Its hidden location and the surrounding countryside
offer the village much protection, but the village is not
without its own defenses. Every member of the tribe, from
the young to the old, takes part in exercises designed
to teach the ex-slaves to work together for the common
defense. Specific locations and fortifications are under the
command of experienced military personnel, either exsoldiers or gladiators, who direct the non-military-oriented
members of the community in matters of defense.
Scouts from the village constantly roam the land for
miles around, serving as first-line defenders (with orders
to act only against small groups) and to sound the alarm
should danger approach too closely.
In addition to the crater itself, with its natural wall that
rises some 30 feet over the crater floor, a sturdy brick wall
surrounds the village, rising to a height of ten feet and
mounted with battlements to protect the defenders. Gates
in the wall can be closed and barred. Within the walls,
the village has been designed to offer fall back positions
and hiding places for the defenders, while frustrating any
attackers with its maze of low walls and ambush vantage
points. If attackers do manage to break through the walls,
they will have to fight for every foot of ground they gain
once inside.
The village itself is built upon a raised platform of
baked mud, making attacks against it very difficult. Not
only must attackers drop down into the deep crater or
navigate the narrow ramp that is the sole accessway, but
once at the bottom they face the raised platform and the
village walls. If any attackers get this close to the village,
they will find themselves facing concentrated attacks from
the defenders' higher positions.
The Hidden Village is a thriving community of exslaves working together to create a home. The building the
village is proudest of is the Free Arena. Modelled after
the gladiatorial arenas of the city-states but constructed
on a much smaller scale, the Free Arena is an open air amphitheater in which tribe members can gather
to discuss important topics and reach group decisions.
While Bartras and his generals are not yet ready to give
up their positions as leaders of the community, they have
nonetheless begun to turn some community decisions over
to the Arena.
In the Arena, anyone who wants to voice an opinion
can do so without fear of reprisal or retribution. Issues
can be debated, and everyone participates in the decision making process.
The village also boasts a respectable barter market
where members of the community trade their skills and
wares, a large artisan section full of all kinds of craft shops
and studios, and a growing residential section where the
children of the Free can grow up to be whatever they
choose – with or without the permission of the owners or
the sorcerer-kings.
The Hidden Village lies at the bottom of a crater within
the foothills above the Great Alluvial Sand Wastes, lost
somewhere between Tyr and Urik in the shadow of the
Ringing Mountains. I cannot be more specific than that,
for I have pledged to keep every tribe I write about as
protected as I can.