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century over the possibility that a second column of Angaraks and
Malloreans might be proceeding secretly through the jungles of the
snake people to strike across Tolnedra's southern border and thus
crush the west in a vast pincer movement. Given the proximity of
Nyissa to the western reaches of Cthol Murgos and the peculiar
relationship of the snake people with the Angaraks, this possibility was
all too real. As a result, Imperial legions fortified the northern banks
of the River of the Woods, and the bulk of Tolnedra's forces were
moved to the south and garrisoned at Tol Borune and at Tol Rane in
order to counter any such attack. Despite fearful casualties,
continuous patrols probed northern Nyissa for any evidence of the expected
Angarak approach.
Queen Salmissra vigorously protested the Tolnedran violation of
the territorial integrity of her realm, but was put off with a series of
diplomatically worded notes from the Emperor himself.
In the end, of course, the expected second front failed to
materialize, and we must concede that the diversion of the thirty-seven
legions to the south weakened Tolnedra's ability to participate in the
decisive Battle of Vo Mimbre and may in some measure have
contributed to the humiliation of the Empire in the infamous accords
which followed that battle.
Following the Angarak war, Nyissans have again resumed the
slave-trade, although the relative peace which has prevailed in the
west since that upheaval has severely limited the number of captives
available to them. A few years after the war, Nyissan merchants
began buying up foodstuffs in the west, always paying the highest
prices. This sudden change contributed noticeably to the food
shortage resulting from the destruction of the Algarian herds. It is
suspected that the Nyissans were acting as agents for the Murgos,
and that the food shortage had spread virtually across the entire
continent.
In recent years, Nyissan traders and merchants have been much
in evidence in all parts of the west even more so than during the
short period of Nyissan commercial dominance as a result of the
closing of both the North and the South Caravan Routes. As always,
the motives of the Serpent Queen in Sthiss Tor are a mystery.
The present Queen, Salmissra XCIX, appears to be a somewhat
more strong-minded ruler than have been many of her precursors
who were merely pawns in the control of various court
functionaries. Her age, of course, is indeterminate as a result of the use of
certain closely guarded herbal compounds reserved for her alone
which have the apparent capability of retarding or halting entirely
the more visible ravages of the aging process.
NOTE
From time immemorial there have been rumors, myths, legends,
folklore and a good deal of just plain nonsense circulated about the Nyissan
Queen. Many of these are too ludicrous or grotesque to bear repeating.
One story has her the same original Salmissra who is restored every so
many years to youth and beauty by feeding, vampire-like upon various
sacrificial victims. There is often gross speculation about her sex-life
one group contending she is a virgin, another contending that she is
driven by the drugs she uses into abnormal sexual voracity, yet a third
contending that as high priestess of snake cult she couples only with
serpents.
Quite obviously, most of this is too ridiculous to merit refutation.
These facts we know: The Nyissan Queen has never been observed to
have had children. The Nyissan Queen has never been observed to