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This post sees the start of the Shanties around Hykma. The Shanties are similar to suburbs or slums, depending on what neighborhood you’re in. We also see the start of the Merfolk Blockade that influences a lot of subsequent events in the third age of our Dawn of Worlds campaign. Everyone is going to start scrambling to get around the Blockade to continue the profitable trade with Hearthland. And of course the grez continue to expand and no one does anything about it.

704 NA: The grez animated the frozen corpses of the humans in the north. To lead their new undead army, the grez reanimated the Hero. The world shuddered at the still foreboding presence in the arctic.

705 NA: The splendor and draw of the glowing city of Hykma continued – incredible wealth resided in the city and the Elven Gardens were hailed as one of the great wonders of the modern world. The government began to solidify as the old blood princes and their merchant counterparts established themselves as proper lords. A new order was formed and a new constitution written. The Revered Administration now ruled over the Hykman League.

Meanwhile, the poor and disenfranchised in Hykma were slowly forced out through zoning and vagrancy restrictions. The elves sheepishly closed the gates of Rotandean, apologizing yet refusing to accept the flow of refugees. The masses turned east, heading down the river toward Pulchrito, Domicilius, and The Hearth. The rana were gracious hosts, but unable to host the numbers in either of their own cities. With the help of the Monks of the Gossamer Waves and the “gracious charity” of the Hykman Administration, shanty towns popped up all along the rivers, spreading from the base of the mountains at Hykma to the Tonsil Lake, and then more stretching from Domicilius to The Hearth. Impoverished at first, soon wealth began to trickle down from Hykma and The Hearth as merchants saw consumers and laborers in the Shanties. The Shanties grew in splendor. Festivals were common along the rivers and colored lanterns and lights adorned the long stretches of water and cobblestone roads.

709 NA: Profits in the Maw soared. Peace bred wealth, new power, and an influx of new blood into the old aristocracies of Najar, the Hykman League, and the pirate princes of Balkus.  Tensions rise. The seas were not as safe as they once were and piracy was rampant. Merchants begged their governments for protection and demanded action. The cities of Hykma, Cynelle, Alixria, Alrdia, and Balkus each raised a “defensive” fleet and begin to patrol their waters.

710 NA: The grez froze the area connecting Glacierstone, the Upper Maw, and Hearthland. Reesrevo used his godly power to animate the entirety of the frozen Najar people as a new race of people. An undead race entered the world as servants of the grez. The world was shocked and horrified, but no one would take action against the grez. Commanders feared that while their army was away fighting the grez, another city-state in the Upper Maw would attack their home city.

711 NA: The merfolk, frustrated by the latest threat to their naval supremacy, unveiled new advances in the craft of shipbuilding and naval patrolling. New fleets were constructed in Drolfo’s Cove, New Tortuga, and Cyflenwi. The merfolk flexed their new naval muscles by setting up a blockade across the Mouth of the Maw from the ruins of Nanatok to Cynelle. The people of Drolfo demanded reasonable tariffs for passage in and out of the Maw. This blockade was in response to the raising of Proaxium by the dwarves. The blockade would end only if Proaxium was returned to merfolk custody. The Merfolk Blockade sent chaotic ripples through the Human trade networks. Dwarven goods were in high demand and prices soared. The Mouth of the Maw had always been the only free and safe route to dwarven lands. Where would the humans get their fine dwarven luxuries now?

-Mister Ed

Next: Gurutama Timeline Revising Part 23