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the west.
The first western contact with them came, as is almost always the
case with primitive peoples, in the form of war. It was the Nadraks
who led the probing attacks against Drasnia and Algaria during the
third millennium until the time of the great unnamed battle in
eastern Drasnia which has been roughly dated to the 25th century. It was
at that time that a major Angarak penetration occurred. The decisive
defeat of the Nadraks at this battle quelled Angarak expansionism in
the north until the time of Kal-Torak.
As relations between Car og Nadrak and Drasnia normalized
(roughly by the end of the third millennium) trade between the two
nations began - tentatively at first and with great suspicion on each
side - but gradually growing until the North Caravan Route was
established, more by custom than by any formal agreement between
the two kingdoms.
It was in 3219 that the Kings of the two nations met at a great
border encampment astride the Caravan Route to formalize what had
simply grown as a result of the human need to trade. Kings Reldik Ill
of Drasnia and Yar grel Hrun of Car og Nadrak ultimately concluded
the treaty that has been the despair of Tolnedran commercial barons
for over two thousand years. Under the terms of the agreement, only
Drasnian caravans are permitted access to the Nadrak portions of the
North Caravan Route and conversely only Nadrak caravans may
enter Drasnia. thus, even as Drasnia dominates all western commerce
generated by the Caravan Route, so Car og Nadrak dominates all
trade with the other Angarak states. Thus, it is as rare to see a Murgo
or a Thull in Boktor as it is to see a Sendar or a Tolnedran in Yar
Marak, since the fees charged by the rapacious caravan masters of
both states quite literally eat up any possible profit.
Efforts by Tolnedran negotiators to break the stranglehold
Drasnia held over the northern trade at the time of the conferences
which brought Drasnia into the Tolnedran commercial Empire were
totally without success, and at that time Tolnedra began to look for
another route to the east.
Enlisting the aid of Nyissan slavers, who had regular contact with
the Murgos, Tolnedran commercial envoys were able to finally
institute talks at Rak Goska. The difficulties involved in dealing with the
grimly laconic Murgos can not be exaggerated. The talks - if they
could be called such - continued intermittently for seventy years.
Infuriatingly, the Murgos appeared indifferent to the fact that
between them the Drasnians and Nadraks had a virtual monopoly
on all east-west trade. Finally, however, in 3853 an agreement was
finally reached which established the South Caravan Route between
Tol Honeth and Rak Goska. This is a brutal route, and fully half of all
caravans which attempt it are lost. The Murgos scrupulously patrol
the route, and, while they respect the protected status of the Route
itself, they regard all who stray from this often poorly-marked trail
as invaders and fall upon them with great savagery.
The only possible alternative route is forever closed since it would
involve crossing the Vale of Aldur on a direct line from Tol Honeth
to the borders of Mishrak ac Thull, and the stubborn Algars
steadfastly refuse even to discuss the matter or to permit any contact with
the Angaraks across their eastern frontier.
Thus it is that most of the traditional sources of information
concerning the history of a people are denied to us in our study of
the Angaraks. The merchant has ever been the truest friend of the
historian, and in a situation where trade is so severely limited,