Post by Artaxerxes Hirren on Jun 1, 2007 15:59:04 GMT
Many legends shadow the town of Hirren and the marsh lands that it occupies. Perhaps the most famous of all, is the source of the powers the native peoples posses. It was rumoured that many hundreds of years ago, the ancestors of the towns people were all pirates upon a ship named “The Swift Beauty”.
They were outlaws and were pursued by namely another pirate vessel by the name of “Cold Arrow”. These pirates fought for dominance, taking ships and loot from one another regularly. But it was that the Cold Arrow was a larger and stronger ship than the Swift Beauty and they had to flee from their local coast to seek their fortune elsewhere.
They searched long and hard, falling upon times with little and no ships to raid, they were running out of food and were several weeks journey from the nearest place they could stock up, It was then that they began to listen to an old storyteller they had granted passage with them to their next port.
He told them of the Blade of Chevolar. It was told that he was a god of land that fell in love with a mermaid of the sea. He strived to find any way he could live with his love, but she could not break the surface, and he could not breathe in the water. His sorrow brought him to the edge of the sea where he told his love that if he could not be with her, he would die for her, and before she could stop him, he plunged his sword into his chest and fell dead into the sea.
The mermaid cried over his body, holding him close to her, and she prayed for anything, anyone to bring him back, in exchange for her life. With his sword, she killed herself, her arms still wrapped around him. The god of death saw the two lovers and pitied them, and so, he allowed the soul of the god of land to return to his body.
He awoke underwater, just to see his lover taking her dying breaths. And he shouted and cried until the water began to fill his lungs. He blamed the God of death for accepting her soul in return for his, and demanded he gave it back. The god of death, being an understanding deity, just as the man was about to plunge the sword into his own heart, brought back his mermaid lover to him.
It was said that from then on, he found his life underwater, able to breathe, and they never broke the surface again. But he could not bare to carry the sword that bore the blood of his lover, and in one last trip to the surface, he took it to an island in the middle of the sea and placed it in a cave, rammed within the rock.
This was the story that the bard told, and he explained he had been to the island itself and seen the sword in the stone. The told them of the location and of the water and food that grew so well in the island, fertilised by the blood of the lovers. The pirates, desperate and dying, took their only chance by following his instructions and sailing to the island.
By a miracle, they found the island before they ran out of water, although they worked on empty stomachs for days. They stepped ashore to be confronted by a miracle, fruit grew from every branch, fast and clean streams ran out to the sea. It was a paradise. But the pirate captain could not settle, he felt the need to search for the sword that was rumoured to exist.
And so, he took the most faithful of his crew with him and began to delve deep into the heart of the island. There they met beasts and creature the like of which they had never seen before, and have never been seen since, creatures that killed a man with a single swipe. But the captain battled on until he finally found the entrance to the cave.
And there, in the cave, in plain sight was the sword, trapped between a crack in the rock flooring, shining as if it were yet brand new, only just placed there. The captain lifted the sword from it’s rocky bed and saw yet the bloodstains on the sword, red and fresh, as though it had just pieced the heart of it’s enemy.
But the red had sunk into the very blade of the sabre, dying it forever the colour of fresh blood. And from that moment, the captain understood. He and the crew that had landed on the island had an insight that no other human had ever borne.
They returned to their ship, and with their new understanding gained power that they named to be magical, a gift from the gods, along with the never tarnishing sword, it’s blade never dull. Each pirate gained powers, but they all developed different strengths and weaknesses.
But with this power, they understood that they could finally return home, and stocked up with food and water from the island, they felt for their own shores, to kill the pirates on the ship named the Cold Arrow. It was said that a huge battle took place, but the crew of the Cold Arrow never stood a chance, they were wiped out by Swift Beauty, and where their ship fell, the captain deemed in a good place to make home.
They took to the shores there and began to trade, as they did, more and more people came, and the village grew from a small hamlet to a huge port town. The descendants of the very captain that took the sword still rule the town with a fair but heavy hand, and the captain still carried the sword given to them by the god of the land.
They were outlaws and were pursued by namely another pirate vessel by the name of “Cold Arrow”. These pirates fought for dominance, taking ships and loot from one another regularly. But it was that the Cold Arrow was a larger and stronger ship than the Swift Beauty and they had to flee from their local coast to seek their fortune elsewhere.
They searched long and hard, falling upon times with little and no ships to raid, they were running out of food and were several weeks journey from the nearest place they could stock up, It was then that they began to listen to an old storyteller they had granted passage with them to their next port.
He told them of the Blade of Chevolar. It was told that he was a god of land that fell in love with a mermaid of the sea. He strived to find any way he could live with his love, but she could not break the surface, and he could not breathe in the water. His sorrow brought him to the edge of the sea where he told his love that if he could not be with her, he would die for her, and before she could stop him, he plunged his sword into his chest and fell dead into the sea.
The mermaid cried over his body, holding him close to her, and she prayed for anything, anyone to bring him back, in exchange for her life. With his sword, she killed herself, her arms still wrapped around him. The god of death saw the two lovers and pitied them, and so, he allowed the soul of the god of land to return to his body.
He awoke underwater, just to see his lover taking her dying breaths. And he shouted and cried until the water began to fill his lungs. He blamed the God of death for accepting her soul in return for his, and demanded he gave it back. The god of death, being an understanding deity, just as the man was about to plunge the sword into his own heart, brought back his mermaid lover to him.
It was said that from then on, he found his life underwater, able to breathe, and they never broke the surface again. But he could not bare to carry the sword that bore the blood of his lover, and in one last trip to the surface, he took it to an island in the middle of the sea and placed it in a cave, rammed within the rock.
This was the story that the bard told, and he explained he had been to the island itself and seen the sword in the stone. The told them of the location and of the water and food that grew so well in the island, fertilised by the blood of the lovers. The pirates, desperate and dying, took their only chance by following his instructions and sailing to the island.
By a miracle, they found the island before they ran out of water, although they worked on empty stomachs for days. They stepped ashore to be confronted by a miracle, fruit grew from every branch, fast and clean streams ran out to the sea. It was a paradise. But the pirate captain could not settle, he felt the need to search for the sword that was rumoured to exist.
And so, he took the most faithful of his crew with him and began to delve deep into the heart of the island. There they met beasts and creature the like of which they had never seen before, and have never been seen since, creatures that killed a man with a single swipe. But the captain battled on until he finally found the entrance to the cave.
And there, in the cave, in plain sight was the sword, trapped between a crack in the rock flooring, shining as if it were yet brand new, only just placed there. The captain lifted the sword from it’s rocky bed and saw yet the bloodstains on the sword, red and fresh, as though it had just pieced the heart of it’s enemy.
But the red had sunk into the very blade of the sabre, dying it forever the colour of fresh blood. And from that moment, the captain understood. He and the crew that had landed on the island had an insight that no other human had ever borne.
They returned to their ship, and with their new understanding gained power that they named to be magical, a gift from the gods, along with the never tarnishing sword, it’s blade never dull. Each pirate gained powers, but they all developed different strengths and weaknesses.
But with this power, they understood that they could finally return home, and stocked up with food and water from the island, they felt for their own shores, to kill the pirates on the ship named the Cold Arrow. It was said that a huge battle took place, but the crew of the Cold Arrow never stood a chance, they were wiped out by Swift Beauty, and where their ship fell, the captain deemed in a good place to make home.
They took to the shores there and began to trade, as they did, more and more people came, and the village grew from a small hamlet to a huge port town. The descendants of the very captain that took the sword still rule the town with a fair but heavy hand, and the captain still carried the sword given to them by the god of the land.