Spring, when tents blossomed¶

In autumn of the 1st AC in 2546, the leaders of the four peoples were each seeking to assemble their people. Thus it was that during that time, the town criers of the Desert Empire, of the Forest Kingdom, of the Federation of New Trykoth and of the Theocracy of the Witherings called for all homins to gather.

Following the announcements, Patriots, Subjects, Citizens, Initiates and non-citizens of all races met their respective leaders at the same time*, converging on the Agora in Pyr, the Yrkanis Stage, Fairhaven's Frogmore Place and the Grand Place of Zora.

Even though none of the announcers gave reason for the meetings, rumor ran rampant across the bark of Atys. The activities of the imperial, royal, federal and dynastic agents gave reason to believe that the leaders were, each on their own, working on comparable projects and would be calling for their peoples' help and good will in short time.

And so were the similar plans revealed by the leaders. Hominkind seemed willing and able to strengthen its grasp and dominance on the lands chosen for the New Beginning.

Even after two generations, the events and trauma of the Great Swarming was so deeply rooted in the minds of the peoples that, when the leaders announced their scouts reporting unusual Kitin activitiy in the New Lands, the homins reacted immediately.

As this threat was found to be significant, the leaders began the construction of new encampments throughout the territories their peoples had settled more than sixty Jena Years ago to escape the Kitin. It wasn't beofre long that caravans of Mektoub packers, guided by Patriots, Subjects, Citizens and Initiates were making tracks in the New Lands to supplies for the construction of the military encampments being erected across the bark.

Many hands were needed to aid in the construction of the encampments; people to harvest raw materials for defense and construction and people to transport the heavy packages to the construction sites. The representatives overseeing the work were quickly approached by homins eager to help with the construction of the camps. Patriots went to speak to Abytheus Abygrain on Cheapside Market in Pyr, Anibro Listy near the stables in Yrkanis was the destination for Matis Subjects, Baksan Ba'Darins at the entrance of Fairhaven gave direction to Citizens and Ba-Ci Du near the Zora stables instructed Zoraï Initiates.

Transcripts of the speeches of the Emperor, the King, the Governor and the Grand Sage

Time has passed and despite the best efforts of harvesters and suppliers, they were struggling to erect the military camps. Patriots, Subjects, Citizens and Initiates worked hard to finish the projects as quickly as possible, but progress was far short of the planning made by the engineers, and the Kitin threat was brewing... Each day, valiant fighters, covered with scars and bruises, fought back the Kitins. However it appeared that, despite their small numbers, the Kitin of the Depths did not want to give up their foothold on the surface.

There were some notable developments that accelerated the progress. Emperor Dexton accepted the help of the Barkers tribe, which aided the completion of the camps in the Burning Desert. In the forest domain of King Yrkanis, the royal botanist Perinia developed new fibers that greatly accelerated the construction of the tents. The Tryker sites received unexpected help from the Silt Sculptors tribe: One morning, builders in Aeden Aqueous saw them come in a long Mektoub caravan loaded with parts that any builder would consider a treasure. As for the sites in the Witherings, the Kamis undoubtedly used their magics to help the Masked People.

These deveopments gave short bursts to the establishment of the military camps, but it was mainly the tenacity of the peoples that managed to construct most of the towers, and saw the first towers and tents completed in the last hours of the 1st AC 2546.

In the spring of the next cycle, the Kitins once more showed their appetite for conquest, conquest of the bark of Atys.

Slowly but surely, from the depths of Atys, the Kitins invaded the new lands.
Slowly, without faultering, they became more and more numerous in homin territories.
Slowly, the homin's fear grew. A new invasion had begun.

Certain peoples had succeeded in finishing their construction sites before the invasion began. The Fyros had completely finished their towers before the Kitins rose from the depths, as well as the Trykers. The Matis and Zoraï towers, however close, were not all finished in time. Soon one could hear cries in the cities, cries of disbelief, cries of sorrow, cries for action.

The new camps found themselves isolated, and soon, no caravans were able to reach them anymore to bring them the necessary provisions.

The leaders reacted fast, each raising an army of voluntaries to stave off the enemy of the Homin races, and open the roads for caravans through the massive amount of Kitins.

For the weeks to come, the Homin peoples continued to push back the Kitins from their lands, supplying the new camps with the necessary provisions from their warehouses.

Erlan, Chronicler
in The Erlan Chronicles, 2546 AC I.