This account was discovered written in Firespeech on a roll of thick copper foil in
the "archives" of the Yemalio temple in the citadel of Elkoi. No one had
been able to read it in hundreds of years.
My name is Balazar, called Lightson, and this is my story. I write this not in an
attempt at self-aggrandizement but as a favour to a dear friend. He asked me to write this
account of my life to leave to my children. I asked Trilus why this might be so and he
just looked at me with one of those sad knowing looks of his and I wisely refrained from
asking further. All know me as a man to who does not brag of his accomplishments so I will
refrain from boasts and just tell you the truth as I know it. My god Tharkantus, known to
outsiders and women as Yemalio, expects no less of me.
I was born in the land of Vanch to a family not of the lowest order of society nor of
that of the highest but rather somewhere in between the two. My father was a follower of
the God of the Sun Dome, Tharkantus, of some standing in the cult. No strange portents,
omens or mystical events heralded my birth just a lengthy, difficult and sadly, ultimately
fatal delivery for my poor mother. My father was pleased at the birth of his first and as
it turned out only son and in true stoic, Tharkanti style he seemed unmoved by my mother's
death. Yet he never remarried and lost standing in the cult because of this. I realized
much later that my father had been greatly saddened by the loss of my mother who he must
have loved dearly but that he had forced himself to go on for my sake. His aunt, a stern,
unloving but extremely capable woman was put in charge of me as a young child. It is to
the rejection of certain aspects of her personality that I feel that I owe the best
aspects of my own character.
When I was old enough I gladly moved to the Temple to continue my training and from
that point on my upbringing, training and eventual initiation into the cult were no
different from that of hundreds of other boys so I will not bore you with the details. I
did well enough at most tasks to earn praise from my stern teachers but in two areas I
excelled. One was spear fighting and the other was in the leadership of men. Right from
the beginning of my time at the Temple I became a ringleader, even of boys much older than
myself.
After initiation my progress in the cult was steady and much more rapid than that of my
age mates. Yet I feel pride in stating that I never sensed any feelings of resentment from
them. I did what I had to and never bragged of my deeds for my deeds spoke for themselves.
I rejected no man and was proud to call all of them friend. I averted my gaze from no task
and did what my God and my Temple expected of me. I was one of the youngest initiates to
ever reach the status of lord in the cult and soon thereafter I became an acolyte as well.
As a reward for my accomplishments and my loyalty I was given command of one of the famed
Spear Legions of Vanch that served the Emperor so well in his battles against his enemies.
I led it to its and the emperor's glory. I had risen rapidly and it was as if I looked out
at my future from a lofty precipice.
It was from this precipice that I fell. I will not speak of the past, let it lie where
it is and may Dayzatar shield it from all eyes. All I will say is that my crime was felt
to be great and many who had been my peers and my mentors called for my blood. I felt that
I had not committed any crime and demanded the right to travel the Otherworld to let the
God judge me. This they could not deny me and when I returned from my Quest bearing the
Spear, Light of the Dawn, a clear sign of the God's favour they could not have me killed.
But banish me they could and I was forced to leave Vanch.
I left alone, on foot wearing my armour and carrying Light of the Dawn on my shoulder.
As I marched away from the Temple I found myself being followed, first by Trilus, (true,
loyal Trilus), and then by others. Soon I was being followed by a small band of spearmen.
This lightened my sorry heart considerably. I turned to address them, climbing on a large
rock to do so and begged them not to taint themselves and ruin their chances in the cult
by following me. To a man they refused and I was so moved by this that I was unable to
speak for some time. When I had recovered I told them that if we were to travel together
we would have to vote for a leader of our band. Trilus leapt up on the rock beside me and
put forward my name as leader. I waited to hear other candidates named but no other was
put forward. Then I myself nominated Trilus but when we came to take the vote no
mans voice but mine spoke for Trilus. So I came once more to lead a group of men. We
embraced and swore oaths to each other proclaiming our brotherhood. I had not planned
where I was going not really caring but now that I had followers again I could not be so
careless. I called for suggestions and many different directions were suggested. No
consensus could be reached. I called for silence and said that we should let the God
decide. This suggestion met with general approval and finding a flat place I sanctified
the ground and gently drove Light of the Dawns butt spike into the ground a short
distance. I called upon the God to show us the direction to travel towards. We all held
our breath and waited. Shortly Light of the Dawn began to glow brighter than normal and
gently toppled over to point in a north easterly direction. North east it would be. What
we would do once we were there I left to the God to show us.
We collected our goods and headed east. As we went more followers joined our band and
it slowly grew. Usually these new followers were young men who were restless but
occasionally an older Tharkanti joined up. All of these agreed to follow me and we soon
had an army, a very small army, but an army none the less. We drilled as we marched and
learned to fight as a true unit.
Everywhere we visited we asked about the lands farther to the northeast and everywhere
we visited they told us about their lands and how they knew the Sun and the Light in the
Hills. Finally we arrived in lands where Tharkantus and Yelm were unknown and the Great
Rebel himself was worshiped! These people lived in such error! They knew of the Sun and
called Him Elmal but they denied Yelm. These Tarshites, unfortunately were a strong people
and we decided not to show them the error of their ways. They told us of a land to the
northeast called Votankiland where people lived in sad ignorance of civilized gods. They
farmed not the land, kept no animals but dogs which they called kin and worshiped spirits
and gods found nowhere else. The Tarshites told us that the Votanki, named after their
common ancestor, occasionally came out and raided but for the most part they kept to
themselves. All these lands, both that of the Tarshites and the Votanki had been ruled by
the cursed dragon worshippers whose empire had been overturned in my grandfathers
time. The Votanki who had been part of the empire were being oppressed by the darkmen and
treemen they had in turn oppressed under the empire.
We wondered whether this was where the God was guiding us. We decided again to ask the
God to guide us. A lottery was held and seven were chosen. The seven fasted
for seven days and nights. The seven were thus purified, shrived, and finally
blessed. These seven put off all their bindings and sky clad each took up a javelin
which had been dedicated to this purpose. Each stared at Holy Yelm to the point of
sunblindness and then spun around three times wildly before letting their javelin loose.
All seven of the javelins landed in the direction of Votankiland. Thus did
the Gods make their intentions known.
We decided to learn as much as we could about the Votanki while we served one of the
Tarshite nobles as mercenaries since that served to improve our working together as a true
unit. We purchased some Votanki slaves from the Tarshites and set about learning
their language and their ways. We decided that freeing them would best serve
our purpose since adherence to old ways was in no fashion a part of our plan. We
extended our arms in brotherhood to these Votanki and taught them the ways of the God.
These became our first Votanki followers. We asked them what course we should
take to gain the trust of the Votanki and as one man they replied that we must seek out
the favour and approval of one of their shamans, Blueface. This Blueface they
affirmed was of the clans but not of any specific clan and was respected by all Votanki.
He, they told us, had lived forever and was the wisest of them all. Where
were we to find this man we asked and they told us that he was always found where he was
needed. We decided to seek this Blueface out after we felt that we were finally
ready to enter Votankiland. Finally after a year or so we decided we knew each other
well enough and spoke Votanki passingly well so we left our employment in Tarsh.
We halted on the border between Votankiland and the last civilized kingdom, Tarsh and
made sacrifice to all our gods, Tharkantus, Yelm, Polestar, Dayzatar, even the Good
Goddess for success in our venture. Lacking any means of finding the shaman Blueface we
decided in council that we would be slow and sure in our approach to the Votanki and try
to approach one group first with offers of alliance against the darkmen and the treemen.
Our Votanki brethren suggested that we approach the Redwyrm clan first as they were the
clan closest to the border with Tarsh and this we agreed to do. We sent our Votanki
brethren to the Redwyrm and their leaders agreed to meet with us. The Redwyrm had
been sadly decimated by darkmen attacks and were eager to secure our aid. They were
however somewhat suspicious about our intentions since they had not the means of hiring us
and in fact the Votanki had more experience in hiring out as mercenaries than they did in
employing them. Their leader, Elder Burrfoot, asked us flat out what we wanted in
Votankiland as it is a hard, poor land, suited only for hunters. I answered that my
God had led us here for some reason and that we wanted to make ourselves a home
here. He replied that his people only had land enough for themselves and had none to
share. He thought that if we could drive off the darkmen perhaps we could have the
land they were living on, however even this would have to be agreed to by all the clans
and they had not been united under one of their own for many, many years. Not since
the days of their legendary king Hargaard Silverfist at least. We had a quick
council meeting and agreed that we would start by aiding the Redwyrms and see where
matters went from there.
The darkmen were complacent and unwary. Using our magics of light and
anti-darkness we fell upon them like a hammer on an anvil. The combination of our
stalwart Templars and the native scouts proved to be an excellent one. Despite the
darkmen's best efforts, fighting as demons when we had them cornered, we rooted them out
of their lair and drove them off into the wilderness. Our success and the
effectiveness of our magic against them caused many of the young men to forswear their
traditional ways and vow to follow only Yemalio spurning all others. This did not of
course sit well with the elders of the Redwyrms and I feared the dissent that it would
bring. During the celebration for our victory I called for silence and stood up
before all the Redwyrms and my own followers and made a speech to them. I thanked
everyone for their help in routing the darkmen and praised the bravery of the young men
and my own Templars. Before the utterances of the elders got too vocal I also praised
their traditional ways and told the young men that I could not accept them among my
followers of Yemalio until such time as my God was accepted by the Votanki. I told
them that I had to find the shaman Blueface and ask him what I would have to do to get
Yemalio accepted by the Votanki.
"He must be accepted as kin, accepted as a leader and warrior", replied
someone in a loud, clear voice. Startled we all looked for the source of the voice
and we saw a powerful looking old man whose body was covered with blue tattoos of power.
Beside him was a huge saber toothed cat with rune carved fangs. This could be none
other than Blueface himself and his helper Greyrunner Runefang. Once past their
shock everyone fell over themselves to make a place for the shaman at the fire. We
asked him why he was here and he replied that he was here because he was again
needed. He told me that my God was needed but that to be accepted I, as my god's
representative would have to marry into the family of the Votanki. But first I must
earn the respect and love of the Votanki. How was I to do this I wondered.
Blueface suggested a course of action. If I aided the clans in driving the darkmen
out of Votankiland and stepped lightly on their ways I would make friends with them.
If I accepted their ways and gave myself to them and their gods they would love me.
In private, words in my ears only he later told me that I should seek out and woo Rigtaina
the hunting nymph, daughter of Foundchild and the Wild Mother. I thought briefly on
this and said that I thought this sounded like a wise course of action. I would
have to consult with my followers first though. Blueface said that he would stay on
long enough to hear our decision.
The next morning we met in privacy and discussed the course of action Blueface had
suggested. It seemed to us that the God had led us here for just this purpose, hard
though it was for us to see why Yemalio would want us to live here bereft of his holy kin.
However the ways of the gods are sometimes strange to all so we voted and agreed
that we would stay in this harsh land and make it our own. We made our decision
known to Blueface and he told us that he would be back when he was needed. He turned
and left the camp.
What to tell of the following years? We drove the darkmen farther and farther out
into the wilderness. We made truce with the treemen and they agreed, partly based on
their friendly relationship with my God that they would leave the Votanki alone.
Fortunately the Votanki dislike the forests the treemen prize so as long as the Votanki
agreed not to burn the forests the agreement was easy to keep. We worked very hard to keep
them from doing this. The stonemen who lived nearby in one of their underground
cities we saw not at all and counted ourselves glad of that fact. The darkmen though we
drove mercilessly and slew wherever we found them. It took us almost four whole
years to do so but finally we drove them out into the aptly named Elder Wilds. More
and more clans came to rely upon and follow us and I kept my word about not allowing the
young men to join Yemalio. I respected their ways, seeking membership in their
hunter cult of Foundchild, and living my life following their rules. I urged my
followers to take Votanki brides and respect their ways and most did so. Not loyal
Trilus though.
In our fifth year in the land I was taking part in their Great Hunt when I noticed man
sized shapes flitting through the brush. I quickly realized that these must be the
dread hunting nymphs, or vily, the Votanki hunters told me of. These vily are the
followers and children of Rigtaina. I went about my hunt, making sure not to break
any taboos. The prey I was seeking was one of the mighty aurochs bulls that haunted
these woods and which had been getting quite rare due to darkmen depredations. I had
been assured that only a fool would pursue one of these monsters singled handed,
especially without armour or metal weapons. In a spirit of foolish bravado I decided
though that I would seek no lesser prize. Using the tracking skills I had learned
from my Votanki friends I had found and tracked one of the great beasts. Carrying
three javelins and a strong spear with a razor sharp stone head and a sturdy cross-piece I
followed the great creature. Assuming itself rightly immune to normal threat the
great beast was moving slowly through the brush. Soon I spotted it. It was
indeed an absolutely monstrous example of its species and trying not to be distracted by
the ever vigilant vily I moved within javelin distance.
The Votanki use a device called an atlatl to propel their javelins and give them more
force. Calling upon some magic of Foundchild I hurled the dart using all my force at
the great beast. The dart imbedded itself deep in the bulls side and using some
preternatural sense it turned toward me and began to charge. Offering up a prayer to
Tharkantus at the sight of the monstrous beast charging towards me as fast as a horse I
hurled another dart at it. Another good shot, but not good enough to kill.
Then I hurled my last missile and had just enough time to prepare my spear. Rather
than a futile attempt to halt the monstrous beast's charge I used it instead to vault over
the great creature. It went crashing through the brush, smashing small trees like
kindling. I dashed off running for a nearby rock outcropping and I could hear the
maddened beast tearing at the ground behind me when with a great snort I heard it moving
towards me! I risked a glance over my shoulder and saw it tearing after me like one
of the great landslides of my homeland. It was gaining quickly and I managed
to find a desperate reserve of speed from somewhere and managed to use my spear again to
vault onto the rock outcropping just before the bull reached me. It struck the
outcropping with a mighty blow that momentarily dazed it and nearly dislodged me from the
outcropping. Screaming a mighty oath to Tharkantus and Foundchild I jump to the
beast's shoulders and using all my strength and the razor sharp blade I drove the spear
down into the beast's back. The pain from this blow shook it out of its shock and it
started bucking and jumping all over the place. It took every bit of my strength to
maintain my grip on the spear and stay on its back for if I had let go I would surely have
been trampled dead in an instant. Its wild gyrations knocked the javelins loose and
its wounds bled freely. I managed to force the spear farther and farther into the
great beast and it moved slower and slower. I did not let go of the spear and jump
off until it finally stopped turning around and dropped to the ground. I waited
until it had completely stopped moving and then let go. Pulling out my knife I slit
the beast's throat and uttered the prayer known as the peaceful cut to allow the great
beast's spirit to be reborn. I offered thanks to Foundchild and Tharkantus for their
aid in helping me kill the beast, and especially to the Wild Mother for giving me one of
her children to slay.
"A great feat human, worthy of my father Foundchild himself," said a mighty
and otherworldly, though unmistakenly female voice. I turned slowly in the direction
of the voice and saw one of the hunting nymphs standing in the shade of an elder tree.
Her beauty was beyond description though there was a wildness there, a sense of
danger there that made me wary. Her form flickered, changing from supernaturally
beautiful human to a wild, winged and clawed thing and back again. This was
obviously Rigtaina, leader of the vily, daughter of Foundchild and the Wild Mother.
I prostrated myself before Her glory and offered up my kill to her. She tossed her
head back and laughed, a sound that put a chill in my soul yet was at the same time
strangely stirring as well. "You offer me your kill, little one? A kill
that would surely win for you the Great Hunt? And what in turn would you want for this
great offering?" I dared to raise my eyes to her face. Her form had stopped
flickering now and she stood legs akimbo, hands on her hips, looking like nothing more
than a beautiful woman with tiny feathered wings on her ankles. "I would like a
chance to win your heart," I dared. Her laugh this time had nothing chilling in
it and was very stirring. "Little one, my heart is a fickle thing, hot one
moment, cold as ice the next. I can offer it to you but I cannot promise you can
keep it," she paused and what I would have to call a mischievous smile bloomed on her
face, "My vily have been watching you for years now and the shaman has spoken to me
of you. You are a worthy one I think. Yes, I think that I can let you try and
win my heart." I started to speak wanting to thank her but she held her palm up
forestalling me. She walked up to the aurochs stroking me on the flank as she passed
by. Reaching the bull she effortlessly thrust her hand deep inside. She pulled
it out, bloody to the shoulder and showed me the auroch's mighty heart. She squeezed
the heart and when she released it it had begun beating again. She tossed it to me
and said, "Eat." I ate the heart, which seeemed to struggle against me,
eventually devouring the whole thing. As I ate I could feel my body being filled
with the strength and vigor of the mighty beast. I felt so powerful, so strong, so
lustful. After I had finished and licked the blood smeared on my face I looked at
her and said, "Now what?" She tossed her head back and laughed a
wonderful, trilling, exciting laugh. "And now you must catch me."
And off she shot like an arrow from a bow.
What to say of that chase? I have never before nor never will again run like
that. My muscles felt like iron and I felt like there was nothing I could not do.
My need for her was great and I remember little of the specifics of that chase.
I vaguely remember tossing trees and rocks aside as if I was in reality an aurochs
bull. I let nothing get in my way and she led me a merry chase. She was always
just ahead of me, always just out of reach. She teased me and hid from me and drove
me mad with need. But finally she let me catch her.
Afterwards they showed me the devastation I had wrought on the countryside and I could
just shake my head in wonder. My followers wondered what would come of this but I
could only shake my head in wonder. I never saw her again. Three moons later
Blueface brought me three infants, you, that the vily had brought him. You were
taken as a sign that I had been accepted by the Votanki's gods and I was acclaimed leader
of all the Votanki. Having no experience of infants and little time I gave you into
individual fosterage among the hearths so that they could be raised as Votanki.
What to say of later events? In our seventh year among the Votanki I undertook a
great hero quest and was proclaimed their king. I tamed some giants and built two
citadels on the rocky ground the Wild Mother allocated for this task. I tried to
introduce agriculture to the Votanki but the hard soil thwarted this. Instead, I
stole the pig mother from the dragons for my people and henceforth they raised pigs.
I tried to be a good king, respecting the old ways but introducing new ways to help
my people. At first I wondered why my god brought me to this primitive wasteland but
I have grown to love these people and wish them only the best.
And what of my children? You have all been mighty warriors as befits my children
and mighty hunters as befits your mother. You are all headstrong, quick to temper,
rash in action and easy to love. I have loved all three of you but foolishly I could
not choose one of you to be leader over the others. You have all grown up strong and
opinionated, each wishing to be leader after me so I that know that violence will follow
sooner or later after my death. For this I am sorry. I wish that I had been
stronger or kept you together so that you would love one another more. But now the
Emperor has remembered me and forgiven me and He calls and asks, asks mind you, not
demands, that my kingdom join his Golden Horde in war upon the dragon men. I still
owe him something so I have promised to lend my aid and have answered his call. And
Trilus, brave loyal Trilus, knows something in that annoying, prescient manner of his,
knows that I will not be back so I leave you in his care and hope that you can rule this
kingdom in my stead. For a promise made is a promise I must keep. My god
demands nothing less.
And now Trilus comes and it is time to don armour once more and take up Light of the
Dawn once more and march into battle once more. Farewell and the gods keep and bless
you.
This story was started sometime in early 2000 and finally
finished April 12, 2002
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