Gana and Gala

This episode was inspired by WolfRun's map. I also drew some good ideas from Y's episodes 3675, 19330, and Ib's 22618.

Gana and Gala, two adjacent kingdoms in the west of the Havnheim, illustrate the influence of geography and climate on the history and culture of a land's inhabitants.

Gana is a large park lying at the intersection of three major ranges. To the east lies the Shrenken Range, to the north, the Carpathians, and to the west, the Galenas. A system of faults lies under both the Shreken and the Galenas, and the area is prone to seismic activity such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Several active and dormant volcanoes ring Gana, and the residue from old volcanoes provides a rich soil.

Although Gana is semi-arid, due to the mountains blocking most of the direct access to rain, the wind called the southwesterly often blows in the winter, creating large amounts of lake- effect snowfall from the Dead Sea. The snow often creates drifts high enough to hold the South Gana and Clocker Trails impassible for months at a time during the winter. Most of the snow from the southwesterlies blasts the south side of the Galenic Mountains, replenishing the Galena Glacier system. Most of this snow melts in the spring, flooding the western Gana valley with large amounts of mud and water.

Gana also lies at the crossroads of many major trade routes. The Culbertson trail in the north cuts through the Culbertson Pass, and wends its way through Gala and the lands of the Havnheim. The many roads and trails to the south allow traffic to the great region of the Ryngaerd to the south, and to also to the nations of Calife, Salmonshire, MalBoncton, and eventually Aqualaria toward the east.

Gana's scenery is one of the marvels of the known world. The great ring of snow-capped mountains, some volcanic with tell-tale columns of white steam or black-smoke, the lush farmlands, the transient but turbulent spring falls of Wash, Wish, and Winch Creeks, and the spectacular displays of Gana's unique alpine flowers such as fireweed, Gana gentian, and the musical minstrel's jasmine, have attracted tourists from many places. The money generated from these tourists is significant, and whatever Ganaite government is in power usually takes an interest in promoting the sites, protecting the tourists from the wildlife [see 3675's note about the squirrels], and separating them from their gold pieces with as little pain to the tourist as possible.

There are three fairs in Gana, held in the spring, summer, and fall. Each lasts for two weeks, and the roadgeld is reduced during this period to attract fair goers. The greatest of the fairs is the Fair of the Year's end, and unlike the others, is held at the capital, Gana City. Merchants, thieves, actors, dancers, singers, magicians, whiskey peddlers, jewellers, and antiques dealers all line the busy streets of Gana, and the revenue that the kingdom receives has financed a rich court and prosperous city.

Gana has developed a culture and government quite unlike any in the world. Ganites are marked out by their tolerance for behaviours and beliefs considered by others to be bizarre. The state religion is a loose composition of belief and superstition. One important order is that of the clockers [3675]. Originally founded in Gana as a way to predict the coming of the spring floods, the clockers have the best observatories and have the most advanced ability to predict celestial events in the Havnheim, and perhaps the world.

Gana is one of the few lands that has dared to attract and use Wyrms to increase the fertility of their fields. [22618, 22665] Indeed, there have been rumours that some of the lesser Wyrms have developed a symbiotic relationship with certain farmers, and have become almost tamed. Visitors from Gala tend to roll their eyes and mutter, "Only in Gana," but such an unorthodox approach is not unusual in this land.

As stated earlier, the geography has affected the temperment of the people. As one may find his home under a mudslide, flood, or volcanic ash at any time, the average Ganite takes more risks, and is less hurt by adversity that his counterpart in other lands. The commercial hub of the fairs provides ample opportunity to recoup such losses. Tales of men and women who have made and lost several fortunes abound.

Gana is ruled by a king or queen from the royal house. There are several "major families" that are consulted in any major changes in law, but generally the king or queen has his way in the administration of justice. The royal family quite frankly viewed administration of the kingdom as a business, just like peddling silk or serving beer. While the kingdom has historically boasted of a small but potent army, the army has been more for maintaining internal order amongst the strangers visiting Gana and for entertainment of those visitors (through tournaments at the fairs) than serious defense of Gana Park.

There are two reasons for this. First, the location of Gana across these trade routes and at the western end of the Shreken is such that it is in the interest of none of the major powers to see it fall into the hands of another major power. By the Califian Treaties, Aqualaria, Allaria, and Hespan are bound to defend Gana if attacked. The treaty has a second provision - the royal house of Gana is not to expand beyond the boundries of the park. Until very recently, this seemed to be a moot point.

Second, the two places where a local threat has historically existed, from Gala and from the tribes of the Ryngaerd, had been pacified for a number of years. The first line of defense was bribery. "Subsidies" and "gifts" flowed from Gana to the courts and cities of the surrounding lands, and the Kings of Gala had received their share. The leading families from Gala and from the various tribes and cities of the Ryngaerd gave hostages as a guarantee for good behaviour. Over time, this duty came to be sought, as a few years in Gana came to be considered a part of education of a young man of spirit, and many Galese looked back fondly upon their experiences there in their later years. Finally, Gala was among the nations drawn into the great trading empire of which Gana was the nexus, and the rulers of these lands had more to lose by attacking than by leaving Gana alone. (And if they won, they would also have had to govern all the weird people of Gana, an intimidating prospect.)

Across the Culbertson Pass, the land becomes more arid, opening up to the Plains of Abraham. This is the southern part of the Kindgom of Gala. Blocked from receiving moisture from the southwesterlies, Gala must rely on the summer rains of the easterlies and moisture from the Aryn Sea and the tiny Kettle Lakes, on Gala's eastern border. However, the amount of rain is never consistent and the Galese soil is generally rocky and thin. Most of Gala is a vast pastureland - it is here that the famed Galese White Bulls and Galese White Oxen roam. These animals fetch a high price in the markets of Gana for sacrifices to certain deities. Certain parts of these animals, prepared properly, are popular folk medicines, and also command a high price. On the western fringe of Gala, hugging the Carpathians, is a band of thick forest, where the northeasterlies dump any remaining rain.

Local clans are responsible for the administration of justice and local protection, but the King of Gala holds more than a nominal power. It is he the local clans look to decide disputes amongst themselves, and also to organize against threats from maurauders and robber bands from the West. Under the 'four good kings' of the House of Telequin, Theodoric I, Theodoric II, Photius IV, and Theodoric III, Gala has risen from a barbaric land with little order to a respectable kingdom that has the wherewithal to maintain good roads, build a number of respectable villages, and three small squadrons of mounted knights and pikemen, enough to overawe any threat from the barbarians. And that should have been enough. The great powers were too far away to concern themselves with poor and distant Gala, and the wild men could be easily contained. As for Gana, well, war was bad business, and what would Gana want with a bunch of grass and a bunch of stick-in-the-mud ranchers and petty artisans?

For Gala was as tradition-bound as Gana was unorthodox. Clan, church, and children were the "three C's" that dominated the life of the average Galese. Gala was not immune to change - a returning hostage might bring back some new gadget or some odd belief, but the pull of tradition would slowly absorb the one who returned back into the mainstream of Galese life. The peoples of both nations, as well as their royal houses, the Flairs of Gana and the Telequins of Gala, stared at each other tranquilly, each glad that they did not live over the border.

King Theodoric III was worried. A nameless evil was working its way across the Havnheim, and he did not know how to combat it.

The reports from Allaria were bad. The ruling house of Exultine had a horrible run of luck with two unnatural royal deaths. There were reports of turmoil in that kingdom - and chaos in Allaria knocked out one prop that had sustained the fragile prosperity of Gala. No trade and no tourist from Allaria meant no customers for the White Oxen and no tollgeld.

Aqualaria seemed stable, but distant. The last reports that he had out of Hespan were that the good king there had everything under control, but how long could he hold out? (Theodoric was unaware of the recent coup and the preparations for war in Hespan.) The account of the headless dragon from the Shreken was a bad omen. If the Shreken were to release foul things, then in the best case the southern trade would be ruined. In the worst case, the great powers would be overrun, and how could poor Gala defend, even with the refugees that had settled here?

For it was Gana, of all lands, that was causing him the most headaches. He was aware that Anna, on her accession to the throne, might be a problem. Anna had been rather brutally dangled by her uncle as marriage bait to noble families in the region "for reasons of state." Anna protested, but was forced to marry an old prince of one of some foreign duchy, whom Anna despised for his coarseness and stupidity. Being a woman, of course, Anna was not expected to have an education, opinions, or much of a brain. "Lie quietly, and think of Gana," was the only advice her mother could offer. The whole experience left Anna disenchanted with conventional diplomacy, foreigners, and with a resolution never to be someone else's pawn when she took the throne. Her husband, the old buffon and lecher, died of a heart attack on Anna's twenty-fifth birthday, and then Anna's uncle, six months later, died of white fever. Anna was now Queen of Gana. Anna dismissed her uncle's councillers with loathing when they suggested that she needed to marry so that the kingdom's affairs could be run by someone that the other nations would respect. "I shall be the one to run my own kingdom, and I shall earn the respect required," she declared.

At first, Anna was not Theodoric's problem. The training of the troops and the raising on an army were not bad ideas, Theodoric thought. If the great powers failed, or one of them broke the treaty and attacked, an army would be a good thing for Gana to have. For that matter, an army would be a good thing for Gala to have in these uncertain times. Theodoric worked to raise three unified cavalry regiments from the best of the clans. They were not enough to resist a great power alone, but perhaps, combined with the small but disciplined force of a friendly Gana and with help from auxillaries recruited from the Ryngaerd, they would be forminable enough to deter an attack if the balance of power was upset.

Unfortunately, Anna only seemed to be get more and more headstrong as time passed. Some stranger (and there were many in Gana) had her ear. Her diplomats were starting to couch Ganite requests in the form of demands. Whereas Gana once provided subsidies, she was now demanding tribute. Theodoric, shocked, submitted, but stationed one of the new calvary regiments on the Plains of Abraham to supplement the militia of the clans, and started consulting with an envoy from the White Hand.

Gala, in addition to the other troubles, now had a refugee problem. The ancient guild of the Clockers had been driven from Gana as being worthless and potentially treasonous. They now had a choice between being drafted or being imprisoned and having their property confiscated. Many fled over the border. Gana, once a haven of tolerance and trade, was now driving out some of its brightest, and imprisoning others. From what the King's sources at the Court of Gana were telling him, the mysterious man was giving Anna great gifts, and dazzling her with dreams of military glory, and asking in return for a few simple requests, couched in easy terms. He only wanted the imprisonment of a man here, a banishment there, all people who were either threats to her rule, or those who had slighted her in the past. The man was weaving a subtle web of lies, and had drawn Anna in. The King's city of Elko had swollen with the resulting refugee population, and his resources were being stained in feeding and housing them, as well as dealing with the leaders of the Galese clans, whose ways clashed with those of the refugees. The king did not have the heart to turn them away, although he encouraged them to go to the more hospitable Three Kingdoms. Most (among them Counti of Gana) [19330], gladly accepted. Some settled in a new quarter of Elko, protected by Theodoric.

Theodoric was most concerned with the hostages in Gana. It did not occur to the King that Anna was going to invade Gala. Why would she do it? What could she want? The king had consulted with the envoy from the White Hand. If Anna did invade for some mad reason, his calvary units would help, but there were other forms of defense that these refugees felt might be needed. Although Theodoric thought that they were overreacting, he listened to the advice of a group of refugees at Elko, and approved of the measures to be taken.

1. Near the Plains of Abraham, a chieftain of Gala hides in a small cave.
2. In another theater of war ...

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