The Hillfolk of Myrrad Dryg (proposed)
The hillfolk of Myrrad Dryg are a tough and hardy peoples who live in the Western hills and mountains at the far north of the Northern Continent of Lore that break into the sheer cliffs at the top of the continent. For millenia they lived isolated lives, toiling in the mines and farming mushrooms in caves and goats where they could for food, cut off from the other peoples of Lore by the dangerous nature of the mountain paths, harsh cold winds and the wild bears and other creatures that make the far North so hard to civilise.
They neither prospered nor suffered, barely ten thousand men lived throughout the mountains they claimed to be the Myrrad Dryg and the people had no great want for more. That was before the coming of the Nenharman Empire and it’s floating cities. Nenharman geologists and wizards had realised that great magical deposits lay in the mountains of Myrrad Dryg and the cities flew over the wilds of the North, the Governors of the cities acting as emissaries of the Nenharman Emperor and meeting the Elders of the Myrrad Dryg council to discus terms of trade.
This caused much excitement within Myrrad Dryg as so little of the world and of magic was known to the people, the knowledge of the Elves had never reached so far North and the magical elements were often underutilised and not mined in favour for metal ores which were of more obvious use. So it was that Myrrad Dryg was declared a protectarate of the Nenharman empire, 3 great city docks were formed at the summit of the mountains and the hillfolk formed cities of their own beneath the docks, cities born out of the trade that came whenever a city docked for more magical elements to both fuel their flight and the other works of the Nenharmians. The Nenharmians for their part were generous in their trading of knowledge and technologies, soon the hillfolk could tame more of the surrounding area and expand in area and population on the back of the strength of Nenharman and never was there a time when there wasn’t at least one city docked over Myrrad Dryg and the cities would often dock for years at a time, letting the children of the hillfolk board at the schools in the clouds and come back down a year or two later smarter than they’d ever be.
This was not to last forever though and without warning the Nenharmians stopped visiting. Years passed and the people grew restless and worried, it had been over a hundred years since more than a year had passed without a City in the sky joining the much smaller dock cities of Myrrad Dryg. The council of elders made it the focus of their meetings to discuss what to happen, they turned to the great surplusses of magical elements that were forming without the Nenharman cities to take them up and started building their own flying craft, to send explorers out to find the Nenharmians. It would be 60 years after the last flying city had been seen before the first missions into the skies were launched, none were ever heard of again.
So it was that 100 years without the Nenharman Empire there, it became clear that the hillfolk were suffering, the money brought to Myrrad Dryg by the flying cities was sorely missed and talk began of venturing fourth and finding new trading partners. It was hard work, few of the trading missions that went into the wilds ever returned but then one did come back, not with any new trade but accompanied by a dozen lithe figures with pitch black eyes. They were Elves, a people of Nenharmian stories barely believed to be real. They brought with them tales of a savage and unforgiving world, of the Nenharman empire in flames, of a civilisation of waring bears to the far east of the Same mountain range Myrrad Dryg stood upon and of bandits and armies of thugs who would steal rather than trade in all lands south of Myrrad Dryg. The only thing that the hillfolk could do would be to form a proper army and the Elves would teach them how to drill and fight as well as make superior weapons all for asylum from the lands where they were persecuted for the crimes of their ancestors in centuries past.
The council of Elders disliked the notion of an army, it seemed overly aggressive but they realised that if they were to create trade they could not let their caravans be raided by bandits and pillaged by greedy nations and conceded to the Elves. Within decades trade started to prosper again, not to the scale of the days when they were a protectorate of the Nenhaman Empire but better than anyone could remember. Soon the officers of the army the Elves would drill and aim became respected in their communities and were chosen to become representatives in the Elder councils, within 30 years a militarised block in the council had formed, managing to push funding and expansion of the army onto the hillfolk, as well as conscription in many areas of Myrrad Dryg. Even now there are calls that with their resources it is madness to merely trade with the surrounding lands when they could conquer them, calls which some say are the voices of the Elves being spoken through their loyal officers in the council. At the moment enough elders resist the calls for war but that may not be the case forever.
