The Eastern Reach

Overview[]

The Eastern Reach is the name given to the eastern-most islands located in The Stone Islands, the region is predominantly flat wetland and floodplains with relatively no high elevation to speak of. The area is most well known for producing high-quality sugar that is commonly the most sought-after in the world.

While at one point financially prosperous The Eastern Reach's wealth has been declining over the past several years due to a violent revolution that is being fought between the sugar farmers and their lords.

Geography[]

For the most part sugar plantations and rice patties dot the low, wet flood planes of The Eastern Reach, however there are two mountains located on the northern most island, Kublang, one of which is an active volcano named Apoyisang. Overall the rivers in the Eastern Reach are generally shallow and do not have very strong currents.

The climate of The Eastern Reach stays fairly constant throughout the year, often times the climate will take a slight dip during the rainy season but overall will usually not fall any lower than sixty degrees.

The fairly mild climate of the Eastern Reach has lead to mostly tropical vegetation, with more temperate vegetation commonly found on the Northern most islands. The vegetation is fairly healthy due to the volcanic soil found on most of the eastern reach.

Apoyisang[]

The volcano Apoyisang is well-known in the Eastern Reach for its fine obsidian the volcano is often scaled by daring craftsmen who attempt to obtain some of Apoyisang's obsidian to make into trinkets, tools or weapons. Dwarf miners from the Stojanow region often visit Kublang in order to buy some Apoyisang obsidian. As a result of the business from Stojanow Kublang has turned into a mining town, with most of its men going off to the slopes of Apoyisang to mine obisdian.

Apoyisang has been recorded to have a major eruption once every hundred years, however Apoyisang unexpectedly erupted a year before the revolution. The last eruption devastated near-by villages and mining camps causing the deaths of countless miners and villagers. The eruption also launched a large cloud of ash into the air which blanketed most of the surrounding islands in the Eastern Reach killing most of the sugar crop for the year.

People[]

The Eastern Reach is possibly the most diverse area of the Stone Islands due to its close proximity to the The Zìyóu Rén State. The region has also long been home to Köşpendi herders who migrated to the Eastern Reach from the Southern Reach during the late first cycle.

History[]

The history of the Eastern Reach has been marked with extreme prosperity as well as a large amount of oppression.

1st cycle[]

The Eastern Reach was mostly cut off from the rest of the world until the middle of the first cycle when the Calyn empire took over most of the Reach.

The Calyn Empire[]

Calin empire east — Calian ruins in The Eastern Reach

Most of the Eastern Reach was part of Calyn empire during the 1st cycle, while many other parts of the Stone Islands tried the fight off the elvish empire the peoples of the Eastern Reach accepted their new elvish overlords with open arms, for the most part.

Before the Eastern Reach was ruled by the Calians most of the villages and towns in the reach were very insular and largely did not have much contact with the rest of The Stone Islands.

The reason for the submissiveness of the people in the Eastern Reach may be due to a recent volcanic eruption on the northern portion of the island. May priests and holy men believed that the eruption and subsequent rain of ash were a signal they had wronged the gods some how and now the gods were returning to set things right. Most priests believed that the god's return would be violent, however there were a small number who believed that the gods would return and rather than destroy the people help them to live a more righteous lives.

That same year the Calyn empire entered the Eastern Reach with the goal of spreading elvish culture to the "savages" who lived in the Eastern Reach. Many who lived in the Eastern Reach had never even seen an elf before in their life, and believed that the technologically advanced elves to be their gods, who had returned to them.

The Calyn empire in the Eastern Reach was not as tough on its subjects as it was on the other parts of the Stone Islands who resisted their empire. For the most part the elves and non-elves in the Eastern Reach lived in relative harmony, even sometimes marrying between their races.

When the Calyn Empire finally was ordered to leave all their holdings in The Stone Islands and return back to the Southern Reach most in the Eastern Reach were dismayed. The Eastern Reach was once viewed as the "jewel" of the Calyn Empire due to the fact that the people of the Reach were largely complacent and accepted elvish culture. Some of the people in The Eastern Reach loved the Calyn Empire so much that they begged many of the magistrates not to leave and stay in the Eastern Reach as their lords, most of the Calian magistrates agreed to stay behind as did many Calian citizens. The elvish influence can be still seen in the Eastern Reach, the Reach has a large population of half elfs as well as many who have elvish family names.

The War of the Eye[]

The Eastern Reach sent a large amount of troops and citizens to fight in the Northern Reach during the War of the Eye but for the most part was left untouched by the forces of Tharizdun.

The second Cycle[]

The second Cycle was time when the Eastern Reach really rose to prominence, the region prospered from the formation of The Stone Island's trade agreement as well as the formation of the Zìyóu Rén State.

The Zìyóu Rén Free State[]

The formation of the Zìyóu Rén State created new lucrative trade opportunities with the people of the Free State and their Rakshasa allies. The formation of the Zìyóu Rén State was one of most profitable business ventures the lords of the Eastern Reach ever negotiated, but it was one of the biggest curses for the many serfs who served under them. With the formation of the Free State the lords of the Eastern Reach began to push the farmers more and more trying to produce more product to take to the markets of Zìyóu Rén City.

The serfs of the Eastern Reach soon began to resent their lords and started to look for an opportunity to start an armed rebellion. The serf's main problem was that despite that they seemed to work twice as hard as their lords they saw no change in their pay, sure the tools that they used were better but those would not help feed their families. Many serfs responded to the new work loads by keeping parts of their harvest and selling or trading it with other serfs or citizens to earn cash on the side. The lords were not pleased with the new black market that had arisen due to their deals with Zìyóu Rén so they put strict penalties on those who were caught participating in any black market activity.

The Stone Islands War and Charter[]

The Stone Islands did not have any form of universal government and peace was achieved in the islands largely through a complicated series of treaties and agreements. When forces from the western city of Gilenor invaded The Southern Reach due to anti-elf sentiments many of the other kingdoms in the Stone Islands found themselves being pulled into the conflict due to the large amount of treaties and agreements held between them. It was not long before much of the Stone Islands were sending troops into the Southern Reach to fight.

After a costly 14-year war the finally ended with a stalemate, an armistice was declared. Some in the Stone Islands feared that if the Islands were to continue being nothing more than a loose conglomeration of kingdoms then another war of the same scale or worse was inevitable. The many kingdoms of the Stone Islands met in Termirtau and eventually agreed that if the Stone Islands could not be held together politically then they could be held together economically. As a result a group of economic deregulations were passed that mainly focused on ending trade restrictions between the Stone Islands, in addition the Stone Islands were divided into four reaches North, South, East, and West.

The Stojanow independence[]

Shortly after the formation of the reaches dwarfs in the Stojanow mountain, which was split between the northern and eastern reaches began to call for independence and formation of a 5th dwarven reach that was made up of the kingdoms of the Stojanow mountain. Both the eastern and northern reach rejected any proposals of such a region, wanting to keep control over the many mines that were located in the mountain.

The situation reached a head when dwarven separatists murdered several northern and eastern reach lords and officials in the city of Grimentkral then declared the independence of the Stojanow reach. Both the Eastern and Northern reaches mobilized troops in response to the declaration, thus began the conflict that would become known as the Dwarven Revolution. The Northern and Eastern armies had a difficult time dealing with their dwarven adversaries, who had extensive knowledge of the Grimentkral mountain and would commonly use secret tunnels or little known passages to stage surprise attacks or acts of sabotage. The armies of the Northern and Eastern Reach also refused to communicate with one another and were still recovering from fighting the 14 year war in the south.

Needless to say the dwarfs of the Grimentkral mountain managed to drive out both the northern and eastern reach and declare their own independent reach. In the 566th year the Stojanow region was recognized as a member of the Stone Islands Coalition by both and Western and Southern reach, but it was still around twenty years after the conclusion of the dwarven revolution that the northern and eastern reaches recognized the Stojanow mountain as a independent region in their coalition.

Time however can heal all wounds and today the Stojanow mountain and the Eastern Reach have little to no real animosity between them. The people of the Stonjanow Mountain and the Eastern Reach usually do not get along with a select few in the Eastern Reach thinking that the Stonjanow Mountain should still be part of their reach.

The Third Cycle[]

The Eastern Reach has not fared well during the Third Cycle the reach's wealth splendor has fallen due to the war going on between the farmers and their lords.

The Planter's Revolt[]

The Eastern Reach faced a major food crisis after an unexpected eruption from the volcano Apoyisang killed most of the crops in the northern portion of the Eastern Reach. Many of the lords in he Easter

n Reach chose to export what little they had and let their serfs starve. The serfs, who had for years not been allowed to grow crops of their own, finally had enough and began to rebel.

Many of the rebelling serfs rallied behind the Chien-Binh-Gao, a revolutionary movement headed by husband and wife Girado and Reanta Chola. The Cholas were community leaders who called for rebellion after their daughter was killed during a riot sparked due to a lack of food. The two managed to make connections in high places, namely the ZROC opium cartel in the Zìyou Ren state. The ZROC cartel would rather do business the less-educated and easier to trick farmers of the Eastern Reach than their wiser and more educated lords. The ZROC cartel has already supplied the Chien-Binh-Gao with a large amount of equipment and money.

The Chein-Binh-Gao wanted to rid themselves of the feudal system and turn the Eastern Reach into an independent capitalist state. Once the Eastern Reach has been liberated the Chen-Binh-Gao claim that they do not want anything to with the Stone Islands.

"The Stone Islands stood by and watched while we, the people, starved and died! Why should we care about their problems if they won't even acknowledge ours?" -Reanta Chola

The Chein-Binh-Gao's leaders Reana and Griado have said that the new, liberated Eastern Reach will become more insular and not interact as much with the Stone Islands. This statement has not been taken well by the rest of the Stone Islands who do not want to loose access to the rich crops of the Eastern Reach, some kingdoms in other reaches have been contemplating sending troops into the Eastern Reach to assist the lords.

So far the Chein-Binh-Gao has managed to seize control over most of the southern portion of the Eastern Reach. So far the Chein-Binh-Gao have publicly executed every royal family and supposed royal loyalist in the cities that they have taken over. The success of the Chein-Binh-Gao has largely been attributed to the local support, many times the locals of recently conquered cities will help or be forced to help the Chein-Binh-Gao, find secret routes through difficult terrain that can be used to ambush the royal forces.

While the Chein-Binh-Gao are well equipped for a peasant revolt they are no where as well armed as the royal Eastern Reach forces. The Eastern Reach's lords were some of the wealthiest in the Stone Islands and thus could afford the most cutting-edge military weapons for their forces. The soldiers of the Royal Forces all carry vials of alchemist fire, a deadly chemical that can create a magic fire that is difficult to put out, the vials are commonly used to immolate Chien-Binh-Gao forces hiding in tall grass or trees. In addition the Royal army has several well-trained rifle corps who can make short work of any of the common peasants in the ranks of the Chien-Binh-Gao.

The Sack of Quantjer[]

Quantjer a major city in the South of the Eastern Reach was the sight of the first major offense by the Chein-Binh-Gao. The city held importance to the Chein-Binh-Gao due to the fact that it was the center of the farming and trade in the Eastern Reach. The battle for Quantjer was fairly short, the cities protectors were caught off-guard by a surprise attack staged early in the morning by Chein-Binh-Gao shock troops, Quantjer was under Chein-Binh-Gao control before the sun had fully risen in the sky.

The attack was so unexpected that the lord of Quantjer had not even evacuated, not even expecting an attack of the scale or brutality of the one that had just occurred. The Chein-Binh-Gao managed to capture the lord, his family and some of his aids when they attempted to secretly flee the city. The Chein-Binh-Gao then ordered all citizens of Quantjer out to the town square to witness and partake in the trial of the lord, his family and aids with Reanta and Girado Chola as judges.

"This man has let his people starve, choosing to instead fill his own pockets rather than the stomachs of his people" -Girado Chola

Girado claimed that it was not his decision weather the lord was to live or die stating that it was the people of Quantjer's choice rather than an outsider. Girado cast the lord of Quantjer into the crowd of his subjects many of whom promptly beat him to death. Girado stated that the people had found the lord guilty of his accusations, the Chein-Binh-Gao then executed the lord's family and aids in a similar fashion.

The events at Quantjer did not earn the Chein-Binh-Gao any sympathy in the Stone Islands who began to see the movement as a group of insane savages carrying out their own twisted form of justice. In the Eastern Reach many lords who saw what had happened in Quantjer began to promise their people rewards in the form of food or money in return for any information about Chein-Binh-Gao sympathizers.