Cinar - Introduction

Location	Gerdel Hundred, Themesonshire, Kingdom of Rethem
Holder:	Cohorts of Gashang Meketa Warian of Ajesh
Liege:	Church of Agrik,
Population	441

Cinar is a way-station on the trade route to Senun castle. Cirnar’s bridge over the Gomisen river provides the greatest means of income for the town. Its own produce and massive herds of livestock as well as salt and quarried stone travel the bridge daily to the bigger markets in Senun. Local grains were once sold openly, but the mill has fallen into disrepair and without a miller, local grains are milled across the river at Senun. The herds of Cinar were once the pride and joy of the Thardic Legions. Since the Gashang invasion however, the herds have thinned considerably and there are now more sheep and swine than oxen and beef.

The northernmost fortification in Themesonshire it is also the seat of a Meketa of the Cohorts of Gashang. Prior to the Agriakn invasion of 704TR, Cinar was independent and the north-wester most bastion of the Thardic Republic.

The town includes a wall and a tower along the Gominsen river behind which lies a pleasant village interspersed by fields and green space. The region is scattered with ruins from a long history of conflicts, although most are regularly robbed for stone and supplies for new buildings.

History

Founded in 310TR, Cinar was originally a farming settlement. The bridge was built between 315TR and 320, according to the dates engraved on the various foundation stones. Sylud the Scholar paid for major repairs in 470TR.

Made popular by the very fertility of the river valley, Cinar relied heavily upon armed assistance from the settlements across the river. The plague decimated the population and the survivors fled across the river to safety in 548TR.

Cinar was re-established during the early years of the Thardic League. The tower was rebuilt and the northern wall was built in 638TR. It allowed a stronger defense to be mounted to protect the bridge and gave the troops a better vantage point to observe the ever-encroaching troops of Arlun the Barbarian. The second tower was built in 640TR to hold visiting merchants and more troops. Arlun the Barbarian never crossed the Gomisen river, although that did not lessen the towns paranoia throughout the Thardic League. Cinar became the northernmost outpost of the first Autarch’s “secure border” along the Gomisen River.

Lepral of Telen, the second Autarch of the Thardic League increased the armed forces in Cinar in 645TR and used them to curb banditry in the region. In 652, under the rule of Kanis, those same forces were sent north to hold Kom in the name of the League. Only a handful returned in the following decade.

It was not until 708TR that Cinar’s security was threatened by armed invasion. The guards were assassinated by a group of “merchants” who had crossed the bridge at noon. The fall of Cinar allowed other troops to pour across the bridge uncontested. The invasion quickly quelled the town and moved south, leaving only a token force to guard the town, take the surrounding settlements and protect the bridge.

In 714 TR the Orders of the Eight Demons and the Cohorts of Gashang split from the Order of Herpa the Mace and the Red Shadows of Herpa. Those stationed at Cinar were all supporters of the new order (Cohorts of Gashang) and so neither purge nor invasion were required. The town fell quietly to the new order. The bridge was closed for the duration of the civil war to the south, but otherwise there was no change within the town.

Governing The Town

The Meketa strongly dislikes his duties as manor lord. He prefers to leave such trivialities to the local reeve who is neither a coward nor a sycophant.

The reeve and the local herd master manage the daily affairs of the town. What little the reeve cannot handle tends to be forcefully dealt with by the Meketa and his knights. The Meketa is suppose to manage Cinar independent from his parent order in Themeson and the Agrikan primacy, but since the Invasion the taxes and tithes owed seem to regularly drain the coffers dry.

Economics and Agrarian Life

Cinar has a wealth of salt and quarried stone from nearby mines. Led and copper are shipped directly down the Gomisen river and do not stop at the town. The fields provide more than enough crops to feed the local populace. The last of the legion herds survive in Cinar, but the herds have greatly dwindled and none of the art of animal husbandry has survived the invasion.

Wool, meat and other animal by-products now rely on the markets in Serun. The only goods shipped south are related to tithing to their priestly order, the Eight Demons. All other taxes are taken to Serun. While the Cohorts of Gashang have yet to openly declare loyalty to either Rethem or Tharda, the order still pays a large portion of its required taxes to Rethem.

ReLigious Practices

The Cohorts of Gashang, an Agrikan fighting order, own Cinar. They rely upon it for protection and warning should the Agrikan primacy ever turn against them. Meanwhile, the priests of the order of the Eight Demons work regularly to convert the Peonian faithful among the populace.

Officially there is no Peonian temple in the village. Unofficially the Meketa has given up trying to convert the farmers and has forbidden Agrikan priests to convert by fire and lash. Any wishing to be yeomen, however, must be consecrated as Agrikan. Originally anyone wishing to own a franchise (like the mill or a metal smith) must also be Agriakn, but the Meketa has recently rescinded that ruling in the hopes of finding at least a miller for his impoverished town.

No other religions are permitted upon pain of death. Most assume the Sav Knorian, Halean and Navehian information networks still exist in the shire despite the bloody and expensive purges.

Travellers and merchants are not permitted to worship openly any other deity but Agrik. But neither are they closely questioned regarding their faith. Instead their presence is tolerated as a necessary evil. Open worship of other faiths, even by honored guests, is simply not tolerated.

The temple to Agrik is in the tower proper and ceremonies are held there each day at noon. Lay masses are held on the commons around a bond fire, regardless of weather or season, on Agrikan high holy days. Attendance to the lay mass is mandatory.

The Cohorts of Gashang

Originally part of the knightly order of Herpa the Mace, the Cohorts of Gashang split off and took over Gerdel Hundred in a well-planned coup that, most assume, the Order of the Eight Demons must have supported from the outset. The coup began at Cinar. Under the guise of repairing the central span of the bridge, the access to Senun was blocked by stone and beams. Workmen did replace stone in the central section, but the bridge blockade was left in place far longer than was absolutely necessary.

The tower and wall were taken from within and the few who resisted are now buried beneath the wall in the crypts; a most shameful form of burial for the devout Agrikans.

There are 8 knights (including the Meketa) and 12 men at arms on duty in Cinar at any one time. The tower can be held by easily half that. Local yeomen are usually pressed into service in guarding the bridge and the wall.

There are occasional patrols north and south, but these coincide more with complaints or tax time than a regular schedule. The Cohorts appear self-involved and practice combat daily amongst themselves. The town’s militia practices twice yearly, but is considered poor and unwilling by the most generous of officers.

The Thardic Legion

If successful in their bid to reclaim the town, the Thardic Legion would rebuild the second tower and the northern wall as well as creating outposts at the edge of town and to the north, in Kovind.

This page was last updated on June 8, 2002
Questions/Comments should be directed to the Webmaster.
All works are Copyright their respective authors, 2002.

Pax Tharda