Aerdi History

Zelrad Suel landing in Ehlissa,  -400 CY art by Angus McBride Approximately 50 years before the rise of the Kingdom of Thalland and the Medegian Bladelands, the Suel house of Zelrad was driven from the lower Sheldomar Valley by an alliance of their fellow Suel houses of Neheli and Rhola. Led by their fasstal, Anwilya they set out from near what is now the town of Greutam in the Principality of Ulek. Sailing east, they looked for refuge. In the Pomarj they found only other hostile Suel. Landing in the hills east of the Bright Desert, Anwilya’s heir, Vultolf was murdered by seemingly hospitable Flan tribesmen who then treacherously attacked the Fasstal and her party at a welcome feast. Though she lived, the Fasstal was horribly wounded in the retreat to the ships. The Suloise house of Onnwi was more open in their antipathy and several Zelrad ships were burned or captured by the Onnwi in a naval battle that took place on Noxia Bay. Battered and mistrustful, in -400 CY the Zelrad lande...

Aerdi Cavalry attacking Suel Infantry c. - 350 CY Art by Angus McBride In Pre-Migration days the Oeridians had led a mainly pastoral lifestyle, with agrarianism taking second place. But in their new lands, old ways gave to new, and farming soon began to outstrip herding as a way of life. As these changes took place the division between the nobility and commoners began to broaden. In previous times both nobles and commoners had been almost equal warriors of the tribe. But as herding gave way to farming, and the heads of families worked to establish their own freeholds, commoners found more of their time consumed by the work associated with agricultural pursuits. The nobility on the other hand, with more leisure time to train in the arts of war and more wealth to invest in heavier armor and finer arms, began to make up a martial elite based on their status as heavy cavalrymen. Service in warfare brought greater rewards from the hetmen of the Aerdi clans to these noble warriors. Thi...

Aerdian Shamaness c. -460 CY Still from  The Scythian We cannot be sure of the year in which the Oeridian tribe known as the Aerdi began their migration into the Flanaess. What we do know is that it would end with them settling in the furthest east lands. Around 180 OR (-466 CY) in what is now the land of Ull, the urging of tribal shamans prompted a council of Oeridian hetmen of the various tribes to meet( 1 ). The depredations of goblins and orcs employed as mercenaries by both the Baklunish and Suloise empires had been taken as a sign to migrate further east( 2 ), in fulfillment of a prophecy of the hero-deity Johydee, which promised the Oeridians a glorious destiny in the far east( 3 ). That prophecy had first been taken up by the Oeridians in the Utter West in ancient times, resulting in their progress east across the Oerik continent and through the Baklunish Empire during an unstable period of civil conflict in that state's history. The confederation of nomadic tribes tha...