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* The use of the word 'race' is somewhat archaic. The Alorns are clearly
Scandinavian; the
Tolnedrans, Marags, Arends, and Nyissans are Mediterranean. The Angaraks, with
their
,angular eyes' were intended to suggest the Mongols of Genghis Khan or the Huns
of
Attila.
Our people, through long habituation and perhaps by native
inclination, are the most politically-minded and acquisitive of any
people in the twelve kingdoms. Commerce is the very soul and
blood of Tolnedra. Because, from time immemorial, we have engaged
in trade and bargaining, Tolnedrans instinctively turn to policy in
preference to war as a means of gaining our national objectives. As
Nedra, in his wisdom, said, 'Where is the profit in making war on a
customer?' and again, 'An enemy may be pillaged once, but a
customer is an endless resource.'
Perhaps because of this, Tolnedrans deal a bit sharper than other
peoples, and a Tolnedran Emperor must be eternally watchful lest
he be misled by the (and let us be honest) greed of his advisors and
the merchant barons who habitually besiege the Imperial Throne
with petitions designed almost inevitably to line their own purses.
Lest this be construed as an unbridled condemnation of our
people, let us hasten to point out the innumerable advantages which
have accrued to our empire as a result of our single-minded pursuit
of profit. Tolnedran society was never fractioned by the existence of
clans such as we observe in the Alorn Kingdoms. Adherence to clan
is a symptom of a morbid fear of strangers, and Tolnedrans have ever
welcomed contact with strangers as an opportunity to open new
avenues for commerce. Similarly, we have never been burdened with
the institution of serfdom which has blighted the development of
Arendia. As a wise Tolnedran noble once said, 'Far better to pay a
man for a job and wish him well than to feed him eternally in
idleness.' Nor are we obsessed with the kind of religious fanaticism
which so dominates the lives of the Nyissans, the Angaraks and the
Ulgos. Our Nedra is a tolerant God who is content with a few
formalities on ceremonial occasions. The sole exception to this
generalization is the monastic community which lies in the western reaches of
the area that was once Maragor. These gentle souls devote their lives
in poverty and humility to the expiation of our national crime, the
destruction of the Marags. While many of our people find the
mendicant members of this fraternity an aggravation, it must be pointed
out that their continual propitiation of the wronged and sorrowful
spirit of the God Mara in all probability averts his vengeance.
One other anomaly exists in southern Tolnedra. This anomaly is,
of course, the Dryads. Like the Ulgos, the Dryads predate the
western migration of civilized men into the west. Their numbers have
always been very small, and they are seldom seen out of the wood of
the Dryads which lies along our southern border. A secretive people,
they have managed to remain aloof from the main stream of
Tolnedran society. Their sole contribution to our culture perhaps
was the marriage of a Dryad princess to a noble of the House of
Borune. In exchange for this woman the Dryads extracted a promise
from the Borunes that their woods would remain eternally inviolate.
This promise was formalized by the Imperial Decree of Ran Borune
I, the son of the Dryad woman and the Borune noble and the
founder of the FIRST BORUNE DYNASTY. While uncounted
generations of timber barons have cursed the decree while eyeing the
enormous oaks of the Dryad forest with unconcealed greed, it must