Storm Season 1619.
>From their camp in the Auroch Hills, Herger and Brenna sent Dorasa
back to Whitewall. The Orlanthi fortress seemed more like a temple
than a war camp. Brenna had asked for her spear - "Red-Painter" -
back. Korlmhy accused Brenna of giving only temporary and conditional
aid and asked if that meant Brenna was giving up her support of the
Lightning Rams. After some back and forth (Dorasa got tired of
slipping in and out of the fort), Korlmhy returned Red-Painter, but
with a barbed rejoinder:
The generous and brave live best,
they seldom cherish sorrow;
a base-minded warrior
dreads everything;
the niggardly is uneasy even at gifts.
This prompted Brenna to reply: "Bad King Urgrain could never tell the difference between a loan and a gift." And those around her noticed that she has not spoken Korlmhy's name since.
In every village and stead in Sartar and Heortland, people told stories of King Broyan's bold and heroic defiance of the Emperor. The Empire was terrified of the Last Orlanthi King. It was said that the Emperor spit blood upon hearing news of the defeat of his Mother's demonic steed and that he ordered sacrifices throughout the Empire to defeat Broyan the Victorious. In contrast, the Orlanthi rejoiced at Broyan's victories, and Orlanthi clans as far away as Talastar and Ralios offered prayers and sacrifices for the Last Orlanthi King.
In Sacred Time, the Lunars attacked Whitewall with magic during the Sacred Time ceremonies - they sent demons and curses against Broyan and the defenders. But all of Heortland, Sartar, Heortland, Aggar, Talastar, and Ralios were offering their prayers and Broyan performed the Sacred Time rites successfully.
Sea Season 1620
Brenna guided the Lightning Rams and the non-combatants to the
Brambleberry Hills. We crossed over into Hidden Valley of the
Karandoli. Brenna told and retold the tale of Whitewall. The Karandoli
offered sacrifices to Ingkarthen (who was now much more powerful) and
supported the Lightning Rams.
Throughout the year, the Lunars kept assaulting Whitewall, but the defenders held them off heroically. Seriasdora (the ancient name for Whitewall) has always been the bastion against all things chaotic. The defenders ceased to have any sense of time - the siege was both in the Mortal World and in the realm of the gods. The siege bridged the divine and the mortal - the defenders were simultaneously present at the battered fortress of Whitewall, the sacred rock of Ililbervor and at Umath's Camp. King Broyan sent the Six Guardians away to their directions, where each set up their own watch station. He sent Kallyr to the north (in Sartar), Leika the the West, Orngerin to the East, Kestongari to the South, Elmandti Above and Gindaki Below. In the center of Whitewall, the king lit the sacred fire and appointed officers of the camp. Korlmhy was appointed Foodman of the camp, which made him responsible for feasting the gods present. The officers and those other defenders who remained were called "Larnsting" for they prepared to change the world.
In far-off Glamour, the Emperor gained no pleasure from reports that Fazzur and his army had conquered Heortland. The Seshnegi warlord, Rikard the Tiger-Hearted, was captured and offered the kingship, but rather than betray his kingdom he destroyed the Malkonwal Crown and went into hiding. Instead, the Emperor cared only about Whitewall - the last city of Orlanth. Only when Whitewall fell could the Emperor complete his grand New Lunar Temple at the foot of the Storm Mountains. The Emperor grew ever more furious with each failed attack and he replaced Jorkandros the Blinder with his own distant kinsman - Tatius the Bright, of the great Assiday family, dean of the Lunar College of Magic. Tatius was a priest of Yelm and responsible for maintaining the Lunar magicians as the weapons they could be. He was no lazy administrator but a skilled strategist and tactician, and a skilled fighter in personal combat. He was highly placed and traced his own lineage to Yelm.
XXXXXXXXXXXXX begin boxed text XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXNEW LUNAR TEMPLE The Empire has begun construction of a new Reaching Moon Temple in the hills south of the Sambari Pass. The temple is to be called the Temple of the Moon Victorious. Before the Lunars came, this was the site of the Great Wind Temple, a magical structure of pure, raging wind, sacred to Orlanthi. Like the wind, pilgrims could feel and hear the temple but not see it with mundane vision. The only way in was through magical doors controlled by the Stormwalkers, powerful Orlanthi magicians and warriors who withdrew from everyday life.
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Tatius spared no preparations and got special magicians from the emperor. Some 35,000 Lunar soldiers, backed up by the magic of the Empire, were defied by a handful of defenders. It was said that the Emperor assigned to one of his servants on each occasion, when dinner was put forth for him, at three times to say, "Master, remember King Broyan of the Orlanthings" and each time he heard that hated name the Emperor would ask his divine Mother, the Red Moon, to destroy Whitewall.
Although their numbers were few - less than 100 when the year began - the defenders held off a series of attacks in Sea Season: wyvern riders, moon boats, even the feared PargAddi. All were defeated - the Lunar losses were immense - and the defenders received the prayers of Orlanthi everywhere. However, with each attack, a few more defenders were lost - soon they were 85, 70, 60 and fewer. At the same time the Lunar forces kept increasing - an endless stream of soldiers came from the Empire to Whitewall. Soldiers from all the nations that had submitted to the Red Goddess mustered to destroy the Last Free King.
Back in Brambleberry Hills, we knew nothing of this. But elsewhere, the tales of King Broyan's defiance were on everyone's tongue. The Orlmarthings realized that a few committed Orlanthi can make a difference, and gained renewed hope. The Empire was vast, but it could be defied by a handful of brave men. The Orlmarthings risked the displeasure of King Blackmor and offered their prayers and sacrifices to Whitewall and their defenders.
At XXXXXX Ceremony, Broyan gathered the defenders, who now numbered a mere 50. The king told them that they could not defend Whitewall much longer, but he planned to defy Shepelkirt one more time. "I will give her a false victory. All of my companions, my kinsmen, my beloved friends - all of you will accompany me to sleep, to death in the Ice Refuge. Korlmhy alone will remain after I have prepared him to confront the Predark that is being summoned by slaves of Shepelkirt. I cannot fight this last battle - but I can teach Korlmhy how he must fight that battle on his own and how to awaken me at the Ice Refuge."
KORLMHY THE HEORTLING The defenders of Whitewall made preparations for the Sacred Time. On Lightbringer Day, King Broyan called his heroes and priests together, and gave them instructions to preserve the sacred ground he left from. He gave them sacred gifts, and they gifted him with magical tools. Then the King and his six companions - each with six companions of their own - departed from world, leaving only Korlmhy alone inside the walls of Whitewall. Beyond was nothing but Predark. While Korlmhy stood watch, the world died. A crack of light appeared, split the sky, and the earth buckled and broke, then turned over. Korlmhy saw the waters flood the world, the fall of the sky, the rise of the dragons, and the fall of the moon. Chaos had won once again, and the world was breaking into bits.
Korlmhy took shelter, as he wasn't dead yet. He scrambled past when the edge of mountain landed nearby, he dove into a spring when the firestorm swept overhead, and he was holding on to Herger's hawthorn branch when the earth turned to smoke. He knew he was near. He was inside Chaos.
There at the edge of the world, Korlmhy saw King Broyan. The Last Orlanthi King was naked, but marked with the tattoos of the Royal Vingkotlings - of the Kodigvari. Korlmhy spoke and said, "Greetings Second Son, from your brother." Then they spoke, and Korlmhy learned wisdom from the Second Son. The king told Korlmhy of his great and terrible battle with Predark. He showed Korlmhy his wounds, and the secret of the Star Heart, and told him the secrets of I Fought We Won.
Korlmhy remembered what King Broyan had told him, and went on past the Second Son, and to the edge of the world. There he fought the ultimate and final combat against the evil of the world. Korlmhy was alone, but he could sense others present, even though he could not see them. He called on the Lightning Rams, the Karandoli, and his Orlmarthing kin. Far away atop the Starfire Ridge, Gordangar and the Orlmarthings offered sacrifices and prayers for the defense of Whitewall. When Korlmhy needed to see, a burning arrow came to the ground, and when he was enveloped by a scalding cold, a freezing fire swept his body. He exhaled his Inner Breath, and saw it clear a cloud of miasma away. Sparks and bolts and winds beat away Wakboth. He began his focused breathing, and the breath blew everything away. When it was done, he was alone.
Korlmhy knew his way back. He saw the arrow, the stake, and the circled hill, and he took all three things he saw. He went past the empty place where he had seen Second Son. He followed the spear and the pillar and the rock ring, and he took all three things he saw. He went back to the camp he had left before the world broke apart, and found it there, though now it was empty. When he had left it was upon Ililbervor and but now he realized he was in Culbrea lands, at the Hill of Orlanth Victorious. He was back in the lands of Sartar.
XXXXXXXXXXXXX begin boxed text XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXTHE FALL OF WHITEWALL
The Lunars performed great and terrible rituals to destroy the fortress with their magic. The skies rained acid, and the walls were scoured clean. An assault failed without having seen any defender, with thousands killed by storms and spirits. The Lunars invoked Wakboth, and slime ascended the citadel, flowing over the wall. But it turned to water and flowed back harmlessly. The Lunars invoked Veskarthen's monsters to burrow under the walls, but another god met him and diverted the attack onto the Lunars. They called upon sorcerous fire, but it was extinguished before it scorched the wall. Finally in Dark Season 1621, the Comet Seers sent seven meteors hurling from the moon and struck precisely. They destroyed key parts of the city including the Orlanth Temple. When it was buried, a great gout of lightning burst forth, arching over the walls to sear thousands of Lunars who quietly awaited the assault.
The Seven of Vistur built seven long ramps from the ground to the wall, and although they thought it would be easy, several hundred troops whose souls served as a power source died in supporting the deed. Ten thousand archers loosed their shafts, and the noise from the flying arrows hurt the ears of listeners. Then Imperial hoplites, glowing with protective magic, led the attack up the ramps. They were met by rocks which hurled themselves from the ramparts and rolled down the assault ramps. Yet the Lunars pushed onward and with incredible effort and terrible loss of life, they overcame the great defenses of Whitewall and charged over its impassable walls.
The Lunars saw something they were not prepared for - Whitewall was empty of men and gods. They found no defenders - only twenty three corpses. None of the leaders were found. Many parts of the city had been destroyed. Lunar casualties were known to be high and rumored to be higher.
But Whitewall fell. A cry of victory went up through all the Lunar Empire. At last, they said, Orlanth had fallen and the outlaws gods of the world were brought low. The chief of the barbarian gods was proclaimed to be nothing in the light of the Red Moon. The deities of Heaven had once again, at last, reasserted their primeval claim to leadership in the universe. The Emperor proclaimed 1621 to be the Extra Full Moon Year. Orlanth was dead.
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Dark Season 1621 was cold throughout Dragon Pass. On Windsday, Death Week, Dark Season a low and steady wind blew in from the northwest. The weather was dismal and bitterly cold. Suddenly the wind stops. All Orlanthi felt their throat constrict and stopped breathing. Men and women freeze with surprise, indecision, fear and then horror. No winds blow, and the few clouds in the sky stand absolutely still and do not move or change shape. Everyone notices that it is hard to do anything without being winded. "Broyan is dead" people say before they even hear news from the Lunars that Whitewall has fallen.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX begin boxed text XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXTHE WINDSTOP No magic works if it comes from Orlanth, Ernalda, or their subcults. None: no feats or affinities, no wyter speaks, no umbroli wind blows. Kolat's shamans cannot find even spirit-air, a very absence of presence. Even Valind's magic does not work. No contact with Orlanth or Ernalda or their subcults succeeds. Divination receives no answers except death, doom and the absence of the gods.
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On Ancestor Day, the entire Orlmarthing ring had no magic and could not contact their wyter, but things seemed to go normally, albeit gloomily. They ancestors did arrive. They had predictions of doom and dark times ahead, but knew nothing of why the wind had stopped. They spoke of the Great Darkness, the Gbaji Wars, and the Dragon Breath.
The Karandoli asked their loremasters about the Great Darkness. The clan loremaster said that during the Great Darkness, no gods were worshiped since Orlanth was questing and Ernalda was asleep. One by one, almost every other god and goddess went away. It ended when Heort performed I Fought We Won. Then the Sun rose.
The Orlmarthings asked their loremasters about the Gbaji Wars - when the Heortling people were conquered by Gbaji the Deceiver. The Evil Wind, named Loko Moko, made the wind stop. He then replaced Orlanth as the god of air for a time until Vargast Redhand killed him. Afterwards, Harmast performed the Lightbringers Quest and brought Orlanth to life.
Korlmhy arrived the next day. Everyone was amazed that he still had Breath. He met with the women after Loom Blessing Day - the women worry that no goddess underlay their divine work; the shroud was a piece of cloth, nothing more. The word goes around. People have come from nearby clans to speak and to consult with Korlmhy - the priest who still has Breath. All agree, it is the same everywhere. The women and the men agree that the gods must be awakened on Protection Day, the next Orlanth holy day, just over two weeks from now. That day's purpose is precisely to deal with this kind of emergency. The clan leaders agree to perform the greatest, most lavish ceremony exactly three weeks after the wind stopped. The Orlmarthings ask Korlmhy to preside over the rites and plan to send messengers to tribal leaders, cult leaders, and the old and wise to tell their plans and ask for advice. They tell him that the winter would not end if he didn't lead the sacrifices return Orlanth to chase away the winter. There are three weeks until the rites, plenty of time to get things right.
The weather does not help. No wind blows and it is increasingly cold. The motionless clouds in the sky are still there, and in some places the people give them names. Some offer special sacrifices to these clouds, though without any result.
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