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`Apr. 25, 2025` · [[Horseapple]] · #Fragment #Characters #Warband
> [!custom-callout]- All mentions, including keyword *“npc1”*
> *Pulled from* [[3-settlements-(Bannerlord)]] <-- Borcha's hill--> — “Glavstrom sits beneath Mount Iltan, a craggy peak in eastern Calradia named for a god of the steppe peoples. These wild lands abound with fur-bearing marten, fox, rabbits and other animals.”
>
> *Pulled from* [[2-strings-(Warband)]]
> - “I understand that you've sent your man Borcha to proclaim to all Calradia that you intend to free all the miscreants of this land upon your accession to the throne. What a foul idea... Men must be governed, {sir/madame} -- with whips and chains and the noose, if necessary. You'll find that out the hard way if you become {king/queen}, I'll warrant.”
> - “Ho there, traveller. You wouldn't by chance be in the market for a tracker, would you?”
> - “Well, {sir/madame}, it's a long story...”
> - “I had a bit of a misunderstanding {s19}in {s20} about a horse that I found tied up outside the inn. It was the spitting image of a beast that threw me a few days back and ran off. Naturally I untied it for a closer look. As it turns out, the horse belonged to a merchant, a pinch-faced old goat who wouldn't accept that it all was a simple misunderstanding, and went off to get the guard.”
> - “But if I was with a larger group who could vouch for me, they might let it pass. I'd be very grateful to you.”
> - “I've been here and about, you know, doing my best to keep out of trouble. I'm desperately in need of work, however.”
> - “Perhaps. But how do I know that there won't be a 'misunderstanding' about one of my horses?”
> - “{Sir/Madame} -- I'm offended that you would even think such a thing. I'd be most indebted to you, and you'll see that I show my gratitude.”
> - “'ve ridden over a fair amount of rough country in my time, more often than not in a hurry. I'm a good tracker and I've got a good eye for terrain. So what do you say?”
> - “I will be very useful to you, {sir/madame}, you can bet on that. Just one more thing before we leave, would you mind lending me {reg3} denars? I am ashamed to say it, but I have made myself a bit of debt here, staying in this tavern over the last few weeks and the tavern owners no longer believe that I am loaded with gold as I used to tell them. You know, things could get ugly here if they see me leaving with you before paying them.”
> - “Oy -- boss. Please don't take this the wrong way, but it's a hard life and it's a bit much that we {s21}. Take a little more care in the future, captain, if you don't mind my saying.”
> - “Boss -- just so you know, I've got no problem if we {s21}. Living to fight another day makes good sense to me.”
> - “Captain -- no offense, but I'm a bit tired of {s11}, who puts on airs like she's something better than your humble servant Borcha.”
> - “She's a common bandit, just like myself, and she has no right to tell me to keep my distance from her, as she did just now.”
> - “Oy -- boss, I don't fancy myself a sensitive soul, but I don't particularly like how {s11} went about cutting the throats of the enemy wounded, back there.”
> - “The way she whistles cheerfully as she does it -- it puts a chill down my spine, it does.”
> - “Boss. {s11} back there didn't do badly in that last fight at all. He's a good egg, too.”
> - “Without good honest souls like him to bring silver into Calradia, scoundrels like me would have a hard time in life, I'll warrant. I'm glad to have him with us.”
> - “I'm a bit tired of marching up and down the land, shedding my blood for someone else's cause. The loot is good, but I think I've got enough of that, now. I'm going to head back to my village, take a wife, settle down, maybe raise horses if I can afford it.”
> - “Boss -- it's good to see you again. I know we had our differences in the past, but to tell you the truth, those were some of the best days I've known. And, to tell you the truth, I've had a bit of difficulty finding work. Listen, if you'd be willing to have me back, I'd be willing to sign up with your company again.”
> - “Boss -- did you know that I was born around here, in the high steppe? This is where I got my eye for horseflesh, because this is good land for horses, although a hard land for men. I suppose that's why the Khergits like it.”
> - “Well, Khergits always lived here, even back in the old days, as the Emperor gave them gold and lands to keep out the other tribes. I'm told my grandfather was a Khergit chieftain, although my mother didn't know him, any more than I knew my father. When my mother was a lass, the Khergit started coming over the mountains in larger numbers, and now there's a Khergit Khan in Tulga.”
> - “They go easy on us farming folk, and don't ask for much in tax -- not that we would be able to pay in any case. The land isn't good enough for most crops. Frankly, it's only good for horse-rearing, and that only for half of the year, in the winter after the rains. In the summer they take their herds back into the mountains. Caravans come over the hills and bring spice to Tulga, but we don't see much of that money down in the villages.”
> - “I'm from the high steppe, near {s21}.”
> - “That's a great idea, Boss. All these kings and khans and landed nobles who rule now, with their prisons and gibbets and scaffolds, the whippings and brandings and hangings for any man who might be driven by the crying of his children to steal a loaf of bread, or maybe a horse -- Calradia deserves something better.”
> - “Sure would, Boss. But let me tell you what might bring others to your cause -- particularly us poor folk. They tell us that in the old days, each new Emperor who took the throne would issue a great amnesty for all but the worst prisoners in his dungeons, give people a second chance to make something of themselves -- like you gave me a second chance, Boss.”
> - “If I could go about this land for a few weeks, telling the common folk that you were going to amnesty their kinfolk like the emperors of old -- well, they would start talking of you as the Emperor, and that would pave your way to the throne. Shall I do that, Boss?”
> - “Boss -- you've given leave to Alayen to go tell the nobles that they will have rights over pasture, market, and forest? I can't say I like that. Give him his way, and he'll set up gibbets in every village in the land, where there will dangle some poor sod like me who thought he might pick up a bow, head to the woods and put a bit of meat on his table.”
> - “Well, Boss, as it happens, I have a few cousins over in {s17}, and unlike some in my family, they can still stand the sight of me. They deal in horses --- I've even been able to supply them with stock from time to time -- and so they get to pick up a bit of the gossip round the castles and great halls of the {s18}. I could go over there for a few days and tell you what I find out.”
> - “You'd make me lord of {s17}, Boss? Well, that would be the kindest thing that anyone has ever done for me in a long time. Heh. I'll make the most of it -- you can count on that. I have to say, though -- I'm not sure how the other lords of this realm will react, when they find old Borcha in their august company.”
> - “I'm sorry that we meet like this, boss. There's no question that I owe my rise in life to you. You doubtless think me ungrateful. However, one has to follow one's destiny -- isn't that correct?”
>   <br> ![[encyclopedia_calradica.gif|center|300]]<br>
>*“A massive `Mount & Blade` wikipedia.”*<br>About [Encyclopædia Calradica](About-the-Encyclopædia.md)<br>About the [Project](Project-(Pillar).md)<br>About the [Author](Horseapple.md) <br>