Chapter One: The Orphan in the Cave
On the highest mountain on Gaeven, there is a temple. No one knows when the temple arrived on this mountain, for it was there when people first arrived to the land of magic. Nine towers plated in silver graced the land in a circle around a shorter triangle building made up of the black stone of the mountain. An ordinate gate leads any who passed into an enclosure shortly around the exterior of the towers, from there a simple path made of the same black stones lead to the entrance. There eight windows and a door made of glass which each had inscriptions in an ancient language and pictures of beautiful Goddesses. The Rih.
Once inside there were nine golden dishes which each held an element and were engraved in the same language as the windows. In the center of this small temple lies a well, sunk into the ground. The well-led deep into the heart of the mountain, to a maze of water-carved caves where water from the sacred temple trickles through.
When the Sky Rih, Myrah cries, rain flows hastily onto the ground and can be heard for distances around. It is only when she weeps warm, happy tears, the temple keepers can hear the dripping of the water from the Temple floor, down the well, and into the caverns below.
Eventually, the caves lead to a great pool blessed by the Moon Rih. There the droplets blessed by the remaining Gods turn into a thin and strong silver. From the heart of the mountain, it travels straight into three underground rivers which go to the lands of Alras, Helifae, and Gaelin. Legends say that the first witchen were born from women swimming in the lake above this river in Alras the moment the old moon finally died.
It's the lowest cave, the strongest silver which flows into the river, where the fires from the center of the world burn hottest and give this metal great power. The river in Alras flows west, under Sparrow Lake to the outskirts of Allant, the greatest city in the world, where the Rhose Clan-Metalmen tend the precious Rih Silver into small charms for each citizen in Gaeven.
Rhyrs Rhose's wife, Kara Oceanheart had just given birth to their third daughter, Morqan. The elder two; Merideth and Anna were eager to help their father in the forge as he took time off to care for their newest. Their house lay around the compound, in a U with entrances from the smithy at both ends. It kept them warm during the cold months to have their home so close to the internal flame present in the forge.
Merideth who was already eight wanted nothing more than to become a Rheign Warrior and travel to Maliak. She had heard stories of the famous clans of the "Moon land" and yearned to be a part of them one day. Anna on the other hand, who was six, wanted to follow in her father's footsteps and become the next Rhose Metalman. She could perceive no greater honor than to touch Rih silver with her hands and mold them how the gods saw fit. Though they had their differences, the two were best friends and would race along the cobblestone paths of Allant to deliver their father's charms, or to the messenger's stables so it could be given to a new babe elsewhere in Alras or Pahlin, the neighboring land.
Allant held all the world's history in its magnificent library. The knowledge of its citizens, former and current were spluttered throughout the streets, Clans of Architecture from all over the five nations were formed in the city. Its inner city held official buildings built of marble and expensive stone. They towered high, yet only occupied a few floors to house the tall ceilings with paintings and mirrors facing the floor. The Government buildings and holdings were connected to one another by large courtyards with statues or gardens in their centers. And connected to the main city with passages under building bridges.
The citizen portion of the inner-city was just as beautiful, the marbles and stone buildings continued, littered with large brick ones. Here is the home of Allant University, the first upper education school in Gaeven, and certainly the most prestigious. The buildings towards the campus are more brick and stone-built with only the library made of marble.
Orpheilo Lightblossom was nearing the end of the stay of his post-graduation stay under apprenticeship. He was eager to return home to Pahlin after his best friend and wife died with their daughters in a nasty fire that whipped out the eastern outer-city last year. His wife had agreed to stay with him in Allant for the year and took an apprenticeship under a healer. She had been at her studies while Orphelio was at his with his daughter Heline when the fire happened. Not wanting to lose her children, she bravely went in to save them when she came home. Sadly none of them made it out. Now he and his daughter were living in a rented dorm until he could collect his certificate and return to his family in Oxglen, Pahlin. It wasn't a particularly nice room, as old as it was, but would do for two for the short amount of time they needed a bed still in Allant.
The city itself was built long ago when the first humans arrived on the northern shores of the land from the other realm, guided by the Rih. To the far south of their basecamp, they found old ruins, perhaps from a civilization that came before. In its entirely Allant stretches from that original basecamp to the ruins around three ends of the same river. Inner-city was placed in the largest of the landmasses created by the delta, and was split into the first 3 districts. The remainder of the 15 were dispersed outwardly throughout the city.
Just beyond the ruins lay the Rheign camp of Clan Arrow. The Rheign were warriors and worshippers of the Moon Rih Reign, who is the oldest. She travels furthest from Gaeven each year to chase chaos away but when she returns shines her moon bright on her followers so that even though the sun does not shine these months, light still shines from the sky. They lived throughout the nations, though mostly in Maliak, and did not adhere to the borders created in the river wars as they fought and won on both sides. They are regarded more as a culture and way of life than a nation by the rest of Gaeven. While the majority of them have migrated to Maliak, some still prefer the warm grasslands of southwest Pahlin and the wetlands of Southern Alras to the cold forests and mountains of Maliak and chose to remain.
Maliak while frigid in temperature was warm in the community. Unlike the remainder of Gaeven, the Rheign clans were one and the same, fighting alongside each other and against each other as any other family does. Rheign are said to be born with a little magic in their blood, giving them gifts of strength and speed.
The Nyght Clan in particular, who fight in darkness with their dark vision and with daggers made of iron, are said to be the quickest of them all. Three years ago they welcomed their newest member, Mairghread Nyght, and were anxiously awaiting for the arrival of her silver-handled dagger so that she could begin training.
Silver from the mountains also flows from the mountain under the Temple under the valleys of the Raven Range to the snow-topped cliffs of Maliak, where the silence was pierced by the sound of the magical waters flowing out of the caves and into the sea below.
In the remorseless water of deep blue lies what is left of the ancient city swallowed by the Rain god Myrah after the Nott Clan claimed the city during a war with the Sparrow and Nyght clans for control over the powerful lands of the north. Emberhelm had once been flowing with life, but now various personal belongings, crates, and chests leave remnants of a people long gone. Tavernhalls filled to the brim with ale and skeletons of the Fallen Nygthts Daggars in hand, ready to defend their home. Sorrow still fills the city, as does the deadly silence speak volumes to the grandiose celebrations emberhelm saw on her last night.
However, according to the Sparrows which made their new home along the cliffs after the war, Emberhelm still glows with life. Ghosts of her glory days keeping up the forges and delivering special tokens to those the Rih deem worthy. In Losthall, the home of the Sparrows, Magic comes from the spring in the silver forest. A lake filled with the precious silver taken from the flooded city and rained upon the sparrow land in thanks for their help. Its aura’s pulses in godly energy that radiates into the fields making it some of the most fertile lands in the 5 nations. Some time ago the warlock Mordrid had traveled to Losthall and gifted Arabella Sparrow with gifts similar to his, her house would become the healers of their community, able to connect with ancient magic of the Rih unlike any other. Her great-great granddaughter Annabella was about to move with her husband and eldest two daughters to the town of Emrast where they could aid in the fight against the Order of Man. They left their next oldest child Adelphia in losthall to take care of her sisters and brother.
While the northern nations experienced times where the moon was the only light in the sky, the southern part of Pahlin, Alras, and Gaelin lived through months of extreme sun. So bright they would forget the moons were there sometimes. The city of Oldwood became the home of the remaining Nott’s after the massacre at Emberhelm, and those who had chosen not to fight. It was built along the banks of the crystal clear river, Thealenia. Its modern allure came at the expense of years of work from its citizens. During Oldwood's formative years, around half a decade ago, Aryum Nott was born the Bastard son of Maria Ashnott, a respected lady and ward of the Herb's household. Aryum’s father, upon finding out that his mother was with child, had his lover kicked out to live on the rotten streets. Aryum grew up resenting his father, and the herbs name. While Aryum was growing up on crumbs and handouts, Yyingrin Klauw grew up under the promise of lordship from his father (the king of Palihn).
Yyingrin wasn’t particularly an ambitious young fellow, yet the idea of holding a mountaintop town all to himself was a comfort he was determined to never let go.
Palihn hadn’t always been successful enough for kings to wish to rule it’s sunny hills, deserts, and savannah plains. When Mordrid Blackblood was born, a near thousand years ago, it was a slum of infinite proportions. During the Age of Man, which ended just as Blackblood came into power, lifted Pahlin off of her feet, and grew the land into one of the most powerful nations in the eyes of mankind.
