A Reach Divided

A Reach Divided

An Accounting on the Division of the East and West Reach, by Ramoné Aviénne

Published 4E 180

The Druadach Pact
In the early days of the 4th Era, the Reachmen became a rather isolated group. News of the goings-on within the tribes became scarce, and not much was known on what exactly was going on in the Reach in both High Rock and Skyrim. Reachman attacks on merchant caravans became rare, and the hostilities seemed to stop.

The cities living around the Reach were not comfortable with the sudden peace. Rumours were made that the Reachmen were uniting, and forming an army larger than the 2nd Era leader Durcorach. Eventually, the people grew paranoid. Jehanna sent scouts to observe tribes, Evermore fortified the Bangkorai once more, and Markarth increased patrols in areas known to be home to Reachman tribes. Armies were raised in case of war, and the three cities surrounding the Reach were never more prepared for it.

Eventually the cities grew lax about the disappearance of the Forsworn, and got used to their absence. Then one day the Bangkorai garrison saw an army of Reachmen headed towards their direction. The men prepared for battle. Bows were ready and adrenaline was pumping; these were men ready to give their lives for High Rock. But as the crowd drew closer and closer to the garrison, the men realized they faced not a legion of invaders, but a convoy of traders. Untrained to handle the situation, the men simply checked the group for any weapons and let them go on their way. Days later, the convoy arrived in Evermore. The leader of the group claimed to represent the Druadach Pact, the union of all the Reachmen tribes from High Rock to Skyrim. The emissary negotiated a trade agreement with the king of Evermore, and the Reachman merchants were granted free reign within the city. Over the course of two weeks convoys of the same nature arrived in Markarth and Jehanna.

Evermore and Markarth accepted the Reachmen as long as profit was to be had, but the court of Jehanna was not too fond of the idea of allowing Reachmen into the city and no trade agreement was made. Eventually the Druadach Pact started establishing a capital city of sorts, calling it Druadinium and organizing itself more and more. A council of the tribal chiefs ruled the Pact, making sure all was fair within its lands. The Druadach Pact enjoyed peace with its neighbours and hoped that it would last, but the King of Jehanna desired more land. Jehannese expansion east would be difficult. Solitude was stronger than it was, and they had already annexed Farrun to the West. The only direction Jehanna could go now was south into Reachman-controlled territories.

The Jehannese Invasion
In 4E 102, a Jehannese force of 8,000 men led by Prince Aris Virraud marched into Reachman-controlled territories, leaving entire villages razed and pillaged. The Tribal Elders of the Reachman tribes reacted quickly. They appointed Warchief Taurenach of Skyrim’s Reach to set up an ambush in a valley near Druadinium, the same route that Prince Aris’ men would take to get into the city’s relatively weak southern walls. The Jehannese armies were slaughtered at the pass and Prince Aris himself was killed in the battle. The night after the battle only mourning was heard in Druadinium. The dream of peace had died, and in its wake was war.

Until that point the Druadach Pact was governed by a body of wise men and seers, but the need for them was gone now. The time of Warchiefs had come. Warchief Taurenach took the title of leader for the entire Pact and readied armies to retake their lost land. Thousands rose to join his cause from all tribes. For the first time since Durcorach, the Reachmen had a unified army. The Druadach army marched North retaking their lost land and eventually marching into Jehannese territory. Cloud Spring was sacked by the Reachmen and was only retaken years later.

The hostilities continued on for years. The Imperial Legion did what it could to regulate the fighting by guarding the two factions' borders with one another but the two would not let each other go so easily. Eventually the fighting took the life of Warchief Taurenach and he was succeeded by his two sons, Arrys and Madanach. During 4E 170 the Great War broke out and the Imperial Legion in High Rock was called to march back to Cyrodiil as reinforcements. With no third party to mediate the fighting, the Jehannese moved in fast and the ill-prepared Druadach Pact was forced to abandon their capital of Druadinium.

Beginning of the End
Obviously the Reachmen had to get back to Druadinium somehow, though the two brothers had different ideas. Arrys thought it would be wise to ally with the Orcs. On the other hand, Madanach was more interested in the magics that their ancestors used in the past. He traveled High Rock with an entourage for months, looking for the source of power that Durcorach himself used to invade the rest of High Rock. After months of searching, he found it. An old coven of Hagravens, steeped in the lore of the Old Ways. Madanach offered his entourage to the witches and they became the first Briarhearts for centuries. Madanach returned to his brother in 4E 172 with the Hagraven coven and a band of Briarhearts. Together Arrys and Madanach’s armies of Briarhearts, Orcs, and Reachmen retook Druadinium from the Jehannese over the course of two months.

The night Druadinium was retaken every Orc, Reachman, and Mercenary that fought for the Druadach Pact celebrated in their triumph. Arrys and Madanach consulted a seer after the battle, as is customary to Reachman tribes. The seer declared that they must kill the Briarhearts and exile the Hagraven Coven, for they woud bring nothing but death and misery to the Druadach Pact. Arrys wished to abide by the seer's words, as his mind was steeped in tradition. But Madanach did not agree with this decision. He knew that it was the Hagravens that brought them victory, and he knew that they had become an essential part of their ranks.

Arrys allowed them to stay for a while, but he knew that word would eventually spread to the tribes that they denied the order of a Seer. If that were to happen, chaos would erupt within Druadinium. Events swiftly proved him right. wWrd of this treachery spread like wildfire. Eventually, what began as a protest turned into a violent uprising to chase those who practiced the Old Ways out.

Madanach knew that if he stayed in Druadinium, his presence would tear the nation he built apart; so he took what loyalists he had left, and went east into Skyrim.

The Start of the Forsworn and the Fall of the Druadach Pact
In 4E 173, Madanach arrived in Skyrim to meet with the Reachman tribes that were never contacted by the Druadach Pact. He dueled with the local warchiefs of Skyrim and eventually found himself with another army. It was then when Madanach decided on his maddest ambition: the desire to unify his tribes into a kingdom.

In 4E 174 Madanach's army took the city of Markarth from the local Nords and established a kingdom of his own, short-lived as it was.

Back in High Rock, things were not looking good. The Druadach Pact was in ruin. The people’s faith in unity and the leadership was waning, and the old Chieftains wanted power again. The Pact was on the brink of disbanding.

In 4E 176, Markarth was retaken by the Nords. Madanach's kingdom was destroyed. The man himself was captured during the retaking and now lives out the rest of his life in prison. The remnants of his forces now terrorize Skyrim’s Reach and call themselves The Forsworn, a fringe group who claim that the Reach is rightfully theirs.

As of 4E 180, The Druadach Pact is but a shadow of its former self. Chief Arrys struggles to keep the Pact together, but even so he has been unable to keep several tribes from splintering. Worse still, Jehanna’s rapid expansion southward depletes the Pact of its resources. Druadinium is no longer exclusive to the Reachmen, also housing the orcs who helped retake the city within its walls. Trade with Markarth has become impossible since Madanach's conquest of it, an act which damaged the Jarl's trust for Reachmen irreversibly. Likewise, Evermore fears that trading with the Reachmen could send the wrong message to the Kingdom of Jehanna. These days Druadinium lives off hunting and farming around its lands and is launching a trade partnership with Dragonstar: one that is yet to be responded to by the nation-state.