History of the Yuoric People

Below are notes on the race, history, migration, timekeeping, and language of the West, sometimes called the Nadrilian West, regions which include the lands dominated by men who speak the Yuoric language all through the inland realms and the settlements along the western coastline of the Mighty Moctura Sea, and most of its connecting smaller seas, all the way north to the rocky lands of Hardrefil and the plains of the North World’s End, and south to the western edge of the great island archipelago of Gaeirmund.

The Nadrilian West

The Yuoric Clans Invade Nadrilis and other Ancient Western Empires

Seven centuries ago (years 120 - 150 DV), a rugged tribal people called the Yuors (pronounced "yorz") invaded from the great dry plains to the west of current day Noric. This fast-moving and physically powerful group overtook the existing conglomerate of settlements collectively called Nadrilis.

The earliest invading Yuors of the western dry plains


The Yuors quickly moved north around the coastline of the Adharn Sea. Within another century and a half, the Yuors had migrated even further north into the colder and rocky lands all the way to present day Pentar, to the edge of the mountains of Hardrefil and the desolate northern plain glacier called the North World’s End. The Yuors conquered other peoples west and north of the Adharn, but very little is remembered about those cultures, unlike the more developed people in the south known as the Nadrilians, whose culture blended somewhat with that of the Yuors.

The western continent is still referred to as Nadril because of the written record of its previous inhabitants.

The Nadrilians, an ancient culture of astronomers, is eclipsed by the Yuoric invasion

Yuoric Language Evolution and Adoption of Nadrilian Writing

The Nadrilians had a written language when the Yuoric invaders did not. The Nadrilians, accomplished astronomers, also had a well-established calendar for recording historical events and monitoring the exact time of the world’s seasons. Although the Yuors completely supplanted the Nadrilian people, quite a bit of the Nadrilian culture was assumed into the daily life of the new Yuoric lords. A modified form of the Nadrilian alphabet was used to begin the written form of the Yuoric language. The spoken language itself was changed in many ways as well. Ancient Yuoric, if spoken today, would likely be very difficult for a current day Yuoric speaker to understand.


Inheritance of the Nadrilian Calendar and Timekeeping

The Nadrilian calendar was also adopted in its full form by the Yuoric people. The calendar consisted of 12 months of 30 days each, with months containing 5 weeks each, and weeks of 6 days. It included one cultural observance festival of 5 days during every change of the year from winter to spring. Its days totaled 365 days per year. Although the Yuoric lords changed some of the meanings of the festivals and holy days, the Nadrilian calendar was well-received and quickly became standardized throughout the lands to which the Yuoric communities migrated.

The Nadrilian calendar marks "Year Zero" at the dramatic astronomical event known most commonly as The Second Moon Death. At this time, the smaller moon, known in the Nadrilian language as Vaden, gradually begins to break and crumble apart. After three years of fragmentation, it is gone. The Nadrilis Empire recorded this astronomical event as An Demenuurhiah Vadaenhemur, translated roughly as "The Sad Ending of Noble Vaden." The event is abbreviated in record-keeping as "DV". The Nadrilian Calendar is reset to Year Zero DV. As years are recorded in Nadrilian writing (and therefor Yuoric writing eventually), the are proceeded by the notation "DV" to mark the annual time as it relates to the known astronomical event of the disappearance of the world’s previous second moon.

The Nadrilian writers recorded details about changes in the tides of the seas that occurred at the time of the Second Moon Death, and also some changes in the ways and habits of animals and even men. The Nadrilian records which still exist, written mostly in red ink on animal skins and preserved by a technique now lost, show that a great confusion endured about the reason of Vaden’s destruction. Nadrilian astronomers seemed to be fascinated with the topic judging by the frequency of the record on it. Many thought it a bad omen, and the coming of the conquering Yuors in the following century may have suggested that the omens were true.



The Yuoric people, having no written record of their lives before the 2nd Century DV, gave little historical comment about the moon’s disappearance.

The larger moon that still hangs in the night sky is called Raed in the Yuoric language. Small fragments of the broken moon Vaden can still be seen on some nights.

Expansion East Across the Sea and Establishment of the Marke Lands

During the 6th and 7th Centuries (late 500s and into 600s DV), the Yuorics mastered a respectable level of single sail, open deck shipbuilding and a reasonably accurate stellar navigation technique. They launched eastward into the Moctura Ocean, landing first on the large island series known as Gaeirmund. By the late 600s, Yuoric settlements dotted the western coastline of the great eastern continent of Faolan. They first encountered the existing civilizations of Pylos and Kortella. After a bit of a clash with these people, they soon shifted efforts northward to the less-civilized lands of the Andra Peninsula.



In the Andra Wilderness, the Yuoric travelers found rich veins of copper and iron ore. The soil was also rich and easy to farm. Encouraged by the expansionist-minded Yuoric Kings of Nadril and the proselytizing Gellirian Church, the Yuoric kingdoms quickly began to send explorers and military forces to these new lands of the East. They organized regional militarized areas known as Expeditionary Markes to guard mining projects and farms from the threatening barbarians known as the Danneins and the Ingvaels. These Yuoric colonial mining outposts were called the Ore Lands, the Ore Markes, and then The Marke Lands. They were best known by the flags, or markes, of their strong military generals who became renown heroes and warlords.



After around a century or so of serving as foreign military vassals to the Kings of the West, the military warlords of the Marke Lands began to cut ties with their former sponsors and establish regional fiefdoms and royal dynasties of their own. Battles for land and power were fought during the Wars of the Marke Lords, but eventually all of the regional leaders consolidated under the banners of the three Marke Land Kingdoms of Talance, Korvar, and Jeres.

A Land of Borders, Frontiers, and Exchange

Movement of Yuoric culture into the eastern lands since its migration has continued for nearly two centuries. The Youric culture is dominant on the Andra Peninsula and projects throughout the Alornic Sea and into the neighboring societies who have inhabited the continent of Faolan for centuries longer. The Markeland Kingdoms have not gained enough strength to move inward to the heart of the Danneinkiff. Many of the Danneins clans have begun to blend in with the newer Yuoric culture. Other clans of the central Andra region, however, remain fiercely resistant to Yuoric encroachment. The northern Ingvaels also seem unconquerable to date, though that may be more a result of their cold and barren lands not enticing the imaginations of Yuoric expansionists.



Overall though, the east is still the great frontier to the Western Man. Highly developed realms of men are known to exist in the East and the Far East. Contact and trade with these distant lands is rare and exotic, mainly because of the great distance and harsh environment of the land between the two regions. Only in the last 150 years have some encounters developed between the East and West. This is mostly routed through what is called the Eastern Desert Passage, a trade route that drives through the arid sandy wastelands from the eastern end of the Alornic Sea.

Reaping the greatest benefit of these relatively recent trade lines between the east and west has been the junction lands of Jbail, optimally positioned at the easternmost end of the Alornic Sea. In the last century, the Jbailians merchant lords have built famous cities of wealth and intrigue. Because of the increased wealth of the newly interactive Alornic Sea Kingdoms, the eastern lands of Sarcera, Nuuth Seeta, Otessa, and even faraway Alijan have increasing interest to cross the dangerous and inhospitable lands of central Faolan to engage with the Yuoric-led West.