. Ah, right this was what I was meant to be speaking of. Yes.

Rodnya Voknaz is among the more pragmatic of the rodnye. They have long accepted the novja among them, and even....ah, hmm, right, there are some things I cannot say. Let me put it this way, there are many novja who are members of the Rodnya Voknaz. Well, were, I guess I should say. Last winter, disaster struck. The raids of the dragonspawn are, hmm, not something the wizards of Ursk truly fear. But this creature was no dragonspawn. Ah, hmm, as you may know dragonspawn here is a translation of the Urskan term, what I might call a young dragon. In any case, the creature that attacked last winter was no mere dragonspawn, but an ancient terror, a descendant of Vimfrost himself.

A man named Artem Novolozek, a novja himself, led the attack, but was defeated and fled in disgrace. The dragon was killed, but not without much loss of life, and in the aftermath, yes, hmm, of course there were questions. Of course.

Hmm, right. So as one might imagine now those who argued for decades for the novja are a little disgraced. Hmm well perhaps more then a little, yes, perhaps a lot. Strangely, not so much the novja themselves, who after all are thought to be weak in magic and relatively useless in defense. Hmm, yes, notice of course I say are thought to be, not are. Well, right, but of course the Rodnya Voknaz are, shall we say, at a low point. Not who I would choose to ally myself with now, if I wanted influence in Ursk, hmm, no. They need something, a show of strength, a way to prove their worth, hmm, yes.

So, ah, hmm, I seem to have forgotten the question.

Signed,
The Forgotten Chronicler
On Behalf of the Ancient and Honorable Order of Philospher’s