Hyrkania: a Threat Report

Hyrkania Today: A Threat Report

The state of affairs in Hyrkania as of 2,090 AW is messy. Here are some key bullet-points to consider:

·         King makhorven, now deposed and cast into his own deep dungeons beneath Hyrendan is still valued by the enemies of the empire, and has gained access to the network of the Red Robes and the Fire Knives from his cell. He plots the destruction of Emperor Patraeus, to sew seeds of destruction….

·         House Strallikus has been condemned and cast down, many of its members killed during the War, but rumor is Bellasko escaped alive, and his two daughters, Sareva and Turimeese dwell safely in the remote port of Eastonia, where they have been granted safe harbor by the city regent.

·         Anton Patraeus made serious enemies in Malas when he punished the city harshly upon its surrender for backing the opposition.  This has made serious enemies within the city, who now feel that the insurgents may be justified in their actions. As they seek means of retribution for the sanctions against the city, an unlikely ally has appeared in the form of the young ruler of Blackholm that has been appointed regent of the city by General  Aserius: Nialle, the daughter of the former ruler of Blackholm, Chavros who stood against Makhorven at the start of the War of Strife and was slain for his resistance by his own guards.

·         Indeed, in Blackholm Lady Serisene Nialle has graciously accepted the position of regent offered by General Aserius on behalf of Emperor Patraeus, and there are even rumors that Patraeus fancies her as a potential queen.  The street-level rumors that Nialle is secretly a potent necromancer, a young understudy of the Umbral Sovereign do not reach the emperor’s ears. The Umbral Sovereign is a name given to the lord of the Black Circle, an order of demonologists and necromancers which was founded by the ashtarth of Dahik over two thousand years ago….or so they claim. The Black Circle’s reach has moved well beyond the interests of the dark elves, however, and it is known by some to be the real secret power beneath the streets of Blackholm, and even manipulates the Order of the Red Robes into carrying out their dark deeds for them.

·         Even without the threat of the Black Circle, the Order of the Red Robes, House Strallikus, the Fire Knives or the plotting of King Makhorven who should have been put to death, there are many otherwise normal clans which threaten the empire’s stability. House Holivarnen, rulers of Kymir under Tyriandras, has no confidence in the emperor, and the leader of the house has developed an unhealthy fascination for the returned avatar of chaos, Xauraun and seeks to aid him in a plot to overthrow the empire.

·         Elsewhere House Targareth, once one of Patraeus’s greatest supporters, now lobbies quietly to gain a majority favor among the regents in “anticipation” of Patraeus’s eventual replacement, seeking to present Lord Darismar gonn Targareth as the likely candidate. So long as Patraeus has no direct successor, it is expected that the right of election to the regents will return once more.

·         There are still other threats to the empire: the forces of Hettanar rally to cast out the imperial garrisons of their northern empire. The client state of Covarte, young to the empire, already faces amassing forces of darkness as the orcs take up arms in the name of a mysterious sorcerer named Unarak.

·         Elsewhere, in the south, rumors of a new ruler, a king of kings in Persedonia are circulating. King Sionotus expresses an era of love and peace but he has already squashed dissent among the desert tribes with great force, and visitors speak of a long shadow which the Persedonians cast on their northern neighbors, especially Eastonia, Sylvias and Hyrkania.