Survey (job)

job:

War had sewn its roots deep into the lands of Helio, leaving it a land of desolation and chaos as people roamed the deserts without a home. A small majority of those lost souls had joined Gilles and her Sacred Order of the Flames reach, specifically the Helio branch of the religious order. A majority of them had joined looking for some form of stability that they could expect to support them. They were like many of their members that turned to religion for their source of hope and salvation. These types were ones that the High Priestess of the Flames looked forward to meeting the most.

The order was divided into 3 types of people. The first being those persuaded by gilles words that were interested in power or money or other material items and believed that the SOFR could achieve their dreams for them. These consisted of the Dragon’s Horde merchant alliance as well as the majority of the Kou branch of the order. Next was the converts, these were the people that gilles tortured or manipulated through a manner of various ways. They believed in Gilles lord of the flames but this was normally due to massive duress through the conversion process and wanting some divine entity to save them from the pain. Then there was the true believers, those who joined because they had complete faith in the words of gilles and the religion she used for her love of burning people. She did not need her honeyed words to convince these people. Thanks to her efforts in Helio this type has flocked to her and rapidly increased her amount of followers, creating the Helio branch instantaneously.

However, there was a problem that has arisen with the rapid increase in followers of the flames reach. The Helio branch members did not have a place of theirs to call their own and to stay safe in. For the Kou branch they had villages already that became the hubs for worship and gatherings. From what she had heard, the villages had grown over the past couple of years now since she had been there, gathering followers throughout Kou till they had enough people that they expanded, uniting the 3 small villages into a sort of tiny city of sorts with the main goal of worship. Then there was the Magno branch which was mostly comprised of merchant guids that had their own bases and then the students of the academy as well as citizens which had their own homes, not to mention the 5 churches they built and the orphanages. Unlike those though, most of the Helio branch ahd lost their homes and all Gilles had currently was a small mansion which could not even support a small fraction of them. This meant that is was time that the SOFR worked on making a home for them, a castle suited for the King of the Helio Bandits.

While a castle was normally intended for royalty or an army this would be a castle that also serves as a town for the 5 thousand members of the helio branch. This would mean that she needed to find an area that was large enough to support such a habitation but also could act well for defense when needed. Gilles would order that groups of her new followers spread out in various directions from the mansion. Their goal was to survey the surrounding areas and report back to the High Priestess with their findings. It would take a couple of weeks until any of them would return with any kind of news. Once they started to return, the Pale Lady would till all of the survey teams had returned so that she could receive the information all at once.

One by one they would inform their religious leader on what they had discovered. First was that to the north was an oasis that seemed to contain a nice source or water and a few animals even. Then to the south was just sand and desert and so was the same in the west. In the east was a large crevice that could serve as a great defensive structure but there did not seem to be an excessive amount of water there. So there were two valid options, the oasis or the crevice. With the location of the crevice they could always attempt to find a source of water by digging a few wells but they would need to get lucky to find enough water. However, with the oasis there was a clear source of water with a good likelihood of them finding a water table underground that can support them. This is where they would most likely place the structures that would become their castle town.

The High Priestess would decide that she would need to investigate the site personally. It was nice having her followers go survey the lands for her but she would need to make sure that it fit the needs and designs that she had desired for herself. She would take a horse as she travels to the oasis. It would take about 4 days of travel to get there but it was one of the closest areas of any interest nearby. Once there she would see what all there was to have been seen. The oasis was probably 100 meters in each dimensions with a sizable pond in the center. She could also hear the sounds of animals but none were courageous enough to make their presence known.

The High Priestess would grin at this. The site was perfect for everything that she so desired to accomplish. She would make the castle around the  oasis to protect it as well as housing the five thousand members of the Helio Branch. She would end up leaving and heading back to the mansion that she lived in and relay the news to her constituents. They would rest as the higher ranking members of the order began to write up plans for construction.

1004/1000 WC