The Cup & Talisman
Following the disaster of the Invoked Devastation, a man named Al'Akbar encouraged the Bakluni to return to the worship of their deities--Istus, Our Lady of Fate; Geshtai, Daughter of the Oasis; Mouqol the Merchant; and Xan Yae, Lady of Perfection, among others. To help him in this task, the Baklunish gods bestowed upon him the Cup and Talisman as symbols of his faith in them. After Al'Akbar himself ascended to join the pantheon at the end of his life and became the predominant deity in many Baklunish lands, the Cup and Talisman remained in Ekbir as sacred relics. And there they remained until 400 years ago, when they were stolen by elves. Some said the elves were seven feet tall, and riding eagles. Others mocked this as hysterical exaggeration. However, no one questioned the fact that it was elves who stole the holy items.
       While elves were immediately reviled throughout the Baklunish West, for the most part they were an abstract enemy--even before the theft, they were only occasional travellers to this part of the world, and elven communities were in remote and unvisited places such as the Udgru Forest on the borders of Tusmit and Ekbir. It was only in Ket that elves and humans lived in close proximity, for both wild and wood elves inhabited the trackless forests of the Bramblewood that dominate the centre of the land. The wild elves had always been viewed as feral creatures in league with the fell monsters of the forest. Relations between Ketites and the wood elves, while formal, had never been friendly. With the theft of the Cup and Talisman, wood elves were lumped together with wild elves; in fact all elves found in Ket--wood, wild, high and grey--were branded as monsters. In return, men who were foolish enough to go into the Bramblewood were hunted like game by the elves.
       While the Cup and Talisman were still in Ekbir, the people of Al'Akbar were as one. With the disappearance of the relics, the church of Al'Akbar was riven by schism. Moderate interpreters of the faith fell out with conservative literalists. Insults were thrown, lines were drawn, and the faith was broken down the middle--the moderates founded the Exalted Faith, the conservatives became the True Faith. Apologists on both sides wrote reams of arguments in favour of their sect, but rarely was anyone ever converted from one side to the other. Both sects proselytized in every Baklunish country, including Ket. However, in Ket, that was about to change.

The Brazen Horde
A century after the theft of the Cup and Talisman, an army of marauders called the Brazen Horde invaded Ket and swept aside all defences. Zeif was also invaded and was unable to send aid. The Bey of Lopolla, in an astute political move, realized that while Zeif was distracted, this was the perfect opportunity to declare Ket an independent state, and he switched fealty to the Horde. The padishah of the Horde agreed to this, for he could see the advantages of using the geographically isolated Ket as a giant fortress from which the Horde could raid eastwards into the lands of Veluna and beyond.
       From that point on, the Horde rode out of Ket and terrorized the neighbouring countries. Although this brought no great benefit to the Ketite people--other than Ket itself was the only place that was not being raided by the Horde--the Horde did leave a lasting impression on Ket culture, for it was during this period that Ket adopted the Horde's horse-based lifestyle. The love of horses became a cultural touchstone, and the art of horse-breeding and horse-trading was elevated to a science.

The Keoish Occupation
For many years, the Horde was content to plunder a bit here and a bit there, never taking too much from any one country. But about forty years after invading Ket, the Horde raided once too often into Keoland, and finally raised the ire of the Keoish people. The heavily armoured knights of the mighty Keoland army rose up and invaded Ket, crushing the Horde with the same tactics that the Horde had used--show no mercy, leave no one alive. While this should have lifted a load from the shoulders of the Ketite people, the ruthless Keoish soldiers saw no difference between Ketite people and the Horde--indeed, most people south of the Bramblewood Gap thought Ketites and the Horde were one and the same--and Keoish soldiers slaughtered both indiscriminately. As the Keoish army overran the remains of the Horde, Arpad, the Bey of Lopolla, fled with his people into the Banner Hills. With the Ketites scattered into the hills and victory over the Horde occupiers complete, the Keoish army settled down on Ketite land as occupiers themselves. They extended their foreign eastern customs over the land, and ruled with an iron fist. Needing a faster and more direct way to move their soldiers in and out of Ket, they hacked a trail straight through the heart of the Bramblewood. Along its length they built the Irafa Road, complete with small fortresses a day's journey apart to protect travellers from the marauding monsters and elves of the night forest.
       In the hills, a resistance movement coalesced around Arpad, the exiled Bey of Lopolla, but the grim day-to-day necessities of survival as a guerilla army exacted their toll on the formerly cheerful community.
       Before the war, both sects of Al'Akbar--the True Faith and the Exalted Faith--were a part of Ket life, as they were in every Baklunish country. Neither sect had ascendancy, and Ketites spent a lot of time discussing the relative merits of each. Now however, religious schism was a luxury Ketites could not afford. The clerics of the True Faith joined the resistance, and risked their lives to bring supplies to the people, winning the sympathy of Ketites. Under the guidance of these clerics, the perceived laxities of the Exalted Faith were whittled away from Ketite life, leaving only the austerity of the True Faith and the righteous path of the Four Feet of the Dragon: Honour, Family, Respect and Piety.
       Similarly, justice was honed down to the essentials. Evidence was judged, verdict pronounced, sentence carried out. There was no room for small mercies, no place for excuses, no time for appeals.
       The True Faith and hard justice forged the small Ketite army into a keen scimitar that appeared out of the hills to slash at the Keoish flank before quickly disappearing. Lightly armed and armoured, the Ketites were able to ride long distances, making two or three attacks many miles apart in as many days.
       The legend of the Ketite warrior and his horse grew. A Ketite's mount was his boon companion, closer to him than the brother warrior who shared his tent. His horse bore him into danger, fought with him, and then carried him out of danger. Caring for his horse was caring for himself. A warrior's horse ate before he ate, its wounds were tended before he sought a medic for his own hurts, and it was rubbed down before he sought his own bedroll. In turn, the bond between Ketite horse and owner became almost mystical--each seemed to know each other better than husband and wife.
       Although the Ket army could not stand toe to toe with the Keoish knights, their harrying attacks became more and more deadly as they were transformed by hardship and combat into the finest light cavalry in the Flanaess. Thus it was that after thirty years of constant warfare, Keoland's losses became untenable, and they finally retreated south and dug in at the entrance to the Bramblewood Gap. Ketites had at least recovered all of their lands north of the Bramblewood Gap, but every Ketite also longed for Ket's old lands in the Gap itself.

The First Beygraf
Victorious Ketites elevated Arpad to be the first Beygraf of Ket. Arpad responded in kind, promoting his military leaders into positions of prominence and prestige. Remembering the support and guidance of the mullahs of the True Faith in his hour of need, Arpad also invited them to take up positions of power and responsibility in his new government.
       Life returned to normal for Ket, and with the cessation of overt hostilities, trading and caravans also returned. However, border skirmishes at the entrance to the Bramblewood Gap were frequent, first with the Keoish troops still stationed there, and then, after events of the outside world dictated a changed of conquerors, Ket fought with Furyondian forces. A century later, the newly independent country of Bissel became guardians of the Bramblewood Gap.

Iggwilv Threatens
Two hundred years of constant warfare stood Ket in good stead when, a century ago, the witch Iggwilv and her forces conquered neighbouring Perrenland. Iggwilv made it clear that crossing the Yatil Mountains to attack Ket was next. Ket formed an alliance with the dwarves of the Yatil Mountains, and together the two races withstood the onslaught. A deep and abiding friendship between Ketites and dwarves--perhaps the most trustworthy alliance of the two races in all of Oerth--was forged in that war.

The First Invasion of Bissel
This victory gave the military even more pride and influence. After the threat of Iggwilv ended, a conservative nationalistic group of officers convinced the beygraf that it was time to take back what was rightfully Ket's--the land beyond the Bramblewood that had once belonged to Ket. The resultant assault was initially very successful, pushing the Bisselites out of the Bramblewood Gap and back into their capital of Thornward, where the tide of the Ket army washed up against the walled city. Although the Ketite army, man and horse, had few equals on the open battlefield, an extended siege turned out to be a different matter. Bissel managed to weather the storm with the help of Velunese and Furyondian allies. After a year of fruitless siege, Ket was forced to retreat back to the nothern end of the Bramblewood Gap.
       After this debacle, the influence of the army waned, and the authority of the mullahs grew. While the mullahs held the ear of the beygraf, the army petulantly provoked border skirmishes with various neighbours, leading one scholar to note
             "Ket's allies: Everybody, at one time or another.
             Ket's enemies: Everybody, at one time or another."

The Greyhawk Wars
Eighty years later, in CY 582, the Greyhawk Wars flared up. What started as a limited conflict between the evil demon-god witch-king Iuz and his neighbours quickly spread until it enveloped almost all of the Flanaess. However, Ket seemed ideally placed to ride out this particular storm, protected as it was by mountains, the Bramblewood and a well-trained army.
       It was at this point that perhaps the most surprising event of the Wars took place. As the forces of good prepared to destroy Iuz, the Beygraf of Ket, Zoltan, announced to his stunned subjects--and to the dismayed mullahs of the True Faith--that he had made an alliance with Iuz the Wicked. He sent the Ketite army surging out of the Bramblewood Gap to attack Bissel. This time, Bissel's allies were preoccupied with war against Iuz, and the Bisselite army was easily hacked apart by the scimitars of Ket. In a matter of weeks, Ket conquered all of Bissel. In addition, the sudden appearance of Iuz's allies on the left flank of the forces of good threw them off-stride, and their strike against Iuz went awry. Iuz rallied and the war raged on.

A New Beygraf
However, even as the Ket army moved from victory to victory, the voices of the mullahs could not be silenced. The alliance with Iuz was a moral outrage to those who were aware that Ket was now considered evil by most of the Flanaess. Slowly, other voices were raised as well. Finally, when the courageous Margrave of Bissel, at his surrender to Ketite forces, chose an honourable death over a life of service to Zoltan, even the common people of Ket began to question Zoltan's strange alliance.
       Then in the fourth year of the Bissel occupation, Beygraf Zoltan was assassinated. The assassin was never found. Curiously, the mullahs refused to resurrect him--apparently the fate that had smitten him was not theirs to gainsay. With the throne empty, a power struggle ensued, and a civil war seemed imminent. Forgetting the troubles of the rest of the world, the various factions drew their scimitars and circled each other warily.
       However, a hero of the Bissel invasion, General Nadaid, realizing that Ket would tear itself apart and then be eaten up piece by piece by its neighbours, managed to assemble an alliance of the military, some of the clergy, and the wealthy merchants of the Mouqollad Consortium. His alliance was able to restore order and prevent a civil war, and he was offered the throne of the beygraf. His first order was to declare the alliance with Iuz null and void. It was too late to save Ket's reputation, but it might not be too late to save Ket.

Ket Retreats
By the time Ket once again looked outwards, it was CY 590, and the Greyhawk Wars were over. Iuz had been defeated--or at least contained within his borders. Treaties had been signed, and troops no longer overextended against the forces of evil were returning home. It was time to settle accounts with Iuz's ally, and even now, the armies of the Gran March were massing on the border of Bissel, readying to kick Ket all over the map. Having just prevented one war, Nadaid was in no position to fight another one so soon. He graciously "granted" Bissel its independence, and quickly withdrew his forces to Thornward, just outside the Bramblewood Gap. The forces of Gran March, having no enemy to fight in Bissel, and showing no relish for bearding the Ket army in its den, headed home.
       Nadaid, having called the tune, soon had to pay the piper. The loss of Bissel was not seen as a strategic withdrawal by the Ketite people, but as an ignominious defeat. In addition, various conflicts outside of Ket slowed trade, and the economy faltered. Resultant riots in Lopolla were put down by Nadaid with an iron fist, and his popularity waned further. Ascetic mullahs who had been placed in the justice system and government posts turned Ket into a cheerless and austere place, ruled by theocrats. One quickly learned to walk very carefully in front of the Threshers (police) and Jurats (judges), who had been given almost limitless power to instantly judge and punish.
       However, power decays even the purest of hearts, and after several instances of judicial corruption, the pendulum began to swing back towards more moderate justice.
       Moreover, the innate cheerfulness of the Ketite people cannot for long be held down. Festivals and circuses reappeared in the land, and the puppeteers once again entertained and amused. Good songs were shared over flasks of bosq. The economy picked up again, and by CY 593, Beygraf Nadaid seemed secure on his throne.

The First half of the present Decade
In CY593 & 594, all of Ket society was transfixed by rumours that Zoltan, the beygraf who had made the alliance with Iuz, was actually a secret worshipper of Iuz. Working with evil wizards from the Vaste--a corrupt and twisted organization hidden inside the Vay Raste of the Archons--Zoltan was apparently developing an elemental superweapon that could have propelled Iuz to victory across the Flanaess. Luckily for Ket and the Flanaess, the research was derailed when Zoltan was assassinated. Members of the Vaste were found to have infiltrated the highest levels of government and the military, and were slowly rooted out and destroyed. Those that survived, fled, leaving death and destruction inside Lopolla.
       This did not stop the Ket military from riding into more warfare. A border skirmish with neighbouring Tusmit turned into a debacle when both the Ket and Tusmit armies were trapped within Tusmit by an evil force. Bound into an unexpected alliance, the Ketites and Tusmites worked together to defeat the enemy. However, the unanticipated war stretched military resources to the breaking point, and Ket was forced to withdraw from the Bisselite city of Thornward, although they kept their ancestral lands inside the Bramblewood Gap.

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