Talathese
Location: Media:World-10.jpg
Map: Media:Talathees.jpg
History
Founded as a marble quarry and silver mine around 150 years ago.
Recent history
Flooded by a freak wave at the onset of Darkness Rising in '09. Kojax was absent, hunting for evil with a small troop of Wolves in the Plains of Ur, Academis was studying with the Mad Elders and was able to warn Brad of the wave an hour before its arrival, Saul was present and aided in the recovery, and Fabian Maximillus lost a a portion of fortune due to flood damage.
Talathees was sacked by the forces of Branok in the Ur campaign in '07. What seemed like hundreds of orcs and ogres attacked Talathees at night. They struck in the wee hours past the moon's highest point when most citizens were soundly asleep. The wooden buildings owned by the aristocracy were left but smoking charred sticks and piles of ash. Most of the stone buildings were gutted by fire and many toppled by Ogre-manned siege weapons (giant hanging battering rams and the city's own small catapults turned against them).
The sacking came at horrible time economically: fall harvest. Barley, wheat, maize, and hemp were about to be harvested by the small population of regional farmers. Branok's army marched through fields, setting ablaze what they didn't care to seize, and that which they missed was left fallow, presaging a hungry winter for the survivors.
General Veronus took firm control of the city that winter, establishing essentially a military dictatorship. After 8 weeks of progress, he was assassinated, to be replaced by Kojax.
Spring of 07 was a time of reconstruction and positive growth administered by Brad with Kojax's blessing (Kojax being involved in the East in the Ur campaign for a few months).
Geography and Climate
The port city of Talathese lies at the edge of the eastern foothills of The Spine mountain range.
The Plains of Ur are temperate and arid, receiving some light rain and only occasional snowfall in winter months. Rare typhoons sometimes blow in from the southern seas in early spring.
Government
Prior to the catastrophic sacking by Branok, the government was a peaceful syndicracy, in which the leaders of several business interests oversaw the city's operations and funded the defense forces and public services.
After the sacking, General Veronus proclaimed himself the sole authority in the city and instituted severe martial law measures under his military dictatorship. The business leaders, having fled or been slain, did not resist.
Commander Kojax and Brad continued the military dictatorship structure during the '06-07 rebuilding of the city, though by end of summer '07, plans for civilian leadership in some sort of city council structure, the Talathesian Council, began taking shape.
Demography
At its height, Talathees was home to over 22,000. As a waypoint for various merchant vessels, the culture was fairly diverse, with goblin merchants, occasional gargoyle servants, and humans from faraway places being seen regularly.
The sacking reduced this to a few hundred, the rest slain, fled, or captured. Gradually, those few who successfully fled began returning over several months as Veronus gradually rebuilt the city.
Throughout the spring and summer of '07, the population grew towards historic levels rapidly, including immigrants from the southern islands as well as Eastern lands, creating a more multi-cultural tapestry of inhabitants.
Economy
The city is regionally known for the fine marble from its rich quarries.
The rebuilding of 06-07 was funded in part by Abdul Mezetlan, a wealthy merchant of Osiris, aided by cheap labor provided by Sri.
Talathees is completely dependent on trade (by sea) for many goods, primarily timber. Small-scale agriculture in the immediate region produces wheat, barley, hemp. Fishing is a large industry, with small fishing communities up and down the coast in both directions.
Military
Much of the small defense forces was slain in the sacking, though around 100 militia and sailors survived. Historically, the naval forces were of critical importance as defenders of the merchant vessels who came to and fro, which were often plagued by pirates based in the islands of the southwest.
Commander Kojax began a significant build-up of military and civic defense forces in the summer of 07 and their first organized assault of 300 infantry, 100 archers, and 100 cavalry soundly defeated an orc and ogre army of 200 in August 07. (Ur#From_Branok.27s_Ashes...)
Original Ur Campaign Notes
The former port city of Talathese lies at the edge of the eastern foothills of The Spine mtn range. The west-most side of Talathese is carved out of one the side of a large foothill. It was the first quarry of Talathese and there is essentially a 35 foot wall from the lookout house at the top of the hill down to the cobblestone street below. Most buildings in Talathees are of stone construction made of stones carted in from quarries in the foothills of the Spine. Only the small aristocracy that served as the local government, simply by owning the majority of the businesses, lived in primarily wooden houses with tall steep roofs.
Talathees was a restocking point for ships sailing the Salton Sea, rounding the southern tip of the Spine. As a waypoint for various merchant vessels, the culture was fairly diverse in the small city, which had a local military consisting primarily of foot soldiers and a small cavalry to ward of the small tribal war parties of orcs that would occasionally attack from the plains of Ur as well as a small naval fleet to aid against pirate raids. The navy and shore defense primarily uses small catapults as ranged weapons as lumber is scarce, leading to a scarcity of arrows and spears. The navy uses primarily single sail narrow long ships with oar ports from the lower deck to aid them in quickly closing on and boarding attacking pirate ships to then attack with their superior swordsmen.
Talathees currently lies largely a pile of rubble with bits and pieces being rebuilt by the few survivors of the Rage of Branok the warlord. What seemed like hundreds of orcs and ogres attacked Talathees at night. They struck in the wee hours past the moon's highest point when most citizens were soundly asleep. The wooden buildings owned by the aristocracy were left but smoking charred sticks and piles of ash. Most of the stone buildings have been gutted by fire and many toppled by Ogre-manned siege weapons (giant hanging battering rams and the cities own small catapults turned against them).
The playable races around Talathees are humans, goblins, gargoyles, orcs and ogres. All of these races can be found in the Fantasy Folk source book. Although the army that has recently been pillaging the country-side consists of orcs and ogres, so it may be difficult, although never impossible to work one of these into the party. Humans were the primary occupants of the city of Talathees as well as the primary travelers to and fro via the sea. The goblins are mostly wandering merchants who take their ox-pulled wagon caravans throughout the plains of Ur far to the east and north bartering and trading with various beings along their journeys. The goblin caravans often supply common wares to many of the farms to the northeast of Talathees. The gargoyles are from the very base of the Spine and are rumored to be utterly useless hecklers and thieves (when there is something attractive enough to get them off of their lazy backs). It is rumored that gargoyle guides can be hired to take travelers through and/or over the Spine, although noone known has actually done so. It is also likely that there were/are some resident goblins or gargoyles in Talathees, and possibly even an orc, ogre, or half-breed of some sort.
Talathese 22000 original population <200 initially remaining after Branok attacked 500 taken as live hostages
Monastery to the West (Priory of Luna) - origin of Saul
Kojax was a Navy Captain for the city and was involved in a pivotal battle during the taking of the city. In said battle, Kojax lost one of his hands in a brash but needed charge that he led against a group of ogres so that a second unit could outflank them. Because of this, he has a reputation (+ for the good guys, - for the bad guys).