A minor territory to the west of the imperial province of Boroden, the territory of Borra was an innocuous backwater of the empire, a chain of fertile valleys surrounded by the sharp spires of the Yaer.
The mountain valleys of Borra were some of the first areas carved out of the primeval eastern forests by the Taur. As they became numerous, many continued east to found realms now known as Boroden, Cer Patsir, and Nocantis, but many of the children of Mur chose to settle by the shores of its two cold, clear lakes, Beresh and Calam.
When Seree explorers first reached Borra, they came from the east, having trvelled up through Jihan and west from Boroden, but before long, westward passes had been discovered to the west to the ancient lands, and their numbers swelled.
After the fall of Rumea, and the sandstorms claimed Jihan, these treacherous, winding ways were the only remaining bridge from the west.
The details of this time are not known, for the Taur did not record their history.
The earliest records found in the old Beresh council hall archives hearken from the 192nd year after the founding of the Temple. Though the documents are fragmentary, what remains still provides a clear picture of life in Borra before the Mirese kings.
Under a charter of self-government granted by Lord Segrusi of Torin in 232, the realm was governed by a council formed of local landowners and wealthy guildsmen.
Because of its relative isolation, Borra was spared the worst of the wars taking place in the coastal fiefdoms, and the area grew rich and prosperous.
Their taxation records indicate that poll medallions were sold in more than a hundred towns and villages, throughout Nital Beresh and Nital Calam, including the northern upland areas that are now completely forested.
When the influence of the Mirese houses reached Torin, life in the south changed considerably. With Segrusi deposed by Cediplar I, many wealthy Seree families throughout the empire were stripped of their lands, although some clung to their position in the new social hierarchy through judicious marriages.
The Hantosha (Han-TOSH-uh) family came to Borra in the year 241, as vassals of Cediplar. The first Mirese ruler of Borra, Setoglar Hantosha, was appointed baron of the realm in Beresh under moonlight, in the Mirese way. With his house came the White Palm, the strange northern sect of the Temple that had been absorbed into the imperial religion a century earlier, which founded a monastery at Nobina, in Nital Calam.
Setoglar Hantosha quickly set about changing the political landscape of Borra, moving the seat of government from Beresh to the Tinoni ridge above the bustling town. The following year, the White Palm was granted a huge portion of the northern valley, stretching from Nobina to Hiotica, as its tithedom.
The militia of Beresh was restricted to within the town walls, the baron preferring to enforce his laws using mercenaries, imported from Yobora.
As the years passed, more and more Murian tithedoms were granted to the White Palm. By 280, the Murian temple had weakened considerably. Deprived of its income, their stables grew empty, and the abbeys at Tanason and Gusasi were abandoned.
Under Setoglar's nephew, Tesiglar Hantosha, Murian warders were no longer exempt from the tithe, having to purchase a poll medallion for each tithedom they crossed, as regular citizens. Unable to move freely througout Borra, the warders were unable to perform their duties.
The wealthier villages sent for warders themselves, paying for their medallions with their surpluses, but elsewhere a season might go by without a single warding. Wolves preyed deeper into the valleys than ever before, and the fairy lights went unchallenged. The outer boroughs grew wild and dangerous.
In 291, goblins were spotted near Medinu, the first time they had been seen in Borra since the founding of the Temple. They entered Nital Calam, probably from the north, and raided along the edges of the new young forests, stealing sheep and horses. Petitions from villagers went unheeded, and the raids grew steadily worse.
In the year 298, the records show, a dread day came when Mur did not brighten. As the twins approached Saumurghy, a morning came when the sky remained dark, until a strange, different sun lit the sky from the north, casting an eerie pale light over the land. Fearing the end had come, the people erupted in riot.
The riots were isolated and disorganized at first, toppling monuments and shrines to the Baron. When a mob burned a shrine to Plochec in Nobina, the abbot sent a contingent of templars and mercenaries to disperse the crowd, and the violence escalated. The riot was quickly ended.
The absentist movement, however - counting among its number several knights of the Murian temple - capitalized on the wave of resentment that arose in response to news of the slaughter. They found much sympathy within the increasingly marginalized town militias, and began preparing for a more organized rebellion.
That same month, their leader, Pupre Hassino, led a surprise attack, marching from Beresh to high Tinoni in the dead of night, and set fire to the baron's palace and forced him to flee to Nobina.
For a season, absenters held most of Nital Beresh, but by the following season the Baron had reinforced his mercenaries. When spring came, he drove south in a series of victories led by his son Carothex, his veteran hirelings easily breaking the less experienced militias.
Tesiglar's reclaimed Beresh before the snows had melted, and his anger was felt deeply by the people. The militias were disbanded, and its leaders - as well as anyone visibly connected to the rebellion - were arrested and hanged.
Fearing retribution, the Temple was quick to distance itself from the absenters, and in 299 the movement was declared a heresy, punishable by death.
To prevent similar recurrences, Tesiglar imposed a claar, a sword tax of a hundred shillings, effectively preventing all but the wealthiest from owning weapons. The charter of self-government was repealed, and poll tax rights to the boroughs were sold off to raise money.
Over the next few years, trade dwindled considerably as the roads and passes fell into disrepair, and goblins moved unhindered through Nital Calam, attacking travellers and shepherds bringing their flocks to town. Bands of mercenaries, no longer employed but unwilling to make the long trek back to Boroden, began to cause trouble as well, pillaging hamlets and looting roadside shrines. Refugees from the outer boroughs began to arrive in Beresh, fleeing the destruction of their homes.
Carothex Hantosha inherited the baronial title in 309, upon the death of his father Tesiglar, and has since proven to be a negligent ruler.
For the last seven years, he has spent the entire summer season hunting goblins for sport with a cadre of mercenaries, and the winters in Nobina, recuperating from his many injuries his sport has earned him. The work of the healers has left him a patchwork, and earned him the name Carothex the White.
