Histories in the Dusk

PART II

by M. Keel

When did we stop being Skovs? When did we become Akorosian?

We know that our city was founded as a small mining settlement by Skovlan. Charterhall is named for the charter the mining company received from the Skov king giving them leave to extract and sell coal from the mines here. Usually, we think of Doskvol becoming Imperial, and Akorosian, at the time of the Cataclysm, when its leaders swore fealty to the Immortal Emperor.

A newer body of research suggests that long after Doskvol officially joined the Imperium, most of its population kept hold of its Skov identity. Different authors have suggested different times for this change. In his new monograph, Coal Mine of the Skov, Kristofer Sutton argues that the Doskvol’s people became Akorosian during the Tycheros Excursion.

In 182 IE, the Imperium controlled Akoros, Iruvia, the Dagger Isles, and parts of the coastline of Severos. Imperial City turned its eyes far across the Void Sea, to Tycheros. Tycheros had made war with no one, but kept to itself politically. The Imperium’s goal was and is to piece the Shattered Isles into one whole, and the Emperor decided to invite Tycheros to join. To extend the invitation, and force a yes if need be, the Imperium needed to launch a considerable naval force. Doskvol was the closest port to the sea route to Tycheros, so it became the staging point. This practical decision would change the character of the city forever.

Doskvol was then still a settlement on the margins of the Imperium. Most of the people were miners or fisherfolk. Only a few people of Akorosian heritage were full-time residents: the Governor, his household, and scattered others. The arrival of the Navy changed that. They established a temporary garrison at the docks. Hundreds of sailors and naval officers arrived, many of them bringing family members to settle in port. The docks went from a small working harborfront to a bustling neighborhood of hastily built shacks. The change in population brought with it Akorosian cultural traditions: just before the fleet launched, newcomers celebrated Doskvol’s first Gratitude festival.

At this point, the Skov settlers and the Akorosian newcomers were still separate communities. Sutton quotes a letter from a naval captain to her sister: “These Northern folk keep a queer sort of Calendar: in twelve Months rather than six,” a clear reference to the Calendar of Kings used in Skovlan right up until the end of the Unity War. They ate, worked, and worshiped separately. As the moments of preparation and the wait for good sailing weather dragged on, tensions between the two communities rose. In early Mendar, a fight between a Skov fisherman and an Akorosian sailor turned into a massive brawl that damaged a public house and two residences on North Hook Way.

What changed? According to Sutton’s argument, it’s all down to Skovlan’s involvement. When the Imperial fleet launched, they encountered a blockade. For many years, the main market for Skovlan’s coal and other mining exports had been Tycheros; their king was determined to protect this trade at any cost. Instead of sailing the well-charted (if still treacherous) course to Tycheros, the Imperial navy found itself waging a war far out in the Void Sea. While the Imperial navy had better numbers and better ships, Skovlan had the crucial advantage of knowing the waters better. And suddenly, back in Imperium-controlled Doskvol, Skovlan wasn’t just a neutral holdout. It was the enemy.

The people of Doskvol had every reason to want trade opened between Tycheros and the Imperium. Trade in the products from their mines had already picked up with local demand, and they would likely be the main shipping center for trade with Tycheros if things worked out. Tensions rose yet again within Doskvol with the blockade. The Akorosian newcomers began to see every sign of Skov identity as a sign of Imperial disloyalty. So the people of Doskvol had a choice: cling to the old ways, or embrace their newly prosperous place in the Imperium.

During the months of the blockade and the further year before the fleet returned from its Excursion, the Akorosian community and the people born in Doskvol reached their own kind of peace. The next Gratitude thrown in Doskvol drew a much larger crowd, and contributions to the feast ranged from traditional Akorosian delicacies to recipes more familiar in Skovlan to that practical Doskvol classic, the eel pie. The people of Doskvol had chosen, and the work of distancing themselves from Skovlan and claiming an Akorosian identity had begun.