Holmesk

<div class='textboxV3' id='pgTextboxV3_1'> Welcome to our city. We are a small community, located 100 passangs south of the Vosk, along the Viktel Aria. Strategically located, we have, for thousands of years, hosted Ar's troops in Winter. As close to the Margin of Desolation that Holmesk rests, the terrain can be both beautiful, and treacherous, with rolling plains, a shallow vein off the Vosk, but close enough that travel is possible. Travel to any number of other port cities is quite accessible, the closest being Teslit. From the top of small rolling hills one can see the fork where the Vosk breaks off into smaller sections, and finally, disappears into the ground. Small ferry boats are available to take visitors from the next largest port to our city, and back. While the natural terrain is somewhat harsh, by the strength of hard work, we have made Holmesk a fine place, with large public baths, enclosed walled gardens with plants and birds from all walks of Gor, a thriving village with a number of local exports, as well as an Inn, and other places of interest. We even boast a modest beach to relax and glance out over towards the Vosk and other parts of Gor. Lakes and pools offer relief from the warmth in summer months, as well as being stocked with a variety of edible fish. Small strips of land have been cultivated for farming, and ranching, by the sweat of their brow, the citizens have made Holmesk a thriving, self sufficient community that offers much to its citizens and guests. Again, we of Holmesk, welcome you... (Some quotes on Holmesk from the books) May I ask where the report claims them to be? The report claims they are in winter quarters at Holmesk, one hundred pasangs south of the Vosk. I heard a sword, half drawn, behind me. Then it was returned, angrily, to its sheath. The report is inaccurate, said Aemilianus. It is not even intelligently conceived. It gives such numbers for Ars troops at Holmesk as would mean that the main might of Ar is in the north, which is unthinkable. Such forces would not be needed to raise the siege. Ar, too, in such a case, would be in effect undefended, her territories, if not herself, at the mercies of Salarians, Travians, Tharnans, even men of small cities like Tarnburg and Hockberg. There could be treachery, I said. Renegades of Gor Yes, Master, she said, lifting her head a little from the dirt, where, before me, in the camp of Cos, on the south bank of the Vosk, north of Holmesk, she knelt, head down, the palms of her hands on the ground. In effect, I suppose, we were spies. Young Marcus, with the consent of his commander, Aemilianus, formerly of Ar´s Station, now among the refugees at Port Cos, had been given permission to track the movements of the Cosians in the north, and to convey this information to the major land forces of Ar, which were currently located at Holmesk, to the south. Marcus, with whom I had come to the camp, an orderly fellow, had made very specific contingency plans, and had insisted emphatically they be complied with, in case either of us were apprehended or detained, plans which he might be putting into effect like lightning at this very moment. If possible, we were to meet on the road to Holmesk, to the south, in the vicinity of the village of Teslit. If this meeting proved impractical, the fellow near Teslit, whoever it might be, was to hurry south to Holmesk, there to contact the men of Ar. To be sure, we had expected, in a day or so, to depart southward anyway, having been with the forces of Cos long enough to anticipate their route and marches, this information to be conveyed, suppos-edly, to the forces of Ar at Holmesk. I myself found it difficult to believe that the forces of Ar at Holmesk did not know, and with some degree of accuracy, the nature, the movements, the marching orders, and such, of the Cosian forces in the north. It was hard to believe that somewhere northward, perhaps somewhat to the west now, in the vicinity of the Vosk, was the expeditionary force of Cos, and somewhere to the south, beyond Teslit, in the vicinity of Holmesk, lay the winter camp of Ar, supposedly housing a considerable commissary and depot, and one of the largest concentrations of troops ever seen in the north.Teslit, a small village to the south, save for a family or two, had been abandoned. Women and livestock had been hurried away. i did not think this had been unwise. Cos was to the north, Ar to the south. Had they sought to engage, it seemed not improbable that they might meet on the Holmesk road, perhaps in the vicinity of Teslit, approximately halfway between the Vosk and Holmesk. I looked down on the road. It was said that once, long ago, there had been a battle there, more than two hundred years ago, the battle of Teslit, fought between the forces of Ven and Harfax. The camp of Ar near Holmesk, incidentally, was situated on, or near, the same site as had been the camp of Harfax two hundred years ago. Such things are not coincidences. They have more to do with terrain, water, defensibility, and such. The land, its fall and lie, wells, watercourses, their breadth and depth, their swiftness, fords, climate, time of year, visi-bility, precipitation, footing, and such, provide the four-dimensional board on which are played the games of war. It is no wonder that fine soldiers are often astute historians, careful students of maps and campaigns. Certain routes, situ-ations and times of year are optimal for certain purposes, and others are not, and might even prove disastrous. Certain passes on Gor, for example, have been used again and again. They are simply the optimal routes between significant points. They bear the graffiti of dozens of armies, carved there over a period of centuries, some of it as much as three thousand years ago. Similarly I had heard nothing in the village, from the folks there. I assumed he must have left the camp expeditiously, as would have been wise, lest his puta-tive affiliation with me be recalled, and then, after perhaps waiting a few Ahn in the vicinity of Teslit, not making his presence known, had hastened southward, that he might con-vey his intelligence speedily to the men of Ar near Holmesk. That is precisely what I would have expected. He was an excellent young officer, with a high sense of duty. He would not daily foolishly in the camp of Cos, as I might have, in the event that it might prove possible to render some assistance to an imperiled colleague. Such imprudence would jeopardize his opportunity to convey his data to the south. Marcus could be depended upon to do his duty, even if it meant the regrettable sacrifice of a comrade.</div>