The workings of D'oril: Homeland Security

One of the major plotlines of the Doril tales has to do with the successful (so far) resistance of the K'tath of D'oril against the Empire of Tallux's expansion. The roots of that conflict are rather convoluted, and quite frankly, vary both depending on the "historical" era, and whose side youre listening to. For the most part, the k'tath are defensively oriented, having made no expansive moves towards anyone else, but they have, on occasion, taken offensive action to deal with a perceived threat. The empire, on the other hand, is openly expansionistic. D'oril is only one of their conflicts, at times not even that important one. But how is it that the compartively small k'tath culture has been able to withstand the huge empire for so long?

Early on in my writings, I identified the success of the k'tath as due to the single minded skill of their defenders, the kel and the foresightedness of their leaders, the Sen. In short, the Sen could to some small degree, predict what the empire (or other invaders) would do, and the Kel, given this good intel, act skillfully and forcefully to head off whatever the next problem might be. Of course, in order for there to be enjoyable stories, their actions would always smack of desperation, the chance of success right on the brink.

As I've deepened my background, I've recognized that in order for the stories to be believable, there would have to be mistakes made by kel and sen, nobody can be perfect. The Sen's prescience has to have limits, as does the kel's physical and tactical skills. Some of those mistakes or disasters have become the core of future stories.

At any rate, my early images of the kel as "super warriors" had to be tempered. Flaws were introduced, for example the concept that kel warriors, over time, become mentally worn out by the rigors of their constant vigilance on the frontier. Thus, the importance of the Krath came into play. Kel, normally very solitary folk, would after a time have to be reintegrated into the k'tath society by krath healing. Call it a stand down from duty, vacation, or mental health break. In essence, kel would return to the krath, exhausted and perhaps darkened by their experiences, and have to spend time with a krath empathic healer, perhaps weeks or months. This empathic healing became the third leg of the k'tath defense, the renewing of their defenders will and ability. This also is the core of one of my earliest saga outlines, Brandis' long journey apart from the K'tath, and his eventual redemption. It's something to work on, another day.....

More to come soon, including that promised blurb, progress reports, and... Who knows...

Clear skies,
Jim