Drene

Lether

Drene was a territory and small city in northeastern Lether adjacent to the Awl'dan, on the east coast of the Bluerose Sea. Letur Anict was made Factor there in the latter days of King Ezgara Diskanar's rule. After the Tiste Edur conquered the Letherii Empire, Brohl Handar was made the Edur Overseer of the East in Drene.

The walled city was approached by three different landward routes, including the lightly traveled North Coast track which entered the city in the north on Gate Road. The surrounding region consisted of hamlets and tilled fields reclaimed from former Awl grazing lands.

The city's main thoroughfare led past the arching open gate of the High Market, a vast concourse containing a sprawling maze of stalls, carts, livestock, and throngs of people. The market was a chaotic scene characterised by: high, piping calls of hawkers mixed with braying beasts; scents of dung, roasting meat, fish, tanning Myrid and Rodara hides, rotting waste, and intoxicating drugs. Items for sale included carved Tusked seal ivory mimicking the religious objects of the Tiste Edur, Fent, and Jheck, polished amber adornments, and bowls, cups, and cooking utensils carved from Bloodwood. The market's gate was supported by two broad, squared columns decorated in ornate bas-relief carvings depicting some past glory of the Letherii Empire. To the northwest of the city docks was an area of slums.

Just north of the city centre was the Drene Garrison, whose heavily fortified compound was sited on a low hill. The garrison was the headquarters of Atri-Preda Bivatt, who controlled the Eastern Army.

The city's opulent southern districts were home to palatial estates, likely including Factor Anict's own, which was guarded by the Factor's personal elite troops recruited from every Letherii company ever stationed in the city.

The air above the city was dusty enough to obscure the colour of the sky.

Neighbouring Bluerose was its principal supply route and trading partner.

Places of interest

• Drene Garrison
• High Market

Notable Residents

• Bivatt, Atri-Preda of the Drene Garrison
• Brohl Handar, Overseer of the East
• Corara of Drene, poet
• Letur Anict, Factor
• Orbyn Truthfinder, Patriotists Section Commander

Government

After the Edur conquest, Emperor Rhulad Sengar had installed Brohl Handar as Overseer, but the position involved little more than observation, with true power falling to Factor Letur Anict. The Factor technically only ruled the city and its outlying area if Brohl were away. Orbyn Truthfinder was the local Section Commander of the Patriotists and his secret police actively monitored the population looking for signs of sedition. Atri-Preda Bivatt commanded the region's military forces from the Drene Garrison.

A city guard maintained order within Drene. Guards likely patrolled in groups of five, and they were equipped with short swords, shields, and helmets. Between the city garrison and the Patriotists, the city's population were kept cowed by a steady stream of violence, terror, and oppression.

History

Drene had been an independent city-state until a protracted war with the Awl led to Drene's king inviting in troops from the Kingdom of Lether to help defeat the nomads. Afterwards, the Letherii troops remained and the king took on the title of vizier in the new client-state. A series of accidents eventually eliminated the entire royal line placing Drene entirely under Letherii control. Decades after the war, evidence emerged that the entire conflict had been the result of Letherii manipulations.

The Lether slowly expanded the lands of Drene through constant low-grade warfare with the neighbouring Awl of the Awl'dan grasslands. Over the years they engaged in constant skirmishes with Awl war chiefs, successfully pushing the native tribes back and decimating the numbers of people and their herds. Entire Awl camps were exterminated when they could not be removed by other means. Attempts by the Awl to unite their fractured clans against the Letherii were unsuccessful.

After the Edur conquest, less than a hundred Edur settled in Drene. Most were of the Hiroth tribe and claimed kinship with Emperor Rhulad. They used this relationship to commandeer the finest estates and land, and took possession of hundreds of Indebted as slaves.

Customs

An ancient Drene custom involved the creation of symbolic sacrifices to the sealords during the season of storms. To mark the season's birth, life-sized dolls were made of seaweed, with shells for eyes and dressed in old clothes, to represent fisherfolk. They were launched in small boats for the gods to drown.

In Reaper's Gale

Factor Letur Anict used his position to make himself wealthy leading an extermination campaign against the Awl and stealing their land and animals. He was allied in these efforts with the Liberty Consign of Merchants, the Patriotists, and Chancellor Triban Gnol. Overseer Brohl Handar disapproved of the bloodshed, but had no power to intervene.

At the same time, the exiled Awl war chief, Redmask, returned to lead his people against the Letherii invaders. He began his crusade by infiltrating Drene to surveil Letherii military capabilities at the Drene Garrison. When his presence was discovered by Patriotist agents, the war chief killed more than twenty soldiers and guards attempting to prevent his escape. The massacre revealed to Drene's worried leadership that Redmask was back. When the Factor launched the Awl Campaign to subjugate Redmask's people, fifteen hundred Drene garrison soldiers were included with Bivatt's forces.

As Tehol Beddict and Bugg's conspiracy to bring down the Letherii economy progressed, citizens of Drene found themselves low on coin, overburdened in debt, and unable to purchase food and other goods. A riot broke out in the city leading to days of unrest. The understaffed garrison met the mobs with a brutal and indiscriminate campaign of violence. Pushed too far, the mob turned on the soldiers, cornering them and tearing them apart, and forcing them to withdraw to their barracks. The Patriotists experienced a similar fortune, losing thirty-one agents overnight. A mob of five hundred stormed the Factor's estate only be bloodily repulsed by Anict's personal guard. At the same time, the mob completely ignored the Edur occupiers.

Rautos Hivanar, Master of the Liberty Consign, had previously sent his principal agent and assassin, Venitt Sathad, to investigate the Factor's reported corruption and mismanagement. The riots raging in the city convinced Venitt to eliminate the Factor and his heirs, while Orbyn Truthfinder and the Patriotists, following Venitt's orders, took care of the Factor's personal guard.

Notes and references

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