Re: seasong's world 101's
incognito said:
3. past history of Theralis - not ancient, maybe 200 years ago, to present.
The 4th Century
Three centuries ago, Councilmember Mura declared the centennial birthday of Theralis to be a celebratory day, despite the then widely-held belief that the world would end. A century later, the first and most difficult Century Celebration took place.
In many ways, the end of the 3rd century and beginning of the 4th century was Theralis' coming of age. A few years prior to the year 400, Amalan was seen for the first time since Thera had dealt with him, and destroyed a village that had grown into areas not covered by Thera's compact. Amalan was fully prepared to destroy all of Theralis in retaliation (indeed, many,
many brave soldiers died trying to defend some of the northern outskirts of the valleys), and it was only after numerous entreaties to the dragon and the gods that he accepted a tribute of a hundred youths, and nearly all of the city's treasury at the time.
It was in response to this tragic sequence of events that the
Olympiad developed.
With the Olympiad firmly entrenched, and trade with the north increasing, greater numbers of simple Theralese farmers began to shift more of their land to the grape, trading the more valuable wines for bread to the north. By 420, the grape had come to largely dominate the valleys, and Dianas, the "ancestor" or Theralis through Thera, came into full power as the patron of the city-state. In 424, during the 7th Olympiad, a statue of Thera twined in vines was erected and revealed in the southern Open Square, to commemorate the bonding of the city with its founder.
Athana the Drunk
Roughly in 440, the ruler Gaeas was childless after two unsuccessful marriages. Fearing that she would have no heir, she went to a temple of Allas and prayed there for seven days without stopping, until Allas gave her a dream. In it, she dreamed that she swam in a large bowl of crimson wine and that a smooth stone rose out of the surface of the wine.
When she awoke from her dream, she went to a fellow ruler, Pittanas, who instantly understood the portents of the dream, and that Allas was pointing to Dianas. Together, they got madly drunk and prayed to Dianas, then succumbed to the passions given by the grape goddess.
Athana was born a year later, a red-faced and troublesome child given to vast temper tantrums and violent mood swings... and great strength. When she was ten years old, she became angry with her
ellini instructor and, grabbing him by neck and one leg, heaved him over a balcony, breaking his head open.
Athana was then kept to a small room in a tower in Theralis, and lived on bread and grapes, although she managed to distill a bit of each into beer and wine. Still... the years in the tower mellowed her, and she came to regret her rages. A happy drunk, she learned to control the rage by the simple expedient of remaining drunk, and on her sixteenth birthday, she was visited by a servant of Dianas, who told her that it was time for her to go out into the world.
Dianas had many adventures during those first few years of freedom, but it was not until she was 20 that her name was forever etched in history. Bearing a broad-headed spear gifted to her by Dianas, she quested with numerous followers to defeat the powerful necromancer Math.
Math was from the distant north, and had settled near Theralis for his research, some of which included robbing Theralese tombs and desecrating their dead. Although at first (respecting his raw power) the citizens of Theralis tried to just get him to leave, he was apparently even less loved to the north.
The battle between the two was legendary. Hethas guarded the necromancer's power (for reasons still unknown, although some say he was Her son), Allas and Dianas were allied on one side, and the sun smote the earth as Athana and her followers fought Math's corpse legions. In the end, he attempted to flee, and Athan hurled her spear a full march* to pierce him between the shoulder blades, slaying him instantly. His body was swallowed by the angry earth, and the spear was never recovered.
This battle ensured her a statue next to Thera's (standing in a position as her favored servant) and that her adventurs thereafter, although not quite as important, possessed a certain celebrity status.
*
a march is approximately 1,000 yards, and is a measure used by soldiers to gauge distances. It is slightly less than a kilometer.
Dianas' Spear
During her life, Dianas gifted her with a broad-headed spear during her quest to defeat the necromancer Math. The spear (including the haft) was made of celestial steel, and seemed perpetually stained by grapes. The spearhead itself was shaped like a grape-leaf, and a grape vine was sculpted along the length of the haft, along with a prayer to Dianas.
All of the spears abilities were never revealed to history, but those known were:
* The wielder could fight as well drunk as sober (this may have been an ability of Athana, rather than the spear, however)
* Stabbed deep into the earth, it could cause mighty grape vines to grow.
* A sacrifice of wine (poured on the spear) caused it to grow to immense length, allowing a chasm to be crossed, a giant to be killed, and a truly epic hurling of the spear.
). I think I lack the imagination, will, ability and time of the previous winners. I would hate to dumb down the pool.
. They want the attack because (a), they believe it has a better chance of success than Agina believes, because (b) they know Agina will pull it off, and also because (c) they need a distraction so they can insert Akeros across the enemy line, and the orcs have been keeping far more disciplined guard than past tribes.
