Thet

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Thet

The Dominion of Thet

Geographic Info

Continent: Gallorea

Location: Along the eastern shore of Gallorea, bounded by the Bay of Threshron

Government

Government Type: Mixed Dictatorship (King, Potentate, Warmaster, Overlord, Master, Laird/Mistress, Governor)

Ruler: The Fell King

Arms: A black field with a gray skull, crowned in gold and surrounded by nine gold stars.

Coinage: 25 Dregels = 1 Tawn (cp); 50 Tawns = 1 Alastor (1 sp); 25 Alastors = 1 Graypiece (1 gp); 50 Graypieces = 1 Royal (1 Pp)

Capital: Agaloth (pop 98,550)

Alliances: None

Hostilities: Adanar, Halgard, Valduran, Oridal, Roncal

Society

Population: 2,050,000 (85% human, 5% half-orc, 2% hobbit, 8% other)

Languages: Thesh

Important Persons: Shokull, Marshall of the Palatine Host (Pal 9, BG 9); Tethra, Potentate of Magic (W17, ArchMg 2); Nazario Lavarien, Potentate of Heralds (Nob 16), Lord Osmaer Warden, Master of the Haganin Guard (Ftr 17).

Religious Info

Pantheon: Unknown

Patron: None

History

Thet was once an isolated region of open grasslands peopled by nomadic barbarians with little interest in the outside world. There was constant conflict between the various tribes of the region, with none gaining any lasting dominance over the other tribes. During this time, there was very contact with the rest of the world and the Thesh did not have an organized system of writing, so very little is now known about their society during this early period.

Thet came abruptly to the international political scene in 7598 A.C. when the unified tribes, under the leadership of Kaergoth, the Gray Lord, suddenly attacked the neighboring lands of Adanar. Little is said about the Gray Lord in modern Thet, but it is believed that he was a chief of one of the tribes who, though ruthless warfare on his enemies, was able to unify the tribes under his banner and bring war to the world.

Though many doubt Kaergoth's morals, few doubt his intelligence and rationality. As he marched on the eastern towns of Adanar, he quickly assimilated Adanar technology and tactics into his army. After the first year of warfare, open raids and pillaging, the Thesh army was outfitted with steel (the Thesh had only brozeworks before their attacks) and Adan slaves had been sent back to Thet to instruct natives on the construction of new weapons and armor.

In 7599, the King of the Adan massed his armies in the town of Redrust, in modern-day Valduran, to meet Lord Kaergoth in a final battle. Kaergoth took the bait, besieging Redrust. His quick march into Adanar came to an abrupt stand-still. The Adan settled in for a long siege, hoping that the Thesh army would starve itself out before they did. The Gray Lord, however, had no such intentions. After preparing for what seemed to be a traditional siege for less than a week, he suddenly ordered the entirety of his army over the walls of the town. The Thesh swarmed over the battlements, taking the Adan by surprise, and took the town after three long days of bloody fighting. The Siege of Redrust, where the Adan were to make their final stand, had lasted only ten days.

Lord Kaergoth ordered most of the town's inhabitants slaughtered. Craftsmen and their families were enslaved and sent back to Thet, with the warning that their wives and children would be punished if the craftsmen refused to serve the Gray Lord. The Gray Lord, though victorious, had lost many men in his attack on the town. To reinforce his army, he rounded up all of the Adan soldiers and their families. Those soldiers who did not have families in Redrust were executed immediately, their severed heads used to decorate the walls of the town. The families of the surviving soldiers were sent back to Thet as ransom; if the soldiers refused to fight for Thet, failed to follow orders or died on the battlefield, their families would be punished for their transgressions. Kaergoth's plan worked even better than he had imagined. The Haganin Guard, as they came to be known, became the most feared unit in his army. The Gray Lord renamed the city Bloodrust and established his military headquarters there.

For the next six years, Thesh troops continued to slowly expand into Adanar. It seemed that defeat was inevitable for the Adan and the surrounding nations began to wonder who was next. Nadera and Roncal sent gifts to the Gray Lord in hopes of appeasing him and his coffers grew fat on their tributes. The Hale, however, had a tribute of their own to send. In 7606, a large Halic army entered Adanar and marched on Bloodrust. Kaergoth barely returned to his headquarters in time to defend it, but he was still unprepared to face the Hale. Ever a patient people, the Hale settled in for a siege as their rear guard swept through Adanar, defeating the Gray Lord's occupying army. Soon, one of the worst winters of recorded history settled over the region, but the Halic army did not budge from their place at the siege.

When the late spring of 7607 finally arrived, the Gray Lord gathered his weakened and sickened troops and marched onto the Halic army, to everyone's surprise. Even though they vastly outnumbered their foe, the Battle of Bloodrust would have been a stalemate if King Ilyard of Haleland had not slain the Gray Lord in personal combat. With their leader dead on the battlefield, the Thesh forces quickly fled east. It is said that the Sword of the Halic King, which was left in the body of the Gray Lord on the battlefield, disappeared amidst the night's celebration, along with the body of the Gray Lord.

Without a real central government, the tribes of the region quickly fell to internecine strife and petty squabbles, each trying to claim the power that Kaergoth had. To the rest of the world, it appeared that the Thesh Horde had been a momentary flash in the pan of history, never to rise again. They would not know for another half century that the people that they had defeated would only rise again, this time with a much more horrible ruler. They would not realize until too late that the periodic raids on border towns in eastern Adanar were a harbinger of much more dreadful times to come.

In 7660, the Adan bordertown of Grimtar was attacked by a unified Thesh army, this time under the leadership of one known only as the Black Lord. Grimtar was completely obliterated by the army of Thesh. A few more towns would meet the same fate before news finally spread that the Black Lord, renamed the Fell King by bards, was undead, as was his army; an army that grew with each success on the battlefield. Myth suggests that he rode with the Sword of the Halic Kings scabbarded to his saddle, to be drawn only when he met the King of Haleland in the battlefield.

The combined Adan-Halic army met the forces of Thesh at the Second Battle of Bloodrust, the place which had seen the defeat of the Gray Lord half a century before. The Fell King proved to be a more cautious adversary than his predecessor, however, and chose to flee the battlefield when it became obvious that his undead army was losing. The Adan-Halic army gave pursuit into Thet itself, but were rebuffed by a surprisingly organized Thesh defense. No longer was Thet a land of barbaric savages…under the firm guidance of the Gray Lord and the successive oppressive rulership of the Fell King, they had been become a modern nation in less than a century, complete with walled towns and a standing military.

The Fell King settled for the periodic raid on Adanar as he continued to develop his realm. Vast cities sprung into being almost overnight under his direction as Thesh society became more and more complex. The border with Adanar became something of a training ground for Thesh officers, where the Fell King would send young officers to lead men in pointless battles, teething his generals on the stony foothills of the Borderlands. The bodies of those who died were retrieved and returned to the army as undead. Those who rose from the dead on their own usually became members of the Palatine Host, an elite unit of powerful undead soldiers who even today are feared even more than the Haganin Guard.

Thet today is a myriad amalgamation of bureaucracies, syndicracies and bloodlines of hereditary and awarded ranks. Almost every aspect of Thesh life is regulated, though those with the money, influence or legal knowledge to circumvent them often ignore the regulations. Even with the various rules and laws, the government of Thet is based upon one immutable fact: all power in the nation comes only at the mercy of the Fell King. The nation is divided into nine different "Holds," each with at least one city and its own leader, termed Warmaster. The government itself is divided into sixteen different departments, each of which is led by a Potentate, who answers only to the Fell King himself. The only group outside this normal power structure is the Palatine Host, which does pretty much as it pleases.

Economy

The economy of Thet is very insular, though the Fell King has recently permitted trade with Oridal and Roncal, though he has established no formalized trade agreement with either nation. Kesh, reputed for its neutrality in foreign affairs, has long been a trading partner with Thet. Luxuries are the major import, as are slaves (though true slavery is not legal in any of the surrounding countries). Exports include foodstuffs, exotic luxuries (such as Absinthe and Opium), and riding horses.

Religion

No one outside Thet really knows what religious practice is predominant in the nation, or what belief structure they observe. There are a few temples in the nation, most notably of Cardena, goddess of lust; Furinus, god of wine; Mania, goddess of madness; and Pothos, god of vice, but the Fell King is not known to attend any temple service or pray to any god, even Tethys, goddess of undeath. Most adjacent cultures point to Thet's seeming godlessness as one of the major reasons that it must be feared.

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