by Oriel Goatleap
*In translating this introduction from the Aril I have taken some liberties with the language. Oriel uses a certain specialized vocabulary and makes references that only learned Rowanian readers could be expected to understand. In many ways, Karlin Lirara is a book for the already knowledgeable audience. Still, when stripped down to essentials, Oriel's words remain the best simple guide to Rowanian history.
Secondary note: The masculine singular pronoun is used throughout. This is not a poor translation of the Aril, though Aril does have a full set of words and pronouns to indicate individuals of both genders; rather, Elwens are accustomed to write or speak with the pronouns of their own gender. Oriel's use of the masculine shows only that he is male, not that he regards women as humans do. Similarly, an Elwen woman writing with the feminine pronoun does not necessarily regard men as corame do. When approaching the work of Elwens, and especially land Elwen writers of the Third Era, one must remember that they had a completely free attitude towards both genders and regarded neither as more important than the other.
Now hear my words, young and old, proud and humble alike, and harken to the silver history of the old city before you. What do you know of Rowan, truly, save beauty and glory? All ruling cities place these things foremost in the eyes of their people, that such might be the first impression the child receives and the last one the old Elwen burns.
Yet Rowan has known evil days as well as glorious, dark as well as bright. It is my purpose in this history to present the full range of these days, so far as they are known, without either venturing so far backward that I will be working in guesses rather than knowledge, or venturing so close to the present as to bore those who will read this. It is not for children too young to read that my history is intended; nor is it intended for the adult who does not have time to pause and reflect. It is intended for the Elwen who can pause a moment and think about where he comes from, he who can soberly as well as giddily consider his history, and he who stands in the shadow of the wings as well as he who flies with the wings of the dragon.
It is intended, in other words, for the amaled {1} .
THE BEGINNING
No one knows who founded Rowan, though historians credit the event to either the Deerfriend line or the Leaflaughter line. It is certain that by the year 2051 of the Age of Dawn, the city was rising in the Corallen Valley, blessed in having springs of natural water and bluffs around it as a defense against enemies. As well, when farming was begun, the soil was observed to be extraordinarily fertile. The soil continues fertile after more than five billion years of habitation, as our people constantly renew the earth with their magic. The ability of our people to bond with the earth is as old as the land Elwen race, but nowhere do we bond so easily with the earth as in Rowan. This leads to the argument of some historians that the stars had a special destiny for Rowan in mind from the beginning, but whether tomisel {2} or alura {3} remains to be seen.
By 2053 After Dawning, the first foundations of Rowanian magic in as far as binding sonor to sonor had begun. This magic involves binding diverse pieces of the silvery metal to each other, so as to form a surface like that of a giant sculpture all of a piece, with no cracks. (See elsewhere, including Arini i Aroso for a discussion of this beginning.)
Topics elsewhere in this book from the Age of Dawn:
Five Crowns
Jaelish the Traitor
THE DARK DOMINATION AND THE SILVER CONQUEST
At the beginning of the Age of Life came a great slaughter of curalli, shattering the uneasy truce between those people who referred to themselves as "darkers" and those called "lighters." The Dark, if one may be excused such a melodramatic term, thought the Light had done it; the Light thought the Dark had done it as a means of distracting attention from military preparations. Both sides attacked at once, and the First War of Dark and Light began.
With Arcadia divided as it was, the goddess Tirosina, Goddess of Dark Music, Dark Magic, Dark Beauty, and many other things, found it easy to attack and conquer, beginning the Dark Domination. Soon Rowan was one of a handful of cities and city-states still standing against the power of Tirosina and Her ravens. In the end, it was Somal Deerfriend who saved the world from Tirosina, confronting her and cutting off three of her fingers. Though he was caught and sacrificed for this sacreligious act, it was worth the price; Tirosina was driven from the world.
Unfortunately, this only meant that the two sides resumed their war once again. This continued for nearly a million years, until the Silver Unicorn Empire began to rise, the silverini sweeping all before them. That history is too well known to discuss here.
For the only time in her history, Rowan fell. I will not mourn yet again that dreadful time. Others have done it far better than I could, Kerlyon Deerfriend among them.
The rise of Maruss Freewind and the War of the Falling are likewise too well-known for me to spend time on them in the introduction. Elsewhere in the book are resources for how the War of the Falling and the aftermath of the Silver Conquest affected the course of Rowanian history.
THE PRESENT AGES
With the end of the War of the Falling and the restoration of Rowanians to freedom, our modern era began. The Goatleap and Lafoxbane lines {4} came into existence. Yubro Deerfriend rose to prominence and discovered first the cure for the Dying that swept the continent and then the means of creating horses and intelligent races. Perhaps wisely, perhaps unwisely, he destroyed this secret just before his death.
The High Ages of Rowan are generally considered to have begun with the rise to power and the Councilmastery of Eleriad Deerfriend. She brought two Ages of (mostly) peace to Rowan, and great scientific and artistic achievements. She also created the idea of starflight which, unfortunately, was lost with the Yavil. She died in the Battle of Esshellen of a traitor's arrow.
Our lord now is Herran Turnlong, long may he reign {5} . He has brought about the end of slavery, the end of laws that barred other races from entering the city, and, to a large extent, the end of the rivalry between Rowan and other cities around her. Long may he reign.
