Chapter 391: Epilogue – As the River of Time Flows Past (Part 2)

To the north of Alcidea, the Orcish and Goblin tribes enjoyed peace in their lands. The orcs were happy to entertain the visitors - which came more frequently these days after the teleportation gate in Gal-Morogh began operation - that visited their lands, and eagerly embraced their “new” neighbors from the Alliance, many of which were long known to them. Many speculated that the election of former Baron Guilbert ver Statham-Blackshield as the first Head of the Alliance was a calculated peace offering to the orcs, as said man was of half-orcish descent himself.

 

Relations between the orcish tribes and the other members of the alliance, which had been lukewarm at best and mutually suspicious at worst prior to the alliance’s founding also quickly improved. Orcish merchant caravans plied the lands of the alliance readily, contrary to how they used to skirt around Ezram and only traded with a few outlying regions. The increase in trade resulted in an increase of prosperity, and thus the citizens of the alliance gladly welcomed the orcs as well.

 

After over a decade of negotiations, which only gained approval after some stubborn holdouts in the elder council died of old age, the goblin tribes finally approved of the setup of a teleportation gate in Sogasha, which began operation in the year 695 FP. The presence of the gate had not changed the lives of the goblins that much, but what it did accomplish was to allow adventurers easy access to the region, which resulted in a general decrease of incidents caused by wild beasts all over the region.

 

Two unexpected developments resulted from the gate’s operations, however. One was an increase in bandit activity in the no-man’s land between the territory of the goblin tribes and the Union, since adventurers rarely passed that way and favored the convenience of the Gate instead. The other was a boom of half-goblin children born all over the tribe’s territories starting from the year 696 FP onwards, which was probably only to be expected given that adventurers and mercenaries usually weren’t of the prudish persuasion.

 

To their south, the Union of Free Nations took the loss of a member state with aplomb, and even helped bring down the new nation said member state helped to create. Most of the Union maintained their general state of affairs, with one of the only notable incidents being the increase in the reputation of the Institute of Higher Learning in Levain since Garth Wainwrought, an ancient unliving who was amongst the founders of the academy, served as Dean once more and culled parts of the faculty that had grown corrupt over the years. The Institute’s open cooperation with the new academy in Paradise for those students of martial bent was also well-received by most.

 

The other notable incident happened in Boroes, one of the larger member-states of the Union, situated to the east bordering the elven lands. In recent years a small village in Boroes had received generous donations from outside sources, and over the decade, said small village grew into a sizable town. Naturally such growth attracted the attention of the Grand Duke of Boroes, and before long, the village head of said place, one Hans-Ulrich Ùlfsmund, was ennobled for his contributions to the state and made a Baron, with the title being hereditary down his line of descendants.

 

As for the Elves and Dwarves of the Great Emerald Forest and Kingdom Down Under of eastern Alcidea, the recent decades had not witnessed much change, which was nothing uncommon. Both regions were stable after all, and other than the retirement of High Elder Nydia of the forest, there were no true notable incidents in the regions of late.

 

As the long-lived races favored stability and consistency over frequent change, things might seem somewhat stagnant to the outside observer, yet it was how the locals preferred them. Even the therian tribes that lived in aboveground regions of the dwarven territory took the quiet, peaceful stability favorably, as their kind were never the aggressive sort, and were content with a peaceful life where they could raise their children in peace and quiet.

 

Over to the south, in Ur-Teros, some minor conflicts continued to brew in both the Jarldoms and the Caliphate, but nobody paid too much attention to them. To the locals, it was just about the norm for the region, and not even the cooperation of an outlying jarldom with a small khanate to the east of the caliphate for a mutual landgrab raised many eyebrows.

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And there were lands to grab in the caliphate indeed. The dissolution of the Oajib Sultanate a few years ago after the Bounty Hunter visited the place and executed the Sultan went relatively quietly, as most of the territory was split between the Assadun Emirate to its east and the Volski Khanate to its north. On the other hand, the failed rebellion in Cerilan greatly weakened the state, and that in turn caused greed to forment amongst its neighbors.

 

Over the past decade, the land that used to be Cerilan was torn apart and continuously fought over by its neighbors. Then one of those contenders themselves were conquered from the east by the Khanate and the Jarldom that cooperated with one another, and the lines of battle instantly shifted eastwards. By the end of the conflicts - mostly because the Caliph had had enough of watching them flail at each other so ineffectively - the eastern Khanate had mostly withdrawn near the pre-conflict border, other than some choice bits of the conquered - and now dissolved - region, while the rest was shared between the others.

 

As to the Elmaiya Empire to the west of the southern continent, little of note happened as the years passed. Probably the most noteworthy thing to mention was how some old generals retired and passed on their responsibilities to talented youngsters, which included a pair of old friends who had just returned from a learning visit to the academy in Paradise themselves.

 

Other than that, the only noteworthy rumor was how a couple villages to the south-west of the nation fell under a plague for nearly a month. Miraculously, less than a hundred people died from the plague, and stories abound of how the Empress in White had visited and came to their succor, which would likely explain the unprecedentedly low death toll.

 

What was not a rumor was how one of the minor nobles of the south-west turned out to be the source of that very plague, one of the noble’s “experiments” that had gone wrong and went beyond his ability to resolve. The man vanished, leaving his family behind, when his crimes were discovered, but less than a week later, the Bounty Hunter was spotted delivering the runaway noble’s head to the guild branch in Sabaya.

 

While nothing of note took place on the Western Isles itself, other than the Goldclaw Union of merchants landing several profitable trade deals with the Al-Shan Empire, many people in the mainlands took note when the islander tribes sent their best and brightest to the new combat academy in Paradise to harden themselves.

 

That proved to be no momentary fad either, as before a decade had passed, graduation from the academy had become considered to be the equivalent of validating one’s adulthood in the isles. The youths from the various tribes fought each other tooth and nail, fang and claw, to land themselves a spot in the academy, which the elders reserved only for their best, those who were expected to shoulder important responsibilities in the future.

 

Perhaps the only land that had not seen much of a change in the past decade or so was the Lichdom of Ptolodecca. The land down south remained unperturbed, unbothered by the passing of time. The only rumor of note from those lands was how the Bone Lord’s seneschal and two of his unliving disciples were often spotted in Paradise the past decade or so. Many who witnessed said visits also claimed that they seemed to be visiting family, which given the concentration of unliving in Paradise, was definitely a viable claim.

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