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two ranges of mountains in the far north. Retreating before the
encroaching ice, the Karands were pushed into Pallia and Deld-tin
and ultimately into Rengel and what is now the District of Rakuth in
eastern Mallorea proper. The last of these glacial ages occurred just
prior to the catastrophic events which led to the formation of the Sea
of the East. At that time the Barrens of Northern Mallorea were
sheathed in ice to a depth of several hundred feet, and glaciers
extended a hundred leagues or more south of the present shoreline
of Lake Karand. The explosive appearance of the Sea of the East,
however, brought a abrupt end to the grip of the glaciers. The flow
of warm, moist air off the vast steam cloud which accompanied the
volcanic formation of the sea poured up through the natural channel
lying between the Dalasian and Karandese ranges and initiated a
glacial melt of titanic proportions. The suddenly unlocked waters
gouged out the huge valley of the Great River Magan, quite the
longest and most majestic river in the world.
The Karands themselves, as is so frequently the case with
northern peoples, are a warlike race, and their frequent glacier-compelled
migrations left them little time for the establishment of the cultural
niceties which characterize the nations of more southerly latitudes.
Indeed, it has been said with some accuracy that the Karands
habitually hover just on the verge of howling barbarism. Karandese cities
are crude by any standards, usually protected by rude log palisades,
and the sight of hogs roaming at will through the muddy streets is
all too common.
By the beginning of the second millennium, incursions by roving
bands of Karandese brigands had become a serious problem along
Mallorea's eastern frontier, and the Angarak army moved out of
Mal Zeth to take up positions along the western fringes of the
Karandese Kingdom of Pallia. In a quick punitive expedition, the city of
Rakand in southwestern PaWa was sacked and burned and the
inhabitants taken captive.
It was at this point that one of the most monumental decisions in
Angarak history was made. Even as the Grolims prepared for an
orgy of human sacrifice, the military commanders paused to take
stock of the situation. The Angarak military had no real desire to
occupy Pallia. The difficulties of communication over long distances
as well as the wide dispersal of their forces which such an
occupation would have involved made the whole notion distinctly
unattractive. From the point of view of the military it was far better to
keep the Pallian Kingdom intact as a subject nation and to exact
tribute than to physically occupy a depopulated territory. No one can be
sure to whom the solution first occurred, but the military
universally approved.
The Grolims were naturally horrified when the suggestion was
first presented to them, but the military was adamant. Ultimately,
both sides agreed to place the matter in the hands of Torak himself
and to be bound by his decision.
The idea which was presented to the Dragon God was that the
Pallian captives should be converted to the worship of Torak rather
than being summarily butchered. Though the Grolims were smugly
convinced that Torak's devotion was centered upon the Angarak
,people, certain military commanders had a shrewder conception of
the true nature of the Angarak God. Torak, they perceived, was
fundamentally a greedy God. He hungered for adoration, and if
the case of the Pallian captives - and ultimately of all of Karanda
were presented to him in the light of a manifold increase in the
adoration which would be his if he agreed to conversion as opposed to