The Salted Steel Tribe

As it is challenging to learn about one's culture when it is not welcoming to outsiders, detailed accounts of their culture often come from "The Tales of the Lost Soldier," an Autobiography about the adventures of Oblitus Morncloth.

A once-peaceful part of the abandoned colonies of the Azenveld Republic, their lives shifted drastically when the republic fell into corruption, leaving them to fend for themselves. To make matters worse, a weather phenomenon had spawned across the Saline Sea, creating a condition of endless storms that plagued the Tempete Archipelago. Many tried to escape the islands, but so few could withstand the storms that it was considered futile. In fear of the storm around them, they consumed themselves in paranoia and malice that only brutality could savor. Their memory of the Azenveld Republic being dead, having been abandoned under the crucible of survival, and living for the more expedient violence necessary to endure. They consider raiding and stealing as a means to an end. Over time, they mold their violent tactics into a lifestyle, a life of a raider and fighter. To the rest of the world, they're savage invaders who have caused as much damage to the world as did the Fuxenarian Empire. However, they have no interest in the quarrels of the world. They hunt because their island can't harvest enough food for everyone, they need enough lumber to build a shelter, or they need leather to clothe themselves.

Surprisingly, the Salted Steel Tribe also has a form of faith. One of the primordial gods, Maréus of the Unforgotten Lake, is believed by few among them to be pushing away the worst of the storms from their homes. Echoing within the souls of the islanders to stand tall against the storm and survive together till the storm finally ends. A mythological occurrence that symbolizes the edict of endurance. The only ones to have come closer to its religion is the Marqyuis de Orguelle. Through the faith, the influence of their culture became apparent, emphasizing its use as a tool rather than worship. At times, tribesmen have been found to possess ornaments made of random metals, carved with writing that records a raid or battle in which they were involved. Calling the god's name in the midst of battle, not in prayer, but in recognition for their moment of bravery. They perform no rituals and hold no priesthood in the tribe. To them, survival requires sacrificing any idolatry in the focus of the more essential things. While they do derive pleasure from fighting people, it is merely a result of centuries of fighting for their livelihoods. That is not to say the most fearsome among them became so strong because they were the more vicious of fighters.

In civilian life, residents find tasks to utilize any available services to maintain the tribe's survival. Their lives are intertwined, driven by a desire to complete their tasks efficiently and ensure the collective survival of the Archipelago's inhabitants. They are known to be bold in behavior and aggressive when insulted, speaking in an old tongue that evolved from the language of the Azenveld Republic, known as selian or "storm tongue" by outsiders. Quarrels among citizens are often resolved with duels and brawls between opposing thoughts. These fights are traditionally fair, with no interruptions or rigged combat. Until one surrenders or dies, both must fight each other for who is in the right. This tradition is a precursor to the Duel of Destiny, used by the neighboring tribes of Westenra, which the conquered peoples adopted out of both necessity and respect. These duels may only be accepted if both parties accept the terms.

In "The Tales of the Lost Soldier," Oblitus describes the townfolk surrounding the Saline Citadel.

"...their markets are like any busy street in Arcshire. Shipments of random objects from all over the world. Stolen lumber from the Saltwood Forest, a satchel of rubies from the dwarven mines, sandworm fat from the Desert of Arazir, vials of the all-healing flower Cura Universa of the Arching Mountains, a ritual dagger from the Nightmare Kingdom, and lost Fuxenarian weapons from the rebellion. All of it up for sale or sent to be repurposed by its people. They moved with determination and were always direct in their conversations, finding you more enduring when you get straight to the point. Their brawls are like fights between wild animals with dirty tricks like mud in eyes. Their way of playing it fair is by keeping it between you, your opponent, and what is naturally around you. Bold and survivalistic"

— -Oblitus Morncloth, Founder of House Morncloth

Above the citizenry stand the leadership roles of the Marquees, the most powerful families in the Salted Steel Tribe, and loyalists of the Signeur des Tempetes. Their bloodlines date back to the original tribe lords who expanded their territories across Westenra. The title of Signeur des Tempetes is purely symbolic, a testament to the tribe's survival rather than any magical claim over the storms. The Marquees do not obey commands by idolatry, but in fear of the power of their lord. As such, they maintain their status through extreme measures, training their future generation to be successful, so that their family never loses power. Many family members have been known to apply cruelty to their methods out of the stress they endured in their livelihoods. With their high status, they hold more enriched lives, selling and collecting vast riches that their family has stolen over the centuries. Their lifetime of wealth and power, mixed with the role of conquest, corrupted them into a variety of sins.

"The Marquis de Orguelle trades secrets through their collection of memories of those they have killed, and inserts memories into others through twisted, old magic. The Marquis de Avarice, the greatest in stealing from the innocent, is excessively possessive, and is obsessed with treasure. The Marquis de Luxe draws from its role in slavery and the detainment of other mortals, seeking the control of the mortal soul itself. Their experimentation of those they enslaved, including children has abled them to integrate their captives into their society in order to sustian their island's numbers. The Marquis de Jalousie is a brawler's favorite family. Born-fighters taking on the challenge of mastering the Way of the Storm Fist of the monks. They find the jealousy of others to be a strength to push themselves to become stronger. The Marquis de Gourmandise protects the largest food storage in Westenra, but often overindulges in the same food storage. Miraculously, none of the family members appeared overweight, suggesting a dark, unseen magic hiding the excess mass, reflecting the sin's hidden, destructive appetite. The Marquis de Paresseux is the engineer-minded pack of risk takers. Building unstable inventions that combine golemancy and gunpowder, with the highest construction mortality rate in the islands. The Marquis de Colère is the royalist with brutal retaliation against anyone who undermines them. Their strongest member becomes entitled to the last name "Baine" to lead their family in "vengeance against the source of the storm." This ruthless crusade is fueled by the Colère family's unique doctrine, which posits that the unending storms are caused by the sins of the outside world pouring into the islands. Obsessing over avenging any of their fallen through brutal battles. They stand as one of the most dangerous families in the world for their callousness towards life and immeasurable wrath towards their enemies."

— -Oblitus Morncloth, Founder of House Morncloth

For the Salted Steel Tribe, conflict is the currency of their culture. Their efforts are a means of survival, but such a lifestyle of raiding and pillaging can only push them so far. As their numbers grow, they need more resources to distribute. To achieve this, they practiced expanding their territories to extract vastly more resources from the lands they conquered. They transitioned from targeted attacks to wars of conquest. Their first attempt was the most successful, as they ruled the mainland of Westenra like wolves over sheep. They constantly demanded resources from the conquered tribes, which fueled insatiable greed and left them wanting more, especially when their grip was loosened by rebellion. As a result, they did not hesitate to declare war against the Kingdom of Owenar to conquer the fertile lands once again, driven by avarice and dynastic power rather than ideological purpose. When that failed, they hid in shame and defeat, returning to their raiding methods while retaining a neutral stance, but suffered from insubordination and betrayal. The fall of the founding family, Signeur Carolus to Marquis de Colère, scarred the islanders with fear of power, ending a royal bloodline. Returning to their quest for more resources, they launched an attack with such violence and brutality that it severed the stalwart defense of the Kingdom of Owenar. When even that ferocity was put down, they severed all access to their islands from anyone, hiding in the darkness of the storm with no record of their activities since.

Their vast quantities of stolen material from all over the world have provided them with a diverse assortment of weapons and clothing. Many can be seen wearing leather pieces stitched together from leather from other continents. Customizing metal plates into single-shoulder guards with a leather belt and padding. Broadswords and rapiers are their most commonly used weapon, but some include daggers, whips, spears, scythes, dragon pistols, dragonpowder explosives, magic conduits, gauntlets, staffs, and twin-blades. Weapons from faraway lands tend to be either repurposed or used by unique users. For instance, it is said that the founder, Reyanud Carolus, wielded a spatha, an Azenveldian longsword enchanted with the elemental magic of the ancient age. In their military, they possess a remarkable number of ships. A mountain of ship parts from all over the world has enabled their adaptive shipcraft to build a fleet so vast that its exact number is unknown. However, many of them, including their most infamous ships, have been heavily modified with various features. Things like heavy claws that grip enemy ships, bluster cannons that fire scattered projectiles, or the mounted barrel launchers for cannisters of poison gas.

The Storm Bears hold the most extensive collection of weapons in Westenra. Selling them only to those who have proven their strength in wielding it. As the creators of brine iron dating back to the age of the colonies, they habor the archipelago's natural resource from deep sea diving. Couperet de Baleine stores vast quantities of chemicals and regents. Sealed shut from the elements, these storages are considerably volatile if an unstable factor occurs. When it comes to wealth, its largest distributor is the Marquis de Avarice, with immense wealth that rivals that of the wealthiest Owenarian families—mountains of gold and jewels protected by the greediest of them all. The Marquis de Gourmandise stores more food than any other means of storage in the Westenra. Months of food at a time, it is transferred to the Couperet de Baleine to be cooked and divided among the people.

"Their history is as isolated as they themselves are. They keep no books, as the ones they once kept wash away with the tide. Like the adventurous Azenveldians they once were, their stories are lost to time. They live to remember only the lives they stole and the sacrifices their people make to feel alive."- Queen Lauren Owenar

— - Queen Lauren Owenar

Before the Dark Ages, humanity reached unseen heights under the Azenveld Republic, a governing body during the time of the ancients and the most prosperous faction in mortal history. Their riches are seen in every corner of their borders, where no man or woman needs to struggle in vain. In this Republic, many families were granted the title of Patricius. A title of both royalty and sanctioned purpose. One of those, Patricius Carolus, was a young and upcoming house of explorers and seafarers. In their ambition, they called for the republic's sanction to build a colony on what would later be known as the Tempete Archipel. At the time, it was an array of islands brimming with open skies and calm tides, but the islands themselves were more of rock than soil.

Patricius Carolus sought to recreate the archipelago into a single structure called Veldhafen, a city floating on the surface of the Saline Sea. These colonists were gifted with vast resources to make this possible, and for a time, it was peaceful and prosperous.In thier works on their new city, they discorvered a unique metal known as brine iron with helped them reinforce the foundations. As the foundations were being built in the seabed, the colonists suddenly lost communication with the Azenveld Republic. They waited for a military envoy to assure their safety, but no one came. They waited for more lumber and stone for the city's foundation, but no one came. They waited for ships carrying food for their starving, but no one came. What did come, however, was a dark cloud that never stopped covering the sun, winds that churned the ocean waters to frenzy, rain that flooded the houses they built, and thunder that shook the ground beneath their feet. They had been abandoned by the now corrupt humans of Azenveld, who formed an empire for the God of Valor, Fuxenar. The First-Born, the creators of all mortalkind, were nowhere to be found as the Saline Sea became affected by a supernatural storm that never ceased. Even when some of them tried to sail away from the Archipelago, the storm would consume them whole. Trapped between a remorseless storm and barren islands, they resorted to other means to survive.

For 400 years after, the colony became divided and isolated from one another, and these colonies split into four isolated groups (the Storm Bears, the Cursed Timber Tribe, the Couperet de Baleine, and the Coral Dwellers). When there was no more lumber left, they stacked rocks and salt into shelters. When there wasn't enough fish to feed everyone, they resorted to using the bodies of the recently deceased for sustenance. When not enough people died quickly enough to be cannibalized, Patricius Carolus resorted to personally executing traitors, criminals, and sacrificial volunteers, all to feed his people. Over time, this corrupted them into lawlessness and savagery. Each passing day became a struggle to survive, one way or another. When Fuxenar fell in the rebellion that saved the world, the head of the founding family, Reynaud Carolus, claimed to have felt a change in the tide as if the winds turned outward to push away the storm. He took it as a sign from the water god Maréus to elevate their people's means of survival. Gathering a handful of the most violent and dangerous men in the Archipelago, he unleashed a campaign eastward towards the continent of Westenra. With the promise of abundance, the former colonists brought centuries of turmoil against anyone who opposed them. The most militaristic of them fell under Reynaud's command. The Great Conquering had begun.

He succeeded in uniting the neighboring tribes under his leadership with Rolan Nan Paresseux, a schizophrenic inventor whose mastery of machinery and weapons earned him the name "the father of dragonpowder." Along with inventing these deadly material, he found the means to aplify the effects of brine iron from the Storm Bears. An enchanted metallic pole that drawed out lightning bolts. With Rolan's creation of lightning rods that redirected the storm's bolts, Reynaud earned their trust and formed the new tribe's military power. The former colonists following the words of their leading figure in awe and fear of his brutal strength. When asked for a name for this tribe, Reynaud revealed his aura-defining blade, Ira Maris, gifted to Patricius Carolus by the fallen republic. Once an ordinary weapon for protecting the colonists, Reynaud claims it is "a tool of conquest, cold and biting like steel soaked in sea salt." Thus, in 440 DA, he called the unifier tribe, The Salted Steel Tribe—a confederate government of military forces that work symbiotically with all families of the archipelago. The only ones  who refused to join were the Coral Dwellers. They hid themselves underwater within the foundations of Veldhafen, the city of wastes. Honoring their choice of absolute isolation, Reynaud gathered seven of the most notorious criminals on the islands.

• Émeric Bain Colère, an abnormally large knight who used the bones of his enemies as armor.- Roland Nan Paresseux, a collector of explosives who tested them on enemies with savage results.- Théadora van Gourmandise, a beautiful woman who used twisted magic from living experiments to maintain her physique whilst consuming gluttonous amounts of food.- Adélard Jalousie, a commoner who mastered the rhythm of the storm to a fighting style built on ambition through jealousy- The Way of the Storm Fist.- Sébastien van Luxe was a cruel genius who specialized in human experimentation, obsessing over controlling the mortal body and enslaving any mortal.- Gaspard Van Avarice, a grotesque thief who was said to have attained the ability to move with the lightning. He is a descendant of imperial bankers who claim an immense treasure on a remote island in the Saline Sea.- Mathilde Nan Orguelle built an obsession with reading people's minds and discovered the magic of the water realm. Allowing her to steal memories. add them for personal gain, and bragging about her newfound power.

With fearsome commanders and an army of battle-hardened soldiers, Reynaud Van Carolus sailed his armada to the continent of Westenra. It is said that he used Ira Maris to open the storm, so that his fleet would not be harmed when they reached the shore. Landing on the mainland and settling at the Saltwood Forest as their base of operations, the Salted Steel Tribe soured the lands with unrelenting fury: overwhelming tribes both great and small. Through the wave of despair against a promised peace, the 2nd Dark Age had begun.

First, they attacked the northern mountains to subdue the Pale Stone Tribe, the Silver Fang Tribe, and the Herugi Coven. The latter was the last to surrender. Even as his Coven Lord stood among all his dead and surrounded by Roland Nan Paresseux's men, he refused to abandon his spear to, as he said, "a fuxenarian shadow who soil this sacred ground!" His death rendered the Herugi Coven extinct from history—the devastation of leaving naught but ruin. The last two tribes of the Northern Mountains were enslaved in their own lands as the blood-drunk armies of the Salted Steel Tribe scattered south into the Central Plains. One by one, tribes that lived in peace were overwhelmed by their twisted might. Their first actual test did not come until they reached the Southern Valley. 

The tribes in that valley united themselves in retaliation for the enemy's conquest. They became the Southern Valley Tribe and, united in strength, fought as horse riders against the descendants of the broken Azenveldians. Even so, their surrender was assured when half their armies were lost over a short period. Their numbers were greater still, but the ferocity of the enemy was unparralled. The valleys burned as mountains of bodies were piled by Salted Steel. Reynaud and his elite lords joined the fight causing untold bloodshed and cruelty. Reynaud himself stood atop as the bloodiest of them all, killing even those of his own men who got in the way. Thus did Eamon, Lord Commander of the Southern Valley, call for a duel against one of the enemy's lords, Émeric Bain Colère. Telling him that the one who surrenders or dies will lose, and the victor may command the other. Their duel was set on a riverbend on what would be known as "traitor's destiny." Facing the massive-sized human barbarian, he was given the right to ride his horse against him, a gesture of respect. Unfortunately, genuine respect doesn't come from those who consumed themselves for 2 centuries. Émeric unleashed a volley of such raw strength that one punch knocked out the horse, and Eamon leaped from the saddle and drove his sword to Émeric's eye. Blinded and terrifingly enraged, Émeric grappled Eamon to the ground and proceede to break bone after bone. Eamon, his arms and legs twisted and fractured beyond repair, tried to call for surrender, but Émeric was too full of anger to care.

The tribesman of the valley tried to end the fight, but were pushed away by the opposition. Eamon was forced to suffer the pain of all his bones breaking before he died from his injuries. In his last breath, he cursed, "Your arrogance is a sin... your bloodline....  betrays honor in humanity... a time will come when your blood will be the answer to your crimes!" Émeric, still enraged, plunged his Claymore into Eamon's head into the ground. With this gruesome defeat, the Southern Valley was honor-bound to surrender to Salted Steel Tribe. Since then, the Southern Valley Tribe holds a deep grudge for the raiders for an offered a duel of honor and turned it into butchery. A cruel act of betrayal against mankind itself. One that would be devoted to ensuring honor in this duel through calling it the Duel of Destiny.

With the northern half of Westenra taken in less than a decade, the tribe expanded its territories throughout most of the continent. It forced the mainlanders to build a massive tower to house the tribe's bloodline in 496 of the Dark Ages (DA). Their brutal strength in battle stoked fear among the remaining tribes who fought to maintain their independence. Even the notable Sapphire Leaf Rangers of the Sapphire Forest were close to submission. Only one tribe rose in strength to fight back against them, the Silver Fang Tribe. Through great sacrifice, Chieftain Ayon of the tribe led the charge against the invaders and pushed the Salted Steel back into the archipelago in 517 DA. Forced back into their lands, they took what resources and slaves they could gather before they retreated to the Tempete Archipelago. The wrath of the Salted Steel rested in Saldefer Island to complete Patricius Carolus's mighty tower known as the Saline Citadel. One that would be equipped to collect the storm's power through lightning rods.

For less than a century, they resorted to raiding and pillaging targeted areas all over the world to maintain their monstrous appetite for more. Witnessing the rise of the Kingdom of Owenar in 573 DA, the tribe grew in ambition to fight a worthy opponent and take from their strength. To reignite the desire for conquest. Seigneur Alderic Carolus inherited the lordship of the tribe in the year 71 after the Dark Ages (ADA), and was hesitant to feed his people's hunger for conquest. However, he knew that their strength needed to be used to avenge the losses from the rebellion with the Silver Fang Tribe, or it would be left to fester.

In the year 83 ADA, seeking to restore the lands they had lost, the Salted Steel tribe launched an invasion against the Kingdom of Owenar, attacking the western region of the continent. The seven families, descended from the original seven notorious warmongers of the 2nd Dark Age, were granted the title of Maquees de Tempete and tasked with sending their armadas. This war was short-lived, as the combined strength of heroes in the Saltwood Forest and the naval prowess of Queen Lauren Owenar overwhelmed the tribe's sea raiders. Falling back in defeat, the tribal leader, Seigneur Alderic, concluded that ending the tribe's desire for conquest was for the betterment of all. He saw the islands as the only home they needed, isolating their faction entirely from the affairs of the mainland. It is said that the storms surrounding the islands became denser around the borders. Those who sailed under the banner of the Salted Steel Tribe, or the other confederate tribes, were able to pass through the borders as if they were protected. Thus, despite this declaration of peace, many tribesmen continued raiding neighboring continents for several centuries, slowly reigniting their desire for conquest and the return of the tribe that once ruled Westenra.

For centuries, the Salted Steel Tribe has achieved notable accomplishments through daring attacks, sometimes against overwhelming raiding forces. In 274 ADA, the Marquis des Luxe attacked a convoy of 200 dream pilgrims on the elvish coasts in Forodren. In 297 ADA, the Marquis des Avarice infiltrated a section of the aasimar city, Seraphim, but the attack was a distraction to leave the divine-touched race's precious vault, Solis Arca, minimally guarded. Sacrificing many of his men, the gold-obsessed family raided the vault and got away with many divine treasures, including the immaculate signet ring of Araneiros. Forward into 359 ADA, the Marquis des Orguelle captures a large envoy of sailors from attempting to return to Thunder Bastion. It is said that the Marquis Napoleon Orguelle stole all of their memories with his dark magic and left them in the ocean as empty husks. The nations of these historical victims did not take these attacks lightly, but their efforts to retaliate always ended in vain as the storm surrounding the Tempete Archipel seemed to discriminate. Forcing many enemy ships to crash and sink while those of the Islanders remained unharmed. Protected by the lightning rods, and the current-defying ships, the Salted Steel Tribe was untouchable.  Despite the family's efforts to prevent more attacks, they had no real power against the raider's right to choose violence for the sake of either survival or self-indulgence. By 419 ADA, the ruling Signeur, Louisize Carolus, took matters into his own hands and commanded the lightning rods to deny passage for any ship. Grinding the raiding and pillaging tactics to a halt. With the later decades marked by stifling stagnation, something had to give.

After hundreds of years of proposed neutrality, one tribesman, Caecilius Bain, the Marquis de Colère, came to Signeur Louisieze in the throne room of the Saline Citadel in 470 ADA. His family still believed in the old ways and had always sought to reawaken the ambitions of conquest. Caecilius Bain proposed to the Signeur that an army be assembled to invade Owenarian territory for the same purpose as back then, to control the vast riches of Westenra. In Caecilius's eyes, the Wisemen Purge, which killed so many Owenarian citizens in civil conflict, had shown the neighboring kingdom as weak and unorganized—a lifetime opportunity to gather their forces without too many eyes on them. Signeur Louisieze did not want to reignite such ambitions, as it was his ancestors' duty to maintain neutrality and sway the people from the horrors of war. However, Caecillus would not take no for an answer, nor would the other marquees, who took the opportunity to side with the soon to be usurper. In 497 ADA, he led an insurrection against the Signeur and attacked the citadel from within. Insurrectionists slaughtered the guards, opened the gates to invite opportunists, and Caecilius himself slit the throat of the Signeur in disgust. The Patricius Carolus, which formed the original colony and founded the Salted Steel tribe, was put aboard a ship and exiled to the frozen Iceveil Sea in the north. It is unknown whether any of its members survived afterwards.

Signeur Caecilius, with his successful insurrection, ordered the revival of the old ways and began assembling a fighting force. Resources were diverted to military use, citizens were required to train for combat, and the nurturing of future generations was enforced to increase numbers. The Marwuis de Paressseux was tasked to raid villages and capture children to be enslaved and integrated into tribesman. It would take several centuries to amass while pretending to remain neutral during its raids. By the year 900 ADA, they had formed a massive force capable of instilling fear in any faction they deemed an enemy, stoking concerns of conflict throughout the Kingdom of Owenar. When Prince Talon Owenar raided a former Salted Steel tribesman's home in the Owenarian capital Arcshire, it was all that was needed to spark the fires of the 2nd Salted Steel War in 979 ADA. The unified tribes, with their centuries-long militarization, invade every corner of Westenra. All of which was led by a cold and calculating tyrant who possessed obscene mortal strength, Signeur Nicolas Bain.

Led by the Signeur Caecillius Bain, the invading army of the Salted Steel Tribe was vast and well-trained. It occurred to many scholars at the time that the tribe had accumulated far more advanced weaponry than their resources or population should have allowed, suggesting a secret, powerful benefactor was arming their invasion. Catching the kingdom by surprise by attacking multiple points around the continent. The Saltwood Grove created a nature-born defense that tore apart landing boats from the Salted Steel Tribe. Blocking any raids compared to the last war, in which the druids learned how to counter their movements. Unfortunately, the brutal tactics of Signeur Caeclilus forced the druid to retreat to Janetown, where their defenses held firm. Attempts to break the wardstones protecting the forest were quickly suppressed. The Sapphire Rangers defended the western region of their forest, but the Salted Steel gained a foothold during the war. They climbed the western cliffs into the treeline and started destroying everything in their path. With this loss, the enemy tribe managed to cut off half of the kingdom's west from both forests and began closing in on Camp Leos. As the centerpiece of the kingdom's infantry, the invading force focused much of its army at Camp Leos. Overwhelming the base with sheer numbers and killing so many soldiers that it looked as though the capital would be the next to fall. Dalios Hold was barraged with cannon fire, but managed to maintain its defenses throughout the war. The numerous losses of ships were replaced or repaired expediently with the help of the inhabitants of the river town of Valentoise. With an enemy attacking effectively on many fronts, it looked as though the Kingdom of Owenar was doomed to collapse at the hands of Signeur Caecilius.

To liberate his kingdom, King Argon Owenar II orders the most extensive military campaign in the kingdom's history. He called for the aid of the Dwarven Clans to reinforce the Sapphire Rangers, received ships from the Kingdom of Thaznir for naval battles, granted all of his Judges the privilege to bear arms to lead men into battle, pardoned criminal magic users of Spellhold in exchange for their support, and gathered adventurers across the lands afar to save his kingdom. Throughout the long 11 years of the war, many individuals earned their reputations for heroic acts of liberation in the occupied territories. Lorath Valceran, the Paladin of Justice, and Azarune, the master sword-mage, liberated Camp Leos in 983 ADA. A band of adventurers freed the Sapphire Forest of the Salted Steel raiders with the help of the Flintwood Scar, the battle-loving warrior Judge Sereshe. Lirael Whiteheart and Prince Talon Owenar marched with an army of knights and the Saltwood Grove to push back the occupying force into Averse's Landing in 989 ADA. The most prominent military efforts were led by the kingdom's navy, under the command of the old but formidable Judge Elbion Stormmoon. Wielding a greatsword that controlled the sea, Leviathan's Fang, he led an armada with the deadly ship that slayed the Kraken of Dalios Hold, Kraken's Bane. Quickly quelling the forces in the eastern region, he sailed his armada south through the dwarven bridge city Nol Molduhr, attacking the retreating ships near Camp Leos and attacking the occupied Averse's Landing with full force.

In what would be known as the Battle of Bleeding Rain, the Owenarian fleet fought tooth and nail to reclaim Averse Island. Elbion Stormmoon, the commanding admiral of the Owenarian Navy, ordered his ship, Kraken's Bane, to engage the infamous enemy ship "Blood Moon." The Salted Steel Tribe thought that Elbion was on the ship leading the attack, but in secret, he set foot on Averse's Landing with a small band of fighters. Elbion commandeered the fallen base and Storm Splitter. Sacrificing his ship, he fired the cannon directly at Kraken's Bane. For the ship had been secretly storing large quantities of explosive Dragonpowder. Enough to create an explosion big enough to take down even the mightiest of warships. The thundering cannon fire, followed by an intense eruption of flame, shrouded the ongoing storm and struck fear into the hearts of the remaining enemy. Blood Moon was instantly engulfed in the explosion as debris was hurled across the sky for miles. Forcing the enemy into a retreat, the Kingdom of Owenar had won the battle and ended the war in 990 ADA.

After 11 years of endless bloodshed, the Salted Steel tribe again fell back in defeat. However, rumors have risen that the tribe did not show their full strength in the war, and their attacks were only a means to weaken the Kingdom's defences for a future conflict. What that conflict is, no one truly knows. What is known is that those residing on the islands remain a formidable and unpredictable danger.

Their confederate system does not form alliances with any faction anywhere in the world of Ixala. They consider all outsiders as untrustworthy and are only resourceful in the sense that they possess an abundance of goods worth taking. Their raids on numerous lands have earned them a reputation as feared adversaries. Some of these raided factions have attempted to retaliate against them for their transgressions, but the storms surrounding the Tempete Archipelago serve as a barrier against outside invasions. Many invading ships are buried in the Saline Sea, making future retaliation against the Salted Steel Tribe less likely, though local defenses are maintained in case of future attacks.

Despite this form of independence from the world, there have been raised suspicions over the resourcefulness of the tribe. Since their invasion during the Second Salted Steel War, salvagers and scholars have been left confused about the quality and effectiveness of the tribe's armaments. A century of plundering many nations is one thing, but the number of high-quality war armaments found was disproportionate to the number of men the archipelago could contain. Almost as if the tribe was gifted an army with vast weaponry solely to overwhelm the Kingdom of Owenar and their neighbors.

"J'invoque le Lac Oublié, afin qu'il guide et renforce mes souvenirs de bataille."

-Salted Steel Tribe Battlecry