Editorial notes on the Kitori

During Heortland discussion with Peter Metcalfe, the Kitori topic surfaced once again.

This document started out in 1998 as an attempt to summarize my view on the history of the Haunted Lands north of the Shadow Plateau. I tried not to contradict Peter's objections, but didn't succeed all the way.

David Cake and I made a little tossing match of bits and pieces of the Kitori History, which I included, using a colour code to indicate authorship.

I know that David wrote up a lot of stuff about the Kitori which he offered to Greg Stafford for inclusion into official material, but this material being based on distinct human and troll clans doesn't fit Greg's picture of the Kitori any more. Greg has declared the Kitori a "hands on" area, meaning that anything published about them is likely to be contradicted.

The latest info I had from Greg about the modern Kitori was that they were both and neither troll and human, much like the Only Old One himself. Based on this information (which is itself subject to the "hands on" problem) I would make David's "Human Clan" of the Kitori the "Mantroll" clan, keep the marriage bit about the mantroll king and the troll queen, keep the human "foundlings" in some of the troll clans, and continue to use David's ideas. That said, I'd love to see more of David's notes on this project.

Note that "Kitori Tribe" indicates to me the OOO-like man-shaped man-trolls, troll clans from the Troll Woods and their subject humans who survive as clan-add-ons (similar to the Nalda Bin in Heortling history).

The name "Haunted Lands" is taken from the Dragon Pass map in the RQ2 rules, where it describes the land of the Shadow Plateau as well as the New River valley. I use it as a collective term for the Runnel, Creek-Stream River and upper Marzeel River valleys.

Kitori History

In the Dawn Age, the Kitori started out as a human darkness-worshipping tribe providing a warlord of the Second Council.

David Cake:
At this time many of the Kitori lived on the Shadow Plateau. The OOO allowed non-trolls to settle there, and one of those who took up the offer was Varzor Kitor, founder of the Kitori tribe proper, who attracted most of the darkness worshipping humans of Kethaela to his new tribe.

Jörg:
They lived upon the Plateau? Ok, until the destruction of the City of Black Glass, the black sands covering most of the Plateau and smothering most of the growth there needn't have been there. Shadow Plateau has a bit more elevation than that of Heortland, but would be lower than most of Dragon Pass, so there is nothing to worry about the climate (rainfall would happen around the Obsidian Palace). The wandering shadows would reduce the amount of insolation, but needn't disturb the growth of whatever plants the Kitori farmed (being darkness-oriented, I like to think that they eat a lot more roots than grains, but this needn't be the case).

David Cake again:
Well, some of them lived on the plateau. There may have been Kitori living other places in addition, there may have been other darkness worshipping humans that didn't associate themselves with Kitor specifically but that were allied with the OOO.

Jörg:
Let me see: If the Kitori humans of the First (and Second) Age lived atop the Shadow Plateau, they would have had to leave it after Belintar smashed the Obsidian Palace and covered all the Plateau with a thick layer of infertile black glass dust.

David Cake:
I'm assuming it happened earlier, and thus for different reasons, as the Kitori are mentioned (in approximately the same area as now) in the founding of the Colymar story in the CHDP. Though that reference is of slightly dubious veracity, it does imply that the Kitori existed before the fall of the OOO.

Jörg:
They needn't have restrained their territory to the top of the plateau even then. The Kitori started out as a warlike tribe, and still have this reputation.

David Cake:
I think the Kitori of the second age were no longer particularly warlike. And they are farmers and traders as well as warriors. They may well have extended their territory well beyond the plateau.

After their founder died, they took a secondary role in the councilic affairs, until the trolls, dragonewts and Heortlings broke off from the God Project.

Jörg:
I prefer the Kitori to have sided with the rest of Kethaela, and to have helped Arkat. Who but they would actively pursue the cult of Black Arkat "somewhere in Heortland", or, when Greg was asked directly where to find the House of Black Arkat, "in Nochet".

David Cake:
Yes, I think it makes a lot more sense for a variety of reasons.

Unfortunately, they took the brunt of the fighting (party because Kwaratch Kwang had a religious rivalry with them, and treated them badly) and most of the warriors were killed. The first age Kitori are violent warriors (worshipping a Zorak Zoran variant called Zolan Zubar, a cult now extinct or absorbed into ZZ), but the Kitori after the Gbaji wars are more known as Argan Argar worshippers - capable of fighting, but equally at home trading or farming.

Jörg:
And probably already earlier, during Palangio's siege of Shadow Plateau (which lasted at least 40, maybe up to 70 years).

David Cake:
The first age Kitori are violent warriors (worshipping a Zorak Zoran variant called Zolan Zubar, a cult now extinct or absorbed into ZZ), but the Kitori after the Gbaji wars are more known as Argan Argar worshippers - capable of fighting, but equally at home trading or farming.

Jörg:
They can't have been exclusively warriors in the First Age either without lots of farmers to support them. Probably they were warriors capable of farming, but most at home in raids and warfare.

The dissenters were crushed in a number of battles, and the troll strongholds of Dagori Inkarth and the City of Black Glass were laid under siege.

It is hard to tell when the Kitori took in trolls into their tribe. It is possible that they offered the trolls of the Troll Woods shelter and asylum while the Obsidian Palace was besieged, but this needn't be the case. Neither is their relation to Palangio the Iron Vrok or Arkat well documented, so it is hard to tell on which side they participated in the battles for the liberation of Kerofinela. They might even have been eradicated during this time.

David Cake:
Our [David and Shannon Appel's] working hypothesis was that the Kitori retreated to the Shadow Plateau with the OOO. He had granted non-trolls the right to live there early in the first age. The current Kitori lands were the lands of a troll tribe who allowed the humans to settle, not the other way around.

Jörg:
What do you call "current Kitori Lands"? Their refuge in the Troll Woods or the land they occupied before Tarkalor and his alliance sent them to exile?

Let me see: If the Kitori humans of the First (and Second) Age lived atop the Shadow Plateau, they would have had to leave it after Belintar smashed the Obsidian Palace and covered all the Plateau with a thick layer of infertile black glass dust.

David Cake:
I'm assuming it happened earlier, and thus for different reasons, as the Kitori are mentioned (in approximately the same area as now) in the founding of the Colymar story in the CHDP. Though that reference is of slightly dubious veracity, it does imply that the Kitori existed before the fall of the OOO.

Jörg:
They needn't have restrained their territory to the top of the plateau even then. The Kitori started out as a warlike tribe, and still have this reputation. There's nothing to stop them from collecting regular tribute from the human farmers to all sides of the Plateau which provide access up or down (easier towards the north, because the land rises around the plateau), or at least trying to.

David Cake:
I think the trolls have historically occupied the troll woods, probably since the first age, and that was what I meant by the current Kitori lands. I'm not really sure exactly when or why the Kitori influence over the surrounding (now Volsaxi) area came about.

I think the Kitori of the second age where no longer particularly warlike. And they are farmers and traders as well as warriors. They may well have extended their territory well beyond the plateau.

Jörg 2003:
I think that between the end of the Gbaji Wars and the end of the EWF the Kitori kept extremely low profile outside of the Obsidian Palace. Perhaps even within, although that seems unnecessary in a structure as large as that kilometers high tower (especially when you include the deep, deep basements).

David Cake:
I saw the foundation of the modern Kitori taking place in the mid second age. It is a conscious attempt to make the human Kitori part of the ruling troll clans, by a magic 'marriage' between the tribal king and troll queen.

Jörg 2003:
This is where I would put the change from a handful of darkness-worshipping humans in the Obsidian Palace into OOO-like ambiguous man-trolls looking mostly human-shaped.

Jörg 1998:
Did they marry into one of the ruling clans, or into a clan with ambitions to become a ruling clan? What were the motivations for the troll clan to accept this magical marriage? Neither profit nor a fair number of fierce warriors would overcome the typical racial antipathy without there being some urgent need, unless they had the Only Old One as active matchmaker.

David Cake:
To be honest, I'm not sure. There had to have been some pressing advantage to the trolls, but I'm not sure what it was. I have several theories, but none are entirely satisfying.

Jörg 2003:
Being similar to the Only Old One in the dichotomy man/troll would be one advantage for the troll queen to choose the Kitori "human" king as a mate.

David Cake:
The Kitori consist of several troll clans, one human clan (called the Human clan'), and several mixed clans. I believe the troll clans are the original inhabitants of the troll woods, the human clan is the original founding clan of the modern Kitori, and the mixed clans are clans that joined later as refugees from the Pharoah.

Jörg 1998:
Mixed clans: so when the Pharaoh made his conquests, refugees approached the Kitori, and were assigned to troll clans willing to take in humans?

David Cake:
There were troll refugees as well. But basically. It was to the advantage of all the powers that be, effectively locking the refugess out of the main (troll and human) ruling clans.

Jörg 1998:
I'm not sure I like this late date as the origin of the mixed clans, IMO they should have been in existance already earlier, so that the refugees could have followed the earlier mixed clans' example.

(Sounds a bit like the Kitori policy was: "You want to remain a human only clan? Welcome to our tributary clans, you'll settle there, give annual tribute, and we'll protect you when we can. You want permanent protection? Do as the ... did, and join a troll clan. They will take care of you, and you of them.")

David Cake:
I like the reasoning. Its possible that some mixed clans were formed earlier, imitating on a smaller scale the ritual that founded the tribe.

During the Second Age no Kitori are heard of in any sources. With the caveat that Greg is planning something for them, my current (2003) theory is that some last survivors were taken into the Obsidian Palace at the end or after the Gbaji Wars, sort of as family to the man/troll Only Old One, probably interbreeding or otherwise gifted with the ruler's mixed ancestry, where they survived until the Dragonkill in a small but steadily growing number. Sometime after the Dragonkill, they established themselves as rulers in the Creek-Stream River (now upper Marzeel) valley between the Troll Woods in the east and the Lysos River in the west, lording over both Orlanthi and troll clans and tribes.

It is a known fact that the mixed tribe of trolls and humans ruled the Haunted Lands north of Shadow Plateau, south of the Crossline early in the Third Age. This may have started as early as 1042 when the government of the Third Council was assassinated by dragonewts and trolls. The Remakers to their north continued to rule the area of modern Beast Valley and Upland Marsh (then still the Lakes) until the Dragonkill War in 1120, when one their leaders, Delecti, turned the Lakes into the Upland Marsh, and himself into an undead.

After the Dragonkill War one band of Troll Woods trolls (led by Vamargic Eye-Necklace) fought against Dagori Inkarth warbands in and for depopulated Kerofinela. Vamargic was of very unusual ancestry, being a great troll born to a pair of cave trolls. They finally allied with their former foe Kajak-ab Braineater against the Stinkwood boar riders led by Karastand Half-Troll, who was overcome when he sought the alliance of non-trolls. After that they remained united and warred with the other elder races of Dragon Pass until 1222, the battle of Uz Eat Dragonewts. They did, having crushed advanced forces, but then the reveling trolls were surprised by Beastmen and slaughtered in large numbers, and burnt afterwards. The ruined EWF city site was called Smoking Ruin afterwards. This catastrophe may have been another logical period of weakness after which the troll component of the Kitori may have originated.

In the early the Third Age, the Kitori were dominating the valleys of Marzeel River, Creek-Stream River and Runnel River south of the Crossline. Their troll component allowed them a limited trade across Dragon Pass, which they did trough a route via Whitewall, then in their hands. They ruled over numerous scattered clans and tribelets whom they oppressed probably as much as the Vendref are suppressed by the Grazers - i.e. they were very limited in their military potential, forced to pay strong tribute, etc. I don't think that the Kitori had a mythical explanation for this tribute, strength alone sufficed.

The clans they lorded over were remnants from earlier Heortling settlements, perhaps even predating the Dragonkill War, but included also those clans desperate enough to leave the southern lands and to dare to live right next to the unknown border of the Crossline. This included clans from the Esrolian North Marches, and from Heortland proper. The only known clans from this time are those which formed the Volsaxi, although a number of Sartarite or Vendref clans would qualify.

One of the first blows to their dominant position would have been the formation of the Lead Hills and the swamping of much of the best river valley land in 1318. If you look at the Shadowlands map in Uz Lore, you will see that Blackwell and the surrounding Lead Hills occupy the centre of the Haunted Lands (it also calls the lands directly north of the Building Wall the Grazelands). The human Kitori may have lost some of their best land under the hills.

This also forced many of the clans into migration. It is quite possible that the first clans enslaved by the Grazers were just refugees from the flooding of the Haunted Lands. Other clans would have moved into the Marzeel valley. KoS p.196 makes it likely that the land occupied by Sun Dome County was Kitori land.

Beginning around the time Belintar conquered the Holy Country, clans, families and individuals dared crossing into Dragon Pass again, fleeing the fighting or persecution in Kethaela.

Many immigrants from northern Kethaela had been living as tributaries to the Kitori, not as as proud and free Orlanthi as they want to see themselves. [Snip: a bit about the Colymar coming from northwestern Esrolia, this has been settled otherwise and to my satisfaction in the meantime]

The northern half of the Esrolian March has never been as densely settled as the river valleys. Neither Longsi Land nor the North March are as densely settled as the plateau of Heortland, either, or have ever been. Esrolia's riches lie in the river valleys, not in its Skyreach foothills. That's also the reason why the people living there are closer to standard Orlanthi than the riverine population, though still with a stronger matriarchal slant.

A lot of the refugees from further south in Heortland came from the border between the lowland (plateau) Hendriki and the highland clans when the westernized Hendriki expanded their feudal system into the lower valleys from 1320 to 1350 (at least). The hill clans had the choice to resist and be crushed, to submit, or to pack up and leave. Most submitted, some left for higher valleys (already settled, compare the Sambarri arrival in Torkani lands), some for new opportunities (Praxian Marches, Dragon Pass).

The Volsaxi tribes of Whitewall were formed as full tribal entities only when their tributary and suppressed status by the Kitori was lifted. Before, single clans may have cooperated now and then, but I am not even sure that the tribes of the Kurtali, Sylangi and Bacofi existed prior to Tarkalor's involvement.

and the current situation

Jörg:
The Volsaxi have recently (around 1550) settled the country from which they expelled the Kitori tribe (survivors, into the Troll Woods). Their former settlement patterns had been dictated by the Kitori; their new patterns may well have been influenced by their Sartarite allies. Especially since the Hendriki and other Heortlanders seem to have abstained from taking sides in the conflict.

David:
Yes. The Kitori now control the troll woods, but at one stage controlled a lot more. The Kitori consist of several troll clans, one human clan (called 'the Human clan'), and several mixed clans. I believe the troll clans are the original inhabitants of the troll woods, the human clan is the original founding clan of the modern Kitori, and the mixed clans are clans that joined later as refugees from the Pharaoh.