The Conquered: History and Faith of the Endemani of Central Esterra
Collected and Written by Brother Michael of the Starsworn Priory, Weiland.
“The people here are a weak sort and have allowed my band to move swiftly among them. While they arm themselves, they lack steel in their hearts and their blades. It will be of little matter to conquer them.”
Ser Gweneth Driaster, Knight of Bordevar in communication with Duke Reginald Uster of Stormswatch.
Foreword
While it can be hard to see the influence of the Endemani on the Kingdom that we know, one only has to look at a map or speak to a farmer to learn their true influence. Verily, I believe that we will never be free of their legacy, just as they will never be free of ours. It is the Endemani that first broke ground in Weiland, it is the Endemani that first piled stones at Castle Artourious and it is the Endemani that first declared themselves kings in this vast valley. Unfortunately, much of our records of them are incomplete as the conquering armies of King Artourious were a thunderbolt upon the land, rarely stopping for inquisitive dialogue or exchange of culture with the people who they were engaging in open warfare. Thankfully we have the records of surrounding nations, such as The Iron Valley and The Greenwealds to contrast with the diaries and letters of our nation's earliest heroes. While it is not a complete work, I believe that my collection of all this information provides the largest scholarly undertaking of the Endemani to date.
An Ancient Past of Two Peoples
Common scholarly consensus is that the Endemani peoples ruled over the Archibald Valley for nearly a thousand years until 47AE with their final defeat in the west at Lake Ladure. The earliest references to the Endemani are made by Valleyfolk sages and carvings. They speak of many warring people to the north but special mention is often made to the ‘twin clans of the Northern Plains, who bicker with each other constantly and fight with those they love. They raise great stone cairns in the valley and pray to Earthen Gods.’ These twin clans are the earliest specific reference to any peoples residing in the Archibald Valley. This carving is difficult to date but is believed to be from at least 920 BE.
The next reference to be found once again originates from the Valley, in the records of ‘Chronicler Sturm of Halgors Eve,’ one of the finest records of ancient events in Eastern Esterra. Sturm wrote in 802 BE:
“Fandel returned to the fasting this morning, carrying with him a great many baskets of grain atop his auroch named Haflier. He says that the Askoniks have fallen upon the Endemani in a final war and are slaying the Endemani in a great bloodletting. He has been able to take the bounty of grain with little effort and no trade. Odroutin has ordered that we send a band in the morn that will take from the Endemani holdings already burned by Askoniks.’
It is my belief that the Askoniks and the Endemani are at least the ancestors of these ‘Twin Tribes’ having become complete polities and continued to war upon eachother. It is likely that they were of related ancestry given their close proximity and the reference ‘fight with those they love.’ The Askoniks appear to rule Archibald Valley for nearly three hundred years before being defeated, seemingly by the Endemani. This implies that the slaying of the Endemani was not complete, and that the Endemani remained within Askonik culture to some manner. As described by Hofthur Ulstmann of Krathum’s Rat, a Valleyfolk settlement in what is now known as True Landing;
“Garl Krathum remained in a foul temper of the Askoniks late arrival. When travellers from the west arrived they were not the traders we had waited for, but were the Southerners the Askoniks called Endmen. The Endmen told Garl Krathum that they had brought the Askoniks low and buried them within the soil. When asked if they would honour the Askoniks’ agreement to trade Garl Krathum amber and lowherb, they said that the Askoniks’ agreements had gone to the soil with them. We return to Krathum’s Rat with little to show for our journey, save for the bodies of four dead Endmen.”
The exact nature of the war between the Askonik and the Endemani remains lost to time as the Valleyfolk had little interest in the internal conflicts of the Askonik peoples. In truth we have found only two pieces of reference to it; the above tract and the old stones at Mount Fairwisp, north of The Manor in Weiland. Atop Mount Fairwisp (really just a larger foothill in the eaves of the Wolfdens and in the shadow of the Steinvaults) are two large granite stones, slightly dished like large bowls five paces across. Carved into the outer edges of the dished area is the following text, translated as best we can;
“In [agreement/acceptance?] with our [debts/requirements/confirmation?] to our [next bodies?] we pay for our might with the might of [them/others?] - [Debts/requirements/confirmation?] to the land - [debts/requirements/confirmation?] to the future. Endemani.”
The only other reference to the Askoniks that I have been able to see was held in the Kristov Chapterhouse in Wolstad. There is a report of a Houndspriest working in south-eastern Resinderholz to dispatch a creature known as an ‘Askonik Jailer’. Reportedly the creature is some sort of arboreal haunting known to affect abbeys and churches. The creature is described as a ‘malformed skeleton entrapped within a broken and burnt tree capable of controlling plants, deafening with a whisper and killing with a touch.’ The creature was dispatched by ‘bloodletting a bullock upon a freshly tilled field within the region, striking down the beast with a bronze spear retrieved from a nearby village and grinding the corpse within a nearby mill.’ The Chapterhouse held no records of the naming origins of the creature.
The Valleyfolk Wars
Following the end of the Askonik period at ~800 BE, the Endemani appeared to war with the Valleyfolk of far eastern and northern Brotherslee for some time. It is likely that these conflicts were the result of actions similar to those described by Hofthur Ulstmann. Verily, I would state that the Valleyfolk had entreated the Askoniks and found them reasonable men. Lamenting their arrangements with the defeated Askoniks, they recouped their losses in blood from the Endemani. Numerous sources from the eastern Valley lowlands speak of conflict with the Endemani in common tones. Some even label the period of Autumn as ‘The Endemani Time’ where they would raid north and west, supplementing winter preparations with stolen loot from the weaker Endemani.
It is because of this conflict, growing so quickly in the grave of their usurpation of the Askoniks, that the oldest Endemani relics and ruins we have found are in the west. It is likely that during the period between 800BE and 500BE, the Valleyfolk raids in the eastern reaches of the Archibald Valley (in what is today called Royal Bordevar) were such a threat that the Endemani were unable to form strong sovereign claims. There are no records of Valleyfolk settlements being successfully attacked in vengeance against them for their violent raiding until 489 BE.
In the Autumn of 489BE a host of Valleyfolk raiders led by a warrior named Revna Blackiron encountered a larger force of Endemani while establishing a camp not far from the site of Podvale in Royal Bordevar. A unknown Valleyfolk Chronicler would go on to erect a stone near the site years later that reads:
“On this ground, Revna Blackiron and fifty Children of the Valley died waylaying King Pothus the Golden. Because of their sacrifice nearly four hundred return to their families. The name Revna will live on in the names of the children of these four hundred, and onto those that would follow them.”
King Pothus The Golden would become known by other names: Pothus the Great, Pothus of the Line and King Pothus of the East and West. It appears that while the eastern Endemani failed to establish themselves, the Endemani in the west were left without malice. This gave rise to Pothus, a King of some or all of the western Endemani who led an army into the east in 489 BE. Pothus’ force marched south until it reached the township of Wolkvik, which the force burned before departing. In the following year an alliance of eastern Valleyfolk from True Landing and Anderslee would commit extensively to raids in the west. In response, King Pothus would raid the Valleyfolk settlements in the Winter. This cycle would continue for decades; an ever turning cycle of blood and revenge in time with the seasons. In Autumn the eastern Endemani would die to the Valleyfolk, and in Winter the Eastern Valleyfolk would die to the forces of Pothus. Every year grew the size of the warhosts, and every year grew the size of the sacrifice. Valleyfolk claims in True Landing would never return to their previous extent after this period. This came to a head in 429 BE when the forces of King Pothus the Lesser burned much of Brotherlee in response to the destruction wrought by the eastern warchiefs of Anderslee. Such was the extent of the attack that the Chronicler Gida of Winters Vale wrote;
“Gone are the sons of my daughters and the daughters of my sons. The Endmen leave only the old and tell us we are stonebloods, unworthy of slaying. I am stoneblood. Brotherlee weeps for I cannot bleed to save it.Gone are the sons of my daughters and the daughters of my sons. The Endmen have taken them all.”
It is understood that this particular season created the impetus for the construction of Alfwens Wall. Although the identity of the titular Alfwen remains shrouded in much mystery, the keystone above the walls largest bastion reportedly read;
“POTHUS SHALL NOT WALK BEYOND THESE STONES
PEACE IS CARVED IN STONE
OR IT SHALL BE TAKEN IN BLOOD
ALFWEN FEARS NOT THE ENDMEN.”
The final construction of Alfwens Wall appears to have broken the cycle of war and pillaging that had pitted the Endemani and the Valleyfolk against each other. In true Valleyfolk stylings, it appears the Endemani and the Valleyfolk were quickly allies in trade, with Endemani names appearing in the records of Valleyfolk Merchants.
The Petty Kings
Following the reign of King Pothus (the Golden and the Lesser) it appears that the Endemani Kingdom entered a time of stable rule and growth. Valleyfolk travellers call the Endemani Kingdom a ‘place of quiet dignity and strangeness.’ This time of relative unity and stability appears to have lasted just over three hundred years. During this time it seems that the Valleyfolk traded with the Endemani Kingdom and avoided conflict. Given that the Valleyfolk’s attention was likely directed southwards with The Axemans War, this lack of conflict in the north seems appropriate.
Lacking great records from the Valleyfolk we instead rely on more sparse documentation, of which there are two of note.
The Obregon House of Travellers contains a set of clay tablets in its museum, two of which are relevant to our research. One is titled ‘The Arrival of The End’Em-Ani to the City of Spires’. It is a high-relief moulding of many travellers entering the city carrying wheat in one hand and missing their other hand. The travellers appear to be experiencing great happiness. The second is titled ‘Punishment of Kidnappers and Murderers’ and depicts multiple individuals without hands being attacked by humanoid shaped insects, nearby a pile of hands and wheat burns. The individuals appear to be experiencing great pain.
Uthor Of Last Wheelslee, a smuggler and criminal was arrested by Valleyfolk in late 121 BE. A particularly irritating thorn in the side of local Reeves, Uthor was forced to deliver a long list of confessions detailing the nature of his crimes, routes and partners. ‘The Confessions of Uthor’ exists at one of our best records of economic circumstances of True Landing, the Kolkhani Steppes and Royal Bordevar from this time period. Within these confessions Uthor details multiple interactions with the Endemani with a tone of both disdain and unease. Early in his career he would often hide among the Endemani and commit robbery in the area, calling the Endemani ‘weak and defeated, their golden priests have already broken any iron in their bodies.’ But later in his career, shortly before his capture, he gives this recount;
“I couldn’t keep staying at Drokulsu. It's not that they had got any guards or beaters, it's just a thing in their eyes. We used to call it the Mani Look. They’ll start staring at you without moving the rest of their body. They’ll hold anything like its a weapon and just watch you. Sometimes it's from the fields outside of bowshot, other times it's from across the taproom. More and more of them were giving us the Mani Look. More and more of their own criminals were ending up along the road. They’d take them and tie feet to poles along the road, hanging them the wrong way up. Little cuts with a sharp knife in the legs, under the arms, sides of the neck, with a big half-barrel underneath them catch all that came out. I never saw anyone take the barrels away, but I never saw a foul one. More and more of these redmen were on the roads now. We had to get out.”
Valleyfolk merchants who traded with the Endemani during this period appear to have made little changes to their systems of trade or amounts. While resources fluctuated year to year, trade was almost exclusively in minerals and precious stone from the Valley in exchange for seed crop, food and timber. This period is referred to as the ‘Petty Kings’ period, largely in hindsight. Artebazzani records from after this time refer to the Endemani as;
“‘[inhabited by]…clans of rural tribesfolk working uncontained fields. Travellers say they are feral wildmen descended from petty kings.”
Given the prominence and importance of the early kings, it is assumed that these ‘Petty Kings’ ruled during this stable but waning period wherein the Endemani engaged in strange practices to do with diplomacy, punishment and control.
Endemani at War
Our clearest assessment of the Endemani is also our last. With the arrival of King Artourious in 35 AE, his retinue and followers went about battling with the Endemani. This process was initially staggered. The settlement of Vettesport in the north was unopposed and questing knights filtered among the countryside with very little conflict, moving among the Endemani as the quote that began this document details. This came to an end quickly when local Endemani clans attacked Vettesport numerous times, often under the cover of the great storms that wracked the settlement. These attacks were repulsed but multiple figures record their fanatical bloodthirst. The Endemani often fought to the death, only retreating when they had suffered truly horrific injuries. Knights and Rangers often reported finding piles of dead Endemani raiders in gullies and atop mounds after the storms had cleared. As if they had gathered together to die of their wounds.
The wars against the Endemani were not afforded much attention during this period, rather the internal workings of the King’s court are the centre of records. We have dozens of records of the feasts of King Bordevar and the achievements of his companions, but vanishingly little about the layout of Endemani settlements and their practices.
What is known is that the Endemani were fractured and disparate by the time of Bordevar’s arrival. The centre of culture was ‘Mound Cities’ where clay and thatch houses and granaries looked over the countryside. These cities were small and sat atop earthen mounds that were hollowed out with cellars, natural caves and tunnels, which were largely empty when explored. Assaulting the Mound Cities was often the highpoint of a campaign as Knights would sally forth into the breech and do battle with the dense groups of defenders. The worst tales are of Knights who fell through floors weakened by siege engines. They were often discovered days later by their companions, desiccated and withered, despite the catacombs being deceivingly easy to navigate.
Surrounding each Mound City was a loose web of farming settlements. These settlements worked truly massive fields. Often Bordevarian diaries referred to these settlements as ‘Feral Fields’ that had grown far beyond their workers' ability to control. These small settlements were semi-transient, with parties camping in the fields but returning to a central gathering point at their centre. The battles at these settlements are rarely detailed as they were often a part of sweeping actions by Bordevarian commoner forces. But what is repeated is the haunting nature of these places. They were often far larger than they needed to be, with many abandoned buildings, large communal structures and shrines. Bordevarian troops refused to camp within them. This piece of history lives on in the commoners rhyme ‘Feral Fields’;
In Feral Fields, the crops do grow,
But something eerie lurks below.
Abandoned homes, empty shrines,
a place where Glory never shines.
Whispers of ghosts and spirits there,
Haunting tales they do ensnare.
Abandoned homes, empty Shrines,
A place where Darkness always shines.
In Feral Fields, the darkness reigns,
A place where fear forever stains.
Abandoned homes, empty shrines,
A place where we forget their whines.
So never camp within their bounds,
Or be lost within the haunting mounds.
Abandoned homes, empty shrines,
A place where Endemani dines.
Records have it that the King or his companions waged sixteen campaigns against separate ‘Harvest Kingdoms’, each one culminating in an assault on Mound City. Many of the Mound Cities were destroyed in the process, but a handful of them remain around Bordevar often as overgrown grassy hills in strange places or in the case of Kwetlinberg in Royal Bordevar, as a new town atop the bones of the old. Many of the farming settlements referenced in Feral Fields were lost, responsible for a smattering of unknown ruins across the nation, but their fields were almost certainly still in use by Bordevarians in this period.
Behold The Harvest Kings
The one element of the Endemani that was well written about were two of the Harvest Kings, the last two to stand against the Bordevarians; ‘King Schlakuk of Bosar’ and ‘King Urette of The Whiteforge’.
King Schlakuk is described as an incredibly thin and tall man, reportedly seven feet in height. He ruled over the Mound City of Bosar in the north-west of Royal Bordevar, not far from the settlement of Draemoor in the Duchy of Bloodmarsh. Schlakuk was the only Harvest King to raise an army and fight King Artourious in the field. The Battle of the False King that followed the bloodiest of any in the Endemani campaign, threatening to break the armies of the Bordevarian forces. But King Schlakuk failed to keep his army loyal, with whole forces leaving the field in good order part-way through the battle, leaving their king to be slain by Duchess Siriam of Starscar. The destruction of Bosar by siege engines ruined the mound so heavily that it rerouted some of the springs that flow from it, distributing the city's red clay throughout the region, giving Bloodmarsh Duchy its name. The Endemani that fled the field were hunted down and slain, often among their feral fields oblivious to the obvious follow-up assaults by Bordevarian forces.
King Urette was the last Harvest King to be defeated. The Whiteforge appears to be an exception to the standard Mound City format, instead being a ‘Fortress of Stone and Gold’ at the base of the Steinvault Mountains in the south-west of Weiland. The battle to defeat King Urette is shrouded in mystery, with many records being lost. What we do know is that Elaith Gravemarked perished in the battle, King Urette was killed personally by King Artouious ‘with his own blade, Eirulk,’ and the fortress was destroyed in the process. Legend has it that The Manor was built upon the ruins of the fortress, but I cannot confirm that. Notably, ‘the fortress of Stone and Gold’ is always referred to as separate to ‘The Whiteforge’. What exactly the Whiteforge is, I cannot say at this point.
Finally, there are no records of Harvest Queens or even of any families of Harvest Kings. This could be a simple lack of care among Bordevarian conquerors at the time, or may be an Endemani cultural practice lost to time.
Vanquished
There are no records that the Endemani intermarried or were accepted by our ancestors. In all likelihood they were wiped out, with the only survivors fleeing into the Weald, the Kolkahni Steppes or perhaps the Wolfden Woods. No records of Endemani names appear in Bordevarian Church records and knowledge of their language is difficult to come by.
What remains of the Endemani are what they left behind: ruins overgrown and forgotten by time, a victorious foe who stands atop their graves and words in stone. I don’t wish to think on it too deeply, but it is also possible that a very small number of the forces of the Onyx Aristocracy are the bones of long-dead Endemani warriors, returning to wage war again in their formerly feral fields.
Final Notes
While I believe my research here is truly extensive there are many small points that could use expansion.
Within the legends of the Endemani there is an interest in their ruins such as the remaining Mounds, the stones atop Mount Fairwisp and the search for The Whiteforge. There is also only so much we know about the Askoniks, the beliefs of the Endemani and their strange activities during the age of the Petty Kings, although I am unsure if it is feasible to learn these things.
Surrounding the legends of the Endemani there is certainly research to be had in regards to The Kolkhani Steppe, Valleyfolk expansion in the East of Southern Esterra and the Tribes of the Weald.
I hope that my work here has been deemed satisfactory in the eyes of the Star Serpent, the High Priest and the High Historian.
I serve at your virtue,
Brother Michael of Starsworn Priory.