The Tables of the Histories of the Stoneborn of Dynkyr - Table IV

In the days when Mya ruled Dynkyr alone, she raised to herself nine hundred and ninety spears, born behind the wall and trained to war. These she placed upon the ramparts, and they kept the safety of that place, overseeing all that came within its sight.

The weapons and armor that the Dwenir made were without peer and greatly desired. But most prized of all were their coigns. So sought were they that all the Besnir traded to obtain the gold, silver, and copper minted in Dun Dynkyr. Far and wide it became known as the center of trade, and a great market grew in the shadow of the wall, bringing grain, goods, and livestock from across Westrun and the Four Lands beyond.

Far from the wall, the wars with the giants continued, and those who sought respite from them came to Dun Dynkyr for peace and safety. Day and night they came and rested in its fastness. Then, on a morning at first light, a vagabond company appeared and stood unmoving within sight of the wall. They bore no banner and displayed no insignia that was known. Neither was their raiment recognized by any who held the watch.

The captain of that company stepped forward and fell upon his knees before the wall, and he wept openly for the relief he felt. When he was helped again to his feet, he called out in a loud voice to those who warded the wall.

They answered him, demanding to know his name and purpose, for they thought him a brigand from the North, or a deserter from Ur or Festog to the West.

Then the captain declared that he was the sharp silver blade that had slain giants beyond number. He named himself Clan, husband of Mya, who had survived the cataclysm of the Valley of Summer and fought across distant lands to be reunited with his bride. When his name was given, Mya was sent for, and she ordered the gates thrown wide. She herself went out from the wall to receive him. She who held the reign of Dun Dynkyr was once again the mother of sons, and a wife of her youth. She ran forth and embraced Clan as one long lost.

Great was the celebration of that day. The vagabond Dwenir were received into their own, and much was learned of each other and of the years that had passed. Thus Clan learned of his brother Duma, who had founded Dun Ur, and of Bathor, who had founded Dun Festog. And Mya learned of Dun Usega, Dun Balnolmar, and Dun Oromir, which had been founded by her sons Mith, Fesig, and Mireh.

The Tables of the Histories of the Stoneborn of Dynkyr - Table III

In the days when Mya and her company came upon the Saar, they lived in peace, for their abode had not yet been discovered by the giants, and they were not harried. But the wars at Dun Ur and Dun Festog continued apace, and their fortresses were greatly contested.

Then Mya, and the Dwenir who were with her, founded a great city of stone in that place. They were guarded by the sea on three sides and bounded by the great mountains on the fourth. Because the mountains rose suddenly in their majesty, they were nearly impassable in their own right. Only a cleft between two of them allowed passage between Mir Nahr in the West and Mir Vath in the East.

So it was that Mya had the pass sealed. Stones were quarried from deep within Nahr and Vath, as if taken from their very roots, and from them she made a great curtain between the two. In the midst of the curtain she placed a gate, with a rampart above it, and on either side tall towers from which the wall might be gained and its breadth reached with arrows. Together it became a thing of beauty, for she had with her the greatest of miners and craftsmen, and they sought only to please their queen and mother. Thus they raised the wall in many courses, until it grew as tall as the mountains beside it.

They called that place—the wall and the city it protected—Dun Dynkyr, and named it for the pain of the loss of Mya’s husband Clan and the seven sons she had borne him. For though she was a great leader and wise in her years, she was also called the Mournful and the Widow. Many among the Dwenir sought her hand in marriage, but she would not take any to spouse, and poured herself instead into the defense and grandeur of her people.

At Dynkyr they built furnaces anew and began the smelting of many metals. With kohl stone in the heart of their fires, they softened even iron and worked it into steel. For a time iron was thought to be the Promise of Numli, a treasure long sought since before the cataclysm. Because iron was both superior and more plentiful than copper, they became masters of steel and made great strides in its craft.

Though iron was prized, the softer metals were not despised. Gold, silver, and copper were also melted, from which they minted coigns and began the custom of money. Thereafter the Dwenir feared neither mice nor rot, for their vaults were not filled with grain as those of the Stonekin had been. Neither was labor exchanged unevenly among them, for all worked and bought with the minted metals they had made. In time the other Besnir prized the coigns of Dynkyr, and for want of them brought trade and commerce to market before the wall.

Then Baere herself came round to the wall of Dynkyr and marveled. For though she had seen many bulwarks in her course, there were none to compare with the curtain that stretched between Mir Nahr and Mir Vath. Not only was it unsurpassed in height and depth, but it was to her an object of great beauty.

And since the stone blocks of Dynkyr were quarried from the heart of the mountains, the shafts and cuts made by the Dwenir were hidden from sight. For this Baere was grateful, for she hated the scars of mining and the splintering of rock as other Besnir had done. So she blessed the wall, saying it should never be broken by the craft of any born on Erenth. Thus, behind that wall the Dwenir prospered, and among all the peoples of Erenth, Dynkyr was counted the greatest and the envy of many.

The Annals of Dun Oromir - Table I

These are the Annals of the House of Mireh son of Clan, which was founded and prospered in the cleft of Oromir, when the wandering Dwenir journeyed toward the southern realms.

Clan, called the Silver Axe, was a mighty warrior and vanquisher of foes beyond numbering. He was born among the first of the Dwenir, and his face yet shone with the light of the old world. Great was the love many bore him, and great also the fear he inspired in his enemies.

When the old world was filled with floodwaters, Clan came with his sons and the warriors of his House to the high lands of the north. There he labored long in war against the giants — he and his seven sons together. They drove the giants from their holds and brought peace to the clearings first won by the Treants. Few survived those campaigns, yet among those who did, Clan was esteemed above all, and he earned for himself the name Geddin.

In time he set aside his axe and turned his mind toward the building of a great hall, and of a tomb to share with his sons.

Now from of old, the spouse of Clan had been Mya, but he believed her lost in the flood of the first world. Clangeddin put her from his thoughts lest sorrow consume him. Yet a traveler from afar came bearing coigns from a place called Dynkyr, and Clan marveled at their making. When he was told that they had been minted by a Regna of the Dwenir, hope stirred again within him.

He dared to believe that Mya might be among those exiles who had survived the deluge.

So he left unfinished his hall and tomb, and took up his axe once more. At the head of his seven sons and what banners yet remained to him, he journeyed westward. The road was long and not without peril. Long they traveled, and in their passing made enmity with more than a few.

Along that road, Mith and Fesig founded Dun Usega and Dun Balnolmor. Mireh, third son of Clan, remained beside his father until the journey southward grew long and grievous. Mireh longed to dwell among his own children and to follow his father’s relentless quest no further. When he beheld the plateau of Oromir and saw that it stood high against the giants and was rich with game and water, he entreated his father to abandon the road that consumed him.

But Clangeddin kissed his brow and blessed him. Taking the sons who yet remained steadfast in the quest, he turned again toward the south.

Thus the House of Mireh built its Dun.

Mireh was Regn of Oromir and ruled his House with strength and prudence. He beat back the giants who pursued in the wake of his father’s wars, for the enmity of the giants is not quickly forgotten, nor is their devotion to their god lightly set aside.

In the eighth year of Oromir, word came that Clangeddin’s wandering was ended, and that the realm he long sought had been found. Great was the rejoicing in Oromir at that news, and trade and kinship were renewed among the Houses of our people.