History of Kantaka

Before the Invasion

For centuries, @Kantaka was the beating heart of Bhavarta, a city that drew caravans from deserts, jungles, and mountain passes alike. Built on the fertile banks of the Sarastha River, its wealth flowed not only from its rich soil but from its artisans and merchants. It was a city of colour and sound. Each season was marked with great festivals: the Festival of Lamps, when thousands of clay diyas floated down the river in glimmering processions; the Spring Games, when elephants were painted in bright dyes and paraded through the streets; the Feast of Sarastha, when the goddess of the river was honoured with music and offerings. In these days, Kantaka was not only wealthy but alive—its people proud of their city’s soul.

The Arrival of @Varkul Dreadhill

Then came @Varkul Dreadhill, a half orc of @Imperium. Unlike other attempting conquerers, he did not march through the gates with steel. He came with words, contracts, and promises. He presented himself as a friend, a partner to trade with. The merchants, artisans, and metalworkers of @Kantaka, eager for new markets, welcomed him. They signed deals that seemed generous: he would buy their goods at fair prices, ensure their transport, and sell them to distant lands.

But hidden in the fine print were highly exploitative clauses: the merchants were bound to sell only to him, and often at fixed prices. At first, they did not notice. The guilds grew rich quickly, but Varkul grew richer still. He sold their goods abroad at staggering profit, his pockets swelling while theirs slowly drained. By the time they realised their fate, it was too late. He used this money to bring soldiers from his home in @Imperium, pale-armoured highly trained combat specialists began to be stationed in the city to “protect trade routes.” In truth, they protected him.

The Collapse of the Guilds

Once his grip was firm & pockets were full, @Varkul Dreadhill revealed his true aim. The artisans, metalworkers, and merchants of @Kantaka, who had for generations created works of splendour, found their crafts dismantled. Their work had become renound around the globe thanks to @Varkul Dreadhill. No longer were they allowed to make goods for themselves or their own markets. Instead, they were forced into raw labour: harvesting timber, quarrying stone, mining iron and gems. These resources were shipped north to the Imperium, where foreign hands crafted the goods, stamped them with Imperial seals, and sold them back to @Bhavarta & the rest of the world at highly extortionate prices.

A weaver who once spun silks for emperors now hauled bales of cotton to the river. A jeweller whose family had set gems for temple idols now mined rough stones, never allowed to cut them. The pride of Kantaka—the skill of its guilds—was broken. Its people became cogs in Varkul’s machine of profit. Anyone who dared to continue their craft faced dire consequences, loom workers had their thumbs broken, jewellers were made blind, etc.

The Pact with the Yuan-Ti

@Varkul Dreadhill's power did not stand on trade alone. To secure his rule, he struck an alliance with the Yuan-Ti, serpentfolk from the jungles to the south. He met with their leader, @Sarpa who was feared within @Kantaka. They met for months on end secretly, forming an alliance, and plotting their steps forward to gain control. The pact was uneasy, for neither side trusted the other, but they shared a hunger for dominion. The Yuan-Ti despised humankind as weak and corrupt; @Varkul Dreadhill saw @Bhavarta as a land ripe for plunder. Together they found common cause.

The Svétas brought weaponry and discipline, while the Yuan-Ti offered their sorcery—illusions, poisons, and spells that could unmake the will of men.

Storming of Kantaka

After months of planning, they stormed the city. With a bigger army, more money, and a strategic advantage due to the Yuan-Ti, @Varkul Dreadhill & the Svétas successfully took over @Kantaka. @Varkul Dreadhill began by instantly instigating a highly militarised rule, where citizens of @Kantaka had less rights and value than the Svétas. He exponentially increased his resource extraction from the city, leaving most with nothing after excruciating labor, while he began building mansions, expanding his military, and exporting wealth to @Imperium. It is said that in the palace halls, Varkul sits flanked not only by his captains but by serpent priests whose tongues drip with venom and prophecy.

Daily Life Under Occupation

Today, Kantaka is a city of splendour and sorrow. Its palaces still glitter, its markets still bustle, but the wealth flows not to its people but to @Varkul Dreadhill pockets.

The Svétas patrol the streets in their pale armour, their presence constant and suffocating. They are merciless in quelling dissent. Those who speak too loudly against the occupiers vanish in the night. Entire families have been erased, their names struck from records, their houses claimed by the Svétas. The people whisper of “the disappeared”—sons, daughters, fathers who are seen no more.

Festivals are outlawed or twisted. The Festival of Lamps is now permitted only as a military parade, with oil lamps arranged not in prayer but in patterns spelling out Varkul’s sigils. Temples, once sanctuaries, have been desecrated. Some serve as garrisons, their idols toppled or locked away. The great Temples, where priests once blessed the river, now houses Svéta barracks; its inner sanctum is said to be filled with weapons, not incense.

Resistance and Rebellion

Yet @Kantaka's spirit is not entirely broken. In the shadows of ruined shrines and the cellars of deserted guildhalls, resistance stirs. Secret societies pass messages hidden in poetry, coded chants carried by wandering bards. Some Svéta soldiers themselves, weary of Varkul’s cruelty, have begun to whisper treason, secretly meeting with rebels.

These groups are fragmented, always hunted, often betrayed. Many leaders have been killed or captured, but for every one that falls, another rises. Small acts of defiance persist—spilled ink across Varkul’s decrees, sudden fires in his warehouses, blades in the dark. Kantaka breathes, though its breaths are ragged.

Usus Resistance Force

The @Usus Resistance Force is a small & tight knit coalition of rebels and dissidents located in @Usus, bound together by a shared oath to topple the iron grip of the Varkul and Śvetas regime. They meet twice a week in @Usus to discuss their plans. The @Usus Resistance Force is made up of @Lavya, @Egar Yartak, @Rathak Veyrath, @Krishn, & @Verick.

It began with a wound that could never fully heal. @Lavya, a half-elf born in the humble settlements of @Usus, grew up under the rule of @Varkul Dreadhill. From an early age, he was enthralled by the bow. He would linger at the edge of @Varkul-Śveta Military Academy, mesmerised by the elegance of the royal archery academy, an institution financed by the Śvetas elite and presided over by Varkul himself. To @Lavya, archery was not merely sport or warcraft, it was art, discipline, freedom made tangible in the curve of a bow and the flight of an arrow. Once he reached twelve, the age when you can join the @Varkul-Śveta Military Academy to begin training, he dared to approach the academy gates, full of hope and trembling excitement. That day shattered him. The gatekeepers laughed, hurled slurs at him, and when he insisted on a chance to prove himself, they beat him bloody before the academy walls. @Varkul Dreadhill's disdain for the locals was well known, but Lavya had not expected cruelty so blunt, so casual. Still, he refused to let hatred consume him. In the solitude of the forests, he honed his craft. He studied the wind in the treetops, the arc of leaves in the air, the stillness before the release. By his late teens, stories spread across Usus of a boy who could split arrows mid-flight, who could pierce a fly’s wings at a distance so great no one else could even see the target.

These tales reached the @Varkul-Śveta Military Academy, and they burned @Varkul Dreadhill's like acid. His own son, @Malum Dreadhill, trained by masters since birth, was a talented archer. With all the resources in the world, he was being groomed to become the best in all the lands. However, he could never match @Lavya’s instinct or precision. Pride curdled into fear, and fear into cruelty. One night, @Varkul Dreadhill sent the order for his soldiers to surround @Usus. Before @Lavya's people, they seized him and bound him, declaring him a threat to order. @Varkul Dreadhill's men kidnapped @Lavya. Disappearances in @Varkul Dreadhill's rule were common, and meant one thing; death. The village wept, for they adored Lavya. He was not just a prodigy; he was theirs—one of their blood, their hope, their pride. However, to everyone's surprise, the next day he simply walked back into the village.

@Rathak Veyrath is often taking the role of planning out their next steps, strategically employing a dual strategy of political subversion and guerrilla warfare. @Egar Yartak is the head of any guerilla warfare. @Krishn conveys all information she can of the inner-workings of @Varkul Dreadhill through her high position as a military strategist at the @Varkul-Śveta Military Academy. @Verick cannot attend the meetings since he is kept as a prisoner at @Varkul-Śveta Military Academy in order to create military weapons, however he relays information of their most recent military developments to @Krishn who then conveys it to the rest of the @Usus Resistance Force.

Each action they take carries immense risk, for the Varkul and Śvetas are merciless enforcers, quick to punish dissent with violence and terror. Yet, the Resistance persists, driven by the belief that the people deserve justice, freedom, and the right to govern themselves. To outsiders, they are whispers in the dark and fleeting shadows in the night, but to those who suffer under tyranny, they are a symbol of hope—a reminder that even in the deepest oppression, the human spirit refuses to be chained.

The Court of Bhavarta

From the @Bharatva Grand Council Hall, the rest of @Bhavarta watches and fumes. They despise @Varkul Dreadhill, but distance and corruption make them powerless. Officials argue and posture, but no army marches. To act against Varkul would mean war with @Imperium, a war Bhavarta is not ready to fight.