Further Notes on Kal the Indomitable

From the year 117 of the Eighth Age, a summary of conjectures regarding the historical figure known as Kal the Indomitable. Produced by the Office of the Sixth Expeditionary Force of the West Mercantile Company in conjunction with the newly established Office of the Colonial Governor of Verazul.

It is recognized that some of the conjectures within this document contradict the official histories promulgated by the Imperial Academy of Doctrine and History as well as the Holy Writ of the Church of Tiamat. The goal of this document is merely the record the superstitions and folktales of the people of the Stygian Blue. The historical figure discussed within is very likely to be an imposter or other opportunist trading on the reputation of the Kal the Indomitable. The author does not challenge the official record that irrefutably describes the defeat of Kal at the Battle of Regium in the ninth year of the current age.

Instead, this document should be viewed as a review of lies and deceit contributing to the cultural identity of the people of the Stygian Blue. Hail, hail, long live the Infernal Empress.

In the aftermath of the Seventh Convergence, the historical figure Kal emerged from a primitive area in the Southern Ocean leading a band of indigenous warriors that sacked Greenmouth, a small outpost of the Southern Mercantile Company. These actions were consistent with expectations outlined in the Official Sovereignty Inferences and Protocols for those cases where poor management by company agents results in the perceived ill treatment of native populations. The Colonial Protocols characterized Kal as a Type III warband leader and suggested that the revolt would end there. However, Kal turned out to be an anomalous figure. He unexpectedly refrained from attempting to fortify his possessions, reestablish native sovereignty, or conduct a pogrom against remaining Company agents or sympathizers. Instead, with his war band swelled by the native population as a result of his victory, he commandeered all of the ships in the harbor and sailed to sack the nearby Polonian colony at Sácre Larente.

The colony at Sácre Larente was unprepared and quickly fell. Again, without consolidating his gains, Kal’s war band - now swelled further by the indigenous peoples of that colony - seized every ship in port and sailed for the next Polonian target. This motley fleet of galleons, warships, sloops, and fishing boats spent the next five years pillaging the Agrumé coast before learning the location of the Holy Seat of the Infernal Empress, the city of Polonia itself. Kal and his army - now numbering as many as twenty-five thousand - lay siege to the Holy Seat for three years, unable to breach its walls, but doing untold economic damage to it and its management of overseas colonies. The stalemate was punctuated by repeated failures of Kal to breach the walls, but also by a handful of failures by colonial forces that returned in an attempt to relieve the city.

Official historical records tell us that after finally realizing that the walls of Polonia were impregnable, Kal and his war band lifted their siege and sailed westward from the Holy City, burning the Paisáble Colonies and rounding Roché Inconnue in route towards the Hungry Sea. Here, the unskilled sailors of Kal’s armada were forced northward by the spring storms, cornered in the Bay of Regium, routed, and sunk by the Imperial Navy of Polonia.

Local history from the Stygian Blue tells a different tale that - while undoubtedly false - may give some insight into the history and culture of the region.

The indigenous population claims that Kal and his fleet reached the Stygian Blue in early summer, battered and nearly sunk by the storms of the Hungry Sea. No longer seaworthy due to the damage, Kal’s fleet was unable to continue journeying along the coast of the Hungry Sea. However, the deep drafts of much of the navy precluded traveling into the Stygian Blue as the shallow sea floor at the sea’s inlet is covered with shifting sandbars and sharp rocks. Without options, the flotilla was forced to anchor at the fishing village of Verazul, a deepwater harbor on the southern edge of the inlet.

It was here that Kal learned of Lord Tyranus and vowed to break him. He ordered the damaged, ocean-going ships of his fleet to be torn apart in order to build flat-bottomed galleons that could traverse the shallow sea and avoid the shifting sandbars. He loaded his armies on board - perhaps twenty thousand had arrived in Verazul - and criss-crossed the sea searching for the stronghold of Lord Tyranus and his Death Troopers. Upon finding the island stronghold, his troops launched a costly assault that was repelled before he settled in for another futile siege. As winter approached and his supplies ran low, Kal ordered his troops to disperse around the shores of the Stygian Blue with orders to regroup the following spring. Kal returned to Verazul to be reunited with the remnants of his fleet.

The war band of Kal had been drawn from the general populace and - in addition to the untrained soldiers - the host included numerous artisans. Kal had left many of the craftsman behind when searching for Lord Tyranus and they had spent the intervening months building stone structures to defend Verazul. The craftsmen constructed towers, walls and a stronghold to guard the harbor. The small fishing village had been turned into a fledgling city and - after ten years of campaigning - Kal grew to believe that his army might be best served by settling here.

On the first fair-weather day of the following spring, Kal gathered a small band of companions and set off for the stronghold of Lord Tyranus. It is said that he believed that a small force attacking in stealth might prevail where an army had not. Kal and his companions left under the cover of night and were never seen again. Simultaneously, the reign of Lord Tyranus and his Death Troopers also appeared to end. None were ever heard from again.

It is uncertain, of course, that a credible source of information regarding a final confrontation exists, but the following decades were filled with old men claiming to have been one of Kal’s companions and young men claiming to be the son of Kal, born on a remote island where he lived out his remaining days. Dubious first and second hand accounts were recorded and most describe some variation of Kal and his band descending deep into the stronghold of Lord Tyranus where Kal slew him in single combat but was slain in turn.

It is nearly indisputable that some force arrived in the Stygian Blue in approximately the tenth year of the current age and was led by a man falsely claiming to be Kal. No other explanation exists that accounts for the end of the reign of Lord Tyranus and many of the other changes in the area. The indigenous population had no experience with advanced stone construction and the appearance of these edifices in Verazul in this time frame suggests some introduction of new technology into the area. Also, what was thought to have been a homogeneous human population was radically altered in this time frame and the assimilation of tens of thousands of soldiers of varied background is a plausible explanation. Many of the previously uninhabited islands were settled in this time, often planted with new such as crops, sugar, coffee, and tobacco. All of these things indicate the arrival of some transient population.

The true identity of the false Kal and the actual actions of his war band is uncertain. Timing suggests that at least some remnants of Kal’s force might have survived the Battle of Regium and reached the Stygian Blue, perhaps led by someone assuming the role of Kal. Coinciding with these events, a large statue of Kal was erected in Verazul of a human male that resembles contemporary accounts of his appearance, but this in itself is no true evidence of Kal’s identity.

No actual evidence exists to contradict the official histories promulgated by the Imperial Academy of Doctrine and History and their account should be considered infallible truth. May Tiamat preserve her Infernal Queen and the Holy Church.