This era begins sometime after the Court of Heaven is established. It's is a mini golden age: trade begins to flood in from across the sea and the population booms.
But not all fortune is favorable and the Okeana's curse rears its ugly head.
From beyond the Salt Sea of Thazruk the Dragon Horde comes. Lead by the vicious Uldrek Khan, the orcish horde cuts a path through the surrounding lands.
As rumors of the destruction reach Samarkand, the Court of Heaven and the Najam begin to shore up defenses, building walls and fortifications.
But this only serves to heighten tensions between the gnomes and the humans as the humans plan to build all the way up to Mount Zafer, the ancient perch of the Roc Riders and holy ground to the Sky Cult.
The humans press any way and start to fortify along the Eastern river, but their efforts are sabotaged by gnomish resistance fighters who've already sold their blades to the Khan.
And so Samarkand burns. The fort of the Cinder Cingibi is thrown down and the city is burned.
The population wait in fear only to watch the orcish horde split in two, half returning and half occupying the ruins of the fort.
Now is the Age of the Khan
But not all fortune is favorable and the Okeana's curse rears its ugly head.
From beyond the Salt Sea of Thazruk the Dragon Horde comes. Lead by the vicious Uldrek Khan, the orcish horde cuts a path through the surrounding lands.
As rumors of the destruction reach Samarkand, the Court of Heaven and the Najam begin to shore up defenses, building walls and fortifications.
But this only serves to heighten tensions between the gnomes and the humans as the humans plan to build all the way up to Mount Zafer, the ancient perch of the Roc Riders and holy ground to the Sky Cult.
The humans press any way and start to fortify along the Eastern river, but their efforts are sabotaged by gnomish resistance fighters who've already sold their blades to the Khan.
And so Samarkand burns. The fort of the Cinder Cingibi is thrown down and the city is burned.
The population wait in fear only to watch the orcish horde split in two, half returning and half occupying the ruins of the fort.
Now is the Age of the Khan
The orcs bring their foreign god, an ancient dragon, Atesh, building a high altar to him out of the remains of the fort. Some merchants and opportunist adopt this new deity and the slave markets flourish with the spoils of conquest to the Eternal Fire.
Several generations pass. The cliffs of Mount Zafer become overrun by freed elven slaves and trade becomes regular again. The orcish warlords, too stupid to take the helm of government and perfectly happy to simply let the gold flow in, let the Court of Heaven rule, though the seat of Najam is now occupied by the prophet of the Dragon Cult.
The grand daughter of Uldrek Khan, though, aspires to greatness and with the help of eunuch named Mazyar, she embarks on a series of ambitious building projects.
The first is a fine palace encircling the Fire Temple to honor her ancestors and honor the Eternal Fire. Next, a wall to encircle the orcish camp, who made the sloops around the Fire Temple their permanent home.
Flush with the prestige, and with the prodding of Mazyar, she begins work on Nebulon's town, a 3/4 mile high monument to the power of the khanate.
It is finished on the 200th anniversary of the founding of Samarkand (though it is only 200 years since the orcish invasion so not technically the founding but what can you do?)
The grand daughter of Uldrek Khan, though, aspires to greatness and with the help of eunuch named Mazyar, she embarks on a series of ambitious building projects.
The first is a fine palace encircling the Fire Temple to honor her ancestors and honor the Eternal Fire. Next, a wall to encircle the orcish camp, who made the sloops around the Fire Temple their permanent home.
Flush with the prestige, and with the prodding of Mazyar, she begins work on Nebulon's town, a 3/4 mile high monument to the power of the khanate.
It is finished on the 200th anniversary of the founding of Samarkand (though it is only 200 years since the orcish invasion so not technically the founding but what can you do?)
Lazar the Insane was a private man. A power wizard by all accounts but a chronic introvert but a rather antagonist person if provoked.
He'd moved into an old abandoned watch tower at the then edge of city and set about doing his research, hoping to be left alone with his torture equipment and collection of plush animals.
Lazar loved his schedule. He had his food brought to him but every week, like clockwork, he'd nip down to the tavern, have some sweet yams and sujamma and then return to his tower.
While almost every week. One week, he went for his usually excursion only to find the place in ashes. He tried to sit at a still standing table but nobody came to wait on him. And that damned youth music was especially loud. All it sounded like, to his ears, was the screams of pain as people died. What is the world coming to?
Rather upset, he returned to his tower in a bad mood.
That bad mood last 200 years.
To get his anger out, Lazar the Insane would climb his tower every morning, and either blast pure magical power into the air while cackling at the sky or throw baby animals from the top.
He'd moved into an old abandoned watch tower at the then edge of city and set about doing his research, hoping to be left alone with his torture equipment and collection of plush animals.
Lazar loved his schedule. He had his food brought to him but every week, like clockwork, he'd nip down to the tavern, have some sweet yams and sujamma and then return to his tower.
While almost every week. One week, he went for his usually excursion only to find the place in ashes. He tried to sit at a still standing table but nobody came to wait on him. And that damned youth music was especially loud. All it sounded like, to his ears, was the screams of pain as people died. What is the world coming to?
Rather upset, he returned to his tower in a bad mood.
That bad mood last 200 years.
To get his anger out, Lazar the Insane would climb his tower every morning, and either blast pure magical power into the air while cackling at the sky or throw baby animals from the top.
But nothing help.
One day, as he was about to drop a child from the heights of his workshop, his attention was grabbed by what was happening on the hill just north of his.
Some rival wizard had the gull to build his own tower. And right next to Lazar's. What nerve! He dropped the kid (like the kid's mother was begging) and begin to concoct a plan. He would wait and bide his time.
On the day that the tower was completed, he launched all his magical power at it, completely destroying it and much of the surrounding hillside. That will show that upstart Nebulon not to enter his territory.
After Lazar went for sweet yams and sujamma, feeling much better
One day, as he was about to drop a child from the heights of his workshop, his attention was grabbed by what was happening on the hill just north of his.
Some rival wizard had the gull to build his own tower. And right next to Lazar's. What nerve! He dropped the kid (like the kid's mother was begging) and begin to concoct a plan. He would wait and bide his time.
On the day that the tower was completed, he launched all his magical power at it, completely destroying it and much of the surrounding hillside. That will show that upstart Nebulon not to enter his territory.
After Lazar went for sweet yams and sujamma, feeling much better
With the tower in ruins, the Khan, looked to recoup the loss. Deeply in debt and staring rivals who were sharpening their blades in the face, she once again sought the advice of her most trusted advisor, Mazyar the Builder.
He said that the best thing to do was to get the people on her side and to do that, she must feed them and he knew how.
Canals, he said, with a flourish of his hands. Building freshwater canals across the otherwise rather arid landscape would make for more farmable land and, he told her, it would give fresh water to populous.
And so the construction of the Great Canals of Samarkand begin.
Now, nobody knows for sure if this was done on purpose but Mazyar routed the main channel right through the elvish ghetto, displacing an already upset portion of the population.
And they rioted, storming the grain silos and burning the Fire Temple.
Later scholars would appreciate the irony but nobody thought it was funny at the time.
The orcs we're divided, and soon they'd rip the city in two.
Next: The Khanate Civil War
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| Samarkand at the end of the Khanate Era |
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