The Dragon Rebellion preview
This is a sneak preview of where the story of Avos Dracko and his his rebellion to reclaim the thrown of his father will be going in the next part.
The Sand Snakes:
The Beginning:
To understand the Sand Snakes or the Brotherhood of the Desert, is to understand the resilience of the Western Waste and its peoples.
For the Brotherhood began after its founders managed to almost single handedly resist an invasion and occupation by the D'Leons who at the time over 900 years ago were the Kings of Lions. They had invaded the Waste to expand their influence and seize control over the lucrative and profitable trade in exotic fruits and wines, with a large force of over 30,000 men at arms they easily crushed the small army that the Desert King, Mandal Viper could muster.
Having to bend the knee and surrender his castle home, the Vipers were allowed to live but spent the next few years living under the protection of their old allies. Despite numerous attempts by the Desert peoples to rise up and expel the invaders, all rebellions were brutally crushed, by the third year of the occupation, most people had given in.
So it Begins:
The D'leons left over 10,000 men in the Desert realm, in the various fortresses and strongholds around the numerous Oases. But then the Lord Governor, Gerald of House Arbor was passed a notice from a small garrison stationed on the south western coast.
He knew the location, a small fort meant to guard from Viking and Pirate attacks, that had been built by a small fishing village called Senera. The report was from the captain, who was informing him of various attacks on patrols he had been sending into the desert, he claimed that each time they would go missing, but then the horses would wander back to the fort with the bodies of the men on their backs, with Arrows embedded or cuts and stab wounds.
At first lord Gerald simply passed it off as bandits, but soon more reports came from the Garrisons of neighboring towns that were facing the same form of attacks, all of them focused on loyal D'leon troops. Believing it to be insurgents hiding in the desert, he sent 500 men south to hunt them down, once they arrived in the fishing village of Senera, they found the small garrison whittled down to only 30 men out of 200.
Whilst garrisoned their they soon found their numbers being depleted, as dozens of men began to fall ill and many of them dying from something unknown, paranoia grew amongst the troops who feared a foreign disease, because they could see the locals fit and healthy whilst they fell ill. The Garrison doctor soon discovered that their personal fresh water supply had been poisoned, whilst the Village well remained fine, not long after the same occurred with their supply meat, after that the commander of the dwindling force awoke to find a live sand cobra in his tent and a dagger stabbed into a bowl of fruit, the daggers hilt was shaped as a snakes head.
The Commander soon became paranoid and sent messages back to the Governor demanding that he pull his troops back and abandon the village to the rebels. The Governor refused, instead he himself came personally with a stronger force of a 1,000 men who he trusted, however as he encamped he decided to be cautious, knowing the rebels would want to kill him, he had his tent in the dead center of the camp, had thorns placed all around it and had armed guards present on each corner.
The following morning he received the same message, a sand cobra, a bowl of fruit with a dagger in it. When he went outside, he discovered one of the Guards had not moved, when he grabbed him, he realized why, the Guard was dead, he had been killed and fixed into place. Now fearful of his life, the Governor ordered the entire army to abandon their position and retreat back to SandStone, the Ancestral Capital fortress of the west.
He soon realized he had brought the trouble back with him, a few months later, the same was occurring on a daily basis in the walled city surrounding the fortress, on some days patrols were found dead with their throats slit, on others they would discover supplies poisoned or weapons broken, some days Officers were being assassinated as they went about, sometimes the supply caravans were being ambushed before ever entering the city. Then the threats were made, the Daggers with snake hilts were found by the bedside tables of anyone who had "Collaborated" with the Governor, whether it was merchants who sold him supplies, blacksmiths making weapons, even nobles who were profiting from the D'leon ruler-ship of the desert, at first no one took notice.
But then Lord Meneral a noble who was profiting from the occupation and had helped put down previous rebellions was discovered hanging by the throat from the portcullis of the main gate, the "Street" began to turn against the invaders, Brothels refused troops from the garrison, Inn keepers did the same, the prices for certain items for the garrison shot up. People began to openly speak out against the Governor and his King of Lions, crowds would be seen listening to speakers shout about how their loyalty is to House Viper and how they are the true rulers of the Desert lands.
From the Shadows they come:
By the Fifth year of the occupation, the 10,000 men the Governor had was now 3,000 after the rebel attacks, assassinations, poisonings. And to top it off, the King of Lions had pulled over 6,000 troops from the desert to fight in a more conventional war. Seizing the opportunity, Mandal Vipers son, Benral Viper rallied a small army of a thousand warriors and rose in rebellion.
The Governor now had something to fight, refusing to believe the rebels were still present, he ordered the majority of the army to go forth from the city and destroy the Rebels in open battle, leaving only a token force in Sandstone, which he believed could be held, with it being an impregnable fortress. His second in command did not believe so, claiming "The rebels break in on a daily basis". The Governor didn't listen believing the rebels would be the army gathering against him.
His mistake soon came, when what he secretly feared came true. At midday, the major city below him opened into riots, during the confusion he ordered the archers into position. This made matters worse, as the townsfolk collected weapons and decided it was payback time, the riot had become an uprising. Immediately he sent a pigeon to his King requesting immediate aid, however before the message even got there. He discovered the Drawbridge slam down from it lowering and the townsfolk overwhelmed the depleted garrison, the Governor had no choice, he stepped out in formal military attire. Requesting to speak to the leader of the rebel forces in the city, three men and one woman stepped forward, all four of them wearing either cloth Shemaghs around their head and faces, or just simple hoods over their heads and cloth rolls around their lower face.
They all had different weapons, one of the men had a variety of daggers, Kukri and other small blades on his belt, another had a spear, the woman had a recurve bow and a quiver filled with arrows and the leader had what was called a khopesh sword, yet all had the same small Snake hilt dagger somewhere on their belts. When the Governor asked who they were, the leader stated "We are the Desert Snakes, you have sought for so long". It was terrifying moment for the Lord Gerald, for over two years he had been hunting what he thought was a large band of rebels, when in fact it was only three men and a woman who had done so much damage to his army, these four people had in the space of a year killed over 1,000 of his men without ever revealing their numbers.
A Brotherhood is born
With House Viper once again the Kings and Queens of the West, they were quick to thank the small group of four, who had done so much to free the desert kingdom from the outside occupation. The King of the Desert soon asked the four warriors if they would establish an organization that would become a special collection of warriors, spies and assassins, trained in the same techniques they had used against the D'leons. This group would operate both within the Western Waste and in the other kingdoms to protect the people of the desert, they would spy on their enemies and allies and when necessary commit certain acts to prevent war. Or when in war use the same tactics again to win the war for the west.
They all agreed and the King proclaimed to them that the Brotherhood of the Desert had been born, the name did not stick however, as many soon simply called them the Sand Snakes. By the end of King Benral Viper, the Sand Snakes had safe-houses scattered across the west, a spy ring that encompassed the entire continent, Bureaus in all of the nine kingdoms and to top it off the small group of four had become an organization of hundreds of well trained assassins.
It would be these Assassins that kept away all future invasions of the west and aided the Desert Kings and Queens in ensuring their people prospered.
The Sand Snakes:
The Beginning:
To understand the Sand Snakes or the Brotherhood of the Desert, is to understand the resilience of the Western Waste and its peoples.
For the Brotherhood began after its founders managed to almost single handedly resist an invasion and occupation by the D'Leons who at the time over 900 years ago were the Kings of Lions. They had invaded the Waste to expand their influence and seize control over the lucrative and profitable trade in exotic fruits and wines, with a large force of over 30,000 men at arms they easily crushed the small army that the Desert King, Mandal Viper could muster.
Having to bend the knee and surrender his castle home, the Vipers were allowed to live but spent the next few years living under the protection of their old allies. Despite numerous attempts by the Desert peoples to rise up and expel the invaders, all rebellions were brutally crushed, by the third year of the occupation, most people had given in.
So it Begins:
The D'leons left over 10,000 men in the Desert realm, in the various fortresses and strongholds around the numerous Oases. But then the Lord Governor, Gerald of House Arbor was passed a notice from a small garrison stationed on the south western coast.
He knew the location, a small fort meant to guard from Viking and Pirate attacks, that had been built by a small fishing village called Senera. The report was from the captain, who was informing him of various attacks on patrols he had been sending into the desert, he claimed that each time they would go missing, but then the horses would wander back to the fort with the bodies of the men on their backs, with Arrows embedded or cuts and stab wounds.
At first lord Gerald simply passed it off as bandits, but soon more reports came from the Garrisons of neighboring towns that were facing the same form of attacks, all of them focused on loyal D'leon troops. Believing it to be insurgents hiding in the desert, he sent 500 men south to hunt them down, once they arrived in the fishing village of Senera, they found the small garrison whittled down to only 30 men out of 200.
Whilst garrisoned their they soon found their numbers being depleted, as dozens of men began to fall ill and many of them dying from something unknown, paranoia grew amongst the troops who feared a foreign disease, because they could see the locals fit and healthy whilst they fell ill. The Garrison doctor soon discovered that their personal fresh water supply had been poisoned, whilst the Village well remained fine, not long after the same occurred with their supply meat, after that the commander of the dwindling force awoke to find a live sand cobra in his tent and a dagger stabbed into a bowl of fruit, the daggers hilt was shaped as a snakes head.
The Commander soon became paranoid and sent messages back to the Governor demanding that he pull his troops back and abandon the village to the rebels. The Governor refused, instead he himself came personally with a stronger force of a 1,000 men who he trusted, however as he encamped he decided to be cautious, knowing the rebels would want to kill him, he had his tent in the dead center of the camp, had thorns placed all around it and had armed guards present on each corner.
The following morning he received the same message, a sand cobra, a bowl of fruit with a dagger in it. When he went outside, he discovered one of the Guards had not moved, when he grabbed him, he realized why, the Guard was dead, he had been killed and fixed into place. Now fearful of his life, the Governor ordered the entire army to abandon their position and retreat back to SandStone, the Ancestral Capital fortress of the west.
He soon realized he had brought the trouble back with him, a few months later, the same was occurring on a daily basis in the walled city surrounding the fortress, on some days patrols were found dead with their throats slit, on others they would discover supplies poisoned or weapons broken, some days Officers were being assassinated as they went about, sometimes the supply caravans were being ambushed before ever entering the city. Then the threats were made, the Daggers with snake hilts were found by the bedside tables of anyone who had "Collaborated" with the Governor, whether it was merchants who sold him supplies, blacksmiths making weapons, even nobles who were profiting from the D'leon ruler-ship of the desert, at first no one took notice.
But then Lord Meneral a noble who was profiting from the occupation and had helped put down previous rebellions was discovered hanging by the throat from the portcullis of the main gate, the "Street" began to turn against the invaders, Brothels refused troops from the garrison, Inn keepers did the same, the prices for certain items for the garrison shot up. People began to openly speak out against the Governor and his King of Lions, crowds would be seen listening to speakers shout about how their loyalty is to House Viper and how they are the true rulers of the Desert lands.
From the Shadows they come:
By the Fifth year of the occupation, the 10,000 men the Governor had was now 3,000 after the rebel attacks, assassinations, poisonings. And to top it off, the King of Lions had pulled over 6,000 troops from the desert to fight in a more conventional war. Seizing the opportunity, Mandal Vipers son, Benral Viper rallied a small army of a thousand warriors and rose in rebellion.
The Governor now had something to fight, refusing to believe the rebels were still present, he ordered the majority of the army to go forth from the city and destroy the Rebels in open battle, leaving only a token force in Sandstone, which he believed could be held, with it being an impregnable fortress. His second in command did not believe so, claiming "The rebels break in on a daily basis". The Governor didn't listen believing the rebels would be the army gathering against him.
His mistake soon came, when what he secretly feared came true. At midday, the major city below him opened into riots, during the confusion he ordered the archers into position. This made matters worse, as the townsfolk collected weapons and decided it was payback time, the riot had become an uprising. Immediately he sent a pigeon to his King requesting immediate aid, however before the message even got there. He discovered the Drawbridge slam down from it lowering and the townsfolk overwhelmed the depleted garrison, the Governor had no choice, he stepped out in formal military attire. Requesting to speak to the leader of the rebel forces in the city, three men and one woman stepped forward, all four of them wearing either cloth Shemaghs around their head and faces, or just simple hoods over their heads and cloth rolls around their lower face.
They all had different weapons, one of the men had a variety of daggers, Kukri and other small blades on his belt, another had a spear, the woman had a recurve bow and a quiver filled with arrows and the leader had what was called a khopesh sword, yet all had the same small Snake hilt dagger somewhere on their belts. When the Governor asked who they were, the leader stated "We are the Desert Snakes, you have sought for so long". It was terrifying moment for the Lord Gerald, for over two years he had been hunting what he thought was a large band of rebels, when in fact it was only three men and a woman who had done so much damage to his army, these four people had in the space of a year killed over 1,000 of his men without ever revealing their numbers.
A Brotherhood is born
With House Viper once again the Kings and Queens of the West, they were quick to thank the small group of four, who had done so much to free the desert kingdom from the outside occupation. The King of the Desert soon asked the four warriors if they would establish an organization that would become a special collection of warriors, spies and assassins, trained in the same techniques they had used against the D'leons. This group would operate both within the Western Waste and in the other kingdoms to protect the people of the desert, they would spy on their enemies and allies and when necessary commit certain acts to prevent war. Or when in war use the same tactics again to win the war for the west.
They all agreed and the King proclaimed to them that the Brotherhood of the Desert had been born, the name did not stick however, as many soon simply called them the Sand Snakes. By the end of King Benral Viper, the Sand Snakes had safe-houses scattered across the west, a spy ring that encompassed the entire continent, Bureaus in all of the nine kingdoms and to top it off the small group of four had become an organization of hundreds of well trained assassins.
It would be these Assassins that kept away all future invasions of the west and aided the Desert Kings and Queens in ensuring their people prospered.
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