unraveling of the mystery of the Malloreans, but with only small
success. What little we do know of them, however, is a tribute to the
patience and perseverance of these Drasnian agents.
Physically, the Malloreans appear to be the archetypical Angaraks,
neither as tall as the Nadraks nor as thick-bodied as the Thulls, nor
are they quite as muscular as the typical Murgo. Their dispositions
would seem to be more open, but the keen-eyed Drasnians have
noted a tendency among them to be – if not precisely fearful – at least
apprehensive in the presence of Grolim priests. Drasnian intelligence
speculates that Mallorea is in all probability a theocracy dominated
by Grolims who rule by terror in the service of Torak, the Angarak
God.
NOTE: The only Mallorean who has played any significant part in the history
of the west was the 49th century conqueror, Kal-Torak, who led the
invasion of the Malloreans and western Angaraks and who was
defeated at the famous Battle of Vo Mimbre. The prefix ‘Kal’ is
untranslatable, but would seem to signify that the meaning of the
name was ‘Arm of Torak’ or possibly ‘Spirit of Torak’. The popular
superstition that it was the god Torak himself is, of course, nonsense.
THE GROLIMS
These are the ubiquitous Angarak priests who are seen in all parts of
the Angarak kingdoms. Little can be known of them except by
implication, since they steadfastly refuse to even speak to
nonAngaraks. No hints can be gathered as to their physical appearance
due to the shrouding, hooded black robes they customarily wear
and the soul-chilling steel facemasks which are the marks of their
priesthood. These masks, supposedly replicas of the face of the God
Torak, conceal the entire face and help to explain the awe with
which the Grolims are regarded.
It is unknown whether the Grolims are an order, selected from
the body of the Angarak populace, or if they are a separate tribe
Drasnian agents have attempted for millennia to unravel this
mystery but without success, since not even the most drunken
Nadrak n-dner will ever discuss the Grolims.
Fragmentary reports from the battlefield at Vo Mimbre hint at the
possibility that the Grolims are not exclusively male, but that there
were also priestesses among the bodies on that field, but the
necessity for rapid disposal of the dead to avoid the possibility of
pestilence made verification of this impossible.
Whatever their origins and true nature, however, the Grolims
dominate Angarak life. The hideous orgies of human sacrifice which
characterize the Angarak religion are presided over by Grolims, and
the sacrificial victims, despite popular belief in the west, are not
drawn exclusively from the ranks of slaves. Even the remotest
villages of Nadraks and Thulls have the traditional black altar of
Torak, stained with the blood of the unnumbered victims who for
millennia have gone screaming under the knife.
No information exists, of course, about the nature of the
organization of the Grolim priesthood. One suspects that there exists
somewhere – either in Mallorea or perhaps at Rak Cthol or some other
inaccessible place – some high priest or chief priest or some such
figure, but this is sheer speculation.
THE HISTORY OF THE ANGARAKS
Little is known of the early millennia of these people. It appears that
their migration across the northern land bridge from Mallorea took
place at the end of the second or the beginning of the third
millennium, much later than the western migration of the others of
the west.
The first western contact with them came, as is almost always the
case with primitive peoples, in the form of war. It was the Nadraks
who led the probing attacks against Drasnia and Algaria during the
third millennium until the time of the great unnamed battle in
eastern Drasnia which has been roughly dated to the 25th century. It was
at that time that a major Angarak penetration occurred. The decisive
defeat of the Nadraks at this battle quelled Angarak expansionism in
the north until the time of Kal-Torak.
As relations between Car og Nadrak and Drasnia normalized
(roughly by the end of the third millennium) trade between the two
nations began – tentatively at first and with great suspicion on each
side – but gradually growing until the North Caravan Route was
established, more by custom than by any formal agreement between
the two kingdoms.
It was in 3219 that the Kings of the two nations met at a great
border encampment astride the Caravan Route to formalize what had
simply grown as a result of the human need to trade. Kings Reldik Ill
of Drasnia and Yar grel Hrun of Car og Nadrak ultimately concluded
the treaty that has been the despair of Tolnedran commercial barons
for over two thousand years. Under the terms of the agreement, only
Drasnian caravans are permitted access to the Nadrak portions of the
North Caravan Route and conversely only Nadrak caravans may
enter Drasnia. thus, even as Drasnia dominates all western commerce
generated by the Caravan Route, so Car og Nadrak dominates all
trade with the other Angarak states. Thus, it is as rare to see a Murgo
or a Thull in Boktor as it is to see a Sendar or a Tolnedran in Yar
Marak, since the fees charged by the rapacious caravan masters of
both states quite literally eat up any possible profit.
Efforts by Tolnedran negotiators to break the stranglehold
Drasnia held over the northern trade at the time of the conferences
which brought Drasnia into the Tolnedran commercial Empire were
totally without success, and at that time Tolnedra began to look for
another route to the east.
Enlisting the aid of Nyissan slavers, who had regular contact with
the Murgos, Tolnedran commercial envoys were able to finally
institute talks at Rak Goska. The difficulties involved in dealing with the
grimly laconic Murgos can not be exaggerated. The talks – if they
could be called such – continued intermittently for seventy years.
Infuriatingly, the Murgos appeared indifferent to the fact that
between them the Drasnians and Nadraks had a virtual monopoly
on all east-west trade. Finally, however, in 3853 an agreement was
finally reached which established the South Caravan Route between
Tol Honeth and Rak Goska. This is a brutal route, and fully half of all
caravans which attempt it are lost. The Murgos scrupulously patrol
the route, and, while they respect the protected status of the Route
itself, they regard all who stray from this often poorly-marked trail
as invaders and fall upon them with great savagery.
The only possible alternative route is forever closed since it would
involve crossing the Vale of Aldur on a direct line from Tol Honeth
to the borders of Mishrak ac Thull, and the stubborn Algars
steadfastly refuse even to discuss the matter or to permit any contact with
the Angaraks across their eastern frontier.
Thus it is that most of the traditional sources of information
concerning the history of a people are denied to us in our study of
the Angaraks. The merchant has ever been the truest friend of the
historian, and in a situation where trade is so severely limited,
information is so scanty that much of our understanding of the Angaraks
is the result of speculation and guess-work.
In essence, then, we have three tribes (or four – if one counts the
Grolims as a separate people) who migrated out of the dim reaches
of western Mallorea sometime at the end of the second millennium.
Some ancient and unknown enmity existed between them and the
Alorn peoples of the north, and for a thousand years they attempted
to penetrate Drasnia and Algaria but were steadfastly repulsed by
the legendary warriors of those lands. In time, those hostilities were
reduced sufficiently to permit a certain minimal contact between the
Angaraks and the peoples of the west.
In the fifth millennium, the Mallorean hordes under Kal-Torak
moved across the land bridge in northeastern Cor og Nadrak and
were joined by the Nadraks, ThuRs and Murgos in the invasion of
the west. Defeated finally at the Battle of Vo Mimbre, the surviving
western Angaraks fled back to their kingdoms along the shores of
the Great Eastern Sea.
For a century following the invasion, there existed a state of
virtual war along the borders between the Angaraks and the west.
Skirmishes and ambushes between the opposing sides made those
frontiers the most dangerous places in the known world.
Gradually, once again, relations began to normalize, and trade
though severely limited – was resumed along the North Caravan
Route. Almost five hundred years, however, were to pass before the
stift’necked Murgos permitted the reopening of the South Caravan
Route. Then, almost overnight, they quite suddenly relented
indeed seemed to welcome the resumption of commerce. Oddly, for
the first time, there has been significant caravan traffic from the east,
and the sight of mailed Murgo merchants and their Thullish porters
in the streets and along the quays of Tol Honeth have become