Bédenes/1st edition/2

CURRENT SITUATION
The Warriors believe they have a divine mission to recover the ancient Corani fort at Kustan. In 718, A.karata Horab Gerund led his Warriors north into the Peran forest. They were joined by 40 Agrikan knights recruited from the nobility of Azeryan with promises of adventure and glory in the afterlife. Near Kustan, the Kubora ambushed the column; 50 knights and their supporting Laumak (foot soldiers) were lost, including almost all the Azeryani crusaders. The Warriors were forced to abandon their baggage train and retreat to Bedenes. Since then, the order has worked ceaselessly to recover from its losses and to hide its weakness from its many rivals.

External Relations
Klyrdes Bisidril, the Senesharil (grandmaster) of the sponsoring clerical order, is also the Agrikan Apalankh (primate) for all of Ham. This ensures the order's continued favor with the crown despite the frosty welcome it extends to the king's representative, the Sheriff of Hohnamshire.

No other Agrikan orders maintain a permanent presence at Bedenes. The Companions of Roving Doom are treated well since the near-annihilation of their sponsoring order and its formal replacement with royal patronage. They look to the Mamakans for religious supplies and what little theological guidance they require. The Order of the Octagonal Pit are always represented at the annual Emesa Beast Fair, but even they are not warmly welcomed in Bedenes. The Warriors are eager for details about the activities in southeastern Peran undertaken by their rival order, the Red Shadows of Herpa.

The Warriors face a serious threat from the powerful Earl of Tormau, who maintains a strong force between Bedenes and its southern allies. Since the debacle in 718, the Akarata has had accused spies condemned and burnt on the slimmest of evidence.

Relationships with most guilds are cordial, as skilled craftsmen are held in particularly high regard in Mamakan theology. However, lack of business, provincial attitudes, and religious intolerance make it difficult to find master guildsmen willing to take franchises in Bedenes.



ECONOMICS
Bedenes lacks a port and has few good roads. Goods come to and from Bedenes through Emesa, the local market center. Trade is controlled by the Warriors of Mameka, who claim a commission on all transactions. Isolation has forced Emesa Hundred to develop a largely self-sufficient economy. Incense and other ecclesiastical supplies must be imported, as are spices, dyes, and other sophisticated wares of the south. There is little trade beyond the annual Emesa Beast Fair caravans and occasional coastal niviks that sustain trade through the rest of the year.

The order gains income and prestige from the beast fair, where mercantylers trade for the riches of Peran. Trappers and hunters bring bears, lynx, Ivashu, and chimerae to be sent to the arenas. Pelts of beaver, ermine, otter, sable, and seal are in demand among southern clothiers. Musk glands of beavers and greasy lumps of ambergris are coveted by the perfumers of Shiran and Coranan. The Akarata may soon act against Daquer of Iyesin, a Golothan trader who bypasses the fair to deal directly with his Kuboran relatives.

The Mamakans have raided the Kubora for decades; slave pens at Emesa hold laborers that supplement a population decimated during the construction of Caer Bedenes. Others are destined to become gladiators or pleasure slaves in the south.

Each summer, whalers prey on right whales off the shores of Alesen Manor, providing a high-quality whale oil exported throughout the Thard Valley. The meat is reserved for the Warriors, who give to their dogs what they cannot eat rather than feed it to their slaves. Small fishing boats harvest estuaries as far north as the mouth of the Perath River. Larger niviks from Alesen range farther from the coast to net salmon, herring, and mackerel, but they know better than to stray among the pirate-infested Tiraen Islands.

Oats is the major local crop, supplemented by rye and beans. Fruits grow well. The order has enormous numbers of swine in the rough woodlands surrounding the chapterhouses, from which they produce hams and sausages. In the hilly grassland near the coast, goats are the dominant source of meat, milk, and cheese for the poor and the guilded class.

A new-found silver lode in the hills to the east may signal a lost Corani-era mine. The Akarata is determined to see it secretly exploited, but the Kubora have other ideas. The Warriors pay mercenaries to protect the extraction of iron from the bogs in the Perath Estuary. It is this iron that feeds the forges to produce the order's legendary Mamakan Blades, which are never traded.