chants themselves planned and carried out larger and larger enterprises.
In
Shucassam and the Story of
the South Plains
Despite the great destructiveness of the Cataclysm, civilization was not totally
extinguished on the South Plains. History must respect those who struggled
through the hard times, since the people of the South on top of all the other trou-
ble were faced with their once lush land quickly turning into a desert.
Only those towns blessed with good wells survived. The most important cities
of earlier days often were dead towns in months after the disaster when their
sources of surface water dried up. Even the great lake of Cephallen became
swiftly undrinkable when it lost its outlet to the sea and shrunk into the ever
more bitter land-locked Sea of Zett.
Due to the superior leadership provided there by the Immortal Lord, Kuzdol was
the first city to start on the road to recovery. Elsewhere, agrarian-based democ -
racies predominated. As the population in the surviving towns grew and the bar-
barians likewise multiplied and became more menacing, the need for better
organization was felt. Finally, the democracies were supplanted by local mili-
tary leaders -- kings -- on the pattern being set by the Immortal Lord in Kuzdol.
The Southern city-states never lost their literacy and preserved their histories in
chronicles. One of the most important sources for the early history of the South
Plains is Maiko's Ecclesiastical Chronicle, written in the Sixth Century but utiliz-
ing for its earlier accounts records which are no longer in existence.
Maiko states that as the "Age of Kings" progressed, land ownership slipped out
of the hands of the yeomen to the control of the aristocracy, a long process
which turned the majority of inhabitants into tenant tillers of large estates. In
return, these people were pledged protection. Militia was no longer effective
against the increasing barbarian threat; armored knights with fast horses were
required to deliver devastating shock attacks that would inflict such losses that
the marauders would take years to recover. But well-armed expert soldiers of
this kind require long training, expensive equipment, and an elaborate support
system. As time wore on, a semi-divine kingship supported by a landed aris-
tocracy which in turn was supported by the peasantry came to be considered
the norm. But after half a millennium this political-economic system grew out-
dated and showed signs of breaking down.
As the monarchs succeeded in suppressing barbarian attacks and baronial
strife, longer and longer periods of peace allowed farmers, herders and crafts -
men to work more effectively and create a surplus of goods. Where the local
market could not consume all the abundance produced, a class of merchants
grew up to meet the need for someone to buy up the surplus at a price higher
than what locals would pay, then take it at their own risk and expense to some
distant market. There the merchant hoped to sell at a price high enough to give
him a profit when his buying and transportation prices were subtracted. With
the profit received, the merchants would then buy low-priced local products in
that distant market, and take them back to his home city where these exotic
goods could command a high price also.
The first merchants were simple, hard-working peddlers, sometimes too poor to
have a mule-pulled wagon, and so carried heavy pack-loads on their own
backs. But these men often prospered to the point where some could eventu-
ally afford to hire muleteers to move the goods back and forth while the mer-
1
time, members of this humbly-born group could afford to live like titled noble-
men.
A vigorous trade soon connected the small oasis villages to the cities and before
long to the tribal peoples of the coasts and prairies. Trade allowed great cities
like Parros and Zefnar to grow up from unremarkable villages. Both originated
as small fishing ports that sent their salted fish inland to market, but expanded
as far-sighted entrepreneurs converting their net-fleets into merchandise-
haulers and scoured the coasts for trade goods.
By the beginning of the Seventh Century, Zefnar was in commercial contact with
the Mivioran town of Colist and shipbuilders were experimenting with new
designs. Soon many trim galleys were plying the coasts of the Great Sea.
Meanwhile, the merchant class of Adeese had grown numerous enough and
prosperous enough to demand a say in the ruling of their city. The king and his
aristocratic allies there still looked on merchants as peddlers, louts without even
the dignity of peasants. The monarch replied with intransigence supported by
knightly soldiers. Finally a revolt expelled both the king and his aristocratic
adherents. Events followed a similar course in Parros, Zefnar, and even Kuzdol,
where the Immortal Lord was wounded and forced to flee.
Only conservative Jipols continued to maintain its monarchy, since conditions
close to the Barbarian Frontier still gave a needed role to its soldier-aristocrats.
Accordingly, the king kept his throne in Jipols, though over time political rights
were acquired by the slowly-growing merchant-burgher class.
The city-states of the South Plains did well for themselves under merchant rule.
Says the historian Shakaid of Zefnar: "The great gods placed their blessing
upon the South Plains; peace and bounty was the portion of all men every-
where, rich and poor alike."
Art and literature knew a renaissance under the plutocrats, while the political
sway of the cities spread widely into the hinterland. Drawing soldiers from the
agrarian yeomen class, the cities had the power needed to seize great tracts of
land from wasteland farmers in all directions. Adeese, the mightiest of the city-
states, held sway from Hyyx to Greystaff, though much of this land was so bar-
ren that hundreds of acres were needed to support one cow. Then, in the early
Ninth Century, not content with what they had already, the city fathers attacked
ancient Pon and annexed its tin-rich mountains.
Despite outward appearances, the city-states under burgher rule had already
reached their peak by the time of the conquest of Zehr-hu-Pon. As the gener-
ations passed, the yeomen freeholders gradually lost their lands by purchase or
pressure to plutocrats, as their ancestors had lost theirs to the aristocrats. The
merchant class turned the land they acquired into vineyards or livestock pas -
tures. The unforeseen consequence was that by emptying the countryside of
people, the cities lost their potential soldiers. The townsmen -- clerks, mer-
chants, scholars, craftsmen, and dispossessed paupers -- were neither physi-
cally nor dispositionally fit for war. Everywhere the city-state militias failed to
meet their recruitment quotas and by 766 Adeese was forced to hire outside
mercenaries for its warlike needs. When Zehr-hu-Pon was invaded to put down
a rebellion, the Black Knight's army was more than half comprised of mercenary
soldiers.
Where this malaise was leading soon grew manifest. At the beginning of the
Tenth Century the Wisnyos, conquerors from the Barbarian frontier, seized
Parros, Jipols, and Zefnar, and threatened even mighty Kuzdol. Wisnyo rule in
these cities brought back the worst abuses of the Age of Kings. At first the bar-
barians simply robbed the conquered as they pleased, but in a few years they
learned the secret of taxes, which spared the rulers even the hard work of rob-
bery.
At many times Wisnyo taxes climbed so high that merchants dissolved their
businesses rather than work so hard and keep nothing. Revenue fell, and so
the taxes were raised again, ruining yet a new tier of taxpayers and continuing
the process of decay. Before long, the Wisnyo Empire contained only two
important classes: the poor and idle and the horseback aristocrats. And the lat-
ter found themselves getting poor also once those below them had nothing.
Fortunately, the Wisnyo era of misrule was brief. The Wisnyo warriors took to
quarreling and surrounded themselves with enfeebling luxury stolen from the
dispossessed wealthy. Their second generation was a lazy, drunken, and vice-
ridden lot. When the terror of the "abominations of the land and the horrors of
the air" threatened Zefnar mostly in the imagination of the faint-hearted king,
Kanin, the latter lost heart and fled toward Parros. He was slain by own his
guards on the road for the treasures he was carrying. After Kanin's death,
Wisnyo rule collapsed and the city-states established a poor imitation of previ-
ous merchant rule, but trade was in ruins and scarcely any local recruits for the
military were available. Recovery was slow due to the abuses of the late
Wisnyo government and the loss of trade to the north, now crushed by the inva-
sion of the abominations.
Although Adeese was never ruled by the Wisnyos nor threatened meaningfully
by the abominations, it also declined markedly during the latter tenth century.
The general impoverishment elsewhere, both in the North and in the South
wiped out Adeese's markets, making it unable to pay its expenses -- the most
urgent of these being the wages of mercenary soldiers.
In 1012, squadrons of soldiers left their posts and marched on Adeese to
demand their back pay. Unfortunately, one mercenary leader, Esheq of the
Guinni tribe, turned the demonstration into a coup and set himself up as the
strongman ruler, power through naked force with no serious pretense of local
support. During the disorders that followed the usurpation, the great aqueduct
that had brought abundant water to the city was destroyed and simultaneously
the last vestiges of Adeesi control in revolting Pon were lost.
Taking a lesson from Esheq, the mercenaries in the cities of the former Wisnyo
Empire rose up and ended civilian rule. Kuzdol kept its oligarchical system the
longest, but eventually Pollo, a mercenary captain from Beolon, rode his horse
into the city hall and ordered the councilors there to go home.
For more than two hundred years the city-states remained in the grip of a suc -
cession of tyrants, who often had violent and short careers. Most had the ambi-
tion of founding dynasties and ruling as the kings of old. Only a minority held
power until death, and though these often made great efforts to pass their power
on to sons, few of the latter ever held it for long against ambitious officers in the
ranks. For all the faults of the tyrant system, it maintained a competent military
structure, which not only kept the tyrant in power, but protected the cities from
outsider attackers. As time when on, South Plains tyrants tended to be more
refined and came to use a lighter hand when dealing with their non-military sub-
jects. Most strove to keep their cities somewhat prosperous, to produce the
high revenue that they needed to keep their soldiers contented.
Though characteristically devious, ambitious, and unscrupulous, many of the
so-called tyrants were also intelligent and cultivated men, particularly in the later
period, reviving arts and letters by their patronage. Their thrones never attained
permanent status because they had no way to draw in meaningful local support.
They depended instead on hired soldiers -- outsiders who felt little loyalty to the
cities they served. If a mercenary soldier attained great wealth, he usually
retired to his original home. If he remained poor, he was strongly motivated to
steal from the locals.
The Age of Tyrants was marked by frequent warfare between the city-states.
The soldier mentality saw cities as treasure chests to rob and that formed the
justification of their warfare. The Black Knight of the Keep has left us a vivid pic-
ture of these times in his memoirs -- especially in The War of the Three Tyrants.
Low-intensity but almost continuous warfare sapped the city-states of their
potential during the period of tyrannic rule. Nonetheless, the times were excit-
ing. Gyharan refugees from beyond the Barbarian frontier conquered Jipols in
the early twelfth century, an act which finally overthrew that city's atavistic
monarchy and established a council-of-elites system based on the just-over-
thrown Gyharan Confederacy. The pirates of the Westward Islands provided
exciting times for Zefnar and Parros, also.
Meanwhile, in the savannas of the far south, a different kind of turmoil was
observed. Even in the best of times, the horse-breeding tribes that dwelt there
tended to live turbulent lives. Warfare, plague, and famine sometimes drove
about the excess population of the savannas -- as when the migrating Yanna
tribe invaded and overwhelmed the Gyhara Confederacy.
In the early Thirteenth Century it was the turn of the Shucassami people to leave
the trouble-beset savannas and take their herds and families north into Minaria.
2
The Shucassami were intelligent and warlike -- as herders need to be to keep
their wealth and their lives. Though the generation that left the savannas was
illiterate, they have left their songs and stories that allow us to reconstruct at
least the outlines of their past.
To the Shucassami, trade was regarded as less honorable than armed robbery
and was resorted to only when violence failed. Their dominant interests were
war and the acquisition of cattle and horses. Their young men trained with
many weapons -- spears, swords, axes and the bow. The wealthy families were
the aristocrats, but bards, smiths, and the women of the great had dignified
social positions.
The most generous family head attracted the most poor relation and, hence, the
most manpower and status. Parsimony was the most despised vice with which
a Shucassami noble might be charged. Kinsmen who attached themselves to
the chief comprised his bodyguard in battle and if he were slain they were duty-
bound to die with him.
The Shucassami attitude to the supernatural was not sophisticated. Priests
were supported in noble households, but their social standing was low. Worship
centered on a vague concept of "Sky-borne Ones." Fate was held superior to
both man and gods, an idea that made the Shucassami hero resigned to ill for-
tune. Conversely, it often created the most overweening confidence, giving rise
to the belief that he might win against any obstacle, even against the hostility of
the gods themselves. Such men -- willing to take any risk -- made fearsome
foes. Other Minarians, with their elaborate rituals and pantheons, have little of
common in the Shucassami faith and called the invaders "the people without
gods." It must be admitted that with passing time, many Shucassami-descen-
dants have adopted more conventional faiths. The cult of Sankari, for instance,
has started to penetrate the region.
This, then, describes the new people who burst upon the South Plains in 1235
A.C. The city chronicles of the region have preserved the military aspect of the
invasion, while the legends of the Shucassami recount some of the marvels wit-
nessed in the new land.
The clan of Ombos, for example, sent scouts ahead to locate water for the
crossing of the Withering. These riders explored the arid landscapes until a
beautiful piping music wafted to their ears. In hopes of finding a village or a for-
eign herder to rob, they followed the sound until they arrived at a small oasis. It
was deserted, but the men discovered water which their people would need for
their advance. As the sun was setting, the warriors ate their supper, reveled in
their successful mission, and lay down to sleep beside the pool.
Alas, only one of their number would ever wake again -- and he would be a
madman ever after. Dhonn, the madman, told a tale of strange music that filled
his dreaming mind. The warble seemed to lift his spirit from his body and guide
him up into the starlit ether. As he opened his sleeping eyes, he saw his com-
rades similarly adrift in space. While he floated on, as if moved by a breeze,
something else came into view of Dhonn's astonished eyes -- a vast, formless
mass with many tentacles of flowing mist. Around the mass danced and piped
a myriad of hideous jinn, grasping the soul-bodies of the Shucassami as they
floated close and hurling them into the chaotic abomination to feed upon.
Dhonn screamed in horror and fought to escape his nightmare. Suddenly he
found himself back on the sands of the oasis in the midst of his brethren. He
threw himself on each of these in turn and tried to rouse them, but they were
dead to a man. Dhonn remembers nothing more after that until other scouts
found him wandering alone in the desert.
According to another legend, a war-band of Shucassami attacked a monastery
on the edge of Blasted Heath. The barbarians rounded up the brothers and
looted the temple of the god Naashu Pinboh. The monks invoked their deity
and, lo, the raiders were stricken with the scarring, wasting disease of hagor.
This hagor is one of the most dreaded infirmities of Minaria, especially in the
South where it is more common. It does not kill for many years, but it is very
contagious and disfigures the body. Commonly it is called leprosy, but true
Minarian leprosy is a different and less dreaded disease. Often hagor leaves
the body its strength and makes military activity possible. Understandably its
sufferers are shunned and sometimes put to death by their healthy neighbors.
Grief-stricken but acknowledging the power of Naashu Pinboh, the Shucassami
remained at the monastery and formed a holy order with a military unit still
pledged to the people of the Shucassami. It still exists to this day and is the
most feared in the world. It finds found few enemies willing to stand their ground
before it and those rash enough to do so are sometimes infected. Since the
Order of Pinboh maintains a free hospital and a safe home for "lepers," infect-
ed enemies sometime drift into the monastery and may eventually become
leper-warriors themselves. Since the early days, the monarch of Shucassam
has kept the monastery well-endowed.
There are many other stories of peril and disaster which befell the Shucassami
invaders, but many more tales of success and glory. The conquest of the South
Plains progressed steadily, although the invaders were only barbarians. This is
because the system of the tyrants had become decrepit. The ruthlessness of
Shucassami warfare appalled men whose own wars had grown nearly blood-
less. Mercenaries did not like to kill one another, recognizing that today's victor
might be tomorrow's vanquished and in need of clemency himself. Battles
became like games which one side won by "points," to the great frustration of
the common people and often of the tyrants themselves. Yet it must be stated
that the men of the Kelga have always been much more formidable foes than
the Frontier barbarians.
The exultant horsemen spread their sway widely, in 1248 taking Jipols by a ruse
and sparing the inhabitants, since the wise leader, Beniyan, recognized the
value of their civilized skills to his war of conquest. Oddly enough, this first city
which fell to the Shucassami was the very one which would find itself least able
to reconcile itself to Shucassami rule. It was all too apparent to the Gyharan-
descended population that the Shucassami were close cousins of the hated
Yanna. From the earliest days of Shucassam, revolts and plots have been
common in Jipols. In fact, the time would come when Jipols would win freedom
from Shucassam's sway.
In the vainglory of the days of conquest, Shucassami raiders ranged as far north
as southern Muetar, robbing and slaying, until the usurper Corfu repulsed their
forays. Proerno, the independent duke of Grugongi, chose this time to attack
Adeese. The ruthless tyrant of Adeese, Yoritom, chose to defend himself in a
strange way; he ordered a large group of country people gathered together and
driven to the Altars of Greystaff. Their sacrifice brought a deadly firestorm down
upon the army of Proerno, turning back the invasion. Some blame Yoritom's
sacrifice for the destructive tidal wave that stuck the Great Sea later that year.
The Grugongi duke himself survived the firestorm and fled, but Shucassami
raiders butchered him in an obscure part of the wasteland before they realized
what a large ransom such a man would have yielded.
It is a wonder that Adeese held out for two more years following the defeat of
Heap, but Beniyan held his followers in check after some large towns fell into
their permanent possession. He needed time to consolidate and organize new
tactics, weapons, and soldiers seized from the enemy. When the Shucassami
felt ready to advance again, no one believed that the decrepit Adeese could last.
As mentioned previously, it is possible that Yoritom's desperate sacrifice had
long-ranged effects on other parts of Minaria. A tidal wave came out of the
Great Sea in 1251 and swept the coasts of ships and damaged most harbors
with great loss of life. Hothior and Rombune were least affected, due to the for-
tunate lay of their land which protected their main ports. Both Parros and Zefnar
suffered badly, weakening them for the future conflict with the southern
invaders.
But perhaps the main problem that the South Plains faced was that the tyrant
system had been organized for frequent short wars, not a long continuous one
against a foe whose occasional defeats yielded no great booty. Trade suffered
and tyrant treasuries were emptied. Unpaid mercenaries often struck, revolted,
or left the South Plains in disgust. They had no motivation to defend the cities
without pay than they had more than two hundred years earlier when the "Age
of Tyrants" began.
When the enemy drew near and Yoritom appealed to the common people of
Adeese to train without pay for the army, he was met by incredulity. The mili-
tary spirit had long fled from the people, who probably hated Yoritom for the
Greystaff sacrifices more than they feared the Shucassami. Moreover, the
Shucassami had been raiding and conquering slowly for twenty years and their
3
murderous ways had ameliorated with time.
The tribesmen set up their siege lines around Adeese, cutting off all relief and
supplies. After a few months of investment, starvation broke the will of the small
army of mercenaries defending the city. Beniyan traded the sell-swords their
lives for the surrender of the city and they gave their assent, assassinating
Yoritom in the bargain. The year was 1252, the official founding date of the
Shucassamite kingdom. From that time on the new designation,
"Shucassamite" would describe all who served or were subject to the new king-
dom, while "Shucassami" continued to be used to denote a blood member of the
tribe. More than a hundred and fifty years of intermarriage has since reduced
the number of people who may justly claim true Shucassami heritage, although
a majority of the Shucassamites have a spot of old tribal blood in their veins.
From captured Adeesi engineers, the Shucassami learned even more about the
art of siege warfare. Two years later they applied their new tactics to Kuzdol.
After a much longer investment than the one which Adeesi experienced, the
tyrant of Kuzdol, Shiror, committed suicide and the city opened its gates.
After taking over Kuzdol, Beniyan consolidated his power for more than a
decade. As an old man he then turned his mighty military machine against the
port cities of Zefnar and Parros. These cities had entered into a dependent
position with Rombune after the fall of Adeese and Kuzdol, due to the continued
perceived threat from Shucassam. Queen Daring helped the trade ports resist
the advance for three years. Finally, in the face of a long and unprofitable war,
the Queen accepted a political settlement, giving Shucassam special privileges
in Zefnar, while preserving protectorate status in Parros for Rombune. These
"special privileges" in time became outright annexations, though even now
patriotic persons in both cities will pretend otherwise.
Within his lifetime, Beniyan had seen the Shucassamite state grow from a
dream in his heart to one of the largest and most populous kingdoms in Minaria.
Sometimes even Beniyan marveled to think that he, a desert chief's son born in
a leather tent, lived his old age in splendor, entertained by dancing girls who had
been the proud and pampered daughters of those who had once ruled the land.
As a signal that his work was done, Beniyan expired in a peaceful sleep in the
year 1274 A.C.
What Beniyan accomplished had never been seen before. For the first time
since the Cataclysm, all the city-states of the South Plains stood united under
one sway. Their union forged a commonwealth fit to defy even the power of
resurgent Muetar and Mivior. Under the patronage of the royal scepter, Zefnar's
dwindled fleet was rebuilt and did frequent battle far along the Minarian sea
lanes.
Beniyan was succeeded by his son Hulon the Lucky. Hulon had dared Fate by
sending a looting expedition to the Tombs, the ancient necropolis of the Lloroi
kings. Instead of being annihilated, it returned bearing a vast fortune in funer-
ary goods. It is true that Hulon died a year to the day after his minions violated
the crypt, but most people assume that it was poison that took him. He was suc -
ceeded by his long-lived brother Kegon, who did not share the late king's risky
fascination for archaeology.
The transition from tend-dwelling nomad to urban-based aristocrat was not eas -
ily made. Although Shucassamite merchants revived trade on the South Plains,
those of Shucassami blood took little direct part in the process. Under
Beniyan's laws, noblemen could neither conduct trade nor work the land with-
out losing status. Also, while it was permitted to act as a patron of the arts and
sciences, The Shucassami noble was not supposed to dabble in either endeav -
or himself. About the only gainful pursuit left open to the aristocrat other than
soldiering was the breeding and sale of horses and cattle.
Despite his power and wealth, the Shucassami noble remained poorly educat-
ed in comparison with the great men of other nations, even after a hundred and
fifty years. The Shucassamite gentleman's tutors have always been more inter-
ested in conveying lessons of character-building than practical knowledge. Too
often the noble has turned toward luxury to fill his stultified life. To many visi-
tors, Shucassam already feels like a state sinking into decadence, though it is
one of the youngest powers in the West.
The poorer members of the conquering Shucassami have disdained city life and
remained close to the land, either tending the herds of wealthy nobles or hus -
banding their own small flocks. The rustic Shucassami still produce fine soldiers
and men who practice the old-fashioned Kelgan virtues. Troubled parents are
not blind to this and the sons of nobility are often sent to work with their brethren
in the country. This is especially true if the youth in question needs to remain
inconspicuous for a time due to a particularly disgraceful scandal at home. If of
basically good character, the youth learns horsemanship and prepares for a
career of soldiery or of stock breeding, though increasingly the military and the
ranch life is losing its attractions for the children of the rich.
Another sign of the low state of Shucassamite prestige is seen in the way that
armies involved in fighting each other have started to cross the Old Road of
Caravans bearing arms. With so many problems besetting it, Shucassam has
lately been reluctant to use the diplomatic pressure usually so effective in keep-
ing Minarian kingdoms inviolate. King Zanwee doesn't believe that his country
can afford to antagonize additional neutral parties at present. The king, no
longer young, has always been referred to as "the Decadent," but originally the
epithet was but a jest. Now, alas, it is spoken by many as an invective.

The ways of the country derive from the traditions of the Kelga. The
Shucassamite cattle-tender are known as the lallans (herd-man) and his type
figures as a hero in many a Shucassamite song and story. To the present day,
the lallans form the hard-core of every Shucassamite army. Without these dar-
ing, hard-riding men, the army -- increasingly made of conscripts from native
stock -- would prove far less effective in battle and pursuit.
In the early 1350's, Shucassam fought a bitter conflict against Pon, shortly after
both Luppi and Zanwee came to their respective thrones. The Shucassamites
had hoped to close the rival trade routes which flowed from Girion into southern
Pon and did considerable damage inside the country. The new Archduke kept
his defending troops out of harms way in the rough country, where the
Shucassamite cavalry was at a disadvantage and fought a war of skirmish
against the invader. Finally, young King Zanwee's councilors admitted that
nothing lasting was being gained. The Shucassamite army therefore withdrew
and the stubborn mountaineers kept their trade routes.
Few blamed the young king for the defeat, but in 1354 a great earthquake struck
Muetar with faithful consequences for Shucassam. Although direct quake dam-
age on property and fortification so far South was minor, the quake steered the
River Wanderer away from Groat and south into Shucassam, where it started to
flow into the Sea of Zett. The water began to gradually rise, inundating much
property and filling in the basin left by the great lake of Cephallen. The enlarged
sea did not greatly affect Adeese, which is built on a high hill, but it did reach to
Grugongi in Pon and to Jipols in the south.
In 1371 the coastal region was struck by a plague, taking the lives of many
Zefnarites. But Rombune suffered even worse and Zanwee sensed that the
balance of power had shifted his way again.
Though troubling signs are present, the cities of the South Plains have every
reason to be grateful to their Shucassami conquerors. The decay of the Age of
Tyrants has been reversed in a century of their rule and the intellectual life of
the region has rallied as scientists, magicians, and poets enjoy the bounty of
both royal and noble patronage. The old cities show a new face and glitter with
gardens, palaces, and libraries.
The plains people's ancestors often suffered through invasions and war, but
present-day Shucassamites continue to benefit from the protection of a large
and effective army. That is, they shall as long as the kingdom preserves the
vitality it needs to keep it.
The Shucassamite nation represents many old cultures with their own poetic
traditions. But the horseback cattle-herder, the lallan, represents something
very close to the true nature of the early Shucassami. The lallan songs often
sing of adventure, dangers to the herd, fights with cattle-stealers, celebrating
love or losing love, like in the song that follows:
The Departing Lover

Luppi of Pon did not long hesitate before he launched a fleet to challenge con- I've been patient a long time, my dear one,
trol of a body of water that had become large enough for effective commercial To hear whispers you never would say.
purposes. Shucassam had already tried bludgeoning Pon into passivity; now all Now my hopes for a wedding have vanished
it could do was try to build a fleet of their own to counter Pon's. But it was much Since they said you are going away.
harder and more expensive for the young and barely-seasoned King Zanwee to
emulate Luppi since timber and suitable wood had to be purchased abroad at Oh I never have felt such a longing
high prices and floated south on the wanderer, a river which is troublesome for In the depths of this poor lallan soul;
long log-floats. Meanwhile, a free trade port, Barter Town, had been establish It fills me with sadness and aching
by merchant interest on the south short of the new Zett and has come under the As I ride all alone through the cold.
protection of first Pon, and now Rombune.
Please remember the plains you are leaving;
Pon chose this time to take revenge on its traditional enemy, and by supporting How sad and melancholy they'll be!
the fleet launched against the Shucassamite cities along the Zett, it blockaded Will you dream of the lover you're grieving
Adeese and pillaged the surrounding country. While engaged with Pon, the bar- Or the pain your departure gives me?
barians reduced many small garrison towns and Rombune suddenly took an
interest in both Jipols and Barter Town. Until the Ponese were ready for a new As you go to your home in far Zefnar
truce, Jipols could not be dealt with. By the time Shucassam was ready to I'll remember your beauty and smile
march against the rebellion, Rombune was in a good defensive position and the When I brought home your father's fat cattle
Shucassamite army was defeated again. After many a hot, dusty mile.

With the treasury suffering from the disruptions of the expansion of the Zett, the They say that no lallan dies happy,
cost of ship-building, and declining southern trade revenues, the kingdom was That his life is just trouble and need
ill-equipped to face the Southern barbarians who suddenly became more dan- If he doesn't succumb to the fever,
gerous with the rise of an effective raider-leader, Al-Debar Deserthawk. The The cruel cobra, or wild stampede.
nomads defeated the Shucassamite army sent to expel them and their whole
position crumbled in the south when Jipols chose this moment of discomfiture
to in revolt again.

Effective control over much of the kingdom's claims south of the Zett have been
lost due to these reverses and the kingdom has felt mortified in a way not expe-
rienced since its founding. Jipols now functions as a Rombuni ally-protectorate,
and Pon has done the Shucassamites the greatest insult possible. Luppi has
reigned in what has been an aggressive defense of Ponese rights, as if to con-
sider whether a weakened Shucassam might not usefully serve as a political
and military junior partner.