Imperials Come

Little shadows on the horizon, Much too far away to see. Closer now to me they come, Billowing sails seen by me. Red and yellow wave in the wind, Dark brown bows crash through the waves, Strange new men in silver gleaming, They come ashore, a new world to brave. Unload their boats, and disassembled, Set up walls and tents to sleep. Patrols rove through the new found forest, Slay their foes this land to keep. Fires rage and hammers hammer, Bigger walls and stone masonry, Castles build and forts erected, Friends? No foes they seem to be. Land is taken, forests cleared, Much new building to our land. Roads are built more strangers come, This place was pulled right from our hands.

This is a brief poem from the nomadic barbarians that roamed the forests south of the Razor Peak Mountains. When the strange new boats were seen on the horizon bearing the first Imperials, the barbarians waited and watched as they unloaded all of the gear that they had brought with them and started erecting forts and bases. They slowly pushed out from their beachheads inland, taming the wild lands as they went. The forest is know by all but the Imperials as the War Wood, the citizens of the Empire naming it the Imperial Forest. The Imperial Armies pushed from the western coast to the Inland Sea and from the Razor Peak Mountains down to the southern coast and the Great Cove. The Army claimed the lands by either conquest or purchase. Initially many stood against the Imperials, but as more came from the West in great ships and some just appeared overnight in their cities they built, their numbers became too great. They peoples that were not hostile towards the Empire initially were rewarded with titles, gold, and citizenship to the Empire. The ones that stood against the Imperial masses were conquered and enslaved as fodder for the armies.