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Marrishland has a long and violent history. Several civilizations have risen and fallen, here, and the book tells about events during one of the most turbulant periods - a period whose events determine whether a civilization survives or dies.

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The Fygae Compact (ca. 2750 - 2765 I.D.)

There is no conclusive evidence that explains why the Mar and the Kalkorae chose to live in different civilizations instead of remaining united under a common cultural banner, but whatever the events that drove the two apart, the Fygae had little contact with the Mar. The Fygaen critical involvement in the Tobruson Purge decided that war, and the early magocracy therefore had friendly relations with the Fygae. This friendship evaporated, however, when the Mar unearthed a Fygae plot to conquer the Mar coastal cities.

The execution of Weard Fraevyd Erbmung was a heavy blow to the rebels' morale. In these dark days, when it seemed the rebellion would always struggle to survive in the shadow of the magocracy, Brynja Vertag - one of the leaders of the rebellion - approached the king of the Fygaen Kingdom to ask permission to hire Fygaen engineers to aid in the defense of the largest rebel towns. The Fygaen king surprised Brynja by immediately dispatching his personal company of engineers and promising three more companies within the year. Further, the king claimed to support the rebels' cause so fervently that he refused to discuss payment until after Brynja determined the rebels no longer had need of the engineers' services.

There is no doubt Brynja suspected what the Fygae intended, but he accepted the offer anyway. Most stories paint this as a decision based on personal passion, but the abject magical and material poverty of the rebel areas certainly added to the allure of the Fygaen proposition. Brynja Vertag signed a contract in Medien she certainly could not read, and thus was born the Fygae Compact with the Mar.

The king's engineers returned to the rebels with Brynja. The Fygae designed networks of wind fans, waterwheels, and muscle-driven harvesters for several key communities. The mundanes provided much of the labor and materials for the actual construction. By the time the other three companies of engineers arrived a year later, the Fygaen defense matrix protected dozens of communities at the core of the rebellion. Wind and water power were difficult to harvest in the wet terrain, so most of the defenses relied either on peat-burning steam harvesters or Mar-powered muscle harvesters.

True to their Kalkoraen roots, the Fygae expanded their power slowly but inexorably, building harvesters, laying thousands of miles of conduits, placing foci in strategic positions, and connecting and controlling the flow of power with relays. The resulting infrastructure was a pale shadow of the elaborate networks that had once powered Domus Palus and other cities, but as it was designed primarily as a matrix of weapons and defenses, it was adequate to its intended task.

The advance of the Fygae among the rebels was so slow that the magocracy did not learn of it until nearly a decade had passed. The Mardux ordered a conscription levy and a swift assault on the rebels. The first campaign by the magic-wielding Mar against the Fygae whose ancestors had once ruled theirs was a military disaster. The Fygae infrastructure had already been reinforced against attacks from without, and the magocrats quickly determined the rebel position was unassailable.

The new Mardux - Weard Sindri Klug, whose star in the General is called Konsyl'belyl (meaning "war plan") - opted for a new strategy. Instead of pouring scarce resources into futile assaults on hardened rebel positions, Mardux Klug sponsored the work of scholars and teachers. He reasoned that Marrish's Gift held the key to victory over the Fygae-supported rebels, if only the magocrats could discover it. A charismatic ruler, Weard Klug maintained this hope even after the Fygae sent emissaries to the less warlike cities along the southern coast to offer the wonders of Fygaen engineering in exchange for formal recognition of the rebels' new country.

(Contributed Weard Gilda Kronas)