Visit "The Heroic Saga of the Volkashir" at blogger.com! Some Vyir wandered through portals and settled new worlds. This one proved to be worse than the one they came from! Read more of their story at TheHeroicSagaoftheVolkashir@blogger.com!
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Sunday, June 15, 2014
On the other side of the Great Divide: Realistic Fiction
He was forty and didn't have much to show for it. Where did his life go wrong? His mind wandered back to his first big crush, over in Europe. She was an American, like him. Her father was an Officer in the US Army. "What happened to her?" he wondered. It had been so long since he had even thought of her.
He settled into his wooden chair to eat breakfast, the matter forgotten again. The dream he had the following night was disturbing him, to say the least. It left more questions than answers. Why was he seeing so many symbols in his dreams? He admitted to himself he often read his dreams more than the opinions of others. Something big was going to happen, and he knew it. What was it? Only the Almighty knew, and the Almighty tends to keep certain secrets close but will sometimes "hint" that something is about to transpire. "Perhaps they all rejected me because I am too insular" he thought. He didn't talk much, and when he did, it was in a subconscious desire to have friends.
He lived a life alone. People considered him a loner but he really desired a real life with friends and family but they had all but rejected him. He didn't talk much to anyone and sometimes someone would try to make friends with him, but the relationship wouldn't last long. "Friends and family can betray" he knew this at his core. His own parents had suddenly changed their tone towards him. He knew it was his own little brother, his own brother! who had betrayed him, all in the name of filthy lucre.
He feared people and he was paranoid. He knew this and was all too certain that "just because you are paranoid doesn't mean that they aren't out to get you." But he also remembered that in order to remain alive, he needed to exercise mental discipline. He was intelligent, although his own father considered him to be a sub-moron. Just because you are silent does not mean that you are disabled. He felt too much like the little dog that everyone kicked because they didn't understand him.
He was not violent, he was in many way a true Christian but he did struggle a bit. Like everyone sometimes his pride got the best of him, or he accused someone of theft when they didn't do it. Perhaps that was his problem nowadays, he thought, he tended to be so insular he forgot to gather the facts before he acted. Several people left him, angry because of it.
He went to work and remained in his comfort zone, listening to the radio and since the job was easier than moronic, he turned off that part of his mind mostly but because of attention deficient disorder, he had to remind himself of certain details. One thing that burned hot in his heart: Freedom. He felt it's call throughout his life and since he mostly raised himself (his father didn't care) His strongest calling in his heart was love for all nations, like his Master the Christ. No-one saw this, sometimes he hinted at it. He doubt anyone even understood him. He was also thankful that unexpected friends in the company he worked for helped get him his job.
So, although he wasn't perfect, he was still in this world. And he awaited the reason for his meager existence. Perhaps there was to be a moment of "passing on the torch" or do something huge for the Kingdom of Heaven? The Creator knew. He was good at communicating with the written word. He often resorted to it when he wanted to express himself. Perhaps this was indeed his true gift. Talking from "his mind to his keyboard" was so much easier than talking to people. He was slowly getting better at talking with people though.
He was celibate, having vowed a vow to the Creator, to neither date nor marry for the Kingdom of Heaven's sake. He felt that he "blew it" with his last relationship. It seemed like the Blessed path to take. He knew that most people never went down this path because of it's hidden dangers, and sometimes he even entertained the thought of leaving off the vow but reality always snapped him back. Always. He had recently stopped playing an online game he had been playing for almost four years now. He was sick to death of it and wanted to "move on" to something else. He had been a huge reader of books written by 18th Century authors but now he held off from buying any more, because of the expense and the trouble of having to carry them with him.
He was a Park and Resort worker, met many Internationals and was surprised that Europeans understood him better than Americans and actually wanted to talk with him. He supposed it was because he spent several years of his formative life in Europe and it impacted him greatly. He still loved European culture more than American culture. He would have been comfortable in England or even Germany but then again he was only playing the cards he was given.
Was it to be? Everything in his life seemed to be pointing to something greater, much greater than himself. Only if he knew. He shook his head, only if he knew. All the dreams, all the signs, all the life he had lived. What was it? Only the Almighty knew.
Not yet the end. God's will be done.
He settled into his wooden chair to eat breakfast, the matter forgotten again. The dream he had the following night was disturbing him, to say the least. It left more questions than answers. Why was he seeing so many symbols in his dreams? He admitted to himself he often read his dreams more than the opinions of others. Something big was going to happen, and he knew it. What was it? Only the Almighty knew, and the Almighty tends to keep certain secrets close but will sometimes "hint" that something is about to transpire. "Perhaps they all rejected me because I am too insular" he thought. He didn't talk much, and when he did, it was in a subconscious desire to have friends.
He lived a life alone. People considered him a loner but he really desired a real life with friends and family but they had all but rejected him. He didn't talk much to anyone and sometimes someone would try to make friends with him, but the relationship wouldn't last long. "Friends and family can betray" he knew this at his core. His own parents had suddenly changed their tone towards him. He knew it was his own little brother, his own brother! who had betrayed him, all in the name of filthy lucre.
He feared people and he was paranoid. He knew this and was all too certain that "just because you are paranoid doesn't mean that they aren't out to get you." But he also remembered that in order to remain alive, he needed to exercise mental discipline. He was intelligent, although his own father considered him to be a sub-moron. Just because you are silent does not mean that you are disabled. He felt too much like the little dog that everyone kicked because they didn't understand him.
He was not violent, he was in many way a true Christian but he did struggle a bit. Like everyone sometimes his pride got the best of him, or he accused someone of theft when they didn't do it. Perhaps that was his problem nowadays, he thought, he tended to be so insular he forgot to gather the facts before he acted. Several people left him, angry because of it.
He went to work and remained in his comfort zone, listening to the radio and since the job was easier than moronic, he turned off that part of his mind mostly but because of attention deficient disorder, he had to remind himself of certain details. One thing that burned hot in his heart: Freedom. He felt it's call throughout his life and since he mostly raised himself (his father didn't care) His strongest calling in his heart was love for all nations, like his Master the Christ. No-one saw this, sometimes he hinted at it. He doubt anyone even understood him. He was also thankful that unexpected friends in the company he worked for helped get him his job.
So, although he wasn't perfect, he was still in this world. And he awaited the reason for his meager existence. Perhaps there was to be a moment of "passing on the torch" or do something huge for the Kingdom of Heaven? The Creator knew. He was good at communicating with the written word. He often resorted to it when he wanted to express himself. Perhaps this was indeed his true gift. Talking from "his mind to his keyboard" was so much easier than talking to people. He was slowly getting better at talking with people though.
He was celibate, having vowed a vow to the Creator, to neither date nor marry for the Kingdom of Heaven's sake. He felt that he "blew it" with his last relationship. It seemed like the Blessed path to take. He knew that most people never went down this path because of it's hidden dangers, and sometimes he even entertained the thought of leaving off the vow but reality always snapped him back. Always. He had recently stopped playing an online game he had been playing for almost four years now. He was sick to death of it and wanted to "move on" to something else. He had been a huge reader of books written by 18th Century authors but now he held off from buying any more, because of the expense and the trouble of having to carry them with him.
He was a Park and Resort worker, met many Internationals and was surprised that Europeans understood him better than Americans and actually wanted to talk with him. He supposed it was because he spent several years of his formative life in Europe and it impacted him greatly. He still loved European culture more than American culture. He would have been comfortable in England or even Germany but then again he was only playing the cards he was given.
Was it to be? Everything in his life seemed to be pointing to something greater, much greater than himself. Only if he knew. He shook his head, only if he knew. All the dreams, all the signs, all the life he had lived. What was it? Only the Almighty knew.
Not yet the end. God's will be done.
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Saga of the Vyir: Thane Kjarten Helmbjorgsen's Wird. (fate)
Chapter One
The hailstones came down on the helmet of Kjarten, making a loud noise even worse than it had to be and it seemed the Kjarten would go deaf. Thane Kjarten and thirteen of his best warriors were chasing a rebel Frost Orc called Jaiir the Sneak. He had been burning down barns and killing livestock in the surrounding valleys for several years. That Orc was a smart one and was more destructive than ten of them combined. At times, Thane Kjarten felt that he and his men were chasing a ghost. "He is doubling back on his prints!" he said to his warriors. "Look how deep the prints are." he said, pointing at the Orc prints in the snow. "Turn around." he said and they headed the other direction until someone felt something brush against them. The warriors quizzed each other but no-one had bumped into each other. "He is wearing a cloak of invisibility." said the Thane. "Everyone wave your shields at the prints." said the Thane. The warriors did and Olsa hit something. Olsa quickly drew his sword and stabbed the invisible Frost Orc. The enchantment turned off and the rebel Orc fell dead to the snow. "You get the bounty!" said the Thane. The warrior lifted his sword in the air in celebration. The hail started back up again. "You made the gods angry at your celebration." joked a warrior to Olsa. It began to snow and the men returned to the Hall, five miles away. "It was a good hunt." said the men as they put away their armor and cloaks. "At least the rebel is dead." said the Thane. "Only if things appeared as they seemed." said a voice in the Hall. "Who was that?" said the Thane, angry that some magic user had entered his Hall. "And so you chase after invisible Orcs and did you check if they are actually real? Ha, hahahaha!" and the invisible mage teleported out. "So we are dealing with a mage! Probably some worshipper of the Dark gods!" said the Thane. "Anyone who can kill that mage gets 10,000 guilder!" said the Thane.
The Dark Mage returned to his loft in the slave village. He didn't like the Thane and he intended to wear out the Thane before he made his final move. He had been Dark Mage in his homeland before he was captured but since the Vyir were killing mages, he pretended to be a serf. He didn't feel any kinship with his fellow slaves, they were just objects to be used and thrown away, he thought. The real goal in life was power and lots of it. He figured he could transform himself into the Thane using a perminent enchantment and then kill his way to the top and then become High Yarl so he could lead the Vyir to their deaths. He had it all planned out. Fortunately a slave woman had been watching his movements and told the Thane. "So! A Kelti dog of a mage hides in my village? I'll set a trap for him!" said the Thane. "Bring him to the Hall and tell him that I called him to give him his freedom." said the Thane to the slave woman. She nodded and left to tell the Dark Mage. The Mage suspected nothing, he thought that the Thane was weakening in his will. He presented himself before the Thane in his simple slave clothes. "So! You wish to become a freedman! You shall have it!" said the Thane. The Thane nodded and the Kelti Elder came behind the Mage and stabbed him in the back with a longsword. The point came out of the front of the Dark Mage and the Elder withdrew the sword and the Dark Mage fell to the ground dead. "Burn his body and scatter his ashes. We don't want his demon soul latching onto anything here." commanded the Thane. The demon soul of the sorcerer entered into a nearby sword and it began to gleam. One of the warriors noticed the gleaming sword and not knowing anything about enchanted swords, picked it up and claimed it as his own and paid the Thane for the sword. "Fine, have it." said the distracted Thane, not knowing that the sword was possessed by a demon soul. The warrior carried it back to his hut and greeted his wife. She seemed to turn into an Orc and he panicked and killed her. His children too turned into Orcs before his eyes and he killed them as well. He dropped the sword and the bodies changed back to human, right before his eyes. He screamed and fled the Hall grounds. He wept as he ran and he drew his short sword and fell on it. A huscarl heard the scream and went to see what had happened. He checked the road and saw the dead body, then he went to see the man's hut and saw the man's dead family. He spied the glowing sword and put together the events in his head. "This sword is cursed." he said out loud to the other huscarls who rushed to the scene. He went to the Priest of the Hall and the Priest took the sword to the Thane and explained everything the huscarl and seen and had figured out. "We need to destroy this sword." said the Priest. The Priest scattered some ashes onto the pommel of the sword chanting "Ashe Zu Ashe" and the demon soul screamed and came out of the sword. The ghost of the evil mage appeared before the Priest and the Priest quickly pulled out a silver sword and slew the demon soul. "Ashe Zu Ashe!" he chanted and the demon soul screamed again and turned into a pile of ashes. "The evil mage is finally gone!" said the Priest. The Hall went back to it's normal business.
Chapter Two
A band of raiding Frost Orcs came to the hall and set it on fire as everyone slept and everyone had to either run or be carried out of the Hall as it burnt to the ground. "Our armor was in there!" said a warrior. "Fine. We can run to the next Hall and borrow some armor off the Thane there, he is my cousin." said Thane Kjarten. The Thane left his boys and wife with one of the women in the warriors village and the men ran all night to the Hall of his cousin, Thane Snorborri. The raiding Orcs attacked the defenseless men but they punched and kicked the Orcs and got their weapons off them and killed the Orcs with their own weapons. The men ran to the Hall and pounded on the door. "What cousin, is this some new prank you've devised? Run half-naked in the winter wearing Orc clothing and wielding Orc weapons? I admit I am almost laughing." said Thane Snorborri. "No cousin, the damn Orcs tried to burn me and my men alive in the Hall." said Thane Kjarten. "Come in, we'll host you until we can get your Hall rebuilt." said Thane Snorborri. The Thane and his men stayed for a month with his cousin while he had sent for carpenters to build him a new Hall. He had the new Hall built larger and better defended than the last Hall and he added a stone ringwall around the Hall grounds and four watchtowers built, and the huscarls manned these new watchtowers on shifts throughout the day and night. He learned that there was a band of Frost Orcs literally hiding in a large cave under his Hall from one of his scouts. He and his men armed and armored up and went to go find the cave entrance. They entered the cave and killed several Ice Trolls within and finally came to a wall with a door. They busted in the door and surprised the Frost Orcs within and killed all of them after a quick but fierce battle. The men then looted the room and sealed off the cave as they left. "Gods, why does everything happen to me?" he wondered out loud when he thought on those events. The next month passed and a band of Frost Trolls stole seven heads of his best cattle and slaughtered them. The Thane saw this and was angry and considered letting his slave herdsmen carry spears to keep off raiding trolls. He gathered his slave herdsmen. "I trust you and I don't trust the Orcs or the Trolls. I am giving you spears to counter-attack the Frost Trolls if they attack my cattle. You have to give me the spears on a nightly basis." said the Thane. The herdsmen nodded. He also gave them a horn to use to alert the warriors in case of an attack on the cattle. A week went by and the horn didn't sound. The huscarls went to investigate. They saw that the slaves had killed their share of Frost Trolls and had been tossing their bodies in a burn pit. "Good work!" said the Thane to the herdsmen and he went back to his business.
More to Come!!!!!
The hailstones came down on the helmet of Kjarten, making a loud noise even worse than it had to be and it seemed the Kjarten would go deaf. Thane Kjarten and thirteen of his best warriors were chasing a rebel Frost Orc called Jaiir the Sneak. He had been burning down barns and killing livestock in the surrounding valleys for several years. That Orc was a smart one and was more destructive than ten of them combined. At times, Thane Kjarten felt that he and his men were chasing a ghost. "He is doubling back on his prints!" he said to his warriors. "Look how deep the prints are." he said, pointing at the Orc prints in the snow. "Turn around." he said and they headed the other direction until someone felt something brush against them. The warriors quizzed each other but no-one had bumped into each other. "He is wearing a cloak of invisibility." said the Thane. "Everyone wave your shields at the prints." said the Thane. The warriors did and Olsa hit something. Olsa quickly drew his sword and stabbed the invisible Frost Orc. The enchantment turned off and the rebel Orc fell dead to the snow. "You get the bounty!" said the Thane. The warrior lifted his sword in the air in celebration. The hail started back up again. "You made the gods angry at your celebration." joked a warrior to Olsa. It began to snow and the men returned to the Hall, five miles away. "It was a good hunt." said the men as they put away their armor and cloaks. "At least the rebel is dead." said the Thane. "Only if things appeared as they seemed." said a voice in the Hall. "Who was that?" said the Thane, angry that some magic user had entered his Hall. "And so you chase after invisible Orcs and did you check if they are actually real? Ha, hahahaha!" and the invisible mage teleported out. "So we are dealing with a mage! Probably some worshipper of the Dark gods!" said the Thane. "Anyone who can kill that mage gets 10,000 guilder!" said the Thane.
The Dark Mage returned to his loft in the slave village. He didn't like the Thane and he intended to wear out the Thane before he made his final move. He had been Dark Mage in his homeland before he was captured but since the Vyir were killing mages, he pretended to be a serf. He didn't feel any kinship with his fellow slaves, they were just objects to be used and thrown away, he thought. The real goal in life was power and lots of it. He figured he could transform himself into the Thane using a perminent enchantment and then kill his way to the top and then become High Yarl so he could lead the Vyir to their deaths. He had it all planned out. Fortunately a slave woman had been watching his movements and told the Thane. "So! A Kelti dog of a mage hides in my village? I'll set a trap for him!" said the Thane. "Bring him to the Hall and tell him that I called him to give him his freedom." said the Thane to the slave woman. She nodded and left to tell the Dark Mage. The Mage suspected nothing, he thought that the Thane was weakening in his will. He presented himself before the Thane in his simple slave clothes. "So! You wish to become a freedman! You shall have it!" said the Thane. The Thane nodded and the Kelti Elder came behind the Mage and stabbed him in the back with a longsword. The point came out of the front of the Dark Mage and the Elder withdrew the sword and the Dark Mage fell to the ground dead. "Burn his body and scatter his ashes. We don't want his demon soul latching onto anything here." commanded the Thane. The demon soul of the sorcerer entered into a nearby sword and it began to gleam. One of the warriors noticed the gleaming sword and not knowing anything about enchanted swords, picked it up and claimed it as his own and paid the Thane for the sword. "Fine, have it." said the distracted Thane, not knowing that the sword was possessed by a demon soul. The warrior carried it back to his hut and greeted his wife. She seemed to turn into an Orc and he panicked and killed her. His children too turned into Orcs before his eyes and he killed them as well. He dropped the sword and the bodies changed back to human, right before his eyes. He screamed and fled the Hall grounds. He wept as he ran and he drew his short sword and fell on it. A huscarl heard the scream and went to see what had happened. He checked the road and saw the dead body, then he went to see the man's hut and saw the man's dead family. He spied the glowing sword and put together the events in his head. "This sword is cursed." he said out loud to the other huscarls who rushed to the scene. He went to the Priest of the Hall and the Priest took the sword to the Thane and explained everything the huscarl and seen and had figured out. "We need to destroy this sword." said the Priest. The Priest scattered some ashes onto the pommel of the sword chanting "Ashe Zu Ashe" and the demon soul screamed and came out of the sword. The ghost of the evil mage appeared before the Priest and the Priest quickly pulled out a silver sword and slew the demon soul. "Ashe Zu Ashe!" he chanted and the demon soul screamed again and turned into a pile of ashes. "The evil mage is finally gone!" said the Priest. The Hall went back to it's normal business.
Chapter Two
A band of raiding Frost Orcs came to the hall and set it on fire as everyone slept and everyone had to either run or be carried out of the Hall as it burnt to the ground. "Our armor was in there!" said a warrior. "Fine. We can run to the next Hall and borrow some armor off the Thane there, he is my cousin." said Thane Kjarten. The Thane left his boys and wife with one of the women in the warriors village and the men ran all night to the Hall of his cousin, Thane Snorborri. The raiding Orcs attacked the defenseless men but they punched and kicked the Orcs and got their weapons off them and killed the Orcs with their own weapons. The men ran to the Hall and pounded on the door. "What cousin, is this some new prank you've devised? Run half-naked in the winter wearing Orc clothing and wielding Orc weapons? I admit I am almost laughing." said Thane Snorborri. "No cousin, the damn Orcs tried to burn me and my men alive in the Hall." said Thane Kjarten. "Come in, we'll host you until we can get your Hall rebuilt." said Thane Snorborri. The Thane and his men stayed for a month with his cousin while he had sent for carpenters to build him a new Hall. He had the new Hall built larger and better defended than the last Hall and he added a stone ringwall around the Hall grounds and four watchtowers built, and the huscarls manned these new watchtowers on shifts throughout the day and night. He learned that there was a band of Frost Orcs literally hiding in a large cave under his Hall from one of his scouts. He and his men armed and armored up and went to go find the cave entrance. They entered the cave and killed several Ice Trolls within and finally came to a wall with a door. They busted in the door and surprised the Frost Orcs within and killed all of them after a quick but fierce battle. The men then looted the room and sealed off the cave as they left. "Gods, why does everything happen to me?" he wondered out loud when he thought on those events. The next month passed and a band of Frost Trolls stole seven heads of his best cattle and slaughtered them. The Thane saw this and was angry and considered letting his slave herdsmen carry spears to keep off raiding trolls. He gathered his slave herdsmen. "I trust you and I don't trust the Orcs or the Trolls. I am giving you spears to counter-attack the Frost Trolls if they attack my cattle. You have to give me the spears on a nightly basis." said the Thane. The herdsmen nodded. He also gave them a horn to use to alert the warriors in case of an attack on the cattle. A week went by and the horn didn't sound. The huscarls went to investigate. They saw that the slaves had killed their share of Frost Trolls and had been tossing their bodies in a burn pit. "Good work!" said the Thane to the herdsmen and he went back to his business.
More to Come!!!!!
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Vyirlundia and Nordlandia Lore: The End of the Venetian Empire and etc
"The slothful Venetians overextended their Empire and fell into the outstretched hands of the Nords." -Gaius Maximus Ambjornsen. "The End of Time" Volume One.
The throne of Venetia and the Throne of Nordlandia was already related by blood and when the final War of the Generals wiped out the last of the Venetian Imperial Family, the crown reverted to the High King of Nordlandia. The only thing that the Venetians didn't count on was the Nord High King completely reorganizing the Venetian Empire into feudal baronies. When the Venetians learned that they were in the hands of their old enemy, they rallied to General Magnus Gaius Sophater and fought the Nord Army at Olsburg pass. The Venetian Army was finally defeated and the Nord Yarl marched into the Venetian Empire, razing all the cities, aqueducts, forts and towns. He named named 500 Thanes to be Barons and ordered them to divide the Empire amongst themselves. They did, building Castles and capturing Venetians and other native ethnic groups to work as slaves on the Nord manors. The 500 baronies grew to 1,000 baronies and the barons ended the Nord Kaiser-Reich after 200 years and fifteen Nord Kingdoms arose. After 300 years, the dream of reuniting the Empire came again and the Nord Kings (including the ones in Nordlandia) met at Amagdaburg and formed the Second Nordic Empire with King Amandus Anfredsen elected Kaiser. The Duchy of Dufronduc, far to the south, the most Venetian of all the realms, went on a rampage and conquered seven Nord Kingdoms before being stopped by the Kingdom of Nordmark. The Dufronduc Kingdoms then united under one King and renamed their Kingdom Allamange. Vyirlundia adopted a modern national army and the thanes and Yarls released their retainers. The Yarls and the Thanes were made Earls and Vyirlundia was strengthened against their Nord neighbors to the south. The Allamange King sent his barons against the remaining Nord Kingdoms within the Nord Empire and conquered them, all except Nordmark. Thus was ended the second Nord Empire. the King of Allamange declared himself Emperor of Allamange. Nordmark, being a close neighbor and ally of Vyirlundia, accepted annexation into Vyirlundia and Allamange became her southern neighbor. The Orcs had a major empire on the Western Continent and began to send raiders to harry the Allamange Empire. The King of Vyirlundia sent his new Navy against the Orc raiders and defeated them, sending them fleeing back to the Western Continent. The Vyir had several footholds on the Western Continent but the Orcs kept razing their colonization attempts. A resurgence in the Orcs was a thing to be feared indeed! The Emperor of Allamange and the King of Vyirlundia met and made a peace treaty and combined forces against the Orcs. Their Navies fought the Orc fleet in the Great Ocean and the Allied Fleet smashed the primitive Orcish Fleet. The Vyirlunders began to probe the coasts of the Western Continent and established a Barony in the Northwest with 1,000 Vyir and Nord settlers and one ambitious Prince. The Western Continent was inhabited by Wood Elves and Orcs, neither side loved each other but both despised the humans. The Wood Elves broke with the High Elves to the East and the Wood elves briefly joined the Orcs against the humans until it became clear that the Orcs intended to enslave the Wood Elves. The Wood Elves, under their Speaker of the Stars, joined forces with Allamange and Vyirlundia against the Orcs. The Orcs sent thousands of troops into the Barony of Prince Randolf (Prince Randolf's Land) but the Vyir and the Allamange resisted the Orcs attempts to kick them off the Western Continent. The Musketeers and Cannoneers of the Provincial Army proved to be a match for the Orcs bashers and maulers. The Allamange Empire set up a colony to the far south (Prince Percey's Land) and used that as a base to push the Orcs back.
End of Lore for now!
The throne of Venetia and the Throne of Nordlandia was already related by blood and when the final War of the Generals wiped out the last of the Venetian Imperial Family, the crown reverted to the High King of Nordlandia. The only thing that the Venetians didn't count on was the Nord High King completely reorganizing the Venetian Empire into feudal baronies. When the Venetians learned that they were in the hands of their old enemy, they rallied to General Magnus Gaius Sophater and fought the Nord Army at Olsburg pass. The Venetian Army was finally defeated and the Nord Yarl marched into the Venetian Empire, razing all the cities, aqueducts, forts and towns. He named named 500 Thanes to be Barons and ordered them to divide the Empire amongst themselves. They did, building Castles and capturing Venetians and other native ethnic groups to work as slaves on the Nord manors. The 500 baronies grew to 1,000 baronies and the barons ended the Nord Kaiser-Reich after 200 years and fifteen Nord Kingdoms arose. After 300 years, the dream of reuniting the Empire came again and the Nord Kings (including the ones in Nordlandia) met at Amagdaburg and formed the Second Nordic Empire with King Amandus Anfredsen elected Kaiser. The Duchy of Dufronduc, far to the south, the most Venetian of all the realms, went on a rampage and conquered seven Nord Kingdoms before being stopped by the Kingdom of Nordmark. The Dufronduc Kingdoms then united under one King and renamed their Kingdom Allamange. Vyirlundia adopted a modern national army and the thanes and Yarls released their retainers. The Yarls and the Thanes were made Earls and Vyirlundia was strengthened against their Nord neighbors to the south. The Allamange King sent his barons against the remaining Nord Kingdoms within the Nord Empire and conquered them, all except Nordmark. Thus was ended the second Nord Empire. the King of Allamange declared himself Emperor of Allamange. Nordmark, being a close neighbor and ally of Vyirlundia, accepted annexation into Vyirlundia and Allamange became her southern neighbor. The Orcs had a major empire on the Western Continent and began to send raiders to harry the Allamange Empire. The King of Vyirlundia sent his new Navy against the Orc raiders and defeated them, sending them fleeing back to the Western Continent. The Vyir had several footholds on the Western Continent but the Orcs kept razing their colonization attempts. A resurgence in the Orcs was a thing to be feared indeed! The Emperor of Allamange and the King of Vyirlundia met and made a peace treaty and combined forces against the Orcs. Their Navies fought the Orc fleet in the Great Ocean and the Allied Fleet smashed the primitive Orcish Fleet. The Vyirlunders began to probe the coasts of the Western Continent and established a Barony in the Northwest with 1,000 Vyir and Nord settlers and one ambitious Prince. The Western Continent was inhabited by Wood Elves and Orcs, neither side loved each other but both despised the humans. The Wood Elves broke with the High Elves to the East and the Wood elves briefly joined the Orcs against the humans until it became clear that the Orcs intended to enslave the Wood Elves. The Wood Elves, under their Speaker of the Stars, joined forces with Allamange and Vyirlundia against the Orcs. The Orcs sent thousands of troops into the Barony of Prince Randolf (Prince Randolf's Land) but the Vyir and the Allamange resisted the Orcs attempts to kick them off the Western Continent. The Musketeers and Cannoneers of the Provincial Army proved to be a match for the Orcs bashers and maulers. The Allamange Empire set up a colony to the far south (Prince Percey's Land) and used that as a base to push the Orcs back.
End of Lore for now!
The Holy Paladins of the Vyir: The Beginnings.
Chapter One
It was raining, hard. The hailstones came down fast and thick and the Battle-Priest cursed his misfortune as he pounded the door-knocker at the Great Hall in Olmsborg. "Come in." said a Royal Huscarl. The door opened and he came in and was given a towel by a slave. He dried himself off as he rehearsed what he was going to say to High Yarl Ingvaldbjorn Amundsen. The High Yarl was on the Dragon-Throne and the Battle-Priest came forward. "Your Excellency, I have returned from the Kaiser-Reich and your cousin the Kaiser wishes you the best." said Alarik Alariksen the Battle Priest. "Go on." said the High Yarl. "I saw a unit of mounted Priests in action called 'Paladins' they were able to do so much more than our own Battle Priests. I am convinced that if we had an Order of Paladins up here, our battles wouldn't be so protracted." said the Battle Priest. "Our warriors are the best in the world, why do we need another kind of warrior?" asked the High Yarl. "Demons have been entering the world and only the Paladins know how to repel them." said Alarik. "Good enough, you go south to the Kaiser-Reich of the Nords and bring up a leader of theirs to train our Battle-Priests into Paladins." said the High Yarl. Alarik bowed and saluted and left the Hall to join his comrades in their Hall for much needed food and rest.
Chapter Two.
Alarik Alariksen and Anathon Anathonsen took a dragon-ship down to the Nord Kaiser-Reich and docked at Aldorburg and they traveled inland to the Great Paladin Monastery at Analiusburg, which was shared by the "Holy Hand of the Light" and "The Holy Order of the Light", two closely allied Paladin orders. The roads of the former Venetian Empire were still in good condition but the Nords had torn down all the cities and aqueducts to build their Castles and Halls. Even Venetia, which had once been the queen city of the whole world, was a Nord city of wattle and daub buildings, and a Nord Castle. The Temple of the Light was the last building remaining from the Venetian Empire, except for the Venetian Palace, which was the seat of Kaiser Alberkt Alansen Magnus the First. The Paladin Cathedral was a new structure and an engineering marvel, a cross between a Nord Stave Temple and a Venetian Temple. The men rode in and saluted the Archethnarch of the Orders. "Hail! Julius Varian Gaius Ammanuelsen the Third!" they said. The Archethnarch father was a Nord Baron and a Venetain noble woman, making him very powerful with both ethnic groups. "Hail to you!" said the Archethnarch as he saluted. "I come to establish an Order within the boundaries of Vyirlundia." said Alarik to the Archethnarch. The Archethnarch smiled. "Come to our hall and dine with us after prayers and Mass." said the Archethnarch. "Why do you Nords and Venetians believe that the High God is the only God to be worshipped?" asked Alarik to the Archethnarch. "The last Ethnarch of all men commanded men that the High God dismissed all of the minor gods and he is now in charge. That is the long and the short of it. The Dark gods oppose the will of the High God but they cannot win, so long as we continue to be faithful to the Light." said the Archethnarch. "That would be a hard doctrine for the Vyir to accept." said Alarik. "If a Yarl made himself the high overlord of all and made the other Yarls into Earls, who would object?" said the Archethnarch. "The Vyir all have statues of the god of war in their right pockets, if they heard that the god of war was powerless, who knows what would happen." said Alarik. "Just tell them that the High God has assumed that office and they are to trust only in the High God." said the Archethnarch. "You know that I secretly accepted rebaptism from you, but my baptism is not yet an open matter in Vyirlundia." said Alarik. The men entered the building and they passed the monks who were busy copying the texts of the last High Ethnarch's commandments. There where twelve books in total of the holy codex. "Our order is not only a fighting Order, we also spread the Word of the New Way to every corner of the world with our missionaries and scribes." said the Archethnarch as he pointed at the scribes busy at their work. The men came to the Office and sat down. "I can send you Brother Xaiver Timotheus." said the Archethnarch. "He will come with three scribes and three missionaries and they will talk with your High Priest. I have met the man, he has an open heart and I am sure that the native Priesthood will convert the land to the New Way." said the Archethnarch. "He will also train all converts interested in becoming Paladins. Shall we celebrate Mass?" asked the Archethnarch. The men went to the chapel and celebrated the Mass of the High God, chanting the Mass in Latini.
Chapter Three.
Alarik Alariksen and Anathon Anathonsen returned to the Great Hall in Olmsburg with the seven brothers. The High Yarl heard of the New Way and accepted baptism. The High Priest came to visit and after hearing of the New Way, accepted baptism. "So Brother Ultherhed, you may choose a new name." said Brother Xaiver Timotheus. "I shall be named Brother Ambrose, after one of the Twelve followers of the late Ethnarch." said the High Priest. "I will reform the Temple according to the new pattern." said the High Priest. "Excellent, make sure that all the Priests receive baptism and choose Bishops and Arch Bishops from amongst them." said Brother Xaiver. "The Holy Subethnarch will receive them at his chapel in Antonburg." said another brother. "So, the yearly sacrifice of the atonement is out?" said the High Priest. "Replaced with the weekly Mass. You will need to erect new Cathedrals and churches in order to bring the change fully into effect." said another brother. "So we tear down the Temples then." said Brother Ambrose. "Yes, the only Temple left, and we call it a Cathedral now to conform with the new doctrine, is in Venetia." said a brother.
Chapter Four.
Priest Andolf Andolfsen heard of the radical change and prayed to the gods of the Light. "It is indeed true." said the White Wolf to him in a vision. "The High God has exiled all the gods from his sight because they became compromised by the darkness." and his dream ended and he told his vision to the other Priests. "By the gods, this is an artifice of men!" said an angry Priest, Aldrik Aldriksen. "I shall continue to lead the people in the ways of the gods." he said. The other priests warned him to repent and Brother Andolf, having received baptism, threw Aldrik out of the Priesthood. "Return home in shame you brother of bandits and Orcs!" he said harshly. Aldrik drew a sword and almost slew the Priests but could not because of their Light. Priest Aldrik went all over Vyirlundia preaching that the gods would never abandon them, and soon the Vyir became split between the false preacher and the true preachers. More and more Vyir accepted baptism and finally even Aldrik was baptised and repented his former rebellion. The way was finally clear for the tearing down of all the Temples and the building of Cathedrals and churches. Everyone adopted the new symbol of the New Way and in a ceremony the Archbishop of Olmsburg released all of the White Rams from their enclosures at the old Temple. The people sang a hymn and received Mass. The new Paladin order was established at Olmsburg with 100 mounted Paladins.
Chapter Five.
The warriors and the Thanes were somewhat confused and resistant to the sudden change. Many still held to their pocket idols but change slowly came as more and more warriors and Thanes accepted baptism and agreed to not make marks on their body and to shave their heads and their beards. Churches were built in every slave village and as a part of the New Way, the slaves were all manumitted. The Kelti remained and agreed to assimilate into Vyir society. A few isolated Halls held out but after 70 years, they too converted. A huge change was that the latini alphabet and language replaced the Vyir runes for official business. The Orcs dared not to attack the Vyir now and only did occasional raids and forays into Vyirlundia. The Vyir Paladins focused on fighting the new threat: Demons portalling in from Undergard. A demonic Army of 1,000 demons led by a Dark Priest named Janus Ithicir marched on a number of towns in Nordlandia and razed them to the ground. The Paladin Orders rode in and defeated them in a massive battle at Anthon's Field. The Dark Priest was caught and executed and his body burned to ashes. The few Kelti and Nords that had refused baptism turned to the Dark gods and began to erect chapels to them in the wilds and set up a Dark Temple, deep within a mountain, replete with a Dark Sacrament and a Dark High Priest. The Dark High Priest then wrote down all the insane thoughts of the Dark gods and sent his missionaries to the wealthy and the powerful to lure them into the darkness.
Chapter Six.
"There is an active opposition. The Dark Temple seeks our destruction." said Brother Xaiver to the Subethnarch. "Send the Paladin Orders, destroy the worshippers of evil." said the Subethnarch. "As you Command your lordship." said Brother Xaiver. Brother Xaiver went north to Vyirlundia to speak with the Vyir Chapter of the Holy Hand of the Light. "I am not sure of your report. My mind seems clouded as of late." said Andar Andarsen, the Archethnarch of the Order. "Go gather more evidence and we will move then." he said to Brother Xaiver and went back to sleep. Brother Xaiver took a look around the Monastery and saw Paladins either missing, not in prayer, off drinking or otherwise arguing with each other over trival matters. "Oh my, this is serious." he said to himself as he left the Monastery. The White Wolf came to Brother Alarik in a dream. "The enemy has sapped your Paladins! Go and quickly bring in Paladins from the south to confront the Dark Archpriest Arvandius! He hides in the mountain named for Thane Albergsen." said the White Wolf and the dream ended. He quickly saddled a horse and rode to the Nord Kaiser-Reich and rode to all the Orders, compelling them to join him. All the Archethnarchs agreed and 5,000 Holy Paladins rode north into Vyirlundia to meet the enemy. 200 Wilderness Priests of the New Way joined the Paladins, their ministry was that of tearing down the shires to the gods of the Darkness and ripping down idols of every sort. They came to the tunnel entrance of the Dark High Temple. The Dark Priests poured out of the tunnel with their golems. The battle began in earnest. The Light and the Darkness surged until finally all of the Dark Priests lay dead on the ground. The Paladins and Priests entered into the mountain to confront the evil High Priest of the Dark gods but he portalled out. The Paladins and Priests left the mountain and ordered engineers to cave in the tunnel. They did and the Dark Priesthood never came back.
Prologue.
Over the proceeding years, the Paladins in Vyirlundia reformed and became a vital part of the war against the darkness. Demons invaded from different portals but were always beaten back by the Paladins.
The End.
It was raining, hard. The hailstones came down fast and thick and the Battle-Priest cursed his misfortune as he pounded the door-knocker at the Great Hall in Olmsborg. "Come in." said a Royal Huscarl. The door opened and he came in and was given a towel by a slave. He dried himself off as he rehearsed what he was going to say to High Yarl Ingvaldbjorn Amundsen. The High Yarl was on the Dragon-Throne and the Battle-Priest came forward. "Your Excellency, I have returned from the Kaiser-Reich and your cousin the Kaiser wishes you the best." said Alarik Alariksen the Battle Priest. "Go on." said the High Yarl. "I saw a unit of mounted Priests in action called 'Paladins' they were able to do so much more than our own Battle Priests. I am convinced that if we had an Order of Paladins up here, our battles wouldn't be so protracted." said the Battle Priest. "Our warriors are the best in the world, why do we need another kind of warrior?" asked the High Yarl. "Demons have been entering the world and only the Paladins know how to repel them." said Alarik. "Good enough, you go south to the Kaiser-Reich of the Nords and bring up a leader of theirs to train our Battle-Priests into Paladins." said the High Yarl. Alarik bowed and saluted and left the Hall to join his comrades in their Hall for much needed food and rest.
Chapter Two.
Alarik Alariksen and Anathon Anathonsen took a dragon-ship down to the Nord Kaiser-Reich and docked at Aldorburg and they traveled inland to the Great Paladin Monastery at Analiusburg, which was shared by the "Holy Hand of the Light" and "The Holy Order of the Light", two closely allied Paladin orders. The roads of the former Venetian Empire were still in good condition but the Nords had torn down all the cities and aqueducts to build their Castles and Halls. Even Venetia, which had once been the queen city of the whole world, was a Nord city of wattle and daub buildings, and a Nord Castle. The Temple of the Light was the last building remaining from the Venetian Empire, except for the Venetian Palace, which was the seat of Kaiser Alberkt Alansen Magnus the First. The Paladin Cathedral was a new structure and an engineering marvel, a cross between a Nord Stave Temple and a Venetian Temple. The men rode in and saluted the Archethnarch of the Orders. "Hail! Julius Varian Gaius Ammanuelsen the Third!" they said. The Archethnarch father was a Nord Baron and a Venetain noble woman, making him very powerful with both ethnic groups. "Hail to you!" said the Archethnarch as he saluted. "I come to establish an Order within the boundaries of Vyirlundia." said Alarik to the Archethnarch. The Archethnarch smiled. "Come to our hall and dine with us after prayers and Mass." said the Archethnarch. "Why do you Nords and Venetians believe that the High God is the only God to be worshipped?" asked Alarik to the Archethnarch. "The last Ethnarch of all men commanded men that the High God dismissed all of the minor gods and he is now in charge. That is the long and the short of it. The Dark gods oppose the will of the High God but they cannot win, so long as we continue to be faithful to the Light." said the Archethnarch. "That would be a hard doctrine for the Vyir to accept." said Alarik. "If a Yarl made himself the high overlord of all and made the other Yarls into Earls, who would object?" said the Archethnarch. "The Vyir all have statues of the god of war in their right pockets, if they heard that the god of war was powerless, who knows what would happen." said Alarik. "Just tell them that the High God has assumed that office and they are to trust only in the High God." said the Archethnarch. "You know that I secretly accepted rebaptism from you, but my baptism is not yet an open matter in Vyirlundia." said Alarik. The men entered the building and they passed the monks who were busy copying the texts of the last High Ethnarch's commandments. There where twelve books in total of the holy codex. "Our order is not only a fighting Order, we also spread the Word of the New Way to every corner of the world with our missionaries and scribes." said the Archethnarch as he pointed at the scribes busy at their work. The men came to the Office and sat down. "I can send you Brother Xaiver Timotheus." said the Archethnarch. "He will come with three scribes and three missionaries and they will talk with your High Priest. I have met the man, he has an open heart and I am sure that the native Priesthood will convert the land to the New Way." said the Archethnarch. "He will also train all converts interested in becoming Paladins. Shall we celebrate Mass?" asked the Archethnarch. The men went to the chapel and celebrated the Mass of the High God, chanting the Mass in Latini.
Chapter Three.
Alarik Alariksen and Anathon Anathonsen returned to the Great Hall in Olmsburg with the seven brothers. The High Yarl heard of the New Way and accepted baptism. The High Priest came to visit and after hearing of the New Way, accepted baptism. "So Brother Ultherhed, you may choose a new name." said Brother Xaiver Timotheus. "I shall be named Brother Ambrose, after one of the Twelve followers of the late Ethnarch." said the High Priest. "I will reform the Temple according to the new pattern." said the High Priest. "Excellent, make sure that all the Priests receive baptism and choose Bishops and Arch Bishops from amongst them." said Brother Xaiver. "The Holy Subethnarch will receive them at his chapel in Antonburg." said another brother. "So, the yearly sacrifice of the atonement is out?" said the High Priest. "Replaced with the weekly Mass. You will need to erect new Cathedrals and churches in order to bring the change fully into effect." said another brother. "So we tear down the Temples then." said Brother Ambrose. "Yes, the only Temple left, and we call it a Cathedral now to conform with the new doctrine, is in Venetia." said a brother.
Chapter Four.
Priest Andolf Andolfsen heard of the radical change and prayed to the gods of the Light. "It is indeed true." said the White Wolf to him in a vision. "The High God has exiled all the gods from his sight because they became compromised by the darkness." and his dream ended and he told his vision to the other Priests. "By the gods, this is an artifice of men!" said an angry Priest, Aldrik Aldriksen. "I shall continue to lead the people in the ways of the gods." he said. The other priests warned him to repent and Brother Andolf, having received baptism, threw Aldrik out of the Priesthood. "Return home in shame you brother of bandits and Orcs!" he said harshly. Aldrik drew a sword and almost slew the Priests but could not because of their Light. Priest Aldrik went all over Vyirlundia preaching that the gods would never abandon them, and soon the Vyir became split between the false preacher and the true preachers. More and more Vyir accepted baptism and finally even Aldrik was baptised and repented his former rebellion. The way was finally clear for the tearing down of all the Temples and the building of Cathedrals and churches. Everyone adopted the new symbol of the New Way and in a ceremony the Archbishop of Olmsburg released all of the White Rams from their enclosures at the old Temple. The people sang a hymn and received Mass. The new Paladin order was established at Olmsburg with 100 mounted Paladins.
Chapter Five.
The warriors and the Thanes were somewhat confused and resistant to the sudden change. Many still held to their pocket idols but change slowly came as more and more warriors and Thanes accepted baptism and agreed to not make marks on their body and to shave their heads and their beards. Churches were built in every slave village and as a part of the New Way, the slaves were all manumitted. The Kelti remained and agreed to assimilate into Vyir society. A few isolated Halls held out but after 70 years, they too converted. A huge change was that the latini alphabet and language replaced the Vyir runes for official business. The Orcs dared not to attack the Vyir now and only did occasional raids and forays into Vyirlundia. The Vyir Paladins focused on fighting the new threat: Demons portalling in from Undergard. A demonic Army of 1,000 demons led by a Dark Priest named Janus Ithicir marched on a number of towns in Nordlandia and razed them to the ground. The Paladin Orders rode in and defeated them in a massive battle at Anthon's Field. The Dark Priest was caught and executed and his body burned to ashes. The few Kelti and Nords that had refused baptism turned to the Dark gods and began to erect chapels to them in the wilds and set up a Dark Temple, deep within a mountain, replete with a Dark Sacrament and a Dark High Priest. The Dark High Priest then wrote down all the insane thoughts of the Dark gods and sent his missionaries to the wealthy and the powerful to lure them into the darkness.
Chapter Six.
"There is an active opposition. The Dark Temple seeks our destruction." said Brother Xaiver to the Subethnarch. "Send the Paladin Orders, destroy the worshippers of evil." said the Subethnarch. "As you Command your lordship." said Brother Xaiver. Brother Xaiver went north to Vyirlundia to speak with the Vyir Chapter of the Holy Hand of the Light. "I am not sure of your report. My mind seems clouded as of late." said Andar Andarsen, the Archethnarch of the Order. "Go gather more evidence and we will move then." he said to Brother Xaiver and went back to sleep. Brother Xaiver took a look around the Monastery and saw Paladins either missing, not in prayer, off drinking or otherwise arguing with each other over trival matters. "Oh my, this is serious." he said to himself as he left the Monastery. The White Wolf came to Brother Alarik in a dream. "The enemy has sapped your Paladins! Go and quickly bring in Paladins from the south to confront the Dark Archpriest Arvandius! He hides in the mountain named for Thane Albergsen." said the White Wolf and the dream ended. He quickly saddled a horse and rode to the Nord Kaiser-Reich and rode to all the Orders, compelling them to join him. All the Archethnarchs agreed and 5,000 Holy Paladins rode north into Vyirlundia to meet the enemy. 200 Wilderness Priests of the New Way joined the Paladins, their ministry was that of tearing down the shires to the gods of the Darkness and ripping down idols of every sort. They came to the tunnel entrance of the Dark High Temple. The Dark Priests poured out of the tunnel with their golems. The battle began in earnest. The Light and the Darkness surged until finally all of the Dark Priests lay dead on the ground. The Paladins and Priests entered into the mountain to confront the evil High Priest of the Dark gods but he portalled out. The Paladins and Priests left the mountain and ordered engineers to cave in the tunnel. They did and the Dark Priesthood never came back.
Prologue.
Over the proceeding years, the Paladins in Vyirlundia reformed and became a vital part of the war against the darkness. Demons invaded from different portals but were always beaten back by the Paladins.
The End.
Saga of the Vyir: Dagfinnur Fanngeirsen the Troll-Killer
Chapter One
The Thane and his men were in their beds, sleeping off their drinking session, when little Dagfinnur Fanngeirsen heard the Orcs bang at the door and burst into the room. He wasted no time in defending the Hall, he ran over the the weapons rack and before the Orcs could do anything, he was under them and slashed their bellies wide open and killed the invaders. The men woke up and saw the Orc corpses by the shivering ten-year old. "By the gods! You saved us!" said the Thane when he saw what had transpired. "But we'll have to fix the door." said the Thane and the men labored throughout the night to fix the door and they added extra bolts to the door to keep the Orcs out. The ten-year old gave suggestions as to what would keep the Orcs from busting down the door again and they followed his suggestions. "You are the future Thane." said the Thane to his ten-year old son on that night. Several years later, Dagfinnur took his wilderness trial and went deep into the wilds and set up his lean-to by a stand of giant ceders. The area was well-known to him, he and his brothers had played in the area in times past, there was a narrow slot canyon with a swift river thirty feet bellow and there was only one area it could be crossed, at a log that was felled over the narrowest point, however a storm had swept away this log and now it was a chasm that could be jumped only by the bravest warrior. He backed up and ran at the chasm and jumped, easily cleared the dangerous void and landed on the other side. He walked to a cave and looked inside for anything useful. He saw remains of a campfire and nothing else. He walked up a steep hill and came to a cairn of bones and he saw that they were human bones, and the bite marks where fresh. "Ice Trolls!" he whispered. He quickly drew his sword and looked around for an Ice Troll and heard a grunting bellow the cliff. He saw that two Ice Trolls were eating one Nord and another was sitting in a wicker cage. He drew his bow and arrow and shot both of the Ice Trolls dead and freed the other Nord. "By the gods! I thought I was a goner for sure!" said the Nord. The Nord ran off without saying "thank you" and the rest of the wilderness trial went smoothly after that. He passed and saw his first battle a year later. 600 Orcs tried to cross the mountains to attack the Hall so the Thane and his 100 warriors walked up the mountain and flanked them from behind and scattered them so it was easy to kill the fleeing Orcs. Dagfinnur killed 50 Orcs that day. He decided to become a freebooter since the 20 year lull in the war had began.
Chapter Two.
Dagfinnur and Elvar the Left-handed rode down to Nordlandia as freebooters with the intent of making themselves rich by collecting bounties. They established themselves in the Hold Capitol in a bunkhouse and rode out daily to the Royal Hall, looking for bounties to fill. They didn't have much success at it, since the bandits kept running away from their camps. They left Nordlandia and went to the coast of Vyirlundia and asked if any Captains were leading raids into the Kelti Kingdoms. They found the fishing town of Edvinborg whose dragon ships outnumbered it's fishing ships. They spoke with several Captains on the dockside and Sea-thane Eyvaldur Eyvaldursen took them on as raiders. Rowing the dragon-ship out to where the winds could be used was hard work but Dagfinnur was no stranger to hard work and toil. The men unfurled the sails and they sailed around the Continent to the Kelti domain and sailed up the Ardan River and reached the summer fort where the raiding bands were gathered under a common banner. "This is Aeolwulf's Fort, a Nord built this and named it. We have a hall and barracks within. Aeolwulf himself is the lord of this place. In return for his hosting us, he gets 10% of the loot gained in raids. He also gets 2% of the slaves taken. Also this is the biggest slave market on the Continent." said the Sea-thane to his men. King Coineach even pays us millions in gold to "go away" and we play along and then we start up the raids again." said the Sea-thane to the men. The whole Castle was built of local stone and was built in a way that kept attackers from taking the Castle. The first raid was a settlement up the river called Kian. The Sea-Thanes and their crews rowed the ships up the river and waited till the twilight hour to attack the town. The Vyir and Nords fell on the town with screams of bloody murder and the villagers were scattered while the Vyir and Nords plundered the town. Some of the Vyir men kept the townsfolk under watch in a nearby building while the raiders took everything. Then the Vyir looked at the men and women and took only the strongest of them as slaves and left the rest. "I suspect the King will have an army to the area soon." said a Sea-thane. They loaded up the loot and plunder and the slaves into the Dragon-ships and sailed down back to the Castle. "The raids are daily, some men choose to take a rest at the Fort but there is money to be had lads!" said the Sea-thane. The men cheered at that and after a week of non-stop raiding, Dagfinnur had enough gold and silver to pay a dowry. The Sea-thane heard of his request to return to Vyirlundia and he loaded his Dragon-ship with slaves and the men returned to Vyirlundia. Dag got 12% off the sale of each slave and he walked away a fairly wealthy man. He rode a new pony down to his Hall only to discover that the Hall had been burned down and his father was dead and his retainers had been scattered. Even the Kelti slaves had run away and the only inhabitants were the cows and bulls in the fields, getting fat and increasing in number daily. He rode to the Yarl to secure his title and once that was confirmed, he rode back to the farm with some newly captured slaves and rebuilt the Hall and the Barn. He rode off to the nearby Thane Aeolborger and asked for the hand of Gunhilda Aeolborgersdottir and after paying the dowry, they were married at the Temple in the nearby Hold. 200 men heard that the Hall had been rebuilt and the Thane had returned and they came to swear fealty to him and to fight his battles. Since the Frost Orcs had all but left the peninsula for the core of the Orcish Empire, the only fighting to be done was against the Frost Trolls, who built scores of village forts all over the land, hoping to reclaim what was once their Kingdom. A typical Frost troll village consisted of ten large wooden halls surrounded by a wooden pallisade, the inside of the palisade had four watch-towers with drums in them for the watchers to alarm the trolls inside of the village that the humans (or Orcs) were coming. The Frost Trolls did not use metals but instead used stone and wood to make their weapons. They wore necklaces of skulls and often had huge cairns of bones in the middle of their villages, both Orc and human. The Thanes and their armies would rain down oil-tipped lighted arrows on the villages and let the trolls burn to death within their villages. The few that escaped would be slaughtered by the Vyir Warriors. Thane Dagfinnur led his warriors in burning down fifty such villages and when not killing the Frost Trolls, they would hunt down and slaughter the Ice Trolls, the dumb cousins of the Frost Trolls. The Frost Trolls were known for collecting gold and silver coins to make into necklaces and the Thane and his men looted five million guilders in gold from the Frost Trolls. After three years, the Frost Trolls were gone from the Yarl's lands and more Thanes were able to settle the lands with their farms and Halls. Occasionally there was the stone ruins of an Orcish fort or city and the men would gather what stone they could from the ruins and bury the rest of the ruins so it could be used for grazing for cattle, sheep and ponies. The thanes would use the stones from the ruins to build stone walls around their farms and fields so they could keep out unwelcome visitors. The Thane had his slaves build thick and high stone walls around his fields and his Hall.
Chapter Three
Some Orcs from the Stone-Mountain Clan went to see the Thane and in broken Vyir they offered themselves as warriors and vassals to himself and the High Yarl. "Why? I thought you hated us." he retorted, not trusting them. "We dislike Orc Emperor even more, ancient feud. We rather fight him than support him! We fight good and farm good. Make us retainers and vassals and gods smile on you." said Dor'rock the Basher. "This is a first! Perhaps the Orcs are ready to fall. You must go to our Priests to receive baptism into the gods of the Light and renounce the gods of the darkness first." he warned. "We already did, our eyes opened and we want to be the good Orcs." said another, Jaill Hammerfist. "Then swear fealty to me, the Yarl and the High Yarl." said Thane Dagfinnur. They quickly swore fealty and the Orcs were received by the men as allies and fellow warriors. The Thane placed the fifteen Stonemoutain Bashers on his right flank in battle and after each battle, more and more Stonemountain Orcs came to his banner until they numbered forty. He expanded his Hall and added an extra table for them. The High Yarl himself went to see this new development and commended the Thane for his judgement. Pretty soon even the High Yarl had gained sixty Stonemountain Bashers who fought at his side.
The peace ended and the other Orc Clans saw the treachery of the Stonemountain Clan and attacked their forts and tried to destroy them but the Vyir came to their rescue. A string of lands owned by Stonemountain lords were annxed to Vyirlundia that year and the Vyir gained a vital invasion route into the Orcish Empire. Dagfinnur was raised to Earldoman and was sent to govern the forts in the newly gained province. He led an army of 7,000 Nords and 7,000 Vyir into the region and settled the armies into their garrison forts and built several Castles based on the one he lived in when he was a young man when he was a raider. He improved the Orcish forts and reinforced them and even built a long wall starting at G'rothnir's Rest and ending at Jar'nik's Fort far to the south. He had his garrison patrol the wall and the wall kept out further invasions from that direction, although the Orcs could still hit them from the south.
Chapter Four.
The High Yarl saw his work at the new border and raised him again to Yarl and gave him a brand-new Hold. The fort-line was given to a cousin of the High Yarl. Yarl Dagfinnur built his Hall and his Hold out of stone and even added a large tower to the city wall. The fortifications were strong enough to keep out Orcs and everything else as well. Thanes and Merchants settled in his new Hold and Yarl Dagfinnur leased the lands around the city to Thanes for farms and those incomes made him a wealthy man. He also hired engineers to look for gold and silver veins and copper veins and several were found and tapped and became mines, with all the revenue going to Yarl Dagfinnur. The engineers also built a tomb under the Hold for the Yarl and his Thanes. When Yarl Dagfinnur died at 90 years old, he was buried in an underground chamber inside of a Dragon-ship assembled for that purpose. It floated in water and was tied by chains to the walls of the chamber. The chamber was sealed off by an iron gate from the rest of the tomb, which had rooms for the Thanes in death, with their sarcophagus's and the gold vessels and silver vessels lined around the floor in the tombs.
The End.
The Thane and his men were in their beds, sleeping off their drinking session, when little Dagfinnur Fanngeirsen heard the Orcs bang at the door and burst into the room. He wasted no time in defending the Hall, he ran over the the weapons rack and before the Orcs could do anything, he was under them and slashed their bellies wide open and killed the invaders. The men woke up and saw the Orc corpses by the shivering ten-year old. "By the gods! You saved us!" said the Thane when he saw what had transpired. "But we'll have to fix the door." said the Thane and the men labored throughout the night to fix the door and they added extra bolts to the door to keep the Orcs out. The ten-year old gave suggestions as to what would keep the Orcs from busting down the door again and they followed his suggestions. "You are the future Thane." said the Thane to his ten-year old son on that night. Several years later, Dagfinnur took his wilderness trial and went deep into the wilds and set up his lean-to by a stand of giant ceders. The area was well-known to him, he and his brothers had played in the area in times past, there was a narrow slot canyon with a swift river thirty feet bellow and there was only one area it could be crossed, at a log that was felled over the narrowest point, however a storm had swept away this log and now it was a chasm that could be jumped only by the bravest warrior. He backed up and ran at the chasm and jumped, easily cleared the dangerous void and landed on the other side. He walked to a cave and looked inside for anything useful. He saw remains of a campfire and nothing else. He walked up a steep hill and came to a cairn of bones and he saw that they were human bones, and the bite marks where fresh. "Ice Trolls!" he whispered. He quickly drew his sword and looked around for an Ice Troll and heard a grunting bellow the cliff. He saw that two Ice Trolls were eating one Nord and another was sitting in a wicker cage. He drew his bow and arrow and shot both of the Ice Trolls dead and freed the other Nord. "By the gods! I thought I was a goner for sure!" said the Nord. The Nord ran off without saying "thank you" and the rest of the wilderness trial went smoothly after that. He passed and saw his first battle a year later. 600 Orcs tried to cross the mountains to attack the Hall so the Thane and his 100 warriors walked up the mountain and flanked them from behind and scattered them so it was easy to kill the fleeing Orcs. Dagfinnur killed 50 Orcs that day. He decided to become a freebooter since the 20 year lull in the war had began.
Chapter Two.
Dagfinnur and Elvar the Left-handed rode down to Nordlandia as freebooters with the intent of making themselves rich by collecting bounties. They established themselves in the Hold Capitol in a bunkhouse and rode out daily to the Royal Hall, looking for bounties to fill. They didn't have much success at it, since the bandits kept running away from their camps. They left Nordlandia and went to the coast of Vyirlundia and asked if any Captains were leading raids into the Kelti Kingdoms. They found the fishing town of Edvinborg whose dragon ships outnumbered it's fishing ships. They spoke with several Captains on the dockside and Sea-thane Eyvaldur Eyvaldursen took them on as raiders. Rowing the dragon-ship out to where the winds could be used was hard work but Dagfinnur was no stranger to hard work and toil. The men unfurled the sails and they sailed around the Continent to the Kelti domain and sailed up the Ardan River and reached the summer fort where the raiding bands were gathered under a common banner. "This is Aeolwulf's Fort, a Nord built this and named it. We have a hall and barracks within. Aeolwulf himself is the lord of this place. In return for his hosting us, he gets 10% of the loot gained in raids. He also gets 2% of the slaves taken. Also this is the biggest slave market on the Continent." said the Sea-thane to his men. King Coineach even pays us millions in gold to "go away" and we play along and then we start up the raids again." said the Sea-thane to the men. The whole Castle was built of local stone and was built in a way that kept attackers from taking the Castle. The first raid was a settlement up the river called Kian. The Sea-Thanes and their crews rowed the ships up the river and waited till the twilight hour to attack the town. The Vyir and Nords fell on the town with screams of bloody murder and the villagers were scattered while the Vyir and Nords plundered the town. Some of the Vyir men kept the townsfolk under watch in a nearby building while the raiders took everything. Then the Vyir looked at the men and women and took only the strongest of them as slaves and left the rest. "I suspect the King will have an army to the area soon." said a Sea-thane. They loaded up the loot and plunder and the slaves into the Dragon-ships and sailed down back to the Castle. "The raids are daily, some men choose to take a rest at the Fort but there is money to be had lads!" said the Sea-thane. The men cheered at that and after a week of non-stop raiding, Dagfinnur had enough gold and silver to pay a dowry. The Sea-thane heard of his request to return to Vyirlundia and he loaded his Dragon-ship with slaves and the men returned to Vyirlundia. Dag got 12% off the sale of each slave and he walked away a fairly wealthy man. He rode a new pony down to his Hall only to discover that the Hall had been burned down and his father was dead and his retainers had been scattered. Even the Kelti slaves had run away and the only inhabitants were the cows and bulls in the fields, getting fat and increasing in number daily. He rode to the Yarl to secure his title and once that was confirmed, he rode back to the farm with some newly captured slaves and rebuilt the Hall and the Barn. He rode off to the nearby Thane Aeolborger and asked for the hand of Gunhilda Aeolborgersdottir and after paying the dowry, they were married at the Temple in the nearby Hold. 200 men heard that the Hall had been rebuilt and the Thane had returned and they came to swear fealty to him and to fight his battles. Since the Frost Orcs had all but left the peninsula for the core of the Orcish Empire, the only fighting to be done was against the Frost Trolls, who built scores of village forts all over the land, hoping to reclaim what was once their Kingdom. A typical Frost troll village consisted of ten large wooden halls surrounded by a wooden pallisade, the inside of the palisade had four watch-towers with drums in them for the watchers to alarm the trolls inside of the village that the humans (or Orcs) were coming. The Frost Trolls did not use metals but instead used stone and wood to make their weapons. They wore necklaces of skulls and often had huge cairns of bones in the middle of their villages, both Orc and human. The Thanes and their armies would rain down oil-tipped lighted arrows on the villages and let the trolls burn to death within their villages. The few that escaped would be slaughtered by the Vyir Warriors. Thane Dagfinnur led his warriors in burning down fifty such villages and when not killing the Frost Trolls, they would hunt down and slaughter the Ice Trolls, the dumb cousins of the Frost Trolls. The Frost Trolls were known for collecting gold and silver coins to make into necklaces and the Thane and his men looted five million guilders in gold from the Frost Trolls. After three years, the Frost Trolls were gone from the Yarl's lands and more Thanes were able to settle the lands with their farms and Halls. Occasionally there was the stone ruins of an Orcish fort or city and the men would gather what stone they could from the ruins and bury the rest of the ruins so it could be used for grazing for cattle, sheep and ponies. The thanes would use the stones from the ruins to build stone walls around their farms and fields so they could keep out unwelcome visitors. The Thane had his slaves build thick and high stone walls around his fields and his Hall.
Chapter Three
Some Orcs from the Stone-Mountain Clan went to see the Thane and in broken Vyir they offered themselves as warriors and vassals to himself and the High Yarl. "Why? I thought you hated us." he retorted, not trusting them. "We dislike Orc Emperor even more, ancient feud. We rather fight him than support him! We fight good and farm good. Make us retainers and vassals and gods smile on you." said Dor'rock the Basher. "This is a first! Perhaps the Orcs are ready to fall. You must go to our Priests to receive baptism into the gods of the Light and renounce the gods of the darkness first." he warned. "We already did, our eyes opened and we want to be the good Orcs." said another, Jaill Hammerfist. "Then swear fealty to me, the Yarl and the High Yarl." said Thane Dagfinnur. They quickly swore fealty and the Orcs were received by the men as allies and fellow warriors. The Thane placed the fifteen Stonemoutain Bashers on his right flank in battle and after each battle, more and more Stonemountain Orcs came to his banner until they numbered forty. He expanded his Hall and added an extra table for them. The High Yarl himself went to see this new development and commended the Thane for his judgement. Pretty soon even the High Yarl had gained sixty Stonemountain Bashers who fought at his side.
The peace ended and the other Orc Clans saw the treachery of the Stonemountain Clan and attacked their forts and tried to destroy them but the Vyir came to their rescue. A string of lands owned by Stonemountain lords were annxed to Vyirlundia that year and the Vyir gained a vital invasion route into the Orcish Empire. Dagfinnur was raised to Earldoman and was sent to govern the forts in the newly gained province. He led an army of 7,000 Nords and 7,000 Vyir into the region and settled the armies into their garrison forts and built several Castles based on the one he lived in when he was a young man when he was a raider. He improved the Orcish forts and reinforced them and even built a long wall starting at G'rothnir's Rest and ending at Jar'nik's Fort far to the south. He had his garrison patrol the wall and the wall kept out further invasions from that direction, although the Orcs could still hit them from the south.
Chapter Four.
The High Yarl saw his work at the new border and raised him again to Yarl and gave him a brand-new Hold. The fort-line was given to a cousin of the High Yarl. Yarl Dagfinnur built his Hall and his Hold out of stone and even added a large tower to the city wall. The fortifications were strong enough to keep out Orcs and everything else as well. Thanes and Merchants settled in his new Hold and Yarl Dagfinnur leased the lands around the city to Thanes for farms and those incomes made him a wealthy man. He also hired engineers to look for gold and silver veins and copper veins and several were found and tapped and became mines, with all the revenue going to Yarl Dagfinnur. The engineers also built a tomb under the Hold for the Yarl and his Thanes. When Yarl Dagfinnur died at 90 years old, he was buried in an underground chamber inside of a Dragon-ship assembled for that purpose. It floated in water and was tied by chains to the walls of the chamber. The chamber was sealed off by an iron gate from the rest of the tomb, which had rooms for the Thanes in death, with their sarcophagus's and the gold vessels and silver vessels lined around the floor in the tombs.
The End.
The gods of war: The Vyir warrior in battle and in drink (lore)
The Vyir fight mostly with a steel shield and a steel short sword but berserkers prefer a weapon, like a battle-axe, to slay dozens of enemy with every swipe. Some warriors were dual wielders, again, berserkers. The Priests use battle staves in which they send bolts of light from. The Battle Mages also use staves but the stave depended on what element they wanted to project. A Fire Mage would use a Fire Stave, a Water Mage would use a Water Stave and so on. Everyone used carved runes on bone for it's magical properties but the Priests used the runes the most and taught the others how to use runes for a battle advantage. All Vyir men were covered from head to toe in full body tatoos by the time they were thirty. All men grew huge beards (even the Priests, who only shaved their heads) Most Vyir men grow out their hair and braid it. They would also braid their beards so looking from warrior to warrior, it was hard to tell them apart unless you ask them! All Vyir, regardless of rank, had a tatoo on their right arm of their Clan symbol. Singing in battle is very common, since Orcs did not like to hear humans sing on any note, it provided an extra distraction. Once the Vyir warriors are in their Halls, they either recite their battles in verse or they sing of their achievements. On the Holy days, all Vyir would gather to the Priest and be led in singing after the sacrifice of the atonement, 12 white rams and the blood would then be sprinkled on the crowd and their sins would be declared to be forgiven. Most Vyir are not overly religious but they mutter "wird"(fate) or "by the gods!" if they are surprised at something. The warriors and the nobles raise their boys to be warriors and their girls to be wives and mothers, although since Raghilda the Immortal, it was no longer frowned upon for a properly trained daughter of the Thane or a Yarl to lead men into battle. Some Clans frown on the practice altogether and some openly embrace it. Dead Orcs stink and the Vyir never take trophies from the body of the Orcs they kill but they do loot the bodies of gold and silver. Everything else (except for the weapon, which was melted down and reused) was burned. Only Nords take bodily trophies. Every Hall had it's vomit pit outside of the Hall and every Clan had their own drinking game. A Thane would always add his sons, his nephews and his cousins to his shield wall and then they would accept outsiders. Warriors could be elevated to Thane only by a Yarl and only the High Yarl can raise a Thane to a Yarl. Clan Ysgramor was the most honored, respected and powerful Clan in all of Vyirlundia, that is why they are only asked to sit on the Dragon Throne in case of extreme National emergencies. Usually the Clan Heads (Clan Earldomans) would refuse a Yarldom because their office kept them busy enough but in rare cases, a Clan Earldoman would accept the office of Yarl but he would pass the Earldoman title and responsibilities to his brother or one of his sons. The High Yarl would sometimes create Earldomans in order to watch over forts owned by the High Yarl as well as reward friends. The Earldomans without a fort to watch were on their own and could own farms but they could not lead men into battle. Thanes could own multiple villages and farms in theory but in reality, because of the war, most owned just one farm and one village. The Yarls (even in war) often owned multiple farms and villages and would place Elders of the Kelti in charge over those manors but the revenues went to the Yarl. The money that is used by the Vyir is the guilder and it is based on the Nord gelder, the only difference being that the guilder could either be of silver (lesser value) or of gold (greater value) and the head of the Yarl in the city of the mint went onto the coin. Every Hold Capitol had a mint. Some merchants quickly discovered that they could make money by holding money so they opened up banks and the rest is history. The Yarls did not regulate the economy unless the merchants started to become too powerful, since the war was of utmost importance. The Vyir didn't think twice in slaughtering Orc woman and children because the Orcs didn't think twice in eating Vyir women and children. The Frost Orcs once had a powerful Kingdom where Vyirlundia is now but the Frost Trolls revolted from under the Frost Orcs and destroyed half of their Kingdom and the Vyir destroyed the other half. The Frost Orc kings left numberless tombs filled with gold and silver and enchanted weapons and the Vyir spent their time looting these tombs when not at war. The very few poor that existed in Vyirlundia were the blind, maimed, halt and feeble-minded, the Temple provided a small stipend for them in return for services in the Temple, such as being a lay preacher or a lay healer. The few warriors that ran from battle (it was rare) were expected to move to the Holds Capitols and take up a useful trade. Nords would come up from the south to fight alongside the Vyir but since their strength was not "on par" with the Vyir, they would fight in the back of the shield wall as archers. Vyir youths at twelve or thirteen would take their wilderness test. If they came back alive and they received no help, they passed the test. If they received help, they failed and had to go to a Hold Capitol to pursue a useful trade. Rarely would a brother or a father have to go into the wilds to bury the body (what was left of it) of their son. The war booty that a warrior would collect, 10% of it would go to the Temple and depending on the Bride price asked, a large chunk of his winnings would go to a dowry to be paid to the father of the bride on the eve of the wedding. In return for the dowry, the son-in-law could expect a place on a shield wall (if the father-in-law was noble) or immediate aid in case of a disaster (if the father-in-law was not noble). Every Hall has a Blacksmith and a Priest but only the wealthy Halls have a Battle-Priest.
More lore to come!
(By the way, if you are an author and a historian and you wish to help me write this series, contact me on this blog and I'll give you permission and you can co-author this series! P.S. Everything you write in this series becomes my property since this series is under copyright.)
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