Introduction:
I covered the exploits of the Grandparents in the Swords of Cynalon post. Now I'm moving on to the parents. Much like the other stories in this section, The Life and Times of Relon Van Arkus will be told in memoir style. But unlike those other stories, I will only be presenting selected "chapters" from his books. Just the ones that cover significant events in the settings history. Each post will feature sequential chapters of Relon's Memoir, but each separate post will be from different books. As an example, these opening posts cover the first three chapters of his memoirs: Volume 1, chapters 1-3. Future posts will cover different chapters in other volumes.
But for now we are starting at the beginning. Literally. This more or less picks up at the end of the Swords of Cynalon post. Relon recalls his earliest memories and what little he remembers of his father, the great hero Baron Valildar Van Arkus.
Enjoy!
The Life and Times of Relon Van Arkus
The Life and Times of Relon Van Arkus
Try it and find out!
Re: The Life and Times of Relon Van Arkus
Chapter 1:
While I don’t remember every detail of my childhood, there are those memories that I will never forget. They are few and far in-between, but they are still powerful ones. Most of these memories are about Baron Validar Van Arkus of Pyris. Knight of the Realm and all around hero. My father.
My generation was called by some the “Lost Children”, for it was our parent or parents who perished in the war with Keln or the in the battles against the orcs before and after that war. Simply put, we were a whole generation of children that lost our parents at an early age.
In a way I was lucky compared to many of my generation. I was old enough to have some memories of my father. My younger sister Alisa has no memories of our father whatsoever. That notion makes me sad.
I do remember my father being tall and strong. He picked me up with great ease and I always enjoyed my time with him. My first memories of him was riding with him when he was out in town, either making inspections or just meeting with the citizens of Pyris. He picked me up and sat me down in front of him on his warhorse. Being a small child, I felt like I could see everything from this high vantage point.
I remember the day when I was four when he gave me my first practice sword and give me a few pointers on how to use it. I wore that poor wooden sword down from my hours of whacking it on the training dummy! I used to tuck that practice sword into my belt and take it with me everywhere, until mother would make me put it away.
I also remember my father being away much of the time. As I child I didn’t understand why he was away so much. Why couldn’t he just stay here with me and mother? Father told me that he was doing important things, not only for Pyris, but for the kingdom itself. As an adult, I now understand his reasoning, but as I child I did not. A child doesn’t see the world beyond his horizon. As a boy, I just wanted to be with my father.
Because of this I spent more time with my mother than my father. My mother was not a hero or adventurer like my father. That is not to say that my mother was not a strong woman. She is easily the strongest woman I ever met. I may not have appreciated that as a child, but as an adult there was much to admire about her.
That was my life for my first few years. When I was three years old my mother became pregnant and when I was four she gave birth to my younger sister Alisa. As I child I had mixed feelings towards my sibling. Before I received all the attention from my parents and now I had to share it with here. That was a petty and jealous attitude to have, but it is very common with children.
It was Alisa that my father rode around town with on top of his warhorse now. But upon seeing my disappointment, father had a pony brought forth for me and I rode along side him on that while he held the reigns. All was right in my world once more.
I am told that we regularly traveled while I was small, but I don’t remember any such trips until after my sister was born. Being famous and a hero, my father knew many people. The trip that I remember the most of all was our trip to Alexandria, the Capital of the Kingdom of Cynalon.
My Uncle Valerian accompanied us on this trip. Valerian was my father’s younger brother and whenever father left on some adventure, his brother was gone with him. I remember my Uncle being very friendly to me when we meet. Looking back I can see that Valerian always lived in his brothers shadow.
Alexandria was the biggest city that I had ever seen in my short life. Many times bigger than Crossroads and by extension much larger than Pyris. Upon our arrival in Alexandria we stayed at the estate of the Sculley Family. At that time they were represented by James the Red, a famous and powerful mage. My father knew James very well as they were both members of the Swords of Cynalon, the famous adventuring band.
The Sculley Estate was very large and grand. It is perhaps one of the most opulent places in the kingdom, outside of the Royal Palace itself. The Estate was large, but curiously lacking in people. Apart from the staff, only James and his sons lived there. James oldest son, Jordan, would have been around fifteen at that time and much older than I was. I don’t remember him being around us all that much.
James current pride and joy was his newly born son, Sharadin. Sharadin’s mother was present as well, a woman by the name of Ferawyn. My parents fawned over the young Sharadin, just as James did over my younger sister. Adults always seemed to fawn over babies I noticed.
I didn’t realize it at the time, but James never did marry, so Ferawyn was not his wife, just the mother of his child. Notice that I said child there, for while Jordan and Sharadin were brothers, they both had different mothers. I had heard that Jordan’s mother was named Taryn, but I don’t recall ever meeting her.
The following morning I was surprised to find a grand procession of Knights awaiting us outside the Sculley Estate. My father was a Knight of the Realm and by virtue of that he was also a member of the Order of the Golden Griffon. That signified that he was one of the few who was bestowed Knighthood by the king himself. Father was dressed in his bright and shiny battle armor and carried a lance with flag on it before him.
Father rode among his fellow knights while mother, my sister and I rode in our family carriage. I would have rather been riding with my father, but that was not to be. I would have to be content to take everything in from the carriage window.
We rode through the streets of Alexandria towards the distant Royal Palace. Along the way, I noticed father riding beside us. He called to me.
“See that over there, Relon?”
I looked off in the direction my father pointed and saw an awe-inspiring sight. Off in the distance was a grand tower painted gold. The top of the tower was metallic silver in color and stretched high up into the sky. It reminded me of my father’s lance.
“That’s the Order Hall for the Knights of the Golden Griffon.” Father explained. I stared at the glistening tower until we rode out of sight of it.
Looking ahead, I could now see the Royal Palace come into view. It was an equally grand structure built on the hills overlooking Alexandria. We passed over a draw bridge and into the Palace grounds itself. Warriors lined the way on both sides of the road. They stood at attention, their swords held up high. It was an honor guard to welcome us.
We meet the King and Queen on that day and shared a feast. I remember King Victor the Fifth being tall and very much a warrior like my father. The two of them seemed to be very good friends. Likewise, my mother and Queen Annadelle seemed to be on good terms.
Crown Prince Victor the Sixth was present as well. I remember him being older than me, the age difference being enough that we didn’t play together. I spent much of that time exploring the royal palace. It was so big and wonderful that I just had to see everything I could!
Special trips like ours to the Royal Palace were the exception, not the rule. The place I remember the most was our visits to the Sallavarian Estate in the nearby city of Elcadan. Elcadan was much closer than Alexandria, being just a few days away.
Father was good friends with Lord Jalizar Sallavarian, yet another member of the Swords of Cynalon. Our visits to the Sallavarian Estate were more leisurely and lacked all the pomp and circumstance that the Royal Palace trip held. The Estate was very nice, but not as opulent or as large as the Sculley Estate.
Jalizar was married to Lady Brylonna and they had a son two years younger than I was, Lord Jidaran Sallavarian. As the years went on, Jidaran and I became good friends. We would play amongst the Estate while our parents talked about the things parents talk about. We children paid them no heed.
I was six years old the last time I saw my father. He was going away for some big battle like he had done so many times before. One late summer morning he said goodbye to me, my mother and my sister and I never saw him again. I would spend my days on top of the gatehouse in front of our family castle waiting to see my father riding home. There are times that I still go up to that spot and looking out, vainly hoping to see my father finally riding home.
While I don’t remember every detail of my childhood, there are those memories that I will never forget. They are few and far in-between, but they are still powerful ones. Most of these memories are about Baron Validar Van Arkus of Pyris. Knight of the Realm and all around hero. My father.
My generation was called by some the “Lost Children”, for it was our parent or parents who perished in the war with Keln or the in the battles against the orcs before and after that war. Simply put, we were a whole generation of children that lost our parents at an early age.
In a way I was lucky compared to many of my generation. I was old enough to have some memories of my father. My younger sister Alisa has no memories of our father whatsoever. That notion makes me sad.
I do remember my father being tall and strong. He picked me up with great ease and I always enjoyed my time with him. My first memories of him was riding with him when he was out in town, either making inspections or just meeting with the citizens of Pyris. He picked me up and sat me down in front of him on his warhorse. Being a small child, I felt like I could see everything from this high vantage point.
I remember the day when I was four when he gave me my first practice sword and give me a few pointers on how to use it. I wore that poor wooden sword down from my hours of whacking it on the training dummy! I used to tuck that practice sword into my belt and take it with me everywhere, until mother would make me put it away.
I also remember my father being away much of the time. As I child I didn’t understand why he was away so much. Why couldn’t he just stay here with me and mother? Father told me that he was doing important things, not only for Pyris, but for the kingdom itself. As an adult, I now understand his reasoning, but as I child I did not. A child doesn’t see the world beyond his horizon. As a boy, I just wanted to be with my father.
Because of this I spent more time with my mother than my father. My mother was not a hero or adventurer like my father. That is not to say that my mother was not a strong woman. She is easily the strongest woman I ever met. I may not have appreciated that as a child, but as an adult there was much to admire about her.
That was my life for my first few years. When I was three years old my mother became pregnant and when I was four she gave birth to my younger sister Alisa. As I child I had mixed feelings towards my sibling. Before I received all the attention from my parents and now I had to share it with here. That was a petty and jealous attitude to have, but it is very common with children.
It was Alisa that my father rode around town with on top of his warhorse now. But upon seeing my disappointment, father had a pony brought forth for me and I rode along side him on that while he held the reigns. All was right in my world once more.
I am told that we regularly traveled while I was small, but I don’t remember any such trips until after my sister was born. Being famous and a hero, my father knew many people. The trip that I remember the most of all was our trip to Alexandria, the Capital of the Kingdom of Cynalon.
My Uncle Valerian accompanied us on this trip. Valerian was my father’s younger brother and whenever father left on some adventure, his brother was gone with him. I remember my Uncle being very friendly to me when we meet. Looking back I can see that Valerian always lived in his brothers shadow.
Alexandria was the biggest city that I had ever seen in my short life. Many times bigger than Crossroads and by extension much larger than Pyris. Upon our arrival in Alexandria we stayed at the estate of the Sculley Family. At that time they were represented by James the Red, a famous and powerful mage. My father knew James very well as they were both members of the Swords of Cynalon, the famous adventuring band.
The Sculley Estate was very large and grand. It is perhaps one of the most opulent places in the kingdom, outside of the Royal Palace itself. The Estate was large, but curiously lacking in people. Apart from the staff, only James and his sons lived there. James oldest son, Jordan, would have been around fifteen at that time and much older than I was. I don’t remember him being around us all that much.
James current pride and joy was his newly born son, Sharadin. Sharadin’s mother was present as well, a woman by the name of Ferawyn. My parents fawned over the young Sharadin, just as James did over my younger sister. Adults always seemed to fawn over babies I noticed.
I didn’t realize it at the time, but James never did marry, so Ferawyn was not his wife, just the mother of his child. Notice that I said child there, for while Jordan and Sharadin were brothers, they both had different mothers. I had heard that Jordan’s mother was named Taryn, but I don’t recall ever meeting her.
The following morning I was surprised to find a grand procession of Knights awaiting us outside the Sculley Estate. My father was a Knight of the Realm and by virtue of that he was also a member of the Order of the Golden Griffon. That signified that he was one of the few who was bestowed Knighthood by the king himself. Father was dressed in his bright and shiny battle armor and carried a lance with flag on it before him.
Father rode among his fellow knights while mother, my sister and I rode in our family carriage. I would have rather been riding with my father, but that was not to be. I would have to be content to take everything in from the carriage window.
We rode through the streets of Alexandria towards the distant Royal Palace. Along the way, I noticed father riding beside us. He called to me.
“See that over there, Relon?”
I looked off in the direction my father pointed and saw an awe-inspiring sight. Off in the distance was a grand tower painted gold. The top of the tower was metallic silver in color and stretched high up into the sky. It reminded me of my father’s lance.
“That’s the Order Hall for the Knights of the Golden Griffon.” Father explained. I stared at the glistening tower until we rode out of sight of it.
Looking ahead, I could now see the Royal Palace come into view. It was an equally grand structure built on the hills overlooking Alexandria. We passed over a draw bridge and into the Palace grounds itself. Warriors lined the way on both sides of the road. They stood at attention, their swords held up high. It was an honor guard to welcome us.
We meet the King and Queen on that day and shared a feast. I remember King Victor the Fifth being tall and very much a warrior like my father. The two of them seemed to be very good friends. Likewise, my mother and Queen Annadelle seemed to be on good terms.
Crown Prince Victor the Sixth was present as well. I remember him being older than me, the age difference being enough that we didn’t play together. I spent much of that time exploring the royal palace. It was so big and wonderful that I just had to see everything I could!
Special trips like ours to the Royal Palace were the exception, not the rule. The place I remember the most was our visits to the Sallavarian Estate in the nearby city of Elcadan. Elcadan was much closer than Alexandria, being just a few days away.
Father was good friends with Lord Jalizar Sallavarian, yet another member of the Swords of Cynalon. Our visits to the Sallavarian Estate were more leisurely and lacked all the pomp and circumstance that the Royal Palace trip held. The Estate was very nice, but not as opulent or as large as the Sculley Estate.
Jalizar was married to Lady Brylonna and they had a son two years younger than I was, Lord Jidaran Sallavarian. As the years went on, Jidaran and I became good friends. We would play amongst the Estate while our parents talked about the things parents talk about. We children paid them no heed.
I was six years old the last time I saw my father. He was going away for some big battle like he had done so many times before. One late summer morning he said goodbye to me, my mother and my sister and I never saw him again. I would spend my days on top of the gatehouse in front of our family castle waiting to see my father riding home. There are times that I still go up to that spot and looking out, vainly hoping to see my father finally riding home.
Try it and find out!
Re: The Life and Times of Relon Van Arkus
Chapter 2:
Weeks after father left on his mission I spotted a small procession of Pyrisian Soldiers riding towards the castle from my vantage point on the wall near the front gate. It was the survivors of a unit of soldiers who had accompanied father when he went away. I did not see my father riding with his men. Heart in my throat, I ran down to the courtyard below.
By the time I got there, mother had come running out of the castle. The soldiers wearily dismounted and one of them tentatively walked towards my mother. I ran to her side and put my hand in hers. Other members of our staff joined her, but kept a respectful distance.
“You have something to report, soldier?” My mother inquired. “My husband…?”
“It is my sorrowful duty to inform you, My Lady, that Baron Van Arkus is not among us.”
I could hear my mother gasp in shock and her grip tightening around my hand.
“We did ride into battle with the Baron and escorted him to the doors of the infamous Shadowkeep itself. The Baron, along with the King himself and so many other famous heroes did fight their way into that vile fortress. We protected their rear flank from the onslaught of enemy forces.”
“I cannot be sure how long we fought. It seemed like hours, but could have been much shorter. We gained an advantage when our foes looked behind us in surprise and shock. Seizing that opening we quickly dispatched the enemy. Then we turned to see what had startled them so.”
“What did you see?” Mother demanded after a too long a pause.
“It was gone, My Lady.”
“What was gone?”
“Shadowkeep!” The solder answered, his own emotions getting the better of him. “The entire fortress had vanished! We waited for days, fighting off any enemy who approached our position, but Shadowkeep did not return. We never saw the Baron again. Nor the King or any of his companions.”
I was far to young to fully comprehend the weight of what I had just heard. The greatest heroes of the Kingdom were just suddenly gone. Our King was missing and with him my father and my uncle. Our leaders and many of our finest warriors were now gone.
Mother didn’t break down at that time. She remained in charge of what was now her Barony alone. She took a few steps back and exchanged whispers with her staff before returning to the soldier.
“What is your name soldier?” She asked.
“I am Sergeant Mance Rowen, My Lady”, he answered. “I am the highest rank among the survivors.”
My mother stepped forward to address the other men who had traveled with Sergeant Rowen. “I thank you all for your service and your sacrifices in an effort to make our Kingdom safe. For now, go home. Be with your families. Return to your duties three days hence. You are dismissed.”
“Thank you, My Lady,” Sergeant Rowen stated as he moved back towards his horse. “That is most kind.”
“One moment, Sergeant.”
Sergeant Rowen stopped and turned to face my mother.
“We lost a lot of good men,” Mother said plainly. “They will need to be replaced. I am promoting you to Captain of the Guards. Report to me tomorrow afternoon. We have much to discuss and many plans to make.”
“You honor me, My Lady,” Captain Rowen said with a bow. “I will inspire to live up to the standards set by my predecessor.
Mother simply nodded and turned back to walk back inside the castle, her staff following her. There was much work to be done. Eventually I fell asleep but there were times I swore I could hear the wailing of my mother over her lost husband.
The days that followed that dark day were most unpleasant. Mother kept her composure, at least when in public. In private she did weep for her lost husband. There were those who would have been crushed by these events, but not my mother. She stood strong and the barony never suffered from my father's loss. She threw herself into raising her children and running her barony. Mother never remarried.
Days after becoming Captain of the Guards, Captain Rowen moved his family into the castle. Mance was married to a woman named Mariel and they a son named Logan. This was great news for me as I now had a new playmate. I was a year older than Logan, but that didn't stop us for becoming friends.
We would play around the family castle and be a general nuisance to the staff. I now had someone to exercise swordplay with as my practice target had seen better days. Seeing how poorly we were with our practice swords, Mance would give us pointers and our meager skills did improve.
Logan became the brother that I never had. We were inseparable in those early days. It was a start of a life long friendship that we share to this day. Our families remain close and the Rowens are frequent guests at Castle Pyris. Logan's presence made those early days pass much easier. Children are so easily distracted from the chaos going on around them.
Time passed by at it always does and things did settle into a semblance of normality. The number of caravans passing through Pyris did increase as the days passed. More soldiers were added to replace those lost in the war. Life simply went on.
We in Pyris were lucky in that what happened in the years after the Battle of Shadowkeep. We were far enough away from the borders that any enemy would have far to travel to reach us. The Barony of Pyris was a safe haven. At the time I didn't realize just how safe home was.
The following spring, after life had turned back to normal once more, my mother would travel some. Just after the winter snows melted, we did journey back to the capital Alexandria. The queen had summoned all of her nobility to help her get a better grasp of the situation in the Kingdom.
This time we shared a suite in the Castle itself. Mother was in meetings most of the time we where there, or attending some social function or another. I had more free time to explore the palace and make new friends or meet up with old ones again.
One such friend was Jidaran Sallavarian. Our fathers had been in the heroic adventuring band the Swords of Cynalon and had remained social until they vanished at the Battle of Shadowkeep. Jidaran was two years younger than me, but he was not a small child any more so could play and spend time together. Much like Logan, Jidaran would be a good, life-long friend. We would visit the Sallavarian Estate outside of Elcadan at least once a year.
I did notice on this visit to the palace that the Crown Prince stayed by his mother's side. He was older than I was, now in his early teens and no longer a boy. The Crown Prince was learning about the affairs of state as part of training to be our next king. The current queen would continue rule while her son was being trained. It wasn't the first time Cynalon was ruled by her Queen and Annadelle did her best in these dark times. The burden she bore must have been many times greater that that my mother shouldered.
What drew my attention was the look in the Crown Prince's eyes. To me if seemed that he felt the full weight of what had happened. And that weight had crushed him even at this young age. The outcome of the Battle of Shadowkeep would haunt him all his days, even at this young age.
Days turned into weeks and the weeks into months. Before long years started to pass by. Mother kept me sheltered from what was going on elsewhere in the Kingdom. She deemed me too young to be ready for that sort of news. In hindsight I have to wonder if she saw the same shell-shocked look in the eyes of the Crown Prince and was trying to spare me from that.
The rest of that year passed peacefully enough for us in the Barony of Pyris. But events were transpiring else where in the kingdom what would shatter that peace. Cynalon had enemies and in our current weakened state it was only a matter of time before they became bold.
To east, in the Keln Lands, those powers who had once followed that evil mage without question now openly fought among themselves. Without a greater power to keep them in line, each now sought to seize control. This was a welcome development for Cynalon as our former enemies were too busy fighting each other to bother us.
Alas, things were not as pleasant to the west. Our eternal enemies, the orcs and their allied humanoids were marshaling their forces. In the years to come they would cut a bloody path through the western part of the Kingdom and nothing would ever be the same again.
Weeks after father left on his mission I spotted a small procession of Pyrisian Soldiers riding towards the castle from my vantage point on the wall near the front gate. It was the survivors of a unit of soldiers who had accompanied father when he went away. I did not see my father riding with his men. Heart in my throat, I ran down to the courtyard below.
By the time I got there, mother had come running out of the castle. The soldiers wearily dismounted and one of them tentatively walked towards my mother. I ran to her side and put my hand in hers. Other members of our staff joined her, but kept a respectful distance.
“You have something to report, soldier?” My mother inquired. “My husband…?”
“It is my sorrowful duty to inform you, My Lady, that Baron Van Arkus is not among us.”
I could hear my mother gasp in shock and her grip tightening around my hand.
“We did ride into battle with the Baron and escorted him to the doors of the infamous Shadowkeep itself. The Baron, along with the King himself and so many other famous heroes did fight their way into that vile fortress. We protected their rear flank from the onslaught of enemy forces.”
“I cannot be sure how long we fought. It seemed like hours, but could have been much shorter. We gained an advantage when our foes looked behind us in surprise and shock. Seizing that opening we quickly dispatched the enemy. Then we turned to see what had startled them so.”
“What did you see?” Mother demanded after a too long a pause.
“It was gone, My Lady.”
“What was gone?”
“Shadowkeep!” The solder answered, his own emotions getting the better of him. “The entire fortress had vanished! We waited for days, fighting off any enemy who approached our position, but Shadowkeep did not return. We never saw the Baron again. Nor the King or any of his companions.”
I was far to young to fully comprehend the weight of what I had just heard. The greatest heroes of the Kingdom were just suddenly gone. Our King was missing and with him my father and my uncle. Our leaders and many of our finest warriors were now gone.
Mother didn’t break down at that time. She remained in charge of what was now her Barony alone. She took a few steps back and exchanged whispers with her staff before returning to the soldier.
“What is your name soldier?” She asked.
“I am Sergeant Mance Rowen, My Lady”, he answered. “I am the highest rank among the survivors.”
My mother stepped forward to address the other men who had traveled with Sergeant Rowen. “I thank you all for your service and your sacrifices in an effort to make our Kingdom safe. For now, go home. Be with your families. Return to your duties three days hence. You are dismissed.”
“Thank you, My Lady,” Sergeant Rowen stated as he moved back towards his horse. “That is most kind.”
“One moment, Sergeant.”
Sergeant Rowen stopped and turned to face my mother.
“We lost a lot of good men,” Mother said plainly. “They will need to be replaced. I am promoting you to Captain of the Guards. Report to me tomorrow afternoon. We have much to discuss and many plans to make.”
“You honor me, My Lady,” Captain Rowen said with a bow. “I will inspire to live up to the standards set by my predecessor.
Mother simply nodded and turned back to walk back inside the castle, her staff following her. There was much work to be done. Eventually I fell asleep but there were times I swore I could hear the wailing of my mother over her lost husband.
The days that followed that dark day were most unpleasant. Mother kept her composure, at least when in public. In private she did weep for her lost husband. There were those who would have been crushed by these events, but not my mother. She stood strong and the barony never suffered from my father's loss. She threw herself into raising her children and running her barony. Mother never remarried.
Days after becoming Captain of the Guards, Captain Rowen moved his family into the castle. Mance was married to a woman named Mariel and they a son named Logan. This was great news for me as I now had a new playmate. I was a year older than Logan, but that didn't stop us for becoming friends.
We would play around the family castle and be a general nuisance to the staff. I now had someone to exercise swordplay with as my practice target had seen better days. Seeing how poorly we were with our practice swords, Mance would give us pointers and our meager skills did improve.
Logan became the brother that I never had. We were inseparable in those early days. It was a start of a life long friendship that we share to this day. Our families remain close and the Rowens are frequent guests at Castle Pyris. Logan's presence made those early days pass much easier. Children are so easily distracted from the chaos going on around them.
Time passed by at it always does and things did settle into a semblance of normality. The number of caravans passing through Pyris did increase as the days passed. More soldiers were added to replace those lost in the war. Life simply went on.
We in Pyris were lucky in that what happened in the years after the Battle of Shadowkeep. We were far enough away from the borders that any enemy would have far to travel to reach us. The Barony of Pyris was a safe haven. At the time I didn't realize just how safe home was.
The following spring, after life had turned back to normal once more, my mother would travel some. Just after the winter snows melted, we did journey back to the capital Alexandria. The queen had summoned all of her nobility to help her get a better grasp of the situation in the Kingdom.
This time we shared a suite in the Castle itself. Mother was in meetings most of the time we where there, or attending some social function or another. I had more free time to explore the palace and make new friends or meet up with old ones again.
One such friend was Jidaran Sallavarian. Our fathers had been in the heroic adventuring band the Swords of Cynalon and had remained social until they vanished at the Battle of Shadowkeep. Jidaran was two years younger than me, but he was not a small child any more so could play and spend time together. Much like Logan, Jidaran would be a good, life-long friend. We would visit the Sallavarian Estate outside of Elcadan at least once a year.
I did notice on this visit to the palace that the Crown Prince stayed by his mother's side. He was older than I was, now in his early teens and no longer a boy. The Crown Prince was learning about the affairs of state as part of training to be our next king. The current queen would continue rule while her son was being trained. It wasn't the first time Cynalon was ruled by her Queen and Annadelle did her best in these dark times. The burden she bore must have been many times greater that that my mother shouldered.
What drew my attention was the look in the Crown Prince's eyes. To me if seemed that he felt the full weight of what had happened. And that weight had crushed him even at this young age. The outcome of the Battle of Shadowkeep would haunt him all his days, even at this young age.
Days turned into weeks and the weeks into months. Before long years started to pass by. Mother kept me sheltered from what was going on elsewhere in the Kingdom. She deemed me too young to be ready for that sort of news. In hindsight I have to wonder if she saw the same shell-shocked look in the eyes of the Crown Prince and was trying to spare me from that.
The rest of that year passed peacefully enough for us in the Barony of Pyris. But events were transpiring else where in the kingdom what would shatter that peace. Cynalon had enemies and in our current weakened state it was only a matter of time before they became bold.
To east, in the Keln Lands, those powers who had once followed that evil mage without question now openly fought among themselves. Without a greater power to keep them in line, each now sought to seize control. This was a welcome development for Cynalon as our former enemies were too busy fighting each other to bother us.
Alas, things were not as pleasant to the west. Our eternal enemies, the orcs and their allied humanoids were marshaling their forces. In the years to come they would cut a bloody path through the western part of the Kingdom and nothing would ever be the same again.
Try it and find out!
Re: The Life and Times of Relon Van Arkus
Chapter 3:
Orcs have been a seemingly eternal nemesis for those who live in the lands of what now is the Kingdom of Cynalon. While I am not a scholar, I am told that orc hordes have been forming and sweeping down from the Broken Lands into the lusher lands for thousands of years.
They are an unpleasant and horrific race. Orcs are savage creature that mix the appearances of men and animals. Their noses are more like that of a pig and they have sharp canine teeth like a wolf. Their skin is grayish-green in color and their hair is coarse. Their sloping foreheads and slumped over gait gives the impression to the viewer that orcs are stupid.
While many orcs are indeed stupid, their leaders are not. They live a savage, survival of the fittest lifestyle. Those who rise to positions of power should never be under estimated. Many such orcs are priests of their vile god Gruumsh the One Eyed.
Much like the orcs themselves, the Broken Lands is a savage and in hospitable area. I am told that the lands called broken because they appear as if some great giant smashed them with a weapon creating deep grouches and rising up unnatural looking peaks. It is not a place where humans, or even our dwarven friends, would willingly choose to live.
And so when their numbers did swell, the orcs stormed out of the Broken Lands laying waste to all before them. Sometimes the hordes were driven back and while other times they conquered. But even when they conquered lands, they never could hold them. The orcs very savagery would be their undoing. For when they do not have a common enemy to fight, they will fight among themselves like wild dogs.
After an invasion a long period of peace would come where we humans would rebuild and fortify. Further north, the orcs would gather numbers until they had enough soldiers and the whole process would start over again. It was seemingly endless cycle of war and peace with no end in sight.
An orc horde figured prominently in the formation of the Kingdom of Cynalon. Led by a charismatic adventurer, a great orc horde was driven out of what we call the Inner Kingdom lands. He had forged an alliance among the royal families and raised an army to repel the invaders.
As a reward for his accomplishments, he as crowned the first King of Cynalon, Victor the First. Those among him also gained lands and wealth in their victory. Prominent among these was the Archmage James Sculley. His line of great mages extends to this very day.
There was an orc horde that lead to Cynalon taking over the Darokin lands. And still another horde laid waste to Dolos, the home of my mother. She was the only noble survive that attack. Later, my father commanded the forces that took those lands back and was awarded them by the king. Father remained them as Pyris so that my mother's family name would not be forgotten.
Before engaging the war against Keln, the Kingdom did a preemptive strike against the orcs. The goal was to weaken them so the kings armies could focus on Keln instead. I doubt that it was the first time we took up arms and marched into the Broken Lands. They drove back those orcs they could find, but most of the savage creatures lived underground in the many caves and tunnels that honeycomb that land.
The years passed and to no one's surprise the orcs did return. But this time Cynalon was at its weakest with most of our best warriors either dead or vanished in the Battle of Shadowkeep. So when the orcs did come, they meet very little resistance.
I was only eight years old when the invasion began. Mother kept me in the dark about what was going on for years before I learned what was transpiring elsewhere in the kingdom. As I got older I became aware of what was happening and it spurred me and my friends to train harder so that once we were old we could go forth and do something about it like our fathers had.
There are two main paths into Cynalon from the Broken Lands. The city of Corunglain guards the larger of these paths. This was the ancestral home of the Corun family. Corunglain, a condensed version of Corun's Glen was a fortress city that blocked the main invasion path.
The entire city was fortified and was constructed to hold back entire armies. That was the theory at least. For Corunglain had failed several times and had been burned to the ground at least twice. But each time, the Corun's rebuilt their city better and bigger than before. It is to their credit that they had the drive and the will to hold back the savage tide for the rest of the kingdom. Without their sacrifices so many other towns and cities would have fallen.
The invading horde struck just after winter had faded in the year of 527. The force avoided Corunglain itself and took the other route further to the west. Years early on this spot Fort Fletcher had been built. The fort was essentially a great wall that covered the smallest point in the valley. It had been designed to hold back an army with the minimal amount of men. But with the kingdom's armies depleted even with that advantage there were not enough men to hold the invaders back.
Fort Fletcher fell and the few men who served there were killed. The great stone gates that allowed passage through the fortress were smashed open leaving the way wide open. The orcs now had control of Fort Fletcher and used it to launch their attacks at the places it once controlled. The orcs attacked dwarven towns and mines in the area, forcing the dwarves to flee. There was no force left to stop the invading horde.
Then they advanced on Ardelphia herself the following year. Ardelphia was the home of the Adrel family it was Barony that was part of the Duchy of Corunglain. I have heard tales that the defenders of Ardelphia did what they could but they were greatly outnumber. The horde laid waste to Ardelphia, seemingly taking their time to enjoy their pillaging and the misery they caused others. The remaining citizens of Ardelphia fled to the south and to the east.
It was spring of 529 when the orc horde moved from Ardelphia. Their next target was the village of Rennydale. By the time the orcs arrived, the citizens of Rennydale had already fled to safer places. With no opposition, the horde burned Rennydale to the ground. The towns of Crowlerd and then Bronsdale fall that year as well. The orcs spend that winter in Bronsdale, destroying most of it in the process.
The next obvious target for the Horde was the city of Akorros on the shores of Lake Amsorak. To that end the Crown gathered up what troops it could to make a stand in Akorros. All able bodied men were sent off to fight in the war. Captain Rowen was sent with several units of Pyrisian men. This left Pyris dangerously unprotected, but what choice was there? If the horde wasn't stopped they would reach Pyris eventually anyway.
It was an emotional time when Captain Rowen and the men left. I was eleven years old by now, Logan was ten. I was now old enough to understand what was going on, unlike when my own father marched off to war. I just hoped that unlike my father, Logan's would come back. So many men would not return.
Whole books have been written about the Siege of Akorros so I won't dwell much on it here. I was not there, given I was just barely into my teens, but I heard the tales. The brave forces of the Cynalonian Army did hold back the orcs at Akorros for nearly a year. The siege started early in the spring of 530 and lasted into the following year. Casualties were high on both sides. Many an orc and many a good man did fall in that battle. The final outcome was not in doubt and Akorros did fall.
But I personally believe that this was all part of the plan to defend Cynalon herself. The Queen and her advisers had to know that we lacked the men and skilled individuals to stop this latest invading horde. Since the horde had come by way of Fort Fletcher, the orcs were on the western side of the Streel River. The river was too wide and too fast to cross on it's own. The only thing that could stop this horde was the mighty Streel River itself.
Only a handful of bridges cross the Streel River. One up by Corunglain, one by Favaro, one by Ansimont and lastly Fort Streelspan. The bridges by Corunglain, Favaro and Ansimont were tore down by Cynalon to keep the horde on the western shores. In short, the strategy seemed to protect everything on the eastern side of the Streel River while sacrificing everything to the west. Given those circumstances, I am not sure I would have made a different choice.
What remained the Cynalonian army, now directed by Commander Rowen did withdraw from Akorros to Fort Streelspan. It was here on a small isle in the middle of the Streel River where Fort Streelspan had been built. A mere ten foot wide bridge spanned the Streel at this point. Much like Fort Fletcher, Fort Streelspan was constructed to hold back an army. And it did.
So it was in the summer of the year 531 was the orc horde finally stopped. Their advance was halted at Fort Streelspan. Hundreds, if not thousands, of orcs fell prey to Cynalonian archers or to the cold, swift waters of the Streel river. The leadership of the orcs fell in that battle. Eventually, the orcs withdrew and gave up trying to breach the fort.
Commander Mance Rowen was greatly rewarded for his service and made a General in the King's Army. His family was granted noble titles. Logan and his mother moved away from Pyris to be with Mance at his new command. But the family would still visit Pyris from time to time, until Logan was old enough to visit on his own.
The Horde had been dealt a tremendous blow at Fort Streelspan but it had not been broken. They continued to march to the south, wandering aimlessly and plundering where they could. Orcs as a race breed faster than we humans do, so they are able to rebuild their armies faster. While this horde had been blunted, it was only a matter of time before they gained new leadership and regained their strength.
The defeat of the horde at Fort Streelspan bought Cynalon a few years to gather their strength as well. The children of my generation where now in their teens and we were taking up the place of our fathers. The Crown Prince became the King in the spring of the year 532 in a grand ceremony in Alexandria. Mother was in attendance as was I.
Unlike my previous visit, this time I stayed close to mother as I was now old enough to start my own training for when I became Baron. At that time I was old enough to try and understand what was going on, but at the same time young enough to get easily distracted from the issues at hand. Sometimes it was because the issues at hand were simply boring or that my fancy had been caught by the many young ladies in court.
Logan and myself continued our training preparing for our when we would be ready to go out and adventure ourselves. The logical course of action was to form an adventuring band from our friends. Logan and I were both swordsmen. Lord Jidaran Sallavarian was our mage. A friend of his, a Taron Cavius would join us. Cavius was a ranger and his family had fled from Rennydale shortly before it fell. This was to be the core of our adventuring band. Taking a nod from our famous parents we would call our group the Defenders of Cynalon.
The year after the new king was crowned, he choose Lord Jordan Sculley named his Archmage much like his father had been before him. Lord Sculley was older than we were and never did seem all that friendly towards me, so he never became a part of our adventuring band like his father had before him. Jordan's brother, Sharadin, was likewise too young to be considered.
Before the Defenders were ready to begin our adventuring career, the orc horde had regained its strength and gained new leaders. Their first target was the city of Elstrich in the plains south and east of Elcadan in the year of 534. The horde sacked the city and used it as their base of operations.
It was some two years later when the Defenders of Cynalon were ready to emerge and take the fight to the enemy. I shall cover the exploits of the Defenders in the chapters to come, but as for that giant invading horde, they would plague Cynalon for nearly fourteen years.
In the year of 539, the Defenders were among those who would reclaim Elstrich from the orc horde. And then in the spring of 541, the orc horde was finally broken during the fall of Tenobar. But that is also a story for a much later chapter of my life story.
Orcs have been a seemingly eternal nemesis for those who live in the lands of what now is the Kingdom of Cynalon. While I am not a scholar, I am told that orc hordes have been forming and sweeping down from the Broken Lands into the lusher lands for thousands of years.
They are an unpleasant and horrific race. Orcs are savage creature that mix the appearances of men and animals. Their noses are more like that of a pig and they have sharp canine teeth like a wolf. Their skin is grayish-green in color and their hair is coarse. Their sloping foreheads and slumped over gait gives the impression to the viewer that orcs are stupid.
While many orcs are indeed stupid, their leaders are not. They live a savage, survival of the fittest lifestyle. Those who rise to positions of power should never be under estimated. Many such orcs are priests of their vile god Gruumsh the One Eyed.
Much like the orcs themselves, the Broken Lands is a savage and in hospitable area. I am told that the lands called broken because they appear as if some great giant smashed them with a weapon creating deep grouches and rising up unnatural looking peaks. It is not a place where humans, or even our dwarven friends, would willingly choose to live.
And so when their numbers did swell, the orcs stormed out of the Broken Lands laying waste to all before them. Sometimes the hordes were driven back and while other times they conquered. But even when they conquered lands, they never could hold them. The orcs very savagery would be their undoing. For when they do not have a common enemy to fight, they will fight among themselves like wild dogs.
After an invasion a long period of peace would come where we humans would rebuild and fortify. Further north, the orcs would gather numbers until they had enough soldiers and the whole process would start over again. It was seemingly endless cycle of war and peace with no end in sight.
An orc horde figured prominently in the formation of the Kingdom of Cynalon. Led by a charismatic adventurer, a great orc horde was driven out of what we call the Inner Kingdom lands. He had forged an alliance among the royal families and raised an army to repel the invaders.
As a reward for his accomplishments, he as crowned the first King of Cynalon, Victor the First. Those among him also gained lands and wealth in their victory. Prominent among these was the Archmage James Sculley. His line of great mages extends to this very day.
There was an orc horde that lead to Cynalon taking over the Darokin lands. And still another horde laid waste to Dolos, the home of my mother. She was the only noble survive that attack. Later, my father commanded the forces that took those lands back and was awarded them by the king. Father remained them as Pyris so that my mother's family name would not be forgotten.
Before engaging the war against Keln, the Kingdom did a preemptive strike against the orcs. The goal was to weaken them so the kings armies could focus on Keln instead. I doubt that it was the first time we took up arms and marched into the Broken Lands. They drove back those orcs they could find, but most of the savage creatures lived underground in the many caves and tunnels that honeycomb that land.
The years passed and to no one's surprise the orcs did return. But this time Cynalon was at its weakest with most of our best warriors either dead or vanished in the Battle of Shadowkeep. So when the orcs did come, they meet very little resistance.
I was only eight years old when the invasion began. Mother kept me in the dark about what was going on for years before I learned what was transpiring elsewhere in the kingdom. As I got older I became aware of what was happening and it spurred me and my friends to train harder so that once we were old we could go forth and do something about it like our fathers had.
There are two main paths into Cynalon from the Broken Lands. The city of Corunglain guards the larger of these paths. This was the ancestral home of the Corun family. Corunglain, a condensed version of Corun's Glen was a fortress city that blocked the main invasion path.
The entire city was fortified and was constructed to hold back entire armies. That was the theory at least. For Corunglain had failed several times and had been burned to the ground at least twice. But each time, the Corun's rebuilt their city better and bigger than before. It is to their credit that they had the drive and the will to hold back the savage tide for the rest of the kingdom. Without their sacrifices so many other towns and cities would have fallen.
The invading horde struck just after winter had faded in the year of 527. The force avoided Corunglain itself and took the other route further to the west. Years early on this spot Fort Fletcher had been built. The fort was essentially a great wall that covered the smallest point in the valley. It had been designed to hold back an army with the minimal amount of men. But with the kingdom's armies depleted even with that advantage there were not enough men to hold the invaders back.
Fort Fletcher fell and the few men who served there were killed. The great stone gates that allowed passage through the fortress were smashed open leaving the way wide open. The orcs now had control of Fort Fletcher and used it to launch their attacks at the places it once controlled. The orcs attacked dwarven towns and mines in the area, forcing the dwarves to flee. There was no force left to stop the invading horde.
Then they advanced on Ardelphia herself the following year. Ardelphia was the home of the Adrel family it was Barony that was part of the Duchy of Corunglain. I have heard tales that the defenders of Ardelphia did what they could but they were greatly outnumber. The horde laid waste to Ardelphia, seemingly taking their time to enjoy their pillaging and the misery they caused others. The remaining citizens of Ardelphia fled to the south and to the east.
It was spring of 529 when the orc horde moved from Ardelphia. Their next target was the village of Rennydale. By the time the orcs arrived, the citizens of Rennydale had already fled to safer places. With no opposition, the horde burned Rennydale to the ground. The towns of Crowlerd and then Bronsdale fall that year as well. The orcs spend that winter in Bronsdale, destroying most of it in the process.
The next obvious target for the Horde was the city of Akorros on the shores of Lake Amsorak. To that end the Crown gathered up what troops it could to make a stand in Akorros. All able bodied men were sent off to fight in the war. Captain Rowen was sent with several units of Pyrisian men. This left Pyris dangerously unprotected, but what choice was there? If the horde wasn't stopped they would reach Pyris eventually anyway.
It was an emotional time when Captain Rowen and the men left. I was eleven years old by now, Logan was ten. I was now old enough to understand what was going on, unlike when my own father marched off to war. I just hoped that unlike my father, Logan's would come back. So many men would not return.
Whole books have been written about the Siege of Akorros so I won't dwell much on it here. I was not there, given I was just barely into my teens, but I heard the tales. The brave forces of the Cynalonian Army did hold back the orcs at Akorros for nearly a year. The siege started early in the spring of 530 and lasted into the following year. Casualties were high on both sides. Many an orc and many a good man did fall in that battle. The final outcome was not in doubt and Akorros did fall.
But I personally believe that this was all part of the plan to defend Cynalon herself. The Queen and her advisers had to know that we lacked the men and skilled individuals to stop this latest invading horde. Since the horde had come by way of Fort Fletcher, the orcs were on the western side of the Streel River. The river was too wide and too fast to cross on it's own. The only thing that could stop this horde was the mighty Streel River itself.
Only a handful of bridges cross the Streel River. One up by Corunglain, one by Favaro, one by Ansimont and lastly Fort Streelspan. The bridges by Corunglain, Favaro and Ansimont were tore down by Cynalon to keep the horde on the western shores. In short, the strategy seemed to protect everything on the eastern side of the Streel River while sacrificing everything to the west. Given those circumstances, I am not sure I would have made a different choice.
What remained the Cynalonian army, now directed by Commander Rowen did withdraw from Akorros to Fort Streelspan. It was here on a small isle in the middle of the Streel River where Fort Streelspan had been built. A mere ten foot wide bridge spanned the Streel at this point. Much like Fort Fletcher, Fort Streelspan was constructed to hold back an army. And it did.
So it was in the summer of the year 531 was the orc horde finally stopped. Their advance was halted at Fort Streelspan. Hundreds, if not thousands, of orcs fell prey to Cynalonian archers or to the cold, swift waters of the Streel river. The leadership of the orcs fell in that battle. Eventually, the orcs withdrew and gave up trying to breach the fort.
Commander Mance Rowen was greatly rewarded for his service and made a General in the King's Army. His family was granted noble titles. Logan and his mother moved away from Pyris to be with Mance at his new command. But the family would still visit Pyris from time to time, until Logan was old enough to visit on his own.
The Horde had been dealt a tremendous blow at Fort Streelspan but it had not been broken. They continued to march to the south, wandering aimlessly and plundering where they could. Orcs as a race breed faster than we humans do, so they are able to rebuild their armies faster. While this horde had been blunted, it was only a matter of time before they gained new leadership and regained their strength.
The defeat of the horde at Fort Streelspan bought Cynalon a few years to gather their strength as well. The children of my generation where now in their teens and we were taking up the place of our fathers. The Crown Prince became the King in the spring of the year 532 in a grand ceremony in Alexandria. Mother was in attendance as was I.
Unlike my previous visit, this time I stayed close to mother as I was now old enough to start my own training for when I became Baron. At that time I was old enough to try and understand what was going on, but at the same time young enough to get easily distracted from the issues at hand. Sometimes it was because the issues at hand were simply boring or that my fancy had been caught by the many young ladies in court.
Logan and myself continued our training preparing for our when we would be ready to go out and adventure ourselves. The logical course of action was to form an adventuring band from our friends. Logan and I were both swordsmen. Lord Jidaran Sallavarian was our mage. A friend of his, a Taron Cavius would join us. Cavius was a ranger and his family had fled from Rennydale shortly before it fell. This was to be the core of our adventuring band. Taking a nod from our famous parents we would call our group the Defenders of Cynalon.
The year after the new king was crowned, he choose Lord Jordan Sculley named his Archmage much like his father had been before him. Lord Sculley was older than we were and never did seem all that friendly towards me, so he never became a part of our adventuring band like his father had before him. Jordan's brother, Sharadin, was likewise too young to be considered.
Before the Defenders were ready to begin our adventuring career, the orc horde had regained its strength and gained new leaders. Their first target was the city of Elstrich in the plains south and east of Elcadan in the year of 534. The horde sacked the city and used it as their base of operations.
It was some two years later when the Defenders of Cynalon were ready to emerge and take the fight to the enemy. I shall cover the exploits of the Defenders in the chapters to come, but as for that giant invading horde, they would plague Cynalon for nearly fourteen years.
In the year of 539, the Defenders were among those who would reclaim Elstrich from the orc horde. And then in the spring of 541, the orc horde was finally broken during the fall of Tenobar. But that is also a story for a much later chapter of my life story.
Try it and find out!