GoCorral

Previous: Kingdoms Sprouting Up Part 4

Satronwook
After the Dragon War a few humans, elves, and halflings settled within the Aractrash Jungle. One group founded a small village named Satronwook on one of the upriver intersections of the Aractrash River. As trappers and traders moved through the village they stayed at the Inn of Lost Souls. The establishment was right on the village square, an optimal location for all those who wished to do business in town.
One day Dionysus got it in his head to go on a tour of Cimmeria to witness the food, drink, and culture of the Olympians new playground. Of course Dionysus brought his entourage, maenads, and Pan. They started in the West and proceeded clockwise around the Caspian Sea in a meandering path. Along the way the members of their troop shifted and changed. When they neared the end they had acquired a pack of magical blink dogs. The final stop on their tour was Satronwook.
When Dinoysus arrived in Satronwook he struck his thyrsus into the ground of the village square. The staff grew and grew into the alcohol fountain that makes Satronwook famous today. The pair stayed for a month in the Inn of Lost Souls, partying in their characteristic destructive way. At the end of their visit every citizen of Satronwook was either dead, cursed, or enriched by some blessing of the gods.
At dawn on their final day Dinonysus and Pan snickered and announced they were leaving. They had one more gift to bestow upon the winner of a final drinking contest. At the conclusion of this contest, the halfling woman, Baradera, was declared the victor. Dionysus crowned her with a band of solid gold. As he placed the crown on her head she transformed into the shape of the local bears, a panda. Baradera retained her intelligence and her powers of speech. In fact, the crown enhanced greatly enhanced her thoughts, turning her into a genius.
Pan revealed his gift next. The Crown of the Panda conferred great intellect and gave the wearer the power to introduce or remove one new law into Satronwook’s currently blank legal code. These laws would be enforced by the blink dogs which would be staying behind in Satronwook. The drinking contest would be repeated every year to decide the next year’s leader. Each new person to don the crown would add or take away a law to be enforced by the blink dogs. This annual contest would be named after the first winner, Baradera.
Dionysus, Pan, and a few maenads left Satronwook, laughing as they went. Baradera discovered why a year later when her reign as the Panda ended. She had expected the transfer of power to return her to her halfling form, but instead she remained a panda, albeit one with a golden ring of fur around her head. A final joke played by the gods upon the people of Satronwook.
The wonder of the alcohol fountain and the Panda leaders attracted people to Satronwook. Soon it became a thriving trading town. The legal framework took a few years to adapt as many basic laws could only be added a year at a time. The blink dogs enforced only the official laws, but the citizens themselves enforced common sense morality through mob justice until the legal code caught up.
The alcohol fountain caused Satronwook’s particular character of drunken partying to persist, turning the city into the wild party capital that it is today.

Dradelden
Western Cimmeria was rocked to its core one hundred years after the Dragon War. The Amazons invaded.
The Amazons were a race of humans led by warrior women. They lived in the region north of the Black Sea on the border of the monster infested Dark Reaches. The Amazons’ warrior tradition included horseback riding, bows, and close quarters combat. Women fought and protected the Amazon Kingdom while men worked to maintain a constant food supply. The Amazons were led by a queen who was coronated after a rigorous contest of physical strength.
The Amazon Queen Saikolok brought her people into Western Cimmeria, pillaging and raiding throughout the land. They captured booty and prisoners, but soon found they needed to defend their goods due to the aerials of Jeutontic. Rather than quit the land, the Amazons established a base in Dradelden. Queen Saikolok left the colony in the hands of her subordinate, Triadnikai. Triadnikai backed off the constant raiding and played a political game to make Dradelden into one of the most prominent cities in Western Cimmeria.