The Long War 02 - The Dark Blood (64 page)

From ‘
Memories from a Hall’
by Alguin Teardrop Larsson,
first thain of Fredericksand

THE GORLAN SPIDERS

Of the beasts that crawl, swim and fly, none are as varied and unpredictable as the great spiders of Nar Gorlan. The northern men of Tor Funweir speak of hunting spiders, the size of large dogs, which carry virulent poisons and view men as just another kind of prey. Even the icy wastes of Fjorlan have trapdoor Gorlan, called ice spiders, which assail travellers and drain the body fluids from them.

However, none of these northerners know of the true eight-legged terror that exists in the world. These are great spiders, known in Karesia as Gorlan Mothers, which can – and indeed do – speak. Not actually evil, they nonetheless possess a keen intelligence and a loathing for all things with two legs.

Beyond the Gloom Gates is a land of web and poison, a land of fang and silence and a land where man should not venture.

From ‘
Far Karesia: A Land of Terror’
by Marazon Vekerian,
lesser vizier of Rikara

ITHQAS AND AQAS, THE BLIND AND MINDLESS KRAKENS OF THE FJORLAN SEA

It troubles me to write of the Kraken straits, for we have not had an attack for some years now and to do so would be like tempting fate. But I am the lore-master of Kalall’s Deep and it must fall to me.

There are remnants of the Giant age abroad in our world and, to the eyes of this old man, they should be left alone. Not only for the sake of safety, but to remind us all that old stories are more terrifying when drawn into reality.

But I digress. The Giants of the ocean were formless, if legend is to be believed, and travelled with the endless and chaotic waters wherever tide and wind took them.

As a cough in Deep Time, they rose up against the Ice Giants and were vanquished. The greatest of the number – near-gods themselves – had the honour of being felled by the great ice hammer of the Earth Shaker and were sent down to gnaw on rocks and fish at the bottom of the endless seas. The Blind Idiot Gods they were called when men still thought to name such things. But as ages passed and men forgot, they simply became the Krakens, very real and more than enough when seen to drive the bravest man to his knees in terror.

From ‘
The Chronicles of the Seas’
, vol. IV, by Father Wessel
Ice Fang, lore-master of Kalall’s Deep

THE DARK YOUNG

And it shall be as a priest when awake and it shall be as an altar when torpid, and it shall consume and terrify, and it shall follow none save its father, the Black God of the Forest with a Thousand Young. The priest and the altar. The priest and the altar.

From ‘
Ar Kral Desh Jek’
(author unknown)

THE DOKKALFAR

The forest-dwellers of the lands of men are many things. To the Ro, arrogant in their superiority, they are risen men – painted as undead monsters and hunted by crusaders of the Black church. To the Ranen, fascinated by youthful tales of monsters, they are otherworldly and terrifying, a remnant of the Giant age. To the Karesians, proud and inflexible, they are an enemy to be vanquished – warriors with stealth and blade.

But to the Kirin, to those of us who live alongside them, they are beautiful and ancient, deserving of respect and loyalty.

The song of the Dokkalfar travels a great distance in the wild forests of Oslan and more than one Kirin youth has spent hours sitting against a tree merely listening to the mournful songs of their neighbours.

They were here before us and will remain long after we have destroyed ourselves.

From ‘
Sights and Sounds of Oslan’
by Vham Dusani, Kirin scholar

THE GREAT RACE OF ANCIENT JEKKA

To the east, beyond the plains of Leith, is the ruined land. Men have come to call it the Wastes of Jekka or the Cannibal Lands, for those tribes that dwell there are fond of human flesh.

However, those of us who study such things have discovered disturbing knowledge that paints these beings as more than simple beasts.

In the chronicles of Deep Time – in whatever form they yet exist – this cleric has discovered several references to the Great Race, references that do not speak of cannibalism but of chaos and empires to rival man, built on the bones of vanquished enemies and maintained through sacrifice and bizarre sexual rituals. They were proud, arrogant and utterly amoral, believing completely in their most immediate whims and nothing more.

Whatever the Great Race of Jekka might once have been, they are now a shadow and a myth, bearing no resemblance to the fanged hunters infrequently encountered by man.

From ‘
A Treatise on the Unknown’
by Yacob of Leith,
Blue cleric of the One God

THE JEKKAN SERVITORS

The war did not last long. The Great Race of Jekka had no desire for the forests. At length we fought them back to their mountains and threw down their altars.

But their pets had to be defeated. As the masters fled, their servitors covered their retreat. They were terrible, amorphous things of no fixed form, shaping their flesh as their masters ordered.

Fire did not burn them, arrows did not pierce them, blades did not cut them. Only the touch of cold caused them to flee. The mightiest Tyr wielded swords of deep ice and the wisest Vithar conjured snow and freezing winds.

The servitors were defeated, though it cost many lives. In the long ages that followed, whispers remained of the terrifying beasts, that they skulked in Jekkan ruins or guarded long-forgotten lore, but they were never again seen by Dokkalfar.

From ‘
The Edda’
Author Unknown but Attributed to the
Sky Riders of the Drow Deeps

T
HE
P
EOPLE OF
R
O

The house of Canarn – descended from Lord Bullvy of Canarn

Hector of Canarn – duke of Ro Canarn –
deceased

Bromvy (Brom) Black Guard of Canarn – disgraced lord of Ro Canarn, soldier of the Long War, son of Duke Hector

Bronwyn of Canarn – daughter of Duke Hector, twin sister to Bromvy

Haake of Canarn – Duke Hector’s household guard

The house of Tiris – descended from High King Dashell Tiris

Sebastian Tiris – scion of the house of Tiris and king of Tor Funweir

Lady Alexandra – wife of King Sebastian

Alexander Tiris – the Red Prince, duke of Ro Haran, the king’s brother

Archibald Tiris – regent of Ro Tiris, cousin to King Sebastian

Bartholomew Tiris – the king’s father –
deceased

Christophe Tiris – son to King Sebastian, prince of Tor Funweir –
deceased

Clerics of the One God

Mobius of the Falls of Arnon – cardinal of the Purple

Brother Rashbone of Chase – Purple cleric, adjutant to Cardinal Mobius

Severen of Voy – cardinal of the Purple

Brother Jakan of Tiris – Purple cleric of the sword, protector to King Sebastian Tiris

Brother Cleon Montague – Purple cleric, bodyguard to King Sebastian Tiris

Brother Torian of Arnon – Purple cleric of the quest –
deceased

Animustus of Voy – Gold cleric

Brother Lanry – Brown cleric, confessor to Duke Hector

Brother Elihas of Du Ban – Black cleric, working with the Seven Sisters

Brother Utha the Ghost – Black cleric and last old-blood of the Shadow Giants

Brother Roderick of the Falls of Arnon – Black cleric

Brother Hobson of Voy – White cleric

Knights and nobles

Mortimer Rillion – knight commander of the Red army –
deceased

Nathan of Du Ban – knight captain of the Red, adjutant to Knight Commander Rillion –
deceased

Wesson of Haran – knight marshal of Cozz

Rashabald of Haran – executioner and knight of the Red –
deceased

William of Verellian – former knight captain of the Red

Fallon of Leith – knight captain of the Red and the army’s finest swordsman

Taufel of Arnon – knight captain of the Red, adjutant to Knight Commander Tristram

Theron of Haran – knight lieutenant of the Red, adjutant to Knight Lieutenant Fallon

Tristram of Hunter’s Cross – knight commander of the Red

Ohms of the Bridge – knight sergeant of the Red

Vladimir Corkoson – the Lord of Mud, commander of the Darkwald yeomanry

Dimitri Savostin – major of the Darkwald yeomanry

Hallam Pevain – mercenary knight

Castus of Weir – bound man and gaoler –
deceased

Leon Great Claw – a knight, first master to Randall of Darkwald –
deceased

Lyam of Weir – duke of Ro Weir

Common folk

Auker of Canarn – guardsman of Ro Canarn

Bracha – old knight sergeant

Broot of Weir – a mercenary of Hallam Pevain

Callis – sergeant in the Red army

Clement of Chase – watch sergeant of Ro Tiris

Elyot of the Tor – watchman of Ro Tiris

Fulton of Canarn – tavern keeper