Craftsman's Reach: News of Brynhome

The Swords of Stock (in some places being called the Brythbrigr, which can be roughly translated as Reclaimers in Orthr) have hammered home their claim to old Rothrshal, which has been refounded and christened Brynhome in honor of the dwarven armorer-god who gave his blessing to the forces making the assault.

A combined army of men of the Order of the Forge Divine, dwarves marching out of Aella's Hall, and the Swords of Stock's personal company led a three-pronged assault on the captured dwarven hold, ending with a general route of the goblins dwelling within and a slaughter of the Eye Tyrant that occupied its highest level.

Urist of Brynjar, the leader of this ragtag assemblage of dwarves and men, has declared Bryjnhome a haven for all dwarves and smallfolk who would settle there. In the following weeks, those dwarves descended from the former colonists, led by Tavaldar of Oldhome, have flocked to the Bryjnhome banner and begun a thorough cleansing of the old hall.

Rumors persist of Prince Rognvald's involvement in the capture of the fortress: some say he extracted a pledge of fealty from Urist and the Brynjarites before the conquest, others that he has a dire oath that will be broken unless the Brythbrigri venture forth to complete it, and still others that he hopes they will open the Dwarf-Road running beneath the Silverlode Mountains and permit trade to flow directly to Tailimisia as it did in days of old.

There have been some sightings of dvergrinn on the old Deep Roads again, and whispers that they have heard of Rothrshal's recapture, and seek alliance at their deep citadel of Last Hall on the road to Waysend.

Only time will confirm which of these whispers out of the Reach is true.

A History of Giants, as told by Parthemos the Mason

In the time before men and elves came north, there were four great stone giant kingdoms. These were Ulhame, Umbrinol, Rhûn, and Arhame. In all, there was worship of the great Giant gods, Solos the Self-Creating first among them, who made himself from nothing and was the Titan of Earth. Some of our old gods, you still give prayer; Dinismayl, the Winter Queen; Glyrea, He of Poisons; and, of course, there is the God of which we do not speak: who you name Mother Night.

But in our day, the Night had already been driven west beyond her Wall. It was so that in our kingdoms, there were sages and sorcerers, but also builders. All giants in those days knew the art of raising homes and manors. All giants knew how to farm the earth, and hew the stone with tools. Our race was as mighty and glorious as the peoples of the Rootwood, and where they raised up the city of Temeros, we too made many cities.

Alone among the giants we had no kings. Even the lords of Cloudhame were Titans, or what you would say "Tyrants," who ruled through their whole lives. Clydas, the First King, who brought us music and magic, was their first and greatest, but a whole line of kings dwelt in Cloudhame until they left us to bring their whole land north and northwards out of reach of the wars of men and elves.

For us, each giant family lived free. There were no nobles. There were no lords or kings. We gathered, in that Night age, when your sages say there were no light of sun nor stars, but which the dragons claim otherwise, in our city-centers to decide upon the way our lands were to be run. Thus did we cast our votes by chips of stone in great clay pots, and so were we governed. In times of war or terror, we elected a Titan, a Tyrant, to lead us; but when the time had come when he or she was no longer needed, they were cast out for ten years to wander houseless until such time as they were permitted to return. So, we never were ruled by a succession of Tyrants like the giants of Rootwood.

Arhame was the home of my people, and all the giants in the west are descended from it. The word has become corrupted, and is what you now call the bay south of where our lands lay. But in the Night Age and Dawn Age, we claimed much of the Reach and the old lands south as our own. We hewed many quarries in the Silverlode Mountains and out of Mount Sirune, and builded up great cities along the shore. In the Dawn Age there were the elves of Ylvasmetsa, who bounded us on the east, and the half-elves of Ys, who bounded us on the north.

The Aelfwater became the southernmost border of Ys, and we made many houses there within the half-elf kingdom of sorcerers. We knew the Yssans, and taught them much of our magic. Their wizards came and lived in Arhame to dwell with us, and so there are many many wizards in the Reach today - and indeed, the Yssan love of gems deposited so many of their fine stones in the Reach when Ys fell that the smallfolk still make use of them instead of coin.

But in Arhame we were peaceful. We did not make wars on other lands, for there were few for us to do battle with. By the time the men came, our race was already dying. We are a long-lived people, but the great melancholia and sickness that swept through Rhûn and Ulhame had come, too, to Arhame. Fewer and fewer giants were born year by year. The elders slowly turned to stone. Our Assemblies stood empty, the great pillared fields abandoned. So we turned over our lands to men, to elves, to dwarves.

There was one last Stone Giant sorceress who might be thought of as a Tyrant: Gothea Elf-Slayer, the maker of the Wands of High Sorcery, who stood against the Empire of Miles with her allies the Mage-Lords. But that is a tale for another time, little one.

News of Arunia: The Year 513

The astrologers remark in the East that the year 512 has come to a close, but the Shield Age has not yet ended. From the Free Cities there come rumors of setbacks and reversals of the Great Holy Army—though Vagrysj the Lion died in his sleep, his lieutenants have made fast progress north and the Sacred Army is reduced to infighting between the goblin cities.

In the West, along the Sun Shores, rumors speak of the Swords of Stock and their string of victories over the foes of the Reach. First to fall was the giant-jarl Minos Mastigos, who many believed was posturing to be a frost giant king. The daring rescue of the Raven's Banner was conducted by the Swords in the heart of winter, when the giants were at their strongest. Now, the Banner recoups its losses in Tyreth, and contemplates taking a contract to move farther north into Hard Heath, to push the threats that trouble the Reach far beyond its borders.

The new King of Hard Heath, who rumors call Geirr, has expanded his demesne to the north, and brought stretches of the Untamed Lands under his sway. However, it is rumored that a powerful clave of free elves upon the Bay of Ys are resisting him, and have sent petition to Queen Ilisia of the Ylvasmetsa to name them a Protectorate of that throne.

In that region, too, there are rumors of strange things washing up along the bay: old stones, and glittering blades, disgorged from the belly of Drowned Ys below!

North and northerly still, the vast and shadow-haunted region known as the Aedeion is the source of much turmoil: there are whispers of shadowy knights, Yssan pirates, and adventurers clashing up that way. This year last, adventurers infiltrated a pirate stronghold on the northern Bay of Ys and caused much havoc and chaos, and worse, they seem to have troubled a band of frost giants on the very border of the Untamed Lands, who were coming south.

Traders coming back from Thalasson say that there is war in the Dragonfells betwixt giant-kind and the dragons. Speaking of dragons, the Wyrms of Elnuril are restless and have been seen abroad in the untamed lands, leading their retinues of goblins, hobgoblins, and ogres. Aye, indeed, they have fair burnt a number of villages near the edges of the Princedoms. The elves have called their militias for watch upon the border, and Geirr of Hard Heath hath proclaimed all dragons "a menace and a dread, outlaw within the realm."

In southerly news, elvish armies have encamped outside Dorostchev and blocked the advance of a Golnian force crossing through Hurol. Rumors say that the Third Empire, too, is preparing for war, this against the great slaver-empire of Essad.

In Kjellos proper, the king sits uneasily upon his throne, and whispers of a conspiracy to unseat him implicate many hands: his brothers, Solyce and Vagyr, a discontented clave of nobility, and even the sorcerer Trojas Tholvar, elder brother to Greve Lasius Tholvar. King Aegus' true friends can only be counted amongst the temple and Order of the Forge Divine, and Greve Varius Holmgrinn, who has cemented his alliance with the house, notwithstanding Aegus' law stripping him of the important region of the Stockmine.

In the Reach, the lords meet in moting at Tyreth Castle, to determine how best to aid their king.

Locations of Interest in Craftsman's Reach: Aella's Hall

This post is under construction.

Aella's Hall is a dwarven folk-hall that honeycombs the lone peak of Mount Sirune. The central region of the Reach is the princedom of the dwarf-prince Rognvald Thorfinnsson Coalteeth Eldrbrunn, and the Thessalian princes and lords of Kjellos and the Reach have no claim to it at all. This has been dwarven territory since the end of the Wars of High Sorcery, when Aella Eldrbrunn the Smith aided the Second Empire in destroying the sorcerer Mordent the Babbler on the very slopes of Sirune.

Aella's Hall is a major city, boasting no less than 40,000 dwarves. It is visible from a great distance, as the many-layered doors of the dwarven underhalls open out all over the mountain. Above-ground, the city falls down the mountain slopes in steep tiers, stone mansions, workshops, and temples cascading over its surface. The mountain's approaches are warded by monstrously large towers built into the stone--relics from the Stone Giant kingdoms of the First and Second Age.

The southern feet of the mountain shelter a deep valley, which is ringed in by a dwarven ringwall, and in that vale is grown most of the folk-hall's food. The outer city perches on the slopes overlooking the valley, and climbs up the mountains, protected by curtaining walls and fortifications.

Prince Rognvald. Following in the footsteps of the first hall-prince, Aella, Rognvald Eldrbrunn is first and foremost a craftsdwarf and only after that a ruler. The prince's palace within the mountain is said to contain no less than five forges and three furnaces for the smelting of metal and preparation of various crafts. Rognvald applies himself to the task of governing the way he applies himself to the forge: with a fierce dedication, and wielding a hammer. He is the hall-prince, and clan-prince of the Eldrbrunn clan.

Saint Sidgwick of Wilderlund

Born to an elvish father and an Auregniac peasant mother, Sidgwick was a curly-haired half-elf raised as a child-oblate of the Heimiran house of Joy's Rest at the western edge of the Wilderlund. He was a bubbly, laughing child, and the older brothers knew that the grace of Heimir was upon him from a very early age.

Sidgwick displayed a number of minor miracles in his youth, once healing the leg of one of the house's dray-beasts, a donkey called Immanuelus by touch—a clear sign of divine favor. The beast followed him ever after, and became useless as a pack animal for the monastery, preferring to sit outside of Sidgwick's cell as the growing brother read deeply of the philosophy of the ancients.

When he reached his majority, Sidgwick spoke with Abbot Aleharding and they determined that the best course was for Sidgwick to put his inclinations into action. "You will never be able to spread so much happiness here, secluded in our retreat, as you will if you go out into the world." And so Sidgwick chose a destination, and a goal: the old abandoned monastic house of Monkshome, beyond the Aelfwater Lake, at the very fringes of civilized lands.

On his journey there, he met with the nascent Swords of Stock, then calling themselves Fenrus' Very Best, an adventuring company out of the little town of Stock in the shadow of Tyreth Castle. He traveled with them, testing his youthful exuberance against goblins, orcs, and other monstrous creatures. Sadly, his journey was cut short by his death, while exploring the Tomb of General Tullius Antoninus near at hand to Tyreth.

Sidgwick's passing has been mourned at Joy's Rest, and Abbot Aleharding ordered him canonized in the following year. The other nearby abbots agreed, and once the ruins of Monkshome were restored, they were consecrated in his honor.

Though his death is very recent, already shrines venerating him as a servant of Heimir can be found springing up in the north of Craftsman's Reach, where he brought joy and delight. Indeed, Monkshome has been rechristened Saint Sidgwick's, and has been preparing a brew based on Sidgwick's own, which is certain to become a regional favorite.

Books of Arunia: On Alth'is and the Wild

This book was found by Fenrus' Very Best in the rooms of the Red Lances after their slaughter at Stock. It was first written in X.439 under the reign of King Lucas by the scholar Theodosius of Elborg.

IN THE SIXTH AGE the northern reaches of Craftsman's Reach were the location of a new revival of half-elven ancestry; the kingdom of Al'this, in response to the formation of Calantheas and Teraspis in the central Reach. The Althissan state encompassed the southern portions of what are now the Untamed Lands and the northern portions of the Reach, particularly around the Aelfwater. Rulership was confined to a number of families that grew up in and around the borders of the elven kingdom—many of the Althissan rulers were trained magicians and sorcerers who learned their craft in the haunts of Tailimisiä. This, of course, set the stage for the later antagonisms between the Thessalian lords and chiefs of the Reach and the elves of Talimisiä.

The Althissan capitol was built south of the Low Plain, straddling a number of small hills. It is, today, a windswept moor. Unlike other great cities of the past such as Temeros and Cathadria, the old city of Altem has no treasures, no secret caches of hidden gold, and no mysterious vaults. The rain and acidic soils have reclaimed most of the stone, leaving only a few great plazas of mosaic stone exposed to the bleaching sun. Perhaps it's because the kingdom was tenuous, small, and only lasted for a brief time. Perhaps it's because old Altem was never a city of any great size.

For a few brief centuries, Al'this clung to the north and its roots as a heritor of Ys. Part of that connection rested in the Al'thissan requirement that, like the later-to-follow Protectorate of Dorlinum, its supreme leaders and highest levels of functionary must all be magic-users. Wizards were the order of the day in Al'this, and a number of sites were chosen to serve as magistracies throughout the north of the land.

Contest with the dwarves of Mount Sirune and the foemen of Hard Heath and the Untamed Lands further north was inevitable. Battle rocked Al'this almost from its very first days, and Calanthea and Teraspis gave the Al'thissans no quarter along their southern border. It was with great perspicacity, then, that the Al'thissan rulers, who were known as Altharchs, made bargains with the remaining populations of stone giants throughout the Reach, drawing them inexorably northward, and awarding individual giants with generalship of the Al'thissan armies.

Even within Al'this, there was an intrinsically dangerous tension: the subjected Thessalians of the Reach, who thought of themselves as a noble people descended from the Spear-bearer, and resented the presence of Al'thissan sorcerers, who considered themselves to be descendants of the half-elves of Ys. The Thessalian retaliation that emerged in the centuries after the fall of Al'this was, of course, a concerted hatred of the Elvish powers, which ended with the war between Tholnia and Tailimisiä.

Books of Arunia: On Tyreth and Its Foundations

This book was first discovered by Fenrus' Very Best in the inn rooms of the Red Lances. It was first written in X.501 by the scholar Ambrosius of Kjellos as a gift for King Magnus. This is a summary of its contents, eliding a great many chapters.

TYRETH CASTLE is constructed upon a rise overlooking the Aelfwater, one of the few fortified natural formations in that region that was not built upon in some past age. In the time of Tholnia, the very northern stretches of the Reach were not fortified at all. The Tholnian seat was located in old Ambar, and the Reach was known as a land of barbarians, unfit for habitation save by the tribesmen, the gnomes, and the halflings. The most powerful force during the early Xth Age was the dwarf-prince at Aella's Hall, also known as Mount Sirune.

After the war of the Elven League in the 3rd century, the White Harts of Tyrnen Wood, fearing an elvish invasion of the Reach from Talimisiä, surveyed their land and decided to move their hall to the shores of the Aelfwater upon a hillside. This began the dynasty that, in X.285, captured the Kjellan peninsula under the leadership of Lord Valyn Karhart.

King Valyn was the first of the Kjellan kings, made so by fire and sword, after conquering the war-torn peninsula and its nobility. King Valyn left his daughter Alina behind to care for the manor and the lands from whence they came. This, my king, is where the first Lady Protector of the Reach came from, and by the 5th century this position was solidified as the place from whence the heir should come.

The procession of Kjellan kings went thusly: King Valyn, who ruled until X.319; Queen Alina, who ruled until X.355; King Baldur, who ruled until X.398 and who brought the Order of the Forge Divine to Kjellos; King Solyce, who ruled until X.415, and who moved the seat of power to Elborg and its ancient castle, resulting in being poisoned by his own high advisors; his younger brother, King Lucas, who ruled until X.459, after slaughtering those who plotted against his brother and committed the regicide; and lastly you, my lord, King Magnus, third son of King Lucas, and lord of Elborg, Kjellos, and the Reach until this very day.

THE HEIRS of the great kings improved the fortified manor at Tyreth little by little. Queen Alina built a motte upon the hilltop and surrounded it with a palisade of wood. In her day, there was no such silver trade along the Silverlode, and the elves were considered to be an enemy of the Reach. The town of Stock did not exist, and the empty elvish temple of Nunianor was filled with darkness and shadow—in the days of King Valyn, a powerful sorcerer inhabited it and made it his home. Thus, there was no threat of elvish armies approaching along the fords, but merely from across the lake.

When King Valyn died and his daughter was called from the exile of the Reach, she placed her own son in charge of the manor house. This was Baldur Dwarf-friend, who often abandoned Tyreth to reside for long stretches at Mount Sirune, in the shadow of Aella's Hall. To his credit, he reinforced the manor and established the first houses of Tyreth town upon the slopes of the hillside. He, too, extended an offer to the dwarves of Effningas to take up residence at his castle, and for a time a small band of such mercenaries did.

Baldur ascended to the throne and signed a lasting treaty of peace with the elves of Tailimisiä. He was known as a bridge-builder, throwing new constructions across the many rivers of Kjellos and the Reach, as well as a diplomat and peacemaker. When the Ambarites threw the Order of the Forge Divine out of the Bay of Ahrain, it was Baldur who gave them a permanent home in the Five Hamlets of Kjellos.

Prince Solyce fortified the manor further, erecting its outwalls and building up the town. It was during Baldur's reign that the position entitled Lord Protector was created, precisely for Solyce himself. The modern structures that we know on Tyreth hill are courtesy of Prince Solyce, who was later killed in a plot surrounding his reclamation of the ancient imperial castle at Elborg and identification of himself with the imperial pretender Thesus Spear-bearer.

You, my lord, increased the might of the Reach, and made it a true colony of Kjellos.

Character Journals: Einar Hallrson

Einar Hallrson, was born some sixteen years ago to a large farming family on the banks of the Icewater River near the border between Craftsman’s Reach and the Untamed Regions. Working as freeholders to provide the Tyreth Castle and the town of Stock with a steady supply of meats and tubers, the Hallrson family did everything they could to live frugally, setting aside a small amount of savings each season.  When the Hallrson family finally did indulge in minor luxuries, it drew the envy and attention of the ungoverned men who lived beyond the river.

Early one morning, while Einar and his older brother Kinaan were working in one of the fields, smoke rose from their homestead. Before them they found their possessions, home, and family- burning. A raiding party of bandits carried off anything of value, while Einar and Kinaan fled to Tyreth Castle and then shortly after, Stock.

For months the brothers begged for food, money, or work all the while living in filth and straddling the edge of starvation. The shock of this awful event changed Kinaan more dramatically than Einar. Over time, Kinaan became bent on finding his way to the capital in Kjellos. There they would look for relatives of the Hallrson family. Kinaan believed that in Kjellos they would find that their relatives, not only existed, but surely were wealthy merchants who would take them in to their lavish life without hesitation or question. Einar believed Kinaan had gone mad. 

One busy market day, Einar waited on the steps of the Temple of Law in Stock for Kinaan to return from attempting to sell what little they could find. Kinaan never returned, and Einar stayed on the steps for three days watching the street.  As the sun set, an Acolyte of Haeron brought Einar within the temple, and provided him with food, shelter, clothing, and his first chance to bathe in many months. There Einar received the teachings of Haeron and pledged himself to service of the god of forge and law.  

Now armed with the doctrines of law and order, and the desire to see his justice be done, Einar sets forth as a paladin adventurer in Haeron’s golden company.

Einar Hallrson- 1^st of Greening X.511

The unmitigated failure of my first mission from the order has left me rattled still. As it stands, I am not certain of how I will rescue those still enslaved in the depths of the Stockmine or return the mine to the Silver Mining Guild from Orc control.  But I gave my word that I would complete this task, and my word is my bond. I must find new, more righteous, adventurers to aid me if I am to succeed.

It has been nearly four weeks since the poisoned body of my once companion was found on the streets of Stock outside the temple of the Winter Queen. In my mind I cannot help but imagine Alfred’s final moments, limply being dragged, looted, and left to succumb to his wounds in the dirt. I wish I had been there, to help him in return for him having helped me so many times before.

If the town folk’s rumors are true, it seems as though my party member was involved in some minor nefarious endeavor to defraud our local trickster of some trinkets. Was it worth it Alfred? Despite his attempted crimes, he did not deserve to die like that. To worsen the matter, our rather flighty wizard Eldarian still has yet to return from her most recent disappearance. Part of me hopes that she turns up sometime in the indeterminate future at the bottom of a bottle surrounded by a pack of nearly wild animals. I feel as though I am once more waiting for someone who is long gone.  Reliable people are hard to find in these trying times. Though dwelling on that thought now, I’m sure Lucan feels the same.

News has reached me that the men at arms Stallir Andrus had gathered at my request were dispatched to deal with this awful business in the lowlands with the knolls. I can’t help but feel responsible for whatever fate befell them. It is best to attempt to manage only one crisis at a time however, and there are more pressing concerns.

 I am no longer brought to anger at the thought of being used to take arrows and blades by those who only sought to steal and deceive, as anger has never served me well in the past. I hold on to the notion that despite being aligned with such adventurers, I stayed true to my mission and purpose. This failure is a cheap lesson.  Even now, I am far from my lowest point. There are still those trapped beneath the mines that suffer every day because of my inability to complete my mission. My suffering is nothing in comparison to the horrors they certainly endure.  I will find a way to free them, even if it means I must do it myself.  

18^th of Sowing X.511

Against all odds the Stockmines are cleared thanks in large part to the group of adventures I met by chance in Stock. Most of the orcs that once held the mines are dead, while many fled out in to the hills after seeing Thimble’s magic decimate their ranks. Likely half of those that fled were killed at the hands of the other surviving orcs. The guild hall now can reclaim its land and revive the flow of silver through the town of Stock.

15 lives saved, but 10 lost. The dwarf, elf, and eight humans that perished lost their lives because I was incapable of completing my task almost a month ago. When I am able, I will seek out their families to pay them some form of reparations for my failings. In addition to the citizens of the greater region of Stock and Tyreth Castle, we found the bodies of nearly 20 orc slaves. I wonder if Haeron’s justice is owed to them as well?

This group of adventurers- Fenris in particular- have surprised me. He stood out and engaged the Bone Biter alone while I retreated into a doorway. He has shown far more honor and courage than expected based off the rumors the old wives told me back in Stock. For all of his summersaulting quirks he has proven himself someone I would be happy to align myself with. Still, I must not forget the lesson that Alfred had taught me; trust must not be easily given. Now that these adventurers have been paid and our contract completed, I imagine they will have little interest in risking their lives to help the realm unless they are paid handsomely for it.

For now, my attention turns to Tyreth Castle, my second home. News has reached me that the order there is in dire need of support after attempting to stand against the knolls on the low plains. I wonder if the knolls encamped in the old elven wind temple have anything to do with the attacks on the low plains. It may be worth taking a long way around and doing some more investigation at the temple. Certainly, traveling over the low plains to get to Tyreth Castle is out of the question. I will ask Lucan what news he has heard from the castle.

Locations of Interest in Craftsman's Reach: Nausur-in-Exile

Nausur-in-Exile is the forested region that borders the Icewater River on its northern bank, separating the Reach from the Daleädau and the more northerly Untamed Lands beyond. It stands as a testament to the ancient elvish division between the wood and wind elves, as the Nausur region is where the first wood elf tribes retreated after the great conflict of whether or not to "build towers" as elvish historians put it -- namely, whether or not to embrace the city-based culture of the Southmen and to follow suit, constructing their homes of stone and learning the Art.

Those who rejected the tower-builders withdrew into the westernmost regions of the Greatwood, which would eventually become Nausur-in-Exile. Since those days, the forested connection between Nausur-in-Exile and the rest of the Greatwood have been worn away by geological changes and the encroaching realms of men and dwarves. This has been, to the elves of Nausur, simply fine. They have had little interaction with the Greatwood elves since the signing of the ancient treaty at the Circan Stones, dividing the Greatwood between the wind elves and the wood elves.

Nausur-in-Exile is governed by a federation of various wood elves, united beneath a single rule that is articulated in two yearly gatherings; in the winter, the elves gather at Circan Stones to meet with the Aelfwater Circle, druids who maintain the local region, and to give law, make rules, and dispense justice. Likewise, in the summer the elves gather at Bretheia, a sacred glade within the forest.

There are five major tribes who dwell within Nausur-in-Exile.

The Casemmen. Also known as the Watchers, the Casemmen are one of the oldest and longest-lived of the ancient tribes of Nausur. They use purple as their color, derived from several crushed shellfish and compounded into a dye. Their territories, mostly located by the hills and the sea, are marked with purple-dyed strands of linen. They are fisherfolk, rangers, and sailors, and tangle often with Refusers and pirates on the western seas.

The Cissorri. The Cissorri live amongst the hill-cats of the wood, and are some of the least-inclined to deal with outsiders. They are a relatively new tribe, formed from several smaller splintered tribes during the dangers of the 9th Age. They dye their trial markers and regional borders with orange.

The Endarromen. The great bulk of local Nausrian druids come from the Endarromen tribe. They are particularly devoted to Seniä, and they often erect stone shrines throughout the forest. Their ancestors are said to have first raised the Circan Stones. They mark their territories with undyed linen.

The Gelethin. Warriors, hunters, and swordsmen. The Gelethin do the most trade with Tailimisiä for metals, and thus distribute iron and steel throughout the entire forest. They are the most forward of the wood elves of the Exile, and they can often be found doing business with the dwarves of Effningas or the men of the Reach. Sometimes, Gelethin folk will hire out as mercenaries abroad and come home telling stories of the wide world.

The Lenamir. The bone tribe, as they are known, dress in the bones of animals that they have killed. They are a quiet people, not inclined to treat with many outsiders, but also non-hostile when they do. They wear bone armor and bone helmets, and will take in any Wind Elves who can no longer stand the rigors of civilized life. For this reason, there are several Lenamir wizards and sorcerers, unlike most of the other tribes of the Exile.

Locations of Interest in Craftsmans Reach: Effningas

Size: 1,200 dwarves
Ruler: Prince Alred Effning

South of the Wood of Broken Pillars and the Tailimisiä Princedoms (in elvish, Daleädau) there stands a great lake that divides the Untamed Lands from the more well-settled Kjellan region of Craftsman's Reach known as the Aelfwater. On the northern shores of this lake, beyond the Icewater River, stands the dwarven fortress of Effningas.

It was settled during the Bleeding Plague of the IXth Age when the control of Tailimisiä withdrew and a general chaos ruled in the Greatwood. Green dwarves, besieged along the shores of the Untamed Lands by elf reavers, pirates, trolls, and all other manner of ills, fled southward under the leadership of the adventurer Jarri Effnirson.

Serving as mercenaries in various elvish wars, the Great Green Company of Jarri Effnirson eventually settled atop a hill overlooking the Aelfwater lake. There, they began the task of founding a new colony-fortress, and took on the name of their founder.

Clan Effning has been at Effningas for 700 years, several generations of dwarves, and seen five princes in their time. They are loosely allied with the Kjellans of Craftsman's Reach though their relationship with the Greatwood has diminished precipitously since the time of the Bleeding Plague and the Great Green Company.

Jarri's Hill is crowned by the modern Effning fortress, a redoubt of considerable size cut from the local granite and built with Tailimisiän wood. It's highest ramparts are cut in the shape of the ancestral Effning founders, each peering out from the crenels. When it is time to revere new ancestors, new towers are raised, thus causing the fortress to expand. The Effning fortress also sits atop the vast clan-tomb of the Effnings.

Surrounding Jarri's Hill is the Effning town, all hemmed in by a pikewall, complete with a stone gate. The outtown, comprising the Effning farms and holdings, is patrolled by the militia under the command of Burghaeff Thora, an ancient dwarven woman who has fought in several major battles. The banners of the Great Green Company still adorn the pikewalls and the fortress, displaying the golden setting sun against the green field.

Effningas has three major temples: one to Eiri the Earthfather, which stands before Jarri's Keep, one to Helga the Stonemother, located amongst the stone houses of the clan warriors, and one dedicated to Soeri and Skaldi, built into the stone walls of the Effning gatehouse.

Strangers and foreigners are oft welcome here, and the Effning Clan still works as a company-for-hire in the local wars and battles of the Untamed Lands. It's major import is iron, and its major exports include weaponcraft (Effning weapons are well-thought-of throughout the Reach and the Untamed Lands) and timberwork.

A brief history of the Reach

A History of Craftsman’s Reach and the Thessalians

Alonaris of Stock

            We may begin with the Night Age and the shadows that fell long over Aruniä in that dark and remote period. Here, in Craftsman’s Reach, there ruled a tense peace between the ancient Lignoi of the West and the Trollish darkness that roiled in the sea. Wyrmish outposts were not uncommon in the northern regions of the Reach, for the empire of Alaxaa reached even that far; it was written by the great scholar of the Night Age, Orvius Kavalson, that the Wyrms were born from the blood of the earth, steaming hot, and the Trolls from the cold basins of the Girdling Sea. Their conflict was inevitable. Trolls mounted the Reach and builded a great city on the Mount of Ys. Their war ravaged the north, but the Reach was the rearmost of their strongholds, and thus there is little remaining of their once mighty kingdom of shadows. Giants did settle many regions of the Reach in the Night Age, and I believe a Stone Giant kingdom was situated around what is now Ambar.

            In the Third Age Mero, the chief wizard of Zesh, came to Tailimisiä, which had been turned over to the Elves. The Lignoi began their long descent into the Rootwood, and left the Greatwood for Elvish dominance. After the War of the Chains, in which the Lord of Magic was imprisoned in the North, the Elves of Greatwood were taught how to build towers and work spells by the Southmen. The very first stones of the eldest city in Atva-Aruniä were laid in this Age: Aita Valmindene, capital of the Greatwood, rival to Miles in age.

            In the late Third Age, Craftsman’s Reach was settled by the sorcerers of Yer’is, and bordered the old imperial province of Kelinum in the south. That half-elvish kingdom had been founded on sorcery and foretold the rebellion of the Silver Elves yet to come. In the Fifth Age, after the Fall of Ys, which was swallowed by the sea, the so-called Five Mage-Lords took residence in the region during the reigns of Emperor Sylimus the Elf-Friend and Julior II; many great battles of the War of the Mages took place in the Reach, though its inhabitants are prompt to forget this horrific magical conflict. Mount Sirune, in particular, was the site of an awful battle between Imperial phalanxes and the armies of Gothea and The Babbler. It was only after the defeat of the Mage-Lords that dwarves were invited by the Emperor Julior to settle in the mountain.

            During the brutal and self-destructive conflicts that ripped the Second Empire apart at the close of the Fifth Age, there rose a man of the Reach named Thesus the Spear-bearer to generalship of the armies of Kelinum. He was declared Emperor in the West, and since that time the people of Kjellos and the Reach have called themselves “Thessalian” in his honor, and many claim the right to rekindle the long-doused flame of empire from his election.

            The Sixth Age saw the coming of the Second Elf and Dragon War, which ravaged the West. There are few sights of battle in Craftsman’s Reach, as the war was primarily fought between Vesimiä, Tailimisiä, and Synd. However, there are places where Wyrmish armies fell upon Elvish camps, and in some westerly corners of the Reach can be found the relics of that ancient conflict.

             From the period of the Seventh to the modern age, a series of kingdoms have grown up and failed in the shadow of the Greatwood. Alth’is ruled the north throughout the Seventh Age, and came into conflict with the dwarf-backed kingdom of Teraspis. Calantheas, which was founded in the Eighth Age and lasted through the last dark days of the Bleeding Plague, encompassed the entire Reach and much of the peninsula of Kjellos.

The Reach in the Tenth Age

            The birth of Kjellos changed the Reach forever. The southern stretches were part of Agnar, an Elvish puppet-kingdom in the early days of the Tenth Age. The Tholharts, tribal chiefs raised in the ruins of the Reach, conquered Agnar and established a new dynasty in the south—Tholnia—in X.158. Tailimisiä, under the guidance of its former Gwydereon, Laulemireneon, went to war with Tholnia in X.280 and by X.282 had annihilated the Tholnian armies in several pitched battles. This left the Reach, the peninsula, and all the lands around the Bay of Ahrain broken and leaderless.

            In X.285, the Karharts of the Reach, who ruled a small domain from Tyreth Castle in the north, claimed the Kjella peninsula and part of the northern shore of the Bay of Ahrain. The Karharts established a lasting peace with the elves, and in the two hundred and twenty years since Regus Karhart was crowned at Elborg Castle, the Reach has become a backwater to the more well-settled and imperially appointed peninsula.

A Timeline of Reach History

The Night Age. The Reach is settled partially by the western trolls, partially by the Lignoi. A powerful Petroboloi kingdom is established in its heart, with its capital in the belly of Mount Sirune. Modern scholars refer to this Stone Giant kingdom as “Latómon,” a gigantine word found carved on the paths of Mount Sirune repeatedly.

The Kingdom of Latómon went to war, on and off, with the Trolls of Ushar and Guldush. The Wyrmish Empire of Alaaxa, too, did battle amongst the northern edges of Latómon, particularly on and about the Mount of Ys where the Ushar Troll-lords builded up a great city.

The Dawn Age. Little is known of this time, save that Latómon controlled most of the Reach.

The Pillar Age. With the wakening of the Elves and the coming of the Southmen, the Dawn Age belonged to Latómon and Yer’is. Yssan emissaries settled at the Mount of Ys with gigantine aid. The Giants welcomed the coming of Yssan sorcerers into Latómon as their own power faded and their borders were pierced again and again by the Trolls.

So it remained until the end of Yer’is and the Sinking, which drowned the Mount of Ys and all its people beneath the sea for the pride of their king. There were many wars with Moros Aklaustros, the Undying, who’s realm bordered that of Ys.

The Sword Age. During the Sword Age, the power of Miles reached out its long fingers and gathered up the Reach into the great western province of Kelinum. Bastions were erected along the Tempest River, and a watch was set against the powers of Ushar and Guldush in the north.

In IV.729 the imperial crown came to Tallëor the Twice-Born, last of the descendants of Furon, who had slain the emperor Mindalus in IV.336. Emperor Tallëor concentrated a great army along the Tempest, and with him came Feanwé, Gwydereon of the elves, and Arnr, Prince of the Dwarves. Primarily staging at the Storm’s Crossing, Tallëor persecuted a long war with the trolls of Ushar, and finally wiped them from the North.

At the end of the Sword Age, the Empire dissolved into civil war.

The Dust Age. During the long darkness after the civil war, the Tempest line was abandoned and most of the Reach was lost to its natives. Pale giant-descended men mingled with gnomes and halflings, ever fighting to stem the tide of refugees from Ushar: goblins, orcs, kobolds, and other felnumen.

Northways, in what is now Thalassa, Rho’anir the Shapeless came to power. The Mage-Lords of the North crept down from their fortresses, and the giantess Gothea claimed great stretches of the Reach. In the time of Sylimus the Elf-Friend, war finally broke out—the War of the Mages, which was fought along the Black River and in the Reach.

A great battle was concluded at Mount Sirune, after which Emperor Julior II gave a patent of settlement to his dwarven allies and the colony was founded there. At the conclusion of the War of the Mages, the Reach was once again lawless, but the dwarves at the Mount exerted a powerful influence.

As the Empire tore itself apart, the barbarian-captain of the Storm Ford, a man from the Reach called Thesus, was elected Emperor by the generals of Kelinum. This election was acclaimed in Miles and the Lawkeeper supposedly gave Thesus the Spear-bearer his blessing. This has, of course, led to the Kjellans calling themselves Thessalians, and to persist in the belief that the right of rebuilding the Empire resides not in the East, but in Kjellos.

The Sun Age. This was the age of the Second Elf-Dragon War. The Reach was ground up by the Syndic armies that issued from the south and the Karonic armies from the north. Sylvasil was eventually destroyed by the twin dragons who brought it low, but not before the Loremaster produced, in alliance with the Gwydereon of Tailimisiä, the fabled blade Wyrmsbane. Though the elves would eventually prevail, the presence of Syndic armies in the Reach oppressed and burned settlements, and inhibited the growth of its people for generations.

The Moon Age. The most important event of the Moon Age is undoubtedly the War of the Moon, the elvish civil war that wracked the North for a generation of men’s lives. The war saw Tailimisiä drawn away from the Reach, withdrawing most of their settlements that were fortified during the Second Elf-Dragon War.

The Reach was divided between Al’this and Teraspis—Al’this in the north, ruled by sorcerers, Teraspis in the south, backed by Mount Sirune.

The Red Age. In the Red Age, Teraspis and Al’this were locked in a deadly struggle, and were finally destroyed when Tailimisiä once again exercised its power in the region. The whole Reach was unified under Calantheas, a mannish city founded on the coast. Calantheas ruled the Reach until the Bleeding Plague.

The Age of Blood. The Reach was once again stripped of law and governance, this time by the ravages of the Bleeding Plague.

The Shield Age. Kjellos established rulership in the Reach in X.377 by naming the first Lord Protector. Since X.285, the Karharts have ruled both the peninsula of Kjella and the Reach itself. The Lord Protector has generally been the heir-apparent of the Kjellan throne.

Yer’is and the Reach

The Kingdom of Yer’is was founded on the infamous (and now lost) Mount of Ys, many many rods north of Craftsman’s Reach. Its influence waxed in the Third, Pillar, Age and though the elves of Aita Valmindene were flexing their control in the region, it was the Yssan sorcereress Caleight Silvermane and her soldiers who took command of the northern Reach; their might extended from Ys to the Tyrnen Wood, then a great girdling belt across the Reach from the Silverlode Mountains to the Sea.

            Caleight Silvermane was appointed to be Aimarch of the South, a position much sought-after in Yer’is. Her uncle, King Aubrein, encouraged the expansion of Yssan control ever southward, eventually coming into contact with the failing kingdom of Latómon at Mount Sirune. Caleight, acting in the stead of the king, attended many meetings of state with the giant Titan. In return for shielding Latómon from the depravities of Moros Aklaustros’ deathless reign north of Tailimisiä, the giants agreed to turn over the governance of much of their territories to the half-elves, and to permit the settlement of Yssans throughout Latómon.

            The Southern Aimarchy persisted even after Aubrein’s heir, Leovel, was drowned. The Aimarchs, however, grew less and less interested in the territory they governed. Eventually, they rarely left Yer’is proper to see their territories, preferring to rule it by seconds and agents and collect the benefits of its tax from the capital at Bryndune.

            The Yssans made a new pact with Latómon, essentially absorbing it, in return for ridding the Southern Aimarchy of the lingering pockets of trollish darkness. Aimarch Haiden Highstaff returned to the Aimarchy at the behest of Queen Talovandra and waged a long and brutal war, known to the Yssan chroniclers as the War of Dead Names, eventually winning victory against the trolls.

            That victory was short-lived, however; when Queen Talovandra died, her brother Tyros the Wise took the crown of Yer’is. Aimarch Highstaff hurried back to secure his own interests, but Tyros was ready for him—he was executed on charges of treason, and Tyros secured the Aimarchy for himself, making him the first king who commanded a regional province directly. Of course, Tyros was also the very last king: he traded the future of Yer’is with Dinismayl for eternal life, and the Mount of Ys as well as all the lowlands was swallowed by the sea.