The History of the Thorcin Peoples
- Thorcinga is the collective noun; Thorcin (THOR-kin) is the substantive noun and adjective. [Common names are loosely derived from the stock of English names of the Anglo-Saxon period.] Male Thorcin names: Aelfric, Aethelred, Colmund, Edric, Godric, Horsa, Swithun. Female Thorcin names: Aethelflad, Cyneburga, Eadgithu, Ebbe, Thalia.
- The origin of these inhabitants of the western continent of Irthuin is opaque. Some Archontean sages, in fact, believe that the Thorcinga are the descendants of the ancient Archonteans abandoned on Irthuin when the empire pulled back to Archontos about 1,200 years ago. Whatever their origin, however, the Thorcinga have established their own distinctive culture.
- The Thorcinga once had a distinct calendar, but it has been completely overshadowed by the Ennian calendar and is almost entirely forgotten.
- The Thorcinga adopted the Mithric alphabet to their own distinct spoken language; in so doing, they retained two of the now-lost original Mithric letters and have added three others (for a total of 31 letters).
- Battle of Trenner’s Rock was a famous Archontean victory of antiquity, at which the legions defeated a larger force of assembled Thorcin thegns on Irthuin. The architect of the victory was the polemarch Eadgifia, a native Thorcin but acculturated Archontean, who commanded the 3rd Legion of heavy infantry. The victory shattered effective opposition to Archontean expansion, and thus led to the creation of the exarchates of Narsileon and Arcturos.
- In 1818 AEP, 1175 years before the present, Emperor Drusus VII Fusus withdrew the weakened legions from Irthuin, abandoning imperial citizens in Narsileon, Arcturos and elsewhere; jubilant Thorcinga occupied these worried cities.
- For a variety of reasons, the Thorcinga never chose to settle Burdock’s Valley in great numbers after 1818 AEP, probably because they prefer small, rural hamlets to large towns or cities. So, when the empire returned to Irthuin in 2639 AEP, albeit in reduced numbers, they found a mostly depopulated, dangerous frontier region. The exarch in Narsileon assigned lordship of the valley to the Basileon family, and a new town (Newmarket) was chartered.
- Although the Thorcinga did occupy the old Archontean cities and maintained them as trading depots, the Thorcinga prefer a rural life. A hereditary aristocracy (the thegns) holds title to most of the cultivated land and other rights of wealth; lesser folk living in villages or manors owe taxes (in kind) and service to their local thegn.
- Since the return of the Archonteans to Irthuin 350 years ago, and the re-establishment of imperial exarchates at Narsileon and Arcturos, many Thorcinga have chafed at the reappearance of imperial law and bureaucracy. A Thorcin Recovery League (TRL) has sprung up, led by a possibly mythical figure known as Eadric Strigona, with the purpose of permanently driving the Archonteans from Irthuin.
- Thorcin Recovery League (aka TRL): The name given to organized Thorcin resistance to the Archontean Empire on the continent of Irthuin. Members of the TRL use distinctive blue arrows and are said to be led by a certain Eadric Strigona. Stated goals of the TRL include the expulsion of the Archontean empire from Narsileon and Arcturos.
