The Ambassador: Prologue

I do not set down these words because I consider myself a historian, but because I know what will be written in my stead if I remain silent. I have met the authors of my nation’s history and have found them both ignorant and self-serving in their accounts of alien lands. To them, the Crisis of the Insvar Succession is no more than another excuse for their cultural arrogance and myopic politics; characteristics which are in practice two sides of the same coin.

Having lived in the Thrennish Capital for many years, having met the key figures of its court, having experienced the thrum of its heartbeat in the bustle of its trade and the sting of its prejudice; thus am I alone qualified to set down this history for the Imperial Hall of Records.

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The Thrennish Riverlands stands as pre-eminent among the so-called Foederati. The Foederati, or “Federation of Pacified Barbarians” is, in theory, a political bloc of autonomous foreign lands bound politically to the Imperial Throne of Marcillia. In practice, its political unity ends at the door of the Imperial Bursar who pays the bribes that keep these wolves at bay, or at least trained on the scent of other prey.

Although power in The Riverlands is divided between three royal houses, innumerable minor lords or chieftains maintain effective independence, being free to wage their own petty wars and conduct their own trade and tariffs. Even so, two of these royal houses style themselves as King, of the Silverlake and the great river fork at Insvar’s Falls respectively. The third house, Family Banekrow of the Ebon Hills, goes by the title of Grand Prince, and is the only great power among the Thrennish known to be more inclined to peace than war, though many call them craven for it.

Despite this political disunity, the city of Insvar’s Falls is the obvious capital of the Thrennish Riverland region for three key reasons, each relating to a particular period of local history.

The first reason is tied to the ancient superstitions of the tribal ley-animists, and thereby often overlooked, being mistaken for irrelevant. Insvar’s Falls alone is a key spiritual site in the separate traditions of the original clans of Hill, River, and Forest. Each major clan has long maintained an enclave there, and it is the site of every major clan- or kings-moot among those ancient people. The Lord of the Falls has traditionally been the peacemaker and standard bearer in matters that have affected all the clans, which is in part the reason its current ruler claims the title of King.

The second reason for the importance of The Falls relates to the period of Vrengr exploration and expansion known in the history of we who were their partners in trade and victims in war as “The Years of Salt and Blood”. At the peak of their power, the island chieftain, Vani, ventured to the mainland to make himself “King of all the Vrengr” in what is now called Venir, and raised up many of his loyal followers as chieftains among the subjugated locals. Venturing far inland, he deposed the ancient ruler of The Falls and raised up one of his own kin to that high place, his cousin Insvar Tallstrider. This completed a generational transformation of the Eastern Riverlands into the forms and functions of Vrengr culture, including the transplantation of the Vrengr gods to the traditional Thrennish habit of revering ancient sites. This mingling of cultures was at its most visible in the birth and separation of the distinct “Tidal”clan from the traditional River Clan. Even after Vani’s death and the disintegration of his nascent empire, the changes to Insvar’s Falls remained. The Falls would forever be the bridge between west and east, animist and pantheist, traditional clan rule and the feudal nobility.

The third reason that underlies the importance of Insvar’s Falls is modern, and derives from the emergence of the Marcillian Empire. Marcillian trade, primarily in the ferrous metals of the Mierenen Stormlands to the Imperial Capital, has fed Insvar’s Falls as an important way-port in that route. The massive population growth within the city is owed equally to the bribes levied against the safe passage of the trade by the city’s rulers, the Insvar Kings, and their wisdom in being the only rulers outside of the Empire and Old Lemuire to subsidise bread, vegetables and wine for urban citizens.

It remains unclear what the city’s fate would be should it be enduringly deprived of these subsidies, It is an impact I know has not been appropriately considered by the Imperial Chancellery in the determination of regional terms of trade.

In The Riverlands it is said that “Every tale begins and ends in Insvar’s Falls.” From one’s first encounter with the ancient city there can be no confusion as to why this is the case.