Gates of Red: Introduction

It was long ago when the survivors of Feyhoth (that is, Starland) marched inland at great peril, crossing the Great Chasm and wandering through the country of the Giants as they fled the wrath of heaven. In the Song of Spears, it is told how those who survived came after great suffering to the Great Inland Sea, and there they founded a great civilization upon its northeast shore, under the shadows of the grinding ice fields of the north. On the verdant peaks of the Seven Hills of Jade, the Children of the Water (that is, the Ambori) built seven cities.

It is told elsewhere how they fell under the sway of Orkon, and how he enslaved them for an age. He polluted the Hills of Jade (for which cause they are also called the Black Hills), and made the Children into Nalshbori, or else set them to work deep beneath the Hills. And it is told that Sencan the Smith forged the Hoororupeim from the living-ice, the-metal-that-has-a-breath, and led the Children against Orkon, and won their freedom. Marching back across the Northern shore, he came to the Sacred Hill of Orusen at the rising of the sun, and there he founded the city which would bear his name: Sencankarr, City of Wisdom. Sencan was the first king of that city, and the greatest who has ever walked the earth.

It was Sencan's grandson who would purge the filth from the Red Isle, which sits in the midst of the Sea within sight of the Hills of Jade, and there delved a mighty fortress into the mountain which stands upon that isle, and garrisoned it with his bravest knights. These were known in time as The Knights of the Red Fang, and they have ever possessed the Isle, and defended it against Nalshbori and king alike. For not all of Sencan's heirs were wise, and scarce ten generations had passed before the pride of Starland reared its head again, and the Amborian folk--for by now they were grown again into a great people--were divided in civil war, as kin raised hand against kin.

This was the way of it. When Ranhor II died, in his hundred-and-eightieth year, his son-in-law Partarl succeeded him to the throne. Now it has been told in song how this Partarl was one of three champions who was sent to steal the signet of the Giant-King, and how when their quest was accomplished he abandoned his fellows in the hour of their need, and had the daughter of Ranhor to wife. Partarl was a wicked king, and after many years the lords of Amboria--and chiefly Orrinuan, who many years before had truly slain the Giant-King, and was now Admiral of the Red Isle--raised their standards against him in revolt.

There was a great war, and in the final siege of that war, much of Sencankarr was put to flame, and the blood of Amborian chivalry stained the Sacred Hill. But Orrinuan was at last victorious, and slew Partarl with his own hand. Orrinuan was a good king and did much to redress the hurts of the war, but it would be long ere the wounds of the nation were healed.

In the twilight years of Nanrai, son of Orrinuan, the evil that slept in the Hills of Jade stirred once again. Nanrai himself was too feeble to go to war, but he gave the Hoororupam to his son Galal, and charged him with the purging of the North. But while Galal was gone at war, together with the better part of the lords who were loyal to the king, his brother Onwae was at work.

Onwae desired above all things to be king, and he gave many gifts to those of the Partarlian faction who still nursed their wounded pride. And there was embassage between the servants of Onwae and the Black Hills. And by treachery Galal was taken captive while hunting, and all his guard slain. Only Karinasyas, Galal's lieutenant of horse, was left alive, for it was he who had betrayed the prince. Galal was taken prisoner into the very depths of the Black Hills, for there Orkon--whose menace had not waned with time--meant to master his will.

Nanrai died the following spring, and Onwae reigned in his stead. The nobles who had been loyal to the old king were purged from Sencankarr. Some were proscribed on trumped-up charges. Most fled to the Red Isle, swelling its numbers and bringing their wealth and prestige with them. Others fled south to the cities that sit upon the southern shore and do trade with the strange men of the far-off South. Still others wandered in far-off lands, and of these, Norkoor was chief. Norkoor had been the chief scribe of Sencankarr, and in his day had served five kings. Age did not weary him, for the blood of the Stars was in him still, and he waxed great in knowledge and lore.

It was in the twentieth year of the reign of Onwae when Norkoor first came to hear that Galal was still alive, languishing in the fastness of Orkon's dungeons. And that is how it was that he sent Rinsos, his apprentice, with a letter to the lords of the Red Isle, to put in motion the quest for which he had long prepared: By force or guile, to penetrate the darkness of the Black Hills and rescue Galal, and set him again on the throne of his fathers.