//------------------------------//
// Hengstead 
// Story: Census 
// by The 24th Pegasus 
//------------------------------//

24th of Amber Skies, 380 AE

Two days of flight took us away from Nimbus and past the old borders of Cirra, an invisible line in the ground that had existed for centuries until we so recently moved it to the east. Past the great warrior city, pegasus towns and settlements dwindled both in size and number the further east we flew, until we spotted only occasional farms or sparse clusters of buildings within miles and miles of dense woodlands. Even the Nimbans have a respect for the pegasi who live this far east, as it takes a ferocity and toughness nigh unmatchable to survive this close to griffon lands.

The pegasi who live on the east border have always been subject to raids from the neighboring griffon state and have had to learn how to band together and defend themselves whenever the hybrids show their faces. Many of these pegasi are older veterans of Nimbus’ legions who were given land awarded to their city for its participation in Cirra’s wars, and as such are some of the most hardened and tested pegasi one will ever meet. Though they scarcely seem to have any sort of governing organization amongst their scattered settlements and homesteads, the settlers can raise an entire legion’s worth of soldiers in a few hours, and their collective response is both brutal and devastating to the marauders that would seek to plunder their homes. In recent years, griffon raids have decreased dramatically due to the willingness of every stallion and mare to fight for their land and their homes, making such attacks more trouble than they are worth.

With the conclusion of the war, however, the violent griffon tribes in the area were pacified [1], and settlement in the border region is expected to increase dramatically over the coming years. I have already borne witness to entire sessions of the Senate dedicated to organizing a triumvirate dedicated to appropriating and distributing lands to the settlers who wish to colonize the frontier at the cost of almost nothing. Perhaps within a few decades, the senate will have to organize another municipium and begin the construction of a properly functioning local government. In time, we may see the addition of a new sky city to our empire.

[1]: Based on military reports that have been recovered from this time period, the Cirrans seem to have an interesting definition of the term ‘pacified’.

There is not so much any solid line or demarcation that separates Cirran lands from those of the griffons, but at some point in our flight, the settlements we passed began to change. Pegasus settlements are wide and rectangular, doing their best to imitate a senator’s villa with what limited resources the working settlers have. Here, we began to see longhouses and other crude constructions  in the Gryphon style. Many of these buildings were damaged and in disrepair, casualties of the griffons’ foolish war with the Empire, and most settlements close to the border were completely abandoned. Despite this, I could not shake the feeling that we were being watched as we entered the griffon lands.

We passed by a large clearing filled with tree stumps, the very earth churned up as if thousands of hooves had stormed across it for days on end. As my lictors would inform me, it was not hooves that destroyed the soil so, but paws and talons. We had stumbled upon the remains of a griffon camp, likely a staging area prior to the siege of Nimbus now several years ago. While the tents and other equipment had been destroyed or withdrawn long ago, it would seem that the very earth is slow to recover from the griffon blight. That signs of a camp used in the early stages of the war could still be seen years later was simply remarkable. 

The forests soon began to peter out, being replaced by the rugged and hilly terrain that dominates the center and eastern stretches of the continent. Soon, we found ourselves on a path for a cleft in the mountain ranges of central Dioda, where the griffon city of Hengstead can be found. Hengstead was once a jewel of the griffon warlords, a bastion of griffon pride in the west, something to stare down Nimbus from the protective embrace of the mountains. The enormous, walled city straddles a river and climbs up the mountains to its south and the solitary peak to the north, Hühnerstall, as I believe they call it in their tongue, which translates to something similar to the Hen’s Roost. While the city was admittedly impressive in its own right, it fails to compare to the grandeur of Stratopolis, and even that of Pileus, which seemed more at home in the mountains than this work of griffon stone and talons.

Our carriage was sighted and approached by a coalition of both pegasus legionaries and griffon auxiliaries, eight from each company, and both wearing armor and armament in the Cirran style. The pegasi occupied the right wing of the carriage and the griffons the left, and my wife and I had to move aside to make room for my sons’ curiosity. They had never seen a griffon this close before, and the broad wings attached to a leonine body and large, feathered heads enthralled them. My wife was more wary than excited, for she had never been close to one before either, and I held her hoof as she very carefully sated her curiosity in small peeks through the window. For my own part, I had seen enough of them at the gladiatorial games and on trial in the Senate House for prosecution of crimes committed in the war that they failed to hold the same dangerous mystery they once commanded over my youth [2]. 

[2]: Cirra’s praetor urbanus of the time, a mare by the name of Ultimus Iudicium, kept extremely detailed reports of the proceedings of these trials. Following the war, almost a hundred griffon warlords and chieftains were rounded up from across Gryphus and put on trial. Here, they were accused of everything from the slaughter of Cirran civilians to other acts of “indecency” and “crimes against nature, spirit, and the gods”. Of the ninety-seven put on trial, sixty-two were put to death, twenty-six were sold into slavery, and six were imprisoned for various lengths of time. Only three warlords were allowed to walk away relatively unscathed, likely because Cirra was able to use them to control some of the neighboring tribes farthest from the reach of its legions. Terms were likewise drafted during these proceedings which arranged for the taking of hostages from nearly every griffon tribe within Gryphus.

We were flown into the city under the escort of our two wings, where we alighted near the hold. Hengstead’s central keep was an impressive building of stone, though it looked decidedly claustrophobic despite its size. The windows of the stone structure were all too small for a pegasus to fit through, and it had a noticeable lack of balconies and other points of egress along its walls. Since Hengstead was so close to Nimbus, the keep was designed to force the Nimbans to fight for it room by room and on hoof, instead of assaulting the structure from multiple angles and elevations, effectively forcing their armies into tight corridors where the larger and stronger griffons held a distinct advantage. Though the city had been sacked, captured, and razed numerous times and in different ways over the years by Nimban pegasi, the keep had never fallen, and the Nimbans of those wars had learned to simply ignore it and concentrate their efforts elsewhere instead of throwing lives away on a fruitless endeavor.

However, the city was not sacked in the war. It was not even attacked, at least not by Cirran forces. Hengstead and the surrounding griffon lands have always enjoyed somewhat closer ties with Cirra than with their brethren across the mountains, and over time this has led to the permeation of Cirran culture in Hengstead, impacting everything from how the griffons dress and act to the kind of buildings they erect. Recently, it has affected how they fight as well. When war broke out, Hengstead and the surrounding lands refused the call to arms of their griffon brethren, instead choosing to pledge their support to our late emperor, Julius Haysar. The city and its lands were besieged and plundered by griffon armies who were almost more eager to put down their traitorous brethren than press the attack on Nimbus itself. This distraction of griffon forces reduced those besieging Nimbus, allowing the city to hold out for as long as it did until the Legion was mobilized in full and could break the siege, beginning the process of ending the war.

Once the war was concluded, the Senate and the Emperor decided to reward the griffons of Hengstead for their loyalty to the true empire. As such, many of the benefits that us Cirrans enjoy were extended to them, such as protection and financial support, and in return, Hengstead was reorganized into a Cirran province. While much of this is still only on paper, the appropriate actions are being taken to make these proclamations and changes official as soon as possible. It is important that the province is recognized and made into law as soon as possible to begin to hamper griffon raids on our settlements in the border region [3].

[3]: Hengstead was one of the few ‘provinces’ Cirra organized in its time as an empire. As a province, Hengstead was given a great degree of autonomy in its everyday affairs, but its foreign policy was controlled exclusively by Cirra, effectively making it a puppet state with integral ties to the empire. As Hengstead settled into its role as a Cirran province, the griffons living there came to be derisively known as ‘Canii’ by their brethren for their dog-like loyalty to their Cirran ‘masters’. Despite this, the Canii never earned citizenship in Cirra, and the pegasi instead offered it as a reward to those griffons that served faithfully in their armies in an effort to recruit expendable soldiers into their auxiliaries.

Upon exiting our carriage, we were immediately greeted by the chief of the Hengsteaders, a boisterous gray griffon with a white head who fashioned himself in the dress and demeanor of a Cirran governor. Chief Gervas, or Gervasius as he preferred to be called, favoring the Cirranization of his name, had the build of a griffon who spent years sharpening his talons in the brutal wilds of the frontier, fighting against our brave Nimban brethren. However, he also carried in his skull something that most of his species lacks; namely, intelligence of any sort above a rudimentary desire to maim and kill [4]. He was able to recognize that the time was fast approaching where the griffons must either kneel before Cirra’s might or be swept aside and trampled underhoof, and when war broke out, he wisely picked the winning side, in effect elevating him and the clans under his rule above that of their barbaric brethren. When the war was concluded, he officially pledged his loyalty and the loyalty of all his kin and clan to Emperor Haysar, and surrendered his autonomy to become a client of Cirra. For that alone, he stands out as an individual worth of pegasus respect, for it takes an individual of strong will to sever their ties to their animalistic nature in the pursuit of something better for themselves and the people who follow them.

[4]: As we’ve seen already, Cirran pegasi, particularly patrician highborns like Aureus, were exceptionally racist and xenophobic.

Gervasius is also one of the few griffons I have met that I find to be an agreeable sort. He recognized my authority as the appointed censor for the census and treated me and my family with respect. When I approached him, he saluted as we would in Cirra, and he knelt before my wife and did his best imitation at kissing her hoof as a creature with a beak instead of lips can. Though this unnerved Electri, having a griffon’s beak so close to her flesh, it was a suitable alternative to the traditional greeting of kissing an acquaintance upon the cheeks. Gervasius is mindful enough to know that pegasi are naturally wary of a griffon’s beak and talons, as they are lethal weapons in their own right, and to greet carelessly with such would be the same as holding a dagger in one’s mouth when seeking to embrace a comrade.

He escorted us not back to the keep, as I was expecting, but instead along a short flight from the city. In a natural plateau weathered from the side of the southern mountains, Gervasius had constructed a replica of a senator’s villa, complete with all the Cirran architectural flourishes; namely, walls and columns of white marble, an orange terra cotta roof, and a spacious atrium large enough to hold a small garden in the center of the house. Even still, the griffon’s native culture still permeated the house, for alongside Cirran paintings and sculpture, he had decorated his villa with wooden masks and small totems that are so common amongst the tribes of Gryphus. The end effect was to create a seamless blend between our two cultures, indeed two entirely different worlds, an ideal of the way things should be. Indeed, if the rest of Gervasius’ kind were to be more like him and his servants, then there would be little for the pegasi and the griffons to squabble about. Hopefully within my sons’ lifetimes Cirra will see her barbaric neighbors uplifted into civilization and enlightenment. It is only fitting that we noble pegasi do our duty to guide those consumed by predatory instincts and warlike rage into the path of duty and honor.

We were drawn to the kitchen by the smell of food, mostly that of cooking meat. Gervasius assured us that in addition to the meat, he had also told his servants to steam vegetables for us pegasi, which was considerate of him. While griffons are exclusive carnivores, and only dine on flesh, it is much harder for pegasi to do so, and while most of us enjoy the taste of fish and sometimes pork, we cannot live off of that alone. Thus, that Gervasius had gone out of his way to procure vegetables and fruits before our visit to cater specifically to us was yet another indication of how much this griffon was willing to see us leave as friends, rather than mere acquaintances. 

We made talk during the meal. Gervasius was interested in my journey so far, and I told him my story. In return, he told me about his family life, and the life of the griffons in Hengstead. Gervasius is a married tercel, happily wed to a white hen named Auda, who is softspoken and kind around strangers, but when put in a room with another woman, transforms into a gay and scandalous creature like any mare. Electri and Auda spent much of our stay at the villa exchanging gossip, the differences in race and station completely lost in the excitement of passing on hearsay. I believe that Electri was simply happy to have another woman to converse with, as she has spent so much of this journey surrounded by the stallions of her family and the stallions of our escorts, and stallions are not creatures of gossip like mares are.

Gervasius also has a young daughter, whom my sons spent most of their time fascinated with, as they were surrounded by important adult conversation of which they could not participate in. The fledgling is a female griffon barely a few months old, pure snowy white like her mother. I am told that she will be named on her first birthday, as is the griffon custom, but for now the parents were considering the name ‘Aella’. Griffons that they may be, and creatures much more agreeable to violence than pegasi, the name does have a sort of understated beauty to it. I wish the family luck in raising their daughter.

But talk turned to business soon enough. Gervasius presented me the census records of Hengstead, readily collected from a population eager to prove itself a worthy piece of the Empire. Griffons have always lived longer and bred slower than pegasi, with most families raising only one or two children, whereas pegasus families tend to raise small flocks of their own [5], so it was hardly a surprise to me that the Hengsteaders did not number in the hundreds of thousands. The data collected places their population at 92,000, making them numerous indeed, especially for their species, yet making them one of the smallest proper cities in the Empire. Now that their lands are under Cirran protection, however, I expect that their population will rise sharply over the coming years, as veterans and other displaced pegasi migrate eastward to the lands surrounding Hengstead and the frontier.

[5]: At the time, the average pegasus family foaled five children. Since a pegasus’ lifespan then was about sixty years, and a griffon’s nearly thrice that, the pegasi reproduced faster than their rivals to keep their population up. It also led to Cirra having vast reserves of fighting age stallions that it could call up at a moment’s notice, something that the scattered griffon tribes sorely lacked until they were unified under their god-king Magnus in 400 AE.

Though it was not under my jurisdiction, talk turned to other matters regarding Hengstead’s place in the Empire, mostly concerning its role in trade and the Legion. Hengstead’s primary benefit to the Empire is its positioning near many seams of iron, which our forges need to keep the Legion armed, and even more important than the ore in the earth are the smiths that work it. Griffon steel has always been considered exceptional in quality, and their smiths masters of their craft. Their weapons do not break, and if properly maintained can hold a lethal edge for decades, whereas Cirran steel eventually loses its edge from use and wear. Once the Legion establishes a military quarter in Hengstead, it will probably see to the commissioning of griffon blacksmiths for the crafting of arms for its officers. While the mass-produced steel of Cirra is suitable for the milites of the line, the officers will undoubtedly pay more for superior armament.

Then there was the issue of military service. Gervasius pressed me on what exactly the Legion would expect of him and his griffons, and I told him what I could of the senate proceedings that I’d attended on the subject before I was appointed censor. I informed him that the Legion planned on organizing auxiliary legions comprised of griffons taught to fight in the Cirran style and used to police the Empire’s new holding, as it was believed that his species would be more amenable to order established by its own kind rather than the hooves of occupying pegasus soldiers. The auxiliary legions would be comprised mostly of young griffons pressed into service from the heartland tribes as a means of keeping their numbers under control and pulling potential soldiers away from them before they could muster an army large enough to rebel. However, the auxiliaries would remain open to any griffon who wished to volunteer. As an incentive for voluntary service, the Senate was considering granting citizenship to any griffon who served the full twenty years[6] of service, along with a villa and lands to work in the frontier and lands around Hengstead. Naturally, this led to Gervasius asking me whether or not Hengsteaders would be granted citizenship in the near future. I avoided the question, saying that I did not know, and that it would be up to the Senate to decide. What I did not tell him was that I knew such a measure would be unlikely; Cirran citizenship is something closely guarded in the Empire, as the benefits it confers are not insubstantial, such as voting and property rights. The Nimbans were not granted Cirran citizenship until 250 years ago. I can see it taking as much as a century before Cirra will even consider granting the griffons of Hengstead citizenship in the Empire.

[6]: Amazingly, twenty years of service in the Legion was the standard term of service for its soldiers. Most pegasi who joined the Legion when they were 20 wouldn’t be able to retire until they were 40, although they could retire earlier if their commanders granted them land and spoils from a successful campaign. The idea was to build and maintain a large fighting force of experienced veterans who would be able to bolster the energy and strength of the younger soldiers with the wisdom and experience that comes with years of fighting. For the most part, this was effective; the veterans were usually held in reserve and used only at the decisive moment of a battle, and when they were used, the results were devastating. Many Cirran victories were won this way, using the younger soldiers to tie down the main body of an enemy army, then outflanking and destroying it with the veteran soldiers. Still, twenty years is a long time even by our standards, and back then, it was quite literally a third of a pegasus’ life, though only a tenth of a griffon’s, probably making the offer more appealing. One can easily understand where the dedication to the Legion comes from when you have to devote the prime of your life to fighting for it.

After finishing our orders of business, we were treated to tours of Hengstead and the surrounding mountains. I used the time over the next several days to prepare a report of Hengstead’s assets and potentially promising prospects for the investment of imperial coin. I interviewed many of Hengstead’s master smiths and examined their works and selected the best for presentation to the Emperor when he takes his victory triumph through the griffon lands. I also bought two masterfully crafted daggers to give to my sons, as they are both of the age where they should begin to carry around a symbol of their status and the capability to defend themselves. Though I will not let them have free reign of their new weapons while we are on this journey, I plan to have them instructed in self defense once we return. In the coming years, they may be called by the emperor to serve, and it would do them well to be trained before being sent to a legion.

I also attended, with my family and Gervasius’ family, a festival being held in Hengstead, celebrating the conclusion of the war and Hengstead’s coming integration into the Empire. Gervasius had us be guests of honor at the parade, as our presence here is an indication of Hengstead’s coming good fortunes. Both Solidus and Iustitia enjoyed their time in the spotlight, though the sight of so many griffons gathered to see us naturally unnerved Electri. Thankfully, the griffons of Hengstead intended no harm for us, and so the festivities concluded without any incident.

After staying in Hengstead for roughly a week, and becoming more familiar with griffon culture, we made our final preparations to leave. The next stop in our journey would be the heartlands of the griffon tribes, where some of the hybrids still have not yet accepted that they have lost the war. As such, I sent out a formal request for additional reinforcements during my next leg of the journey, and was gifted with a centuria from the Fourth Legion, which is finishing pacifying the griffon lands. Now, with a contingent of an additional sixty-four pegasi escorting my carriage, we were all set to continue into the griffon lands, with enough protection to ward off any overzealous griffons who would seek to hurt the empire by attacking one of its faithful servants. Gervasius wished me safe travels, and we departed.