Antrol

Northern land, insular sheep-farmers mostly, ruined by the Dragon and again by the Elvenhost, largely uncontrolled


Antrol was sheep-country. Level, mild in weather, plenty of grass and fresh water. Sheep and wool were its staples, with a large weaving and tailoring industry centred around the capital, Thallith. Several centuries ago, the Elven hero Galoriand saved Thallith from a dreadful monster; although the legend has faded to the point that the monster is no longer clearly remembered, Galoriand was still greatly revered there as long as the city stood. This caused great soul-searching when the king of Tellare sent heralds to request Antrol’s assistance against the Elvenhost in 671, but in the end the Antrollers stood with their human kin. Hearing this, Galoriand refused to march with the elvenhost, and the king never entirely forgave him.

Antrol was a great prize for the Dragon, and its' surrender - which assured him of the almost limitless food supply of the great Antroller sheep-herds - was a signal triumph in the Northern campaign. It is recorded that Galoriand offered to come and fight if Thallith decided to resist, and on receieving the reply that there would be no resistance, wept for three days.

After the Dragonslaying, the Elvenhost travelled south through Antrol, destroying the headquarters of the Dragonrealm government as they did so. They seem to have taken little thought, however, for what was to happen afterwards, and left a power vacuum behind them.

Sparsely populated at the best of times, Antrol fragmented; there was no central government, but the fundamentally level-headed people, returned to freedom after hundreds of years under the claw, returned to their sheep-farms and villages with little interest in the outside world. Lizardmen were no longer welcome in most places, and without a strong ruler in Thallith or an army to back them, the lower-rank slavedrivers in the villages themselves stood no chance against the locals. The capital (in fact only) city, Thallith, lay partially in ruins, and few people lived there.

All this changed during the sudden and rapid expansion of Tarlanor and New Tellare. Most of what had been Antrol was swallowed up by one or the other new realm, and Thallith itself rebuilt as a border city and marketplace between the two.

In the hills, the sheep continue to graze as they always have.


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