Afridhi Strength

During 1024, the best information on the Afridhi had 20,000 troops in the Duchy of Ten but most of them dispersed in a series of small encampments along the west bank of the Misauga [and] Loch Gloomen. This data misnamed Dacoit, Detroit, and further ignored all Afridhi civilians in the former Duchy. Also, fully 11350 troops, plus the 200 Handmaidens of Death, were known to dwell in the Duchys cities and major castles well over half 20,000. 1 Must Rusagern, Southport, Hanford, Silverbell, and Port Dacoit be considered small encampments? No. From this data, King Uther drew the obvious conclusion: that he required better data. Following the Battle of the Neck, there were 35,000 troops arrayed against Blackmoor; 2 but since then information has been sketchy, at best. It was known that the Empire had changed its strategy (for a march through the High Hak, said some; 3 it was tied down elsewhere, said others 4) and that as a result, it had reduced their army in Ten to the aforementioned 20,000. Since city strength had remained the same (growing, if anything), and since Blackmoor scouts had not yet penetrated the wilderness, it was not known where these troops had gone. Blackmoors agents assumed that even if troops had been diverted outside the Duchy, the remaining troops were still kept along the Misauga front. The Afridhi feints of the 1025 season seemed to back this up.5 Since then, Blackmoors agents have developed better contacts with the Tenian resistance. 6 Also, Rissa Aleford, upon her release from the Temple of the Frog, has mounted many a raid upon Afridhi defenses.7 What they have found is heartening to the Afridhis many enemies. Here follows the best data as of Fall 1025.
# (sans Leader), Location Armour Source Leader Light Foot raiders 16BM Leather DA4 p. 32 2 Light Foot home 14BS,19E/GH/HT/WT Leather DA4 p. 30-32, 34, 35 2 Heavy Foot 19TK Chainmail DA4 p. 20 3 Light Horse - Press Gang 19D Leather DA4 p. 31 2 Light Horse wild 19HH/BK/EL/G/HT/PH/WT Chainmail DA3 p. 28; DA4 p. 30, 32, 35 2 Light Horse D 19D Chainmail DA4 p. 31 2 Scout 3EL, 2PH Leather DA4 p. 32 Heavy Horse ? Plate DA1 p. 3 ? One can classify the first two as light foot and the third heavy foot without any qualms. When the Afridhi first reached Ten, chain mail [was] reserved only for their elite infantry. 8 What constitutes light and heavy cavalry is more of a puzzle. The Afridhi apparently employed leather armour for their first, Peshwah-derived cavalry.9 The chainmailed Afridhi now making life miserable on the High Hak are merely labeled cavalry, 10 which was my first hint that Afridhi tactics had changed. These mailed knights are also to be found swarming the High Hak. The High Haks bases are known, and all contain only light horse. In addition, after winning their first two battles [against the Duchys cavalry, later depicted in art as brown-plated knights] 11, the Afridhi had their own companies of heavy plate-armoured horse.12 Therefore, I posit that light horse may wear leather or chainmail armour, and that Starmorgans heavy horse wear plate. All common cavalry are light horse; one will only encounter a plate-mailed knight on the battlefield. Afridhi Afridhi Afridhi Afridhi Afridhi Afridhi Afridhi Afridhi

1 DA1 p. 43 2 DA4 p. 27 3 DA1 p. 5 4 DA1 p. 43 5 often sent raids DA2 p. 2, larger and larger raids DA3 p. 2 6 DA4 p. 27-8 7 DA4 p. 27 8 DA4 p. 3 9 DA3 p. 28 10 DA3 p. 27 11 DA1 p. 23 12 DA4 p. 3

The Duchy of Ten

Hanford Oktagern Port Dacoit Robinsport Rusagern Silverbell Southport Starmorgan White Horse City Populations Greenwood Heavy Foot Light Foot Citadel Heavy Horse Light Horse Special Army 400 400 100 200 1100 800 200 1000 800 400 200 200 1600 800 400 300 300 1800 800 200 1000 800 100 200 1100 200 800 100 1100 800 1600 600 200 3200 50 50 3000 6000 800 600 1350 200 11950 Afridhi Tenian 1000 1000 800 500 1000 1500 1000 2000 700 700 1200 1000 1300 1000 2000 1000 100 9000 8800 8000

Total Population 20000 8000 50000 Offsets 8050 -1000 33200 The negative offset for Afridhi civilians can be explained in light of the Empty Lands below. These 1000 are civilians heavily connected with the army; engineers and such. Therefore, actual Afridhi troop strength within the former Duchys fortified towns should read 12950. 7050 troops are left over. The 200 Special refer to the Handmaidens of Death. Some followed Rusa with 200 of Starmorgans heavy foot at this time (see below). From this data, it is light foot who patrol the Barrier Swamp, the Gargoyle Hills, the Hills of Ten, the Wilds of Ten and (to a lesser extent) Blackmoors Barony of the Lakes. Their bases could be whatever Tenian city is closest. Light horse help them to patrol the Hills, the Wilds, and the Duchy proper. However, the only fort in easy range of the Hills and Wilds is Starmorgan, which has no light horse. These charts point to a crisis in Afridhi troop concentrations. Of the 7050 leftover troops, many must be stuck in contigents of light horse based in (unmarked) fortified camps in the various Greenwood-, bandit-, and monster-infested frontiers. Only a token force remains to counteract the Baronesss raids for Rusa has diverted away 2000 troops to one front, and 4000 to another. Having heard of the success of Tens old navy, the Afridhi Empire tried naval manoeuvres of its own. They planted several soldiers on Tenian-crewed ships, and sent them against Blackmoor. Unfortunately, they tended to have accidents in Blackmoors coastal waters. After losing a couple hundred people in this way, the Afridhi hastily decided to leave pillage to the experts. Port Dacoit and Robinsport are now important waystations for the western Skandaharians; Afridhi troops have remained landlocked. For their part, the Egg and the Skandaharians only forbear from piracy against the Afridhi because of their shared hatred of Blackmoor; any of Blackmoors ships, or any of the Peakss ships that venture east of the Misaugas mouth, are considered fair game. This has not been good for the local economy, nor for that of the Peaks. The news may be even better than this. The 1024 report failed to register Afridhi civilians. Perhaps the Afridhi had lived outside the cities, and have been forced, since, to flee behind protective walls. Also, the new figures reflect that Port Dacoit has had to add 400 troops to its garrison over the past year.13 The 8000 Brothers refer to those within the Duchy proper, and not those in the Eaves or in the Empty Lands.14 In context, the 6000 sympathizers are all in the Duchy too. Add to this (and to the Duchys population base) the numerous Tenian rebels in exile. This corresponds to condition H1 in Confidence Checks, Dungeon Masters Companion, page 8: [at least] half of the peasants form a

13 DA1 p. 42: 1000 troops, 200 in citadel 14 DA4 p. 28

Peasant Militia.15 The Duchys confidence level in Afridhi rule is below 200, and has been for over a decade.16 The Duchy is obviously not Turbulent, since not all Tenians are in open revolution. Moreover, the Greenwood the Duchys Peasant Militia does not yet exert absolute control over all areas in which it exists, nor are bandits running wild over the whole duchy (Belligerent). 17 The dominions confidence sits between 100 and 199. Machiavelli teaches that a prince may raise Confidence with one act of calculated brutality (the Terror), but not a dozen years of political and economic incompetence (Afridhi rule). The Tenians will not be cowed by anything less than the disintegration of the entire Greenwood, although they may be sated with concessions. With word of the Well of Souls spreading throughout the people, their Confidence will drop further still. Where are the Elves? DA1 p.54, woodland blight. DA4, Gul Hadda and Kay Degern speak Elf. But no elves appear in random encounters (unless they be Greenwood). The old Duke, the Ran of Ah Fooh, was a potent, perfectionist mage. He was dissatisfied with Starmorgan and built a new capital nearby. That was not the limit of his megalomania Not far from the Rans capital, there is a mountain known as Mount Rockey or Rocky, which Thonia discovered soon after the invasion of 997.18 The Northern provincials had been wondering why so many dragons fought in the Tenian ranks; 19 they found that Mount Rockey was filled with dragon pens, dragon hatcheries, and dragon-proof fortifications. These tamed dragons were never a match for free dragons, being small and non-aggressive,20 and they were still very young when the Duchy fell. Nothing has been heard from them since then, but Gul Hadda does speak their language... It should be mentioned here, if anywhere, that Kays physician Paulie Kel is the second most powerful mage in Ten, after Gul Hadda. There werent so many to begin with, given Tens small population, the jealousy of the Ran, and the attractions of Starport and the Egg. Enough remained loyal to distract Jallapierie and Sildonis when the Ten mounted their foolish Blackmoorian invasion (incidentally setting the stage for Uthers fabled charge at the Berne). The Afridhi conquest and Terror spelled the end.21 As for the Afridhi, their magical culture is a clerical one, and they strain it mightily just to keep Gul Hadda.

The Plains of Hak

Heavy Foot Light Foot Heavy Horse Light Horse Special Army Tenian Camp Mahsud 100 200 300 500 Camp Orakzai 100 200 300 300 Fort Jamud 400 600 1000 Fort Jank 400 400 200 1000 Gillian 100 100 200 Base Populations 400 1100 0 1200 0 2700 1000 Total Population 2000 1000 Offsets -700 0 The 700-troop offset represents those who guarded this frontier before Rusa was forced to divert 2000 reinforcements from the Misauga.22 Now there are, as the chart shows, 2700.

15 Although only 20% fight as regular soldiers: page 6. 16 DA4 p. 4, 27 on the Terror and the first revolt, year 1013. 17 DA4 p. 19: the Greenwood aids Degerns raid, but only because the cause is critical and because Degern is physically present. As reflected in the encounter tables, the Greenwood is otherwise not yet willing to emerge from the forests. 18 JG p. 48 19 JG pp. 7-8 20 JG p. 14 21 Non-clerical magic use was not listed as a capital offence, but the Afridhi would have seen a loyal Tenian mage as a major threat. 22 DA4 p. 29

The infantry guards the forts and camps as bases for light horse patrols.

The Empty Lands

Heavy Foot Light Foot Heavy Horse Light Horse Special Army Tenian Fort Khost 800 400 200 1400 Fort Peiwar 400 400 800 Fort Sherpur 200 200 200 600 Fort Wazir 400 400 200 200 1200 Sir Kay 0 2300 The Eaves 0 3000 Base Populations 1200 1400 0 1000 400 4000 5300 Greenwood Total Population 4000 6000 Offsets 0 700 4000 troops diverted from Misauga is a low estimate, or else (as in the south) some troops may have been stationed here earlier. For Sir Kay has slain 300 in Peiwar alone. 23 There are 200 foot in chainmail (i.e. heavy foot) stationed in Tor Kurram, while Rusa builds the Well of Souls. They were not counted in DA4's tally of the Empty Lands and their mission is a special one. Most important, there is a saboteur who follows an eastern heresy a Child of Zug. I posit that these troops were diverted from Ten. Further, they must hail from a fort in Ten in which Rusa resides, and which can spare 200 heavy foot. I conclude that they are Starmorgans and will return after said mission is over.

The Lands between the Duchies of the Peaks and of Ten will now be studied, as there is a lot of information about them, although it has not yet been collected in one place. The areas west and southwest of the Firefrost were once much drier and less wooded. The recent change in the nature of that icy channel from the Skandaharian Sea has caused explosive growth in the woodlands in the Empty Lands (particularly the Wolf Wood); life is good for Ivor, the Gakarak of the Glens. It has also driven the Empty Lands steppes off the map to the west. Fort Sherpur is indeed a new fort, founded just after 1013 to prevent infiltration back and forth between Degerns rebels and the [former] Duchy by sea. 24 But it is not the first fort in the region. The whole area was once under the suzerainty of the Duchy of the Peaks, and their ruined strongholds still dot the landscape. Many have seen renewed occupation by one side or the other as they play cat-and-mouse. By one rather dated and imprecise account, some 2000 Tenians have fled to Sir Kays army.25 By another (presumably Greenwood) source closer to the exiled baron, he has an army of 1500 men, allied with 800 Brothers of the Greenwood (which includes non-combatants).26 From Wazir, light horse patrol Karsh and light foot patrol the Eaves. From Sherpur, Khost, and especially Peiwar, light horse try to patrol the vast plains and woodlands of the Empty Lands.

Other
There are also 300 light horse patrolling the High Hak plateau year-round. Since, we may assume, the Peshwah do not want them there, they are probably based in the surrounding wilderness. Due to the unforgiving slopes, raging streams, and Peshwah stockades which make up the High Haks west and north boundaries, the Fetch is beginning to look to the High Haks east, that is, in the Blasted Woods region. Adding to his suspicions, the Blasted Woods hosts a mounted brigand population second only to that of the Tiverton Greening. As of autumn 1025, he had confirmed these reports.27 Blackmoor now estimates 400 light horse scattered around hidden bases, with large contigents of heavy

23 DA4 p. 29 24 DA4 p. 29 25 DA4 p. 27 26 DA4 p. 44 DA3 p. 29 27 DA4 p. 29

foot to fend off the monsters which infest the area, all disguised as penniless bandits to divert the attentions of armies and dragons. So far accounted for, are 20000 Afridhi warriors in Ten, 2700 in the Plains of Hak, 4000 in the Empty Lands, and probably 800 in the Blasted Woods / High Hak region. 27,500 warriors in total. Scouts note that the rumoured 1000 pike from Starport are not accounted for. There are plans to build a fort for 400 heavy foot and 550 more light horse in White Horse. Starmorgan can spare at least 200 of these heavy foot (when they're done with Tor Kurram). Peiwar may also supply 400 of the light horse. The remainder must come from somewhere. Whence? The Afridhi have not called any reserves into action, preferring to withdraw much-needed forces from the Misauga. The reason the Afridhi have not used reserves, must be that they have no reserves: any further troops are patrolling the rest of the 300-mile expanse of the High Hak, or else protecting their base at the Vales. It is time to investigate the current total strength of the Afridhi army.

Demographics
The total population of the Afridhi nation was 170,000 when its outriders left the Vales in the year 1003.28 In the 12 years it took them to conquer the Vales, the Plains, and the Duchy (twice 29), on their way to meet the Northern Barons at the Neck, their army had grown from 40,000 to 45,000. 30 This population increase represents the rate at which 15-year-old (minimum) men joined the army, subtracted by the number of older soldiers who retired or died. This in turn reflects the rate at which the population grew over a 12-year period, ending 15+ years before the Battle of the Neck. In other words, the Afridhi potential-fighter population expanded by a factor of 1.125 in their last 12 years in the mountains:

pop(t ) = 1125 . q pop(t q ) , where t, q represent time in 12-year intervals, or better:

y pop(t ) = 10099 . pop(t y ) in one-year intervals, rounding up.

This marks a minimum bound for overall population growth in the mountains (about 1% a year, a low rate which reflects a high population density). Since then, in the 12 easy years of gobbling up territory outside the mountains, the population of the Afridhi must have exploded. Since then, the majority of Afridhi womenfolk have retired back to the Vales, leaving the best of their manhood back East.31 In the year 1016, the first members of this baby-boom generation joined the army. By the year 1030, however, this generation will start to taper off. As far as Afridhi troop strength is concerned, we are still unenlightened. Since the Neck, the Afridhi have endured the Battle of Blackmoor and innumerable raids and reprisals from Rissa Aleford, the Gator Men, and various rebels. I posit that Afridhi strength has remained constant at 35,000; others may disagree. Incidentally, this represents a crisis on another front. These new recruits are Afridhi who do not remember the mountains. All they know is a brutal, distant, and unending war in the East. Once there, they come into contact with Tenian mores and Tenian women. The female population in the Vales is also picking up habits (and lovers) from the Valemen. What does this mean for the Afridhi way of life?

Heretics
If the Afridhi expect their army to grow at the current rate from 1030 onwards, they will have to accept Valemen and Afridhi-Valeman parthenai into its ranks. This will bring about a crisis for which the Afridhi have not prepared themselves. Their attitude has been one of Zugzul will provide. For the Afridhi have worse problems. Thanks to Thonian and Tenian contacts, Zugzul now has followers who oppose the Sisters of Fire, of whom the most radical call themselves Children of 28 DA1 p. 3, 62; DA4 p. 3, 44. To clear matters up, I posit that this refers to the Afridhi race, not the empire and not the people who actually made the trek. I question whether the Afridhi could have wholly assimilated the Valemen in only two years. Besides, the Afridhi way is to make helots of the conquered peoples. In addition, the whole 170,000 could not have made this trek and back again; many must have stayed to keep an eye on the thralls. 29 DA4 p. 27 30 The 10,000 Afridhi deaths in that battle far exceeded total Afridhi battle deaths in the previous 12 years of warfare and led to a net drop of 5000 in total Afridhi strength (to 35,000 men). DA4 p. 27. 31 DA4 p. 27

Zug.32 The Children believe that males constitute a second aspect in Zugzuls name, and therefore deserve at least equal rank. The heresy holds its greatest sway within the former duchy, particularly among the men of the occupying army, from whom it now commands a substantial minority. The Sisters of Fire have persecuted this deviant sect, and Zugzul has shunned it. But adversity has only strengthened it, and endeared it to the captive Tenians. Indeed, the Children may seek converts Tenian as well as Afridhi. This brings us to the true purpose of the Well of Souls (no mere weapon). Zugzul intended the Well to be a sign for the Sisters of Fire, an ultimate sword of orthodoxy. It was no less than Zugzuls Ark of the Covenant. So when Toska Rusa hand-picked her army for the journey to the Barrens of Karsh, she screened especially for Children. But she missed one just one. Dost Suwat secretly helped to sabotage the Well of Souls. The Sisters of Fire have been disgraced by this debacle even more than has Zugzul; as a result, they have redoubled their efforts to destroy the heresy. The Sisters have been petitioning their God, but if He acts, He risks alienating the heretics from His worship entirely. There are plenty of other gods waiting in the wings. If any portion of his army defected to, say, the Thonian High Church, the Afridhi Empire would be lost. Also, Zugzul needs conserve His own strength, for even incomplete the Well drained Him of power.

Toska Rusa
It can now be revealed that the Afridhi have not been saving 15,000 troops for an invasion of the High Hak. On the contrary, they have been fighting a losing war to keep what they already have. With the Well of Souls destroyed, the Afridhi have become the Ottoman Empire of fantasy roleplaying. Toska Rusa, Mistress of God, has three options: she can wait, she can retreat, or she can fight. Waiting is no longer viable. This time is too critical, and they need Zugzuls strength more than ever. Zugzul faces too much doubt. If she waits, His influence will vanish. Retreat is another option. In 20 more years, the Afridhi-Valeman conglomerate may again be strong enough to mount another invasion then it and Rusa will be more powerful and more experienced in how to run a monotheism in a pagan world. In the meantime, the Afridhi can continue to disrupt the Peshwah as far as possible, perhaps even colonizing the Plains as farmland. Of course, in 20 years whatever has survived to their east will be stronger and wiser too. Worse, at this point there is no guarantee that the Afridhi can even retreat safely! If Rusa wishes to stay in Ten now and to take Thonia later, she needs to quell the rebellion. And for that, she needs allies; Zugzuls attempt to intervene directly, with the Well, failed. She has few choices left. The Peshwah want their Plains back and will not compromise. Likewise, Blackmoor remains an implacable enemy. The Duchy of the Peaks, true to form, supports both sides; but smugglers regularly run supplies to Degerns rebels (the only way they can trade with the outside world). They are increasingly becoming another enemy. The Gator Men have long hated Tenians, but they hate the Afridhi equally and besides would only fight in the swamps, not in the woods and hills where the rebels are most active. The Iron Duke might support the Afridhi by tying up the Peshwah and Blackmoor far to the East, but his resources are stretched even thinner than Rusas; and he has few, very few agents in Ten. The Skandaharians are stronger but will not venture into the mainland. And Rusa, guarantrix of the faith, refuses even to negotiate with infidel daemons and their chattel; that is, the Egg, the High Church of Thonia, and the Children of Zug. The Empress of all the Afridhi has cornered herself.

The Egg
The Egg had many agents in Ten before the Conquest and the ensuing Terror. 33 Since then, these agents have found themselves without influence in the new order. Worse (for the Egg), the Afridhi have persecuted its followers with even more vigour than they have persecuted the High Church of Thonia. The Children of Zug have offered them no haven; nor have they been privy to the close-knit (and Church-aligned) councils of the Greenwood. Such Eggs men as are left are in hiding, one way or another. Even the Thieves Guild of Robinsport has been closed to them. The Egg has managed to retain a few agents in smaller Thieves Guilds, and others in non-Greenwood bandit camps. One of these tried to carry out a joint mission with the Greenwood, but was rebuffed (and fell into a trap soon after). 32 DA4 p. 41 33 see related monograph on The North

The Egg has lost such influence that some agents have even defected to the Greenwood; others, more alienated from Tenian society, to the Afridhi. Defectors are given full pardon by either side, as they often have valuable information and can be trusted never, ever to return to the Eggs clutches again. Unfortunately, they tend not to live long in freedom. A tale is now told of a middleaged man, the corrupt mayor of a once-prosperous Glenfinian village. One dark and thundering night, he rushed out of his cozy manor and fled to Starmorgan. On the hillside path, he was approached by several guards, unimpressed at such behaviour and ready to teach him a lesson. Before they could reach him, he collapsed in mysterious and hideous agony; the guards, who usually bludgeon such people on the spot, hurriedly took him up to the castle as the rain began to fall. It was whispered later, that when one of Rusas Sisters of Fire tried to speak with dead to the hapless mans twisted corpse, she went mad and leapt out the window, shrieking. Such, at least, was the rumour among the Tenian peasants who found her lifeless body, splattered and still bleeding on the dark, sodden rocks of the valley below. Much of this is doubtless rumour-mongering by peasant families, swapping tall tales of terror to while away a cold autumnal night. The horrific details of this particular story cannot be verified because, within the hour of their demise, the Afridhi had destroyed both bodies. Such tales tend to deter would-be defectors, but both Rusa and the Greenwood clerics remain on the lookout. Both sides agree that the Egg is an abomination that must be banished from this plane of existence. They merely disagree about when.