Island Peoples: Dwarves and Dragons
Intro and Prologue
Intro
Five years after Seth and his crew had settled ‘The Day’, colonists are still coming and still settling the new land. One of these colonists is young Dwarf Heinrich, who seems to spend most of his time sitting at the front of the ship wondering what the new land will be like, and whether Dwarves would ever be allowed to swim.
Dwarves and Dragons is the story of Heinrich and the friends and enemies he makes as he settles his new land.
Prologue
From Seth Ben Caleb, Heir of the Realm, Prince of ‘The Day.’
To His Highness, Caleb Ben Joshua, King over All Races
Dearest Father,
Our work here continues well. Truly, He Who Is has blessed us. Who could imagine, all those many years ago when I was kidnapped, that this would be the result? Or not all that many years ago! It seems like forever, but my oldest son, born soon after we arrived, is only five years old.
Our fortress on the cliff, which we have named ‘The Day,’ has not been improved much since you were last here. It continues to serve mostly as my headquarters, the warehouse for building equipment and other supplies destined for the interior, and as an assembly area for new recruits. The courtyard is always in complete bedlam.
The movement of immigrants has continued at about the same pace, but the last ship that docked told me that the first of the new ships which the Dwarves have built specifically for transporting their people (and the passengers they are hauling to pay for them) will be arriving soon. From what I hear, the rate of arrivals will at least double, and we have been working on our organization to handle them. Although the Fishermen have found a couple of other areas to land new recruits, this is still by far the main attraction. In particular, the logistics for assuring the safety of those moving inland is only developed here.
Our new race, the Spearmen, is still very much of an enigma. Their public life is simple enough; they stand on walls with those enormous spears, and accompany groups of Horsemen on their hunts. But their private life is difficult for the rest of us to understand--especially as they are not at all conversationalists.
But they (along with the Dwarves, Horsemen, and Farmers for the logistics) have established a series of forts stretching from here to the mountains; truly a monumental achievement. There is a river along the route, and the Farmers and Marshmen travel down it to areas adapted to their needs. We haven’t heard much from the Marshwiggle development, (you wouldn’t expect to, would you?) but the Farmers have been producing goods beyond our wildest imagination. They have selected areas where the great beasts don’t go, and so have less need of protection than other areas. Still, the Spearmen have sent some of their own to each settlement.
It is only recently that the Dwarves have begun settlement. Indeed, I think the first ‘groundbreaking’ was held three months ago (they don’t call it that, of course). They have been amazingly patient, serving all the other races while holding off on their own development. Of course, their people will find it the most awkward to move across the plains. Perhaps they had their own motives in assuring that the fortresses, farms, and herds of the Trolls were in place before they started.
We have been pushing the beasts back satisfactorily. I can’t say I envy the Horsemen’s job, but they seem to revel in it. I think we have lost fully three quarters of the Horsemen males that have come over. Do everything you can to increase their recruitment. I only wish it was possible to recruit unmated females.
My wife’s Father has played one of the most crucial roles in this development. From being our active enemy, and seeking to have me kidnapped and you killed, he now has become our most effective ally (though I hear he is doing quite well for himself out of it). As you know he has been sending us not only the young couples we started with, but whole families--families from the second tier of Farmer culture; second sons and prosperous plowboys.
Many of these have turned into Spearmen. It has actually been hard to get Farmers all the way out to the farm area, so many of them stop at some fortress and make the transformation. If we didn’t need Spearmen so badly, I would have been upset about it.
As for the financial status, we are coming very close to breaking even. All of the immigrants have been charged for what they are receiving, except for the Horsemen. And we have been charging the others for their services to help reimburse us for…
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Von