PC Answers 1996 February/ISSUE24.iso/games/dagdemo/arena2/redguard.txt

Text File | 1994-10-10 | 46KB | 892 lines

name: Redguard History
author: Ryders Bloc
keyword1: history
keyword2: redguards
keyword3:
keyword4:
baseprice: 1000
chance: 15
bookhistory: 1234
authorhistory: 2345

~MENU~
^A summary of The Heroes Document.

This document is written like it is a draft of a scholarly book written as a
historical analysis exploring the myths and tales as history.

Hero Frandar Hunding - Redguard history prior to coming to Hammerfell.
This sets the  stage for some color and texture of the people.  Creates a
context and some terminology.  Creates concept of thought sword quasi
magic "spirit sword".  Explanation of names Hammerfell and Redguards.

Hero Makeli Leki - Redguard history about 300 years after coming to
Hammerfell pure heroic stuff - concept memory stone that can be used to
record memories of a person.  Also follow up concept of a pure thought
weapon a spirit sword - used by only special warriors like these two
heroes.  Sets context for a conflict with a local lord in High Rock who tries
to invade through Wrothgarian mountain pass - The Bangkorai pass.

Hero Divad - Hunding's son, takes Hammerfell as the new land of the
Redguards from  giant goblins.  He combines the spirit sword and a
conventional magic sword to create  5 great magical swords to defeating
the giant goblins.  The Arena goblins are short little yellow guys, kind of
woosy fighters, a foe just a notch above a sewer rat.  Hammerfell was first
occupied by Dwarves.  They were a sparse population with just a few
riches filled cities.  Over night (from another dimension) a new breed of
goblins invades - a huge army of fighters appears in the middle of the
province, and pillages, raises towns to the ground and drives the surviving
Dwarves out.   The Dwarves  flee through a lone surviving port city and are
gone by the time the Redguards cross the ocean.  Hunding and Divad
arrive thinking the abandoned port city is vacant, and Hunding is cowardly
killed.  Divad leads the battle to wrest the land from the giant goblins  and
needs to resort to magic (5 great magical swords) to defeat them.  The 5
combined cast a mighty spell that literally diminishes the goblins to the
size and temperament we find in current Arena, and they flee to caves and
wilderness, leaving Hammerfell. The Redguards to inherit the province.

Hero Derik Hallin - He lives in later years when Redguards have mostly
forgotten their own heritage.  They face a great peril from the giant goblins
again, who have managed to open the path from the other dimension.
Divad after the battle for Hammerfell decided the 5 swords were too
powerful to leave just lying around so he hid them in succeedingly
dangerous and tricky caves in the mountains.  Derik quests to find them
and defeat goblins.  He does so, and the swords are destroyed and lost for
good (but with just a tickle could maybe come back to be found in modern
times).  This last hero's story  happened about 1000 years from Daggerfall
times.

Each story is cast in a bit different way.  Frandar, as pure clinical history;
Makela as her own memories being played back, Divad as a scholarly
assessment followed by a poem translated into prose, and Derik as a
recorded campfire tale.

Maybe this will give your tech writers something to work with.  I know it
was fun for me to write.  Hope this is helpful for creating some background
for Daggerfall.  Derik's stroy can be fleshed out more instead of taking the
outline for the editros cop out.  If you would like me to detail this out, I will,
I just went with wherer the overall book theme took me.

Unless I hear more from youall (a good southern word for an Atlanta boy)
I will asssume that you have all you need on the Redguards and enough
heros.

Dave

********************************************

Notes on the Redguards, their history and their heroes.

This is a publishers proof of the initial draft of my book,
"REDGUARDS, THEIR HISTORY AND THEIR HEROES".

The following is a collection of the tales, myths and history of the
Redguards.  Much of their history is shrouded in mystery and in the
mists of time.  It is hard to distinguish between myths, and real history.
I believe, however, that Frandar Hunding, Divad The Singer, Makela
Leki, and Derik Hallin were real people and their stories are real.

The memory stone mentioned in the second chapter may not be familiar
to all readers.  It is a stone who's mineral content makes it only found in
the far north of High Rock, and there are few of them to begin with.  At
one time, there was a Mage that lived in the vastness and wastes of that
region, and he in practicing enchantment spells, imbued several
hundreds of them with the ability to hold and record one's thoughts.
They are extremely valuable and can be used to record only once.  Most
city museums hold a dozen or so of these stones, and if you take one in
your hand, you can receive the thoughts of the original owner as clear
and fresh as if they were speaking to you.  Now days un-recorded stones
are very rare, and worth far more than in Makela's day.  Imagine she
paid only 25,000 gold crowns for hers!

I have placed Makela's story before Divad's even through
chronologically she cam many years after his death.  The choice was
based on my desire to contrast the stories of the principle heroes of the
Redguard people.  Locating the story titled the Dragon's Toe last was
because it illustrates the final use that Redguard Sword Singers made of
the Five Magical Swords that Divad The Singer constructed to drive the
Goblins from Hammerfell.




>>> Below are the first chapters of the draft. <<<<<<

{

I.  A Translation of The Book Circles by Destri Melarg

Author's note as translated into the Modern Tongue of Hammerfell:
Frandar Hunding was born in 2356 in the old way of reckoning, in our
beloved deserts of the old land. The traditional rule of emperors had
been overthrown in 2012, and although each successive emperor
remained the figurehead of the empire, his powers were very much
reduced.  Since that time, our people saw 300 years of almost
continuous civil war between the provincial lords, warrior monks and
brigands, all fighting each other for land and power.  Our people once
were artisans, poets, and scholars, but the ever evolving strife made the
way the sword inevitable - the song of the blade through the air, through
flesh and bone, its ring against armor; an answer to our prayers.

In the time of Lord Frandar the first warrior Prince, lords called Yokeda,
built huge stone castles to protect themselves and their lands; and castle
towns outside the walls begin to grow up.  In 2245, however, one man
Mansel Sesnit, came to the fore.  He became the Elden Yokeda, or
military dictator, and for eight years succeeded in gaining control of
almost the whole empire.  When Sesnit was assassinated in 2253,  a
commoner took over the government.  Randic Torn  continued the work
of unifying the Empire which Sesnit had begun, ruthlessly putting down
any traces of insurrection.  He revived the old gulf between the warriors
- the sword singers - and the commoners by introducing restrictions on
the wearing of swords.  "Torn's Sword-hunt", as it was known, meant
that only the singers were allowed to wear swords, which distinguished
them from the rest of the population.

Although Torn did much to settle the empire into its pre-strife ways, by
the time of his death in 2373 internal disturbances still had not been
completely eliminated.  Upon his death civil war broke out in earnest;
war that made the prior 300 year turmoil pale in comparison.  It was in
this period that Frandar Hunding grew up.

Hunding belonged to the sword-singers.  This element of empire society
grew from the desert artisans and was initially recruited from the young
sons and daughters of the high families. They built the first temple to the
unknown gods of War and build a training hall "The Hall of the Virtues
of War".  Within a few generations the way of the sword - the song of
the blade - had become their life.  The people of the blade kept their
poetry and artisanship in building beautiful swords woven with magic
and powers from the unknown gods.  The greatest among them became
known as Ansei or "Saints of the Sword".  Each of these began their
own training schools teaching their individual way of the sword.  Those
Ansei of the highest virtue wandered the country side engaging in battle,
righting wrongs, and seeking to end the strife.

To sum it up. Hunding, was a sword-singer, a master, no, a Master
Ansei at a time when the peak of the strife was reborn out of the chaos
of Torn's death.  Many singers put up their swords and became artists,
for the pull of the artisan heritage was strong; but others, like Hunding
pursued the ideal of the warrior searching for enlightenment through the
perilous paths of the Sword.  Duels of revenge and tests of skill were
common place, and fencing schools multiplied.

Frandar do Hunding Hel Ansei No Shira, or as he is commonly known
Frandar Hunding, was born in the far desert marches in the province of
High Desert. Hunding is the name of the High Desert region near where
he was born.  No Shira means noble person or person of noble birth and
Hel Ansei is his title of Sword Sainthood.

Hunding's ancestors reach back to the beginning of recorded time in the
high desert and were artisans and mystics, his grandfather was a retainer
of the Elden Yokeda, Mansel Sesnit, and lead many of the battles of
unification prior to Sesnit's assassination.

When he was 14, Hunding's father died in the one of the many
insurrections, and he was left to support his mother and four brothers.
His prowess with the sword however, made his life both difficult and
easy.  Easy in that his services came in great demand as a guardian and
escort.  Hard in that his reputation  preceded him, and many awaited
their turn to face him in battle and gain instant fame through his defeat.

By the time Hunding was 30 he had fought and won more than 90 duels
killing all his opponents.  He became virtually invincible with the
sword, gaining such skill and mastery that he finally stopped using the
real swords created through the artisanship of his people and began
using the Shehai or "way of the spirit sword".

All sword singers learn through their intense training and devotion to the
gods of war and way of the sword, the forms of discipline that allow the
creation of the spirit sword.   This is a simple form of magic or mind
mastery where by a image of a sword is formed from pure thought.  The
sword singer forms the sword by concentrating, and it takes shape in his
hand - usually a pale thing of light, misty and insubstantial, a thing of
beauty perhaps, a symbol of devotion to the Way and the gods, but no
weapon.  However, those Ansei of the highest level and sensitivity and
those with talent in magic, can at times of stress, form a spirit sword, the
Shehai which is far more than light and air - it is an unstoppable weapon
of great might, a weapon which can never be taken from the owner
without also taking his mind.

The Shehai became Hunding's weapon, and with this he slew bands of
brigands and wandering monsters than infested the land.  Finally upon
finishing his 90th duel, defeating the evil Lord Janic and his seven liche
followers, he was satisfied that he was indeed invincible.  Hunding then
turned to formulating his philosophy of  "the Way of the Sword".  He
wrote his Learnings down in the BOOK OF CIRCLES  while living as a
hermit in a cave in the mountains of high desert in his sixtieth year.

In that year Hunding having enlisted in the many battles of the empire,
defeating all opponents, had thought himself ready for death and retired
to his cave to capture his strategy and mystical visions to share with
other Sword Singers.  It was after his completion of the scroll of the
Circle that the Singers found him composing his death poem and
preparing to join the gods of war in final rest.

At sixty he was a vigorous man, who thought himself through with life,
but his people,  the sword-singers needed him.  They needed him as
never before.   Torn's Sword Hunt, had separated the Singers from the
common people, and the rise of the Last Emperor began the last great
strife of the desert empire.  This strife was Emperor Hira and his consort
Elisa's final effort to wrest control of the empire from the people by
destroying the sword-singers.  Hira vowed to search out every Singer and
with his Brigand army composed of Orcs and castoffs of the wars of the
empire, scourge them from the face of the earth.

The Sword Singers were never a numerous people. The harsh desert
kept the births few, and growing up in the unforgiving wastes eliminated
all but those of iron spirit and will.    Thus the final strife which became
knows as the "War of the Singers" found the people of the sword
unprepared and unready to join together their individually great skills
into an army that could defend their home and lives.

Frandar Hunding was sought out, his death poem interrupted, and
unceremoniously command of the singers was thrust upon him.   To the
unknown gods of war great thanks is owed that Hunding had had the
time in his cave to write down his years of accumulated wisdom, of
strategy, of the way of the Shehai.  The singers fled from their camps up
into the desert hills and mountains.  Fled to the foot of Hattu "the father
of Mountains" where Hunding had gone to write in peace and to die,
and there these remnants formed into the Army of the Circle - they
learned Hunding's Way, his strategies his tactics, and the final great
vision for a master stroke.

Hunding devised a plan of seven battles leading the Armies of Hira
further and further into the wilderness to the foot of Hattu, where the
final battle could be fought.  Hunding called his plan the "Hammer and
the Anvil".  With each battle Hunding's Singers would further learn his
strategies and tactics, grow strong in the use of the Shehai, and be ready
to defeat their opponents in the seventh battle.  And thus it was, the six
first battles were waged, each neither victory or defeat, each leading to
the next.  The larger armies of Hira following the small army of
Hunding.  Outnumbered thirty to one, the singers never faltered  from
the Way.  The stage was set, Hira and his Army maneuvered to the base
of Hattu Mountain, where the hammer blow was delivered.  The battle
was pitched, and many singers fell that day.  Hunding knew, that the
singers who lived  would be few, but Hira and his empire of evil would
not live to ravage the empire................   and so it went.

At the end Hunding and less that twenty thousand Singers survived the
day, but no army of evil was left to pillage and murder, more than three
hundred thousand fell that day an Hattu.  Of those who were left to run
and live,  all were scattered to the four winds, and organized force no
more.

The singers packed their lives, folded their tents, mourned their dead,
and followed Hunding to the great port city or Arch, in the province of
Seawind.  There Hunding had a flotilla of ships waiting.  The Singers
left their desert for a new land.  No longer welcome in the desert
empire, they to be sung about and spoken of in legend. The final great
warrior, the singers of Shehai, the Book of Circles, all leaving that land
where their virtue was unappreciated.  Red, red with blood they were in
the eyes of the gentle citizenry, never mind that they had saved them
from a great evil.

The singers vowed to learn new ways as they traveled across the great
ocean to their new land. To adopt a new name, but to honor the past.  In
honor of their final battle, they named their new land Hammerfell and
adopted the name Redguards. In honor to Hunding the great warrior
prince, each household in Hammerfell has a place by the hearth an
alcove really, just a niche, big enough to hold the scroll -  The Book
Circles.

What follows is a modern version of our great book of heritage.

{

^THE BOOK OF CIRCLES

{


INTRODUCTION

I have been many years training in the Way of strategy, called Shehai
Shen She Ru, and now I think I will explain it in writing for the first
time.  It is now during the first ten days of the tenth month in the
twentieth year of  the Fox.  I have climbed mountain Hattu to pay
homage to the song of the sword and to the unknown gods of war and
kneel before the spirit of the mountain.   I am a warrior of High Desert
province,  Frandar do Hunding Hel Ansei No Shira age sixty years.

From youth my heart has been inclined toward the Way of strategy.  My
first duel was when I was fourteen, I struck down.......

{


II.  From The Memory Stone on Makela Leki

This is  a faithful reproduction of the thoughts recorded  in Makela
Leki's memory stone, found in the Bankorai pass, in the year of
reckoning 2776.  Almost all of this is in the first person, as Makela was
unfamiliar with the protocols and scholarly formalities of recording
herself into a memory stone.  None the less, her heroism and heroic
deeds live on, her memories fresh in the stone for all to feel and hear.

"??!!........... muuu uhh, I wonder if this will really work.....?"  The
Mages guild took me for 25,000 gold crowns if it doesn't!  Imagine?!!
This stone will record my thoughts,........?? What did they say?  Just
unwrap it from the silver foil and leather bag and as soon as it touches
my flesh it will begin to record.

"Ahhhh, the pain, I must block it out,  no one would want to hold my
stone and hear my thoughts if I let it record my pain....!"  Thank the
unknown gods of war and the training I received in The Hall of the
Virtues of War ........  I CAN block out this pain!  "Ummm just, ah,
there, it's walled off!"  Yes I can still see it there just beyond my
consciousness lurking like a hungry wolf - a wolf  what will soon
consume me.  I see also my inevitable death from these dammed
wounds.  No potions left, the healing crystal and ring are used up, and
me, with not even magic enough to light a candle!   Oh but the gods did
give me other gifts, the gift of sword singing, the thrill of battle, Frandar
Hunding's Book of Circles, THE WAY OF THE SWORD!! ...... ah but
then that is my story, I get ahead of myself.

I am Makela Leki a warrior, a sword-singer, a second level Ansei.  In
my cradle I could form the Shehai, the spirit sword - The mystical blade,
mine formed of pure thought serpents intertwined with vines of roses to
form the blade, as beautiful as........

Ah, but I'm about to tell you all about that, to tell you my story, a story
of valiant battle, of my loves, of my wars, of,... of betrayal and of this
last glorious victory.  To tell you of how I came to this distant lonely
lpass me and five companions, to fight these men and monsters to
defeat the army that would fall on my people like cowards in the
night........ but again I get ahead of myself.

I am a simple warrior.  I grew up as a Maiden of the Spirit Blade.  As
early as I can remember I wanted to be a Singer, to feel the hunger of
the blade in my hands, to feel it come alive and take my enemies.  I am
told our people were artisans and poets long ago in our desert homes.
Here in new home now known as Hammerfell, many of us have returned
to those ancient ways, but to me there is but ONE WAY!!   THE WAY
of the SWORD!!!

Ah this is hard to tell.   I grew up in my noble family, the only one of
three brothers and two sisters that felt the calling, the Song of the
Sword.  Father understood, for he too had felt the call.  He had become
a master, and Ansei long before settling down with in our estate to raise
a family.  At eleven, I entered the Hall of the Virtues of War and joined
the Maidens of the Spirit Sword.  In my band there were six of us.
Daring Julia, solid Patia, big Kati, svelte Cecil, wise Zell,  and me - all
are gone now, save me, and soon I will join them,...  join them in the
halls of the unknown gods of war.  We drank together, we fought, we
wept, we grew in the way of the sword.  We joined in our learnings in
the Hall with our Bothers of the Blade.  Learning from each other, we
all sat at the feet of the Hall Master striving to learn the depths of the
Shehai - making the spirit blade into a real weapon as Frandar Hunding
had!  Only a few have the purity of heart and virtue to be able to take
the step and learn the mysteries of Ansei... Sword Sainthood.

Somehow, of all the Brothers and the Maidens, I only possessed the
unique qualities, the faint but strong enough flicker of magic  to be able
to call forth the Shehai.   Many times I called it, seldom would it
become substantial enough to be a weapon.  To be a Ansei, of the first
level you just need to be able to call it, and that I could, so I became the
first Ansei from our local hall in two generations.

Oh I have so much to tell, so many memories, so many treasures to
share with you , my unknown companion........ How do I start?  Umhhh,
the pain is still out there lurking hungry, slowly consuming what's left of
me.  I guess I had better tell of the final battle, the one that has left me
here, and then if I have the will left tell you of my life, of my love
Raliph... OH what a lad he was!   What times we shared...........  Forgive
me, my mind wanders................  Let me go to the Final Battle!

Umm to start, in the middle humm.  Yes!  We Maidens grew, learned,
mastered the Way, and upon completing the Walk-About.  To you who
are not Singers, this is a  wilderness trek emulating the times of Frandar
Hunding - where we each wander the country side righting wrongs,
defeating monsters, performing quests in the name of virtue.   Some of
us in our Hall took years to finish!   Always there is danger, we six
Maidens
each returned in our own good time, but many are they who do  not live to
return
from the Walk About!

We returned , each to our own lives, to meet in the hall once a week to
tell our stories to the new Maidens and Brothers, and to perform as
instructors in the Way of the sword.    All was well till the night of the
(fill in a festival from the list).  All our people were reveling and
enjoying the repast, but for we six Maidens.  It happened that the
festival day fell on our day of meeting in the hall, our day of prayer and
fasting and honor to the Way of the Sword.

As we met, late into the night, a knocking rang on our door.  When I
opened, it there was a guardian the Bankorai Pass in the Wrothgarian
Mountains, wounded and near  death.  He told us of betrayal from the
north, an invasion sponsored by the Crystal Tower of HIgh Rock,  lead by
its Lord an army filled with evil minions,  Orcs and sundry coming to fall
upon our unsuspecting people.  Quickly  we used up a crystal of healing in
restoring him to vitality.  We sent him on to the king, while we six grabbed
our weapons and armor of power, and as many potions, marks, and
crystals and rings as we could carry.

We flew to the pass hoping upon hope that we would not be too late!
Our journey was not in vain, for we arrived just at the very point where
the last three guardians were overwhelmed by the horde!  Into the pass
we ran forming the old battle line, six abreast.  OH did we FIGHT!  The
Song of the Sword was a joyous noise slicing through the ranks of evil.
We fought for hours.  Julia was the first to fall, a cowardly poisoned
dagger finding a rent in her armor.  Then one by one all fell, save me.
Then my beloved sword, the sword of my father, the one with the
serpent's crest, fashioned by the master sword smith Singer Tansal broke
in my hands!   All was lost, our six lives spent in vain. Now, many many of
Them
would pour through the pass!  I would be easy prey for them, like a
newborn child!  I wept in frustration!

Then I remembered the hearth in our home - the book!  Frandar Hunding's
Book
of Circles, the Way of Strategy.  I reached for the Shehai the spirit sword,
... that
which I could never reliably form when I needed it, and behold it was alive!
Alive with fire!   It formed in my hand!  Ablaze with power  ---- OH I slew
mightily, right and left, like a scythe through wheat!  All the way to the
Lord of the Tower I fought.  With one blow I cut his magical armor
asunder, one more took his head!  But to do that deed cost me dearly,
wounds by the dozen, for although I had magical armor, it was not
formed of spirit like my blade, it was not as invincible as my blade or
my own spirit, and I was sorely wounded.

With the felling of the Tower Lord, his army crumbled.   They fled
before my wrath! The ran back through the pass not even pausing to
collect their dead and wounded.  All who could stand ran for their lives,
and I slew all I could reach, but my breath was coming short, and the
pain....  Finally I rested, on this rock where you  find me now.  I don't
know why I chanced to bring this stone along.  I bought it on a whim
really, with the loot from...... ah well I guess I need to really stop and
tell my story in order.  I feel able to go on to tell you more ... the eternal
night
is descending more slowly than I thought.   Not just yet, am I ready to
compose my death poem.  A little sip of water and.......... well I think I
will go back and tell you of my life, maybe some details about the
battle.  And Oh yes! about Raliph and our children, humm where will I
start........

I am a simple warrior.  I grew up as a Maiden of the Spirit Blade.  As
early as I can remember .....................


III.  Divad The Singer

Preface

Divad The Singer is in one body, two unique and distinct people.  Divad
is the most well known of the Redguard heroes.   Frandar Hunding's, son,
probably the most accomplished Ansei  who ever lived.  Yet early in his
life,
Divad appeared to thoroughly have rejected The way of the sword.

Divad was the only son of Frandar Hunding, and was born late in
Hunding's life (2396), when he was away most of the time fighting the
last of his duels and engaging in the many battles and insurrections of
the period.  At eleven, Divad entered the Hall of the Virtues of War and
began training, but at 16, he appears to have finally let his anger at
growing up essentially fatherless get  the better of him, and he broke his
swords and left the Hall to become an acrobat in a traveling circus.

The life in the circus was unsatisfying to Divad, and after two years, his
innate artisan heritage drove him to become a musician and finally a
Bard.  For two more years he traveled composing and quite literally
singing in the cities of the empire - gaining no small amount of fame and
recognition for his stirring and popular songs and music.

Although Divad had forsaken the Way of the sword in public, it would
appear that he continued to practice the compulsory forms of training he
was taught in the Hall.  He carried no sword, but in the late evening,
bright lights could be often be seen in his tent, which was later learned
to be his practice of  the form of the way known as Shehai Shen She Ru
- the Way of the spirit sword, or simply the Shehai.

Divad was very popular with the people of the empire, and his music
and concerts well attended, but he could not escape his heritage of the
sword.  When the last Emperor ascended to power, and began to
persecute the sword-singers, Divad was among the first to attract his
attention.

Once the Emperor Hira and his consort decided to go to war with the
Singers for control of the empire, he moved swiftly against those Singers
who were visibly a part of empire society.  Most he had killed or
assassinated, but Divad's music and fame were so wide spread, that he
sent a team of his personal guards to arrest him.

The Emperor's men were either very luck or very unlucky depending on
how you choose to view it.  Being no fool, Hira sent 100 of his best
guards, for even an unarmed Singer was a very dangerous foe.   The luck
came in that they were able to capture Divad and place him in chains, as
they came at him as he sat dining with his elderly mother.  The disaster
came in that as he surrendered, they haughtily killed her as an after
thought.

That single thoughtless deed, as is often the case in war, was the one
pivotal factor causing their eventual defeat.  That act ignited in Divad
the spirit of the Way.  Up till that careless ax stroke, Divad was a ordinary
artisan, no to be fair,  an artist, a great artist, but no warrior.

The moment of her death, Divad rose from his seat, took his chains
between his two hands and lay about him in the confines of the dining
hall swinging the heavy chain in a deadly arc.  He slew four of the
guards, gaining enough space to run and dive through the window and
into the river on who's banks the house stood.   He disappeared in the
dark and wet of the night

From that point, Divad was spotted numerous times and told of in
numerous rumors all across the empire - far more places than a mere
mortal man could have ever been.  At every point where Mira's men
gathered to do mischief,  the resistance was attributed to Divad.

As Mira moved against the Singers and began forming his army to
invade High Desert, it was Divad who carried the news to the Singers.
Divad was among those who climbed Hattu to find Hunding in his cave.
What is not well known is that Hunding, at first refused to take
leadership of the Singers.  The first attempt to interrupt him at his death
poem cause him to drive the elders from his cave, he even formed the
Shehai in his anger.  It was Divad who re-entered the cave alone to
speak with Hunding.  To this day, no one knows what was said, what
happened in that cave, for there were bright flashes of light, and angry
voices.  Five long hours came and went, then both emerged from the
cave, Divad, at Hunding's side.  The rest as they say,  is history......

Divad, who had not completed training in the Hall of the Virtues of
War, became an adviser to Hunding, and spent his time reading the
newly completed Book of Circles, but his role in the Hammer and Anvil
strategy was as a simple sword-singer and fighter.  It was not till the
Singers landed In New Land that his story truly begins.

In that land, he learned to combine the artisanship of his people in
smithing swords of great beauty and strength with the Shehai and build
the Five great magical swords of the Redguard, but let me tell it in
Divad's own words.

The chapter following  this preface is a modern translation of Divad's
heroic feats in wresting the land of Hammerfell from the Goblins.
Many find it interesting that this is Divad's own work,  He composed the
saga in a Brads song.  I am sorry that I am a mere scholar and not
myself a poet.  I can not do his beautiful verses justice, thus I have
merely rendered  his epic saga in prose.

                      The Song of Divad

We thousands traveled the Great Ocean deep.  We of the high desert, ah
to be surrounded by so much water!   All saw the new land rise from the
water in the east.  A land of richness and great beauty it was, and it
gladdened our hearts.

A great city we saw, and a great port.  We traveled close to see streets
deserted., buildings pulled down and falling , a city filled with only
bones and ghosts of the past, and it saddened our hearts.

Great Lord Prince Hunding landed with his generals and we Singers to
claim the New Land - it was empty of man.  Unknown to us there
were others there - they were to break our hearts!

Dwarves were those who had been there first, but now no sign save bones
and dust.  To the High Temple of the city Hunding came to pray,
no weapon or armor upon his breast -  no helm upon his brow did rest.

In the silence out of the dark, was a heinous act committed, a dagger as
he
kneeled in prayer.  The healers too late were summoned.   An all out battle
from the emptyness came..

Surrounded we were upon the shore, our army still in the ships so far
away.
To the boats our men raced and rowed, and soon two great armies
in battle were met!

From whence appeared this mighty horde, we could not guess, but wave
upon wave of Yellow Warriors came and dashed themselves upon our
Rock.  Not for Nothing did we send the evil Hira to his early grave.

It seemed the sun rose and descended to its evening home, and the battle
did continue.  Soon the yellow horde was stacked upon itself body upon
body, and still they did come.  But not for Nothing did we send the evil Hira
to his grave.

A break! A break within their lines, and then all were gone save those few
who upon the ground did lay and moan.  The silence was deafening, and
our battle victory cry did ring out!  The day is ours!  Another valiant victory
for the people of the blade.

A new land was ours, and Hunding to mourn.  In his honor we did swear.
His book to hold close.  In his honor the land we did name after his last
great battle and the Hammer blow we called it Hammerfell.  A new name
for us, the Singers, Red guards - no Redguards.

The battle over we did seek to rest, and the land so rich to settle and
dwell.  To peace, to rest, to have a home!   Oh this land of Hammerfell,
and it gladdened our hearts.

We thought we were home at peace, but the battle had just begun.   For
with the morning sun, did come again the Yellow Horde.  And fight again
we must, and again and again and again - and it saddened our hearts.

The council was called, for day after day the fight went on, and no end in
sight.  From whence do these Goblins come?   We can not endure
their endless coming - and our hearts did break.

A new hope, a plan was Divad's role, and he sent out sixty to spy our foe.
To learn their secret.   To learn from whence they come.

They told of a mighty rent in the sky, a mighty gate-way in the air it did
hang.  Like a door in the Hall of virtue, and from it they did spring, in an
endless line.
And of it, the mages could powerful magic sense.

Oh to close that door and staunch the flow.  Divad to see him self did go.
In him the warrior blood was pure, but magic was a companion too.  For
Divad did sense the power, and in him the plan did grow.

Of Singers our army was built, but few there were with Ansei power, and
fewer yet could wield the Shehai.   But Shehai was all that could close the
door, but Shehai of power and purity above mortal man.

But Divad did have a plan.  For lifetimes the Singers did make blades of
power.  All warriors to wield and use the magic within.   Much more magic
and power was needed.

But Divad did have a plan.  He the Singer swordsmiths did call, and with
them he joined the Shehai with the forging of the steel and power. Five
mighty swords alive with power.  The spirit of Divad within each blade he
did pour.

So weak he was when blades were done - a newborn babe he could
hardly
match in strength.  But the blades  they were alive with his power - and we
had hope - for Divad did have a plan.

Our five Ansei each did hold one of the blades The five of Magic.  With
them did surround the gate and call upon the Shehai.  Oh unknown gods
of war, oh beauty beyond our mortal eyes.  The blaze of power did the five
blind.

The fire down the blades poured, it devoured the ground, the Goblins, the
gates, the rent in the sky - all it consumed.  Of the Goblin army, non did
stand as before.   Every living yellow warrior now Stood small.  As small as
a child they were.

Unable to wield the weapons of gown men, unable to wear armor too
large,
they fled,fled to the caves and under the earth to disturb our peace no
more.  The gate it was gone from sight!

Divad, one more task did have.  The five swords to lay to rest.   Too
powerful they would be for man.  Tempting to use, yet a great danger to all
Hammerfell.

Divad and the five Ansei did climb the mountains to the north.  Divad and
the five blind Ansei.  Only Divad did return,  the swords lost to mortal man.
Our hearts were gladdened

But Divad's spirit had left him too and upon his bed did lie.  To
compose this poem for his people to learn and know.  And our hearts were
saddened.

On the twelfth day Divad did die, his spirit all had gone.  And all was left
was our beloved land, the land of Hammerfell.  And our hearts were
broken.


Editors note --- Destri Melarg has translated this song, which began as
Divad's
death poem, but notes that he believes that it ends at this point, with the
following six phrases (not published in this translation) being added by a
later
Bard.   Melarg notes that Divad did return from the mountains and his
daughter
Cinsel heard him speaking in his sleep of placing the five great magical
swords
in the depths of the  mountain caves.  Each Ansei who came with him
stayed
with their sword, somehow she believed that they derived immortality of a
sort
from the magic in the blades.  Thus the tale has grown about the five
caves and
the guardians of the swords.  Although Divad was a living man and helped
found
Hammerfell, there is no scholarly evidence for the magical swords, the
giant
goblins or the mountain caves.  Most modern scholars believe that this is
simply
embellishment of the original death poem.   The wresting of the land from
the
Goblins and how they were banished seems farfetched, since any who
enter a
cave or dungeon today can attest that goblins are a mere four feet tall.

IV.  The Tale of the Dragon's Toe

As told to me around the campfires of Dendle Fragar., I faithfully give you
the
story titled "The Dragon's Toe".  It may be noted that this is really the story
of
Derik Hallin and the quest for the Five swords of Divad.   In fairness to the
modern history of Hammerfell, the events of this story appear to have
actually
happened.  A thousand years have passed since this story took place, so
it too
may contain "extras" like the last six phrases in The Song of Divad.

The evidence  for the destruction of the Great Goblin Lord and the Army of
Fear
however, may be found in the huge field of bones on the Plane of Tear.
To this
day, campers and visitors will visit the site, and on occasion find a gold
coin or
bit of strangely shaped metal .  History recounts a great destruction, but
has no
details, so we must turn to a campfire tale to learn of Hallin.

On hearing the title "The Dragon's Toe" one's mind turns to flying
monsters and
the romance of rescuing maidens, but alas the story is one of a man.  The
Dragon's Toe is a terrain feature of the Wrothgarian mountains that
separate High Rock and Hammerfell.  This apparently was the region of
the Caves of Divad, where he hid the five swords.

I located this story last in my anthology of Heroes, since you need to have
learned of Divad, Makela, and Frandar Hunding to understand Derik
Hallin's
quest.    Derek's story takes place two hundred years after the times on
Makela
Leki.  In another time of strife and stress in Hammerfell.

In Hallin's time, sword-singing had fallen from prominence in the families of
Hammerfell, and only a vigilant few came to The Hall of the Virtues of War.
Most
of the Brothers and Maidens in the local Halls saw their learnings of the
Way as
a social event or perhaps as a quaint club.  Few indeed, actually read the
Book
of Circles, and fewer yet attempted the learnings of the Way.  Derik, was
one of
these precious few.

It was fortunate that Derik was raised in the back country, and was able to
avoid
the sophisticism of the cities.  His Hall of the Virtues of War had stuck
closely to
the old ways, and the Brothers and Maidens could actually teach the forms
of
the Way.  The once-a-week sitting at the feat of the master in that Hall
contained
real wisdom, and discussion of the Book of Circles.  On festival and feast
days they sang the old Bard songs of Divad.

Derek was small of stature, but agile of mind and body.   His skills in all
things
sat him apart from the would-be Signers of his time.  Had his Hall been
located
in one of the large cities, jealousy and envy of him prowess would certainly
have
limited his progress - it is uncertain if he could have risen to the Ansei
level
there.

Like Makelia, he too could form the Shehai as a child, and on assention in
the
Hall to his manhood, he alone in the entire province of Hammerfell
possessed
the virtue and skill to become an Ansei.  It is at this point that we pick up
his
story, in the campfire tale, The Dragon's Toe.

Dendle the story teller, chants this story after dinner, to both children and
adults.  She is a story teller of some renowned, and will stand and act out
some of the portions of the tale, as well as pitch her voice appropriately for
the speaking of each character.   I especially like the voice she used for
the Ansei Master of the Shem Pit, the last cave of the quest.

                                                The Dragon's Toe

It was a dark and stormy night.  Derik Hallin later to become known as
Lord
Hallin, had left the Hall of Virtue beginning his Walk-About when he spied
the
campfire and shelter of a grove of trees.

"Welcome to my fire, young man".  Called the hooded stranger in a thin
and
cracking voice.  "I would welcome company on a night like this."

Editors, this is the outline of my final chapter for this book on Hammerfell
heroes.  I condensed Dendle's story telling.  I have my notes, but the story
gets long with
all the quotes. She puts a lot of dialog in her story telling.  I am amazed
that the old stories about the 5 swords keeps cropping up.  It's been a
thousand years since Hellion's time, yet people continue to believe in the
stories.

The wagon master sat with me after listening to her story and smoked a
pipe with me.  In discussing the story, he says that his story teller used to
say that one of the five swords survived the closing of the Goblin gate, and
is yet hidden here in Hammerfell.  It was the least of the five, but the story
has it that it exceeds and modern blade magical or ebony  by several
orders of magnitude.

Of course I take this with a grain of salt, since a ebony weapon is
unparalleled
in it's keen cutting ability and personally I can't imagine a weapon doing
more damage than a Claymore of Firestorm or a saber of life steal.
Dendle even believes that out in the country side in one of the Halls of the
Virtues of War there are still people who follow the old ways, and can from
a Shehai or spirit sword.

In collecting these stories I once through I was seeing a Shehai being
formed, by an old Hall master, but the thing if it was a spirit sword was so
faint, that even the sword shape was questionable.  I didn't want to insult
the old man so I claimed I saw it too, but if that was a Shehai, I can't
imagine it possible to be used as a real weapon.

Here's my outline of this story:

At the time of this story,  Hammerfell is fully occupied by Redguards.  All
the old cities of the Dwarves (but one - the Ghost City of Dwarfhome) are
now the cities of today's modern Hammerfell.   A second invasion of the
giant goblins comes.   Hammerfell is unprepared, except for a few faithful
followers, all youths in the rural Halls of virtue.

Hallin being the only Ansei rallies the army of Hammerfell, after a defeat,
He brings back the old ways by leading each warrior to read the Book of
Circles that is in each home.   The army fights the Goblins to a standstill,
but things look bleak, just as in Divad's song.   Somehow the goblins keep
being re-supplied both with arms and troops.  Eventually  the Army of
Hammerfell will lose.

The old master of Hallin's Hall of the Virtues of War has an ancient copy of
Divad's will and testament, and reads it to Hallin - it tells him that the 5
swords aren't lost, just hidden and well guarded in 5 caves.  Each cave is
home to a master guardian, one of the old blind Ansei  - and also a maze.

According to the will, Derik must, along with a virtuous companion of pure
heart enter the cave, defeat each Ansei Master and retrieve their sword.
Dendle goes into great detail here.  It seems that each Master had an
outstanding trait - one Katrice, possessed feline grace, and had become
very cat like, another, who had icy calm was something much like an Ice
Golem.

On each blade is inscribed part of an intricate message on how to use the
power of the swords combined.  Derik scours the rural Halls for Brothers of
the Blade and Maidens of the Spirit Sword to accompany him in the
quests.  He finally one by one searches out his companions, and wins
each sword.

They learn from the blades how to use them and together wield the force
of the 5 swords in sealing the rent in space time that the Goblins have
made and from which springs their invasion.  Hallin's companions avoided
blinding by the magic swords by hurling the swords together into the void,
and sealing forever the giant Goblins in the void between  their world and
ours.

The land is saved and Hallin and his companions (3 women and 2 men)
become Ansei and restore the teachings of Frandar Hunding to
Hammerfell.

~GOTHIC~




^THE END