Tainted Avalon - Post-Arthurian Avalon

Bob Aberton

First Post
'Zactly what the title says. I've often wondered what happened in Avalon post-Arthur. Here is my version:

(Note: time is reckoned in Anne Rex (Year of Kings), or A.R. A.R. 1-50 was the Arthurian times. A.R.D. (Anne Rex Deuce), or the second Age of Kings, was from the time when Owain Nheriathir (Uwaine of North Wales) took the kingship of Avalon.)

"After the death of Arthur, or the seeming death, for the Rex Quondam Rex Futuris (Once and Future King) was taken to Avalon by Morgana LeFay and the Lady of the Lake, where some say he yet sleeps by the lakeshore, to awake again one day and once more lead England and Avalon to peace and prosperity, there was no one to take the throne of Avalon (The throne of England at this time was held by a Saxon king).

However, one did come forward to lead the Isle of Apples. The son of Urien Rheged of North Wales and Morgan LeFay, Uwaine (Owain, in the Welsh language), came forward, heir to Avalon by blood (Morgan was the half-sister of Arthur, and Owain was her son.), and took the name Nherianthir, and began the Nherianthir line, an offshoot of the Pendragon line, which ended with the death of Arthur.

And so there was peace and prosperity for a time, save that the Druids and the Christians were opposed in their teachings, the Druids seeing the Christians as narrow-minded and the Christians seeing the Druids as devil-worshippers and sorcerers. There looked to be a struggle that might tear Avalon apart, save that a wise, holy, broad-minded, and far-seeing priest named Father Ursian laid down his life as a peace sacrifice, and so he became St. Ursian, and both Druids and Christians hold him in high regard for bringing peace and tolerance between the two faiths, for, though he was a Christian priest, St. Ursian saw much good and worthy of merit in Druidical teachings as well.

But a score of decades later, the Merlin of Avalon, Arolas (for Merlin was not a man, it was an office held by the highest-ranking Druid, and Arthur's Merlin was but one Merlin), resolved to teach others, for he was of the opinion that Magic was the patrimony of all, even those not of the Druid faith, of the secret Durid arts, which some call "sorcery," or "magic." He taught the magics of plant and stone, of wood and water, and even the magic of spirits, for indeed magic doth come from the Land Beyond, Faerie, the Spirit-world, which, though it always surrounds us and is with us, we may not see or contact unless we know of the secret arts of Magic, and through the spirits, who are beings beyond our knowledge for the most part.

And so the march of years continued, and Avalon became separated from the lands of mortals, save to those who know magic, who can percieve the world of spirits as only one versed in Magic can, for indeed Avalon has become more like to Faerie, to the Realm of Spirits, than to any mortal land."
-Excerpt from "The Merlin's History of Avalon," which is an ongoing history added to by each Merlin to hold the office, attributed to the Merlin Arolas, around the year 234 A.R.N.

Basically, Avalon's relation to England is this:

England-----Avalon----Faerie (Realm of Spirits)*

However, after the Wisdom of the Druids was lost (About the time of Arthur), the connection of England to Avalon became much more tenous, while the connection between Avalon and Faerie was strengthened. Note that Faerie does not directly correspond to "The Afterlife," although it can.

"Many spirits there are in those realms, and some serve God and could be termed 'Angels,' and some are malevolent and serve Satan, and could be termed 'Devils,' and still others serve themselves and could be termed 'Fey.' But the realms of God are not Faerie, and neither are the realms of Satan. The spirits of Faerie are not mortal, nor ever were."
- Arolas, Merlin of Avalon, 257
A.R.N.

Faerie is a specific place - the realm of the Fey, spirits that do not serve any master but themselves, and answer to know one save the King of Faerie.

The realms of the Spirits is a general term for anything that is not the realms of mortals - in other words, Hell, Heaven, Faerie, etc.

These are not "planes" in the D&D sense. Hell and Heaven are places no living person may tread, but Faerie can be visited. There are no Elemental Planes. There are, however, elementals, and it is not known from whence they come.

There are no psionics, and no plane travelling, although Faerie can be accessed.

Avalon is a low-magic setting. Wizards use the Witch spell list from the DMG, sometimes containing one or two low-level offensive spells. Spellcraft checks are required to cast all spells above cantrip level. There is a new class - the Christian Priest. This class has special turning abilities, Divine Favor, and a few other special powers to balance off the HD d4, poor BaB progression, lack of armor proficiencies, and possibly a prohibition against shedding blood.

The combat is based on a skill-based system. there are more revisions in the works.

Anyone want to hear more?
 

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I would like to hear more, it seems to me to have a sort of Vampire: the Dark Ages feel to it. I think the idea is great and it allows you to use actual recorded history as a way to come up with ideas on events and such. You do a little research and let the players run with it, no big deal if they change history, they most likely won't realize the history they are running parallel to. You don't have to work so hard to make everything work, but just work to add the extra bits of fantasy to the setting.
 

*Gasp!!* an actual reply!! After so long!!
And you actually want to hear more, too!! Well, anyway, here it is:
History (Post-Arthur)

Second Age of Kings (1 ARD - 660 ARD*)

During this era, which began ten years after the death of the High King, Aurelius Ambrosius Arthurius, King Arthur, as he was known, Owain Nherianthir took the throne of Avalon. Around this time, Avalon was by now so separated from England that none could ever cross over again, though magic in the mortal realms did not die, but was persecuted, and none knew the magic to cross over onto the Isle of Apples. Likewise were those who lived upon Avalon barred from leaving, for the quiet lake that had inold surrounded Avalon was become a limitless sea, whose ends could not be reached and which was, moreover, wracked with storms. The Lady of the Lake, and her Fey attendent, could still at times cross over, for to the them the limitless seas were merely a quiet lake, and indeed the Magic of Crossing was known only to the Tylwyth Teg, and what few mortals they chose to tutor in magic, who, however, never to them did they teach the Magic of Crossing. And so Avalon and the Mortal Realm continue in their separate ways.
Now Avalon at that time was changed, for, as its connection to the mortal lands were severed, it grew closer to Faerie, the Realm of Spirits. Thus, the land slowly changed. Mountains grew where there had been none before. Forests, grew too. In the south, mountains grew, and a desert sprang up, the Allamid, where one tribe of Celts slowly adapted to the desert, becoming the fierce, woman-ruled Allamidians, whereas in the North, it became icy cold, being mountainous and far north in cold regions, and there settled a tribe of Norsemen who had come to Avalon many years before. This was the Icy Wastes.
For nigh on 600 years Avalon enjoyed peace and prosperity, which was, however, not unmarred by conflict.
In the year 342 ARD, Annlaw, then Merlin of Avalon, bethought himself of the opinion that Magic as the Druids taught, and some renegade sorcerers not of any religion knew, was the patrimony of all. He created a circle of like-minded Druids and Sorcerers, which was derisively called the Sorcerer's Guild, which was the name that lasted for all time. He disseminated Magic to people of all followings and faiths, Druid, Christian, and Allamidian alike. Notwithstanding, in the year 357 ARD, he died a traitor's death and was buried in the Counsel Oak, the place where Caius Merlin Britannicus, whose name in the Old Speech was forgotten, was buried, he who had been Merlin to Arthur.
Later, in the year 420 ARD, the Tylwyth Teg, whose forests had suffered greatly by the axes of Men, closed their great forest to all, and any who so much as touched an Elfin-tree was slain by the Elf-arrows of the Fair Folk.
In the Year 578 ARD, the Golden Age of Avalon was drwaing to a close. Peace was finally brought to Avalon in this time by the death of St. Ursian, Slain by Druids, who with his last breath rebuked those of his priesthood who slew his killers, thus breaking God's Law against the shedding of blood. Both Druid and Christian realized the full cost of their war, and peace was brought, after the destruction of many fairy glades by Christians and the slaying of many Christians by Druids.
In 600 ARD, King Caradoc th Fifith was slain before his time, by poisoned mushrooms, and chaos came to Avalon, being that he had no heir.
-Arolas, Merlin of Avalon, in "Historia Avalonica," 23 ARQ


Next Up, "Avalon History Part Two: The Third Age of Kings, and the Ruinous Wars"

Like what your hearing so far? Oh, by the way, 600 ARD corresponds to about 1100 AD, RL.
 

Wow, the effort just in typing all of that impresses me, the details of the storyline is great. Do you need any help with ideas or anything like that?

I could see borrowing some of this for a Vampire the Dark Ages campaign. Your storyline is a little bit earlier then the setting, but I am sure my players wouldn't mind at all.
 

Being an account of Anne Rex Tri (The Third Age of Kings):

"In the year 1 ART, which corresponds to the year 689 ARD and the year 1001 AR, after 89 years of chaos and unrest as no new heir to King Caradoc the Fifth could be found, a new claimant took the throne, a bastard son of King Caradoc's cousin Anheirlion, whose name was Heyvdd Nherianthir. He attained his throne by slaying all of the other claimants, and in this he did evil, for he slew his own kinsmen, and it was said ever after that the Nherianthir line suffered from this ill-done and violent deed, for, after that, none died of natural causes but by violence, save for one, but he became enamored of a Fey-woman and wandered off into Faerie, and ne'er was seen again by mortal men.
Hevydd died in battle in the year 27 ART, and he had done much good for the Kingdom of Avalon, but his subjects now had cause to remember that deed of violence which put him on the throne, and the curse which followed, for he had no heir save a daughter, who men thought not fit to rule, and it seemed that Avalon would once more be rocked by civil war, but the daughter proved stronger than any could have guessed, and she took and held the reins of power for 63 years, finally dying in 104 ART, she whose name was Angharad, and, being wise, kind, and strong-willed, she was well-loved by her subjects.
She left behind a son, Bran, who ruled for but 3 years before he was slain by his jealous wife, who he had long been cuckolding. That was in the year 107 ART. His daughter was Eilonwy and her son was Anheirlion. Thus continued another Golden Age, but this one was more shaky, and in the later years of Anheirlion's reign, troubles increased in the realm. Dwarf clans marched against each other underground, and even the surface world shook with their marching. Fey became even more reclusive, and people feared them, for many were slain by elf-arrows each year. In the year 210 ART, soldiers of Cadwgawn the Second, heir to Anheirlion, marched against the Fey. They were slain in great numbers by elf-arrows, and they retaliated by burning the forests. Peace was eventually settled when the army, who greatly feared the Fey, calling them demons and slayers from the shadows, mutinied and for five years roamed the land, answering to no one and taking what they would, until they attacked the Knights of the Golden Guard, who were the High King's especial body-guard, who summarily slaughtered them. In the process, however, Gwydion, then the King and son of Cadwgawn the First, was slain leading the Knights. The Preceptor of the Order of the Golden Guard (so named for the gilded armor they wore) was Ignatius Inorien, and the office of Preceptor of the Order passed through that family for many generations. This was the year 214 ART, and the Third Age of Kings would not last much longer.
In the year of the reign of Arianrhod, the High Queen, a new shadow of a threat grew in the Harshlands, a desolate swamp near the Southern Mountains. A warlord calling himself the Wizard, who was reputed to be sorcerer of terrible power, mighty and cruel, was raising himself an army of the malcontents and degenerates in the fair realm of Avalon. The truth was much more sinister, and tis a tale to long to tell in one volume. The Wizard was said to wield, as weapon and symbol of power, a spirit in the shape of a mighty rod of iron, a weapon as terrible as the Wizard himself. Howbeit, it might be better to say, rather than the Wizard wielding the Rod, 'twas really the Rod that wielded the Wizard, for the Wizard, who once had been a man, had been corrupted by this spirit. He had not the will to resist, and he become Spirit-ridden, a pitiable ruin of a man, whose dreams of granduer had been perverted and twisted, whose honor had been turned to evil, and whose very humanity had been tortured out of him by this spirit, until he was as souless as a statue longing for death but never recieving it.
And so the realm was darkened. Arianrhod sent her troops against the Wizard, but they became bogged down in a seige, and they broke and fled when Arainrhod herself died. She had been travelling when she and her entourage were set upon by lawless men, remnants of the armies of King Cadwgawn, and she was raped and then cruelly slain, with the rest of her serving women and attendents. Her son, Nwren, survived howbeit, and he became known as Nwren the Golden, for he was the very flower of chivalry.
Now Nwren was likened to the Sun, but he might more have been likened to a shooting star, that streaks fast across the sky, lighting all the world, only to die, consumed by its own radiance.
He was ever hot-headed and impatient, and that was one of his few faults, for he was always fighting in some war or another. With all his exploits in war, many worried about the Curse of the Nherianthirs, that he should die on the battlefield, but such a curse seemed to have no bite on him, and reputation was as great, nay, greater than even Avalon's patron King, the legendary Arthur Pendragon. He warred against the Wizard, intending that he should remove this particular thorn, and those were the Ruinous Wars that were his down fall, of which I will tell in another volume."
-Arolas, Merlin of Avalon, in "Historica Avalonica," 23 ARQ

In the next post, I will tell of the Ruinous Wars and the Wizard. Anyone anxious to hear more? I hope so as I am putting ahuge amount of effort into this.
 

Wow, the effort just in typing all of that impresses me, the details of the storyline is great. Do you need any help with ideas or anything like that?

I could see borrowing some of this for a Vampire the Dark Ages campaign. Your storyline is a little bit earlier then the setting, but I am sure my players wouldn't mind at all.
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Always glad for help, and yeah, It was a great effort. I think that last post took about 1/2 hour to type.

Glad to know that you find my storyline useful:) You've made it all worthwhile.
 

You are creating this huge history, and it is truly a great history, my question is this, is this history going to tie into your campaign? I mean I realize it is the history for the setting, but will this history provide plot hooks for your campaign, or is it simply something for players to acquaint themselves with.

It would seem to me that several situations you have mentioned would indeed be great campaign events, of course if it is the past then it is kind of hard to include them. I could think of several hooks that would invovle a quest for an item of legend etc. Perhaps, even the quest to find the magics that would allow return to Avalon and such.
 

Good Stuff!

Bob -

Keep posting! You have some very interesting elements here. Are you going with an early middle ages (ie, Age of Chain) technology approach or will "knights in shining armor" ride the downs?

I look forward to seeing more!

~ Old One
 

Ooh!! People like it!! hehehe...um, yeah...

Old One: I intend to have Knights in shining armor riding the Downs, yes I do...Glad you like it!! Of course I'll keep posting. Volume Three of "Historica Avalonica" is next....

wolfpunk: Most of this history won't actually enter into the current campaign, but possibly future ones. However, there IS a cognizant reason Im creating this huge history - I'm writing a book (or series, depending on how ambitious I'm feeling) on this, and so I want a detailed history at my fingertips. I want it to seem real, just like Tolkien's Middle Earth seemed real. Hence, all the work. It is a labor of love, though...
 

And now, the third and final volume of "Historica Avalonica."
*drum roll please*
The Ruinous Wars and the Death of Nwren the Golden.

"Now in the year 289 ART, King Nwren was new-returned from a series of wars against the Allamidians. He was ever looking for a new fight, and he resolved to rid Avalon of the Wizard once and for all, for the Wizard was a thorn in his side, growing ever longer and sharper each day. So he mustered his army, and his personal guard, the Knights of the Golden Guard, rode at its head. The Wizard had by that time laid claim to lands far beyond the Harshlands, and none would gainsay him, for his army was too great, and his general was a most terrible thing, a specter of a once noble knight, as the Wizard himself had been once, that was now neither living nor dead. It was mute and terrible, foul and cruel beyond belief. No weapon would bite on him and he slew for the cruel pleasure of slaying. He was the Silent Rider, the Grey Huntsman whom not the bravest knight could withstand.
The armies of Nwren encountered by far a grreater resistance than they had expected, and this cost them dearly. They dug in and prepared for a long siege at the borders of the Harshlands.
Day by day, losses grew on both sides. At times, swift horsemen would break the siege to loot and pillage, burning house and village, breaking castles and manors. The armies of Avalon were hardly better, for they trampled fields with their riding, and they took all food and livestock and horses, and everything of value within miles, until the common folk starved or ran away. And then the looters, deserters from both sides, would burn empty house and cruelly slay the brave folk that lingered. Their incursions grew ever deeper into the territories of the Nherianthir Kings.
The sige went on for years. Back and forth acroos countryside and wild moor the see-saw battle raged, first one side, thenthe other would be winning. Avalon lay desolate and ravaged, and the people of Avalon were dead or driven away.
To add to the misery of both sides, in the year 299 ART, a plague broke out, the Great Pestilence, and no one could stop or cure it, neither Christian priest nor Druid wise man nor secular surgeon. Mnay thousands died, and the towns not ravaged by war were brought low by pestilence. Between war and plagues, nearly half the folk of Avalon died between 289 and 309 ART.
The battle went on for 20 years, until the hardiest Norseman of the Icy Wastses would have been sickened with the bloodshed and slaughter and desolation. No living thing grew for a week's riding between the Harshlands and the Tor.
Becuase of this, that no living thing grew, upon war and pestilence, famine was added to the misery of all, and many more thousands died, or were beggared. For the part of Avalon laid to waste was the part that had been the richest fields and best grazing-land.
Now even King Nwren was sickened with all this battle, and the common folk were beginning to hate him, who, in their eyes, had wrought all this. So he did a very foolish thing. He challenged the Wizard to single combat. And the Wizard came!
Now, while King Nwren was nigh on fifty years old and could barely support the weight of his armor, the Wizard could not be seen to have aged at all, beneath his black armor, and visored helmet behind which a pair of unblinking red eyes burned fiercely. And it may be that due to the influence of the Rod that weilded him, that he had not aged a whit.
King Nwren held his own, and in a battle which the bards will long sing of, he and the Wizard fought until the sun went down, whereupon the Wizard fought with renewed vigor, and when Nwren's foot slipped on a stone, the Wizard brought the Rod down upon his helm. And the weapon smashed through helm and skull alike, and King Nwren fell, and night at last came to Avalon."
-Arolas, Merlin of Avalon, in "Historica Avalonica," circa 23 ARQ
 

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