James Heard
Explorer
The Tale of Heros
Two dragons, Palomet and Teeamisis once lived in the center of the world. Though they were both dragons, no different two creatures in all creation were there. Palomet rose as a pillar of light and power and brightness, while Teeamisis circled round him in a thick slithering coil perpetually birthing their children into the cosmos. Although all children showed the faces of both parents, those that favored Palomet were pure and good while those that favored their mother were dark and evil. Even so, they were siblings and as siblings must do they all reconciled amongst themselves for the most part, even though occassionally they fought bitterly.
Eventually Teeamisis' afterbirthings became children also, so great was her power. However, since they were not true children they were not favored by their parents as the children. Even the best amongst the dragons that favored Palomet could see no great harm in worship of one's betters, and the young children became little more than slaves to the mercies of their elders.
The eldest of the new children and his followers, Moran Dur, carved great luxurious halls out of the earth and learnt ways to make stone and steel as soft as pillows so that the great dragons could rest easily in their homes. Wen Fel and her lot learnt song, and whispered poetry and and massaged their lords while they basked in amusement. Only Happa Fin and his brothers were spared torment, because little Happa was so small that he was regarded as more inconvenient than anything else.
Most brutal of all punishments were saved for Palan Tes and his followers. Stubborn and sullen as any dragon, with egos as mighty, they alone resisted their older sibling's lordship. For this they were cursed and warred upon for a thousand years, until they were fragmented and broken. A new leader amongst them, Grunash Ses, eventually rose up and stood with the dragons against his brothers and sisters forcing Palan Tes and his followers to sail across the sea where they would be out of reach of all of their homicidal siblings.
Ages past, and the dragons amused themselves by watching Grunash Ses and his people war upon each other and performing mad experiments upon his people. Grunash himself sat high above his people laughing from the lap of his masters at the tortures inflicted upon his mates. Soon the dragons themselves were nothing more than animals, spending their centuries doing nothing more than sleeping and eating and rising only occassionally to subject their slaves to a new horror. Grunash became the world's first general and with the aid of his mate Marnas Fel he led his people to attack the day and rent huge holes in it, until today still the wounds last as the night.
But in creating night Grunash set the stage for the downfall of the dragons, for soon Happa Fin discovered what being small was best for. Unnoticed by anyone, Happa led his people across the night and hid in it. There they plotted against their erstwhile masters the dragons and their puppet Grunash Ses. From their hidden camp in the night they sent scouts and diplomats into the heart of the earth to whisper subversions to Moran Dur at the foot of the massive forge that was Palomet. Into the forests and glades they crept and made alliances with Wen Fel and her sisters as they sang blossoms into being under the watchful eye of Marnas Ses.
Lastly they learnt the tongue of the land and asked it, "Where has our brother Palan Tes gone?" and then they lept from shadow to shadow across the world until at last they came upon the home of Palan Tes. But Palan Tes had grown old and weary of fighting, so he shrugged off his duty and said instead, "Ask you among my children and brothers who would fight with you. I am tired of war, and you are so small that you cannot succeed anyways." So Valas Fin, the youngest of Happa's children but most brave, went amongst the city and knocked on every door. But indeed, he was so small that most of the people did not even see him even though he shouted.
Despondent, he returned to Palan's palace and made ready to leave for home. Just then a small toeheaded boy came up to Valas and said, "I want to go with you Valas Fin, because this fighting has made my father old and grey before his time and my people cowards. If no one fights amongst us, who should fight for us?" Valas was impressed, but the boy was very young and boldness does not equate with wisdom. "Boy," he said, "Perhaps you should try to convince one of your older brothers to come instead. You are very young still, this is fighting and you could get hurt." The boy however, was the child of Palan Tes son of Palomet through and through, and could not be swayed. "The most important thing to be unfraid of is fear, and I have none of it," he proclaimed. "Though I may be small, no one can conquer my spirit." In the end, Valas relented and asked the boy what his name was. The boy replied that he was Heros.
So it came to be that the forges of the earth went still, and there was no song, and Valas Fin and a little boy retreated with the other gods to Happa's hidden place in the night to plot their insurrection. So busied were the dragons with their sleeping and eating and fighting that virtually no one noticed at all but Marnas Ses. Happa and his brothers and sisters hid behind a rock that was too big for Grunash to hurl and moved small pieces of silver across the darkness to represent their actions. To this day you can look up each night and see the very rock they hid behind when they choose to reveal it as a reminder, for it is the moon.
Marnas Ses watched this all from her own darkness, which was blacker than any night, and then ran all the way back to wake her husband, the drunken Grunash from his slumber. "Husband! Wake up and warn your masters! Happa Fin and his fellows are planning to attack us!" Grunash just laughed and fell back asleep with a snort because he was too drunk to care, so Marnas ran to find some dragons to warn but they too were asleep. Finally, mustering up her courage she ran down the long staircase to tell her mother that her children were planning on attacking. Teeamisis listened coldly while her daughter in spirit warned her and flew into a rage. Wildly she thrashed about and shook all manner of monsters from her body in her fury. She thundered up the staircase to the world not even caring that she had stepped upon her daughter in her anger and that is why Marnas Ses is only half as beautiful as she once was, because her mother's scaly feet ruined one half of her face.
By the time Teeamisis reached the world, it was already awash in blood from the cool steel of Moran Dur's forges. A hideous noise rose from the mass of Wen Fel and her sisters singing a song such that has never been heard since, for to hear it was to die. Grim Grunash alone stood against Wen Fel soon, and in his rage he tried also to sing her terrible song back at her but it struck him mute instead. Moran's people drowned in blood than ran thick over the world as they slayed their way down the staircase to their former homes, and when they got there Moran himself siezed his father Palomet in his mighty hands. "I am as hard as stone and as cold as steel father, but I must always be tempered in fairness. Since you have done me no wrong but let my brothers do their evils upon me, I shall not kill you." Palomet, always good in his own way, understood as Moran hurled him into the Heavens where he became the sun.
Outside the bloody battle raged on for what seemed forever. Wen Fel and Grunash fought and fought, her slender siloette small next to his massive frame. Happa and his people tried in vain to stop their mother Teeamisis, but they were powerless for she was larger than the horizon and fiercer than any dozen of their brothers. Soon it was obvious that the battle would be for naught, for Teeamisis was simply too powerful to destroy, her scales were so hard that even when Happa plucked the very stars from the sky to fall upon her they did nothing. Poor Valas fell to Grunash's wicked axe when he rushed in to guard Wen Fel when her voice faltered, swiftly she scooped him up and ran to give him sufferance.
Brave Moran, leaping from the earth to fight beside Happa Fin, worriedly told him, "Our axes and blades and fire do no harm to this creature, we are too few and even at one she is too many. We should leave now and hope that tomorrow our brother Palan's children fight with us." To all of this was witnessed by Heros, the little boy, who knew that his father Palan's child WAS fighting with Moran and Happa that day. Nodding to himself silently, he steeled his resolve and charged at the great Teeamisis wielding his father's sword.
Evil Teeamisis' eyes widened when she saw the small child rushing at her. Her granite lips curled into an unbidden smile as the absurdity of his braveness struck her. "Young boy, " she said, "Who is your father, that he would leave his sword for you to raise?" Heros replied, "Evil grandmother, I am the child of Palan Tes and I am my father's son. Prepare to spill your blood upon this land, for I am the one person who shall slay you." Teeamisis laughed and laughed, and awful, terrifying laugh that shook the ground and frightened the light from the sky. All combat stood still, even the wind, even the insects in the trees, the entire earth stood quietly to marvel at the boys foolsih bravery. "Aren't you afraid of me child?" Teeamisis asked, and her body was transformed into millions of biting insects that advanced upon him. "Do you not want to run?" she questioned, and again her body became a wave of fire and plague that washed across the earth but still Heros stood unmoved. "WHY DO YOU STILL STAND?!?!" she screamed, and the most beautiful of her children on the earth were struck dead and fell into Hell. "I stand because I am unafraid, grandmother. I am still here because I am the one person who shall slay you."
With that, Teeamisis roared and her mighty seventeen horned head swooped down and gobbled him up. "WHO SHALL SLAY ME NOW?" she exclaimed and the host of the rebellious Happa Fin turned weak in their knees in fear. Wen Fel turned to her trumpeteers and began to order them to sound retreat, when suddenly Happa shouted. "Sails upon the horizon! It is Palan Tes come here to join us!" For it was so, and from one edge of the horizon to the other across the sea rose the blue sails of Palan. As the mighty aged warrior lept from his boat he begged, "My Son! Where is my son Heros?" and when his brothers turned silent he knew then and turned. His white horse charging across the sky, he raised his spear and called to his host to raise theirs. When his golden spear struck Teeamisis' breast, it shattered as if it were a million motes of glass and still he charged. He lept upon his mother's neck and wrang it with his gnarled hands, even as he tried to shake the life out of her monsters escaped from from under her scales to attack his brothers. Days and nights passed as the Palan worked his fingers around the beast's throat, and at their feet battles were fought such that they cannot be repeated for they are too terrible to be imagined in this day. At last, at the break of day of the first beginning, Teeamisis let out a shriek of pain and fell.
Even as weary as gods, the host cheered and clapped Palan upon the back and shoulders in recognition. His mighty hands were bloody and bruised from the creature's scales, his eyes were blind from the horror of his reflection in her hide, and inside brave, bloody Palan felt only sorrow - for his child was dead. Then, as blind Palan Tes wept from his socketed eyes and Happa and his brothers cheered, the body of Teeamisis suddenly shuddered and burst frightening all who were near. Suddenly from the chest of the great creature rushed Heros, brave Heros, carrying his father's good sword in hand and a massive dark liver in his left. "I told her that I would slay her, and I did," Heros explained with humility. A crowd of well wishers gathered round, leaving only poor blind Palan upon his rock beside the sea alone.
Eventually, even the congratulations of gods grown old, so Heros set out to find his father who he had been told his tale. Searching, he found his father still upon the rock crying tears of jellyfish out of his ruined eyes. "Father," he said gently. "My son, my son, how is it I can hear you now, am I dead?"
"No father, you are yet alive though sorely wounded. I took your sword and lesson in hand and rushed into the heart of the wicked creature and bested her."
"I see," Palan said. "This sword you brandished should have been mine to wield, but I was to dense to see it."
"I forgive you father. You have cruelly suffered for it, and now I shall take you to our city across the sea if you wish."
Poor Palan shook his head. "No, I shall stay here upon this land and try to make well what I would have suffered. I am old and wounded, but I am still something of a warrior in me enough. Perhaps when I have healed the land, the land will forgive me and still my wounds. I will try to teach all sons to be like you, my son."
Heros nodded. "I shall go then, back across the sea to rule your kingdom until then without your sword but with your compassion. But I shall always keep my sword ready, for those who hesitate too long to wield it suffer greatly."
And that is the tale of Heros.
Ok, I know that is a lot of text and stuff but hopefully I'll finish some of the maps to go with them soon so I can put them up somewhere. Oh, and I wasn't sure if this should have been story hour or not since it's actually loaded with relevant campaign data that I'm going to be trying to share for constructive comments eventually. I'm especially looking to know if I managed the "fable feel" and whether or not my character names in this look as wrong as they sometimes look to me.
Two dragons, Palomet and Teeamisis once lived in the center of the world. Though they were both dragons, no different two creatures in all creation were there. Palomet rose as a pillar of light and power and brightness, while Teeamisis circled round him in a thick slithering coil perpetually birthing their children into the cosmos. Although all children showed the faces of both parents, those that favored Palomet were pure and good while those that favored their mother were dark and evil. Even so, they were siblings and as siblings must do they all reconciled amongst themselves for the most part, even though occassionally they fought bitterly.
Eventually Teeamisis' afterbirthings became children also, so great was her power. However, since they were not true children they were not favored by their parents as the children. Even the best amongst the dragons that favored Palomet could see no great harm in worship of one's betters, and the young children became little more than slaves to the mercies of their elders.
The eldest of the new children and his followers, Moran Dur, carved great luxurious halls out of the earth and learnt ways to make stone and steel as soft as pillows so that the great dragons could rest easily in their homes. Wen Fel and her lot learnt song, and whispered poetry and and massaged their lords while they basked in amusement. Only Happa Fin and his brothers were spared torment, because little Happa was so small that he was regarded as more inconvenient than anything else.
Most brutal of all punishments were saved for Palan Tes and his followers. Stubborn and sullen as any dragon, with egos as mighty, they alone resisted their older sibling's lordship. For this they were cursed and warred upon for a thousand years, until they were fragmented and broken. A new leader amongst them, Grunash Ses, eventually rose up and stood with the dragons against his brothers and sisters forcing Palan Tes and his followers to sail across the sea where they would be out of reach of all of their homicidal siblings.
Ages past, and the dragons amused themselves by watching Grunash Ses and his people war upon each other and performing mad experiments upon his people. Grunash himself sat high above his people laughing from the lap of his masters at the tortures inflicted upon his mates. Soon the dragons themselves were nothing more than animals, spending their centuries doing nothing more than sleeping and eating and rising only occassionally to subject their slaves to a new horror. Grunash became the world's first general and with the aid of his mate Marnas Fel he led his people to attack the day and rent huge holes in it, until today still the wounds last as the night.
But in creating night Grunash set the stage for the downfall of the dragons, for soon Happa Fin discovered what being small was best for. Unnoticed by anyone, Happa led his people across the night and hid in it. There they plotted against their erstwhile masters the dragons and their puppet Grunash Ses. From their hidden camp in the night they sent scouts and diplomats into the heart of the earth to whisper subversions to Moran Dur at the foot of the massive forge that was Palomet. Into the forests and glades they crept and made alliances with Wen Fel and her sisters as they sang blossoms into being under the watchful eye of Marnas Ses.
Lastly they learnt the tongue of the land and asked it, "Where has our brother Palan Tes gone?" and then they lept from shadow to shadow across the world until at last they came upon the home of Palan Tes. But Palan Tes had grown old and weary of fighting, so he shrugged off his duty and said instead, "Ask you among my children and brothers who would fight with you. I am tired of war, and you are so small that you cannot succeed anyways." So Valas Fin, the youngest of Happa's children but most brave, went amongst the city and knocked on every door. But indeed, he was so small that most of the people did not even see him even though he shouted.
Despondent, he returned to Palan's palace and made ready to leave for home. Just then a small toeheaded boy came up to Valas and said, "I want to go with you Valas Fin, because this fighting has made my father old and grey before his time and my people cowards. If no one fights amongst us, who should fight for us?" Valas was impressed, but the boy was very young and boldness does not equate with wisdom. "Boy," he said, "Perhaps you should try to convince one of your older brothers to come instead. You are very young still, this is fighting and you could get hurt." The boy however, was the child of Palan Tes son of Palomet through and through, and could not be swayed. "The most important thing to be unfraid of is fear, and I have none of it," he proclaimed. "Though I may be small, no one can conquer my spirit." In the end, Valas relented and asked the boy what his name was. The boy replied that he was Heros.
So it came to be that the forges of the earth went still, and there was no song, and Valas Fin and a little boy retreated with the other gods to Happa's hidden place in the night to plot their insurrection. So busied were the dragons with their sleeping and eating and fighting that virtually no one noticed at all but Marnas Ses. Happa and his brothers and sisters hid behind a rock that was too big for Grunash to hurl and moved small pieces of silver across the darkness to represent their actions. To this day you can look up each night and see the very rock they hid behind when they choose to reveal it as a reminder, for it is the moon.
Marnas Ses watched this all from her own darkness, which was blacker than any night, and then ran all the way back to wake her husband, the drunken Grunash from his slumber. "Husband! Wake up and warn your masters! Happa Fin and his fellows are planning to attack us!" Grunash just laughed and fell back asleep with a snort because he was too drunk to care, so Marnas ran to find some dragons to warn but they too were asleep. Finally, mustering up her courage she ran down the long staircase to tell her mother that her children were planning on attacking. Teeamisis listened coldly while her daughter in spirit warned her and flew into a rage. Wildly she thrashed about and shook all manner of monsters from her body in her fury. She thundered up the staircase to the world not even caring that she had stepped upon her daughter in her anger and that is why Marnas Ses is only half as beautiful as she once was, because her mother's scaly feet ruined one half of her face.
By the time Teeamisis reached the world, it was already awash in blood from the cool steel of Moran Dur's forges. A hideous noise rose from the mass of Wen Fel and her sisters singing a song such that has never been heard since, for to hear it was to die. Grim Grunash alone stood against Wen Fel soon, and in his rage he tried also to sing her terrible song back at her but it struck him mute instead. Moran's people drowned in blood than ran thick over the world as they slayed their way down the staircase to their former homes, and when they got there Moran himself siezed his father Palomet in his mighty hands. "I am as hard as stone and as cold as steel father, but I must always be tempered in fairness. Since you have done me no wrong but let my brothers do their evils upon me, I shall not kill you." Palomet, always good in his own way, understood as Moran hurled him into the Heavens where he became the sun.
Outside the bloody battle raged on for what seemed forever. Wen Fel and Grunash fought and fought, her slender siloette small next to his massive frame. Happa and his people tried in vain to stop their mother Teeamisis, but they were powerless for she was larger than the horizon and fiercer than any dozen of their brothers. Soon it was obvious that the battle would be for naught, for Teeamisis was simply too powerful to destroy, her scales were so hard that even when Happa plucked the very stars from the sky to fall upon her they did nothing. Poor Valas fell to Grunash's wicked axe when he rushed in to guard Wen Fel when her voice faltered, swiftly she scooped him up and ran to give him sufferance.
Brave Moran, leaping from the earth to fight beside Happa Fin, worriedly told him, "Our axes and blades and fire do no harm to this creature, we are too few and even at one she is too many. We should leave now and hope that tomorrow our brother Palan's children fight with us." To all of this was witnessed by Heros, the little boy, who knew that his father Palan's child WAS fighting with Moran and Happa that day. Nodding to himself silently, he steeled his resolve and charged at the great Teeamisis wielding his father's sword.
Evil Teeamisis' eyes widened when she saw the small child rushing at her. Her granite lips curled into an unbidden smile as the absurdity of his braveness struck her. "Young boy, " she said, "Who is your father, that he would leave his sword for you to raise?" Heros replied, "Evil grandmother, I am the child of Palan Tes and I am my father's son. Prepare to spill your blood upon this land, for I am the one person who shall slay you." Teeamisis laughed and laughed, and awful, terrifying laugh that shook the ground and frightened the light from the sky. All combat stood still, even the wind, even the insects in the trees, the entire earth stood quietly to marvel at the boys foolsih bravery. "Aren't you afraid of me child?" Teeamisis asked, and her body was transformed into millions of biting insects that advanced upon him. "Do you not want to run?" she questioned, and again her body became a wave of fire and plague that washed across the earth but still Heros stood unmoved. "WHY DO YOU STILL STAND?!?!" she screamed, and the most beautiful of her children on the earth were struck dead and fell into Hell. "I stand because I am unafraid, grandmother. I am still here because I am the one person who shall slay you."
With that, Teeamisis roared and her mighty seventeen horned head swooped down and gobbled him up. "WHO SHALL SLAY ME NOW?" she exclaimed and the host of the rebellious Happa Fin turned weak in their knees in fear. Wen Fel turned to her trumpeteers and began to order them to sound retreat, when suddenly Happa shouted. "Sails upon the horizon! It is Palan Tes come here to join us!" For it was so, and from one edge of the horizon to the other across the sea rose the blue sails of Palan. As the mighty aged warrior lept from his boat he begged, "My Son! Where is my son Heros?" and when his brothers turned silent he knew then and turned. His white horse charging across the sky, he raised his spear and called to his host to raise theirs. When his golden spear struck Teeamisis' breast, it shattered as if it were a million motes of glass and still he charged. He lept upon his mother's neck and wrang it with his gnarled hands, even as he tried to shake the life out of her monsters escaped from from under her scales to attack his brothers. Days and nights passed as the Palan worked his fingers around the beast's throat, and at their feet battles were fought such that they cannot be repeated for they are too terrible to be imagined in this day. At last, at the break of day of the first beginning, Teeamisis let out a shriek of pain and fell.
Even as weary as gods, the host cheered and clapped Palan upon the back and shoulders in recognition. His mighty hands were bloody and bruised from the creature's scales, his eyes were blind from the horror of his reflection in her hide, and inside brave, bloody Palan felt only sorrow - for his child was dead. Then, as blind Palan Tes wept from his socketed eyes and Happa and his brothers cheered, the body of Teeamisis suddenly shuddered and burst frightening all who were near. Suddenly from the chest of the great creature rushed Heros, brave Heros, carrying his father's good sword in hand and a massive dark liver in his left. "I told her that I would slay her, and I did," Heros explained with humility. A crowd of well wishers gathered round, leaving only poor blind Palan upon his rock beside the sea alone.
Eventually, even the congratulations of gods grown old, so Heros set out to find his father who he had been told his tale. Searching, he found his father still upon the rock crying tears of jellyfish out of his ruined eyes. "Father," he said gently. "My son, my son, how is it I can hear you now, am I dead?"
"No father, you are yet alive though sorely wounded. I took your sword and lesson in hand and rushed into the heart of the wicked creature and bested her."
"I see," Palan said. "This sword you brandished should have been mine to wield, but I was to dense to see it."
"I forgive you father. You have cruelly suffered for it, and now I shall take you to our city across the sea if you wish."
Poor Palan shook his head. "No, I shall stay here upon this land and try to make well what I would have suffered. I am old and wounded, but I am still something of a warrior in me enough. Perhaps when I have healed the land, the land will forgive me and still my wounds. I will try to teach all sons to be like you, my son."
Heros nodded. "I shall go then, back across the sea to rule your kingdom until then without your sword but with your compassion. But I shall always keep my sword ready, for those who hesitate too long to wield it suffer greatly."
And that is the tale of Heros.
Ok, I know that is a lot of text and stuff but hopefully I'll finish some of the maps to go with them soon so I can put them up somewhere. Oh, and I wasn't sure if this should have been story hour or not since it's actually loaded with relevant campaign data that I'm going to be trying to share for constructive comments eventually. I'm especially looking to know if I managed the "fable feel" and whether or not my character names in this look as wrong as they sometimes look to me.
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