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

In the days when Morgrim ruled Dynkyr alone, the Urok gave themselves over to fear and to unnatural propagation. For they were greatly troubled by the fecundity of Man and warned that in time no other nation would stand against the numbers the Humans would command.

Fear turned them toward desperation.

By that time the sorcerers of men had grown bold in their imitation of the Fairy witches of old. In seeking mastery over the majk that had been the source of so much sorrow in Erenth, they experimented with forces beyond their understanding and summoned powers from beyond the curtain of the heavens. For this their own people cast them out from their settlements and some came to the Urok in spite.

The Urok, in their dread of dwindling place and fading memory, submitted themselves to arts and pacts ill-considered. Whether by their own design or by corruption wrought through those summoned powers, they were transformed. In each generation their forms grew more coarse and their spirits more burdened, until they became creatures more beast than Besnir.

Thus arose the gobelins.

Some among their line mingled further with the children of the Jotinir, and from those unions came trolls and ogres and the so-called Hill People, of whom Lothar was chieftain and scourge of many realms.

In time the gobelins forgot the people they had once been. No memory of ancient dignity remained among them, only a bitterness without measure and a hatred for all the Besnir that surpassed reason.

Thus was fear made flesh.

Morgrim was Regn for one and forty and two hundreds of years before he died, having seen the corruption of an ancient race and the rise of new terrors. He was succeeded by Hafgrim the Regn.

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.

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