Story Thread: Veloci la France!

[Velociryx]

Much of the ancient history of proud France is, of course, lost to us. We do know that in or around 4000BC, the tribes of Gaul united around the strange figure of the Velociri….perhaps a priest figure or primitive shaman. Much later in the history of the tribes of Gaul (when they learned to write, and we are not left to decipher cave paintings), we find vague and indirect references to the mysterious Velociri, so the figure/figures(?) are very much shrouded in mystery.

What is known though, is that in the ancient past of our people, a single individual or small group calling themselves the Velociri united the tribes of Gaul in a lush, green lowland area not far from the sea. This lowland area was fertile and had an abundance of natural resources. We know it well, as it is the very site that our own beloved Paris is built upon.

Imagine though, what it must have looked like back in those ancient times. The primitive tribes of the region barely subsisting….not knowing the first thing about the dark and mysterious world which lay all around them.

It must have been terrifying indeed, and yet, under the guidance of the mysterious Velociri, the tribes of Gaul began exploring their world tentatively….sometimes encountering friendly neighboring tribes from whom they could trade and learn, and often (because the world of that era was a hostile and unpredictable place!), encountering tribes who wanted to bring about the ruin and downfall of Gaul.

We know that in this ancient era, as tribal awareness of the world around them was just beginning to dawn, a number of sharp skirmishes were fought with a tribe calling themselves the Vandals. To this day, that particular word is associated with thievery and treachery….such was the level of influence of this particular tribe.

There are numerous cave-pictorial accounts, and again (once our Gallic forefathers had mastered writing), numerous other written accounts of a sprawling mountain fortress at the headlands of a vast steaming jungle rumored to hold the wealth of an ancient kingdom. It is unknown for certain, but rumored that these Vandals were the remnants of a once proud tribe that ruled over the jungle….brought to calamity and ruin by some unnamed disaster…..whether that part is true or not, it IS true that the Vandal warriors were a savage lot, and on four separate occasions, the Gallic tribes felt their fury, as city after city was sacked by these vicious marauders while the tribes were extending their influence.

There is one written account of the Gallic tribes sending a large expeditionary force to the mountain stronghold of the Vandals, but it is a report filled with dread, fear, and disaster. What could well be considered the first army of France was destroyed to a man in a fruitless attempt to bring the Vandals to heel.
After that, the rebellious tribe settled down for a time, however, and the tribes that would one day be France were at last able to focus on expansion of our glorious realm.

First Contact
The first people our forefathers encountered were a wily, free-spirited bunch calling themselves Amerighans. Later, changes in the structure of their language would change this to “Americans” as we know them today.

They were an open, friendly people, eager to trade and find others of similar spirit in this strange, often hostile land.

They and the Gallic tribes hit it off from the start, if the ancient accounts are accurate, and began a tradition of frequent contact between our two people that continues to this very day.

Friendly or no, of course, the Gallic tribes were very much interested in expansion, and so took some tentative steps to see to it that their friendly rivals, the Amerighans did not encroach too far into territory not yet explored by our own scouts. To that end, warriors were sent out to establish a distant outpost far to the west, on a narrow “neck” of land. This land, and all land east of it to the ocean we had not even discovered yet, was claimed in the name of the tribes of Gaul, and their masters, the Velociri. It is not known what the actual reaction to such an outlandish claim was, but apparently (and of course, as we know for a fact today), they had plenty of land of their own to explore and settle, so the claim was never challenged.

Things were very different east of fair Paris, however.

Soon, our scouts entered a vast, open savannah. Fertile land that would make for fine cities in Gaul’s distant future.

The trouble, as our ancient warriors soon discovered, was the fact that at the other end of this vast plain was a tribe of sturdy warriors known as The Rus.

They were only slightly less warlike than the Vandals, and though we traded with them frequently, we never enjoyed the close ties that we did with the Amerighans, and because of this, the Velociri who ruled the Tribes of Gaul commanded that the first Gallic settlements should be made in the direction of The Rus, even at the risk of inviting a war for territory with them. If possible, we would seal them off from the rest of the continent, leaving us free to explore the ancient jungle homeland of the Vandals.

Tensions with The Rus mounted high when our first three new cities were founded that isolated the people of the Rus to their “bulge” of savannah land. This, and the fact that we enforced the integrity of our early borders—preventing their eager settlers from reaching the fertile lands between Paris and our Gallic border outposts), infuriated their great leader (who was rumored to be an Ogress, and based on early graphic depictions of her, it is this author’s opinion that the rumors were true!), and for a time, there was the very real risk of war.

Fortunately for us (and there is no telling how such an ancient battle might have played out), The Rus became more interested in the mysteries of the sea, and took to building great ships to carry them to far off lands, while we focused on the land before us.

It took centuries…aeons…but ultimately, all of the land from “The Neck” of the west, and “Vandal Finger” in the east (the jungle of the Vandals was divided into two parts, each on it’s own peninsula.…ultimately we settled the peninsula nearest the dreaded Vandal town, finally dispersing them as they came down en mass from their mountain stronghold to live among us….a testament to the strength and vitality of Gallic culture, and The Rus sailed around our border towns to settle the other portion). History has shown that we got the far better end of the deal, as the section we settled was home to a vast supply (4 tiles) of silks! It might not have been the vast riches we were hoping for, but it was certainly a boon!

As Gallic settlement pushed westward, we encountered a low, coastal plain which was home to many herds of elephants. These were carefully husbanded, and periodically killed in number for their tusks of ivory (again, four tiles). These two things served as the basis for Gallic wealth for untold generations.

Further west, was gold in quantity, and in time, our people learned to make use of the herds of wild horses that roamed free north of Paris.

Such abundance! Gaul was truly a blessed nation to be at the center of such wealth! The people were happy, and the Velociri was happy.

It was good to be a Gaul.

-=Vel=-
(end of Part One)