History of Man -- Book 1: Westrun Part 6

In the 600 years since the proclamation of the Grand Hierophant at Dovaris, mankind had indeed proved himself to be the obvious successor to the Vyrum. While they lacked the sophistication and learning of the previous age, they had an obvious gift for fertility. Three times, the more experienced and more tactically sound Urok had been repelled by the men of Westrun. Those victories were based on attrition as much as on any other factor. While the Urok had fought themselves to near extinction after three conflicts, the armies of man were able to completely rebound within twenty years.

Not only did they have numbers on their side, but the human capacity for death and loss proved to be greater than any the Besnir had ever seen. The Urok were by no means alone in this observation. Factions of the Dwarves and Elves were horrified by the way in which many humans abandoned their dead and even failed to mourn them for the decades required in Besnir society. Among the Besnir it was not uncommon for a mother who lost a child to forego the rest of her years of fertility. 

Most frustrating to the Realms was that within a decade, mankind could forget alliances and treaties and even a state of war. Agreements made between a Rane and a human king might not survive the birth of the king's first heir, let alone his coming to power. Treaties between the Mistwood and Sak were in a state of continual reinforcement, with the elder race providing reminders by way of gifts. In this way, their borders were made sacrosanct. The Dwarf of Oromir and the Lord of Sudhall memorialized their treaty with a construction of a massive keep using the artistry and craft of the Dwarves, which no man could gainsay. 

Rath too was beneficiary of such an arrangement. When the King's men uncovered a centuries old well-intended, but sacrilegious burial of Dwarves, he returned those remains to Dynkyr. This single act was well-received for there were many still alive who missed their kin and wondered about their final rest. In this way, the King of Rath earned great respect and gratitude from the Dwarves though there were few enough humans who even remembered that Dwarven militias had helped at the Third Urok War. The prevailing opinion that mankind had no memory, compounded the generosity of this gesture rather than diminish it.

All was not peace in Westrun during the 36th century. Small scale war continued between what few Urok remained and the tribes of the Balduren Confederacy.

3600ey the monarchy of Treft was toppled after the assassination of its king who did not leave a clear heir. Various pretenders to the throne rise and fall before the city declares itself a democracy and the light of the world.

In 3605ey the Jarls of Northrun cast a jealous eye on the growing prosperity of Wanderhalt and Sudland. A decade of raids and war followed. During the height of these conflicts, the timber fort at Wanderhalt was taken and its lord was sent into exile, not to return on pain of death. The Lord of Wanderhalt went through the Silverlode Mountains into Sudland and appealed to the Lord of Sudhall for assistance. 

In 3618ey at the Gathering of the Fraternity, the Lord of Sudhall petitioned the Rangers to retake Wanderhalt for its exiled lord. In stirring them to action, he also extracted an oath of everlasting fealty from its lord. Two years later, Wanderhalt was retaken and the daughter of the Lord of Sudhall was married to the son of the Lord of Wanderhalt -- linking the two nobles thereafter.

3622ey Arepos, the former court magician of the King of Treft resided in the Mistwood since the king's death and ingratiated himself to the ancient Llormaster and librarian there. After stealing the ancient Scrolls of Alobal and taking them back to the kingdoms of men, he ignites a war between Treft and the Elves which leads to a one year siege of the ancient ald. To resolve the siege, the City of Treft consents to surrender every scroll and slip of paper in the city, loading them on carts and sending them out to the waiting Elves. The scrolls are not recovered.

3627ey The Dweomersecte is founded with a tower in Talir. Within weeks of completion, this tower is burned by what some say are Elvish saboteurs. In 3647ey the second tower of the Dweomersecte is completed in Menea. This tower is also burned within weeks. A third tower is located near Sudhall and comes under the protection of Oromir, after negotiation between Elves and Dwarves, this tower escapes damage, but Arepos himself is found dead (believed assassinated) in 3651ey. Sarseer is declared the new Archmage of Westrun.

In 3686ey the Urok make an unholy alliance with the Dweomersecte. Under the Dread Foulness, they begin to give themselves over to simple, savage propagation -- hoping to beat humanity at their own game. This magical reproduction gives rise to animalistic goblins who hate the banishment of their forebears and eventually vow eternal war on all the other races. In one hundred years, no Urok will remain and all will have been replaced by their goblinoid descendants.

Roll 003

3010    Vetran

Then came Vetran.

The Rolls of the Lords Continuous

The Tandis Lists: List V

The Tandis Lists are the compiled lists of all of the Old Bears since the First Gathering of Rangers in 3278ey. They are kept by Tandis of Peakshadow -- a well-respected historian of the Fraternity.

In the 36th century there was:

3608 Jarnes the Lord who deeded Harminia to the Rangers in perpetuity.

3618 Ablen of the North who was stirred to action by the Lord of Sudhall (and his maternal Uncle) to retake Wanderhalt for the men of Westrun, against the men of Northrun. At the conclusion of this conflict the Prohibition was born. The Rangers would no more fight in the squabbles between men, nor allow themselves to be used for political purposes.

3628 Yarowi of the Khard who had pushed the Urok of Southrun beyond the Maw.

3638 Noroan the Elf who was of dark skin and hated the light.

3668 Slannis of the Red Sails who was the first to recognize the Dread Foulness and the change which had come over the Urok the ancient foe. He sailed into the heart of the accursed place and brought back horrifying tales of the breeding pits and the worms therein.

3678 Jeredyl Giantsbane of Treft

On the Urok and their Foul Offspring

Goblin is an appellation somewhat misapplied by the good and civilized people of Erenth. Strictly speaking, the word only belongs to a specific species of humanoid foulness -- the diminutive flat-faced, broad-nosed monster with pointed ears, wide mouths and small, sharp fangs which seem to be as abundant in some areas as the bushy-tailed squirrel. More commonly that that, however, the word is applied to all creatures of the so-called goblinkind, including bugbears, bullywugs, flinds, gnolls, hobgoblins, jermlaine, kobolds, lizard men, mongrelmen, ogres, ogrillon, orcs, orog, troglodytes, trolls, urd, and hill giants. It is true that all of them in all their monstrous varieties are descended from the same common ancestors. They are all the foul offspring of an ancient and proud people. 

The Urok were once a race closely resembling humans. They were of the same average height, but were stockier (like Dwarves) and had pointed ears like Elves. They also had ridges on their brow which narrowed to the point just above the nose. They were strong and hearty, and some might say, born for war. 

The Urok were marked by laconic speech and austere lifestyles. Long after the other races had settled into cities, they eschewed them preferring nomadic lifestyles following game. Their strongest and brightest were marked for the warrior upper class. Those who were weak remained part of the servile underclass. 

It is said that at one time the Urok were the dominant race on the planet. If that is true it occurred long before the knowledge of anyone living. What is not in doubt is that the Urok were a contentious people who were prone to raiding and war throughout all of history.

By the time that the human civilization had dawned, learned scholars among the Urok had deduced that man's greatest strength was his birth rate. In league with dark forces, their scholars undertook a fertility program that came to be called the Dread Foulness. 

An evil mage named Niktalor, introduced an extra planar creature known as the cloafly to the so-called Goblin Kingdoms. This invasive species assured the fecundity of the Urok race, but also permanently changed its nature. Over time the actual Urok were outbred by the Dread Foulness and the goblin races rose in their place. Every successive generation of them is more inbred, more mutated and more ill-tempered than the previous.

Of the original Urok, none remain. There are adult male goblinoids and their grotesque wormy breeding pits. While some lairs seem to be rife with "children" and "females" those creatures are really just the runts of their litters. Scrawny and stunted, they are relegated to domestic and servile duties... and in times of want they become food. 

While there are no female goblins, the males are capable of reproduction in the usual way, but the only race with which they seem still capable of breeding are humans. This has given rise to half-orcs and half-ogres. Such half breeds can expect to live 40 years on average and are stronger than their fully human peers, but somewhat more difficult to look at.

The goblin descendants of the Urok do believe that they should rule the world. It is almost their sole animating principle. They believe that all the world was stolen from them and handed over to "the shorts." While the rule of the world has passed from race to race since then, it has never returned to them... its rightful heirs. Their civilization has no records. It relies instead on orally transmitted "tells" of dubious accuracy.

Battle Song of the Fell

The Urgamesh were a tribe who apparently worshipped the elemental powers of one they called Mother Earth, along with her sons, Wind and Fire. Their unnerving repetitious chant was heard by all at the Battle of the Black Princes in 3012ey. However, it was preserved as nothing more than a beat or cadence with nonsensical grunts by the Northruner skalds who were there. Those skalds passed it down in their oral histories -- mostly to bring color and fear to their audiences at the appropriate time.

Apparently the Urok had a greater audience than anyone suspected. The song was also adapted by several goblin hordes. In 4224ey, animated with a religious fervor, goblin armies returned with the so-called Chanters' War. They believed that the endless repetition of the chant rendered them all but invulnerable. 

Again at the Battle of Wanderhalt 5284ey, Northruners fought alongside of Westruners against goblins. Over a period of six days, this song was heard time and again. The skalds were dumbfounded to hear the same battle cadence they had preserved, and when it was over, had the lyrics translated. Learned Westrun sages gave them the true words and their meaning from the Fell Speech.

In practice, the first two verses are sung by lonely voices in their vast horde. Perhaps one in one hundred are singing, while the rest are quiet. The third verse is joined by all and at the conclusion of it, the horde surges forward attacking. The final chants are made until the battle is won or they are beaten off.

A Song of Urgamesh: a chant of Earth, Wind and Fire.

Behold the battle before us
Behold the mighty wind
Behold the raging fire
They will be with us bringing death
Returning ash and blood to earth

See how the gods will fight with us?
See how we win the spoils of kings?
Ride all the wind and fire
True warriors bring earth its due
Leave all the ash and blood behind us

We attack screaming like true heroes
We fight the foes who stand before us
Ride all the wind and fire
The gods go with us and are pleased
Feel their power of blade and brand

Ride all the wind and fire
Ride all the wind and fire
Ride all the wind and fire
Ride all the wind and fire

Rise of the Humans

During the period between 3600ey and 3730ey the human race, long neglected by the elder races, slowly prove themselves capable of coalescing into tribes and nations. They eventually become strong enough to become noticed by the Elder Races.

While the humans are engaged in open warfare one with the other, the elder races take no part. What remains are over two dozen warring tribes. 

In Westrun, a treaty is signed between the Rane of the Elves of Mistwood and a human king. A similar treaty is signed between the Dwarves of Oromir and the tribe of the Sud. The Dwarves build the humans a city called Peakshadow, one fit for a human king. Not to be outdone, the Dwarves of Dynkyr build the city of Rath. This period lasts until the Dawning of the Gods

The Dread Foulness

In 3686ey the last of the Urok make an unholy alliance with Niktalor the Archmage. Under the auspices of the Dread Foulness, they begin to give themselves over to simple, savage propogation.  This dilutes the blood of the Urok and further poisons their souls. It also gives rise to the foulest of offspring, the many races of animal-like goblins -- who still hate the banishment of their forebears (the only history they care to remember) and vow eternal war on all the other races.

A History of the Tribes of Man in Westrun

At the dawn of the 7th Age in the 30th Century, Westrun was home to two distinct subgroups of humans, the Nandi and the Tren. By the end of the 40th Century they had been joined by the Meni and the Fahr. Together these four people groups and their struggles create the Eight Kingdoms of Man in Westrun.

NANDI
The Nandi roamed from the Silverlodes Mountains to the Dagger Sea in tribes. Most of their names are lost to history. Those names that are still familiar -- such as the Nadi, Sahna, Numin, Shina, Anis, Duvi -- come to us as place names. Sak and Rath now give their names to whole kingdoms in the modern era. There are many, many more which have been lost to antiquity.

All of the Nandi were hunters and gatherers who made war with one another continuously. Tribes rose and fell, splintered and merged. Life among them was an ongoing struggle for survival against the unyielding land, the elements, and especially the elder races which still tarried from the previous ages. It was not until the common threat of the Goblinkind, that the Nandi were able to unite and eventually coalesce into states under the Eight Kingdom's Pact.

TREN
While the Nandi were roaming in hundreds of nomadic tribes, the Tren, were another race of so-called civilized men. Once held captive by the Dragon Prince of old, they were eventually entrusted with the matters of their captors and in due time inherited the entire Principality of Treft from its exiled ruler. Though they could not maintain the height of Treft's former glory, they were able to hold the walls of its capital city against those slavering Hordes who would rise against it.

After the Dragon Prince was exiled, the Tren lived under the rule of a long succession of their own unpopular monarchs. A rebellion saw to the death of their last king, Etru III, and the Nine Elders who remained banished the monarchy. In its place they created a system of government in which each property owning inhabitant would be permitted to cast votes in a general assembly. Thus the strange democratic government of that city/state was born. The date of that government's founding is commonly given as 3600EY.

MENI
The year 3413EY saw the settlement of the Meni in Westrun under the leadership of Tal the Just. The Meni were refugees from the principalities that lay across the Dagger Sea. A one hundred year long struggle between two of the more powerful city/states had come to its end with the total defeat of Lanaria. Thousands of Lanarians were slaughtered. Many more were evicted and forced to live as wanderers -- their fields were salted, their noble city destroyed. To this day, many Lanarians still wander the Provinces in caravans with a reputation not altogether wholesome. Others made their way East and South by ship.

Several hundreds of Lanarians heeded the call of Tal -- a lesser son of the old ruling house. Together they migrated across the Dagger Sea and settled on Westrun's shores. Once landfall was made they intermingled with the Nandi they encountered. Their descendants were less nomadic, preferring to settle up and down the coast before eventually spreading inland on the plains. The inland group of Meni founded the kingdom which still bears their name: Menea. Those who spread Southward along the coast eventually divinized Tal their founder. They grew from a monarchy into a theocracy.

FAHR
Many long decades after the settlement of the Nandi, in the year 3300EY the first of the Fahr from Northrun came down and founded Wanderhalt and began to settle on the Southern slopes of Mount Oromir. By 3400ey, Sudhall would be raised and this settlement would eventually grow to become Peakshadow. The Fahr of Sudhall and the Meni moving north from Menea intermingled and eventually give seed to Bolden. The people of Sudhall intermarry with the Nandi of the plains and in time came to see themselves as a different from the Fahr of Northrun. Under the Eight Kingdom's Pact, the massive Northrun holdings of the Jarls of Wanderhalt swear fealty to the Lord of Sudhall and become the Kingdom of Colonia.

The Story of the Secret of Steel

An oral history regarding Steel
as told among the Northruner Clans
translated and promulgated by E.T. Daniels

Hear now the story of Our Clans. It is the story of our fathers. It is the tribute of our children. Listen now to the story of Our Clans.

When Our Clans first came to the Heim we knew only the stone axe, for we had not the Secret of Steel. We carried the stone axe and swung it when the Jarls demanded.

In that day some of the Strangers hid in the hills between the Five Hearths and were called the Modsogner -- they who were born of stone. The Modsogner were as old as the Heim itself and had walked upon it when it was but young. But the Modsogner had grown old and forgot the making of children and they also were winnowed by many wars.

And the Modsogner had enmity with the Vafthrud and promised the Secret of Steel to those who would help them.  So Our Clans lifted the spear and the axe for the War of Ten Summers. The Modsogner fought beside Our Clans until all the Vafthrud were driven off. But they were slack concerning their promises and we learned not the Secret of Steel. But of the Glorious Lady we heard many things and our devotion to her grew.

In time the Vafthrud returned and drove us from our Heim. So we came to new shores and lived in the Peace of 100 Summers in Five Hearths.

But the Modsogner made enemies easily. And they came again to Our Clans with promises. By their oaths, they swore to teach Our Clans the secret of metal if we would but lift the spear and the axe against their enemies.

So Our Clans lifted the spear and the axe against the Svartalf in the West and drove them past the Fast River. Then we lifted the spear and axe against the Krymer and drove them down to the Place Between the Seas. Then we lifted the spear against the Wurms and drove them to the mountain peaks. So the Modsogner were very glad and were not slack concerning their promises. They taught Our Clans the secret of metal.

When Our Clans learned the Secret of Steel and fashioned our plows of it, the Glorious Lady came and and smiled upon us and made our Hearths exceedingly rich. We had many crops and grains. Our Clans fashioned our spears and axes of steel. Then many of the Strangers feared Our Clans and gave us the Heim around Five Hearths to grow and to fill.

But some of the Strangers did not fear. These made war on Our Clans and each in their season. But with the secret of metal, Our Clans could not be vanquished -- for the Glorious Lady had come and was with us. She filled our bellies and this made our hearts happy to war; and our arms strong enough to withstand all who opposed us.

Heard you now, the story of Our Clans.

The Books of the Archmagi of the Dweomersecte vol. 1

3600 Arepos I the Great - A human male sometimes called The Archmage's. Arepos was the first to begin to make a systematic study of the ancient elven llor. He began his career as the court wizard of Etru, the last king of Treft. When that early monarchy was overthrown, he was sent into exile and found his way into the Mistwood. Making a friend of the Elven Rane, he rose to prominence in that court and came under the sway of an ancient llorfiril (master of song). He was eventually banished from that elven realm and sought out others to further his knowledge. His travels took him eventually to the shores of the Dagger Sea in present day Bolden, where he raised a tower and started the Dweomersecte around the ancient Scrolls of Alobal. It is said that his actual knowledge of magic was extremely poor having little more than the ability to Read and Detect Magic and perform paltry illusions. Nonetheless, he was giant of his time. His death was eventually attributed to frequently attempting spells beyond his mana capacity.

3652 Sarseer the Burning - A human male, the student and adopted son of Arepos. He took up the Scrolls of Alobal when he answered the riddle of his master in order to prove his worth. Sarseer unlocked the mysteries of magical fire and then grew in power through a pact made with an otherworldly power -- as would become a recurring theme among the wizards of note. Less a wizard in the modern sense and more a devotee/priest of the Unperishing Flame. Because of his influence, himself and the next few wizards would come to be known as the Fire Magi. He perished, ironically, in flame, having come to believe that the element held no danger for him.

3679 Niktalor I the Hideous - An urok male, who shared his master's fascination with, and devotion to, the element of fire and the Unperishing Flame. He is also responsible for the Dread Foulness, an alliance between the Dweomersecte and the Urok Hordes. His death is believed to have come at then hands of his successor and chief rival for the affections of their master.

3693 Daenalus the Angry - A half elven male, he considered himself the proper heir of all things llor. He is widely attributed with having killed his predecessor and setting up the system now observed, known as The Trials. Under this system, no Archmage may rise, save one who answers the riddles put by each of the previous Archmagi. Daenalus was eventually slain by the red dragon he had attempted to tame and raise from birth.