fragments of parchment.
The archives in the monastery at Mar-Terin, however, do contain
some few fragments which provide a sketch outline of the Marag
culture.
They were, it appears, a secretive people with little desire for
contact with outsiders. They were also, insofar as we are able to
determine, largely matriarchal, and the institution of marriage among
them was strangely under-developed. No stigma seems to have
been attached to out-of-wedlock birth, and casual liaisons appear to
have been commonplace. Beyond these few tantalizing hints, little is
known of the Marags.
HISTORY
We must assume that the Marags migrated to the west during the
first millennium as did the other peoples of the west, although there
is no way to substantiate this. Cities and temples of stone were
erected in the Vale, but when they were constructed and by whose
order, we have no way of knowing, only that the legions which
destroyed the country did attest to their existence. The cities appear
to have been oddly-constructed assortments of stone buildings
without protective walls around them, and the temples, standing
alone on the plain, were vast constructions of enormous stones
erected with incredible amounts of primitive labor.
The only body of historical documents we have relate to the nine’
teenth-century war between Maragor and Nyissa. The causes of that
war are unclear, but the Marags mounted an invasion of the
jungle-Country of the snake people and pressed rapidly on to the Nyissan
capital at Sthiss Tor. The reports of the field commanders of this
invasion provide certain chilling hints about the nature of Marag
religious practices. The conclusion of each report of the capture of a
Nyissan city or town lists – by name – those luckless inhabitants
who were ‘assumed’ for the greater glory of Mara. We can only
shudder at the thinly veiled meaning of that term.
The Marag invasion, of course, came to grief after the occupation
of Sthiss Tor. The cunning Nyissans had, before evacuating the city’
poisoned everything edible in the vicinity. Marag soldiery sickened
and died in appalling numbers, and the desperate field commanders
frantically appealed to their superiors back in Maragor for food.
Ultimately, they were forced to abandon the city and flee. back
through the jungles to the mountains and thence across to Maragor.
The trail of dead and dying soldiers they left behind them gives
mute testimony to the virulence of Nyissan poisons.
The only other contact between the Marags and outsiders came
just prior to the destruction of the entire people. Tolnedran merchants
attempting to enter Maragor in search of trade were driven out of
the country. No amount of official remonstrance on the part of the
imperial Court could persuade the Marags to relent, and eventually
the city of Tol Rane was constructed on Maragor’s western
boundary to provide a suitable site for trade. The few Marags who took
advantage of this commercial opportunity paid handsomely for the
wares they purchased in fine gold. It was the discovery of this gold
which sealed the fate of Maragor.
The events leading up to the Tolnedran invasion and the details of
that ruthless campaign have already been discussed and need not be
repeated here.
When the campaign was over, the few pitiful survivors were sold
to Nyissan slave-traders who promptly chained them together and
drove them in long columns across the mountains into the jungles of
Nyissa. Their ultimate fate is mercifully hidden from us.
Thus perished Maragor – the living Maragor at any rate. The
horrid reality of the dead Maragor remains to haunt us fully three
millennia after our ill-advised adventure there.
Reports of the exact nature of the shades which haunt the vale
which was once Maragor are hardly verifiable, since most who have
been there and survived hover on the verge of madness. All confirm
that the Spirit of Mara shrieks and wails throughout the land, but
reports of the hideous phantoms who haunt the land vary widely.
Curiously, all the more coherent accounts indicate that the ghosts are
female, which seems to make their mutilated shades that much more
horrifying. This latter observation is confirmed in part by the monks
of Mar-Terin who (though madness stalks their ranks also) provide
us with the most authoritative accounts of the ghosts who have
made Maragor not only uninhabitable but unapproachable as well.
Let Imperial Tolnedra resolve most firmly that never again will
we allow ourselves to be pushed by our greed into such shameful
acts, and let perished Maragor – an eternal rebuke – stand forever
between Tolnedra and a repetition of this most monstrous crime.
COINAGE
No coinage. Marags had a barter economy. The costume was Greek.
Men – short tunics and sandals. Women – short silk dresses.
SOCIAL ORGANIZATION
* In Belgarath the Sorcerer Belgarath spends some time in Maragor after Poledra’s apparent
death. This paragraph on Marag social organization served as the basis for that sojourn.
Houses and land belonged to the women. Men were athletes,
hunters and soldiers. The society was very loose and considered
immoral by other races. The men lived in semi-military dormitories
– when they weren’t ‘guests’ in the house of this or that woman.
Men had no property.” The Marags were very enthusiastic about
athletic tournaments. Religious observances were orgiastic in nature.
The society tended toward a lot of nudity because the Marags had a
great admiration for the human body. Their temples doubled as
athletic stadiums.
THE CANNIBALISM
This came about as the result of a mis-reading of one of their sacred
texts. It was ritualistic in nature, and those consumed were all
nonMarags.
MANNERS
Marags were good-natured and happy-go-lucky. The men were not
interested in trade (which made the Tolnedrans crazy). The Marags
were total Pagans with virtually no inhibitions. The women were
very generous with both their property and their.personal favors.
There were probably no more than a million Marags.
THE ALORN KINGDOMS
Note The four kingdoms of the Alorn peoples, Cherek, Drasnia, Algaria,
and the Isle of the Winds are a direct outgrowth of the Kingdom of
Aloria which existed in antiquity and which was divided during the
reign of the legendary Cherek Bear-shoulders at about the end of the
second millennium.
The Isle of the Winds
GEOGRAPHY
The northwest-most of the twelve kingdoms, the Isle of the Winds is
a rocky, almost uninhabitable island to the west of Sendaria and
Cherek and to the north of Arendia. Perpetual, gale-force winds
sweep off the ocean to beat against the island’s west coast. Because
of reefs and high cliffs, the island is totally unapproachable except at
Riva, the island’s only city’ A limited fishery exists at Riva, and there
appears to be some mining in the mountains of the island – mostly
in useful metals such as iron and copper, although there do appear
to be deposits of gold and silver which do not seem to be extensively
exploited.
THE PEOPLE
Although they call themselves Rivans (after their legendary first
king) the inhabitants of the island are basically Alorn and
descendants of a fairly substantial migration which appears to have
occurred at about the beginning of the third millennium. Curiously
enough, the migration to the island by the Rivans seems to have
occurred as one single expedition, significantly unlike the
customary migratory pattern of other peoples which is characterized by
succeeding waves and periods of consolidation. The Rivans are
markedly different from their Alorn cousins in Cherek, Drasnia and
Algaria. They are generally called the Grey-Cloaks (from their
national costume) by the common people of other kingdoms,
although until recently they were seldom seen off the island. The
Rivans are sober, even grim, and close-mouthed to the point of
rudeness. Reported to be savage warriors, they are fanatically loyal to
their ruler (called simply the Rivan Warder) and wholly committed
to the defense of their capital at Riva.
THE HISTORY OF THE RIVANS
As previously discussed, the Rivans migrated to the Isle sometime in
the early years of the third millennium. Amazingly, the line of Rivan
royalty appears to have descended in one unbroken line from the
legendary Riva Iron-grip to the last Rivan King, Corek the Wise, who
was assassinated in 4002 by agents of the Nyissan Queen. This
unbroken succession marks the longest dynasty in the history of all the
twelve kingdoms, apparently enduring for nearly two thousand years.
Perhaps in keeping with their national character, the Rivans have
formed no alliances with any of the other kingdoms, and have
steadfastly refused to sign even the most rudimentary trade agreement
with the representatives of the Tolnedran Emperor. This rigid
stubbornness was a source of unending frustration to whole generations
of Tolnedran diplomats and a continuous irritation to two complete
Tolnedran Dynasties.
Following the Accords of Val Alorn in 3097, efforts were made to
establish normal trade relations with the Rivans but without
success, and finally, in 3137, Ran Borune XXIV mounted the
disastrous expedition to the Isle to force the gates of Riva. The adventure,
of course, was an unmitigated disaster. Preparations were then