78 People of the Sand Nation

Iron Sand City. For a long time, it was the only city in the Southernmost Region. The vast desert, with its infrequent sprinkling of oases, was unable to support a large population. Most of the population had been scattered among the various oases, and the only place where people gathered was here.

However, the balance that had existed for so many years had been shattered when those soldiers from the kingdom to the north of them arrived. They defeated the finest warriors of the Sand Nation clans and were able to take total control. The changes to the region were vast.

The first thing to happen was that many of the tribesmen were taken out of the region. The oases, once overcrowded, saw much of their population leave. Although most of the population loss had occurred in the outlying regions, even Iron Sand City had seen citizens leave.

The citizens had gone to many different places. Some of them had been settled in the Southern Region of Graycastle, which had recently been depopulated after Garcia's war. The tribesmen settled there found a fertile land with plentiful food and water. They were most certainly not disappointed with their decision to move there. Everything they had hoped for they got.

Another group of settlers had been sent to the Endless Cape. Unlike those moved to the Southern Region, this group of settlers had been most disappointed since they were dropped in the area that was well known for being lifeless. Indeed, there was a great deal of fear as many of them thought that they were being abandoned to die.

However, Roland had pulled yet another miracle. They were able to obtain water in the desert and even managed to do some farming. However, the majority of their income came from the fact that the area became a major hub of trade. A new city had sprung up around the Endless Cape, and now Iron Sand City was no longer the only city in the Southernmost Region.

The massive changes that occurred did not happen without any unrest. The Great Clans which had formerly held the power in the region were unhappy with the changing situation, and many of them tried to oppose the changes. Some of them sent their soldiers disguised as "bandits" to attack those who were trying to leave. Initially, this was indeed successful, but it caused great anger in the small clans.

If this was the past, the small clans wouldn't have the power to oppose the Great Clans. However, now things were different. After Roland learned what was going on, he decided to supply those smaller clans with guns to allow them to fight back.

The smaller clans decided to band together to fight the Great Clans who were harassing them. Furthermore, the Wildflame Clan, which was formerly first among the Great Clans, was the only one not to oppose Graycastle, and thus they also lent their aid.

The raiding groups sponsored by the Great Clans fell to the ambushes set by the smaller clans. When the Great Clans attempted to send punitive expeditions to subjugate the smaller clans, these forces were also defeated by the superior weaponry. Another effect of this was that many of these people became trained with guns and later on they would be recruited into the army.

With much of their military strength exhausted, the five great clans involved in the conspiracy found themselves vulnerable. The Wildflame Clan seized this opportunity to attack and wiped out the five Great Clans who were opposed to Graycastle. With this, the Wildflame Clan was once more the top clan in Iron Sand City, though they were subordinate to Graycastle.

With the pacification of the region, Roland was able to begin the next step for integrating the area into his kingdom. The city would be put under the direct administration of Graycastle. A group of officials were sent to govern the region and a City Hall was set up. Of course, the Wildflame Clan still remained influential as several of their members were recruited to become officials and they were also often consulted to provide a local perspective on the region.

The economy of the region had also undergone changes as well. A main source of employment was the burgeoning petroleum industry. With the advent of tanks and planes, oil was becoming more important than ever. There were many oil fields scattered throughout the Southernmost Region. With so many new wells opening up, there needed to be people to operate them. The oil wells employed a large number of people.

Furthermore, it was decided that it would be more efficient to do oil refining on the spot rather than transporting it all the way to Neverwinter. Multiple oil refineries were constructed in Iron Sand City and many people in the city worked in these refineries. Crude oil would be brought in from the surrounding oil fields before being refined. Then, the refined oil would be put into tanks and loaded onto trains to be sent to Neverwinter.

A railroad had been made connecting Neverwinter to Iron Sand City. The primary purpose of the railroad was to transport oil back to Neverwinter, but that wasn't the only thing it did. The railroad also allowed items to be delivered from Neverwinter to Iron Sand City. The people of Iron Sand City used the money earned from oil in order to buy manufactured goods from Neverwinter.

The people of the Sand Nation soon found themselves experiencing a great improvement in living standards. Not only did they now have access to plentiful food, they also were able to obtain items like clothing cheaply. This meant that even lower class people could afford to have many sets of clothing.

Modernization had stretched its reach all the way to the deserts of the south. All sorts of modern luxuries could be obtained now that it was easy to move goods from Neverwinter to Iron Sand City. Slowly but surely, the people changed and adapted to their new lifestyle. The Iron Sand City of today would be unrecognizable to the people living there just a few years prior.