Founding of Q'barra

Founding

Ven ir’Kesslan led four thousand settlers on an arduous voyage along the coast to southeastern Khorvaire to birth the nation of Q’barra.

Many died of disease, hunger, and pirate attack during the journey and in settling the jungle, but the small nation stabilized and became a beacon for those fleeing what the Q’barrans called “the Western War.”   As the war continued to rage, the people of Q’barra took no real notice of political or military changes west of the mountains; for them, it was all “the civil war in central Galifar.” Even after the war, their language and attitudes remained stuck in an older time, even as their culture and towns grew to resemble those of Valenar humans and the Lhazaar Principalities, their primary trading partners.  

Many question King Connos’s approval of ir’Kesslan’s mission and his grant of the Q’barran lands. Why would Cyre, pressed by decades of war, allow thousands to abandon it?   First, the majority of the settlers were steadfast objectors to the war, believing that no Galifarian should raise arms against another. They were more a burden on Cyre than a boon. Still, the king could have forced their support. Second, the land grant involved territories that until recently had been claimed by Karrnath. No doubt Connos hoped to distract and insult his northern foe.   Most important in my view, however, Connos was a true child of Cyre—and thus, Cyran appreciation was his lifeblood. Ir’Kesslan was an accomplished diplomat, and he appealed to the “poetry in his Majesty’s soul.” King Connos was touched by ir’Kesslan’s vision and could not deny his request, despite its complete lack of strategic benefit for Cyre.   Although the final chapter of the New Galifar project in the jungles of Q’barra has yet to be written, its beginning was a hope-dappled marriage of brilliant negotiation and a war-weary heart. - Renowned Zil librarian Augusta Wainwocket