Derailad

The nation of Derailad, often called the Kingdom of Derailad despite having no king, was one one of the “Four Kingdoms” of ancient Besoa. Derailad was the smallest of the four with the poorest farmland, but was relatively wealthy and technologically advanced. It was annexed by the Kingdom of Alsan following the Battle of Four Kingdoms in 35 MEplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigModern Epoch (ME)

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According to legend, it was founded by Derailish Stormwarden, an Iskean magician of great power, and his followers. It is a modern misconception that Derailish was a mythic figure embodying the land of Derailad, whereas there is considerable evidence for him being a historic person, who gave the land his name.

Myths of the time and after declare that the Derailish and his followers fled the notorious island of Keeyag, famed for its vile sorceries and slavery. Though this was exaggerated as a later slander on Derailad and its people, it may have some truth.

The Satrapy began with settlements along the coast around the ceremonial city of Uoardéim (Vadem). As it grew it encompassed the hills further east, and at its greatest extent held sway over the city of Helmeth and surrounding areas. By the turn of the first millennium ME, climate change had led to lowering sea levels and a great breakdown of farming and irrigation, with a consequent breakdown in society and increasing desperation by the Loremasters. This was one of the factors leading to the general conflict characterised by the Battle of Four Kingdoms, and the eventual annexation of Derailad by its neighbour.

Derailad was a stratified society ruled by the Satraps, also called the Loremasters, who exercised independent authority over their lands and people. They ruled a class of indentured labourers, and slaves, who were either criminals or foreigners purchased from other nations. In the middle were the land-holding freemen. Each master had supreme authority over his large household of slaves and workers, but freemen had considerable legal rights and protections.

The Loremasters did not marry but had many concubines and apprentices, selected from amongst both his sons and others. Being unmarried, the sons of concubines had no rights to the Satrapy. However, the master customarily passed on their rule via formal adoption of a leading candidate. This tended to lead to great competition amongst the apprentices.

The Derailish had a reputation as slavers, but it was not so simple. When the Loremasters first arrived, the region was dry and sparsely inhabited. The masters built palaces and a complex system of irrigation, making gardens and plantations in what had been a rocky and infertile land. There was still a desperate shortage of labour, so the Loremasters recruited workers from neighbouring lands, particularly Alsan, using a system of indenture. Under indenture, labourers worked ten years for their master in a role befitting their skill, in return for a plot of land in perpetuity. This attracted hundreds of poor and landless people with the promise of land and a future family. After ten years they became freemen with the right to marry. Freemen could marry an indentured woman, though she was obliged to fulfil herplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigHerbs

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If a freeman committed a crime, they forfeited their land and became a slave. Loremasters had the right of life and death over their slaves, but rule could not be exercised arbitrarily.