NOVEL FROG Chapter 712 – To the Northern Plains once more
“Life is but a handful of years. Memories last even shorter, some even forgotten not long after. For the things to be passed down, things meant to last beyond one’s memories, sing them to the clan, and let the song carry on. In this way lay a trace of eternity, for to be forever passed down, forever part of the people’s remembrance, is immortality in its own way.” - Orcish oral chant, universally present in most clans.
“Think they still remember you after a century, Aunt?” asked Eilonwy as the group passed a small village in the mountains of Oiloma. They were headed north and west from Levain, through several smaller noble’s territories, and from there to the northern plains dominated by the orcish clans and their goblin cousins.
“That’s what we’re about to find out, aren’t we?” replied Aideen back with an amused smile. The decades she spent living with the orcs during her first trip to Alcidea was one of her fondest memories from that time period. A bit of unwinding where she just lived without worry for a while, though the wars that happened did annoy her somewhat.
It had been over a century since she left, and while the orcs from the time she was there likely remembered her all their life, she had no idea if their descendants would have any idea about her or not. The way orcs passed down knowledge tended to be through oral traditions, often spearheaded by their shamans, and while she had a good relationship with the shamans of the clan she stayed at back then, only time would tell whether the next generation passed on the stories or not.
As the group traveled further north and west, the terrain changed as they passed through the mountainous regions that separated the central part of Levain from the northern plains. To Levain’s direct north, past several other regions, were the swampy rainforests primarily inhabited by goblin tribes, with the plains to its west.
Of note was how the villages further north were more concentrated, often with several villages built within a half day’s distance from a town or a city, well within each other’s vicinity. The landscape became less inhabited as they went further northwards, with clusters of habitation here and there in otherwise uninhabited land.
There were also more guard outposts and small forts that dotted the region, clearly aimed at guarding against the orcish clans to their north. Aideen was uncertain whether it was due to the defeats from the expeditions Levain sent back when she was with the orcs or otherwise, but the Imperials definitely seem much more guarded against them than before.
To her knowledge, orcish raids were relatively rare, generally only undertaken when some of the clans that roamed further south on the plains were in dire straits and had to get themselves some resources quickly. More often than not, they would raid other orcish clans, but at times they would raid human villages near the plains too.
Part of the issue also stemmed from the very different mentalities that the humans and the orcs possessed. To the humans, such raiders were villains and robbers, and there was no other way they could understand it. To the orcs themselves, however, it was just part of life. In fact, raids against other orcish clans rarely devolved to mindless violence and often took on more of a ritualistic approach instead, barring clans that had plenty of bad blood between them.
The Orcish society submitted to strength – hence why the strongest amongst them became the Chieftain – and respected wisdom – which was why the older, wiser orcs became shamans – and under such leadership, the clans thrived. From an orcish viewpoint, for a clan to have fallen under desperate straits that they needed to raid others for sustenance hinted at a lack of wisdom.
Under such circumstances, the clan being raided would typically engage in ritualistic duels against the raiding clan, to witness whether the raiders still had the strength to carry them through or not. If the raiders prevailed, they were sent off with the resources they needed, as well as some youths from the defeated tribe that showed wisdom from a young age, to potentially serve as their next shaman.
On the other hand, should the raiding clan fail to prove themselves, it is they that subordinate themselves to the victorious defenders instead, typically for a generation or so, while their youths grew up and new chieftains and shamans were chosen from amongst them. Only then would the clans part ways once more, having shared strength and wisdom with the other.
It was likely that the orcs attempted to do the same when they raided human villages near the plains, but due to the language barrier and lack of cultural understanding, one thing led to another and things went ugly instead. Subsequent raids went as bad as the first as that had set an example, and while Aideen helped clarify the misunderstanding while she was living with the orcs, by that point the humans had already viewed the clans as a thorn in their side and tried to eradicate them.
From what information Aideen managed to find out while they were on the way north, there had been another two such expeditions sent to the north in the past century. Both of them failed miserably and cost the participants large sums of money and manpower. The Imperial Family themselves had sponsored the last two expeditions, which explained the poor situation of the nation’s treasury.
While normally one would have expected that an expedition backed by the strongest Empire in Alcidea should have made short work of the nomadic orcish clans, there were circumstances that made it not the case. For one, the orcs had been forewarned of the danger by the previous failed expeditions and had over a century to prepare themselves to resist. On the other hand, nor could the Empire divert too much of its soldiers to such an expedition, lest it endanger its own position.
They sent troops they considered to be enough for the job, only to find that their estimation was off.
