The Kingdom GodÆlfweard
The kingdom of GodÆlfweard was founded 126 years ago when Prince Æðelstan fled his father’s lands of Cardigan in Etana after discovering that their Allies in Pembroke were to use the undead in their armies. Æðelstans wife, Princess Leofflæd, a powerful master mage, had felt a dark hand at play when she went to pray of the matter in the Temple of Rillifane Rallathil. She spoke to the Paladins of Rillifane and they had heard whispers of warnings in their prayers as well over the last few months. She had told her husband and urged him to confront his farther. He pleaded with his farther to break their Oaths to these men of Pembroke who brokered with evil even if they could not see the path they had started on.
Prince Æðelstan and his farther argued for many days and the King could not be convinced. Without proof of evil intent of the necromancer in the Kingdom of Pembroke, it seemed nothing would change. Æðelstan with his wife then rushed to find information on this dark power. They went to the to the great Library of Cardigan in the Mage Tower of Light to see if they could find anything to help convince the King. After many weeks, Leofflæd found a scroll that talked of a Farseer’s Tower in the lands of the great west hidden from all with a powerful spell. It talked of the second Elemental of The Mithril Alliance and his quest to find it, and a crude map was sketched on the bottom of the scroll. They both knew they had to see if they could find this tower and answers they needed to stop their people coming under the influence of such an evil power.
Prince Æðelstan gathered his retinue of Rangers, Royal Guard & Princess Leofflæd and her mage apprentices & Paladins joined them marching out towards the west following the map as best they could.
After several days travel, they came upon the Woods of the Shadow Deep: the hiding place of the tower. They camped outside the woods the night before they planned to enter, and as dusk descended the woods started to come alive. Screams of pain and agony broke out as well as calls of wild creatures and monsters, to the point that even the rangers were not sure what the beasts were. A cold mist rolled out of the wood, the horses started to stir, and then with an almighty scream wraith appeared and started to attack. Luckily, the Paladins that had come with Leofflæd were fully prepared for just this event and quickly attacked and defeated these evil entities. Understanding that they could not venture into these woods without being attacked, Æðelstan & Leofflæd decided that they must be the only ones to venture into the woods, so their charges did not lose their lives for no gain. Æðelstan charged his daughter Princess Kendra that if they did not return by dusk the next day, she was to gather the party of troops and mages and head west into the unknown lands of the Great East anyway they could.
Æðelstan & Leofflæd ventured into the dark woods armed with Leofflæd’s Spells and Æðelstan magic sword: the Eternal light. They rushed head long towards where the map had shown the location of the tower, and as they advanced into the dark the woods closed in on them. Spirits moved into to attack them, but they turned back every time they got within the glow of the Eternal light. By dawn, they were tired and now lost as all paths had vanished both stopped to take stock of their position and rest. They had no idea on the way forward or back and felt the dread that they may end up walking these woods forever. Leofflæd then felt the only recourse was to ask for intervention from Rillifane. As she started to mediate and pray, she started to hear whispers of fear from afar. As she moved her mind to these whispers, they filled her mind with flashes of the past. She saw a dwarf entering the tower, a dark hand falling over him, a mage working with dead flesh, a beast draining blood from its victims’ neck, and a black ship shrouded in mist and the stench of despair and decay. In a flash of light, the Tower came into her view and the path to it was revealed. She opened her eyes turned to her husband “quick my love, we have found our way”
Once in the Tower, it seemed there was nothing there. It seemed deserted: not a thing in any of the rooms until they reached the space at the top of the tower. In that room stood a scribes desk on its own light shown through a window and they could see nothing else until they looked up on the ceiling where there was a painting covering the whole area. It showed a story of a mage shrouded in light moving through lands and slowly the light fading. The last few pictures were of the Mage all in black surrounded by piles of the dead and monsters from beyond the grave. They moved to the desk and upon it lay a map and an ancient book. They looked to the map and saw that it showed a route by sea to the Island of Mist. They looked at each other and knew they had an escape if they needed it. Then they picked up the book inside was an arcane magic language that even Leofflæd had not seen but the grand illustrations inside pointed to the use of the magic: The raising of the dead. They had their evidence and now to return to Cardigon and show the King that the Oath made to Pembroke must be broken.
Carrying the Magic book & Map from the Tower the path out of the woods seemed to appear from nowhere, and though they knew this was from the power behind the book, they cared not for now. They felt they could control the book once they got back to Cardigon.
On their return to the Royal Palace in Cardigon, the book was presented to the King and the story told of the adventure and what they found. The King listened and told his Son that he would get the ancient librarians of the Great Library to try and translate the book and report back on the findings. Many weeks passed without news back from the Library, and Prince Æðelstan grew impatient. He was surprised that the librarians had not been able to translate anything with both their great knowledge and vast library that stretched back in time before even his 380 years. His father had spent 630 years on these lands.
One night while walking the city he noticed that the library was empty without light or sound. This was unusual as when given a task the ancient librarians would work day and night until the truth the sort had been found. He thought this must mean that they had translated the book and know the truth of the Evil now at work in Pembroke. He rushed to his farther chambers to seek out why he had not been called and told of the news. On entering the throne room, he found his farther sitting talking with the Duke of Pembroke and a dark mage. In the mages hand he could see the evil tomb of magic he had discovered. Understanding immediately that his farther had handed over the Book of the Undead, this necromancer looked at his King and said, “On this day my lord, King, and Farther, you have lost a Son”. Turning to the mage he spoke, “I have seen your master’s plans in the Farseer’s Tower. Though I leave this land now, I vow to return and to defeat you and your master’s evil. I hereby break the Oath my farther has made to Pembroke and will look to bring down these foolish men on my return.”
Prince Æðelstan rushed to his Palace chambers and gathered his armour and his weapons . All else was left behind. Rushing to fetch his wife from the Temple of Rillifane, he sent word to his trusted Captain Orva to gather the rangers and his Royal guard. His children were told to make ready for a sea voyage as they waited at their father’s woodland lodge. Messengers were called to the Royal Guard barracks to deliver this message to all Ealdormen and the Captain of Burg:
My Farther the King has turned his back on all that is good in our Nation. He has handed the book of the Undead to the Humans of Pembroke. I see nothing but war and Evil before us. If you understand and can see what is to befall our great lands meet me at the Port of Ginther in 2 days times when I will take all those that want to Join to me to the east and freedom from such Evil.
Prince Æðelstan
What became to be known as the Long March began. The Afternoon of the first day the front of the column was ambushed by loyal forces of the king. They had orders to capture the Prince but not to harm him. The Prince and his Vanguard fought off the ambush with loses but the King’s forces were not strong enough to stop them. That evening, Æðelstans cousin, Prince Kendric, joined them with a large cavalry force. As Dawn broke, the column started to move after a short rest. Prince Kendric’s cavalry led the way as the Rangers and Paladins guarded the rear of the column as they approached the Cassandra Crossing. The horizon was filled with pennants of the royal mounted Huscarl, and Kendric manoeuvred his cavalry into line and charged. 500 horse charged into 700 horse, and the impact of the forces colliding could be heard a mile away. All 1200 were the finest cavalry in Etana, as each had ridden down beasts, Trolls and more goblins than could be counted together in many a battle in the past 400 years. The King’s Huscarl numbers showed that no quarter was given in Elf versus Elf. As hundreds of years of martial skill pitted against each other, Kendric men began to give ground. Hundreds laid dead, they the cream of the Elven kind of Cardigon. Kendric, sensing he could not win, called to his men to rally to his flag so they could reform and charge one final time. As Kendirc spurred his horse into a charge, a screech from above was heard above the battle cries. Kendric turned his head, expecting what he was. Over his shoulder he saw Princess Ruma Æðelstan & Leofflæd’s riding in with her Rangers on giant eagles. Arrows rained in on the Huscarl and the Eagles dove in tearing elf from horse; their talons gutting those not quick enough to get out of the way. The Huscarl found themselves divided into small groups, at the onslaught of Kendric’s remaining men. It was over for the Huscarl, and knowing this, their captain turned and called to his trumpeter and called for the retreat. The horn rang out, and the Huscarl’s turned to flee. Seeing this, Kendric turned to his trumpeter to call the halt. He did not want to see more of his friends, family & brother warriors die when battle was no longer needed.
As the rest of the column caught up with Kendric, they found him and his troops gathering up the dead and starting to prepare them for the death rights. The injured from both sides were then brought to the Clerics of Vandria to be healed. The hovels around the building turned to makeshift hospitals. Æðelstan raced to the buildings and found Kendric standing in tears over the loss of so many great elves. They looked at each other knowing that they did not have time to stay and save all. Æðelstan called to the head cleric and asked if she and some of her clerics would stay behind to tend to those that could not move, as she agreed and picked 10 others to stay with her. Æðelstan made an offer to the wounded Huscarl that they could travel to join him. He explained why he was leaving, and on hearing his story nearly 200 men agreed to join them while some 50 remained, holding to their Oath’s. Æðelstan requested their weapons, telling each warrior they were true elves of honour and asked for their word to not to attack the column again. In this promise, they would be allowed to leave unmolested. Each warrior agreed, and all stayed to help & care for the wounded.
The column marched forward unceasing, worried that there may be more forces awaiting their chance to stop them. Princess Ruma atop an eagle landed near her farther and greeted him as she told him that she saw that an army of the undead only a few hours away. It appeared that Pembroke had sent an army to stop them leaving. The prince knew the column could not outpace the undead, who had no need for food or rest. At this point, the elves of the column had been marching for 37 hours with only a few hours rest. Æðelstan turned to Kendric and was about to issue an order, but before he could Kendri interrupted, “I know what you are going to say cousin. Let me lead the force I will hold them so the rest can get away. “
Æðelstan didn’t like it, but knew he had no other choice. He turned to Kendric “I will leave you with a fifth of the Guard. Each company will form a force to help hold these denizens of evil from the column so we can get behind the walls of Ginther.”
Princess Ruma looked to Kendric, “A league down the Ginther road is a large hill. The column will slow as it rises, but the top of the hill is remains an old line of palisades. These would make a great line of defence, though not enough to hold back the horde”
Ruma mounted her eagles “I will keep an eye on the horde. The rest of my rangers will fly to the wall and begin to bolster it”
Calls to arms went up around the column as people were urged to speed up. The crowd remained calm, as the elves held their nerve still as Mithril.
As the last of the column crested the hill, the screech of Princess Ruma’s eagle was heard as everyone looked to the sky. Her return could only mean one thing; the undead army was close. This urged on the defenders as they built rock barricades and cutting trees into spikes- anything to hold off the horde. The rangers flew down to the bottom of the hill and moved into the small wooded area to the side of the road. They waited there and began to make a dent in the enemy as they advanced, yet retreat at the last minute back to the wall.
As the rangers started to drop arrows into the mass of skeletons that were at the head of the army, the lines of troops at the top of the hill braced themselves. They could see the arrows make a few skeletons fall but not enough to make a difference. The arrows stopped as the undead army was only a few paces from the edge of the wood. Moments later, the eagles took off, as they had orders to stay aloft to watch for unexpected threats and to leave once the battle was joined. The rangers and eagles would be needed in the new lands.
The undead army continued its march unthinking and unmoved by anything. The archers on top of the hill had been given all the arrows from the column and started to fire at the horde in front of them at extreme range. The winds of magic started to swirl around them as the Mage Baldrick cast true flight onto the companies of archers. The Arrows darkened the sky above. The horde of skeletons started to thin further as the Archers kept firing as fast as able. Thousands of arrows fell, but still the undead kept coming. The black sky started to clear as the archers started to run out of arrows, as they had fired for 6 minutes the enemy was at the foot of the hill and starting to spread their line. The order was given for the archers to withdraw, as they turned their backs on the warriors and spearmen of the Guard wishing them well and knowing they were unlikely to see each other again until the ascent.
The Elves, now manning the palisade, waited for the wave to hit them, knowing they had to hold this horde for at least two hours so the column could escape.
And so began the last stand of the guard. None that took part on the field in those final hours of the battle survived to reach Ginther. Against her orders from her farther, Ruma stayed watching the battle, wishing to help but being unable. As the first wave of skeletons broke against the defence, she could see the Linebreakers at the front with their heavy armour smashing and crushing enemy after enemy. Spearmen behind them looked for gaps to split skulls. The tide of the first wave slowed bones collecting at the feet of the elf warriors but the pressure did not stop as another wave filled the gaps. For every elf that fell another stepped forward, but the line of white armoured troops was thin and could not continue to hold. It was after the about an hour of continued battling that Princess Ruma saw the wisps of magic lance out of the tree line in the small wood at the base of the hill. As she watched, she saw a black figure step out and cast a spell at the companies of skeletons and some of bones reform and stand backup and re-join the fight. She could see this figure was being guarded by forty Revenant warriors. There was no way that she, even with her eagle, could get to this evil mage alone. As she turned to look for her cousin, she could see him on horseback waiting for a breakthrough so they could charge to fill the gap. As she saw him speaking with Bodach, she rushed to them to tell them what they had seen. She stated that to stop the skeleton horde, one was to cut off the head of the army. Baldrick, being a powerful mage, devising to cast the spell “glamour” by riding up with her on the back of the eagle and casting the spell below on the elven cavalry. Baldrick however pointed out that the only flaw was he could only move twenty with the spell.
Kendric called upon his best 19 men and requested that Baldrick transport him and these men as soon as possible. Knowing that they were unlikely to survive this attack on the necromancer, the men strapped themselves together, waiting for the moment they were transported and would charge. Weather they were dead or not their lances would stay true. And when the moment came, and the dark one stepped out, Baldrick started to cast the spell. It was a long cast, and Ruma thought they would miss their chance, but in an instant, Kendric and the 19 appeared 50 paces away from the mage and his guard. The cavalry took them by complete surprise. The horseman dug their heels into the battle horses and released their charge. The necromancer turned to run, but slipped to one knee. As he started to stand, some of the Revenant warriors stood in line to stop the charge, but only ten could get in the way before they were hit by the line of the elite of elven kind. They were shattered and with only 20 paces to go, they knew they had the mage. The air exploded with a rain of arrows from the wood, and many died immediately, but being tied together there was no stopping them. The mindless dead failed to have aimed for the horses, as Kendric steadied his lance aimed squarely at the necromancer’s head, and upon connecting removed it in one hit. There was a scream so loud those that survived the battle lost their hearing, but at once the whole skeleton horde collapsed.
They had won and could not believe it. They could join their brethren in Ginther, even though fate was against them. Yet their celebration was soon quelled, as from the woods appeared Ranack the Red, Vampire Lord, with 2000 ghouls. Ranack had been patiently waiting to see if an opportunity to gain acolytes and power would occur- the opportunity thus presenting itself. He jumped to the attack, and raising his magic sword to the sky, killed Kendric with one devastating blow. The force of ghouls swarmed forward killing the surviving cavalry and started towards the defence. The cavalry remaining atop the hill having just seen the scene below, and their lord falling to the vampire sword, could not contain their passion. They themselves charged, and 400 horse screamed down the hill into the horde of ghouls. With great abandonment, they began to slaughter these evil abominations. It was then that the remaining infantry, now seeing the slaughter below charged. They knew that this was the only hope of victory for the cavalry, and to slow this force down and allow the column to escape. For the next hour, the elves sacrificed their lives dearly until all had been laid low. Form high, Baldrick and Ruma watched in horror and awe. This story would not be lost and would go down in history of the people of GodÆlfweard. Their sacrifice would never be forgotten.
On reaching Ginther, the prince sought out his bastard half-brother and half Elf: the Admiral of the elven fleet, Arthur Summer. They were good friends, and this friendship had been forged in the battle against the Wild Orcs of the West some 50 years prior; he knew he could trust him. He asked Arthur to man the fleet at his brother’s command, now seeing the map of the route to the Island of mist. He could see hope for his people and for a world where half Elf meant something other than that which is to be looked down on. The fleet was commanded to embark and every ship in the port started to prepare for the voyage.
The King, hearing word of his son’s escape, the next day and gathered his army to march on the port to crush this rebellion, although this was nothing more than show. The King already knew that the army would not reach the gates of the port before his son and followers left the lands.
On the morning of the third day as the dawn broke and the tide rushed in to raise the assortment of war ships and cargo ships aloft a kind wind blew and the fleet departed for the Island of mist. Their number neared 8000 Elven men, women, and children. They did not know if more would join, but they could not delay. Three trusted members of Arthur’s veteran crew were left behind to let any that missed the sailing join a second party of 10 ships waiting to leave. More than 5000 more weere taken from the beaches and taken on the arduous route to the Island of mist.
On landing in what is now the land of GodÆlfweard they found lush forests , hills with abundant game, and plains with roaming herds and Wild horses. Tt seemed they had found utopia, and they could settle their families, and live and grow without the discourse of the evil that was in their former kingdom. As the first settlement was being built, rangers pushed out into the deep woods to explore the land. At first all seemed quite but as they came to the edge of the vast forest, they found ruins of towns and villages; long forgotten farms overgrown but no sign of life. As they moved into the hill lands close to the mountain’s, humans were spotted. They were travelling in nomadic caravans with herds of cattle. It was decided that contact would be made they did not know how many humans there might be and would they be a threat.
Contact went with the humans went smoothly, and they seemed happy to see the elves. Tt seemed that they had stories of them from the old lands as they called them and knew them to be a good and brave race of people. As the elders told their stories, the truth of the ruins came to pass. It seemed that many years passed, and there was a great human nation, but a dark and evil force sprung from the lands and took many souls. There were stories of blood drinking monsters, of flesh-eating terrors, and the bodies of all those killed just vanishing. Those that survived the terror fled to the hills in small bands and after many years’ tribes formed. They would not return to the towns and villages in fear of their lives and souls. They were asked if they had seen any of these evil forces and the reply was no, at least not for 150 moons.
The Humans offered to help build the Elven Settlement, and said they would call to the other tribes to join them at the coast. The basis of the alliance that would form over the next 126 years was in place. As the Elven town was built, more humans gathered around. The lives of the humans improved year after year- farms were started again, new villages appeared, and the population expanded. Part of the expansion of the population was the intermingling of the races. Many elves that made the journey did not come with their family and found love with the many fair people of the tribes, and so the population of half elves grew. No stigma was given to these people as was not the case in the old country. The princes love for his half brother, Arthur, and the fact Arthur had saved them all with his fleet, had solidified into the hearts of all that these half elves were as good as any other Elf, even if their lives where shorter and more emotional than their own.
And so, began the quite time. The nation built itself and grew, building new cities where human, elf, and Faye Human (as they came to be called) in GodÆlfweard lived well and peacefully. Though it seems these times would not end, Æðelstans, and his wife Princess Leofflæd, did not sit idly by. They sent out scouting parties to the rivers of mist as they lava flowed into them. They trained an army forged weapons and mages worked to discover the secrets of this islands.
Then one day some 50 years ago the lava stopped flowing and the riverbed once gouged with lava filled again with water. Tough the rivers were, as wide as several miles in some places. Plans were made to build bridges so that these lands could be explored, and if need be, secured with armies. Scouting parties were sent over by boat and new tribes and lands found that though these where not always friendly. Beasts like dragons were found, and finally the evil they thought they had left behind reared its head again, along with a tribe of corrupted and evil dwarfs. The orders were given to withdraw from the other lands, and bridges they had built had garrisons built next to them to bar all that tried to cross. The bridges, it was argued, should be destroyed, but the prince decided that he must advance into the lands of the undead and destroy what lay there.
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And here we sit on the verge of a new age with Elf, Half Elf and Human poised to take the war to cleanse the lands of Ral-Morte-Dar of the undead and go back to the mainland and cleanse their true homeland of this Evil.