are not a prolific people (their use of drugs inhibits reproductive
activity severely), large cities simply provide larger concentrations
of people to fall victim to surprise attack, and the limited population
can be severely depleted by only a few such attacks. Thus, it became
in all probability a matter of state policy to disperse the population
broadly in small cities and towns and even villages ‘ except for the
capital, of course.
And so it is that we see the truth of the adage; history is the
product of war. Had there been no Marag invasion, Nyissa might
well have developed along entirely different lines. Cities might
have arisen and the jungle been cleared, but it was not to be. The
motto which appears above the door of the throne-room of Queen
Salmissra in Sthiss Tor speaks volumes: ‘The Serpent and the Forest
are one.’ The jungles of Nyissa are the refuge and the defense of the
snake people, and we must not expect that they will ever be cleared.
During the reign of Ran Horb ii of the First Horbite Dynasty
(sometimes referred to as the architect of Empire), a sustained effort
was made to conclude the customary trade agreements with the
Nyissans. Vordal, a noble of the Vordue line of the Imperial Family
was entrusted with the delicate task of negotiating with Queen
Salmissra. His reports provide graphic and chilling details of the
lethal intrigues which prevail in the Nyissan Court. Each noble,
functionary or priest normally employs a sizeable staff of
herbologists and chemists whose sole purpose is the distillation,
compounding and mixing of new poisons and antidotes. A break-through by
one of these professional poisoners is usually marked by the sudden
and frequently ghastly deaths of all members of an opposing faction.
Since most Nyissan politicians are able, as a result of heavy
preventive dosing with all known antidotes and a brutal regimen of
desensitization involving the eating of gradually increased amounts of the
toxins themselves, to ingest quantities of poisons sufficient to fell a
legion, the new poisons which are developed are of terrifying
potency’
Vordal reports that Queen Salmissra watched these lethal games
with a reptilian amusement, not even turning a hair when her most
trusted advisor quite suddenly turned black in the face, fell to the
floor in violent convulsions and died frothing at the mouth like a
mad dog. Nyissan Queens learn quite early to develop no
permanent attachments. Their training is so rigorously bound by eons-old
tradition and their lives so circumscribed by ritual that there is very
little in the way of appearance or personality that distinguishes one
Queen from her predecessors or her successors.
At long length Vordal was able to conclude the treaty with the
Nyissans, a difficult task since frequently the negotiator with whom
he was dealing died quite suddenly in the midst of the most
sensitive negotiations. The treaty provided for a commercial compound
near the docks at Sthiss Tor, and Tolnedran merchants were rigidly
restricted to that compound. While it is certainly not the best treaty
ever concluded, the Nyissans’ seemingly inexhaustible supply of
good red Angarak gold makes it easier to put up with the
restrictions. Further, the Nyissans’ phlegmatic turn of mind renders them
indifferent to the intricacies of bargaining, and they will generally
pay without question any price that is asked. Thus it is that trade
with the snake people is highly profitable, but few if any Tolnedran
merchants are ever comfortable in Sthiss Tor. Most will limit
themselves to two or three voyages up the River of the Serpent. The
profits are enormous, but there is something about the Nyissans that
compels even the greediest to soon depart.
The most celebrated event in the history of Nyissa was the Alorn
invasion in 4002-3 as a result of the Nyissan assassination of the
Rivan King, Gorek the Wise. The motivation behind this apparently
senseless act has never been fully disclosed, although the Alorn
,Kings were able to extract it in detail from Queen Salmissra XXXIH
before she died. It is generally assumed that there was Angarak
involvement in the plot, but why the Angaraks would hold such
enmity toward the monarch of a remote island is unclear. Beyond
this, one wonders what could conceivably have been offered to a
Nyissan Queen to purchase her cooperation.
Whatever Salmissra’s motives, the act was indisputably hers, and
the Alorn retribution was swift and terrible. As previously
discussed, the combined forces of Cherek, Drasnia, Algaria and the
isle of the Winds made quick work of the Nyissans. Following their
victory, the Alorns systematically and savagely destroyed the entire
nation, tearing down the towns and burning the villiages. All
Nyissans who fell into their hands were ruthlessly put to the sword.
Once again it was only the jungles that prevented the snake people
from being totally exterminated.
So brutal had been the destruction of Nyissa by the Alorns that for
five hundred years and despite frequent searches by Tolnedran
expeditions, no sign was visible that any Nyissans survived the
holocaust. Then, and only gradually,. did the snake people emerge
from the jungles to begin timidly rebuilding the capital at Sthiss Tor.
Amazingly, it appears that the Queen continued to dominate
Nyissan life even though her people had been scattered to the
winds. Queen Salmissra LXXIH emerged from the jungles as
imperious as had been her predecessors and so closely resembling the face
on ancient coinage that many had the eerie feeling that she was the
same woman.
The cause for this resemblance, however, had come to light
during one of the Tolnedran expeditions into Nyissa following the
Alorn invasion. In the vicinity of the capital were discovered several
stately houses, each identical to the others, and in the sealed central
hall of each house were discovered the skeletal remains of nineteen
youthful females. Remnants of clothing indicated that all were
identically dressed, and the remains were all precisely the same height.
In the surrounding rooms were the remains of numerous other
Nyissans as well – some in the garb of servants, others in the robes
of priests. The reason for the unbroken line and the uncanny
resemblance of each Queen to all who had passed before her became
abundantly clear. At a certain stage in the life of a Queen, a search was
made of the country to discover twenty young women who closely
resembled her. At the time of the old Queen’s death, one of the
twenty was chosen to succeed her. The rest were summarily put to
death, along with their servants, teachers and priests, in order to
prevent any effort to supplant the chosen one. In this manner, the
Queen is made secure, and the line of succession is guaranteed.
Since their one excursion into the realm of international affairs
ended so disastrously, the Nyissans have remained steadfastly
neutral. Much concern existed in the Imperial court at Tol Honeth
during the invasion of the Angaraks under Kal-Torak in the 49
century over the possibility that a second column of Angaraks and
Malloreans might be proceeding secretly through the jungles of the
snake people to strike across Tolnedra’s southern border and thus
crush the west in a vast pincer movement. Given the proximity of
Nyissa to the western reaches of Cthol Murgos and the peculiar
relationship of the snake people with the Angaraks, this possibility was
all too real. As a result, Imperial legions fortified the northern banks
of the River of the Woods, and the bulk of Tolnedra’s forces were
moved to the south and garrisoned at Tol Borune and at Tol Rane in
order to counter any such attack. Despite fearful casualties,
continuous patrols probed northern Nyissa for any evidence of the expected
Angarak approach.
Queen Salmissra vigorously protested the Tolnedran violation of
the territorial integrity of her realm, but was put off with a series of
diplomatically worded notes from the Emperor himself.
In the end, of course, the expected second front failed to
materialize, and we must concede that the diversion of the thirty-seven
legions to the south weakened Tolnedra’s ability to participate in the
decisive Battle of Vo Mimbre and may in some measure have
contributed to the humiliation of the Empire in the infamous accords
which followed that battle.
Following the Angarak war, Nyissans have again resumed the
slave-trade, although the relative peace which has prevailed in the
west since that upheaval has severely limited the number of captives
available to them. A few years after the war, Nyissan merchants
began buying up foodstuffs in the west, always paying the highest
prices. This sudden change contributed noticeably to the food
shortage resulting from the destruction of the Algarian herds. It is
suspected that the Nyissans were acting as agents for the Murgos,
and that the food shortage had spread virtually across the entire
continent.
In recent years, Nyissan traders and merchants have been much
in evidence in all parts of the west even more so than during the
short period of Nyissan commercial dominance as a result of the