On the British occupation
Story by Beefy the Bull on SoFurry
A brief discussion of the European occupation of the Northland.
On the British occupation:
The human attacks and occupation affected most heavily the sea and forest tribes. Conversely the Shadow and Rock and Earth tribes were almost not affected at all, due to the shear remoteness or hidden nature of their encampments. British army’s raiding both Sea and Forest Uraz towns and villages, destroying homes and crops, slaughtering Uraz and livestock and freeing slaves. The last proved a huge burden on the British forces, what to with with thousands of timid slaves, with no knowledge of the outside world? Many freed slaves died on so called ‘freedom marches’ of hypothermia and starvation. Those that survived were kept idle in camps near the coast while the British army tried to figure out what to do with them. Language barriers, unwillingness to betray their masters, and general fear made them less useful then the occupying forces had hoped. Many more died in captivity or were freed by raiding Uraz. Some were traded en mass for captured soldiers, or bought back by their masters with gold. The humanitarian crisis ended with the power sharing agreement after which the slaves were returned to the Uraz.
Other than the British garrisons on the southern port fortresses, human forces stayed clear of the inlands. At first they attempted to colonize the whole land - but numerous skirmishes, raids, and ambushes from nomadic elements never subsided. Often entire smaller British units disappeared entirely, larger formations sent to hunt and destroy raiders would find nothing but snow and ice, and were unsustainable in the remote regions. Unending stories circulated about human captives being sodomized ruthlessly, or sold in to slavery by the beasts. There were reprisals, but their weren't many settlements to raze. The only towns worth garrisoning were those of the forest tribes. They were often remote inland though, and the forces sent to set up a fort or block house would usually be devastated by ambushes in route, and too weak to hold a town, or starved out as supplies never made it through. For four years the Colonial Regiment attempted to use large garrisons in key locations and move only in large unit formations, and they suffered only minor losses to the beasts, but huge losses to cold and disease. The financial burden and wasted manpower quickly became a political debacle in the halls of power in England. The only face-saving measure was to garrison coastal forts, supplied by the sea, and protected by the royal navy. A power sharing plan was worked on to give nominal power to the British governor of Greenland, but mainly he would just sit in a coastal fortress and drink. The real power went to The Grand Elect of Eehgor, the most powerful minotaur city in the south. Their leader would keep the peace - as long as there were no unjust acts by the British, he would keep the towns in his area at peace. The Snow Minotaur were a different problem, they had no central leader to negotiate with, no villages to occupy or raze. The solution was to push the problem off to the Grand Elect, and make his people handle the 100 plus tribal leaders in the south that would need individual agreements. And so sat an uneasy peace, a half-hearted occupation, and a slow change in the internal power and control of the different tribes.
A curious side note:
Around this time is when the first wave of books and ‘studies’ about Uraz sexuality started to surface in Europe. Some were warnings of sexual and moral indecencies that regularly occurred, and discussion of the savage godless bull people. More famous in much more private circles of sociable and enlightened men are the “Young travelers guides” to the north-land. They were thinly veiled homosexual erotica disguised as ‘educational warnings about Uraz sexuality’ with long passages describing rampant homosexuality, forced and consensual homosexual relationships, and sexual slavery - of course solely for the innocent purposes of helping young men avoid such dangers and impurities themselves should they ever travel to the desolate iced hell. One famous guide advised young men to read the passages ‘over and over’ and ‘commit to memory the stories, to ensure the travelers safety, purity, and masculinity’. Many such texts had so called ‘innocence’ warnings prominently displayed on the first page, to provide plausible deniability for a reader who wore such a text from many, many, re-reads of the most sexually graphic sections...