The Enemy of my Enemy
"Bring war, pain, and suffering to those who have abandoned the way for they must be punished and you are our lash" - The Book of the Dragon.
Devils & Sea Demons. The word Hjaarlmarchen is oft whispered softly for fear that saying their name too loudly might draw them in. Coastal village myths of their deeds, religion, and capabilities abound and vary, often wildly exaggerating tales of giants appearing from the sea and slaughtering everything in sight. Like any myths however, there is always a grain of truth. The myths of the Hjaarlmarchen are no different. The oft called "devils" and "sea demons" while not actually demons, are quite deserving of the name. You see Hjaarlmarched are religiously obligated to bring suffering and devastation to others. Their creation story holds that after beings on the earth corrupted the paradise they had been given and betrayed the true gods, the Hjaarlmarched were created to punish them for it. Jarl Ulfric Oddgeir was especially devout in this idea.
He was the head of the Clan Oddgeir, a powerful but minor Jarl in the land of Hjaarlmarch. His People were hardy but had little to live on other than the fishing they did. To survive they had to fight. They pillaged and raided across the world, masters of the Hjaarlmarch raid tactics - Strength and speed. Their boats were easily twice as fast as any boat in the world and they were so lightly armed that they could move in and out faster than their victims could cobble together defenses. They seemingly appeared from the waves, raided, and left in an instant leaving behind the rotting carcasses of their victims and the burnt rubble of their homes.
Today, Jarl Ulfric and his men would make Shor well pleased. They set out on a raid campaign, to the far shores of Fardoor.
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"Brothers, today we shall bring the God's Wrath to the people of Fardoor. They are weak and disunited, their perversion stunts them and we shall reap the reward. We will take their ill gotten gains and make off with their women. For Blood and Glory!"
"For Glory and Blood!" rang out among the crowd of warriors.
With that the reign of terror would begin. The sea demons would emerge and bring death and destruction to Fardoor. They set sail on their longships. The god of the seas must have been smiling upon them because the winds came and guided the ships quickly and smoothly. The Jarl looked out from across his Drekkar. His mind wandered back to home and his family, this disturbed him however. In Hjaarlmarch culture thinking of home before entering a battle means you shall soon return there - dead or in shame. He paid little mind to such superstitions here however. He doubted these fractured peoples could put together a real fight against them. This would be a field day for him and his men, making easy pickings of the valuables along the coast. He saw the coins falling before his eyes. He had his mind set on a golden tankard with which to drink from.
Quickly and silently the small fleet and is charge of 300 warriors made its way to the shores of Fardoor. Each with rapacious intent. The law of the raid was the success of the raid was shared among the party, nothing was prohibited (besides stealing from or killing a Hjaarlmarchen), and everything was up for grabs - people, things, weapons, flags etc. If only the people knew their fate.
(Sorry about the short post but I didn't want to do anything too major yet, you can set your own stage and then we can move in. I think this can go small raid party goes in has success, locals begin to unite and push them out, I come back with even more troops, have success again, you all unite and we deem it unprofitable to battle your combined forces and leave?)