Rygan, 537 PO

It was early in the year 537 PO. In the city of Rygan, live went on. Life always went on in Rygan, and on, and on, especially for the families of the dock workers. Not that Rygan was a slave labor camp or a prison. It was not. It was a thriving community made wealthy by a busy port and a thriving entrepreneurial environment that encouraged investment by wealthy families from all corners of the Empire and beyond. It was a magnet for the strong, the intelligent, and the energetic from the surrounding lands. It was a place where there was hope in a brighter future.

But who was it that found their way through the twisted maze to find that future? How many individuals lost their way, living short and unhappy lives on the docks and in the factories, for every success story of the rare villager who rose to wealth and a position of power? Did it matter? Did anyone care? Does anyone care today?

Strev Utrykk was a worker in a factory owned by the Golden Lynx Cartel. A section leader for one of the more productive shifts, he was uniquely situated to work his way into the management of the company. But he was at a disadvantage ... he cared! Don't misunderstand. He cared about his job and the work he did as deeply as he cared for his fellow workers. He truly felt that companies would benefit as much as workers if all worked in cooperation and equality to support their shared goals. Needless to say, this was one controversial dwarf!

Ten years earlier, the 22-year-old Utrykk had formed a social club for unmarried contract workers in his factory and a neighboring plant. Most of these workers lived in small, dingy, but warm and sanitary dormitories provided by their companies. They had little to think about but a 6-day-week of hard labor, and a holy day of visits by clerics of all stripes. The social club provided an outlet for recreation, as well as encouragement for literacy and technical education for the workers, many of whom had never attended formal schools. But the club also provided an outlet for discussion, ideas, and ultimately discontent.

The concept of the social club soon spread among workers in several other factories, and especially on the docks. A similar movement among dock workers soon sprang up, followed closely by a religious equivalent, albeit a more conservative one, started by a young Lumegan cleric. The leaders of these groups were not overtly discouraged by the factory owners and dock supervisors, but it was not considered the kind of activity that an upwardly- mobile worker would want to "waste" time doing. After all, did they not advocate a 5-day work week, and urge workers to diversify their interests away from a single-minded dedication to their jobs?

By 537, Utrykk was a legend, much to his own discomfort. If given a choice, he was neither gregarious nor a reformer. He had chosen the life of a contract worker because he was of a generally solitary nature, and his vision of the social club movement was more from the self-education side than an urge to encourage interaction with his fellow workers. Despite his extracurricular activities, he had continued to maintain the respect of the Cartel because he was a valued employee who worked as hard to increase company profits as he did to enliven the lives of his fellow workers.

The Visit

Utrykk's life changed one evening while attending a meeting of the Golden Lynx Workers Guild as an honored guest. Among the other guests that evening were a young teacher who had come, along with a beautiful young friend, to offer to help organize an improved literacy program. It was, however, not the teacher but the companion who would have an effect on Utrykk. At the time, he considered Muette Auditrice to be rather arrogant and a bit hard to take in large doses, but a discussion that extended late into the evening planted a seed in his imaginative mind. It was not a foreign thought to one successfully living in an entrepreneurial society. The question, why are you working for others? Why not direct your skills and energies totally for your own benefit, and the benefit of your co-workers and friends?

As the gathering ended, and the two guests rejoined their three companions and left Rygan to return to their homes in Hyys, Utrykk found himself thinking hard about what he had heard. He soon found that others among the group had overheard his long discussion, and heated debates became a regular happening in workers clubs throughout the city. It was here that a second chapter began. Not among the workers, but among the married worker's wives. What would it be like to start their own community? How would they support themselves? Would the company bosses and the authorities attack them and bring them back in chains? Would they starve? The emotional level rose to a fever pitch over the following year, with large groups on both sides of the issue arguing the pros and cons of the proposition that had only 12 months before been a simple debate between a local dwarf and a visitor to the city.

Given no further impetus, however, it is likely the issue eventually would have died out. Conservatism, in most cases, will defeat change unless necessity intervenes. And these people were living well by the standards of their parents and grandparents. They would have realized that, all things considered, they were content. But then she came back!

This time, Muette's four friends were not with her. Instead, she was accompanied by a feline cleric, Ouvrange DuRoq. Ouvrange was 30 years of age, and had joined the Mithran Sisterhood of the Healing Touch at the age of 18. She was the young widow of a soldier of the Hegemony, and orphaned daughter of a minor warrior who fought for the Empire. Alone in the world, she found that few of her former friends and family were willing to help her. Although literate and schooled in many skills, a single young woman had few enticing prospects in Rygan. Befriended by the Sisterhood, she was rescued from what could have been a life of prostitution. Ouvrange had known Minet's sister, Dryade, during a year of study in Rygan some three years before.

Soon after Muette and her friends returned to Hyys from Rygan, Ouvrange came to the city on a mission for the Sisterhood. She and Dryade renewed their earlier friendship, and the young cleric was introduced to Minet and his four friends. Muette and Ouvrange hit it off immediately, and had discussed the conditions among the workers in Rygan, as well as the thought of starting a "self-help" community for workers and their families who wished to move to the countryside. Ouvrange also confided her dream of starting a refuge for the widows and children of soldiers and others killed in wars. Two nights of excited discussion over countless bottles of wine led to a couple of weeks of serious planning, and Muette was soon ready to join her friend on the road back to Rygan for an extended stay. Ouvrange completed her business in Hyys, all was arranged within the month, and the two rather impulsive reformers packed up their goods, and set out to the South.

The Return

Having no inkling that her discussion with Strev Utrykk had ignited a firestorm, Muette had expected that it would be a difficult task to convince even a handful of workers and their families to abandon their lives and set out into an unknown future. Ouvrange, on the other hand, had no doubts that they would find women ready and willing to look to a survivable future. Both were to be surprised.

As they arrived in Rygan, Muette found that she was welcomed as a visionary. Utrykk had advance warning of their arrival, and had arranged meetings among discouraged and disgruntled workers of several companies. Victims of several recent layoffs, who had not found new employment, were also present. After several meetings, a core group of about 60 men, a majority with families, a total of nearly 175 people, began making serious plans.

At the same time, Ouvrange presented her idea of a widow's refuge to the elders of the Sisterhood of the Healing Touch. At first, they were skeptical, but as word of the activities of Muette and Utrykk reached the ears of Mornia Elventresses, a High Cleric of the Order, the idea began to grow that the two related efforts might indeed be viable, and that if they were successful, the Mithran faith could indeed be positioned to wield a disproportionate influence in the establishment of the settlement. In the end, it was Mornia Elventresses herself that threw the support of the Order behind the idea. Ouvrange was given the charge to work with Muette and Utrykk, and to found her shelter as part of the combined effort, and to this end, she was released from all her other duties with the order.

It was also through the direct intercession of Mornia, that two other contacts were brought into the affair: Brelonna Vanris, a close and wealthy friend of the High Cleric, and Colia, Elder Herald of the Sect of Dedication, in whose accession to Elder Herald, Mornia was deeply involved.

Colia had already heard rumors of the Utrykk's activities from members of her own sect who were involved, and was very interested in the experiment with great application to similar people in the teeming slums of her own Kolko. The assurance by Mornia that the Sisterhood would be represented in the person of Ouvrange, led Colia to seek out a cleric of her own sect to work with the group. At that time, among the lesser known clerics under her supervision, was an elderly elven priest of great wisdom, but relatively low rank as he had joined the order quite late in life, after a long career as a stone mason, architect and builder of temples and shrines. His name was Kloster Skytwinkle. Having recently lost his wife of 150 years, Colia felt that Skytwinkle needed a new focus to his life, and his skills would be invaluable in establishing any new settlement. He was also currently living in Rygan. Pleased at being considered for such an interesting assignment, Skytwinkle immediately began to work with the forming group.

In addition to assigning Skytwinkle to the "project", Colia was able to donate a substantial plot of land, owned by the sect but unused and undeveloped before then. The plot was nearly twelve square miles in size, and was located on the south side of the Tranis River, very near its source, in the south central Hegemony.

Brelonna Vanris, the wife of Anor Vanris of the Merchant Council in Rygan, and close confidante of Mornia Elventresses, was then and remains today a very benevolent woman with an interest in supporting unusual efforts to aid people in need. Mornia personally arranged a meeting between Brelonna, Muette, Ouvrange, Utrykk, and the recently appointed Skytwinkle. The resulting negotiations took several meetings, but the final result was that Brelonna promised to contribute a moderate amount of money to fund the first year of the new settlement. Mornia, for her part, felt that her extensive contacts with Mithran congregations throughout the region would be able to encourage donations of a substantial amount of the provisions, supplies and equipment that would be needed.

The Founding

The plans and arrangements were made remarkably quickly, but even with that, it was a full 9 months before all the necessary approvals were finally granted, and actual activities could begin in earnest. It was the winter of 539 PO.

Although travel was difficult in the winter, it was decided that a group of 25 men, led by Utrykk and Skytwinkle would undertake the journey, prepared to spend the next year clearing, building, and planting. During the winter of 540 PO, the remaining men and those women without children and those with older children only, would follow. The final contingent, made up of the families with younger children, would travel during the spring of 541 PO.

While Muette was not happy being left out of the first contingent, she was kept very busy in Rygan speaking to religious officials, many private citizens and social organizations, coordinating the supplies and other donations, and taking responsibility for arranging the second wave of emigrants. It was determined that Utrykk would return early in the winter, and he, Muette, and Ouvrange would actually lead that party.

The first group of 25, who would later be known as "The Builders" in the history of the Twin Towns, left on schedule, and arrived unscathed after their month- long journey. The land on which they were to work turned out to be of higher quality than they had hoped for, although much of it was rocky. A high priority was to use the best land to put in a crop which would be used to feed the group throughout the coming winter.

With the guidance of Skytwinkle, the rocky land was turned to the advantage of the settlement. Since survival in the brutal winter season would depend strongly upon the ability of the residents to stay warm, and that fire was a serious problem in towns constructed primarily of wood, Skytwinkle designed a unique type of building never before seen in that part of the world. Built primarily of stone, each building, shaped as a square, consisted of separate living quarters for six families, a utility area for the storage of equipment and supplies, all built around a sheltered, but open courtyard where a communal cooking area was designed to also provide heat during the winter months. The outer walls of each building were earth-sheltered for insulation, with doors facing inward into the courtyard. The steep slope of the sides also protected against snow and ice buildup. This style of building would come to be known as a Pride Compound.

Using the rocks cleared from new farmland being readied for the following year, the builders were able to construct six of these buildings over the course of the warmer months. Durable hardwood was cut from the nearby forests and was stored in the compounds to dry. Temporary roofs and doors were added to the buildings using less desirable, but easy to fashion, wood. The intent was to complete the interiors of the living units during the winter months.

Because workers were assigned to work in teams of 5, accidents were few. Only one worker, a feline who fell from a tree, was injured seriously, in his case a broken leg, but was able to continue to work albeit in a more limited fashion. By the beginning of the winter, and the date when Utrykk and two companions were scheduled to return to Rygan, 6 Pride Compounds had been constructed, and the teams were hard at work on interior details. There was sufficient food stored to get them through the winter if they were careful, and the plan was to finish the interior details of all 6 buildings by the time the next contingent was to arrive some 3 months later.

The Settling

When Utrykk and his companions returned to Rygan, they found most of the people anxious to leave. One of the wives, and three of the younger children of workers already living at Pride had died, but the additional 35 men, 30 women, and 17 older children would make a valuable addition to the work force.

Over the year in Rygan, a number of carts had been built that converted from wheeled vehicles to sleighs, thinking that they could be used in the new settlement year around. The conversion was not easy, however, and weather conditions made the trip more difficult than the previous year. The winter was no colder, but less snow than usual fell, and what fell was unevenly distributed, making it very difficult for the wagons to go long periods without being converted over and over again. While none of the colonists perished, the group arrived nearly a month later than they were expected to, and had been living on short rations for three weeks.

When the second group arrived at Pride, they found the work already begun. Drainage and runoff problems had seriously undermined one of the six compounds, and it was decided that it needed to be disassembled and the materials used to rebuild it in another spot. The ground had begun to thaw sufficiently that plowing of the expanded farmland had begun. And rocks were being cleared from still more potential farmland, and set aside for new construction. The 107 colonists moved into the 30 available units, a tight fit in some cases, especially for single men.

The plan for that summer, besides the reconstruction of the relocated compound, called for the building of 3 additional compounds (one of which would be located about a half mile away, on the top of a small hill, which would serve as the Mithran monastery and women's refuge), and the planting of approximately 4 times the acreage as the year before, as well as reinforcement and repair of winter damage to the existing buildings. The building goals were met, but the summer, like the winter, had been relatively dry, and crop yields were considerably reduced over expectations.

Furthermore, disagreements were beginning to be more and more frequent, and bad feelings were becoming common, particularly among the single men. By mid-summer, three of the men had decided to leave to return to live in Rygan. Another had become a serious problem because of his violent nature and his tendency to bother the women, and the community decided to force him to leave, which he was unwilling to do. When faced with the threat of arms, he left with the other three men, but left their company, returned that night, and set the roofs of three of the compounds on fire. 4 children, 2 women, and 1 man lost their lives that night. The villain, a feline named Maudit, was never captured, but also was never heard from again, neither in Rygan, or in Pride. Over time, his name has become a common obscenity among the residents of Pride.

The damage to the three compounds was repaired, and in fact, those three ware the first buildings to have hardwood roofs, as roofing boards prepared during the previous winter were used to replace the temporary roofing that had been destroyed. The loss of life taught the colonists that they had not taken the precaution of providing training in what to do in case of fire, and that an alarm system was needed. And because nobody was certain if Maudit still remained in the area, two residents served as armed guards to the encampment, the beginning of the constable service that is in use today.

So at the beginning of the second winter, the small settlement consisted of 96 residents (41 Humans, 44 Felines, 4 Elves, 2 Half-Elves, and 4 Catlings, and 1 Dwarf), broken down as follows:

The 96 people who faced the 2nd winter, less the 21 remaining "builders", are today referred to as the 75 "settlers". It was to be a bad winter for all.

The Surviving

After the dry winter of 539 and summer of 540, if climate patterns were to be predicted, southern Felinio was expecting a still drier winter in 540. This was not to be. In fact, it turned out to be one of the coldest, wettest winters on record. While this had virtually no effect on the warmth within the compounds, which were built to withstand the lowest temperatures nature could throw, the food supply was scanty to begin with, and the temperature and snow cover made winter hunting very difficult. In addition, the inexperienced colonists had not stored enough wood for fuel, and they had failed to take into account the food needs of the four horses that came with the second group.

By the 45th day of Winter, not even the middle of the season in this latitude, supplies were becoming critical. Many of the winter animals, finding few food sources, and unable to move in the snowdrifts, either migrated north, or died in place, their carcasses soon covered in the very snow that caused their deaths. The river, a food source the previous year, froze solid, killing all life within it. What saved the lives of many during the midwinter phase was the skill of the elves at locating the frozen deer, moose, and smaller animals.

To save on fuel and take advantage of body warmth, the 96 settlers moved into three of the compounds, those that had permanent roofs. Still, by this point, only one fatality had occurred, when one of the younger feline boys became lost in a blizzard while gathering wood. By the 71st day, the joyful day of feasting throughout Felinio, food was so scarce that one small meal per day was all that was permitted. Two of the horses had died, and had been eaten. And the weather broke suddenly. For two weeks, the temperature rose to as high as 10 C, and snow melted at a prodigious rate. The starving colonists used that period to search for food and gather wood from further away that they had been able to for weeks. While the weather again turned colder after about two weeks, the levels of provisions had been replenished. Flooding had caused the residents of one of the three compounds to retreat with all of their goods to one of the abandoned ones.

The thaw indeed saved the lives of many, but it also caused the most serious tragedy of the winter. Historians write that it was the carcass of a dead animal that began the dread poisoning, but the first case occurred on the last day of the year. One of the human girls was suddenly taken ill with stomach cramps and a high fever, and within 24 hours she had died. Within one week, 25 people had taken ill, and 23 succumbed to the poisoning, fully a quarter of the settlement. The deaths had hit the races unevenly. Elves and felines apparently had some kind of natural immunity, but the tragedy took the lives of all the catlings, and 19 of the 41 humans. The two persons who fell ill but recovered were the two half- elf men.

Many of the surviving humans fell into a panic, and declared it a sign from Mithras that they should not be living on this ground. Despite pleas from Utrykk and others, 13 of the survivors were preparing to take the horses and a sleigh, and head for Rygan, despite the still bitterly cold weather. But on the day they were preparing to leave, the welcome sound of voices was heard in the distance. The men who had left at the end of the summer had reported the shortages of provisions, and the Mithran elders had arranged a rescue. Three sleighs full of food, warm clothing, and sharp tools were unloaded, a physician examined every member of the community, and 7 strong humans from the rescue party, seeing the decimation of their race, chose to stay behind when the rescue party departed for Rygan. (They would be memorialized as the "rescuers"). Their example convinced the 13 who were about to leave to change their mind. And not two weeks after they left, the weather broke permanently, and Spring was on its way. 71 people survived, and 78 were ready to pick up the pieces after the worst winter that would hit the colony for years into the future.

The Fulfilling

When the rescue team returned to Rygan, much mourning took place, especially in the dwarven community. Two of the women who were scheduled to depart learned that they were widowed, but both chose to go anyway. Several of the mothers of younger children decided that they could not in good conscience put their children at that risk. But others, learning of how much had been done, took their places. In all, 55 new settlers with their possessions and four carts of supplies and tools were headed to join the survivors. These 55 would be enshrined as the "fulfillers". These years were followed by 10 years of normal to mild winters, seen by many as Mithras' reward for their steadfastness.

Ironically, the refuge that Ouvrange had envisioned for the widows of soldiers and sailors actually began through the efforts of the widows of the builders and settlers who died in the winter of 540. By 550, the community that grew up at the foot of the hill on which the Mithran monastery was built had taken the name of Katsoline, developing separately, but in full cooperation with Pride.

In the spring of 541, the population of the area was 134: 69 felines, 52 humans, 5 elves, 3 halflings, 4 half-elves, and 1 dwarf.