then the Ulgos in heathen idolatry worship a false God and should
be converted or exterminated. If there are eight and this mysterious
ul is also a God, then has he not been excluded from ceremonial
offerings for over 5000 years? and ought we not propitiate him? And
if there are eight, might there not be nine – or nine-hundred? Alorn
theologians confirmed from their sacred writings that the God of the
Angaraks, Torak, indeed did crack the world and that he was maimed.
Fascinating as these questions are, it is not our purpose here to
expound upon them. It is sufficient to note that the Ulgos are the
source of the dispute.
At the conclusion of his discussion with the Gorim, Horban
concluded a limited trade agreement which allowed two caravans
per year to make the journey to Prolgu and to encamp in the valley
beneath the city – a valley known by an Ulgo word which,
translated, means ‘where the monsters waited’, a quaint term related to
their mythology. At that time, the Gorim stated that those of his
people who had the inclination might go there and view the goods
of the merchants. When Horban pressed for more frequent caravans
or even a permanent commercial community in the valley, the
Gorim denied permission, saying, ‘The limitation is for your own
protection,’ and refused to elaborate.
For the first hundred years, the trade with the Ulgos was woefully
unprofitable. Many times Tolnedran merchants made the long and
arduous caravan journey to Prolgu and waited the appointed three
weeks without a single customer coming up from the depths of the
earth to view their goods. Appeals to the Emperor to dispatch a
military expedition to force the Ulgos up out of their caves so that
the merchants might tempt them with their goods were largely
ineffectual, since there was nothing in the treaty requiring the Ulgos
to buy, and the city at Prolgu, situated as it is on the top of a sheer
mountain, is perhaps one of the most totally unassailable places in
the world. As one Ranite Emperor said, ‘I could pour the wealth and
young manhood of the Empire into those barren mountains and
gain nothing thereby.’
In time our caravans grew smaller and were frequently
unaccompanied by troops, and occasionally they disappeared without a
trace. The Ulgos vaguely mentioned ‘monsters’, but refused to
elaborate.
During the invasion of the Angaraks in the 4860s and 70s, the
Algar cavalry and Drasnian infantry elements which closed in
behind the enemy on the way to the battleground before the
Arendish city of Vo Mimbre were startled by the sudden emergence
from their caverns of thousands of curiously armed Ulgos, all, as
usual, hooded and with their faces and eyes veiled against the
light.
It is evident that there is some eons-old dispute between the
Ulgos and the Angaraks, the origins of which are lost in antiquity.
The Algars and Drasnians soon had no difficulty in following the
Hordes of Kal-Torak, since the trail was littered with the bodies
of the unfortunates whom the Ulgos systematically ambushed.
Because of the sensitivity of their eyes to the light, Ulgos function
best at night, and the toll they took of the sleeping Angaraks was
ghastly.
At the Battle of Vo Mimbre, the Ulgos participated in the assault
upon the Angarak left with the Algars and the Drasnians. When
they shed their robes and hoods for battle, they revealed the
traditional armor of the Ulgos, a curious leaf-mail, shaped much like the
scales of a serpent and overlapping in such fashion that it is virtually
impenetrable. The armor is colorfully referred to as ‘dragon-skin’.
During the battle, the Ulgos displayed uncommon valor, closing
savagely with the much larger Murgo warriors who held the left
flank; and after the battle when darkness had fallen, Ulgo warriors
roamed the battlefield making certain that no wounded Angarak
escaped.
When things had returned somewhat to normal following the
war, limited trade was resumed, but the Ulgos have retained their
secretive ways.
The current Gorim of the
Ulgos appears to be extremely ancient,
though the dimness of the light in their caverns makes such fine
distinctions difficult. The mode by which the Ulgos choose their
Gorim or how far back into the dim reaches of the past the line
extends are questions, of course, which are likely never to be
answered.
Ulgoland
COINAGE
Ulgos do not use coins, but rather barter for items both useful and
ornamental. Ulgo jewelry is so exquisite and so finely wrought that
it is nearly priceless in the west. They will also trade in raw gold and
silver and in cut and uncut gems.
COSTUME
Standard garments – linen pajama-like affair. Hooded cloaks of the
coarse cloth. All dyed quite dark.
Linen – cloth (wild flax gathered near cave mouths).
A coarse cloth woven from the fiber of a tree bark similarly gathered.
Soft leather – deer-hide taken by nocturnal Ulgo hunters.
Personages wear robes – quite heavy – one solid piece. White.
Armor – overlapping, diamond-shaped steel scales sewn to leather.
Weapon – the knife – designed and perfected by Ulgo craftsmen -‘
quite ornamental with lots of hooks and saw edges. Long ice-pick.
Short-handled picks with needle’ points, etc. Women wear soft robes.
Hair is elaborately plaited. Jeweled head-bands.
COMMERCE
Strictly barter in useful goods or in services. Ulgos do have fields,
planted and harvested at night. Planted at random so as to be
undetectable. They also hunt meat – meat is a rarity in the Ulgo diet. Lots
of root vegetables, grains and nuts.
SOCIAL ORGANIZATION
Ulgo society is a theocracy. The Gorim is a Moses figure, a lawgiver
and a judge. People divided into tribes. Elders of the tribes advise
the Gorim. Scholars study the writings of the original Gorim – a very
Jewish society in that respect.
Ordinary people live in chambers cut out of the stone al the
various galleries in the vast limestone caves.
Note: The caves of the Ulgos are naturally heated by geotherrnal
forces. Cooking is with small coal fires. Smoke and fumes are carried
off in cunningly constructed vents. Light provided by tiny oil lamps
or by refracted surface light (through glass prisms).
Ulgo society is totally involved with religion. Much time is taken
up with prayer. Prophecy and the casting of Auguries is enormously
important. Upon special dates certain special openings with special
glass prisms allow the light of certain stars to enter the caverns,
colors and shadows are then interpreted. (Ulgos are masters of
primitive optics because of their work in glass.)
They also have extensive knowledge of ‘the monsters’ and know
how to deal with most of them.
They are not prolific. Many restraints on population. Infant
mortality is quite high among them. A static, unmoving society
with no real hope of growth. Philosophical, somewhat melancholy.
Much emphasis on scholarship, study and attaining holiness or
righteousness – a mass effort at attaining sainthood – Essene, possibly.
Religious ecstasy or religious excess common. Hermits in the farthest
caverns. (Ulgo artifacts are so beautiful because they are the work of
zealots.)
The Ulgo Holy Books are the Journals of Gorim kept on his quest
in search of the God UL. These rather pedestrian daybooks have
been elevated into something mystical. Holiness is often predicated
on some new and unusual interpretation of a quite ordinary event.
The Book of UL-GO is a much later poetic version of the original
Daybooks of Gorim. There have been internecine wars in the caverns
of the Ulgos over interpretation of certain obscure and delirious
passages from Gorim’s journals. A totally closed and
inward-looking society EXCEPT for their universal hatred of Torak, the one
whose action condemned them to the caverns.
UL-GO theology is split rather violently. One branch holds that
the caves are what UL intended. The others that a deliverer shall
come and destroy Torak and the Ulgos will be allowed to return to
the surface.
RANK
The Gorim – High priest and King.
Oldmen – Leaders of each tribe.
Tribal Elders – Seven in each tribe. Seven tribes of Ulgos – fairly
significant racial differences between them.
The priests of UL – very numerous.
The selection of Gorim, Oldmen and elders is a process that is
part election, part prophecy’ part lottery and part gut-feel. The
Gorim is not hereditary. No one but an Ulgo can understand the
process. Age is very important in the selection.
MODES OF ADDRESS
To the Gorim -‘My Gorim’, ‘Holy One’, rarely, ‘Holy UL-GO’
To the Oldmen -‘Beloved of Ull, ‘Wisdom’
To the Elders -‘Righteousness’, ‘Selected of Ull
To the Priests -‘Master’
To the Scholars -‘Learned One’
To the Commoners -‘ULGORIM John’ – meaning approximately ‘just
and righteous in the sight of Ull
MANNERS
Quite formal modes of address. A great deal of formula recitatif
and response in conversation. ‘Great is the power of Ull -‘All praise
the name of Ull. Entire conversations can consist of stereotyped
phrases. Personal chambers are absolutely private. Temples are