(Fan fiction)World of Warcraft: Dunmere

Chapter One

The Dwarves of Ironforge were a pretty contented and focused lot, they mined, smithed weapons and drank ale. Politics sometimes came in into the mix and when it did, it became messy. The unofficial Dwarven motto was: "Don't Mess With Me"

Dunmere was one of the dwarves. He was enjoying his trade of seeking mineral lodes in old caves when word came down from King Bronzebeard that "everyone" had to drop mining and pick up "discovering the distant past" Dunmere was privately outraged and only told his sweet wife, Lonra. "Did ye know that fool King of ours is trying to cut us off at the feet? We can't mine anymore!" he groused, which Bronzebeard dwarves did so well. "Perhaps he'll change his mind." she reassured him. "Nah, he's a stubborn old Bronzebeard!" said Dunmere. "Once an idea gets into that head of his, he'll never get it out!" he said. "Like that time he got the idea to marry into the Dark Iron Clan, they aren't even allied to us for crying out loud!" he exclaimed. "Moira is a nice enough girl" said Lonra.
"A cunning and clever girl at that!" he exclaimed. "Pipe down, have some ale." said Ofstead, his neighbor. "Come on over and we'll have a pint!" exclaimed Dunmere. "Sure, just say nothing about our King for crying out loud!" exclaimed Ofstead. Old Ofstead came over with three empty steins in his hands and filled them up at the ale barrel. "Can't say I blame you for being upset!" said Ofstead, "My own uncle is ancient and not getting any younger and that mine he owns for our King is sitting empty and not making a single coin!" exclaimed Ofstead. "Everyone just took off?" asked Dunmere. "Yah, that and troggs." said Ofstead. "Blasted troggs, they almost split my head five winters ago!" said Dunmere. "Ten winters ago." said Lonra. "Oh, right!" he said, not wanting to repeat the story. "Tell us!" said Ofstead, with a huge grin on his face, he loved this story. "Alright. I was asleep and I began to sleepwalk from our barracks into the mine. I run into this huge trogg and I woke up thinking 'I'm dead!' anyway I get out of there except for the fact that the trogg hit me on the head and I ran deeper into the mine! Anyway I found me handy stash of armor and weapons and I set it on me body and went to fight my way out! I reach the exit of the mine only to find that all the troggs had cleared out. Vamoosed. You know what? A giant, trogg-eating spider was standing right behind me just waiting for me to take a step backwards. So I calmly walked out when I felt this thing dripping poison on my armor and I didn't return to that mine until I had Vassarian and Olsen the Mighty kill that thing!" laughed Dunmere. "Where is Vassarian now?" asked Ofstead. "Ah, he was sent to a bad engagement with the Twilight's Hammer and he lost half of his unit, he resigned in shame and is now retired to Stormwind, fishing and hunting in Westfall and drinking and playing cards with other army vets at that one bar in the old trade district that I could never remember. All the retired military and active mercenaries go there, seems to work out well enough, the King's spies recruit there for that agency no-one dares to speak about. Lots of rogues there sometimes. Most of the time some mercenary guild is having a party for a member that is leaving, keeps them from going you see." said Dunmere, rambling. "We know." said Ofstead. "Anyway I was up there two years ago and ran into Silent Charlie, he seemed up to no good, as usual. I asked him a bunch of questions but he said he was in town to visit his sick grandmother, then he told me there "might" be a steady payday for me if I fed him whispers from Ironforge. I flat out refused him. He told me about the Twilight's Hammer infiltration of the Dark Irons. I told him we never see Moira and he laughed for a half hour or so and that was that!" laughed Dunmere. "So he quit the topic?" asked Ofstead. "Yeah, he was working for the King of Stormwind so he didn't want to make us want to quit the Alliance and join the Horde. Why are these silly humans so afraid we'll join the Horde? The Horde ransacks our villages just as much and anyone else's village! No turning back now!" exclaimed Dunmere. "The Tauren almost joined the Alliance." said Ofstead. "That was a bloody shame, that elder female they had was a wise cow. But they listened to their war chiefs instead and now they swing the blade for the damned Orcs." said Dunmere. "You would think those zombies would have been natural Alliance, after all, they were human." said Ofstead. "Yeah, you can blame that on the witchcraft of the infamous Dark Lady." said Dunmere. Everyone sat silent for a moment. "My cat has been meowing for it's supper. Time to go." said Ofstead. "Wait, before ye go, I have a proposal to present to ye." said Dunmere. "Anything to do with damp caves or abandoned mines? We would need five or more dwarves, armed to the teeth if we were to do that!" exclaimed Ofstead. "Actually yes, I spoke to ten Bronzebeards and five Wildhammers. We have fifteen of our race and two Night Elves, Ossarion and Vassarian." said Dunmere."Oss and Vass will heal us in case we are injured. I am taking front and we'll shield wall if we have to." said Dunmere. "Count me and old Magi the Hardened in." said Ofstead. "Old Magi? I thought he died." said Dunmere. "No, he lost his wife and went into mourning for a year, he only came back into the main forge recently." said Ofstead. "Helga? She was a brave woman." said Dunmere, "I must have been away when it happened." he added. "You were out scouting the cave at in Kalimidor. Found enough copper to buy us a nice new rug." said Lonra to Dunmere. "You are worth every gold coin." said Dunmere with a grin. "No kidding, the dowry my father demanded put you back seven years." laughed Lonra. "These humans, now they don't have a dowry strictly speaking but the father does give a gift to the groom and walks the bride down the aisle, kinda like us." said Dunmere. "I'll see you at the first trumpet blast to-marrow!" exclaimed Ofstead. "I will see you then with the crew!" said Dunmere. Ofstead left. "That was nice of him." said Lonra. "Ya, and he'll turn around and report everything to the King too!" exclaimed Dunmere. "Let's go to the Inn for dinner." said Dunmere. "We could ride to Stormwind and eat at that nice Inn in the Mage district." said Lonra. "Naw, that cook did give me a bout of the runs for a week, some murloc fin stew he made, said it was spiced up with something. It was still terrible!" said Dunmere. "Alright, we'll go to the close-by Inn then." said Lonra. They got up and walked the great, circular hall until they reached the Inn, which was near the main exit to outside. Some Night Elf mercenaries were standing around, bragging about their gear and humans were riding their mounts at full speed down the walkways. "Watch out! Don't run me over! Sheesh!" said Dunmere to a group of humans too much in a hurry to get outside and kill wolves. "So the King's father let all allied races have temporary residence here. They all live in the Inns and they use Ironforge as a base ro keep Horde out of our lands, nice enough exchange I suppose but I wish they would be careful more." said Dunmere to his Lonra. "If they hit me, I'll just punch them into the grilled trench. That'll teach them a lesson." said Lonra with a frown. They reached the Inn and it was packed with "space goats" and Night Elves. "Don't you have a city to live in?" asked Dunmere in jest. "Darnasus is a holy city." said Fallalor in his ancient manner. "Not much going on at the Tree anymore." said a younger Night Elf. Dunmere and Lonra sat down. Fallalor came over and joined them. "Word has it that you are leading a crew into some lost cave." said Fallalor. "I wish I could bring you along but I have seventeen in my crew already, one more would be overkill." said Dunmere to the Night Elf. "I have news." said the Night Elf. "Ossarion the Wisened is sick with the distemper again and cannot come." said Fallalor. "So are you his cousin?" asked Dunmere. "I am, and I am a Paladin of the First Rank." said Fallalor. "Fine, make your mark in this book." said Dunmere as he pulled out his accounts book from his pocket. The Night Elf drew his clan symbol on the page. "Okay then, the pay is 5 gold a day and 5% of everything we find. I would be minded to pay three but you are a healer." said Dunmere to the Night Elf. "That is fine, I need a relic though. That is why I am volunteering, I need the staff of Gorlem." said Fallalor. "Never heard of it." said Dunmere with a frown. "Gorlem was a druid of ours who went into the Dream and never returned. I was charged by our leaders to find his staff and to return it without any loss of potency." said Fallalor. "So this is a holy quest? Do we need to fight anything to get at it?" asked Dunmere. "No, just the usual cave monsters." said Fallalor. "Slimes, Furblogs and troggs, oh my!" said Dunmere, quoting an old dwarven child's fable. Fallalor chuckled slightly. "Also something else, my master senses a danger lurking deep within this cave. He can't see it but it's there. He can feel it." said the Night Elf with a look of worry on his face. "The cave of Nash? What was it before it was used as a wine storage and a mine?" asked Dunmere. "A Burrow we called Ban'lashas. It was used by our druids before we abandoned it because of it's danger." said Fallalor. "For the Emerald Dream?" asked Dunmere. "Yes. And for storing powerful ritual objects. Do not repeat that to our human friends, they have a strong desire to learn but they often take the wrong path and become evil." confided the Night Elf druid. "I figured that out after Arthas murdered his father the King of Lordereon and Benedictus turned against the Light and joined the Twilight's Hammer." whispered Dunmere. "Not all humans are bad, they are just a tad, well, misguided." said Fallalor in a low voice. "I heard that." said a human mercenary rogue. "Old Farnar! Come on over!" exclaimed Dunmere, recognizing an old friend immediately. Farnar the Sneaky came over and sat down, holding four ales. "Shall I propose a toast? The King of Stormwind, nay, his son, the Crown Prince, has discovered the rumored Continent of Panderia!" exclaimed Farnar the Sneaky. The room cheered, the band started to play and the bard set dwarven words about the Crown Prince into his song. "I wonder if our King, well I guess he is a co-leader, but I wonder if he will send us down to Panderia next, now that King Magni is frozen into a block of crystal?" asked Dunmere. "Perhaps. But I need a favor, and I am willing to pay my own way. Can you take me down to the cave? I need a ton of slime for a client. He didn't say what it was for but I can say it was a mage who asked for it." said Farnar with a wink. "If you'll fight for us, we'll gladly pay you." said Dumere to the human rogue. "Deal, does 10 gold a day sound good?" asked Farnar the Sneaky. "Ten! Are you out of your mind? Five and no more!" said Dunmere. "How much of a profit do you make off the ores?" asked the Sneak. "After auction, I will only get maybe 20% profit because I have to pay all of you." said Dunmere with a frown. "Gah, I have to drop. My father is dragging my hide out to a historical dig, me and my brothers." said Yons. "Okay, we just lost five good dwarves." said Dunmere. "Sorry." said Oog. "Don't be. It's not yer fault." said Dunmere to the dwarves. "Fine, we can recruit here." said Dunmere to his wife. "Well, I am going home honey. That was a good meal. You haven't even touched your food yet." said Lonra. "Food? I'm too busy with business! I'll see you at home dear." said Dunmere. She left and he cast his eyes around the room. "You there! Do you need employment?" asked Dunmere to some Wildhammers. "Does it involve gryphons?" asked the older Wildhammer. "We might need to fly out to the location, yes. But the rest of it is in a cave." said Dunmere. The Wildhammers walked over. "I am Tharu Wildhammer and these are my sons and nephews. How much are you paying?" asked Tharu. "Five gold a day. Another five if you provide us with flying mounts." said Dunmere. "We have a deal. Do you have a quarter master? I am a fine cook!" bragged Tharu. "I see this as a one day job. We go in, kill everything, get what we need and walk out. We can eat at the Inn, no wait. There is no Inn where we are going!" exclaimed Dunmere. "Fine, I'll bring food and ale and the tents." said Tharu. "How much you want for your services?" asked Dunmere. "Ten gold a day and not a gold piece less!" said Tharu. "Fine, you are hired. I'll just have to remain there for an extra day to mine enough copper to make a profit." said Dunmere. The Wildhammers cheered and everyone sat back down and had a round on Tharu. "I suppose the one good thing that I have going is that ever since the Bronzebeards went nuts looking for Titan artifacts, the price of copper and other metals has soared at the Stormwind Auction House in the last year or so!" laughed Dunmere. The dwarves laughed and they drank to the health of the Head of the Bronzebeard clan and to the confusion of Moira Dark Iron.

Coming Soon! Chapter Two!

If you like this story, give me feedback at GershomArizona@hotmail.com and if you are a writer, feel free to write about Dunmere in your fan fiction. I am "open sourcing" him for the benefit of other writers and fantasy fans.

Keep reading and writing and have fun!

The Rose

Far in the distant past,
Long time past,
Lived a Frenchwoman of great virtue,
Of great beauty,
Of great splendor,
Many men courted her,
But she refused them all,

So great was her beauty,
She attracted King Henry,
He shut her in a maze of roses,
Yet she would not consent,

She pined away,
Weeping for France,
her eternal beloved,

The King wrote her many sonnets,
Many poems,
She refused every one.
Into her breast she plunged a dagger,
And unto the ground her blood did spill,

On that scarlet ground grew a red rose,
Upon seeing the rose,
The King did weep,
He forbade any to remove it,

France regained her fortunes,
But lost her fair maiden of virtue.

The End.

The End of an Age

The Orcs had one last Kingdom after they had been driven out of their mountain fast by King Uffawick the Sword-Hand and his Paladin army. The Orcs had retreated far into the great Blackwald and built wooden castles and wooden cities there, in violation of the edict of the Speaker of the Sun (The god-King of the Elves) and for a time they were able to grow in numbers and train a new and fearsome Orcish Army. Their new Castle and City they name Kara'Garth the Great and they brought in captive hill dwarves as their farmers and herders. The fifteen Kingdoms ignored the Orcs and fought each other in endless wars to create a Second Empire. Castles became more complex than ever and city walls became thicker and thicker. The Barons found themselves invested with more power than their kings and their domains often crossed Kingdoms. The Paladin orders slowly disbanded as the need arose for more mounted, plate wearing Knights. The Barons spent no expense in hiring mercenaries, as archers and swordsmen. The Holy Church began a massive Cathedral and Monastary building campaign and the High Polemarch of the Church began a concerted effort to bring the Kingdoms under his rule. He summoned the remaining Paladins and organized them into the Order of the White Rose. The new Order went to their Monastaries and Abbies under the guise of peaceful monks and began to train and wait for the order to take over the Kingdoms and the baronies. At this critical juncture in history, a man came out of an isolated village in the south of the continent and began to show all the marks of being the next (and long awaited) Ethnarch. He gathered common men to his side and began to denounce the High Polemarch as a complete fraud and displeasing to the creator of men. He walked the continent, preaching thousands of sermons and finally met the High Polemarch. The High Polemarch fled in terror at the Light that the Ethnarch exuded and the Ethnarch took his seat as the head of the Church and called the Barons and Kings to himself. They obeyed and he ordered them to unite the Kingdoms into a Second Empire. He also commanded that the barons hand their armies back to the Kings, as what the other Ethnarch meant when he created the barons at the end of the First Empire. The Kings held a council there and Markus Augsburg was made Emperor. The Kings demoted themselves to be Electors and the last official act of the Ethnarch was to appoint new bishops and a council of Twelve Polemarchs to oversee the Church. He also kept the Paladins to himself and ordered that, on his demise, the Paladins would be under the control of the Emperor and the Twelve Polemarchs. The Ethnarch walked out and went back to his native village and continued to heal and preach from there. Emperor Augsburg then went to a nice area which contained rolling, unsettled green hills and ordered that the city of Augsburg be built there. Augsburg Castle was at the center of the city and everything was white to symbolize peace. The city grew as merchants from all over the Empire (and nobles) flocked there to build shops and homes. The whole city was built of white stone and was made as modern as possible for the time. The city soon boasted five churches, two Cathedrals, one University, seven abbys and a Parlimentarian Hall for the Imperial Reichstag. The armies were given to the Emperor and the Kings were also made the Marshalls of the Imperial Army. The Yarl of Nordlandia and the Yarl of Vyirmark heard of the creation of this new Empire and they formed an alliance with the Second Empire. The Yarl of Nordlandia gave his daughter in marriage to the Emperor Augsburg and the Yarl of Vyirmark sent his sons to study at the University at Augsburg. Then the Orcs, now having reached over a million Orcish Warriors, surged out of the Blackwald and attacked the Castles and cities of the Second Empire. The Emperor gathered his 2 million strong army and met the Orcish force at Dunfire and beat them soundly. The remaining Orcs fled into the forest but were picked off by the archer forces of the Speaker of the Sun. The Imperial Army then marched on the Orcish Kingdom and put Baron Galwick as the Governor and left a garrison there. Baron Galwick had the Orcs rebuild the city as a stone city and tore down the outlaying castles, as demanded by the Speaker. Thus the Orcs came under human rule. They were made serfs of the humans and over the next centuries, except for one revolt led by Orc'Mar, never again took up arms. They began to lose size and strength and gradually began to look more and more humanoid. They even gained in intellect as well. 


The End.

Not all solutions are solved by a wizard....

The wheat fields of the Yensen farm were ripe to harvest, being the fall of that year, three years before the Second Great Orc War. The Yensens soon discovered that all of their sickles had been stolen and worse, all their prize cattle had been stolen. "Sabotage!" cried Kyle Yensen the Elder. "And no human would do such a thing either!" and the old man went back into the thatched hut, cursing his luck and lord Demming for demanding 50% of the profits of the harvest for rent. Hoth, the eldest son, vowed to find the thieves and return the stolen items. He ran into the house and grabbed the sword and shield that hadn't seen use since the last Great War. "Just get the items we need back, don't go sallying off on a great adventure." warned Jensen Sr. The stubborn young man nodded and took off towards Bandits Cave. 


He reached Bandits Cave that afternoon and discovered the family tools mixed amongst other farm tools. The odor reeked of Troll. He gathered the chests and started for the entrance when he was hit over the head by a big club.


He woke up in shackles in a dungeon. There were several men like himself, all groaning that they had been ambushed. "Where are we?" asked Hoth to the others. "This cell reeks of Orc and I suppose we are the uninvited guests of some local Orcish warcheif." said Vearne the Right-Eyed. "Slavers. Miserable slavers the lot of them!" spat Hoth. "Ah, but we can jump the jailor. Just hit him right bellow the left ribs, he keeps putting his hand there." said Vearne. The ugly Orcish Jailor came alone and even laid aside his weapon. He began to unlock the bracers of Hoth when Hoth punched him bellow the left rib cage and the jailor went to the floor, cursing. Hoth seized the chance and took the keys and quickly freed the other men in the cell. Hoth seized the jailor's weapon and the others went to the weapons racks and took weapons they needed to defend themselves. They scoured the dungeons, killing Orcs and freeing humans, dwarves and elves. The band of escapees reached 2,000 and the band elected Hoth as their General. "We can take on the local garrison." some argued. "No, we march home and we fight any Orc that opposes us. We need to rally our Kingdoms and our nations!" said Hoth, General of the milita. The band agreed and they fought their way out of the tunnels and outside to freedom. 


Hoth quickly returned to the cave with a band of 20 men and took the farm tools and whatever weapons they could find and left. Hoth returned to his farm only to find a smoking ruin. He discovered the bodies of his family, burnt bones and he vowed revenge. He buried the bones and gave them the last rites before leaving. "We need to find the baron's army. He will be the first one to detect any Orc troop movements." said Hoth to his irregulars. The original 2,000 met him on the road and declared that the Orcs were moving by stealth. "We shall need a wizard then." said Hoth and the men tried to talk him out of it. "The Paladins would be better!" they cried. Hoth then declared that he would try to enlist the aid of the local chapter of the Hand of Light, several of their number were skilled trackers. The irregulars marched to the local Abby of the local order and the Paladins there quickly let them in. "What happened?" asked Hoth. "The Orcs burnt down the Royal Castle at Davenham and burnt Davenham to the ground and massacred all the inhabitants." said the Polemarch. "They are moving by stealth, we hoped we could find some trackers from amongst your number." said Hoth to the Polemarch. "Hard to miss them now! They have 1 million Orcs and we are behind the lines!" said the Polemarch. 


The men sat down and the Polemarch brought Hoth up to date. "The only thing that is protecting this Abby is a Light Shield, once that goes down, we'll be massacred by the concealed Orcs in the fields around the Abby!" said the Polemarch Addison. The irregulars, alarmed at their plight, vowed to join the Paladins and help fight the war. "Hoth, take 300 men and harrass the enemy. Kill them in small numbers, hit and run. Then we might be able to distract them long enough here for the other Kingdoms to gain strength." said the Polemarch. Hoth then took the men, all armored in hard leather and well-equiped for the fight and provisioned. went into the deep, dark Bralewood and set up camp. They dug traps and built a pallisade wall around their forest camp and sallied forth to the roads to harass Orc patrols. They robbed many Orc resupply caravans and slaughtered many Orcs in the process. The gold and the silver they took was put into a general chest and the men kept any food they could get. 


Then the Orcs came for them. The attack was at twilight in the morning and a force of 100 Orcs attacked the camp. The humans were almost overwhelmed but fought bravely and pushed back the Orcs. The 270 men and Hoth knew they had to move camp so it was decided to climb Skybreaker mountain and camp up there, away from any attempted Orc attacks. They walked the trail up to the midway part of the mountain and camped in a forest meadow up there. Strewn all around could be found the stone remains of the titans. The humans knew the story and they called their new camp after the famous battle that ended the titan race. They began to erect a wooden castle and then after a few months of construction, began to build a stone tower of uncut stone in the center of the wooden castle. They called the Castle "Skybreaker Keep" and declared Hoth to be the lord of it. The local dwarven King challenged them about their construction of that keep but they truthfully replied that it was only for the duration of the war. The King, who was trying to stay out of the conflict, finally decided to pitch in with the humans and he committed 100 dwarven builders to rebuild the flimsy wooden castle into a stronghold of stone. Once the keep was finished and the irregular band had grown to 600 men, they began to set up other camps in order to keep the rebellion going against the Orcish Warlord, T'mand-kun. The war was now going badly for the Orcs and all the Warlords began to withdraw their forces into their mountain fast of Orgirum. The last Warlord gathered 800 Orcs and assaulted Skybreaker Keep and lost all 800 Orcs while the humans only lost three. The humans took the remaining Orcs prisoner and captured T'mand-kun and locked him up, hoping for a ransom. "Kill me. I am dishonored." said the Orc in the language of the humans. Hoth took the Orcish Warlord out to the Courtyard and beheaded him, despite the protests of the Paladins. Hoth then had the head sent to the Orcish King in a basket as a severe warning. With the war over, the barons came to Skybreaker Keep and asked him to give up the Castle and discharge his remaining men. He agreed, although it meant returning to a lower social order. 


The Dwarves occupied Skybreaker as Hoth and his now unarmed men rode off the mountain. "lord Hoth! Fear not! Your name is much published and we have you to thank for slowing the Orcs down to a slow crawl." said lord Demming. "I am still a lord then?" asked Hoth. "You earned the title. The King wants to meet you himself." said the Baron. The party rode to the Camp of King Altheling and the King greeted him as a lord. "lord Hoth! My newest baron, made in the valor of war. Take 800 knights and proceed to Carl's Pass and hold it at all costs. The Orcs are coming back!" exclaimed the King. lord Hoth bowed and rode to the large group of Knights waiting for him. "Provision and follow me. The Orcs come again!" said lord Hoth. The Knights saluted and began to load their horses up with bags of food and skins of wine and bluestone water. "And take Magus Ikan" said the King. The Magus reformed as a human, he had been in the form of a battle-gryphon. "Greetings." said the Magus. "I would have helped earlier but the Orcs give me the chills." said the Magus. "We got on just fine without Mages." said lord Hoth. "You need me this time, the attacking Orcs have a powerful wizard. A Red Magus named Kal'lath." said the Magus. "Fine, join our ranks." said lord Hoth. Not being a fool, lord Hoth seeked out the King and asked for 300 Paladins. "Granted. The Polemarch of the Order will join you with 300 Paladins." said the King.


lord Hoth and the others rode directly into a trap at the pass and were all taken prisoner by the Orcs. lord Hoth was seperated from the group and taken to Ma'gath'Or'goh Castle and locked in the lowest level of the dungeon. He looked for opportunities to escape but none came, since he was in a dark cell without a light and his jailor would shove the food through a trap in the door. He began to pray in earnest to the creator of mankind when a rogue fairy made it's way into his cell. It ignored him but he was able to see the whole room now and he saw a boarded up door, rather crudely boarded over, down a tunnel into the darkness. "You!" he whispered the the fairy. "Nordaman." said the fairy, surprised it was noticed. "Get the key!" he whispered. "For what shiny trinket I get?" asked the fairy-sprite. "Anything! Just get me out of here!" whsipered lord Hoth. The fairy nodded and returned after what seemed an eternity with the keys. The fairy-sprite loosed him and he rubbed his wrists as he looked at the boarded over door in the cell. "Here goes nothing." he whispered and he kicked in the boards and a cold wind came up from the descending tunnel and he shivered. He walked down and kept his eyes open, the Pixie followed him closely. He saw a skeleton of a dead Orc, clothed in ancient chainmail and a sword was rusting on the ground. He took the chainmail and the sword and continued down the steep incline. He came to a massive underground canyon and he looked around and was surprised to see a village and a huge ceiling light. "Dwarves" he whispered. He made his way down to the village and the first dwarf to recognize him called out his name in a friendly manner. "Hoth! You freed me and I fought beside you during the last war, remember me?" asked the dwarf. "Isander? I thought you died!" said lord Hoth merry that he found his old companion after all these years. "Nah, you can't kill a dwarf." said Isander. "What do you think of our hidden home down here?" asked Isander. "It works I guess." said lord Hoth. "I have second shift in the mines tonight. You are free to stay as long as you like." said Isander. "Thank you, but what I need to to gather a force to free the other captives." said lord Hoth. "The war is on again? Let me get the Thane, you can tell him." said the dwarf. Isander ran off and the Thane ran back with Isander. "The war is back on? I can give you 200 warriors and myself." said the Thane. The Thane whistled and all the male dwarves of the settlement came out of the buildings and the mines. "To ARMS!" said the Thane and the dwarves went to their weapons racks and armed themselves. "Follow me!" said the Thane and lord Hoth led the way back up the long ramp to the Orcish dungeon. They marched through the Castle and found it empty of any Orcs. They freed all the human prisoners and the prisoners armed themselves with the Orc weapons. The huge force marched down to the pass and found bones of Orcs and humans lying scattered about and fire burn marks on the walls of the mountains. "They brought out the mages." said one warrior. The force marched to Gatwick only to find that the city had been taken over by the Orcs and the humans there had been made into slaves. The army then retreated into the Gatwick Wald and began build seige machines. 


The seige began on a rainy day and the human archers spent the next several hours picking off Orcish wall-guards. The skies began to open as lord Hoth came out of deep prayer and he ordered the Army to attack. The Army made it's way up the gangplanks and onto the walls and massacred the weakened Orcs. After the secured the walls, they came down into the city and went house to house, massacring the Orcs and freeing the humans enslaved within. They entered the Castle by a tunnel that lord Hoth's dwarven friend knew about and surprised the Orcish Garrison inside and after a fast battle, the Orcish Garrison was put to the sword. The Orcish Baron Gar'Mesh'Ger'Doth was captured and was beheaded on the orders of lord Hoth. The freed residents of the city reclaimed their homes and went to the city Cathedral and took out the Orcish idols of Gar'Mosh and cleansed it of the uncleaness of the Orcs. The new lord Mayor asked lord Hoth to garrison their city and to remain as the city's lord protector and lord Hoth agreed and sent a small force to find the main army. The scouts came back several days later with the news: Ten kingdoms had been overthrown, ten remained and the allied Army was confused and on the retreat. "So, we'll have to hit them from behind again. We will liberate each Kingdom, leave it in the hands of the people for now and recruit all males except for those needed for defense." And the growing Army of lord Hoth set out with their numerous dwarven allies and began to recapture all the castles and all the cities from the Orcs, having no mercy on the enemy and sparing no expense to win a complete victory. They stumbled into the litter of the Emperor Dagan Kara'Goth and they put the Orcish Emperor to the sword along with his nobles and vassals. The Red Magus came and tried to fireball the Army but an ancient White Wizard by the name of Omesius fought the Red Magus to a standstill in a long wizard's battle until the Red Magus was burnt to a crisp. 


The main Orcish Army heard the news and disbanded. The Allied Army retook the remaining Castles and towns, just 10 of them left. The Orcs ripped off their armor, threw down the weapons and headed back into their mountain fast. The Allied Army, headed by the 15 Kings, chased the Orcs into their stronghold and laid siege to it. lord Hoth was entrusted with a tiny force of dwarven engineers to undermine into the courtyard of the Orcish Fortress of Groma'Gol. The main force entered the tunnel and poured into the Castle. The defenseless Orcs surrendered but the Kings knew better. They put the entire garrison to the sword and they executed the Orcish Crown Prince and his brothers and cousins. They spared Mith'na, the daughter of the late Emperor and the Kings conferred on her the right to sit as queen of the Orcish Domain. They also forced her to swear that she would never send another army into the human, or allied realm again and she reluctantly agreed. The Allied Army marched out with the freed prisoners, some of them having never seen the light of day since the war began. 


lord Hoth was given twelve baronies as his reward and he used his position to ensure that the people had the rule of law. He rebuilt the cities with white stone and modernized the defenses, roads, sewers and even opened major Universities and Libraries, something that had not been seen since the time of the Old Republic. lord Hoth died at 103 and his son succeeded his title and his lands and was crowned King of Alveria on the death of the old King. 


The End. 

The Factions

Veronasici was a city-state not like any other. It was wealthy beyond compare and her mage designed towers soared high in the sky. She had a vast, white wall that surrounded her and the entire city was a giant circle, with the ancient White Tower in the center of the city. Julius Garrius Mahonius was a Senator of that city, he was proud of his native city and the power the Republic had reached, when it had absorbed all the other Republics by treaty after the Third Orc War. Now he was fighting ambitious men who were seeking a crown that was illegal by law. He knew he could not let them succeed, least the Republic become an Empire and the Annals warned of past Empires, how they quickly fell.  Julius knew of these warnings and had all the copies of the Annals himself. The Annals were 100 books total and it required a prince's ransom in money to get the whole set. He was walking up the steps into the ancient Senate building when he was approached by a man in common dress. "Psst. I can advance your career." said the mage in disguise. "How? You are just a voter." said the Senator, indignant of the intrusion. "I have tricks that can fool the public. It is all yours for 20,000 golden lira." said the mage. "So you are the one that is turning one faction against another? I should vote you out of the city!" exclaimed the Senator. "I know you seek the Chair of the Senior Procouncil, it can be yours. You can defeat the tribunes that you have been debating." said the mage. "I rather enjoy the debate, it keeps the tribunes at bay." said the Senator. "The Senior Procouncil doesn't even like you, his faction is at odds with yours." said the mage. "I give him a goose every holiday festival. He has never said anything amiss to me." said the Senator. "Are you aware that he hates that bird? Try duck instead." said the mage who vanished into the crowd of voters. Another Senator approached. "The Varro faction is at it again, they are blocking our law with an ex-nilio provision." said Senator Thorious, a rather tall man, balding but in good health otherwise. "To the void with that faction! I will get up on the rostrum myself" said Senator Mahonius. He entered the Senate building and as a part of the business of the day he signed citizenship papers and he stamped property transfers for his voters in his district while the Varro faction was at the rostrum warming up the debate with their most Senior Senators, Avarus Varro the Younger. "Listen to me! The law is unjust to the poor of the city who have no vote! Why do we allow the elder Senators to pass over the needs of the poor year after year? I urge a vote on this matter!" and Avarus Varro the Younger stepped off the rostrum. Senator Mahonius stepped up to the rostrum. "Senator Mahonius is now recognized." said the older, wiser Senior Procouncil, Caius Varro the Elder. "If I may correct some points that our tribune just made. First of all, we have no poor in this city. They are residents, but only temporary. Most of them move on to other cities and some do become citizens here. That has been the historic trend. We cannot live without their labors and if we do begin to give them what they demand, what else are we going to give them? The city itself? No, let them remain where they are, in the apartments and in the laborers rooming houses. Let me remind you that it was my faction that abolished slavery when the senior factions were utterly opposed to it! They resisted that change but it was for the health of the entire city. Laborers from the provinces are free laborers, free to come and go as they please. Any attempt on our part to tie them down would be a mistake and it would be a step back towards slavery, albeit a different kind of slavery. A slavery of the State, where the State decides where the laborers must work, where they must sleep, where they must eat, and so on and etc. So please support our law that would bar the populous factions from making this city into another Herrodium, that infamous place that quickly became a dictatorship once the populous became too strong in it's Senate." said Senator Mahonius. He stepped off the Rostrum and smirked at his opponent. "Cast your votes Senators." said Varro the Elder. The Senators dropped the black marbles into their cups on their desks to signify the "no" vote to the proposed change to the law. The Aedile counted the marbles and whispered to the Clerk of the Senate. "189 against. 23 for. The measure to change the law in consideration is void!" said the Clerk. The Senators of the Tuilius faction and the Daius faction shook hands on a victory against the "absurd commons" as they called their opponents on the other side of the aisle. Building the alliance between the two Patrician factions had not been easy, since one esteemed itself to be the "true voice" of the founders of the city while the other represented the newer landholding class. "Well now. You have had your way." said Varro the Elder at the Podium. "The laborers will continue to live on the margins of our Republic. Consider that one man with a voice of a god can stir the laborers into a frenzy. Did you not also make it harder last year for the laborers to purchase land in the city, thus making it harder for them to be citizens? You cannot take with one hand and rob with the same hand. I therefore move to allow the laborers to use our baths in the city." said Varro the Elder. "You cannot propose a motion! You know that!" said Tibius the Younger. "You are out of order." said Varro the Elder, evenly. "I know the law, I am not making an official motion, but I am merely "advising the Senate" as my duties state." said Varro the Elder. "Watch your tongue! Your language was out of order!" said another Senator. "Leave him alone!" retorted a senior tribune. Senator Tullius walked up to the now empty rostrum, as the Elder Varro returned to his seat. "The law says that if any man oversteps his bounds, he must be suspended from the Senate for one year." said the Senator. "I propose to suspend the Senior Procouncil and hold an election for a new one, in one years time." said Senator Varnius. "I second the motion." said Senator Mahonius. A verbal fight broke out between the factions and the Senior Procouncil slipped out of the Senate and met with his advisors. "I have ruled this city for thirty years unopposed and they want my head? I never gave in to the populous factions in my whole career. I just wanted to toss a sop to that faction to keep them from leaving our city in protest." said the aged  Senior Procouncil. "You put your sandal in your own mouth. You can avoid an election by retiring and appointing the new Senior Procouncil yourself." said the Lawyer Valaius Graciens. "But who would I pick? The factions would vote to suspend my salary if I chose a conservative and if I chose a liberal, the other factions would think I was soft in the head and they would never talk to me again!" said the Senior Procouncil. "The populous factions aren't as powerful as they once were. Give the office to Senator Mahanius. He is an expert balancer of factions." said the Lawyer. Senator Mahonius? He gives me geese every year, I can't stand geese! It's like he is picking at me. Nevertheless he has a brilliant mind and he isn't a populous. Send him to my villa at the top of my tower." said Varro the Elder.

The Senate ended for the day and everyone was getting ready to leave when the lawyer for the Procouncil approached Senator Mahonius. "The Senior Procouncil wishes to speak with you, in his villa." said the lawyer. "Fine, I will meet with him then." said the Senator. The Senator ordered his carriage to take him to the villa tower of Varro the Elder. The device itself was a magical nature and the sphere that pulled it did what it was told and took him to the tower. He got out and walked the 100 steps to the top of the tower and the servants of the Senior Council met him and offered him some grapes. He partook in some, but limited himself out of politeness as was the custom. The Elder Varro strode into the main room in all the terror he provoked. Then he did something surprising. He took off his amulet and the sense of terror left. "An enchanted item? Is that legal?" asked Senator Mahonius. "Is it illegal? Look, every Senator has his tricks he uses to influence the Senate. Not all votes are done with a clear mind." said Varro the Elder. "I use my voice.  I use my logic. That seems to keep everyone in line." said Senator Mahonius. "Remember that orb I gave you when you became a Junior Senator, all those years ago?" asked the Senior Procouncil. "Yes, I still keep it with me. The words on it from the author of the Annals: "What has been done before will happen again." said Senator Mahonius. "And only brave men can avert the tide of evil." finished the Senior Procouncil. "That item was an enchanted item as well. My Grandfather gave it to me. I gave it to the man who was to succeed me. You are that man." said the Senior Procouncil. Senator Mahonius looked astonished. "Don't be surprised. I was close friends with your father. Your father and I stood down the traitor Gaullius on the floor of the Senate and forced him to resign, keeping our tiny Republic out of the hands of the Orcish Empire. It is amazing what slavery gold will buy these days." said the Senior Procouncil. "I refused the offer of the Magus, you know that." said Senator Mahonius. "And yet your sphere is enchanted." said the Senior Procouncil. "I did not know, it was a reminder for me, the words of the Annalist." said the Senator, taken aback. "Your answer is a wise one. It was honest. I would give up my fortune for an honest politician. You are that man but let me warn you: When the pain comes, it will be harder to make a wise decision, an honest decision." said Varro the Elder. "And pleasure is much, much worse. Let your incomes be from your estates and not your office. Remember the Annals! The Herrodians perished and their city was burnt by the Orcs because it was in a constant state of revolt. Mob rule is never a good answer for any question, it is the end of human civilization as we know it." said Varro the Elder. "Yes, my conduct on the floor of the Senate was reproachable but as my parting advice to you; let the commons purchase their lands and don't be so eager to appease the ancient families. Your great-grandfather was also a commons once, until he purchased land and built a sizable estate, selling wine and selling silver from his mines. He was a man of talent. We didn't frustrate his talent. We saw his son join our ranks in the Senate. Learn that lesson my dear boy." finished the Elder Varro with a tear in his eye. He patted the Senator's shoulder as a sign of respect. "I will hand in my resignation and put your name up for a vote. To-marrow." said the Elder Varro. They shook hands and the Senator, greatly humbled, left the Villa.

The next day, Senator Mahonius waited at his chair as he signed citizenship papers and warrants for unused property and so forth, "Where is the Senior Procouncil?" he asked a legate, who was studying under him. "His wife informed us that the honored Procouncil passed away in his sleep last night. There is no heir named so there will be an election." said the legate. "I never got the news. I visited the Procouncil last night and he all but annointed me for the position." said the Senator. "You might want to inform your own faction of this because they are pushing Braius Maximo as the new Senior Procouncil." said the legate. "What??" said the Senator in surprise and he went to see his fellow-factioneers who were talking in hushed words at the Statue of Marius Maximus the Great. "What on earth is going on? The Senior Procouncil named me as his choice." said the Senator. "Where is your proof? Don't you have papers to sign?" asked the fat and gloating Senator Braius. "Besides, the populous faction is pushing Varro the Younger as their pick. He has already promised a long list of unwanted reforms! Braius is our only hope!" said one wealthy Senator in hushed tones. "I am senior to Braius! The commons will quit our city in protest if he is elected, you know his statements that he made. "The poor ought to live in stables" and "the poor should eat horsefeed" he is an absolute reactionary!" whispered Senator Mahonius. "The noble Senator is right! We need a moderate at this time. Not some populous nutcase or a callous aristocrat either. I will propose that Senator Mahonius be elected Senior Procouncil." said Senator Tibius. The men returned to their seats as the Aedile pounded the hammer at the Rostrum. "This meeting of the 123rd Senate of the year 1506 C.I. shall come to order! The honorable Varro the Younger has been asked to serve as speaker pro-temporare." said the Aedile. Varro the Younger stood up and he exuded an air of honor, but the Senator knew it was a magical trick. "My party has proposed me for election. I daresay I cannot accept this nomination at this time, as my lovely wife is due to give birth to twins. I instead pass the nomination to Senator Mahonius." said the populous Senator. He stepped off the rostrum and Senator Mahonius stepped up. "I am indeed surprised at this sudden turn of events, for I counted on a close race with the honorable Senator from the Populous faction. I accept the nomination and I will be humbled to serve as your Senior Procouncil." said Senator Mahonius. The Seante broke out into applause but Senator Gaius Helm was not pounding his podium. "If I may have the floor?" asked the elder Senator. "You may have the balance of my time sir." said Senator Mahonius as he stepped off the Rostrum. The elder Senator stepped up and his voice cracked as he spoke. "My dear Senators! The Orcs in the north country, the very Orcs whom we signed a treaty of friendship with, are arming at an incredible rate and their warchief has just changed his fealty from us to the Orcish Emperor, Saom'oairk the Terrible. We must elect a Dictator at once to deal with this crisis." said the elder Senator. the elder Senator stepped off the rostrum and smirked at Senator Mahonius. A populous Senator stepped up. "What now? A false crisis? Did the aristocrats want to snatch the choice of the late Senior Procouncil out of the hands of the Senate and make Senator Gaius Bilboius the Dictator? I smell a rat, the Orcs are always changing their minds. Their factions are more fluid than ours. I doubt they will march on the very Republic that defeated them in battle over sixty years ago. I urge you to stay the course and vote for our esteemed Senator." said the populous Senator. The Senator stepped down and the Aedile stepped up. "All in favor of of making Senator Mahonius the Senior Procouncil, drop in a white marble. All in favor of making Senator Bilboius the Dictator, place in a black marble." said the Aedile. The room was silent while the Senators dropped in their choices. The Clerk counted the marbles and the Aedile read the result: "164 for Senator Mahonius, 54 for Senator Bilboius, the rest abstaining. The vote is for the peace to continue." said the Aedile. The Senators rose to congradulate Senator Mahonius and he received them. He then slipped out and stepped up to the Rostrum. "My first act as Senior Procouncil is to ask that Senator Bilboius the Elder form an army and ride hard to the north to gather intelegence on the enemy. The Army shall consist of 2,000 horsemen and no foot troopers. We need them to get in and out fast enough to gauge their strength and their plans. If war is declared, I will step aside for the election of a Dictator, although I do not advise it at this time." said the Senior Procouncil. The Senate ended for the day and a fully tattooed man with a long beard wearing Vyvir furs stepped up. "Are you the King of this place?" asked the barbarian. "I am no King, but I am the elected leader. What is it?" asked the Senior Procouncil, now concerned that the Vyvir have come to talk, because it usually meant the Orcs meant business. "The Orcs have launched a massive army into our homeland, we need 10,000 of your best foot troopers to help us fend them off. My armies are badly outnumbered, 3-1 odds against us. I am a Warrior King, I do not beg. I ask." said the barbarian. "You are High King Ronald Greythane? the son of Orikric the Great?" asked the Senior Procouncil. "Yes, I am that. Elected by my fellow Yarls last year on the death of my great fahter." said the barbarian King. "So we have that much in common. I never expected my office." said the Senior Procouncil. "I trained hard for mine, their was no doubt of my succession" said the High Yarl. The Thanes around him grunted in approval. "How many men do you have ready to fight?" asked the Senior Procouncil. "We have 50,000 ready at arms but most of them are tied down as defense, least the native Orcs burn down our holds. We only have 10,000 free and ready to fight." said the High Yarl. "Keep them on standby, I have sent a Senator with an Army northwards to assess the Orcs strength." said the Senior Procouncil. "I know their strength, 60,000 infantry and 10,000 mounted on war-wolves and 6,000 Mages. General Gar'argh is leading them into battle, I fought him before on the battlefield, he is hard to kill." said the High Yarl. "Oh dear. You will be speaking to the Senate to-marrow. In the meantime, do relax in the Hostel Tower and we will pay your expenses." said the Senior Procouncil. "We are grateful for your hospitality, Senior Procouncil. I will offer you my daughter in marriage tonight, as we feast." said the High Yarl. "I fear I cannot, for I am a married man." said the Senior Procouncil. "Fine, I will give you my prized steed, "Thadric" (the joke is sire, we always name the horse for the last owner, so when it dies under us, we can quickly collect the fine for selling a bad animal! Har! Har!) said the High Yarl partly under his breath. The Senior Procouncil laughed a hearty laugh, just to be diplomatic.

The barbarians and the Senior Procouncil feasted at the Procouncil's Villa. The Vyir told many jokes and one of the Thanes, who was a Skald, told the legends of the Vyir people, from their exodus from their native Island, to the conquest of what was Orcish territory and what is now Vymark, or Vyirlund. The Skald sang of their warrior kings and their dealings with the treacherous Orcs and Trolls. The Senators read their poems and their stories to their guests, all dealing with the rise of their city to it's current Republic, which covered 60% of the entire land. "Every weekend in our arena we have a bloodsport where random mercenaries fight each other for a prize of gold. Each side is equally armed and no side has an unfair advantage, did you wish to join us?" asked the Senior Procouncil. "We have pit fighters in our Kingdom, but they are disgraced sons of thanes and Yarls. Only the common Karls go to see those fights. We are Nobles." said the High King, taken aback by the offer. "I apologize, our cultures are different in that regard." said the Senior Procouncil. "Instead, could I ask for a favor? I need a tutor for my young son. I will send him to you, to get him out of danger. Could you find a tutor for him and he can live in your court during the war?" asked the High Yarl. "I would be honored." said the Senior Procouncil. "Send him when you are ready." said the Senior Procouncil. The Vyir always traded family when they made an alliance, it was an ancient custom, and a practical one too.

The war went badly for the Republic and many cities were burnt to the ground by the Orcs. The war dragged on for seven years which ended in the siege of Veronsici. The archers on the walls took down the Generals of the Orcish Army and even took down the Orcish Emperor. The Crown Prince of the Orcish Empire took his massive army off the field in an orderly retreat and declared the war to be over. The Senate, seeing that most of the Republic was in ruins, made the Senior Procouncil Dictator and Imprator for life. He protested the decision, since he wanted to retire but he agreed at last and ordered the rebuilding of the Republic. The old cities were rebuilt on Veroniasici's circular axis and each city retained their Senates. When the Vyir Yarl, who was now the High Yarl of all Vyir Kingdoms, married his daughter to the Imprator to seal an alliance, the Senate, overawed at the man, declared him Augustas and made him Emperor, and thus began the First Empire. The Augustas retained the Senate and appointed a Chancellor to oversee the Senate and he even created a separate body for the Tribunes. The First Empire grew in size when it cleaned out pockets of land held by the trolls and it even made the restless Nordlanders to the north agree to one Yarl and the Emperor confirmed the new Yarl and in turn the Yarl swore fealty to the Emperor. Vyirlund kept aloof from the Empire and continued it's long and bitter war against the Frost Orcs. The ancient Orcish Empire, except for their mountain fast, was slowly annexed to the First Empire over the next 200 years.

The End.

The Source

Chapter One


In the ancient times, when the tribes of men were scattered abroad on the face of the land, a tribe of men traveled to the mountains belonging to the Steelhammer Thane. The hill dwarves taught the men, known as the Imeni tribe, how to farm and the Imeni abandoned their former trade of sheep herding. This was the first human tribe to take up the plow, since all men either hunted or tended to sheep and cattle. The Imeni brought their ales with them, since drinking water was a risk. (They did not yet know that water could be boiled, something the Elves have been doing for thousands of years)


"We have no ale left and the hill dwarves will not give us a good price for their stocks." said the village elders to the thane of the village of Westmoor. Westmoor was a tiny village, built of stone and thatched roofs, in the valley of Tharsling. The thane, Fordling Westmoor looked alarmed. "We will be reduced to drinking the river water? What on earth are our allies thinking? I shall take my sword and seek out the rumored Blue Spring Stone." said the thane as he picked up his cloak. The thane took seven retainers and rode up to Mt. Gisel. "Up on this mountain is a whole face of Blue stone, it is rumored to clean anything it touches." said the thane. "And if only you could get up there." said a shadowed dwarf. "Stand aside, we seek the Blue Stone for our people." said the thane. "Only if you answer a riddle." said the shadowed dwarf. "Say on." said the thane. "Eight venture forth to seek a stone, only seven return. What happens to the eight?" asked the shadowed dwarf. "I suppose the eight dies?" asks the thane, not realizing the foolishness of his answer. "You have answered correctly." said the shadowed dwarf. who lunged at the thane with his dagger. The thane drew his sword and slew the hidden dwarf. "Nay, you did not kill me, nor do I die today." said the thane as he put the broadsword back in it's scabbard. The party began to climb the mountain and left their horses at a steep point. The thane had filled his wine skin with river water as a test for the fabled Blue Stone. After hours of climbing, they came on a large, flat spot with a large Blue Stone standing near a small pond. The stone seemed to sing. "This must be the fabled Blue Stone. Chip off a part and let us test it." said the thane. One retainer chipped off a portion and dipped it in the river water and drank it. "This water is pure." said the man. The thane gave the order and the men chipped off portions of the Blue Stone and they placed the fragments in their bags. They slowly went back down the mountain and returned to the village and showed the Bluestone to the people. The people cheered when they learned that the Bluestone was good for purification of the water. The whole tribe soon heard of this feat and the thanes met and declared Fordling Westmoor the King of the tribe. The House of Westmoor ruled that nation for many years to come.

Searching for Daniel

Chapter One

It was June of 1951 and ten year old Danny was asleep when his father slipped into his room and placed a strange device in an unused portion of his schoolbag. "It will be safe there, who knows what that thing is or who invented it. I must do more studies on it!" thought Doctor Greyson, looking over his shoulder at the backpack. Doctor Greyson knew it was a breach of protocol but he suspected a co-worker was actually a Soviet spy and would try to grab the device from it's original safe.

That night, Danny finished up his homework and began to read his comics about aliens and he dreamed that perhaps the Air Force would contact a real alien and that the alien would contact the new UN and their would be world peace. Little did he realize that a contact was in the works.

"Device is located Captain." said Lt. Xangarth, at his post, looking at his instruments. "Good. Get the device and get out of there!" said the Captain. "These humans already have a primitive low-grade atomic device and they have rockets that might someday leave their atmosphere. You know where I am going with this." said the Captain to the Ready Team. The three eyed aliens nodded as they put on their suits. "Make sure none of those humans see you, use your cloaking devices and leave no trace." said the Captain. The head of the Team nodded. "For the Empire!" said the Captain. "For the Empire!" said the Away Team and they beamed out of the scout ship, which resembled a diamond in shape and used impulse technology to move around. The Away Team beamed into the dwelling and silently made their way down the hall. The Team Leader saw a light turn on. "A human child is awake. Freeze and don't move an inch!" said the Team Leader. Danny was already out of his bed and on the way to the bathroom when he froze when he saw the cloaked aliens. He thought they were ghosts and he quickly ran back into his room. "He saw us! Odds are his society will reject anything he says as utter fantasy. Advance to the room and take object. Beam out. Ignore the human child." said the Team Leader. They advanced and opened the door. The child screamed. "Situation has changed, the human child has called out for his parents. It is possible that his sire is a scientist, which explains why they have the object." said the Team Leader. "We need to grab the child and the device. We have a mind drug that can wipe the child's memory." said the Team Leader. The dad awoke and grabbed his belt, intending to give his son a long whipping for waking him up. "Human male, adult is up with a hand weapon. We need to neutralize him." said a Team Member. "Stay still and do as I command! Wait for the sire to scold his son, he will return to his bed and we can get device without a problem." said the Team Leader. The scientist walked past the cloaked aliens and entered his son's room, his face contorted with rage. "I'll teach you to stop screaming in your sleep!" said the dad to his son and began to whip the boy with his belt. "Damn." uttered one of the aliens over his communicator. "My sire never had the rage issues that human is having." the father continued to beat the boy until the boy was sobbing. The dad put his belt back on and left the room. The boy quickly crawled into bed, sobbing. One of the aliens flashed his beacon and located the device in the backpack. The alien tried to extract the device from the backpack but all the buttons and zippers eluded him. "Just take the backpack! The human male adult can buy his son a new one!" said the Team Leader. The boy was watching from under the covers in absolute fright. Danny summoned up the courage and sprang from his bed and tried to take his backpack from the alien. "We don't have time for this! Beam out with the boy! We will drop him off later!" said the Team Leader. "Five to beam up!" said the Team Leader and the group shimmered out of existence while a frightened wife looked on. She ran to her husband's room and shook her husband awake. "Ghosts have taken our boy! I saw it with my own eyes!" she screamed. The irritated scientist slapped her and told her to calm down. "Honey, you were having another nightmare. Go to sleep. Now." he said. She reluctantly obeyed him. He knew what had happened. He knew of the Incarnae, the race that claimed the Sol system as it's own. "The damned Incarne took my son! Over a device?" he puzzled within himself; "My boy is more of a fighter than I thought! He must have resisted them when they tried to take his backpack!" he thought, alarmed. He knew better than to tell anyone the truth. The next day, he placed a kidnapping report in with the local Sheriff and said that armed men in black clothing took his son. "It is a shame, so much crime these days." said the old Sheriff as he shook his head. "Back when I was a boy, there was only a few crooks here and there. The War must have changed things because I have seen a spike in crimes since 1950." said the Sheriff. "Hey, aren't you involved with the Federal Government?" asked the Sheriff to the scientist. "No, that was years ago. I now work for an independent firm." said the scientist. It was only partly true, the firm he worked for was private but he worked for them as a Governmental employee. "I'll find him. That is a promise!" said the Sheriff. "I sure hope so." said the scientist. The scientist waked out of the room and the sheriff made a note to question the man a bit further. The man seemed too calm, thought the sheriff. "Perhaps his wife slept with another man and he finally figured it out. He suffocates his son and stuffs him down a drainpipe somewhere. Likely lead." thought the Sheriff. The Sheriff was never able to look at the case again, he dropped dead of a heart attack the next day from his overloaded arteries. The new Sheriff was never informed of the missing child and never put out the search crews. The scientist went about his business as if his child was never born. They tearfully cleaned out his bedroom and made way for their next child, who was a boy, whom they named Daniel when he was born.

Chapter Two.

Daniel was put into deep stasis for the long trip back to the Incarne home planet. The Team Leader was overruled by the Captain about "dropping the boy off" because he would tell everything and it was supposed to be a secret operation. "So what will we do with this human child? We can't keep him!" said the Captain to the Admiral over the subspace radio. "Our scientists always need subjects for anatomical knowledge." said the Admiral. "Unethical. I protest that! Perhaps we can place the human child with a family?" said the Captain, not wanting to see the child be cut into little pieces by the Imperial University. "I'll see what I can do. You owe me one!" said the Admiral. "Indeed but I do this for the Gods." said the Captain. The ship returned to the space dock and the boy was woken up and a linguist computer was brought in to learn the language of the boy. The boy, after the translators adjusted to English, was told that he was on a different world. The boy smiled and looked around, thinking he was dreaming. "Wow! I got to tell my friends about this dream when I wake up!" said the boy. "Son" said an older alien. It was the Admiral. "Son, I will take you into my household and teach you the ways of my people and the knowledge of such. Perhaps someday you will return to your "earth" and you will be a great scientist like your sire, maybe even greater." said the kindly Admiral. The boy then knew it wasn't a dream. "Is my dad okay?" asked the boy. "Yes, he is very much alive but I am sad to say that he thinks you are dead." said the Admiral. "Come! You will meet your new brothers and sisters! We have much to show you!" said the Admiral.

Chapter Three.

Daniel was renamed Haalsech and was taught the language of his adopted home and was instructed in the culture and the religion. "Um, Sir? I am a Christian." said the boy when the tutor was trying to teach the boy the ways of the Gods. "What is that? I have never heard of it before!" said the instructor, very surprised. Daniel explained what he had learned in Bible Study at church and the tutor was amazed. "You already grasp certain truths which elude the grasp of our own theologians? Continue in your faith in one God and you will do well little one!" said the tutor, thinking that it was a wise idea to do a cross-reference on certain key figures from this "Jesus" against other references to a "son of god" in the others religions of the known galaxy on the main computer. Haalsech learned quickly and was a fast study on the computer system that dotted the planet. He reached twenty three and graduated with top honors from the Imperial University. During his off time, he would tell his peers about earth and about democracy, which was unknown on the Incarne home world. He advanced in his faith in God and prayed always that some day, he would be allowed to return home to Earth. That opportunity came at an unexpected price. "We are at war with Earth. They learned of our base on their moon and they attacked it, killing all of our personnel." said the Admiral to a now 30 year old Daniel/Haalsech. "What year is it on earth?" asked Haalsech, not too interested in what he had left behind. He was now intent on developing a new warp-drive system for the Imperial University. "2034. Quite a bit has changed. Our spies tell us that "communism" was defeated in 1991 only to come back again and now the entire earth is under communist rule, since 2020, your dating time." said the Admiral. "From what little I remember sire, communism is a horrible waste of economy and it abuses men for the sake of the State." said Daniel/Haalsech. "Indeed. At least the Empire lets it's merchants keep most of their wealth! I would hate to see this "communism" spread like a cancer to our world." said the Admiral. "Fine, it is settled. The Emperor wishes you to make contact with the humans and end this war, least our own soldiers hear of "how wonderful" this communism is and overthrows our Emperor!" said the Admiral. "It is done." said Haalsech in formal tones.

Chapter Four.

Daniel was on the "Avenger of the Deed", sitting at a table, reading a book on the pros and cons of ion drive when he was told that the moon of earth was viewable. He got up and looked at the view screen in the Captains lounge. He shed a tear, seeing the all too familiar shapes and outlines of the moon. The memories came flooding back and he withdrew himself to weep. "I cannot do this! I want to return to Incarne but this is my real home!" he whispered to himself. He dried his eyes and walked to the negotiating team. "I am ready." said Haalsech. The team was beamed down to the UN Congress Building in Geneva where they met their counterparts. "Do sit down. You seem human Haalsech." said Augustas Dione of the Communist Negotiating Team. "I was taken by accident years ago. Incarne is my home now." said Daniel/Haalsech. "So, down to business! You Incarne's get off out moon and we'll end the war." said Augustas Dione. "Is that it? We want gold and silver to pay for the damages of your illegal invasion of Incarne soil." said Daniel. "We are forbidden from using silver or gold as a currency of exchange. We can give you paper Global Dollars." said Augustas. "Our Empire tried paper script many centuries ago. It nearly brought it down. We cannot accept worthless notes." retorted Daniel. "How about we pay you in steel then?" asked Augustas. "How many metric pounds?" asked Daniel. "Enough to build New York three times." said Augustas. "Plus 10,000 pounds of gold and silver or our troops will march in your streets." said Daniel. "We cannot pay tribute!" said Augustas. "You have no choice!" retorted Daniel. "Your terms for our terms. You get that base off our moon? Savvy?" said Augustas. "We need that base for our security. It stays and you will still pay what you owe us!" shot back Daniel. "We don't want the Incarne to keep it's eyes on Earth for any reason! We are a collectively free people and we will not bow to an Emperor!" retorted Augustas. "But you bend your knee to the Secretary General of the UN? Do you not? He has the gun and you must do what he says." said Daniel. "But...." began Augustas. "No "buts" you are not a free people. Therefore you are not entitled to the privileges and benefits of a free people, you gave that up years ago for a little bit of security and peace. Am I not correct?" asked Daniel. "You are right! It is either one Government or the next! Fine, you win! We will pay everything we owe to you and you can keep your damned base!" said Augustas. "We won. Negotiations are over. Draw up the surrender documents!" said Daniel to the computer. The humans, beet red, signed the documents and the payment was made. "You bested us! We could use you here on Earth. The Secretary General needs a literate and educated Right Hand Man." said a suited human. "Perhaps. But I want to be paid in gold and you cannot ask for Incarne technology either." said Daniel. The two shook on it and Daniel officially resigned his post as Incarne negotiator, since his job was done and the humans had agreed to terms. "I will miss you greatly. Your ideas shall last forever in the Empire. Perhaps someday the Emperor will let the property owners form a Government and they will create laws and the Emperor will sign them into law, but not yet. We are still to feudal and rigid for any kind of democracy." said the Admiral to Daniel over the subspace radio. "I shall miss you too. You saved my life and helped to give it some meaning." said Daniel to his adoptive father. They gave each other a farewell salute and the screen went dark. Daniel turned and walked to the exit, to his real home and new future.

Chapter Five. \

"Just the man I wanted to see! Sit down! How was your captivity Daniel?" asked Hans Burgdoff, the Secretary General of the UN. Daniel looked the man over and could tell he was a lying criminal of the worst sort. "I promised the Incarne to never discuss the details to any human." said Daniel. "Fine! Very good! Very professional. We will catch up with the Incarne anyway. You'll see." said Hans Burgdoff. "You wanted advice?" asked Daniel. "Oh yes! You see, communism has been a global failure but we cannot let the Party know that we are going to get rid of it. That is where you come in, put a spin on it for me to the media." said Hans. "Why not just tell the truth and tell your Party to accept it or disband?" asked Daniel. "That would lead to utter chaos Daniel. Millions of humans have Government jobs and would riot if they thought they would loose those jobs!" said Hans. "Fine. We will put a nice face on these reforms and we'll see what happens." said Daniel. "The pay, as you requested, will be in silver and gold. The Luxor Tower has a upper apartment. It is yours." said Hans. "All the female models you request will be yours." he added. "That part goes against my faith. I like the apartment idea though." said Daniel. "You cannot be bought then? We'll see." said Hans. The two departed and Daniel went to settle in his new flat and went to go see if his old home was still there, in upper New York State. He rented an old, rusty, beat up car and as he drove down the Highway, he was shocked to see how degraded things had become. Homeless people were burning trash in barrels, everyone was dirty and quite a few seemed like they were either drunk or on narcotics. He came to a roadblock and was stopped by police. "Permit! And we need to see all the paperwork as well as your North American Passport." said the policeman. "I am Daniel Haalsech." said Daniel. The cops saluted. "Just flash your UN ID and we'll wave you on! It's been good meeting you Daniel!" said the cop. "Likewise." said Daniel as he drove on. "This place is a dump! What on earth happened since I was gone?" he asked himself out loud. An old bum woke up and rose up. "I'll tell you what happened mister! The damn communists took over back in 2020 after the US Currency imploded and everything went straight to hell after that. The poor and homeless were thrown out of the cities and we have had to survive by eating what little is left in nature." said the homeless man. "How did you get in my car?" asked Daniel, somewhat alarmed. "I was sleeping in here when you got it." said the man. "Anyway, the global economy froze up completely and everyone went out of business. Hans pulled a coup at the UN and tried to get things going again by pumping the UN Dollar into the economy but that didn't help except in a few wealthy places overseas. The riots in this country were daily until Hans sent the UN Troops with mustard gas to suppress the rioters. Then everyone just started to drift to the countryside and some Christians got survival communes going and that saved millions of lives but we still lost 50% of our population to starvation and suicide." said the man. The "Boss" shut down the communes and put everyone in working camps. Some of us even escaped. The only people who are living wealthy are the traitors, the pimps, the sell-outs and members of the Global Communist Party. All the good jobs went to them and everyone else got...you guessed it...the shaft. They got the mine, we got the shaft." said the homeless man. "How was he able to afford.....?" asked Daniel. "The space ships? Hell! Those damn aliens kept losing their ships to our missiles and our engineers simply got them flying again! We don't make anything anymore! We are a civilization of thieves and crooks now!" said the homeless man. "Listen buddy. Hook up with the Prophet. He is building a brand new civilization out in Utah. He was the LDS President until everything went down. The whole thing is Old Testament and low tech. It's the only way America will survive!" said the man. "I learned everything I know from my friends the Incarne. You are right. A strongman is needed to get everyone back on their feet. Perhaps this prophet will come into power someday." said Daniel in the most sarcastic tone possible. "Got your point boss. Hey, that Prophet isn't perfect himself, he has 100 wives and all of them are in their twenties. His salary is 1 million gold Mormon dollars a year and he only speaks to three people, who then tell all them Mormons and new immigrants his will." said the homeless man. "Why aren't you there?" asked Daniel. "Oh, I love my freedom. He wants all the new immigrants to convert to "New Mormonism" or "get out". He is the real political power in the West of this former United States and the Secretary General will not touch him with a ten foot pole." said the homeless man. "Any other "utopias" out there?" asked Daniel. "Well, Texas became it's own country for awhile, they scrapped the dollar and did real good until the illegal migrants from south of the former border overthrew the Texas Government and it's been downhill ever since." said the man. "All the whites left Texas and made their way up into Montana and Wyoming and founded the Tri-State Federation. Hans crushed it and took it over. Same with the Republic of Alaska. The only place Hans didn't crush was "Liberty Island" out in the Pacific. Wealthy libertarians built it and it still holds out against the UN Government." said the homeless man. "Hans also took away the farms of the Amish the Mennonites and the Hutterites and threw them out of North America! The farms are now barb wire work camps for the homeless and indigent like me." said the homeless man. "Even the regular farmers?" asked Daniel. "No, all the family farms shut down before the UN takeover and all the big Corporate farms were handed over to the UN." said the man. "Hey, my name is Charlie, what is yours?" asked the homeless man to Daniel. "I am Daniel. Let's keep it at that for now." said Daniel. They shook hands. "Could I get off here? I need to pee real bad!" said the homeless man. Daniel stopped the car. "Do you think this Prophet would agree to see me?" asked Daniel. "Why you?" asked the homeless man as he opened the door and ran off to a nearby creek. Daniel tried to start the car but he realized he would have to walk. He began walking and some roadside hobos were playing some music on an old guitar and drinking beer. "Hey! You! Join our party! It's the end of the world man!" and Daniel walked on. He began to remember the words of warning from the prophets in the Holy Bible. A Government Limo pulled up. "Hey! Daniel! Get in! One of your privileges is the use of Government vehicles you rube!" said a fat white man. "You are?" asked Daniel. "Your damn assistant, now get in here before I drag your ass in here!" said the fat man. Daniel climbed in. "Where to?" asked the driver. "Albany. 101 N. 4th Street. I want to see if the house is still standing. I stuffed an old memento under the foundation." smiled Daniel. The limo started moving and the fat man turned on the TV. A cheeky communist comedy was on about some lesbians who were trying to organize homeless Americans into work and labor communes. "The planet where I spent most of my life, communism was totally unknown, everyone was well fed and you never saw a homeless person. Why? Because they cared for their people without caring. The free market economy was huge back there. The lords of the Incarne owned all the businesses and the temples took in the mentally ill and the infirm. Everyone worked and everyone went to school until twenty three. Amazing society! Very feudal in nature but you got the sense that they needed nothing else in life. The common people hardly complained about their lot in life and when they did, it fell on deaf ears. Hardly any crime either. Yeah, there was a little bit of crime but their Imperial Security Police had free roving warrants, they were judge, jury and executioner and they would give the death penalty to thieves and murderers on the spot and those being publicly disorderly would be taken back to their homes or places of work. The disorderly had to also pay a fine to the Temple. Not a bad system." said Daniel, looking out of the limo window at the third world of what was once the United States of America. "I see what was once my beloved county has fallen into ruin. Can't say I blame Hans at all. He inherited this mess." said Daniel. Frank Malloney, Daniels assistant, stayed impassive. "I suppose it could have been much worse. The former USA could have lost 70-80% of it's population to starvation if the UN had stayed on the sidelines." said Daniel. "You heard of that crazy "prophet" in Utah? Hans is fixing to "fix his wagon" and smash that unauthorized State of his." said Frank. "So what of the people?" asked Daniel. "So what? We'll put them in work camps and confiscate their wealth. They have too much gold and silver out there. That has to be stopped." said Frank. "Sort of like Alaska and the Tri-States?" asked Daniel. "The Tri-States yes, because those crazy fools were running the blacks and the Latinos out of there. He left Alaska alone but he put in a Governor. They are still the only free market nation still left in the world." said Frank. "What about Liberty Island?" asked Daniel. "Doesn't exist! It's a rumor spread by those lice-ridden bums out there who cling on to hope still that the world will recover. We put a 99% tax on all earnings Alaskans are making so their economy won't last long. Once it falls, we'll swoop in and put those people in work camps and leave the place to the Native Americans." said Frank.
"I have some bad news for you Frank. Hans threw in the towel and he's turning everything back over to a free market economy." said Daniel. "What?? What about social justice?? We have some real nice farms for the blacks down south, and they make millions for the UN every year. What is going to happen to them?" asked Frank. "Wait a minute." said Daniel. "Did you just suggest that Hans put the blacks on farms in the south against their will?" asked Daniel. "It's not slavery! The UN is the owner of the farms and the blacks all signed "work contracts" and they are happy with it." said Frank. "What happened to the ones that refused to sign?" asked Daniel. "We sent them to re-education through labor. Heck, something had to be done." said Frank. "So this "new communism" is basically old Stalinism with a twist." said Daniel. "Either work or starve." said Frank. "Well, needless to say some big changes are coming. So no rioting. I hate to think what Hans will do to his own Party if they try to riot." observed Daniel. "Oh hell! I won't riot. I know some unionized workers who will though! They don't want to lose their benefits." said Frank. The limo pulled up to the old address. "This will take a moment." said Daniel as he stepped out of the car. The whole neighborhood was gone and only the foundation of his old house remained. He went to the spot where he had hid the iron lock box so long ago and moved a stone and it was still there! He opened it and took out an American flag with the stars of 1951. "Gentlemen, America is back in business." he said to the men in the limo.

Chapter Six

Hans and Daniel worked the twilight hours drawing up documents and making calls to supporters and talking to the Press. "The new Global Initiative is about Freedom and is about the right to keep what you earn." said Daniel to a UN News conference. "Won't a return to capitalism damage race relations?" asked one reporter. "No, because a free market economy has nothing to do with fairness or social justice. It is about you keeping the resources that you have worked to earn through hard work." said Daniel. "Is the Secretary General planning to resign?" asked another reporter. "No, he is manning the helm until the Governments of the world can get back on their feet again. The plan is to let the middle east return to it's emirs and princes and kings while Latin America is going to be ruled from Spain and Spain will oversee Portugal and Italy and Greece. Germany and the core of Arabic Europe will become a Muslim state, but not based on Sharia law. We insisted on that. In fact, no country anywhere in the world is going to revert to Sharia law, the only permitted law is going to be the Western Civil Code. The few populated areas in the former United States of America are going to reform as territories and will, with a population upswing created by the free market, will create new territories and then new States and hopefully a new US Government will be up and running in thirty or so years, but this is hopeful long term planning." said Daniel. "What about Africa?" asked a reporter. "Africa will be organized into new countries once their population goes back up. You remember that they lost 80% of their population in the collapse." said Daniel. "In the long run, we hope to have the UN as a debating body again and not as a governing one. The nations of the earth will rule themselves and will all be sovereign once more." said Daniel. "Have you made a full transition back to being human?" asked another reporter. "I was always human but my culture is firmly rooted in two worlds. I will never be the same person who I was in the past. I will never be fully human or Incarne in a cultural sense. I am me. A unique individual." said Daniel. "But we are all individuals, created in the image of God." and with that, he walked off the podium.

Chapter Seven.

"We'll miss you." said Hans. "I promise you that we will roll back several decades of neglect and utter stupidity. added Hans to his new friend. The Incarne ship hoovered above the tarmac at JFK International Airport. "The Incarne asked me to return and become their first ever Prime Minister and I am to help them form a Representative Government. Perhaps I can steer them away from the mistakes of earth." said Daniel. "Make their children learn the example of what happened here Daniel. Farewell and God bless you!" said Hans. "Toi!" said Daniel and he was beamed onto the Incarne ship. The ship rose up to the stars and flew to a place many have called "The Undiscovered Country" Freedom.
\
(I would like to thank all the authors who have penned "contact" stories over the years, post Apocalypse stories, stories of freedom enduring despite dictatorships and I would like to thank the best nation under freedom, the United States of America, for making this story possible and I would like to thank Gene Roddenberry who brought into science fiction the idea that, in the end, we are all humanoids created in the image of God.)

Xanith: The formation of it and a history.

The gods came together and sang the void into worlds. One such world was named for it's creator, Xanith. The world was a globe of lava and volcanoes, a hot world without an atmosphere, devoid of life. Xanith went down and created an atmosphere of oxygen and nitrogen and inhabited his fiery world with lava elementals and creatures that thrived in the hot lava. He created the Dolaraa, an intelligent race that created cities from the magic left over from Xanith. They built Xortar, Xaerth, and Xonna. They devoted themselves to the studies of magics and everyone was a wizard. Alsia looked down on the world and was horrified that Xanith allowed this creation to use the fabric of the gods. Alsia banished Xanith and caused rain to fall on the world and caused a mighty ocean to cover the entire world. The cities of the Dolaraa perished and the Dolaraa fled to the core of the planet and built Xo'lathin and pledged revenge on Alsia. Alsia filled the world with water elementals and water creatures and built a mighty city on the sea floor and placed himself as the ruler. He created the Meron and the Meron built Alsthi, Aklithi, and Awareth and a multitude of smaller cities and towns on the sea bed. The ancient Dolaraa cities were ignored (by law) until one Meron adventured into one of the cities and took out a metal scroll. The Meron began to practice magic and Alsia was exiled from his world. Alsia then begged his brother Xanith to return and to create landmasses above the ocean to curb the power of the amok Meron. Xanith agreed and created one giant landmass he called Gihas, after this wife. The fire elementals and lava creatures came to the surface and finally the Dolaraa returned to the surface and built Xilo. But the atmosphere was now oxygen and carbon dioxide and the Dolarra quickly abandoned Xilo and returned to their exile in Xo'lathin. Faeralien looked at the world and came up with a solution. He banished both brothers and he created plants, trees, animals, insects and nature elementals to guard them. He came down and built Feralia and tended to his garden himself. He made new sea creatures and kept the Dolaraa out of his world. Gihas looked down at her brother-in-law and at the world he modified and she screamed in anger and the continents parted into four. Feralia collapsed and before Faeralien fled, he created the Elves to tend to his garden world, a male and a female. He told them they could do all things except carve their likenesses into the trees, or they would cease to be immortal. They did and he withdrew their immortality. They were cursed to carve their likenesses into the trees in order to make more elves and they were to turn into trees when they died. Honram looked down and banished his brother from the world and raised up mighty mountains and he built a massive hall within Stonebreaker mountain. He created the Frost Giants and other giants and ruled as their ruler. He was exiled by his brother Titan who spoke a word and the Frost Giants fell dead, because they began to build a giant city that would have circled the globe. Little stone men pulled themselves out of the fallen frost giants, who were also stone. The dwarves, as Titan called them, became his chief Smiths and he named all of them Smith until they began to call themselves by different names, using "Smith" as their origin name. Chronos looked down, being a stranger and a visitor and he exiled all the gods and made himself the ruler. He created Zalthas, a city of marble in the skies and sat as ruler, making a legion of air elementals as his servants. He created the Ingari, who built Ishanar, Iuiarr, Iuada, Iiolia, Ifnar and a host of smaller cities and towns. They stumbled into the magics of the older races and began to be mighty and they exiled Chronos from his throne. The mighty city fell from the sky and fell into the ocean, creating a huge tidal wave that ended the civilization of the Ingari. The Ingari began to mutate and change. The first mutation resulted in the Orcs, the second in the Trolls and the third was the Goblins. All fought each other savagely in a long war for supremacy until the Orcs won and built Gol'athar the Great. A band of Dolaraa emerged from the Volcano named Skyseeker and mutated into large and terrible flying reptiles known as dragons. The dragons quickly dominated the Orcs and the other races after a brief war and made the Orcs and the other races (except the dwarves and the elves) their slaves. Folodor looked upon the situation and created men. He created a band of 100 men and women and ordered them to subdue the world and kill off the dragons. Xanith flew into a rage and ordered his brother to limit the lifespan of the men to 100 years, seeing that they were immortal. Folodor met his brother halfway and made the limit 130 years. The men settled in one place and built Yersla and appointed the High Ruler of the Elves to rule them and give them a government. Folodor destroyed the city and scattered the survivors to the other three continents. The men remained in their clans and tribes, hunting the great reptiles and mammals and making tents out of their skin and bones. The Smith clan of the dwarves shattered during a regal conflict between their princes and one clan fled to the extreme northern part of Dumar and they gradually shrank until they were a size smaller than their cousins and what they lacked in size they gained in intelligence, and thus became known as the Gnomes. Another faction of the Smith clan left the mountain fasts completely and settled in the hills of southern Dumar and became stocky and slightly taller than their dwarven cousins and became known as the Hobbits (hill dwarves). The other five factions built new Holds in the mountains and renamed themselves, abandoning the ancient Skyseeker Hold. The Bronzehammers, The Ironhammers, the Steelhammers, the Mithrilhammers and the Goldhammers.  Breaking with ancient tradition, each clan appointed it's own Kings and Princes and nobles and vowed to never again unite under one banner. The Hobbits divided themselves into 20 clans and appointed a King over them. The Gnomes tried to unite with the Goldhammers for a time, even bringing Goldhammer princes up to their realm to rule over them but the Goldhammers found the region to be too cold and left the Gnomes to their own devices. The Gnomes then appointed a council of 70 Archengineers and one High King with 10 other lesser kings, ruling over the 10 clans of the Gnomes. Each of the Dwarven clans became large tribes and divided up into clans and the Kings appointed Thanes to rule each clan. The Goldhammers and the Mithrilhammers occupied the same Continent, Dumar, but the other three went to the other three Continents, Garsland, Farsland, Jarsland. (as they called them) Dumar to them was known as Darsland. The Elves had by this time become numerous and an ancient curse was finally lifted, they could now have childbirth by natural means. They grew in great numbers on all the continents and they appointed Skykings over them, so called since their new Kings would look to their god as they made laws. Their Great Speaker of the Sun, who was descended from the first carved son of the first elf, retained his authority over the Skykings by speaking to them telepathically. Men came into conflict with the elves first and the dwarves second. Many small wars were fought between the 100 tribes of men and the elves until a truce was declared and Lanamar The Beholden was made the Ethnarch of all mankind by agreement of the gods. The Orcs, Trolls and Goblins resented the change and sought to wipe out the men. They made war on mankind but the Ethnarch led the tribes in battle and destroyed the power of the fallen races. After the war ended, each tribe built it's own city and marked out the borders of their new city-states. The men distrusted Kings and vowed not to kneel to royal authority. The Ethnarch died, old and respected but he could not hand down his office. Mankind bought the steel and mithril of the dwarves, wore the fine silk of the elves and dabbled in the magic of the ancient races. The gods saw this wasn't a good development and appointed Talar the Respected to be the Ethnarch. Talar ordered the city-states to stop using magic and banish their wizards. The wizards were banished and they gathered together on an unnamed island which they named Collosia and built a city and a College of Magic. They also carved 12 crystal skulls and carved a giant crystal ball as the focal point to contain the ancient magics. For years, the Island and city of Collosia remained undiscovered until some fisherman landed off the coast. The discovery of the Island sparked anger in the city states of Dumar and the Priests of Light were formed, they appointed Galvin Talmar as their Polemarch and he declared the First Crusade against the wizards. A fleet of 1,000 ships of Paladins and Priests landed off the shores of Collosia and the rowboats took the legions ashore. The Legions of Light slew most of the wizards, the remaining 12 wizards begged the Paladins not to destroy the Crystal Ball and the skulls. The Polemarch asked the 12 wizards to swear fealty to himself and to the light, the wizards did so and became known as the White Wizards. The White Wizards swore to only counter and contain magic and they appointed Basil the Unsure as their Head Wizard. The few wizards that slipped off the island during the massacre named themselves the Red Wizards and settled on Jasper Island. They declared themselves to be completely neutral and built a tower on the Island and carved 12 Red Jade skulls and set them to a smaller crystal ball as it's focus at the top of their tower. Finally one evil wizard escaped from the Red Order and settled in the Great Desert of Dumar and he built an immense, twisted Blackstone tower and began to receive Orcs, Trolls and Goblins who were eager to revenge themselves on mankind. They joined his Order and became known as the Black Wizards. The evil wizard, Thalmius Mincore, the head of the Order, built an immense army of golems and sent them to conquer the city-states. An aging Galvin Talmar declared the Second Crusade and gathered a huge army of 10,000 Paladins and marched on the Tower. Galvin and Thalmius Mincore fought to the death. When Galvin thought that he had defeated the Black Wizard, the Wizard's soul jumped into the Polemarch's body and rested therein for many years until he emerged and took over the Polemarch. The now-evil Polemarch took 2,000 corrupted Paladins and gathered them into an army and marched on the city-state of Ulmonar. The new Polemarch, Laun Brightfeild and the Head of the White Wizard's Council, Galaius Haver, marched with their armies to defeat the Evil Paladins and the remains of the Black Wizard's Council. Laun and Galaius were able to capture the Evil Polemarch and they exorcised Mincore from his soul and banished Mincore to the Void forever. The gods saw the positive change in men and they appointed Laun Brightfield as the new Ethnarch. The Orcs had been busy in the barren reaches, building forts and city holds, weapons of war and a million Orc army. The Orcs (at first) had no central leader and each clan had it's own warlord until Karagath the Great made war on his other warcheifs and defeated each one until he was declared Emperor. He appointed new warcheifs from his loyal band of fighters and he declared all Orcs that used evil magic to be banished forever. This made him (briefly) an ally of the Ethnarch but he sent a letter to the Ethnarch declaring his intent to wipe out all of mankind. That broke the alliance and so the Orcish Emperor had his subjects build 10,000 stone forts and seven large cities in the Great Wastes. The Orcish warriors trained Worgs to be their battle-companions and dragons to be their battle mounts. The Goblins were united under Gibb the Small, he took them to the tropics and they built Gibliea the Great. He made himself King and appointed Trade Barons. Over the years, the Goblins, having no ruler, became merchants and they ordered their entire society around commerce. The Trade Barons took small numbers of the Merchant-Retainers with them and built neutral trading posts all over the world. Gibliea became a war-machine, churning out new weapons to be sold to all the races on the planet. The Trolls retreated to the jungles and built Tolzar, Tifnar and Tuluiar, all with huge temples and huge ballcourts, a game with which the Trolls were obsessed with. The Trolls never liked each other and each city-state was at war with each other, unless a ballgame was being played. The Trolls had a rural class of farmers grow corn and grain outside of the city while the ruling elite and their servants lived in the cities. The Trollish High Priests would sacrifice a white ram every 10 days and all the Trolls would go to the event and eat of the ram after the sacrifice. The Kings of the Three city-states were always at odds with their High Priests about who controlled the city and that made for many clan feuds, since some clans provided the priest and others provided the Kings. The Katta emerged last. They quickly inhabited the grasslands bellow the Great Desert and were nomads, according to their clans. Each clan was ruled by a chieftain and they raised camels and sheep. The Katta also raided the Orcs and the Trolls, selling what they gained to the other races. So the Katta quickly became unspoken but valuable allies of mankind. It was believed that the Katta started as lions but were given an advanced brain by one of the gods, who was trying to balance the Orcs and men. The Trollish City-States were located on the south eastern continent of Gulmar. The Orcish Empire was located on Dumar and the Elvish Domain was on the Northwestern Continent of Geliar and finally the Southwestern Continent of Kitara was inhabited by the Goblins and the city of Gibliea the Great was there. Humans were on three of those continents with their city-states and were in the process of colonizing Kitara, along the coasts with fishing villages. (Note on Gol'athar the Great: It was utterly destroyed by the dragons and never rebuilt by the Orcs, but all the Orcish Emperors were known by the title as "Golathar" starting with 'Golathar' Karagath the Great. The Karagath Dynasty lasted for 500 years until it died off and was replaced with the Ulugar Dynasty. At one point, the Goblins accepted a Karagath Prince to sit on their throne as King in their Merchantdom and that dynasty outlasted the original Karagath dynasty for more than 200 years, causing tension between the Goblins and the Orcs for years afterwards. The Troll city-states accepted Karagath Clan mercanaries to guard their cities for many generations and during a war between two human city-states, 100 Karagath clansmen were recruited to defend the city of Flainar. Those mercenaries went on to become Generals and even Senators in the human city-states. The humans called them the "honorable Orcs" and gave them an open welcome. The Katta sailed far and wide with their wares but rarely obtained citizenship with any of the other Kingdoms or city-states because of their migratory nature. The Dwarves originally remained in their Holds, preferring to have the humans and other races come to them for their fine steel and other metals but since the Goblins began to compete with them in the arms market, the dwarves turned to exploritory mining ventures and set up Mining Guilds in all the human city-states, allying closely with the humans against everyone else. The Elves really didn't want to ally themselves with the humans but in a series of wars with the Orcs, they had to seek alliances and over time, they became friendly with mankind. Some of their own even settled in the human city-states and became Senators. The very first Paladin Order, the Priests of the Light, disbanded after the Second War and split into two Orders: The Sacred Hand and the Sword of Light. Aron the Ready was the Polemarch of The Sacred Hand and Hulmar the Strong was Polemarch of the Sword of Light. Each order had a Chapterhouse in every city in the world and The Sacred Hand had their Cathedral located in Ulmark while the Sword of Light's Cathedral was located in Wellsford. Their was a dispute between the two groups over where the relics of Galvin Talmar would be located. Finally a compromise was reached and a chapel and a tomb that was run by a neutral brotherhood received the body of the great Paladin and it was lain in rest there, 200 miles outside of Ulmark near the village of Arnhiem. Many a monk who wanted to begin a Brotherhood made a pilgrimage there to lay hands on the coffer to receive the blessing of the dead Paladin. In all, 100 Brotherhoods of the Light were formed. By this time, the gods of the Light had exiled the gods of Chaos and everything was in order. There were 12 gods of the Light in all and each city had a Cathedral with all 12 shrines. The people would pray there for a blessing, according to what they needed at the time (only if it was good.) The Dark Wizards had split into 2 opposing orders: One was the Dark Chaos Order and they had secret chapters all over the world and the other was the Dark Order Chapter and they also had secret chapters all over the world. The White Order had a branch of police which maintained an office in every city in the world to sniff out the Dark Order and the Dark Chaos Orders. The human city-states increased in number to 200 and 300 lesser cities, all ruled by Assemblies or Senates. The Dark Orders tried to install "their" people into the governments of those cities every once in awhile, only to be discovered by a Brotherhood of the Light, since the Brothers made a habit of standing in the back of the halls and praying for the government. Dark Brotherhoods would occasionally appear and operate in secret but none lasted, thanks to the vigil of the Paladins. One of the Polemarchs of the Sacred Hand was accused of trying to make himself a King (quite correctly) by a Senator of Hallem and he ordered his Order to fight for him against the city he was trying to take over. The Paladins of his order dropped their swords on the floor in front of him rather than obey an illegal order. That Polemarch (Galens Roans) resigned his post and fled the city, only to be slain by his own bodyguard. After that, the Paladins of the Sacred Hand merged with the competing Order. The dark gods formed a pact and appointed an evil Orcish priest to lead the forces of darkness against the humans, to wipe them out utterly. Ulamaamar the Terrible was the Orcish Black Priest who gathered a huge army of Orcs and other night creatures. Darius Westmoor of the Kingdom of the Imeni rode to unite the city-states and they made him the Grand Marshall of the Allied Forces. The city-states marched on the Army of Darkness and the outcome was uncertain at first and the Marshall ordered the lines to "dig in" for a long battle. The Polemarch of the White Order rode in with his army of Paladins and they reversed the battle in that day. The Dark Army fled but Ulamaamar the Terrible escaped to the Caves of Black Waters deep beneath the land with a few survivors and began to rebuild. Darius Westmoor then declared that all the Republics should remain united and the city-states agreed and formed the first Republic, with the Capitol located at Kalae. The Vyir of the Island of Vyir invaded the Mo'lak'kar Peninsula and settled it, fighting the Orcs there. The Vyir called the Peninsula "Vyirlund" and the Thanes of that tribe built their Holds and after eighty years and many battles fought, seven Thanes emerged as the main leaders of the Vyir nation and they were declared Yarls. Athelsing the Axe-Bearer led many Vyir in battle and he slew so many Orcs that not a single human was killed. He was declared High Yarl of the whole of Vyirlund. The Vyir learned of the Republic and sailed their ships to it's ports to sell furs and buy metals, cattle and other goods. Chancellor Westmoor sailed for Vyirlund and went to sign a treaty with the High Yarl. They signed a treaty of Alliance against the Orcs. The High Yarl offered his oldest daughter to the Chancellor in marriage and the Chancellor married Greta Athelsing's-daughter that week. The new couple sailed back to the Republic and the land was at peace. 

Miscellanea

The First Republic came about when a treaty was signed (500 years later) between the up and coming city of Veronasici and the other city-states. The other annals of the histories can be found in the other stories. By an odd chance of fate and birth, the Emperor of the Second Empire was a many-great Grandson of the Emperor of the First Empire. (on his mother's side) and the great warrior hero lord Hoth was a descendant of Hulmar the Strong, Galvin Thalmar and Yarl Athelsing the Great. The Paladin Orders always wore white plate armor and washed their hands after battle, usually in a divan. The Frost Giants turned to stone when they were stuck down and in the proceeding ages, were known as "Titans" after their maker. The humans that settled the deserts gradually became more black in the skin as the centuries wore on and developed an immunity to wild magicks. They became 28 tribes in total and later opposed the efforts of the First and Second Empires to establish garrisons there. Nordlandia and Vymark united under different High Yarls over the centuries but never found union much to their liking. Three Kingdoms of Nordlandia were conqoured by the Duchy of Du'Fronduec. The fourth Nordic Kingdom resisted conquest and remained as Nordmark. The Duchy of Du'Fronduec itself was an odd mixture of Nord and Latun from the First Empire, it remained independent of the Second Empire and it bordered Nordlandia. 
The Latuns founded the original republics and ran the First Empire. Their tribe was assimilated by the invading Nords at the fall of the First Empire. The First Empire fell the last Emperor died without an heir and the Latun Governors began to crown themselves as Kings. The Ethnarch stepped in and ordered the First Empire to divide into Nord baronies. The Nord Barons ran the 1rst Empire without an Emperor for 70 years until they raised armies and began to form Kingdoms. After the emergence of the 15 Kings, the First Empire was officially abolished at the Diet of Allamark. All the barons were Nord and same with their military retainers because the Latuns had largely died off fighting the Orcs in so many wars. 15 Kingdoms emerged and it remained at that number for 210 years until the founding of the Second Empire. 


Religion: The humans first worshipped their direct creator and later began to worship the Orcish god as they came under the vassalage of the First Orcish Alliance, which they were able to shake off the yoke in 34 years after the conquest. (See above) They began to worship all the gods instead and by the time of the fall of the First Empire, they had returned to worshipping their creator. The Vyirlanders worshipped Titan until the fall of the First Empire and they changed their worship to Folodor. Great stone idols of Titan lay all over Nordmark and Vyirmark, in key places for many years. Most were pulled down but some remained in more isolated places, were it was suspected that "old believers" continued to worship at those shrines. Folodor shunned idols and hid his form from his priests and instead gave them a symbol to use instead. The practice of building meeting houses to worship Folodor began when the Ethnarchs made assemblies for the worship of Folodor. The "church" grew into a huge organization headed by a High Polemarch, but was corrected by a long awaited Ethnarch at the formation of the Second Empire. Not all humans worshipped Folodor. The 28 tribes of the desert regions of the world worshipped all the gods and carved shrines into the desert mountains. The Orcish god was not worshipped, seeing that the Orcs were mankind's greatest enemy. One odd cult of nomads, the Ikraki, traveled the human realms worshipped all the banished gods in hope that they would repent and obey Foldor!