LotLL - The Tale of Aric and Freya

An Open Letter to Boris Dalgen, Grandmaster Librarian of the Freyan Academy.
Written by Freyan Guard Post 18 Captain Marcus Wainwright.
I would like to have an open discussion about the true history of Aric and Freya.

[For Your Reference: An abridged telling of the folk tale of Aric and Freya]

A young brother and sister were traveling with their parents in a caravan across the Freyan Valley, searching for a new place to settle. Every night they would sing and dance around a blazing fire until morning. This ritual was not only for their enjoyment, it was for their protection. The valley held many untold dangers and night brought out the worst of them.

Traveling with a caravan taught the young Aric and Freya the importance of sticking together. Until one day, they woke and the caravan had left. The only trace of their traveling family was a small sack of food and one good sword. For weeks they managed to survive by hunting and foraging in the lush valley.

One fateful day, they found the edge of a mighty forest. The forest of oak and birch had intrigued them both. Living among tall grass and few trees made for very poor shelter. Finding a lush forest full of wood for fires and building a good shelter was too enticing for them to pass up. So they then made out to search through the forest for a trace of civilization.

It proved more difficult than they had imagined. Freya lost her way while foraging for berries and good kindling for a fire. She wandered for hours and never managed to find her way back to Aric. Aric searched the entire night after to no avail. As they both fell asleep tiny chimes filled their ears. Fireflies danced and wood creaked in the wind.

A small orb of red light formed above both of them that night as they slept. The spirits of the forest felt their pain from being separated from each other. Aric and Freya both woke to a bounty of fruits and vegetables at their camps that night. They may have not known at the time, but the spirits sought to care for them.

Finding comfort in the forest, they both decided to stay on their respective sides in hopes the other would come looking. Years passed and they longed more and more for each other. Despite the kindness of the spirits, they both felt the need to seek each other. The spirits had grown accustomed to their company and didn’t much like their leaving.

As they each prepared to leave camp the next day they were confronted by a sprite. A small red orb with leaves floating behind it like wings. It chimed without words, though they knew it’s intentions. It didn’t want them to leave.

They both pleaded with the spirit to understand, but the spirit demanded they stay. When Aric and Freya refused, the spirits invoked the might of the Ley-Lines. Vines grew around their feet and quickly locked them in place despite their protests. Small leaves burst from the vines and began to spiral outwards. A burst of red ley-energy engulfed the entire valley as two massive Greenweb Willows fiercely grew over the oaken canopy within minutes.

The spirits offered the very essences of Aric and Freya to the Ley-Lines and were gifted with their presence over the valley to this very day.

_____

The bustling city of Freya has roots in humble beginnings. Every child is told the tale of Aric and Freya growing up. What child was not enthralled with adventuring amid a vast open valley of tall grass and deep lush forests, holding what they believe to be secrets untold. The telling of this tale has become somewhat of a cultural rite of passage and I am finding it more and more difficult to stomach as time goes on.

While I understand the whimsy behind thinking kids so young could become the subject to Ley-Energy phenomenon, it’s ludicrous to think such things would happen without purpose. As you know from the Freyan Grove debacle the history of Aric and Freya is vastly different from this telling. Aric was an honorable man turned tyrant. Freya was a loving soul turned vengeful.

Their struggles were far more than just their own. They were heads of their own empires as grand as our own. Something did strike me as intriguing about this tale however, and that’s the way in which the Greenweb Willows were formed are not that far from the truth. There is much to discuss on this subject, along with stout evidence of the empires they left behind. Most importantly however is how closely tied to the original Freyan Empire our own truly is.

May this letter find you in good health Boris. Take care of yourself, and I look forward to discussing this with you.

- Marcus

LotLL - Rángard

Far to the east of Freya, the city of Rángard lies in ruin. Although many on the main land know only fear when speaking of the vast sea that resides beyond the lands of Dorana, those brave souls who lived in this port knew only kindness from the goddess they named their town after. The emirate only recently recognized this town as the capital of the lands of Vör. Vast amounts of riches were spent to erect Rángard, in exchange for continuing their endeavors to conquer the sea.

Many powerful and rich nobles flocked to this town, eager to be a part of something that had long bred fear throughout the hearts of our people. Exploring the vast seas. As the first port town known throughout Dorana, Rángard quickly became flooded with a bustling population.

Spires were erected with gold and jewels. Vast reservoirs of clean drinking water were magically flowing from the sea to the people via aqueducts that stretched to every part of town. Many advancements in every day comforts were made, and the population of Rángard tried it's very best to help it's people. Monuments to the kind and generous nobles who spurred this bustling town were built of every kind of rare material imaginable. Ivory and marble. Gold and silver. Petrified woods and even stone taken from deep within the caverns of Mount Heimdall.

None were as grand as the coral palace built at the very edge of the land, parallel to the docks and ships that ventured out into sea. An attuned magic ruby was placed at the top of the palace, and was used as a shining light to guide ships back into port when they became lost in the fog. I had seen every corner of Rángard... Houses built of sturdy stone, then magically hardened to defend against raging seas. A people united under the hopes of living in what was once deemed unlivable. 

As you know, dear Marcus, prosperity does come with it's problems. Politics became more important than the what and the how. People were divided by their ideas, rather than their struggles. There is a certain level of understanding when disagreeing with others. Yet the nobles shared no love for those who didn't share their ideals. Soon a divide was created that not even the kindest of hearts could repair.

Crime spread like a plague, and the once rich and powerful nobles practiced self-preservation and showed no love for their fellow people. Only greed. One day, this bustling town stopped dead in it's tracks. None know what happened on that day... I am the only one that does. I was still young, at the not so tender age of twenty five. Long gone were my days of innocence and clean hands.

I have always openly admitted my faults. My days of stealing and misdirection had only just begun. Yet on that day, everything changed. I knew not what had caused it, but a massive wave rose from the seas. Though it was not the first to strike the town, it was certainly the most powerful. Magi from throughout the city did their best to protect everyone, but I was on the outskirts of town, dealing in the black market.

Swallowing me whole, the typhoon dragged me from the pier which I had met an accomplice at to exchange some stolen goods. Although I had enough magic training to protect myself under the water, my accomplice did not. I watched him drown... Had I not been so greedy, I might have saved him from such a terrible fate... Yet the bounty which I had carried was much more important than I had known at the time. 

It was an idol, made entirely of a greenish material that I had never seen before. A rather scary figure of a man holding two swords and bladed armor was carved into the stone, and shone with such intensity that anyone would seek to make the idol their own. I knew not where the noble I stole it from had obtained it, but it was soon made clear to me there was a reason that wave struck when it did...

Rán, the goddess of the sea came to me in the torrent of water. Her figure was strong and bold, created only as a vision from the algae in the water. She spoke to me in plain words, and demanded I return the idol which I had stolen. Fearing for my life, I agreed. As soon as I handed the idol over to her, a massive leviathan appeared from the sea and swam ferociously towards me. It's scales were glowing red, along with it's countless eyes shining through the cloudy water.

It swallowed me whole... I can not recall what happened to me during my time in the leviathan, I know only that I washed up on the shore on the west side of the continent. One of your Freyan scouts found me outside of their lands in unclaimed territory. Your father, Percival actually. He brought me back to the closest scouting outpost on the western border of the country. There were such trees there as I had never seen....

So tall.. So proud. So full of life and mystery. Yours truly is a land of wonders. As he nursed me back to health, he asked me how I came to these lands. I could not tell him the truth... Who would ever believe a man who has been touched by a goddess? Although I did tell him of Rángard, I fed him a false tale of being wrecked at sea and being one of the lucky few to survive. With so many questions, one would think that he didn't believe my story.

Yet in his eyes I saw trust. I saw faith in his fellow man. Something I had not seen since childhood. He told me that news had spread years before that Rángard had become deserted after that encounter. Spinning a tale that was one right out of fanciful legends and kids stories, he regaled of how the town became deserted, though no one knew what happened to it's inhabitants. They simply disappeared, and left behind their legacy. I know for a fact, dear Marcus, that these people could protect themselves from the sea.

Their demise was not met from the harsh unforgiving sea. Their towers remained in tact, and monuments untouched. Somehow, the people seemed to cease to exist. Then he told me of you. His son. He missed you so, but saw his duty to his people as a more important endeavor in his life. He wished he could have been there for you, yet he knew his purpose was expanding the borders of the Freyan empire. His eyes... Were so kind and gentle. Yet there was no doubt in my mind he was a more powerful man than I.

Learning of the years I had lost at sea troubled me. I felt like I no longer knew the world around me. Though I was no one important at the time, I certainly felt like I had greater purpose. My time in Freya is what shaped me to be the leader I am today. I still remember back to that day... The day I witnessed the face of a goddess. And I remember exactly what day it was too... That is why it so shocked me to find that the day I disappeared...

Is the day Marcus Wainwright, the man who will come to conquer the hearts and minds of the entire Doranaian main land, was born. The man refused to be king was born on the day that idol was taken by the sea... And though you have come to be a kind and loving person... There is still part of me that fears for my people... For in my travels I have learned exactly what that idol was born of. And exactly what it represents...

The Blademaster has returned...