Pherro Oordar

Pherro Oordar (1554-1600 SR) was a politician, Jeen of Ernele, the youngest son of Kren, brother of Kren the Younger and uncle to Hee and Iar, founders of Tref. He was also considered to be one of the wealthiest people in Heran at the time, since he was running the Delavire-Gonne slave trade corridor, one of the main slave distribution channels outside of Mantar. He also owned many farms around Delavire and supplied cheese to Ernele and Tonaran.

Kren the Younger wanted Pherro to succeed him as head of the clan. Some time in 1591 or 1592 Pherro was captured by Hee and Iar and was used as a bargaining chip in negotiations between the brothers and the rest of the family. Kren the Younger agreed to exchange Pherro for the city of Orden. This, however, triggered Nilma Oordar to challenge Kren the Younger's leadership and Kren the Younger was murdered as a result. Nilma installed his son Rodare as head of the family. This forced Pherro to switch sides and join Hee and Iar instead.

Pherro hoped to become head of the clan by helping Hee, since he was older and believed that by challenging the legitimacy of Rodare he would be able to make the case for himself and have Hee support him. However, by the end of the 1590s it became clear that the Oordar clan pretty much fell apart and rapidly began losing influence in Heran, starting with Maird and rapidly followed by Tonaran, Or and Ernele.

Pherro then attempted to restore relations between Hee and Nilma, in the hopes of refueling the Oordar project. Hee was mildly interested, but Nilma declined.

Pherro's sudden death occurred in Orden, in the summer of 1600. He was on his way to Ernele, when he suddenly became unconscious and fell off his horse, probably due to a heart attack. He was 46 years old.

Personality

Pherro was confident, laid-back and had a good sense of humor. He was popular among his troops and had a lot of influence due to his social position and wealth. He took his political power for granted and was preparing to become head of the Oordar clan, having a lot of plans. An avid reader, he wanted his rule to be immortalized in history books.

When things did not go as planned, he appeared to be completely focused on getting his plan back on track, and was devastated when the clan began falling apart. However, he was still a very wealthy and influential person. Instead of setting into ruling Tref in Hee's court, Pherro continued his quest to rebuild the Oordar influence in Heran up until his death.

Pherro's gold

"Pherro's gold" became a term that described two separate phenomena: Hee's growing concern regarding Oordar influence in Heran following Pherro's death, which led to the decline of profits from the slave trade, and a political concept used in Tref by Mayeerqnoel's contenders.

Hee's concern surfaced in about 1602, when the Angry King subjugated Qep and then helped squash a slave uprising in Delavire. This made Hee worried that he might be losing his grip on Pherro's legacy in Heran, which was primarily the Delavire-Gonne slave trade corridor. In order to mitigate that, a number of negotiators were sent to Delavire. They re-established Delavire's ties to Hee, as well as set up a military post in Gonne.

Later, during a slave uprising led by Mon Lon Dōrs, Hee was able to secure the services of Moon King V to defend Gonne and defeat the slave army. In spite of the Moon King's success, the overall damage to the slave trade made by the uprising, as well as the changing situation in Qep, now part of Mantareia, led to the dissolution of the Delavire-Gonne corridor shortly thereafter. This resulted in Hee wanting to invade Mantareia to "reclaim what belongs to the Oordars". It is believed that Hee's narrow focus on the conquest of Mantareia, deemed to be unrealistic and unnecessary by his court, led to him being ousted by Mayeerqnoel.

Later, "Pherro's gold" became a political platform for a number of opposition groups and secret societies, the leaders of which typically claimed to be the descendants of Oordars, using that as a claim to the throne. Part of what they promised to their supporters was potential wealth that they would acquire as the result of reclaiming "Pherro's gold". In some cases, stories of literal treasures emerged, hidden somewhere in the Moleeq desert. A number of expeditions were documented of people searching for the ruins of Gonne and attempting to locate the hidden treasure of Oordars.