Olvânaali lore tells of a sailor by the name of Kâl who hated being wet. He would complain bitterly whenever it rained. This was inconvenient because he spent a good deal of time with his companions in an open boat on the North Sea. Perhaps he did not realize that a good seafarer endures hardships like these in silence. One day, Kâl fell overboard in a storm, and the Immortal Tyvos turned him into a Shuind’or. Whether this was reward or punishment none know.

The legend tells that, to this very day, a medium-sized wave will occasionally wash onto ships from otherwise calm seas: sailors believe that it is Kâl trying to get aboard to get dry.

Hendrith Kuldan was an Umantari T’ara Kul of no small skill, who lived in the 22nd Century in the land of Musira, then a possession of the resurgent Ocean Empire. Hendrith hoped to construct a new kind of golem, one powered by a true elemental. For over ten years he labored, and in the end he constructed a 15 meter long, 5 meter tall solid bronze statue of a giant serpent. It was made primarily of bronze, etched in exquisite detail, its flared head inlaid with designs of gold and silver, with eyes of polished steel, and the body articulated in 40 segments. All who saw it agreed, it was a magnificent work of art, utterly unique.

When the body was complete Hendrith summoned a powerful Orivax into his masterpiece to provide the artifact’s animus. He successfully summoned the metal elemental, an especially voluminous one, given the mass of the body being offered, and it did, indeed, animate the statue. The already beautiful artifact became something transcendent as it came to “life,” moving in a sinuous, almost sensual undulation, raising its head up over the mage and his gathered witnesses.

Whether it was his own distraction at the sheer majesty of what he had crated, or merely a failure of his will matched against such a powerful elemental, the reason hardly matters. The fact is, Hendrith failed to control the Orivax, and the creature promptly left to explore the material world in its splendid new body. The bronze serpent glowed cherry red, burning a hole through the stone of the distraught mage’s sanctum, and then plunged into the earth, burrowing so quickly that it was lost to sight in seconds.

Hendrith, and almost all of his guests, survived the renegade elemental’s departure, but over the next several years others would not be so lucky. The Orivax would emerge from time to time from beneath the earth to inflict great damage in various spots around the world.The most infamous of the creature’s rampages was in the city of Kol-Tiran – once renowned for its wide avenues and magnificent gardens, and now known only as the Lost City of Kol-Tiran.

Eventually, the Orivax wearied of its “material adventure” and it abandoned its metallic body, although precisely where and when no one alive knows. The moral of the tale is unclear, unless it is simply that when dealing with great powers, it is best to employ extreme caution… or simply don’t deal with them at all. And that, somewhere, there is a very large, very ornate, and quite valuable former host mass waiting to be found…

The following version of this tale is told in the Ukali Basin region of northern Ysgareth. Variations are told around the Hidden Sea, in the Ocean Empire, and as far south as Kadara.

A long age ago, in the northern wilds of Ysgareth, in the mountains above the Telnori land of Serviana, a wizard of the giant race took up residence. He was very skilled in the ways of Avikor, especially in matters of cold and ice, and it was said his heart was as frigid as any mountain glacier of his homeland. His own people came to fear him and his growing power, and they banded together to drive him out before he became too powerful.

If his heart had been cold before, it now grew bitterly so, as for many years he wandered. But ever he sought to master more power, to fully know the heart of Avikor. In time he found a mountain peak that well suited him, and there he used his power to delve deep, carving out a fastness wherein none might assail him. From this redoubt he sent out his minions to bid the men of nearby towns to kneel in homage to him, for he declared himself the master of all the lands he could see from his mountain top.

The men of that region laughed at the emissaries, and turned them away, thinking them mad. Then the giant put forth his power, and it had grown great indeed; and in the midst of summer he caused winter to fall upon the mountains for many miles around. Then the men of the land were afraid, and when the giant came himself to demand their fealty, they knelt before him, begging him to lift the winter from their lands.

But the giant laughed and bade them learn to live in Winter’s Realm, for it would not now ever be summer where his writ ran. And he showed his new subjects how to gather and hunt and preserve, so that they might survive in this new land of eternal ice and snow. Many tired to flee then, but the ways into the lowlands were blocked or guarded, and the minions of the wizard knew no mercy.

Years passed, and the giant wizard’s power grew ever stronger, and his Realm of Winter spread ever farther, and more and more people became his unwilling subjects. Each natural winter his realm crept outward, and did not retreat again when spring should have come. And so he conquered without actual war or battle.

In Serviana the Telnori king watched these doings beyond his northern border, and grew wroth when the eternal winter began to take the lowlands and threaten even his own people. Then he summoned his greatest wizard, Hastor of the Sylvan Wood, unchallenged master of Toraz in that age of the world.

Hastor took his greatest creation, the Staff of Summer, and went forth into the lands of eternal winter. And lo, where he walked and touched the Staff to the ground, winter retreated and spring burst forth. For a year he walked the lands, forcing back the cold and making his way ever higher into the mountains, seeking out the so-called Winter King.

For that was the name the giant had taken unto himself as his power and pride grew, and the title by which those subject to his rule called him. And now the King was furious as this tiny interloper sought to undo his mighty work. Then he put forth all his might, and winter began to spread once more. But by this act now Hastor knew the direction to the heart of the fell power, and the location of Winter King, at last. He quickly made his way to the mountain fastness of the giant to confront him and end his reign once and for all.

The Winter King, on his High Seat atop the highest peak of his realm, saw the Telnori mage coming, for from that seat he could see all that passed within his chilly realm. And so he was prepared when the tiny mage, so small and insignificant, finally stood before him, and up from his mountain throne he rose.

The mighty river that had once flowed around his seat now cascaded in still, silent sheets of silver ice down the cliff, to where Hastor stood defiant. The Telnori demanded that the Winter King withdraw his power back into his mountain fastness, where no men dwelt, and free the lands of Umantari and Telnori which he now enslaved. But the Winter King spurned the command, laughing, and attacked the upstart wizard with bolts of jagged ice, hurled like lightning bolts from on high.

But Hastor moved his Staff, and the bolts turned to mist, and where the water fell grass and flowers began to burst through the snow. This enraged the Winter King, and then the battle was truly joined. For three days the two mages fought, and the mountains trembled at their power. The weather for many kilometers around changed from one minute to the next, and men cowered indoors, not knowing if they would be drowned, frozen, blown away or die of heat.

Eventually Hastor broke the Winter King and the giant fled down into his own deepest pit, far beneath his mountain throne. Hastor pursued, but he himself was wounded unto death. With his dying curse he bound the Winter King to that place, doomed to remain entombed in stone and ice for an age of the world, alone and undying, with only his stolen treasures to comfort him until time should end.  As he spoke his curse Hastor drove the Staff of Summer into the stone of that deep cave and laid such spells of binding on it that none could break them save the gods themselves.

And then he died.

To this day the Winter King remains imprisoned beneath the earth, ever striving to break the death curse and the spells of binding which Hastor wrought, so that he might once more walk the land and bring eternal winter to the world. Many claim to know the peak beneath which he suffers his punishment, but that truth is hidden knowledge, kept secret from all Men, lest the foolish seek his treasures and mayhap unleash once more the terror of Winter King.

In the year 2508 SR, the fourth year of the Great War, the Necromancer sent forth a great army against the Telnori/Umantari kingdom of Serviana. Sweeping down from the Savage Mountains, this horde of barbarians and Gülvini, bolstered by cadres of trolls, flights of dragons and a multitude of other fell beasts, poured over the lowlands like a wave.

It was a stroke long planned, and thanks to the work of his agents over the years – lies well placed, innuendo carefully wielded, doubt fanned into open mistrust – he felt confident the rift he had created between the Telnori of Serviana and the Khundari Princes of Karac would mean no help from the southern mountains for his current victims. Although the Dwarves turn would come, soon enough, as his plans came to full fruition.

Although they were numerous and fierce and without mercy, what made the advance of the Necromancer’s army seemingly unstoppable, despite the readiness of the realm for the war they knew was coming, was the commander of the horde, Khanaribas the Corruptor. This was a demon, captured by the Necromancer and placed into a great body of his own creation, a body that exuded an Aura of corruption that withered all life that it touched.

Little is known of how Pürshok Vindu created his Demon General, or of how he managed to control such a force of chaos, but many scholars today believe he somehow acquired a fragment of the Shadow of Torzhalo, the nothingness made solid that exists at the core of the Demon King Naventhül, and distilled an essence from it that created the Corruption.

Certainly Khanaribas did not possess the Shadow itself, since it showed no symptoms of being undead and it’s touch was never known to create any undead. But prior to being harnessed by the Necromancer the demon must have possessed at least one brilliant military mind, perhaps more, for it managed to guide an army of chaos to victory after victory, despite being a creature of chaos itself.

Within a month the demon’s army had reached as far south as the Imperial Canal connecting the Silvari River with Lake Benil. The Servian army had planned to hold them there, casting down the bridges and preparing emplacements of trebuchet and fire and stone casters on the far side of the Canal. But the Khanaribas’s power had grown with each kilometer south, and by the time it reached the Canal its Aura of Corruption spread around it for over a kilometer.

The stone of the Canal crumbled to dust, the water steamed and sank into the fissuring ground, and the Demon general advanced into the fire from the Umantari and Telnori ranged weapons. Wood rotted to pulp before it could touch him, stone turned to dust, flames to smoke and metal rusted to drifting flakes. When Khanaribas reached the emplacements the great weapons rotted away in seconds, the ground shriveled and cracked, plants withered and men turned black with the Corruption. These did not die instantly, but went mad with the pain and the horror, spreading the Corruption to all they touched until they themselves crumbled to nothing.

Behind the Demon General its hordes swarm across the Canal and soon routed what remained of the Servian forces. They then invested the scholarly city of Xaranda, a great center of Telnori learning and the home of numerous arcane schools. The survivors of the Battle of the Canal retreated behind her walls, and it was here that Khanaribas faced its first check.

The mages of Xaranda, with a month to prepare, had not wasted their time. The Wards they raised about the city walls were able to hold off both the Necromancer’s more mundane forces as well as the power of his Demon General. But they also used that time to created four Great Beasts, using long forbidden and ancient powers to grow and sculpt flesh into any shape, and imbued each Beast with an elemental power – Earth, Water, Fire and Air.

It has long been rumored that they did this because they had received word from the Necromancer himself that his General was only vulnerable to the combined powers of the elements. Many doubt this story, but it is possible that Vindu had become fearful of his own creation, not expecting its Corruption aura to grow as it had, and would welcome its demise at his enemies’ hands… after it had wrecked considerable destruction upon them, of course.

Whatever the motivation, four elemental Great Beasts were created, and the four most powerful mages of the city sent forth their own souls from their bodies to animate the constructs and imbue them with sentience. And it seemed to work, for when they came out of the city and attacked Khanaribas in unison, he was staggered and badly wounded.

It might be that the Corruptor’s threat could have ended there that day, but for the four dragons in the demon’s entourage. Seemingly unaffected by their master’s aura, they swooped in to attack the Great Beasts with flame and frost, tooth and claw. The Beasts held their own, but the Demon General escaped, and they dared not pursue – their presence within sight of the city was required to help maintain the Great Wards that protected her walls from the still besieging army. Without them, the lesser mages could not long maintain the protections, and the city would all too soon be overrun.

So, while they were able to hold off the horde from their walls, they were unable to stop the advance of the lager part of the army into the fertile heartland of Serviana. And the Demon General again seemed unstoppable. Wherever it strode, the earth around it died, the very life energy sucked from it, feeding its voracious appetite. Plants withered and died, but animals took the Corruption into themselves, and spread it even further as they ran, until they were themselves consumed and crumbled to dust.

As Khanaribas moved through the land, the bulk of its army trailing a safe distance behind, it grew in power, the radius of its life-draining aura growing with each kilometer. By the time it neared the great Telnori capital of Yalura the now 7-meter tall demon’s aura covered a circle of land 15 kilometers in diameter.

The eldritch wards of the Telnori mages of Yalura stopped the beast and its army 20 kilometers from the city, but this baulking only infuriated the creature, and it began a rampage through the hinterlands, circling wide around the city, killing the land as it went. And where it didn’t pass, the dragons flew, and their breaths of fire and ice wrought their own devastation on the groaning land.

As the land died, the power of the Yaluran mages began to fade, and they knew it was only a matter of time until their Wards failed. They had heard of the partial success of the Great Beasts created by their brothers and sisters in Xaranda. Lacking the artifacts for biological creation, they constructed instead a great golem of iron, in the shape of an armored knight, and a great sword for it to wield. And they would imbue this Iron Knight with the powers of all six elements.

But time was not on their side, and while the Iron Knight was forged, and the Sword as well, the Great Wards began to fail before all the elemental essences could be forged within the golem’s shell. The mages of Xaranda, knowing this, and realizing the only hope of all their people, and perhaps the world, lay in defeating the demon for good, decided to send the elemental Great Beasts to their king in Yalura. This meant leaving their own city open to the Necromancer’s army, but if Khanaribas was not stopped, where would his growing power end?

Within three days of the departure of the Beasts the city did indeed fall, and while many escaped down the river to the southwest, many more died in the fiery looting and rapine of the triumphant Gülvini, mountain tribesmen and things even less savory. The burned and shattered ruins of the city, though long overgrown and softened by the passing centuries, can still be seen where the Imperial Canal and the Silvari River meet, a silent monument to courage and sacrifice.

Arriving in Yalura, the four Great Beasts were hailed as heroes, and King Taharazod shared with them his plan. Knowing there was now no going back, their mortal bodies having been left in Xaranda, they agreed to the plan. A Greater Ward of Sealing was etched into the stone of the city’s central square, and four Elemental Wards of Sealing were placed at the four cardinal compass points around it.

The Great Beasts took their places within the Circles, and then their elemental-infused spirits flowed out of them and into the waiting crystal receptacles within the Iron Knight. The Knight stood at the center of the Greater Ward, 14 meters tall, hands clasped on the hilt of the mighty Sword, its tip planted between its feet.

Then Taharazod, not only the King but a great mage in his own right, split his own immortal soul in two, and imbued the Great Sword with half and the Metal Heart of the Iron Knight with the other. The Heart was the power core of the golem, using the purest part of the great king’s spirit to create an eternal link to the infinite power of the T’ara, while the Sword contained his strength and indomitable will.

For the final step in the ritual, the greatest Umantari warrior-mage of Serviana, Kelohir the Gray, and the great Khundari warrior-mage Zhedorum of Storm Peak (the only one of his kindred to reject the lies of the Necromancer, and answer when the Telnori called for help) let their own spirits be transferred into the crystal chambers of the head and torso of the golem, to lend it their battle prowess and fortitude, and infusing the golem with the elemental powers of Spirit and Metal.

And when all this was done, the seven-souled construct prepared to face the Demon of Corruption, even as the wards around the city finally failed. As the evil hordes rushed for the Ebony Bridge in eager anticipation, their jubilation turned to sudden terror as a towering apparition, 14 meters of living metal wielding a 5 meter long sword glowing with the white light of Taharazod’s pure soul, confronted them at the center of the span.

The mighty figure spoke no word, but even as the horde hesitated, the Iron Knight waded into them, slaying twenty or more with a single blow and sending another hundred flying through the air. Thousands died, and many more fled, before the demon Khanaribas, sensing the sudden disappearance of the great city’s shields, returned.

He was heralded by the arrival of his four dragons, who swooped on the Iron Knight breathing fire and ice. But the Sword of Taharazod deflected the blasts, turning each on the other, and thus did Belazur and Grendavol, the greatest fire and ice dragons of their age, destroy one another.

Their lesser brethren, enraged but learning the lesson, eschewed their breath weapons and went in for the kill with tooth, claw and barbed tail. But they did not understand the power and the speed of the Iron Knight and the Sword, and they too quickly died, headless bodies collapsing in pools of black blood.

Creature of chaos that it was, Khanaribas was not without intelligence and cunning. Seeing the fate of its greatest servants, it approached the Iron Knight with caution, seeking to destroy it from afar. Now itself almost 10 meters tall, it hurled rocks from the dying land, attempted to drown the Knight in black, corrupted water from the poisoned aquifer and river, summoned magma from even deeper within the earth, and caused tornadoes to buffet the mighty figure.

The Iron Knight withstood them all, the elemental spirits of the Great Beasts blocking or dissipating each attack, while the souls of Keohir and Zhedorum guided the golem’s own counter-attacks. The battle raged for hours, moving through the great city as her people fled into the barren lands that had once supported them. Buildings crumbled to dust as the demon touched them, the Asamira River steamed and boiled away, and every tree in the once-green city withered and turned black.

The Iron Knight scored three hits on the demon, wounding it badly each time, even slicing off three clawed fingers of its left hand. But each time the monstrous thing absorbed more energy from the land and life around it, and healed itself… although it seemed unable to grow the fingers back. Bit by bit, however, it was lured and driven where the Telnori mages wanted it to go, into the carefully hidden Ward Circle at the heart of the city.

And it was there that the Iron Knight put forth its full power, and the soul of Taharazod shone out like a beacon from the Sword. Khanaribas was taken by sudden fear, and faltered for just a moment… and so was lost. Guided by the battle-honed reflexes of two of the greatest warriors of the age, powered by the soul of a great and pure King, the Sword plunged plunged down and cleaved the corrupted form in two.

As the spirit form of the great demon poured like smoke from its corporeal remains, in great pain, panicked and confused, the Iron Knight took a mighty leap backward out of the Circle. At the same instant the light of the Sword died as the portion of Taharazod’s soul within it left the weapon and energized the great trap – within the Warding Circle a portal opened, sucking the shrieking demon spirit into a pocket dimension no bigger that the sphere defined by the circumference of the Circle itself.

The demon seemed to shrink as though it were falling a vast distance in an instant, and as it vanished in a tiny flash of light, the second part of the trap was energized – a Great Seal was set in place over the portal, that it might never be opened again, and the elemental-infused souls of the four Telnori mages flowed from the Iron Knight back into the bodies of their Great Beasts. As they did, each one empowered another seal between Khanaribas’ prison and the world, and each body seemed to turn to stone, to stand as eternal sentinels against the Corruptor’s return.

Although the victory was achieved, it was a Pyrrhic one – much of the heartland of Serviana was now a desolate wasteland, two of her greatest cities  razed and their people killed or scattered, the King sacrificed to seal the danger away forever. The corruption eventually faded from the land, but it remained dead, and to this day no living thing will grow in the soil of the Blasted March.

The souls of Kelohir and Zhedorum returned to their bodies, and after the Iron Knight was placed at the foot of the Ebony Bridge over the Asamira River as a warning for all to stay out of the dead city, and the Sword was placed in Taharazod’s hidden tomb, the two warriors turned north with fire in their eyes and vengeance in their hearts. For, although one army was destroyed, the Necromancer had many more, and the Great War was far from over… and so they strode forth into legend. What happened to the Heart of Metal, containing the remaining portion of King Taharazod’s soul, has never been revealed, although many speculate it is kept safe by the Telnori in case the Iron knight should ever be needed again.

The surviving Umantari of Serviana found refuge in various settlements to the north, in the still fertile lands untouched by the Corruptor, especially the great port city of Lirilar (where tragedy would soon stalk them again), while the Telnori retreated to the fastness of the island of Iria. From the shining city of Tir-Iria Taharazod’s son Kelabin still rules the land known today as Serviar, and none are allowed within the desolation of the Blasted March without his permission. Regular patrols are kept to ensure that no looters disturb the lost cities, and that no adventurer ever seeks to break the seals and release the Corruptor once more into the world…

Helathor of Xaranda was an Umantari weapon smith who lived during the Great War, over 500 years ago. He was said to be a quiet man, surprisingly meek and soft-spoken for such a large and powerful man, and for one who made weapons. His weapons, and his swords in particular, were much prized by the small cadre of warriors of the city (for Xaranda was a city of scholarship and learning, not war), as they were said to never break and to always turn an opponents blade just that little extra bit.

When the forces of the Necromancer poured out of the Savage Mountains and pillaged and raped their way south, the city prepared their defenses, which were mostly of magic. The Telnori mages of Xaranda did not despise their warriors, but knew they could not stand alone against the horde that was fast approaching, and so bent all their energies to Great Wards and the creation of Great Beasts.

The city was soon besieged, but the powerful magics of the mages held, and their fierce Beasts even drove away the powerful Demon General, Khanaribas the Corruptor, at least for a time. But they could not defeat the army of Gülvini, savage tribesmen and fell beasts, only hold them at bay. When the the King of Serviana called on the mages of Xaranda for aid to stop the Corruptor, who was laying waste to all the land, they sent their Great Beasts to his aid, knowing that this would weaken their defenses and that the city might fall.

And it did. When the Necromancer’s forces finally breached the wards and walls, there was terrible destruction, looting, raping and death. Many of the citizens of the doomed city fled down the Silvereye, in boats swiftly prepared as the defenses failed; others fled overland to the northwest, where the enemy forces were thin.

Helathor, knowing his city was doomed and his home lost, gathered together as many of his neighbors as he could, especially the children, and told them he knew a secret way out of the city, one that would take them beyond the besieging forces lines. Taking up a battle sword he had just that day completed, he led the fearful group to the city walls, only to find the streets already overrun with Gülvini and savage men.

But Helathor never paused, swinging his great sword at any who blocked their way, and the people who saw it were amazed, for the blade seemed to shine with an inner white light that struck terror in the hearts of the invaders, and even a glancing blow from the blade could send man or beast to a screaming death.

Reaching the secret passage that would lead to safety, Helathor turned and held the enemy at bay, while all his people escaped. When only a handful remained, they being most of the few warriors or fighters he had found, he told them to go also, and to lead the people north to Lairial “where they shall be ever safe from these horrors.” His companions were loath to leave him, but his will was adamant, and they knew the people would need protection on the long road.

Two only stayed at the hidden opening, in the hopes that Helathor would defeat his foes and escape with them. But the city was burning by then, and for every enemy he killed, two more took their place. In the end Helathor was overwhelmed and slain, buried beneath a mountain of his foes… but not a single one who had seen the escape of his people survived him. As the two warriors quietly sealed the passage behind them, they saw that no enemy would come near the now-dark sword of Helathor where it lay near his blood-stained hand… and though it had slain many that night, blade itself seemed untouched by blood or gore.

The warriors did lead the people Helathor had gathered to Lairial, as he had commanded, and the story of his heroic stand and the power of his obviously soul-infused sword was told far and wide. Already people were calling him a saint… but with the horrifying Rape of Lairial less than two years later, where a great many of his surviving friends and neighbors were killed, his legend took a bit of a hit.

Some of the children survived, however, as part of the Lairial Odyssey, and they never lost their faith and gratitude towards their saviour, despite his less-than-perfect prophecy. Years later, after the war was long ended, one of them, Hordel Wolthan, returned to the ruins of Xaranda. There he claimed to find the Sword of Helathor still laying where it had fallen from his dead hand, unrusted and seemingly untouched by time.

Hordel then built a shrine on the spot, and placed the sword within, and from that day forward became a monk devoted to the veneration of St. Helathor. Others eventually joined him, and although they were never very many, and their saint never gained much popularity in the wider world, they maintain his shrine to this very day. And it is said the lingering power of his pure soul keeps the Sword  shining and untouched, and that any who believe and touch the hilt will gain great prowess in battle against evil, most especially the Gülvini.

Akazdarön was an ancient Khundari kingdom of the central Sarajis Mountains, covering more than half of that mountain range. Founded during the height of the Age of Chaos, it was considered one of the greatest Dwarven realms since the abandonment of the Eight Cities. Her craftsmen and artisans were much sought after throughout the North by Umantari rulers, and even the Telnori.

The greatest achievement of the Akazdaröni builders was their ability to create the almost indestructible torlixam of the Ancients. Some believe they re-discovered the secret of its making, but most scholars are convinced they simply found and learned to use some of the tools left behind by the Ancients. Whatever the case, they were sparing in its use outside their own cities and fortresses, which were never broken by siege engines.

But even the strength of torlixam was no match for the tremendous geologic upheavals that brought the Age of Chaos to an end. The northern portion of Akazdurön was lost in the destruction of Kahir-Tomar, when that land sank beneath the waves. The survivors fled south, where they endured for many centuries, until the coming of the Necromancer. Then, all but a few outposts perished, and the greatest Khundari realm of northern Ysgareth finally came to an end.

The most famous survivor of the Great Cataclysm was Prince Dhaur’azym, the youngest son of the King of Akazdarön. He was said to be the greatest builder and craftsman of all his kindred, the master to whom all other masters bowed in matters concerning the working of stone or metal. Legend says that he was traveling in the southern portion of his father’s realm when the destruction of Kahir-Tomar brought an end to the north, and that he rallied his people during that dark time.

For many years he ruled the shattered southern remnants of the kingdom, rebuilding damaged cities and strongholds, and seeing that the survivors from the north had shelter and food. He was beloved by his people, so when eighty years had passed they called for him to formally take up the crown and become king. He had long resisted this call, hoping that some of his brothers, or even his father, had survived, but now he agreed to the wishes of the people.

But before the coronation could take place, a large band of northern survivors made their way to Kamoroth, the city Dhaur’azym had made his new capital, and leading them was his eldest brother, Gemar’tah. The Crown Prince had been badly injured in the destruction of the north, and even now he was crippled in body, if still strong in spirit. He had gathered such survivors as he could over the years, as he slowly healed, unable to move far. Eventually, hearing of the survival and renewal in the south, and being strong enough to travel, he gathered his people and set out southward.

Prince Dhaur’zaym was overjoyed to find his brother still lived, and immediately acknowledged his right to the crown, though many of his own people argued against it. But the Prince was adamant, and Gemar’tah was crowned King of Akaztamyr (Akaz Reborn). Sadly, he was not the man his younger brother was. His high-handed and arrogant attitude soon brought unrest and renewed mutterings that Dhaur’zaym should have worn the crown. When these mutterings reached the ear of the king, who was already jealous of his brother, he became fearful of rebellion and treason.

Dhaur’zaym tried to sooth his brothers fears, but this only seemed to make matters worse. The more he tried to advise the King to moderate his words and actions, the more Gemar’tah took the opposite course. When the day came that his brother demanded that he turn over his tools to artisans of the King’s own choosing, the Prince realized there would never be peace between them. But not wishing for civil strife, he determined to remove himself from the field. With only a small group of his most trusted followers, and taking with him all of his tools and artifacts, Dhaur’zaym left Kamoroth one night and was never seen in the land again.

Rumors abound on the subject of where Dhaur’zaym and his followers went – some say he sailed overseas, to found a hidden realm in Skavaria… or perhaps it was in the mountains north of the Hidden Sea; others are equally certain they went south, taking his skill and tools into the Mountains of Karac. Certainly the rise of the city-states of Karac began in the century after the Prince’s departure from the north, but the Khundari there have always denied any knowledge of him. Many people, especially those in the only outpost of Akazdarön still surviving, the Princedom of Dürkon, believe that the Lost Prince simply set up a solitary workshop far from his brother’s rule. There, they say, he spent the rest of his days creating marvelous artifacts, tools and weapons that he would send out in the world to find their way to his people, too aid them in their work and wars.

In any case, the memory of the Lost Prince is kept alive among the Khundari of the Sarajis Mountains, who believe he will be reincarnated when the time is right to rebuild the Kingdom in the North, recovering his great artifacts, buried with him in his hidden tomb, to help his people back to greatness.

POPULAR BELIEF

Every child in Ysgareth knows of the Deathspawn, the soulless beastmen who lurk in the dark and dangerous wilderness, the tales of which are used to keep rural children close to home. Monstrous beings part human and part animal, they live mainly in the mountains and highlands of the world, although they can be found even in the lowland wilderness at the edges of human civilization. Depending on the tribe, they range from 3′ to over 5′ 6″.

They are said to stalk the nights, preying on isolated human settlements or travelers, a constant threat and danger in remote areas. They breed at a ferocious rate, and when they outgrow their fetid underground warrens, they burst out in a swarm, a deadly tide that can sweep across whole districts leaving nothing alive in its wake. They eat anything on hoof or foot, including human beings, and will rape anything – man, woman, child or beast – even in the midst of battle.

Everyone knows there are five tribes of Beastmen: the gül-Hovgavui, the Great or Black Gül, who are the largest and most fearsome of the tribes, part bull, part boar, part man, with great tusks and sometimes even horns; the gül-Bogabai, the Red Gül, part bear, part man, with thick dark reddish fur, second in size and aggressiveness only to the Black Güls, and are the most cannibalistic of the tribes; the gül-Nomai, the Brown Gül, most common of the tribes, are great miners and engineers, and the type most likely to swarm, their small tusks showing their porcine roots; the gül-Gramlini, the White Gül, a hybrid of wolf and man, are not quite as bloodthirsty as their cousins, perhaps, and are often found in woodlands; and the gül-Kobali, the Small or Streaked Gül, are the smallest of the tribes, woodland dwellers, their fur varying the most, from tawny streaks on brown to complex patterns of colors, they wield blow darts and bows, and are part weasel, part cat, part man.

It is said by some that the Gülvini are the result of interbreeding by the Necromancer of human and dwarven prisoners with various animals; others say they are the result of unnatural acts performed by the Khundari on animals; and a few even believe that the Gül are Telnori, corrupted and twisted by the god Korön. These latter slanders are generally only common in areas where humans and the other two races are in conflict or competition.

HISTORY

A hybrid race of malevolent, intelligent humanoids, also known as deathspawn, güls, beastmen and goblins. Divided into five known sub-species, the Gülvini are considered the most aggressive and barbaric of the intelligent, culture-forming species on Novendo. They are also dramatically distinct from most other races in their origin, biology, and society. While the sub-species are unable to interbreed, they are unfortunately capable of cross-breeding with both the Umantari and the Khundari, as countless rapes have confirmed. A Telnori half-breed might be possible, but that race is able to control their biology to such an extent that it would have to be a willing interbreeding, a very unlikely event. Most Umantari, and all Khundari, cultures believe the Gül have no redeeming qualities whatsoever, and in general both fear and hate them. The feeling is mutual.

The Deathspawn first appeared on Ysgareth in the mid-25th Century during the Tyranny of the Necromancer Pürshok, a renegade mage who sought to use his considerable arcane powers to build an empire with the goal of freeing Korön, the Chained God, from his confinement. They quickly became Pürshok’s primary tool for subjugating his enemies, and their ferocity and depravity became feared throughout the continent, earning their lord the sobriquet “Pürshok the Deathspawner.” Colonies have since found their way to Ishkala and Koruik, though they remain small and generally isolated there.

Where they came from and how Pürshok gained control of the Gülvini is one of the great mysteries of history. The Necromancer claimed to have created them entirely from “scratch,” as it were, but few experts believe this. The great scholar and mage Talorin Silvereye believed they were descended, in part, from the ancient Orukeshi, monstrous soldiers the Immortal Korön’s created during the Age of Chaos. Thought extinct for a millennia, Pürshok may have found a surviving tribe and bred them in an unholy union of Umantari, Telnori, Khundari and animal genetic material, creating the five distinct sub-species known to exist today: the gül-Hovgavui, gül-Bogabai, gül-Nomai, gül-Gramlini, and gül-Kobali.

Whatever their genesis, they soon proved almost ungovernable. Despite his arcane powers, Pürshok was hard put to maintain control over his armies. In 2511, after attacking and destroying the heartland of Serviana, Pürshok’s army was annihilated by an avenging Khundari/Telnori army at the Battle of Harkathir. Pürshok was captured and is said to have been buried alive in a stone tomb with an “honor guard” of 15 starving Gülvini, three from each “tribe.”

The Necromancer’s demise released the surviving Gülvini from central control and they sought refuge from the Khundari and the armies of Oceania and Valtira in the mountainous areas of Ysgareth. The subsequent withdrawal of the Allied forces back to their homelands soon allowed the Gülvini to flourish.

Conflict with other races was inevitable, given the Gülvini breeding rate. In the decades after the Great War population pressure forced some Gülvini to descend from the mountains into conflict with Ysgareth’s tribal folk. This forced some tribesmen to attack the civilized Umantari kingdoms, leading to the Hundred Kingdoms Period in central Ysgareth. By 2650, the Gülvini were widespread throughout the continent, and their population of about 100,000 has been relatively stable since then.

BIOLOGY

Gülvini have a unique reproductive biology, which is taken by many scholars as proof of their artificial origins. In each tribe females make up no more than 35% of the population. Births are skewed heavily towards the male gender, and the dominant male of a tribe controls the females, who live sequestered in well-protected “harems,” ruled by the dominant female. The “king” of a Gülvini tribe allows select males to mate as a reward for courage and loyalty, or as a bribe for desired behaviors. The “queen” decides which females are given to which male.

More than half the male Gülvini population never have sexual contact with females of their own species. This does not mean these males are impotent; they are fully capable of rape, as survivors (both male and female) of Gülvini raids can attest. Sexual tension, male-on-male rape, and competition for sexual access to the females explains much about Gülvini “society.”

Females become fertile by age 12, and the species has an exceptionally fast internal gestation rate – just 90 days from conception to birth, which consists of three to five egg-like sacs. These quickly toughen into a leathery shell, which protects the still-developing young for another 30-40 days, during which time they are kept warm and protected in mud “nests” within the “queen’s” area, guarded by the other females. Once they fight their way out of the shell, the young are left with the females for the first four years of life, after which the males are taken to be trained as fighters. The species matures at an accelerated rate, reaching full growth by age 10 or 12.

Since no Gülvini male could be trusted to guard a tribe’s seraglio, the best of the females form a “Queen’s Guard.” These female warriors keep all males except the dominant “king” away from their sisters. They are often the most vicious fighters in the tribe, though few outsiders have a chance to learn this unless they are invading a hive-nest, as the females seldom stray far. There have, however, been occasional bands of female warriors seen during “swarms,” although never integrated with male bands.

Gülvini are capable of impregnating Umantari or Khundari females (Telnori are immune due to their total control over their biological functions). The half-breed offspring of Gülvini rape generally appear more like his/her mother’s people, but seldom enough like them to pass unnoticed in either Umantari or Khundari society. If born while the mother is still in Gülvini hands, the child is almost always killed and eaten. Those few who survive to adulthood in civilized nations generally lead difficult and solitary lives. They are also themselves almost always sterile (an 80% chance). There have been only two documented case of a human male impregnating a Gülvini female, and in both cases the offspring proved fertile. It’s not known if this is a fluke or represents a normal fertility rate, but with no volunteers willing to brave the experiment, it is unlikely scholars will ever get a larger population for proper analysis. The recent Oceanian embassy to Vonkal-Va was sent, in part, to study the fertility rates of that hybrid nation (see below).

Gülvini have the shortest life spans of Novendo’s intelligent culture-forming races. Fully grown within a decade of birth, they seldom live past the age of 30. Most die violently long before then. Half-breeds, if they survive childhood, live longer, but seldom past 60.

Racial Memory

Gülvini are born possessing a common set of memories, or more accurately, racial instincts fused within their genetic code – another indicator of their artificial creation. This racial memory includes the basics of their language, customs, fighting, etc. Additional specialized information is included for each sub-species. For example, Kobali are born knowing more about hunting, while Nomai instinctively know more about mining and mechanical constructs.

Because Gülvini begin life with so much cultural information, they develop very quickly. Newborn Gülvini begin very quickly to interact with their tribe, and reach adulthood within a decade. However, their racial memory cannot change (beyond normal genetic drift) and is therefore a fixed pool of knowledge from one generation to the next. Unlike other intelligent species, Gülvini tribal society seems to remain almost totally unchanging.

Although Gülvini begin life with a common set of memories, they are still able to learn. Indeed, one of the first things newborn Gülvini need to discover is the geography of their lair and surrounding area. The young are taught this additional information by the tribe’s females, but much is learned by trial and error, or by watching and listening to others, after the males leave the harem. If all the older Gülvini avoid a certain tunnel, for example, most youngsters will eventually notice and copy the action. This can result in Gülvini avoiding areas for reasons now long forgotten.

A crucial element of their racial memory is an instinct to submit to a clearly superior authority. Hence, the Gülvini will accept the control of a king, provided he demonstrates an ability to eliminate rivals. Similarly, most species accept slavery under the dominant Hovgavui. This trait explains Gülvini submission to Pürshok, whose arcane powers and cruelty were formidable. It has also, from time to time, allowed others to gain brief dominance of some colonies. Continued submission, however, demands that the controlling force be merciless; any sign of weakness brings an immediate revolt which is inevitably fatal to the would-be tyrant.

SOCIETY

Gülvini tribes vary dramatically in size, ranging from forty members to a few thousand. Only the colony-dwellers, not the nomads, form the larger tribes. Tribes constantly raid each other. Even within their own tribe, Gülvini squabble, maim, kill, rape and cannibalize each other. However, if faced with an external threat, or a mutual target for aggression, they will suspend internal discord until the common enemy is defeated. Only with an exceptionally strong king is there any hope of tranquillity within a Gülvini colony, but even this brings a population explosion which always leads to a massive bloodletting.

Gülvini have no social restrictions barring competition to become king, and thereby gain unrestricted access to the queen and other females. Methods range from a knife in the back while sleeping to mortal combat with the community watching. The only requirement, from the point of view of the would-be king, is to survive long enough to enjoy it. It’s rare that any survive more than a few years. It is considered an important rite for a new king to publicly devour the body of the deposed monarch. That Gülvini are violent by instinct is not surprising, considering that most of them are the offspring of the most aggressive males.

Gülvini are nocturnal; they prefer to hunt and raid at night when their vision is most keen, and prefer subterranean living. They usually find cover and sleep during daylight hours, but they can fight in sunlight if necessary.

Gülvini eat only meat and always seem to be hungry. Most tribes are constantly hunting, although a few also keep food animals. They do not hesitate at cannibalism (some tribes even regard the meat of their young as a delicacy) and all Gülvini very much enjoy eating Umantari or Khundari flesh, and Telnori is a rare delicacy. Sometimes they even kill or cook their food before dining.

The northern Ysgarethian Khundari, in particular, have an abiding hatred for the Gülvini. They will seldom tolerate the presence of the Deathspawn for long in lands they control. The animosity is mutual; the two races have a long history of conflict dating from the Rape of Akaztamyr and the Carnage of Zakiruth five centuries ago. Nothing is likely to please a dwarf more than the gift of a gül head.

The Swarm

When a Gülvini colony becomes overcrowded one of two events will occur: a bloody civil war or a swarm. Civil wars can kill up to 80 percent of the population in a sudden orgy of bloodletting, perhaps lasting only an hour. A swarm occurs when a significant number of males, perhaps 40 percent, seize as many females as they can, and escape to establish a new colony. A rarer, but not unheard of, trigger to swarming is when a cadre of females revolt, leaving the colony and establishing themselves in a new hive-nest to await whichever males are strong enough to make it to them. Either way, a swarm can be very unpleasant for anyone in its path.

Vonkal-Va and Vonkal-Ur

The one known exception to Gülvini tribal life, one that confounds the learned, is the divided nation of Vonkala. A wild and rugged land laying south and southeast of the Karac Mountains, it was overrun during the Great War by hordes of the Deathspawn fleeing the destruction of their master and his armies. The sparse Umantari population was soon enslaved, but over time a strange thing happened – the offspring of Gülvini/Umantari mating began to grow common enough that they eventually took control. A hybrid culture evolved, although not without difficulty. Today Vonkal-Va is home to the more human culture, while Vonkal-Ur remains dominated by stronger Gülvini traits. Both societies are considered abominations by most Umantari nations, with the exception of Oceania, who has recently sent diplomats to Vonkal-Va.

Language & Scripts

Each sub-species has a distinct spoken language. Racial memory provides a template for grammar and vocabulary, although the latter is never extensive. Gestures are used to qualify statements or indicate emotional states. Most humans cannot interpret these rapid hand signals, so Gülvini speech inevitably sounds like chaotic grunts and growls.

Communication between the sub-species is also difficult. Each language assumes the speaker is conversing with someone with the same racial memory. Consequently, it is easier for Gülvini to learn a local human language than another gül tongue. However, their racial memory also includes a highly-developed sign language which is identical for all Gülvini. This sign language supplements Yashparic, for speech between the sub-species in Ysgareth.

There are no Gülvini scripts. Although reading and writing is rare, a few güls have learned the scripts of others.

RELIGION

The Gülvini are irreligious. Their racial memory informs them they were “Forsaken by the Gods” but they cannot explain the origin of this notion. Their instinctive awe and fear of superior power has allowed a few bold clerics of Naventhül, Zelist and Korön to convert some Gülvini, but this has always been short-lived. The Gülvini require an ongoing demonstration of superiority to honor their submission. No deity or demon, not even Naventhül, is willing to play this game, and Gülvini cannot accept blind faith.

The first people ever to see Jazaka, some twenty years ago, are said to be the sailors of the Windwalker. She was a great sailing ship, such as the Torokel peoples have used since before the Skavarian’s came, to move cargo between the towns on the Hidden Sea. She would sail from Serukir to Eldinär loaded with amber and hides, and would sail back with pottery and precious metals.

As the ship sailed in the Seruin Gulf, it would use the top of Mount Ossüak to steer by. The mountain was tall and could be seen from many kilometers off, but it was a gloomy sight. The top was always shrouded in grey clouds, even if the sky was bright and clear. Some of the sailors said this was a bad omen, but no one gave the mountain any heed because it never changed and nothing bad ever seemed to happen near it.

But one night, as the Windwalker rested near a beach and the sailors drank and gambled, one of the men, named Tebik, noticed that something was different about the mountain. He looked closer and saw flame and lightning jumping from cloud to cloud. He told the others to look, and they did, but by then the flame and lightning was gone. Tebik tried to convince the others of what he had seen, but they did not believe him.

After the ship had set sail the next morning, one of the clouds left the mountain and started flying towards the ship. It came closer, easily outrunning them, and landed on the deck. The cloud was gray, and swirled first one way, then another. It seemed to some that perhaps the cloud was breathing: in, and then out. After a few moments, a voice came from the cloud. It was a voice like that of a man, loud and commanding. The cloud said:

“I am Jazaka, Master of the Winds, Ruler of Windheim. Yield to me your cargo, and no evil shall befall you. But if you refuse me, then shall you suffer.”

The cloud stayed on the deck, awaiting an answer. All of the sailors wanted to agree, but the owner was greedy. He asked Jazaka if they could keep some of the cargo in exchange for helping him unload it. The cloud changed color from gray to black, and a mighty wind struck the ship. Jazaka roared and changed again, from a black cloud into a black whirlwind which began to tear the deck apart. He flew towards the owner, picked him up in the wind, and threw him screaming into the water. The sailors jumped overboard, rather than face Jazaka’s fury.

As the sailors swam away, the wind grew powerful, and dark clouds gathered. Soon the swimmers were in the midst of a storm. Few of them survived this mighty storm Jazaka created, and fewer still survived Jazaka’s wrath.

He commanded his cloud servants to carry some of the men to his mountain. Tebik and two others were snatched from the water and taken to Mount Ossüak. As they were flown away, they begged Jazaka for mercy. He showed them none, for these three were never heard from again.

But the ones who survived the storm and were not captured by the clouds landed on the very beach where they had drank and gambled on the night before. Too exhausted to move, they saw small gray clouds fly from Mount Ossüak to fetch the cargo from sinking Windwalker. They flew until no cargo was left, and then Jazaka let out a mighty roar and threw the ship onto the beach, where it shattered into thousands of pieces.

The remains of the Windwalker lie still upon that beach on the island of Demith, teaching any that care to heed it the lesson that Jazaka should be respected and obeyed. And since the time, no ship sailing the eastern Seruin Gulf has been safe. Although no one can predict when it will happen next, Jazaka still occasionally lands on ships and takes their cargo, but he no longer speaks to any one. He has given his first and only warning…

Some of the most popular stories current in Ysgareth and Oceania, and known even into the far East, are tales of the adventures of Kavyn Stormborn and Gil-Garon, current Empreror of the Ocean Empire. For ten years they adventured across many of the lands of Novendo, seeking to thwart the plans of the Chained God to escape his imprisonment, and to restore Gil-Garon to his throne, usurped by his murderous Regent.

Legend has it that Kavyn appeared in the midst of a great storm over the far western islands of the Shattered Sea, in a bolt of lightning that shattered an ancient circle of Standing Stones. With no memory of who he was, he was cared for by the Telnori of Kirthan until he was able to venture forth.

It is rumored that he is the Avatar of a god (some say Cael, others Korön), but this he vehemently denies. He simply ignores those who suggest that he is somehow the offspring of those two former lovers, now enemies. Others claim he is an exile from the distant past or another world. Whatever the truth, he is clearly one of the greatest mages of all time, a mighty warrior, and favored of the Immortals – perhaps sent by them to restore the rightful bloodline to the Coral Throne.

Gil-Garon and Kavyn first met when the young mage saved the young Prince’s life when the Regent moved to usurp that same Coral Throne. The two escaped certain death, and began their quest to restore Gil-Garon to his throne, and to find the truth of Kavyn’s mysterious origins.

Gathering a band of mighty friends as they went, including Grimbold of Logoth, Flaricia of Telishan, the Purple Druid, and Aldor of Tolus, they ranged the world, doing mighty deeds and making both great friends and powerful enemies. In that time they also forged the bonds of one of the great loves of all time, their devotion to one another unbreakable. Even when they met Mirial, Queen of Tor Andar, who loved them both, their passion remained strong enough to encompass a third – when Gil-Garon was restored at last to his throne, and married Mirial to unite their realms, Kavyn was there at their side. The three remain to this day of a single mind, the shining ideal of noble love.

In the year 3001 the heroes succeeded in restoring Gil-Garon to the Coral Throne (and many believe they discovered the truth of Kavyn’s origins, although the rumours remain as numerous as ever). In the process they ended the long-laid plans of Korön to once again escape his imprisionment, and ushered in the Sixth Age of the World.

In the 17 years since, the two have adventured very little, as the rule of a mighty empire occupies their time. Kavyn was named Myrmytron of the Ocean Empire, First Advisor and Regent to the Emperor, his right hand.

Mirial remains Queen of Tor Andar, as well as Empress of the Ocean Empire. Her son by Gil-Garon, Crown Prince Fayrn, will one day inherit both crowns, thus restoring much of the Empire’s lost mainland possessions.

The companions of Gil-Garon and Kavyn have since retired to quieter lives themselves, though adventure does occasionally find them… Aldor is a paladin of Tolus, advisor to his King, and proud family man; Grimbold the Khundari tries to live the life of ease his riches allow, but often grows restless; the Purple Druid has staked his claim as protector of the Lake Kasira wilderness; and Flaricia has recently settled down with the great love of her life, Ronan of Kempel, on the Isle of Iria.