Kinurea

The pretender goddess of the earth; matron deity of Menea.

There is belief among some scholars that Kinurea was nothing more than a new label for Baere. Others argued that she was the grandchild of Heimos who, hearing tales, took to imitating Baere in her dress and bearing.

History of Man -- Book I: Westrun Part 1

In Westrun the nomadic tribes of men spread out across the land. These were collectively called the Nandi and each tribe had its own law and own ruler. Before them retreated the Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes and Halflings, but the Urok of the Saltmarsh (what would later be called Talir) had a fortress remaining in the place they called Edgewater and from there they staged frequent raids against the humans, all but daring the Continuum to act.

By 3100ey, the human tribes of Sak and Tari had given up their wandering for fishing and raising crops on the Eastern slopes of the Grene Mountains. Far to the south and west, the Bal had done the same near the Cape of Salorgard. Their chieftains and kings were as common as copper nails. But, they were not the only humans of Westrun, for some had been tamed and kept as servants by the Vyrum, and some of them remained in the Alds – the abandoned metropolises of the previous age.

Little is known of Ald Biye. Some of the humans who once lived there are said to have taken shelter among the High Elves of the Mistwood and even intermarried, giving rise to Panamir – the so-called half-elven people. Some from Ald Biye joined the Nandi tribes -- their offspring became men of note among them. Many heroes and princes would come from that line. The Ald itself remained vacant and the elves permitted none to enter that pace. In time, even the stones would be plucked up and put to better use.

Ald Saloren had been the home of Vyrum heroes, where cavaliers on horseback once raised and trained their steeds. The walls and architecture of that city showed the great respect the empire held for horses. The towers were built in the semblance of equines and the Ald boasted two colossals -- a stallion and a mare which still flank the main gates of that metropolis. But by 3000ey the city was empty and its gates were left wide. The men of the plains foreswore its walls, as they were superstitious and believed a great curse would befall any who tried to live as the Vyrum had.

Ald Morin, however, was still home to the Tren. When the Vyrum empire fell into ruin, the Tren remained and lived off its former glory. They only sallied forth to trade with their wild brethren the Nandi who migrated back and forth across Westrun. The Tren had secrets in weapon smithing and great foundries with which to work their metals. This made them valued trading partners and they were careful to guard their secrets closely. They had one king in those years – a man chosen among them who had been high in the counsel of the Vyrum and was called Etru the Wise. Under his rule, they traded weapons and tools for the goods which the Nandi carried. They relied on the height of their ancient walls to keep their rivals at bay. For this reason, Ald Morin would also be called The City of Stone and would eventually lose its Vyrum appellation to the one the Nandi preferred -- Treft.

In a bend of the Red River on the Ascari Plain, another settlement out of the Nandi was taking shape. By 3190ey it was encircled by a wooden palisade. The City of Wood was a contrast to its rival a fortnight away -- the City of Stone. It's people also traded with the Nandi.

The Nandi were in conflict with one another as they competed for hunting ground. Of perhaps fifty tribes, only the names of the Nadi, Sahna, Numin, Shina, Anis, Duvi, and Rathor come to us from the northeast; while the three tribes of Aras, Du and Ren roamed the grasslands to the southwest. Of the other elder races, little was heard, save the Urok, who pressed their claim to Westrun and especially Ald Morin repeatedly. While mankind had the numbers to bolster their claim, the Urok had many long millennia of stratagem and war to enforce theirs.

History of Man -- Book I: Westrun Part 2

In the Spring of 3222ey, the Urok of the Saltmarsh began attacking both cities of men, as well as raiding the tribes of the Nandi. The Urok had long demanded tribute from the humans, who chaffed under this burden and finally declined to pay. Humans responded to the resulting raids with military force and the First Urok War was joined. It lasted for three years and ended in the Winter of 3225ey with the defeat and dispossession of Edgewater Fortress. Humanity declared victory and the Urok retreated to the Saar Mountains, finding grudging hospitality among the Dwarves of Dynkyr.

Peace would last six years before the coming of the Urok Warleader Hareg Greatjaw. He promised to restore the Saltmarsh to his people and rallied a great following. In 3231ey, finding common cause with Ogurf of Graymantle Hills, he led a series of daring raids to start the Second Urok War. Within two years his forces took possession of the Saltmarsh, Treft (renaming it Ald Morin) and lay seige to the City of Wood. 

Many words have already been written about the Fraternity. Justice to their entire story cannot be done here. Nevertheless, during the Second Urok War while they were still a small team of cattle thieves and saboteurs, they were called Rodalon's Rangers. This team assailed Greatjaw and his supply lines to such an extent that the Urok host were forced to quit the City of Wood. After that success the band of cutthroats and vandals added many recruits to their numbers and their operations greatly expanded, extending even to open warfare. By 3239ey the Rangers had dislodged the Urok from Ald Morin (renaming it Treft) and skirmishers harried them along their entire retreat to the southwestern plains. Hareg Greatjaw himself was slain.

Once expelled onto the plains, the Urok took hold of the long-abandoned Ald Saloren and ended their retreat. The Rangers, far from home and on unfamiliar ground, could not prevail against the massive walls of the abandoned metropolis. After a siege of two months, Rodalon's men returned to Treft and City of Wood and eventually disbanded.

Peace returned to Westrun for nearly a decade. Greatjaw was replaced by a string of lesser leaders until Oguron son of Ogurf became the Paramount of Ald Saloren. For seven years he gathered Warleaders from across the Four Lands and became general of a mighty host of Urok. The tribes of men in the Southwest were sorely pressed. The Aras, Du and Ren were pushed farther West, while the Bal were dispossessed entirely -- its refugees seeking refuge further East.

By that time the rising tension attracted the attention of the Besnir. Many debates were held on the wisdom of their interference. Centuries of war made them reluctant to join it again. So it was that the Hierophants of the Continuum made themselves known to the tribes of men. Called the "White Robes" they encouraged humankind to reconstitute their Rangers and offered them the gift of their naturia -- secret magic held closely from the days of the First Age.

Prepared with Hierophants naturia, the Rangers rose once more to safeguard the peace. Tensions steadily grew until 3248ey when the Urok and mankind once again went to war. Despite the new powers of the Rangers, the Third Urok War saw many early gains against the humans. This continued until the pillage of Dun Dynkyr, a miscalculation by Oguron, and a watershed in the war. Thereafter mankind was steadily reinforced by angry Dwarven militias until the Ranes of Oromir and Dynkyr were forced to send regular companies to assist. 

The Urok had their first great defeat at the Maple Vale and then again at Clandbur River. From there a long string of losses saw their retreat back to Ald Saloren. Even that refuge was denied them. The armies of man rooted out their foes after a successful siege aided by Dwarven sappers. All of the captive Urok were then force-marched on the Bitter Passage, with a son of each Warleader taken as ransom. The last day of that march, when men stood on the Graymantle Hills, was the first day of Spring 3259ey.

The next decade was a period of uneasy peace. The Rangers were a standing army without loyalty outside of their brotherhood. This worried many chieftains and princes among men who called upon the Grand Hierophant to negotiate for their disarmament. The Rangers complied reluctantly with calls for them to lay down their arms and become a reserve force, calling themselves the Fraternity.

For the last twenty-five years of the 32nd century, Larec Redfist became a dominant power in Westrun. As great chief of the Rathor Confederacy, he controlled the territory between the Brownbeck and Wody Rivers. This put a vast swath of land between the City of Wood and the City of Stone (Treft) under the control of the Rathor and meant tribute could be exacted from nearly all trade, back and forth.

History of Man -- Book I: Westrun Part 5

By the middle of the 35th century the Meni refugees had diluted into separate people using intermarriage as a tool of peace and generational conquest. The two major subgroups were the Menes along the north coast and the Talir along the South. 

Some of the Menes merged with the men of the City of Wood and eventually gave their name to that place, Menea; while others reached still farther North of the Red River into Sudland and married in among the exiled northmen -- there becoming the Boldi. The other Sudlanders were still fiercely independent and lived as a dozen distinct, but settled clans.

While the Menes moved northward, the Talir largely remained in Watersedge, and following the example of the Tren, allowed large numbers of the Nandi to enter their midst both as general labor and as men-at-arms. Some of the Talir intermarried with the men of Treft where their High Vyrum tongue and mannerisms were prized. At Watersedge, because of the 100 learned Meni who had settled there as refugees, was built a place of learning intended to rival the colleges of old. If any evidence of their skill and knowledge was needed, Talir soon had it. By the end of the century, the men there had drained the marshes turning it into rich farmland, and raised a colossus of the previous age which had been toppled into the sea.

Inland, the Rathor still controlled a vast swath of territory in the middle of Westrun and used their power to regulate and tax trade. Over the course of the century the Nandi of that confederation slowly entered permanent settlements and consolidated into three large and wealthy kingdoms: Rath, Gere and Palo.

To their West were the minor kings of the Saks and the Tari -- both of who seemed closer to the elves of the Mistwood than of their fellow man. In the far Southwest the Bal were firmly ensconced in the ald they now called Balrest and demanded fealty from the tribes of Aras, Du and Ren. 

In and among these kingdoms, some Nandi still roamed with difficulty. Nadi, Sahna, Numin, Shina, Anis, and Duvi were known as itinerants and raiders, reluctant to give up their nomadic ways. Moving seasonally between hunting grounds, these people groups increasingly found their way inhibited by permanent settlements and found their lifestyle costly. Meanwhile the settled men of Westrun continually disputed with each other -- testing borders and resolve. Not infrequently, these disputations erupted into armed conflicts and even minor wars. 

The Coin Barns of the Oxmen

The common name for those buildings in use by the most popular banking system in Erenth, the Coin Barns are administered by a peculiar society in league with Church in Westrun, and are under the protection of the famed Oxmen. The Coin Barns are the clearing houses for most writs the world over. They charge a 1% fee for those transactions.

Deposits and withdrawals can be made at locations in

• Peakshadow
• Wanderhalt
• Bolden
• Menea
• Treft
• Laketon
• Watersedge
• Balduren
• and Rath in Westrun;
• Old Darios in the Free Provinces;
• Byza and Tradepost (Sabaha) in Southrun;
• and the Imperial City of Shu in Eastrun.

The Coin Barns will take any deposit of any coinage. Withdrawals can be made at any location, but they are not allowed until a 90 day waiting period has elapsed. After that initial waiting period, amounts can be withdrawn on any Firesday, after notice has been given on the previous Moonsday.

For some, the greatest service that the Coin Barns offer is to vouchsafe (by the honor of the Oxmen) the average size of their depositors accounts per annum. Far from being seen as a breach of privacy, this actually allows nobility and other institutions to determine how credit worthy their potential customers and trade partners are.

Noble and Seeking Peers of Randolus

The chapel of this peerage is in Menea in the kingdom of the same name.

The Peers of Randolus, or Seekers, is a group of Paladins expressly formed to help commoners. They find people and things thought forgotten and are known for giving hope to those too poor to hire their own men at arms.

Randolus was a questing knight who responded to requests for help from those afflicted by rampaging dragons, marauding hordes and restless spirits. He never returned from his last quest for the fabled Holy Avenger. The Peers are founded in his memory and they number only eleven, keeping one seat open for his return and reserving the Captaincy of the Peerage for him. In his absence, the Steward Exemplar is the head of his brethren.

The symbol of the Peerage is of four gold lions on blue field.

College of Murdoc

The College of Murdoc is located in the City of Menea, in the Kingdom of the same name, in the Eight Kingdoms of Man in the Land of Westrun.

Murdoc.

The Primus of Murdoc's College is Valenar. The students of the college wear yellow robes with green hoods.

The Oxmen have given it a credit rating of 9 gold bars.

City of Menea

Located in the Kingdom of Menea in the Land of Westrun, the City of Menea is the seat of the crown of that Kingdom.

Menea is known widely for its markets for bread crops of oats and wheat but also turnips, barley, clover and wild ivy which makes for feed for horses, pigs and sheep. It is also for its local ale production. As nearly every corner in Menea boasts a brew house which offers a distinctive ale. Some of the larger houses export their brews all over the Eight Kingdoms.

Menea's walls are modest, but seem all the higher for the flat land around the city, for it is built in the midst of a vast sea of farms and fields. The walls of the city were made of quarried gray stone. Most buildings inside the walls are built from red mud bricks and timbers with sod roofs of gold.

It is the home of King Wallace XXIII and of Murdoc the wizard.

The Guidance of Rodalon, Founder of the Rangers of Old

In the Summer of 3229ey I was imprisoned by the crown for the crimes of general indebtedness, counterfeiting gold, poaching deer and reiving cattle. It was sixteen months from the issue of his royal warrant until my capture. During that time I evaded all the king's men arrayed against me while ranging no further than forty miles on any side of his Keep at Menea.

After capture, my trial was swift. I was found guilty, along with my brother Jonsalon on all charges. By the crown's mercy I was to spend twenty-two years in captivity. But in 3231, while still languishing in the king's dungeon, word came to me that the city was besieged on all sides by the vile hordes of Vareg Greatjaw the so-called goblin. So, the King himself sent for me and issued a pronouncement.

"I do therefore hereby appoint you, the villain Rodalon, to be Captain of an independent company of scouts and raiders, and such other men as might be raised at your discretion. You are to be formed and employed in the distracting of the Horde from the walls of the city. You are to engage them by whatever means or stratagem you see fit to employ, so long as it shall see to their defeat."

Thereupon, I recruited my brother and such other men as I felt could be taught from among the imprisoned murderers and thieves. I felt these men had little to lose and, like me, might earn their freedom by great deeds. I took to me one of the king's huntsmen also, for it was he who finally managed my capture those years earlier and his skills were apparent. We numbered only one dozen at that time and called ourselves Striders for the king would not spare us his horses. 

Thankfully, our first skirmish added to our numbers greatly. After which it became my preferred method to recruit vengeful captives and untamed freeholders to my cause. I did so whenever such opportunity arose and whenever they could be persuaded to adopt my methods, and no other.

My methods were as if winnowing grain. From the recruits I winnowed the men who would not voluntarily cover forty miles in a day on foot -- even if they did not first know how long or how far they were to travel. Next I winnowed those who could not be taught to make and bend a bow; then use it to strike a mark with three arrows -- placed no farther apart than the diameter of a garland wreath. Then I winnowed those who could not learn the art of the sword sufficient to sever a tightly bound sheaf with either hand in a single blow; sufficient to parry a dozen coins cast in quick succession. Finally, I winnowed away every man that could not learn to track deer at dusk, and yet leave no trail himself even if he must cross a bog. Finally, I winnowed those few men who would not swear their allegiance to me; and also an eternal vengeance upon the goblin.

These ranging men of mine carried a blade, a bow, a blanket and water. When we could not hunt, we took food from those we slew. We traveled light and hungry. We vowed not to eat except that we had paid the price in blood spilled or plunder taken.

According to the King we were to harry those outside of the Keep at Menea and cling to the walls whenever possible, but once upon the plains we traveled as near or as far as we might find suitable targets. The King was not given to chase us, so we followed the seasons and learned the routes of the goblins. We stole what we could, burned what we couldn't, and killed as any as we were able. In pitched battle we did not engage. We struck quickly and brought chaos. We retreated when met with superior numbers. We struck mercilessly upon those that left themselves open and slaughtered those who fell behind.

We quickly made a name for ourselves that spread even among the Elder Races. In time we were accepted by the White Robes. They gave unto us the gift of understanding the natural world. We learned that we could be the force for good that should balance the threat of evil. So we left off our former lives as outlaws and embraced a new, more excellent Observance among us. 

With the Observance we were able to master the beasts, and draw strength from the wild places. The ground and the sky spoke to us, the leaf and the rock heeded our call. Of all these things we made allies, and from all these things we took power. Our savagery was not diminished, but was made sharper and more deadly.

In time, our band became a company. One company became two; two became four; four became eight; eight became sixteen. Over each new company were placed such men as whose skill demanded it; regardless of his former station or rank. So the sons of slaves were as likely to lead as the sons of chieftains; and former outlaws as often as the worthies. By our Observance we defeated the hordes. By our Observance we slew the ancient enemies of all people.

But now that is long past and we are fading. I myself am old and the light is dim in my eyes. I can no longer track by dusk nor stride too far. The kings and chiefs of men all fear us. We are told we must disband or face their justice, but our Fraternity must live on. For this reason, my guidance is firm: We should travel no more together lest we be seen as lions among the lambs.

Let us not noise our presence among the uninitiated. Let each Strider keep the company of but one other of our number. Let each take a learner to pass on his skills. And despite our great distance, let us forgather from time to time to reconstitute our chapters and take a census of who is still able to follow our Observance. Once our forgathering is over, let us fade back into the high grass so our numbers are unknown to friend and foe alike.

This then is the Seven-fold Observance:

1. We will not work evil; neither in time of war, nor time of peace.
2. We will not neglect the gift of the White Robes; nor forget to master its power.
3. We will not permit friend nor foe to pass without raising our notice.
4. We will not permit our foes to note our passage; nor to predict our ranging.
5. We will not be heavy, nor loud; neither encumbered with spoils, nor girt with noisome armor.
6. We will not be found wanting, even with only a minute's warning.
7. We will not forget the binds of the brotherhood -- more valued than gold, more sought than titles, and more precious than any embrace.

The Second Urok War and the Rangers of Old

by Tandis of Peakshadow

In the year 3231 the Urok chieftain known as Greatjaw stirred in the Accursed Place. He led a great Horde out from their lands and down upon the Southern Marches. The horsemen of the Marches could not contain him. Many tribes were swept aside as the Horde pressed deeper into the Plains. The fertile fields of Westrun were his aim and he left misery in his wake.

The Westruners could not withstand the Horde. They were scattered and their fields were sown in blood. The mounds of the Uroks were raised and thousands of people were carried off as slaves. But the other races were spared this fury, for Greatjaw's command was that the Elder Races should not be harmed. So the Horde did not broach the borders of Deepwood, Mistwood, Festog, Oromir or Dynkyr. Greatjaw knew that the kings of the Elder Races had retreated from the world of men. For the Kings felt that the humans ought to prove themselves worthy of the mantle they sought to carry.

In that day there were only two great cities -- one of wood and one of stone. For Rath and Peakshadow had not yet been built by the Dwarves as gifts to the younger race. Under Greatjaw the Urok lay seige to the city of wood, Menea and to the city of stone, Treft. Round about they cowed the settlements and tribes between them. So mankind languished and knew the dread of slavery under the yoke of the Urok. This time is called the Age of Darkness, because the younger race knew the terror that came by night. To this day, the night holds special terrors in the hearts of young and old alike.

But there were some among men who would not be cowed, nor would they be shut within the safety of their walls. These men became vengeance to the Urok. They formed companies which ranged out across the plains. They found shelter among the trees, and safety upon the hills, and security behind the rocks. These men were they which wreaked havoc upon the Horde and put many of them to the sword. These men were they which brought fear to Greatjaw's heart.

Finally the Lords Continuous came -- beings of great power born of the Elder Races, dressed in robes of white and possessed of great power. They took pity upon the plight of Westrun, and pity upon the plight of mankind. Though these Lords would not directly join battle, they sought the bravest and greatest among the men and taught them many secrets forgotten since the making of the world.

The men who were taught by the Lords Continuous became heroes among men. They were called the Nightstalkers by the Elder Races, and Rangers by their own kind. Among the Horde they became the Dustrkhunbagk or "badgers with two-swords". Though they were greatly outnumbered by the Horde, they could not be defeated, for they would not stand and fight in pitched battle. Rather they hunted the goblins and visited terror upon them, appearing as if from the grass and disappearing like the dew. Their fury fell with a hail of arrows and they closed with and destroyed their foes with singing steel in each hand.

For eight years the Rangers cut to and fro across the plains and left no sign of their passage, except for the grass stained with the blood of their enemies. Their successes brought more to their side. Scattered men and freed slaves forsook their families and tribes, binding themselves one to another as Rangers first. In time, their power grew and their numbers increased. So that finally the goblin chieftain was forced to retreat. Greatjaw and his minions fled from the plains and flew back across the Southern Marches to their Accursed Place. They were all the while harried and worried by trailing Nightstalkers. The official end of the Second Urok War was 3239, when a company of Rangers slew Greatjaw and placed his head upon a pike.

As the years passed, men raised more cities on the example of Treft, but the Rangers would not rejoin their tribes and families. For the lives of these Nightstalkers had been bound in blood and they preferred the company of their own brotherhood. Among themselves they shared the secret knowledge of the Lords Continuous. Their loyalty was to their fraternity, first and foremost. Regardless of their name and nation, they made their own orders of precedence and knew a freedom that came from the absence of station.

The Rangers strode across all the Four Lands, bringing Urok low wherever they could be found, and living as free men upon the spoils of their campaigns. But in time, the Lords and Kings which had been saved by these men grew suspicious. They feared the secret power that had been the gift of the Lords Continuous, they feared the binds of brotherhood that knew not national bounds. So important men everywhere opposed the Rangers at every turn. These men of wealth would not brook the Nightstalkers passage through, nor quartering upon, their lands.

So the companies were disbanded and the men kept to their own counsel and each returned by and by to the countries of their origin. The Rangers are little remembered now, though some calling themselves by that name still travel, thither and yon, trading on the name of those heroes of old.

Magister Murdoc

Friendly : Trusting. Compassionate.
motto : Never waste time waiting for inspiration.