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*This is almost entirely misconception - something on the order of those late
medieval
geographies which announced (in all seriousness) that the natives of Madagascar
had a
foot growing out of the tops of their heads.
large and sensitive to light. The extent of their numbers is unknown
since their habitations are below ground and no outsider has been
able to determine the extent of the caverns and galleries beneath
their mountains. They are a suspicious and secretive people and
appear to be totally uninterested in commerce or trade.
THE HISTORY OF THE ULgOS
It is speculated that the Ulgos are the original inhabitants of the
continent, although no known document records the first meeting
between a civilized man and an Ulgo. It is generally agreed that
civilized men migrated to this continent from the east sometime during
the first millennium, at which time the original five kingdoms
(Aloria, Arendia, Tolnedra, Nyissa and Maragor) were established. It
appears that the presence of the Ulgos predates that migration. Their
tive ways, however, makes it impossible to pinpoint specifics.
Because of the inhospitable nature of their country, few travelers
entered their land during the first four millennia of the present era.
Superstitious tales of hideous monsters who attacked travelers
without warning were undoubtedly the result of systematic Ulgo
terrorism designed to keep their country inviolate.
In more modern times a limited trade has been established, and
following the battle of Vo Mimbre, a road was pushed through to
Prolgu.
The first contacts with the Ulgos came about through the efforts
of the Tolnedran trade negotiator, Horban, who was the personal
representative and cousin of Emperor Ran Horb XVI during the
decade of the 4420s. It was Horban who braved the legendary
terrors of the Ulgo mountains and made his way to the forbidden
city of Prolgu with only a small detachment of cavalry as an escort.
At first the Ulgos not only refused to negotiate but even refused to
reveal themselves to him. For eight months he camped inside the
walls of what appeared to be an abandoned city. He wandered about
the moss-grown streets observing with amazement the incredible
antiquity of the place.
Late one afternoon in the fall of 4421, Horban was astounded to
find himself quite suddenly surrounded by a group of heavily
cloaked and hooded men who took him prisoner and spirited him
into a nearby vacant house. He was then taken into a cellar under
that house, and a door in the floor was opened to reveal the vast,
dimly lighted caverns beneath where the Ulgos reside.
Horban attempted to speak with his captors but without any
success. The languages of the west are, of course, all members of the
same linguistic family. Thus a Tolnedran may speak with an Alorn
or an Arend or a Nyissan without significant difficulty; and, with
great patience on each side, may even converse rudimentarily with
an Angarak; but the language of the Ulgos is totally alien.
He was placed in a fairly comfortable chamber, given food and
drink, and in time was visited by three very old men who attempted
to converse with him. When they discovered that he could not