Harla's Triumph

Harla's Triumph is the last point of defense between the Grand Tribal Confederacy and the soft lands to the south. Located at the edge of a great desert, Harla's Triumph is the highest point for hundreds of kilometres, granting a wide field of observation. It is located on a ridge several kilometres long and about half a kilometre wide, gently wrapping northward into a slight crescent. It was here that the northkin won their most demoralizing victory against their elven foes in the War of Tusk and Horn.
Harla's Stand, in the modern day, is a watchpost for invasion. Hundreds of kilometres from the nearest settlement, those stationed there see it as a either a grim duty or a severe punishment. The desert is inhospitable, and the ridge contains only one silty and foul-tasting well. The natural terrain of the ridge make attacking it extremely difficult, as the defenders can see opponents coming from up to a day away in good weather, and the height of the ridge provides a tactical advantage to its defenders.

Demographics

Harla's Triumph is populated mostly by orcs from the Grand Tribal Confederacy. Each of the fifteen tribes sends a warband of at least fifty warriors. Per the terms of the Kinmoot Accords, the Goblin Nations send 200 soldiers and mystics to defend the lands of the northern alliance, while the Minotaur Protectorate sends a token detachment of 50 soldiers.

Government

Harla's Triumph is primarily an orcish military camp, and is run like an orcish military camp. The strongest of the orcish military order leads the defense and upkeep of the settlement, but the leader must always pass decisions through a council comprised of at least one representative from each orcish tribe, as well as at least one advisor from the Goblin Nations and Minotaur Protectorate.

Defences

The ridge that Harla's Triumph is built upon serves as its own forbidable defensive wall. Trenches have been dug into the base of the ridge, filled with sharp rocks, spikes, and other unpleasantness. Beyond that, the northkin rely on their foes' inexperience with the desert and their own combat acumen to defend their stronghold.

Industry & Trade

Harla's Triumph is a military base, and as such does not produce any notable exports. It imports food and building materials from elsewhere in the northlands.

Infrastructure

Comprised of hard people from even harder lands, Harla's Triumph is not a place where life is easy. Most dwellings are built via mud-brick adobe, or dug into the ground and covered by hide tarps. Wood and metal are imported from elsewhere. Food is either preserved and imported, or hunted. The lands south of Harla's Triumph are dense with swamplands and forest, but the danger of venturing into human lands makes hunting excursions rare.
Water is an easier resource to gain than just the well, however. The goblins, ever industrious, have created several ingenious ways to harvest dew from the morning atmosphere and store it in great drums. As such, food is the main concern, rather than water.

Assets

Harla's Triumph sports several catapults, trebuchets, and other large weapons of war. It also possesses enough weapons and armour to support up to 3000 troops; around 80% of it is designed for orcs, minotaur, hobgoblins, and bugbears, while the remaining 20% are sized for goblins. Each of the three nations maintain separate caches of weapons and armour, as well as emergency wartime supplies.

Guilds and Factions

Each of the main nations within the northlandsf maintains a presence within Harla's Triumph. While the three nations are ostensibly at peace, they are all warlike peoples and conflict is always inevitable, though it rarely results in death in the modern day. The main powers at play are divided between the citizens hailing from the Minotaur Protectorate, the Grand Tribal Confederacy, and the Goblin Nations.

History

Harla's Triumph is the site where the allied northkin smashed the bulk of the elven land forces in the War of Tusk and Horn. It was the Battle of the Ridge that turned the tide of the direct hand-to-hand conflict, and finally drew the elves out of the conflict.
A small force of 2000, comprised of mainly orcs and goblins, were fleeing east across the desert to the relative safety of the Tuskpeak Mountains. They were pursued, however, by a massive host of southerners, along with a mix of human and dwarven allies. Sped up by magic, the southerners quickly closed the distance. Knowing that eventually they would be run down, Harla Chainbreaker, the acting warchief of the band, ordered the group to fortify themselves atop the desert ridge. The ridge was difficult to assail, but the human-fronted host was over 5000 strong.
Harla Chainbreaker's brilliant tactics won the day. Despite the oppressors suffering heavy losses in the initial push, the northerners suffered just as much. The opposing forces, arrogant and not expecting advanced tactics from their former slaves, continued to push forward, despite being reduced by almost half by the terrain, the heat of the day, and the ferocity of the defending host. It was then that Harla ordered a full-frontal assault, inventing what is now known as the Forward Maniple Tactic.
The Forward Maniple Tactic worked similarly to a standard shield wall, but utilized the different size of its members to great effect. The stoutest of orcs formed a massive shield wall and advanced, their shields held high off the ground to protect the upper body of even the tallest minotaur. The goblins moved forward in lockstep with their orcish allies, holding smaller shields and covering the lower bodies of the orcs. Minotaur stood behind the front rank with lengthy polearms reaching up and over the heads of the orcs, swinging at anything that came close.
When within striking distance of the enemy, the shieldwall can open in one of two ways: either the goblins burst forward and slam the enemies legs and knees with their sharpened shields, or the entire front wall opens to allow through the strongest orcs and minotaur to charge forward into the midst of the enemy ranks. The combination of never-ending advance and periodic emergence of enraged berserking minotaur utterly decimated the opposition. Harla also realized that the humans suffered from something that her people did not: fragility and cowardice. Even a weak orc was strong enough to beat a human to death with a shield. Knowing this, she made up for lack of weaponry by equipping her orcish shieldwall with weighted shields. When the wall opened, each member swapped their shields to a two-handed grip and bludgeoned their foes into the ground.
The fighting was fierce and casualties many, but the foes did eventually break upon the shields of the defenders. This victory could easily have still resulted in destruction at the hands of the southerners, but the arrogance of the elven general Alluvian forbid the elven host to retreat. Over the next several days several counter-offensives were attempted, but by then the dehydration and demoralization had taken its toll and the southerners were forced to withdraw.

Architecture

Adobe structures and in-ground pit houses.

Alternative Name(s)

Southridge, Alluvian's Shame

Type

Outpost / Base

Population

1000-1500

Related Ethnicities

• Orc

Inhabitant Demonym

The Tasked