History of Man -- Book 1: Westrun Part 7

At the dawn of the 37th century there were no fewer than 25 kings in Westrun. The first forty years recorded the many disputes between petty kings who were vying for control of the land and resources within their controlled borders. But the hallmark of this time was not contests between men, but rather the rise of the gods later called the Decadon or the Pretenders.

3744ey is the first recorded instance of Heimos in Westrun. Notwithstanding that date, the Priesthood of Westrun would come to teach that Heimos and the other gods arrived on Erenth almost seven centuries earlier. Their arrival was said to be in a fiery chariot whose descent could be seen in the night sky for a fortnight. The same records would claim that the entire pantheon came to end the rule of the Vyrum and to usher in the glorious new age of man. However, in the still extant writing of Gys, first Magi of the King of Bolden, there is another version.

In those early records Heimos is described as a tall, broad-shouldered man with bright blue eyes that seemed to burn with undying fire. In that telling he kept the company of six formidable Northrun warriors and two-score fawning Fahrish sycophants, including a half dozen wives (all pregnant) that he guarded with no little jealousy. At that time no mention is made of any supernal power beyond having a commanding voice and being possessed of great personal charm.

According to the records of Gys, this same Heimos contracted with the Boldish king for a handsome annual payment of silver to be able to settle his pilgrim band in the wilds of Ochre Island. Within a few weeks of the first payment being made, however, the silver was revealed to be some sort of temporary enchantment which disappeared. All subsequent attempts for the king to collect were met with misfortune and violence.

The next mention occurs in the records of Menea five years later. In 3749ey a great battle is described in which Heimos, now called the Conjurer and also named the Lord of Lightning, kills or puts to flight a company of Menes who outnumbered his forces. In 3774ey Heimos is made the king of the Meneans and Talireans -- ruling both kingdoms through vassal earls from his island redoubt. 

Of course, multiple records from 3752ey are extant. All declare that Heimos is named the Patron and Protector of All Nations (of Westrun.) He has a total of 25 earls beneath him each of whom he anoints in a public ceremony in the shallows where the Brownbeck meets the Sea. A grand manse with stately columns is erected on Ochre Island and the Invitatory Court is erected across from it on the mainland. It is here that the earls meet with their liege to receive direction, but Heimos is content to let the earls have autonomy as long as their tribute is paid, preferring to rule his island alone.

Further records indicate that all but one of his six wives died in childbirth. Ranay lived to give him three children. All of his offspring were raised by his devoted followers and a kind of priesthood they developed toward that cause. By all accounts, the children of Heimos were quick to anger and difficult to control. Each of them was called a conjurer and wonder-worker, like their sire, and that made their easily roused anger a dangerous thing.

In the early years Heimos made no secret of his plan to install his children in the place of his earls and use them to usher in a era of peace in Westrun. But his offspring proved to be uncontrollable well into adulthood. They became agents of unpredictability and violence. From the first, each showed even less interest than Heimos in having control of armies and land. Rather, each enjoyed the tribute and accolades heaped on them by the men of Westrun and each developed their own cult of personality.

Alone among the kingdoms of Westrun, the Southwest tribes still contended with the successors of the Urok, the so-called Goblins. The most powerful of them, the Aras, were annihilated utterly. The warriors of the Aras were slain to the very man. The wives and children of the Aras were carried off as spoils and slaves. The remaining tribes on the plains (Du and Ren) sought shelter at Balsrest and unified their tribes under King Belos Thunderhooves, thereafter calling themselves and their city by the names of their tribal gods: Balduren.