Zeluco is a wealthy Tilean village of the Principality of Miragliano. It is known mainly for the fearsome and labyrinthine dungeons under Duce Montoni di Zeluco's fortress.[1a][2a]
Novices of Morr are in charge of transporting Human waste to the marsh that served the dungeons as a markerless graveyard. The weather is unpredictable in this benighted land where marsh met forest, this is a flash-flood country. Most of the roads are little better than ill-maintained causeways.[2a]
There are things in the marsh the Zelucos liked to keep well-fed, in the hope of dissuading them from forsaking watery homes in search of live meat. Many foreign visitors see this as a Tilean trait, keener to come to an accommodation with the creatures of Chaos than on crusading against the filthy monstrosities.[2a]
The farmers of the village aren't allowed to retain much of their produce for themselves, instead they need to turn over nine-tenths to the castle granaries.[2a]
History[]
The early Tileans were lucky that their lands remained largely free of monstrous creatures but in 475 IC a vast horde of Orcs and Goblins invaded from the east. The Tilean merchants were not used to fighting invaders — most of their battles were against each other — and the sudden appearance of Orcs burning crops, torching farms, and making off with the merchant caravans was a shock.[1b]
Things grew increasingly perilous when certain Tilean princes hired Orcs to carry out mayhem on their behalf. When the Count of Zeluco stormed Amato and reclaimed his family’s crown, the great city states feared this was only the start. They panicked when Zeluco’s army, reinforced with Goblins from the Appucinis, crushed a Reman militia. Only the onset of the rainy season stopped the ‘Black Count’ from marching on Remas itself.[1b]
Enter Rienzi, who came to be known as "the Magnificent," a priest of Myrmidia. Rienzi had studied all the Cult of Myrmidia's holy texts. When word came of Remas’s defeat, this younger son of a Reman merchant family saw an opportunity to honour his goddess — and make a profit. He offered to build the city’s rulers an invincible army if they signed a binding contract and paid his fee. Desperate and afraid, they agreed. Over the winter Rienzi recruited and trained an army, drilling them over and over in Myrmidian precepts of strategy and tactics, paying them well so they could serve full-time.[1b]
In spring, the "Eagles of Remas" crushed the Black Count's army in the Battle of Blood Ford. Monte Scorri's heavy cavalry charged Rienzi’s pikemen again and again, but couldn’t break through. Meanwhile, the crossbowmen loosed volley after volley into the Goblins, who broke when Rienzi’s cavalry slammed into their flanks. The Black Count's army fell apart, and he died while trying to escape across the river. Remas was saved.[1b]
Notable Inhabitants[]
- Marino Zeluco - Former Duce of the village around 2505 ca.[2a]
- Monte Scorri - Also known as the Black Count was the Duce of Zeluco in 475 IC.[1b]
- Montoni di Zeluco - Actual Duce of the village.[1a]
- Tancredi - A hooded minion of Marino reputed to be the most exquisitely skilled torturer in all Tilea. Father of Phoebe, a young girl who helped the prince Aleksandr Kloszowski to escape from the famous dungeons of the Duce.[2a]