Ashford History - Annals of Esheveurd

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In the beginning, Men were shaped by the Creator, and were split by the four curses; and though the sons of Malin, Urguan and Krug remained together as ken in the ancient days, the sons of Horen became diversified and many, and bore curiosities of the beyond. So they abandoned the stoney compounds of archaic humanity and went off to forge their own glories in lands yet taken.

It was by the sail that human Men came to an icy place they would come to know as Esheveurd, far beyond the reaches of the old Aegisian world. Here, they became accustomed to the lifestyle of barbarians, but failed to erect kingdoms as grand as their forebear amid the cold. Thus they suffered in their tribes and clans but were hardened by the fjord’s chilling bite, and lived off the land as hunters and warriors. It was upon the fifth year of settling this place that they named themselves the Eshænveurd (Ashford) - “Men among the Ashen Glades”, as it would translate from their form of elder-common.

The Eshænveurd indeed existed as barbaric clans; and they survived in that roughening isle amid frozen seas for generations, becoming strong as they endured the constant winter. It was upon the tenth year of settling their newfound land that upon the coldest of days they knew to have come, the gray clouds parted above, and revealed the sun - shining upon the suffering folk a heavenly warmth that warded off the cold and brought to them the salvation of a season of harvest, the first true time of such things since they settled on the assumedly dead soils, only to survive on berries and sparse game. The Eshænveurd became strong under the visage of the sun, and therein deemed it their savior and god.

Under the deific incandescence of the sun, the Eshænveurd peoples thrived and grew to populate a sizeable portion of the land. With their growing numbers, the Eshænveurd erected stone effigies to honor the sun and after every season offered tributes of fresh game and crude metal workings to their shining god in order to appease it and allow for another bountiful season to come to them upon the following year. With each passing generation, the Eshænveurd folk grew more attuned to the sun; decorating their clan settlements with crude sigils of linen sewn to bear a solar image. It was their light in the darkness- a whiteness in a place of black. The Eshænveurd were far from the troubles of the inner-world; disconnected and at peace with their pagan ways. This was their way for countless years.

But then a harrowing presence arrived to Esheveurd, stirring both trepidation and intrigue among the sons of the sun. It is said in decrepit records of the Eshænveurd that this presence took the shape of four lords of shadow whom came to share godlessness among primeval man, and therein left as quick as they came. Those that accepted these occult teachings split themselves from the Eshænveurd; settling upon the other side of the countryside, and thus naming themselves the Vækr (Vaiker) - “Men of the Gloom”. In time, the ways of the Vækr became unlike that of their Eshænveurd brethren, as they forged a grim culture of solemn and dark nature.

Though both clans stood on opposite sides of the frigid domain and shared differing creeds, they respected their designated spaces and the beliefs their own peoples held. Admiration of the incandescent sun was still prominent amid both Eshænveurd and Vækr, for the sun favored no man over the other, and blessed them all with it’s warming rays. But the nature of human man was tumultuous and distorted in the face of adversity and difference, and thus tensions arose.

A man of the Vækr, by name of Adovacer, had arisen among his people and, after displaying feats of courage and strength to the Vækr, proclaimed himself King of the Vækr and therein all the land that his people encompassed. This was seen as a peril to the leaderless pagan Eshænveurds, whom only sought guidance from elders most attuned to their radiating god in the sky, and therefore feared the possible subjugation under Adovacer. Another man of equal strength and vigor among the Eshænveurd rose up from their ranks, by name of Helvegen, and proclaimed himself King of the Eshænveurd.

Within a year, these two kings at the east and west sides of Esheveurd, built up their people and nation, by the way of their doctrines, into formidable states of pagan sovereignty. Knowing their territories could one day mesh, Adovacer and Helvegen issued the tradition to meet at a border between the kingdoms’ two lands at the end of every passing year, and forge a blood pact of peace as to promise, by the honor of the sun, to never incite conflict between the Eshænveurd and Vækr peoples. This was repeated every year for ten years; insuring a decade of peace and prosperity for all paganhood within Esheveurd.

So they coexisted for a decade under these blood pacts, both the godless and the godly, all equal under the rays of the sun. But amid this decade of peace, a joint exhibition had been led by Eshænveurd and Vækr in order to explore the lands between their eastern and western territories - the neutral zone in which the two kings met every year to settle peace. In the middlelands, the expeditionists discovered a cove which descended deep into the ground-- lightless and wide, it was large enough to house all twenty of them, two tens of either kingdom, between it’s spacious walls. Guided by intrigue, the expedition trailed through the dark of the cavern before halting abruptly at the tunnel collections’ broad center chamber.

Within the chamber, of which they had deemed the “Dim Kiln”, the expedition of twenty came across three relics forged of gray gold and ancient iron. Together, they took shape as a bow, a blade, and a helmet - and in the hands of the kin of Esheveurd, they carried a heavenly warmth as soothing as the sun’s touch itself. Even in the darkness of the deep-earth, the relics shone like a distant glowing star; and thus, the expedition named them the Sunforged Remnants.

Through the passing decade, the team dedicated itself to discerning the secrets of the three artifacts, and to much astonishment -- for they found magnificent powers bound to the Remnants, of which they’ve never seen or heard of before. The helmet could defy the bright rays of the sun against the sight of Man; the arrows of the bow could keep the day bright for an Elves’ Week; the blade could burst into flames. The more they found, the more the relics were known about; and soon after the Sunforged Remnants were deemed by the collective kin of Esheveurd as sacred, coveted items, the more either kingdom wanted them.

Soon, the desire for the relics became demands. Demands became debates on who should vanguard them, and then these debates became debates on who held the right TO them; inspiring ideological conflict and tension between the peoples of the Gloom and the Ashen Oaks. At the peak of this tumultuous quarrel, violent duels between Vækr and Eshænveurd transpired across the frigid land, where debates and discourse on the rights to the Remnant and which ideology held them came to the spilling of brotherly blood. This grasped the attention of the two kings -- those whose ire rose upon the notion of conflict being stirred between their borders.

Thus, to end the conflict, either king sought to claim the relics for themselves so the bloodshed would stop. But they too sought the relics for themselves and their kingdoms, and when a brief struggle led to the three Sunforged Remnants being split in the hands of the kings, true conflict came to rise. King Adovacer first claimed what was named as the Sunfire Bow, while King Helvegen claimed both what what were known as the Glaring Blade and the Helm of Sun’s Sight. True warfare was on the brink of sparking into a terrible flame, but even the wisdom of the two monarchs could understand what would come of their foolish choices. War came, certainly -- but it came in darkness. King Adovacer brought the Sunfire Bow to his Seers, whom using their dark, mortal magics, had devised a means to cast a shadow over the bow, and warp all that it stood for. It was with the new form of the sacred relic, the Blightfire Bow, that Adovacer stood atop the tallest of Esheveurd’s mountains, shot at the sky with an arrow of black fire, and blotted out the sun. Thus, the War of the Dark Sun began.

In this time, lord betrayed lord, brother killed brother, and father abandoned son.

The War of the Dark Sun was a long, bloody feud, it's’ ire inspired by an amalgam of conflicting barbarian-sovereign interests. Adovacer sought to rule all of Esheveurd, for he sought to become the prophesied Provident of Mankind, yet King Helvegen thought little of his enemy’s ideological rights; fighting instead for the right to rule Esheveurd itself, and to honor the sons of the sun with the Sunforged Remnants that the Eshænveurd had claimed they’ve the true rights to. It was a savage, bloody war of constant sunlight and darkness, in which brothers slayed brothers for five decades - half a generation of human Man, leading to the deaths of ferocious youths to sagacious elders alike. It was more a war of acclamation than anything else, for the sole reason behind the crescendo of tension was whether which kingdom deserved the hallowed Remnants; therefore, the dynamics of war were twisted as both sides stole a single or two relics away every other year, leaving one or another to their enemy so they may plot to claim the others while their enemy did the same.

But upon the last year of the war of five decades, the kings Adovacer and Helvegen assembled their greatest forces and marched their regimes into the middlelands. Both the kings and their kingdoms have aged over the course of their conflict; what were once youthful, charismatic men were grimaced and grayed by the cruelty of time and perpetual, bloody conflict. This battle was destined to be the last, for all of the Sunforged Remnants were upon the battlefield: Adovacer, whose godless seers corrupted the relics with their dark powers, held the Gloaming Blade and the Blightfire Bow - the distorted reflections of the relics, whose true nature still shined, never able to be truly consumed by tumultuous, uncertain shadows. Helvegen, wizened by the passing of ages, wore the Helm of Sun’s Sight upon his head. Though he stood outmatched by the lord of the Vækr, he met him as an equal on the battlefield, and as the armies of the Vækr and the Eshænveurd clashed, the two kings battled amid the center of bloodshed and chaos; exchanging blow for blow, strike for strike, and extending their noble duel through time until a day and night had passed them by.

But as their armies grew weak from the constant fighting, the two kings too grew weary; they were matched, equal men beneath the sun that now rose from the edge of the world. It was at this moment that Helvegen was invigorated by his faith, and therefore converged upon Adovacer the Vækr king, whom would respond in turn with arrows of black fire. But his helmed adversary would be too quick, stealing with force from Adovacer the bow he wielded, and in soon time the Gloaming Sword, whose blade ensnared with dark flames did not frighten the King under the Sun.

Thus, King Helvegen stood against Adovacer with all Sunforged Remnants; and though two of them which he held were darkened by the magic of the godless Vækr seers, their powers were still aligned with man, and therefore bade no harm to Helvegen just as they hadn’t to the Vækr king. But Adovacer bore other legendary weapons beyond that of the old relics. It was with a great, furious call, weakened by the wounds that Adovacer suffered, that forth from the clouds came a great dragon ensnared in chains bewitched with black magic; enslaving the timeless beast to the grim lord’s will. Acting as the master of the remnants of the ancient days, Adovacer commanded the monstrous dragon to make Helvegen undone; but when the dragons’ flame blasted upon his person, the King under the Sun stood unscathed. Bearing the three Sunforged Remnants had made him immune to the destruction of the winged leviathan’s breath, and at the same time, purged the sword and the bow of their corruption. Thus, King Helvegen pierced the dragon’s breast with blazing arrows of the Sunfire Bow, and cut Adovacer down with his Glaring Blade - yet, sparing him of death, and offering a dismal mercy.

Thus the War of the Dark Sun had been won. In the coming months, the Vækr were expelt from the land of Esheveurd, condemning the sparse remainders of the godless people to the very edges of the harsh, gelid country. There, they suffered the cold in temples forged of frigid stone, while the Eshænveurd built their pagan kingdom into a strong nation, set back little by their barbarian ways. For an age, there was an untimely peace; where man governed himself and and suffered not the chill of Esheveurd, blanketed by the warmth of the sun. Adovacer, whom had survived his searing wounds in his defeat, was banished; cast out from Esheveurd, and condemned to the unknown lands beyond.

There lies one speech that had been spoken by the good king, which fragments of it had been passed down through the ages; words passed by mouths, and preserved by ink. Helvegen spoke this before his battered kingdom - as the sun shined the brightest in the sky.

“To our godless brethren, we brought them sword age; axe age; we splinter shields asunder. They challenged our rights, and thus we fought them for what was belonging to us. It was under the warmth of the sun that we won this battle - by the will of our rightful relics that I survived the scorching flames of a gelid beasts’ flame;

and, by the will of the incandescent heavens and the toils of we the Eshænveurd, that we had taken victory from the gloaming night.

We have won - not with words, but deeds.”

It was only several decades later that King Helvegen had passed - and with his death, the Sunforged Remnants had miraculously disappeared. Five years were dedicated by the Sun King’s heir after his crowning to their rediscovery; yet, to no avail. It was under the reign of Helvegen’s one son, Wulfsige, that appraisial of the sun had waned, and upon the final year of one decade of his rule, Wulfsige’s kingdom and people were visited by men from the seas; pious, bitter folk, who bore the cross of the Canonist God upon their sleeves, their banners, their blades; and it was through their silver-tongued ways that Wulfsige cast the covenant of the sun aside, and shepherded his people to follow the ways of the Creator.