The Legend Of Fencarys

Main country: Gyldeithr (GILD-eth-eer) [loosely translates to “strange land”]

Capital City: Stellnyd (STELL-nid) [loosely translates to “mountain city”] || This great city was founded when the Survivors crossed the mountains and first discovered this new land. Nestled against the mountains and bordering a yawning canyon, this city is easily defensible. The roofs of the buildings within the walls are all staggered in height to allow for an infallible archery defense. It’s social classes are apparent when entering the city - the poorest stuck at ground level while the rich and nobility are built on higher levels that surround the topmost level - the castle.

LAND MARKS:

Târaith (TAHR- ayth) Gorge [loosely translates to “fire scar” gorge] || This canyon is very old and vast in both depth and width, and splitting half the country in two. It gapes many miles across at its widest point, plunging to unsurvivable depths. It was formed during a great earth quake that split the very ground itself, bursting with the flames of the underworld. An underground river was exposed and freed in the same quake, and this water quickly overtook the molten earth. This river holds the same name as the gorge it runs through, eventually connecting with the lake.

Târaith River [named for the Târaith Gorge] || This river burst forth from and underground spring after a massive earth quake split the earth open. It is the river that cooled the fires the quake had let loose, and it runs steady and strong through the gorge. It supports much wildlife at the bottom of the canyon. Very few people ever venture down to it’s waters.

The legend of our hero began on a cloudless night. Far to the north, it was a time of celebration for the free folk, for this night the moon hung in the sky no longer than the sun. A time of planting and growth was to begin, and – so the stories say – our ancestors would achieve their most powerful magics only when sun and moon shared the sky equally. The equinox was something of a holiday for our kind, although magic had long since been forgotten and faded into our history texts.

And yet, the dragons would emerge from their leirs and celebrate with us, reminding us of who we are and why our freedom was so important.

Now, back to our hero.

You see, there was a young woman that was fierce and on a rise to greatness. A gifted warrior and respected in her studies, she was sought after by many of the warriors, men and women alike, in Clans all across the highlands. Her Clan was akin to royalty – the richest, the strongest, the closest to the dragons and deeply connected to our histories. Her father had recently risen to the seat of leadership, and it was believed that she would surely achieve the position of the next leader’s second.

And of course… she was a beauty. With hair as pale as leaf-bare sunlight and eyes as blue as the mountain springs, she drew much attention. Her father need fear for her safety despite this. She chose her partners as she saw fit and could hold her own well when they could not handle her rejection. Her name was Fellau'r.

It was at this seasonal celebration that she met with a man she had recently been pursuing. A man of her own Clan that she had grown up with had finally turned his eye towards her. He had always been out of her reach before, his coffee brown hair and black as night eyes always making her heart flutter. Craifsys had been a dashing and full fledged warrior, chasing after every pretty girl to walk by while she was still a child in training. She’d mooned after him as an apprentice, but had put her out of her mind soon enough. Now that she, too had achieved warrior status.. she had a fighting chance.

Intoxicated by a tingling air of magic that always pervaded the air when the dragons were near, she swooned him. Fellau'r and Craifsys danced and laughed and howled to the sky together as the festivities wore well into the night, never parting and only pulling one and other closer until their flesh and souls joined as one. A child was conceived then, as well as a powerful love between these two free folk.

Life wore on as always – with hunting and planting and territory skirmishes. The two dragons returned to their solitude and both Fellau'r And Craifsys remained partners, soon joining themselves with the sacred oaths when they learned they were expecting a child. Their medicine man solemnly told them that a child conceived on an equinox was a dangerous pregnancy to endure – prophecy spoke of a child both conceived and born under the equal skies that would save or destroy them all. Of course, that was an old and foolish fairytale, and they dismissed such things. All the same. There was nothing that accepting their child’s fate would have done to change it.

Life in the highlands continued through newleaf and into greenleaf, but not without event or strife. The invaders of the southern lands were greedy. It wasn’t good enough that they had enslaved nearly their entire race. No, they needed more. More an+d more and more. And of course, their ruler’s rage over two of her dragon’s escaping never died. Her rage was as immortal as her body was.

The attacks always happened, but this season they intensified. Supposedly a new clutch of dragon eggs was preparing to hatch in the southern lands, and Her Cruelty was hunting for slaves that could safely brutalize the defenseless hatchlings and prepare them for life in the mines. Fellau'r was a powerful warrior, and she was not going to allow being with child prevent her from defending her homeland. Craifsys often tried to keep her home, but it was like trying to nail fog to a tree: entirely futile. She fought well into her pregnancy, until her belly became noticeably swollen and such fighting would be a danger to the child. She never got the chance for such reprieve, of course. It was on her journey home with her partner that tragedy wounded this family.

An ambush lay in wait for the patrol. They defended themselves well, it was hopeless. Caught off guard and outnumbered without their reinforcements, the invader’s forces overpowered them. Those who survived – the pregnant Fellau'r and Craifsys among them, were imprisoned. It was a small blessing. Fellau'r and Craifsys were thrown into rolling cages pulled by horses, readied to be taken to the southern cities where they would be sold as slaves. Fellau'r was six months pregnant when they were captured. An entire month they endured this harsh travel, and her pregnancy did not handle such treatment well in her condition. On the morn of the leaf-bare equinox, Fellau'r felt the first pangs of birth.

It’s too soon! Too soon! She had wailed in despair. Her captors cared little – only that the child survived so that they might fetch a little more money for the pair. A child meant it could be raised a slave, and those raised a slave fetched a prettier penny than captured free folk.

It was a painful birth and a terrifying one. Too soon, this child was being born. Seven moons in the womb was not enough time, but fate and destiny do not have mercy or care for things as petty as the limits of the body. This child was to be born, and there was no stopping it’s arrival.

The labor was long and arduous. But finally, as the moon and sun traded the sky, the child arrived… and in silence. The emptiness and absence of any sound save for the pained moans of the mother was foreboding. Craifsys watched helplessly behind the bars of the slave cart, pressing his face to them as though he could push his way to his love and his child.

Where is my baby? Where is my child? Were the words were breathed from pale and cracked lips, her crystal blue eyes rolling in search of her silent baby. A somber midwife shook her head as she covered a small and still form with a bloodied blanket. She does not have breath. The woman said.

There was a moment of stillness… before an unearthly and bone chilling wail erupted from Fellau'r. I must hold her! She had sobbed, reaching her arms out for the sleeping babe. It was a her.. she thought. My daughter, she thought. Despite the frustrated sighs of the men who had captured her in the first place, the midwife put the child’s who’s lips had turned blue into the broken mother’s arms. And the moment the little girl was placed upon her mother’s breast…