The Book of Sulan
Introduction
Regarding
The Master
Sulan
By
Theseiusis
Master-Scholor
of Sulaninor
The
Master Sulan was born in the Age of Men 1074, in the village of Geln, in the
land of Noré, known in that time as Nouré.
In his life he was known by his people as Su-lienn, and in the Old
Tongue Su’len. Of his boyhood he once
said, “I was the boy who knew nothing, and spoke everything.” He spoke no more of it, and no more of it is
known.
What
is known is that at the age of four and ten years he was struck with the Vision
that he taught for the rest of his Mortal years, and which is in this Book
recorded. His words spread to the far
corners of Aerith, and it was not long before many wise men came to hold counsel
with him. In A.M. 1134 he established
on the island of Iaiul his Council, which came to be known as the Council of
Sulen-en-nouré. In time the Old Name of
the Island was forgotten, and was also called Sulen-en-nouré. This name in the common speech is Sulaninor,
and the Island is by most men called simply Sulanor.
Sulan
was the first recorded Prophet of Thoth, God of Wisdom; and his Vision was of
the things that had passed. Also
revealed to Sulan, though never mentioned in his Book, were ideas about Magic
heretofore unknown; chiefly, that Magic could be used by anyone, not just the
Gods and their servants. This Logical
Theory of Magic was to change all the world forever, and this with the founding
of Sulaninor were Sulan’s true accomplishments.
Notes
by various learned Masters are listed in Italics throughout the work.
PART I
The Age of
Gods
Ours is but one of infinite Worlds;
There was no beginning of all
Worlds, and there shall be no End to all, but our World had a beginning and
will have an end;
The Universe is eternal and infinite;
inside of it exist all Worlds, and the rest is Void. All worlds form from the
Void, and into the Void they all return.
(Master Guhl)
There are Gods whose powers exist
in all Worlds, and these are called the Greater Gods.
There are Gods whose powers exist
only in one World, and these are called Lesser Gods;
The Greater Gods were born in the
infinitude of time before Mortal Worlds formed, and represent the higher forces
– Good, Evil, Law, Chaos, Power, Knowledge, Piety, and so forth. Lesser Gods have power over the forces in
their Worlds, such as air, water, fire, earth, and Magic in our World. (More on this is detailed in the Tel’han,
the Book of the Master Telim-im-Hanil)
The first Age of the World was the
age of the Gods; in this time the earth and the sky and the seas and the forces
of Magic were all as one in the Void;
Into the Void were born the Lesser
Gods; and the Lesser Gods were each born of different parts of that which
existed in the Void; to some were given power over what we call water, to some
that which we call earth, and so on; and the Lesser Gods looked upon the Void
and declared it unsuitable, and began to use their Powers to reshape it. For a long time many wars were fought
between Gods with similar powers, and the World went through many forms, some
very different from those we know. Many
Lesser Gods were destroyed, and eventually the World became as it is today; and
it was named Aerith;
In the time before the World became
as it is, no man may say how many years passed; for in those times the sun and
the moon and the seasons were not yet as we know them, and there were no
years. (Master Almi of Koris)
Also born in the Void were many
Beings not possessed of enough power to be called Gods, and these were put into
the service of the Lesser Gods or left on their own. These Beings are called Demi-Gods, spirits, and many other
names. Many of these Beings were
destroyed in the making of the World, but many still roam through the
World. (Master Telim-im-Hanil)
When at last the waters flowed in
the streams and in the seas, and the earth was final in its shape, and the sun
and moon and stars were all in their places, all was at peace;
In the fullness of time there came
to be plants and animals upon the earth, and the Lesser Gods were pleased at
what they had Created;
But of all the creatures that trod
upon the earth or soared in the sky or swam through the many seas, none could
appreciate the Gods and their World.
“Let us create a race of creatures who can share the beauty of our creation,”
thought the Gods, “and who will see the glory of our World, and worship us.”;
And so they created the First Men.
The First Men were not the
strongest of the creatures of Aerith, or the largest or the fastest; for the
Lesser Gods thought only of themselves in this time, and made the First Men
only to serve and worship them;
The First Men were closer to the
beasts than are the men of Today; shorter than Men and stronger, they lived
only for the worship of the Gods, and no other thoughts entered their minds. They were a mindless and boring people. – Master Ri of the 112th Council
of Sulaninor
In time, the First Men spread
across Aerith and established many lands, and their life was good;
No need had they for any but the
most primitive of tools, for in Aerith food was plentiful for them, and they
lived close to the land and to the Gods;
But some of the First Men held some
Gods in higher esteem than the others; ‘why should we worship the gods of night
and snow as much as those of day and sun, for the former bring only sorrow upon
us, and the latter only health.’;
It was when the First Men
questioned the Gods that he began to show his potential; that he might not be
merely a worshipper but also a Creator in his own right. If only the Lesser Gods had known what they
had wrought, they should have destroyed us then. – Master Tyniel of Ulor
And so there was a great tumult in
Aerith, for the Gods not so highly esteemed by the First Men felt themselves
cheated, and those who received the most worship thought themselves better than
the others;
In these days of strife many of the
First Men chose one side or the other; and many who believed they would gain
power over their fellows joined the Gods of the darkness and the cold, and the
Gods gave to their favorites among the First Men the powers of Magic, to use
against their enemies, and the power of the First Men grew;
For the Gods the power of Magic is
a tool, a useful technique. But Men,
with their limitless imaginations, have found for it many more and terrible
Uses for its Power. With Magic, also,
did Man first begin to suspect a higher Order than this World. – Master Olimar, Chancellor of Rikhs
And the Gods of Light and Life
taught the children of the First Men to despise all that lived in the Darkness,
and to oppose it, and still in many men these thoughts live on to this day;
When at last the Lesser Gods and
their servants had fought for many years, they looked upon Aerith and saw that
they had done only harm to all Beings, and done benefit to none.;
And the power of Aerith had been
weakened, and was nearly destroyed, and when at last the Gods ceased their
struggle and sought to rebuild and replenish that which they had created, then
came the Daemons.
We know now that the struggle of
the Gods for the love of their creations was as nothing before the terrors of
the Daemon Age. It was a time when much
of Aerith was changed in shape, but no Beings were harmed, as they were sacred
to all the Gods; it was more a disagreement among friends than a battle; as yet
no man had killed any other. –
Master-Scholor Theseiusis of Sulaninor
PART
TWO:
The Age of Daemons
In the Great Voids between the
Worlds there are many other Beings besides the Greater Gods; of most of these I
have been shown little, but for the Creatures which came to our World when it
was at its weakest, they which we call Daemons;
Daemons are the Bane of Life, the
Destroyer of Light, the Enemies of Order;
They know not what beauty is, nor
do they care for love or hate in the way all the Beings of Aerith do; they care
only for destruction and chaos, and to consume the souls of the living;
For they Live not, but exist in
twisted mockery of Life; they have not bodies, nor form, but only Essence, an
Essence formed by Magic and forever in hatred of all but themselves;
Some men have actually tried to
hunt down Daemons, taking with them all manner of swords and armours and
magics; but Daemons can’t be seen, or attacked in the normal manner. They are beings of thought, power, and evil. They have no bodies to attack, and kill by
infesting the minds of men. – Master
Telim-im-Hanil
But their power is small, and they
come only to Worlds without the protection of powerful Gods, as our World was
at the time of the Battle over Man;
And the Daemons came, and poured
forth from all of the places in Aerith where the power of the Gods was weakest,
and laid the lands to waste for many Leagues by the power of their arrival;
And all that lived there was
destroyed, and the ground has lain fallow ever since;
The scriptures speak truth; for I
have seen with my very eyes the Great Wastes, and truly it is a sight to bring
sorrow to the strongest of heart; for all around lie the skulls of the men and
animals who could not escape, and the
Waste extends as far as the eye can see. – Ranger Furlon
Quickly the Daemons advanced,
consuming all in their path, and leaving scars upon the land and sea and sky;
The First Men scattered in fear at their approach, and hid;
The Gods discovered too late the
arrival of the Daemons, but fought them nonetheless, and Aerith was torn
asunder by the force of their Wars; the seas boiled, the earth trembled
violently, and the skies roared with thunder;
The Lesser Gods realized that they
were outmatched; Aerith would be destroyed if they did not seek help; and so
they dispatched the demigod Lyeth to the Dark Tower where the Greater Powers
hold Council, for he was the most persuasive speaker of this World, and still
is; and he waited there for ten times a thousand years to be heard in the Council
of the Greater Powers;
Those times were hard upon the race
of the First Men; for as the Daemons and the Lesser Gods fought, their world
became a hostile place, and they could hear no longer the voices of their
protectors; even as the earth was changed so too were many of the creatures
within it; through the foulness of the Daemons were created the Cursed Races,
to torment the First Men and bring blight to the face of Aerith; for the
Daemons knew that once all they created was destroyed beyond recognition, their
courage would be gone from them;
It is said that many were not aware
of the Coming of the Daemons, and feared instead that the Gods had deserted
them; and there was much chaos and dissent, and it is said that men for the
first time spilled the blood of their fellows; and ever since this time none of
the human races have been truly innocent. – Master Semig of Telorn
But the First Men which the Lesser
Gods had created used all their cunning to survive; some fled into the forests,
and lived closely with the trees and animals, and became close to all things
living, and were hidden; and these were the fathers of the race of Elves;
Others fled into the depths of the
earth, and fortified themselves in the numberless passages there, and learned
to master the earth, and to forge the metals within it into weapons and tools;
and these were the beginnings of the Dwarven race;
Some fled to the wastes far to the
North, and theirs was the hardest life of all, and from those who survived came
the great northern Barbarians.
Those who took to the hills and
downs, and burrowed there like the rabbits, became the Halflings; those that
survived by cleverness and cunning and their wits became the Gnomes; and
similarly were all the races of human-kind created;
And many of the First Men survived
much as they had been created; though they grew taller, and swifter, and more
clever; and these are the origins of the true race of Men.
Many are the descendants of the
First Men that are not recorded here; indeed there may be no listing of them
all, and many may live in lands yet unknown to us. Nor were Men the only of the races to be split thus; for see the
many dogs, and horses, and cattle that roam the earth. – Master Wydarn of Telos
Of the Cursed Races there were the
Goblin, who multiplied upon the earth like a plague, and the Kobold, who hide
and attack the weak like cowards, and the Orcs, who are the twisted shadow of
Men, and who hate them most bitterly; and many others whose names are not
important;
And in this time the Cursed Races
defiled all the lands they touched, and were fought against by all the races of
human-kind; and not a few Men were corrupted by the darkness of the Daemons,
and were slain by their fellows; and it was a time of darkness;
There were many creatures in these
times that did not survive; and it is their bones we find deep in the earth,
covered by the centuries; and as many of these creatures are huge and powerful
yet did not survive, we see further proof that it is cunning and guile that
allowed us to survive, and not strength.
–Master Ilmandir of Elven-kind
When at last Lyeth was permitted to
speak before the Great Council of the Higher Gods, his plea for this World
angered Inom, lord of Light, and Justice, and also others of the Greater Gods;
and he determined to put an end to the struggle;
And before their might, the Daemons
fled; many were trapped in the earthly forms they had used to terrorize Aerith,
and denied forever the possibility of escape, and of these many are in the form
of Dragons;
Many of the Daemons escaped to
bring their evil unto other Worlds; and many will suffer before they are
destroyed to the last;
Though many were indeed destroyed
or trapped in terrible earthly form, in recent times rumors have come from the
far West, that Daemons of Terror still walk this Earth.
- Loremaster Zhien
And when once again the seas had
become calm and the sky had become clear and the earth had become stable, Inom
placed in the skies a sign of his protection, the Guardian Star, Gilmoreth,
which moves not with the other stars but stays in its place as a reminder of
his Power;
But even so, the Lesser Gods had
been all but destroyed in the battle for Aerith, and still could not preserve
its beauty from the Cursed Ones who roamed it; and others of the Greater Gods
took pity on the races of human-kind, and gave unto them great Knowledge; the
knowledge of Fire, and of Iron, and of Magic;
Since the Coming of the Greater
Gods, Men have worshipped them above even the Lesser Gods of our own world,
save for farmers, and sailors, and others who live at the mercy of the forces
of Aerith. But many instead turn their
prayer to the Gods of less immediate things; and whether this has brought undue
misery upon us all I will not speculate.
- Master Relin Ar-Grahim
And of all the Men alive, they saw
that Umoran was the greatest of all; and unto him they gave the task of driving
the Cursed Ones into the dark bowels of the Earth; and Inom fashioned for him
Elrithal, the True Sword, and they said unto him, “Go out into the plains, and
there found a great city; and tell your children of what has passed before, and
that as all Men are as Brothers, so should all Men work together against the
Cursed Ones; and let no Man, great or small, ally with the Enemies of Man.”
And so saying, the Greater Gods
left from Aerith;
And Umoran went into the plains, as
he was instructed, and he made there the city of Umor, the First City. And then begins the Age of Man.
PART
THREE:
The Age of Man
None of the thoughts of later masters are recorded
in this Part, for they would only interrupt the story, which is complete in
itself, and also, little else is known of these times besides that which is
written here. - Theseiusis, Master-Scholor of
Sulaninor
Umoran ruled his great city for
many years, and had in his time many wives.
And born to him were seven sons, and their names were Ulom, the First,
Thilann, Zeliorn, Glyrin, Valukar, Triran, and Jeraeld. Ulom, being the eldest, stayed in Umor with
his father, and learned the ways of governing, and expected to rule when his
father’s time was ended.
And as the city grew, and Umoran
became old, there came a time when the plains grew not enough to feed the city;
and so Thilann took a portion of its people, and led them over the hills to the
land known as Ar- Érendî,
and there founded the city of Thilannia.
And Zeliorn took a portion of its people, and led them to the sea; and
founded Nar-Zeliôrn;
Glyrin and Triran of the brothers
were most alike, and they loved the plains and streams and the sea of Aerith,
and spent much time exploring them; and in the end they determined to build
ships and set across the sea with any who would follow them; and so in
Nar-Zeliôrn they built two great ships, which they named Dulcet Amnor and
Daysun Amnor, and their father lived to see them set sail, and no more
is known of them;
Valukar was of the sons the most
interested in the Gods; and he spoke much with the priests of Umor, and learned
from them many of the things that had passed in the time before his birth; and
seeking further enlightenment, he left Umor and went into the Forests of Llaúr,
and there awaited a vision; and he was not heard from for many years.
Now Jeraeld, the youngest of the
sons of Umoran, was the favorite of his father, for he was in sprit most like
his father, and in appearance most like his mother, Sevynia of the dark hair,
who had died of the coughing sickness two years after the birth of Jeraeld. And as Umoran grew old he began to see that
his Firstborn, Ulom, was well-schooled and knowledgeable, and yet he was
arrogant and thought little of those under his rule;
And
upon his very deathbed, when Ulom had ruled the lands of his father for many
years, Umoran bequeathed the True Sword Elrithal, and with it the right to
rule, to Jeraeld, and died.
When
he learned of these things, Ulom was furious with his brother Jeraeld and slew
him, and took the Sword for himself, and declared to all his kingship, and had
put to death those who had tended his father in the end, and knew of his final
words;
But
his brothers Thilann and Zeliorn learned of what had happened, and the killing
of one brother by the other; and they were set to make war upon Ulom;
From
Ar-Érendî marched forth a host of soldiers, and up the River Alwen, called in
after-times Rhônalmon, the River of Blood, came the ships of Nar-Zeliôrn; and
the two converged upon Umor;
In
the city Ulom had gathered what forces as he could, and set them to defend the
ways into the city; but few were loyal to him, knowing of his treachery; and
when the armies of Ar-Érendî and Nar-Zeliôrn approached his soldiers threw down
their arms; and Ulom was slain by his brothers;
But
Thilann and Zeliorn were not of a mind to rule Umor, for they had their own
realms to tend to, and nowhere could be found their brother Valukar, and so the
True Sword Elrithal passed to Liran, first son of the brother of Umoran; and it
is said that he was a good king, and ruled many years; and Thilann and Zeliorn
returned to Ar-Érendî and Nar-Zeliôrn, and ruled there, and for a time all was
well;
But
Valukar their brother yet lived, and indeed he lived for many years longer than
any of his brothers; for during his time in the forest he had been sent a
vision from Rhôn, Greater God of War, and
Blood; and Valukar became his priest, and gathered to him many rough and
dangerous men of the wild;
And Rhôn chose Valukar to be chief among all his
priests in Aerith, and extended his life beyond that of normal men; and Valukar
learned of the other priests of Rhôn
in the world, and they joined him; and in time he commanded a vast legion,
though it were spread far and wide;
Not until the time of King Gwyran, son of Liran, did
Valukar reveal himself; and in that time he emerged with his followers from Llaúr and marched upon Umor, and destroyed it, and sacrificed
Gwyran the King to Rhôn along with many of
his servants; and Valukar took the True Sword Elrithal of his father
Umoran, and claimed himself King of Aerith.
But
ere long the rulers of Ar-Érendî and Nar-Zeliôrn, who were Collyn son of
Thilann and Vaenvan son of Zeliorn called to war their legions; and also did
they call on Hedric, King of Lâr-Oruň, who was their ally; and they met
Valukar on the field of battle near the ruins of Umor;
Though
they fought long and hard to avenge the fall of Umor, Valukar had called to him
many of the followers of Rhôn, and had been
shown in a dream sent by Rhôn the
power of the True Sword, and he wielded it as had none before him; and he slew
many that day;
And in that battle Collyn and Vaenvan were both slain, and
their legions were routed back to Lâr-Oruň; and there they pledged their allegiance to
Hedric, having little other hope; for many had seen firsthand the terrors of
the followers of Rhôn; and the sacrifices
made by Valukar that night were many; and Rhôn was well pleased.
Valukar was quick to take Ar-Érendî and Nar-Zeliôrn, and they had little with
which to resist, and fell quickly;
But
unknown to Valukar, Kairien, wife of Vaenvan, had borne him a son, Curan; and
when the armies of Valukar approached Nar-Zeliôrn, Kairien gave Curan, who was
then not a year old, to some friendly fisherman; and they carried him safely to
Lâr-Oruň, and Hedric the King raised him as his own;
In
those days it was well known that Kairien, daughter of Tilian, was among the
most beautiful of women; and when she was brought captive before Valukar, he
determined to take her as wife, and did so; and in time she bore to him a son,
Vilúmir;
Vilúmir
stayed at his mother’s breast only until the day he could walk, and after that
was taken from her and raised by Valukar and his priests in secret; and Kairien
was so forlorn at the loss of her second son she became infertile, and would
bear no more children to Valukar;
Vilúmir,
raised by his father and the Priests of Rhôn;
grew to manhood as evil as his father; and it was said that he would be the
High Priest of Rhôn after Valukar
passed beyond; and Vilúmir was granted many powers;
Meanwhile
in Lâr-Oruň, Curan son of Vaenvan son of Zeliorn grew into manhood
learning of the evils of his Great-Uncle Valukar, and hating him; and many of
the wise-men of Lâr-Oruň saw in him the strength of his Great-Grandfather
Umoran, and knew he was destined for great things;
And
indeed, upon his fourteenth birthday Curan was given a vision from Inom,
Greater Power of the Light and Justice that was the highest enemy of Rhôn, and the power of it struck him to the ground,
and he was in bed many days; but when at last he returned to the world he was
changed, and in his eyes was a new and terrible light; and he became Inomiran,
the Chosen One of Inom, First of the Paladín.
When Valukar learned of these events he felt great fear,
and knew his time was drawing to an end; and he went to the secret place in the
Forests of Llaúr where
first Rhôn had spoken to him; and he prayed
for guidance;
And the guidance of Rhôn was this: that he
take his forces, all that he could muster, and go directly to Lâr-Oruň,
and destroy those who yet resisted him, and sacrifice the boy Inomiran before he could come to his full power;
and Valukar did as he was told;
Upon the banks of the mighty Tiré-almôn met the hosts of
Valukar and the armies of Lâr-Oruň, and there they fought, and on both sides many soldiers
were slain, and among them King Hedric of Lâr-Oruň, who died in combat
with Valukar himself, and wounded him; and as the sunset came yet there was
still no clear victor, and the armies retreated to gather themselves;
Many
of the soldiers of Lâr-Oruň wished to pull farther back, and make their
stand at Oruňar, the capitol; but Inomiran upon his white horse spoke to
them with words of wisdom; that if they retreated when both armies were
weakened, then Valukar would have time to regroup his forces, and receive
reinforcements, and keep them forever in retreat;
Though
many were still unsure, Inomiran took command of them, and told them prepare
for battle again on the morrow; and indeed his insight was good, for Valukar
thought that without Hedric the armies of Lâr-Oruň would retreat, or
scatter; and so he told his soldiers to rest easy, and that they would stay in
camp for another day, to await fresh troops;
Thus
when the battle resumed on the rising of the sun, the troops of Valukar were
unready, and many still rested, thinking themselves secure. Inomiran moved quickly to their camp, and
giving them only the amount of time to prepare that honor demands, the forces
of Lâr-Oruň attacked, and won the day; and Inomiran himself slew Valukar,
whose power failed him at the last; he had lived for one hundred years and
three.
At last, the True Sword Elrithal
was wielded by the rightful heir of Umoran; and with it Inomiran drove the
followers of Valukar from Ar-Érendî and Nar-Zeliôrn, and was reunited with his
mother Kairien at last; and being old then she was at last happy when she died
not many years later.
Vilúmir and many of the Priests of
Rhôn escaped to the Forests of Llaúr
with a small troop of soldiers; but not long after Inomiran pursued them there,
and defiled the sacred shrine of Rhôn; and Vilúmir
and the Priests escaped to the West only with their lives;
Inomiran took
for wife then Elaûra, granddaughter of King Hedric, and from their union was
born Tùlir, who was hailed by all as the one to be Umoran the Second, who would
rule all the lands of Umoran with a just hand.
But though
Inomiran was pleased at the defeat of Valukar, still he worried often of the
evils which Vilúmir
was wont to practice if not found, and slain.
Of these matters he prayed often to
Inom, and was told only that Vilúmir yet lived, and was ever plotting his
revenge; and when at last he could stand it no longer, Inomiran set out with a
small force to find his half-brother, and slay him once and for all;
For his part, Vilúmir had taken up
residence in the Mountains of Mirthir, far to the West; and there he began to
gather followers from among the wild men of the land, even as had his father in
the early days; and also he befriended the Negerzvergen, Dwarves who lived deep
inside the mountain, and were known in the toungue of Men as the Black Dwarves;
In the years before Inomiran set
out to find him, Vilúmir had used his time well, and had captured many slaves
to tend his fields; and in exchange for this food the Dwarves labored to forge
armor and weapons for his soldiers better than any that Men possessed.
Among the Black Dwarves of Mirthir
was Segnar, greatest of their smiths; and he created a sword unequaled in
Aerith, save for Elrithal the True Sword itself. And Vilúmir enchanted it with his greatest and most vile magics,
for he feared the True Sword in the hands of Inomiran, and desired a sword to
equal it; and this he named Gorilündârhôn,
which is the Vengeance of the Chosen of Rhôn; and second only to Elrithal was it in its
power;
Thus when
Inomiran and his troop came at last to Mirthir they were waylaid by the patrols
of Vilúmir; and seeing
the Sign of Valukar on their uniforms Inomiran knew that he had come at last to
the hiding-place of his half-brother.
Quickly they were surrounded, and
fought well; but ere they could defeat the soldiers of Vilúmir, Inomiran was
wounded from afar by an arrow, and fell; and then his comrades knew they were
lost; but they fought on to the last to defend their master, all except for a
man named Ryer, who knew that if word did not reach Tùlir of what had happened, all would have been in vain; and also he knew
that at all costs the True Sword must not fall again into the hands of the
Priests of Rhôn; so taking up the
Sword he rode swiftly back toward Ar-Érendî, and the soldiers of
Vilúmir, who still knew nothing of who they were attacking, paid him no heed;
When Vilúmir learned of the capture of
his half-brother he was overjoyed; for knowing not that Inomiran had a son,
Vilúmir believed he would soon be able to retake the lands of Umoran;
But Ryer
returned to Tùlir and told him all, and the son of Inomiran vowed to rescue his
father, and destroy his half-uncle. He
rallied what force he could and moved West; and the spies of Vilúmir told him of this, and he
laughed, for Mirthir was a fortress stronger than any Men had before seen; he
knew that no soldiers of Men would crush it.
Tùlir knew
this too, the moment he first laid eyes upon the rocky mountains; but also he
knew that Vilúmir
would be watchful for the movements of men-at-arms; and so, taking the True
Sword Elrithal with him, Tùlir and a small
band of his most trusted soldiers disguised themselves as soldiers of Rhôn, and were able to come inside the mountain,
while his host camped not far away.
Tùlir and his
party were quickly lost inside the many tunnels and mines of the Dwarves, and
feared they would never find their way out again, nor see their lord. At long last they came to the cell of
Inomiran, deep within the earth; and so long had he abode there that his hair
was white, and his eyes nearly blind, and he could barely stand. But when he held Elrithal in his hands once
more, his back straightened, and the old light came into his eyes, and before
they could stop him, Inomiran was running through the tunnels, screaming his
half-brother’s name.
Meanwhile
outside, the host of Tùlir had been scattered by the Legion of Vilúmir, with its Dwarven arms and
Dwarven allies. With this easy victory
they were eager to move on to the plunder they had been promised by Vilúmir in
the far-off lands of Umoran, and to the East they began to march.
Inomiran found his way to Vilúmir
quickly, some say, by a vision sent by Inom, and he was not lost in the many
passages. Vilúmir had stayed at
Mirthir, remembering how many lords have died at the head of their armies and
not wishing the same fate; but in so doing he more surely signed his death
warrant than by any other way.
Long was the battle of Inomiran and Vilúmir, and no less was the
struggle of Elrithal and Gorilündârhôn,
their swords. The sound of their
clashing was like thunder in the darkness beneath the mountain, and all who
heard it fled from it. And when the
last blow fell, both men lay mortally stricken.
It was yet
another hour before Tùlir found his father and half-uncle in the darkness; his
father and the True Sword he bore away, leaving Vilúmir to die alone; but no thought did he give to
Gorilündârhôn, and it was many years before
it was heard of again.
Yet the
struggle was not yet over; for the Legion of Vilúmir still marched on towards the lands of
Umoran, and there was no force to stop them.
Tùlir and his loyal guards fled
toward the East carrying Inomiran with them; and when at last they stopped to
rest, Inomiran spoke; “This far I may go, and no further. My time is near its end. But before I die let us pray to Inom to
deliver our lands from the evil of Vilúmir.” And Tùlir prayed with his
father, and Inom heard their prayer in this most hopeless hour; and with that
Inomiran died, and Tùlir, obeying his father’s wish that he go no further,
buried him where he lay, and marked his grave as best they could, but in a very
few years it was lost.
As the Legion
of Vilúmir approached
the lands of Umoran they happened to pass through the green Forests of
Ellivanar, and there came upon an Elf-maid, Fiwen; she had never seen
men-at-arms, and knew not to be afraid of these Men of Valukar and the Black
Dwarves who came with them, and she greeted them without fear. They brought her into their camp as a guest,
and when she least suspected they took her and had their way with her, and in
the end offered her as sacrifice to Rhôn.
But Elarion,
brother of Fiwen, had followed her and seen all, and horrified returned to the
camp of his fathers; and such was the rage of the Elves of Ellivanar that they turned their
hunting bows and other tools to war, and attacked the Legion of Vilúmir as it
marched, catching them off-guard and unable to fight in the dense forests; and
not a one of them survived to tell the tale.
Tùlir
returned to find the lands of his fathers intact, and found no trace of the
forces of Vilúmir, but
remained watchful for many years. His
reign was long and good, and he was known to his people as King Umoran II.
The Negerzvergen shut tight the
doors of Mirthir, and came forth never again to threaten Men; so too did the
Elves of Ellivanar seclude themselves from the eyes of Men, and it was many years
before they would talk with Men again;
Thus ends the tale of the struggle
of the sons of Umoran; the lands that lived under the rule of King Umoran II
were Ar-Érendî, Nar-Zeliôrn, Lâr-Oruň, and the Plains of Umor. In time these lands became as one, and were
known as Aren-Umoran, the Lands of Umoran, and in time it became Arénûmor.
When Umoran II died at the age of 112, the Age of Men had
lasted 435 years.
In the many years after, peace reigned in Aerith, and the
sons of Umoran spread far and wide, and found many strange and interesting
lands, and there they settled. Many
wars were fought after the fall of Vilúmir, but always the decendants of Umoran have borne the
True Sword Elrithal, and none contest it.
A list of the people, places,
and things in the Book of Sulan, Compiled by Theseiusis, Master-Scholor of
Sulaninor
Arénûmor – kingdom of Umoran II and his decendants; the lands of Umoran
and
Lâr-Oruň combined.
Ar-Érendî – land settled by Thilann, son of
Umoran. The capitol is
Thilannia
Collyn – first son of Thilann, slain in battle with
the forces of Valukar
Curan – birth-name of Inomiran, son of Vaenvan and
Kairien
Dulcet Amnor and Daysun Amnor – flagships of the colony-fleet of
Glyrin
and Triran,
sons of Umoran
Elarion – brother of Fiwen, of the Elves of
Ellivanar
Ellivanar, Forest of – home of the Elves of
Ellivanar, who for woe at the
rape of
Fiwen destroyed the dreaded Legion of Vilúmir.
Elrithal – the True Sword, given to Umoran and his
heirs by Inom to guard
against
evil.
Fiwen – Elf-maid of Ellivanar, murdered by the
Legion of Vilúmir.
Gilmoreth – the Guardian Star of Inom.
Glyrin – fourth son of Umoran, captain of the Dulcet
Amnor.
Gorilündârhôn -
The Vengeance of the Chosen of Rhôn;
the dreaded
weapon of Vilúmir, forged by Segnar of the Negerzvergen.
Gwyran - son of Liran, King of
the lands of Umoran, killed by Valukar in
the destruction of Umor.
Hedric - King of Lâr-Oruň, who raised Inomiran
as his own; killed in
combat with
Valukar at the Battle of Tiré-almôn.
Inom – God of Light, and
Justice.
Inomiran – First of the Paladín, the Chosen One of Inom; Slayer of
Valukar
and of Vilúmir; killed by Vilúmir;
greatest of Mortal champions; father of Tùlir.
Jeraeld – seventh son of Umoran, second rightful
King of the lands of
Umoran;
killed by his brother Ulom
Kairien – mother of Curan-Inomiran and of Vilúmir;
wife of Vaenvan;
among the
most beautiful of women.
Lâr-Oruň – the land of King Hedric; later part
of Arénûmor
Liran – Father
of Gwyran, third rightful King of the lands of Umoran
Llaúr, Forests
of – location of the Shrine of Rhôn,
destroyed by Inomiran
Lyeth – demi-god of Aerith
skilled in diplomacy
Mirthir – Fortress of Vilúmir; mountains of the
Negerzvergen.
Nar-Zeliôrn – city of Zeliorn-on-the-Sea
Negerzvergen – the Black Dwarves of Mirthir; allies
of Vilúmir.
Rhôn –
God of War, and Blood.
Rhônalmon – River of Blood; river on which lied
Umor, and Nar-Zeliôrn
Ryer – scout of Tùlir.
Segnar – Dwarven forger of Gorilündârhôn.
Sevynia – last wife of Umoran; mother to Jeraeld
Thilann – second son of Umoran; founder of Thilannia
Thilannia – capitol of Ar-Érendî
Tilian – mother of Kairien
Tiré-almôn – river that was
the border of the lands of Umoran and Lâr-Oruň;
site of the Battle of Tiré-almôn, in which perished King Hedric and
Valukar
Triran – sixth son of Umoran; captain of the Daysun
Amnor
Tùlir – son of Inomiran;
birth-name of Umoran II, First King of Arénûmor
Ulom - first son of Umoran; murderer of Jeraeld
Umoran – Greatest of all Men; founder of Umor; first
wielder of the True
Sword
Elrithal
Umoran II - First
King of Arénûmor; son of Inomiran.
Valukar – fifth son of Umoran; first High Priest of
Rhôn in Aerith; father of
Vilúmir.
Vaenvan - son of Zeliorn; father of Curan-Inomiran;
husband of Kairien;
killed by
the forces of Valukar in battle.
Vilúmir – second High Priest of Rhôn; son of Valukar and Kairien; creator
of Gorilündârhôn
Zeliorn – third son of Umoran; father of Vaenvan;
founder of Nar-Zeliôrn.