The Annals of the First Eon

Introduction

With the Annals of the Kings of Amboria, Norkur continued the work of previous historians such as Onerama, synthesizing palace records, oral tradition, and the tales of the poets into a single and consolidated account of the line of Sencan up until the time of Orrinuan. All told, these annals cover the reign of twelve kings, and in the later years of the Third Eon and the early years of the Fourth Eon they were extensively copied at the Red Scriptorium on the Weixranbo, although they were not much read in Sencankarr again until the time of our present felicity. 

The text of the annals is, as near as I can tell, original to Norkur, although the format is that of the palace records, which chart the birth, lives, and death of the Royal House, as well as the dates of great battles and the determination of the omens for each year. Norkur has chosen to limit the scope of his own work to the great deeds of the line of Sencan, in which of course the fate of all the northern world must be involved; but the reader should not thing that these are the only stories which come to us down from those times, or that the long years since Sencan have passed uneventfully save for a few births and wars and deaths. Those things which are recorded here are but a tithe of the deeds of the Ambori, of their many joys and sorrows, victories and defeats--but in these pages you may at least read of the great glories of the house of Sencan, and of his house, which survived through invasion and civil war and all other perils, and lived on even in secrecy until the time of the blessed Klorpeim.

In the present work, I have divided the Annals of the Kings into two volumes, the first dealing with the First Eon, the second with the Second Eon and the early years of the Third, as far as the reign of Orrinuan.

The Annals of the First Eon

1 FE - In this year, Sencan the Great led the Children of the Water, the Ambori, forth from the Black Hills, and founded a city upon the Sacred Hill of Orusen. And upon the midday of the year he wedded Hasanyah, daughter of Klorpeim, chieftain of the Sothbori, uniting again and for the final time the houses of Lanenomen and Orusen. Sencan was sixty years old when he began to reign.

91 FE - In this year, Hasanyah bore unto Sencan a son, and his name was called Ranhor.

123 FE - In this year, in the early months, a summons came to Sencan from Dega, a prince of the Ekkisliad. Now the Ekkisliad were then, as now, divided amongst nine great tribes, and each tribe had its own customs and chiefs. But Dega had risen up, greatest of all, and named himself the Khan of Khans, and subjected the other tribes beneath his rule. For there were still among the Ekkisliad in those days some in whose veins the blood of the ancient Dalian empire still ran potent, and of such Dega was one. Now it is told among the songs of the Ekkis people that after he became Khan of the tribe which is called the Ellestliad, that he rode one day to war against the terrible beasts of Vishnarr, which in those days roamed the plain. And when within a fortnight he returned, he and his men found their wives and children gone. So Dega took his bow and lance, and alone went into the world to search for them. So he met Tal-Geshtar, who is of those spirits the Ekkisliad call the Hwin-Nharsa--great spirits who take at times the shape of mighty stallions.

Many bitter trials they endured, many great beasts and ravening sga they slew, the full tale of which is told in the Lay which is called Dega hrin Tal-Geshtar. At last, desirous of tidings of the ones they sought, Dega descended the Great Chasm which stands upon the borders of the Western World. It is said that Tal-Geshtar led him before the Loom of Fate itself, and that there Dega learned many things. There Dega saw the time was ripe to drive Vishnarr from the Northern world. So at last, when his quest was finished and his enemies defeated, Dega united all the nine tribes--some with his sword, others with his words--and sent word unto Sencan, and unto Vaneral, a scion of Cumric's line, who ruled the Oornan folk in hiding, living as bandits and outlaws in the recesses of the mountains. His brother kings he called to arms, and set their place of meeting on the plain of Denthfeld, before that fortress whose ruin is called even now "Vishnarr's Seat."

So the songs tell us. But whether Dega had true knowledge of fate or no, Sencan deemed the time ripe for Vishnarr's overthrow. So he marshaled all his force and led a host of spears to the South. But the Queen Hasanyah prophesied that he would by no means come to the battle in time save that he were carried there by ships not his own. So Sencan sought the Njeitbori, the Deep Men, and prayed them carry his army south with all speed. And the Deep Men, who study the starlight in the mirrored surface of the Sea in the great calms which at times fall upon its waters, said that they would carry Sencan's army south, for Heaven's will had decreed that Sencan must march to victory. And Sencan declared that the and all his heirs would forever be the friends of the Njeitbori, so long as the kingdom endured, if only they would take him to the south in time. And it is sung that the Queen Hasanyah prayed over the waters of the Sacred Pool upon the Hill of Orusen, and that a great gale came down out of the North, and drove the ships of the Njeitbori on, so that Sencan came to the shores of Oorna far sooner than any had guessed.

So the hosts of the Ambori fell upon the army which Vishnarr had sent to oppose their landing, and scattered them with great slaughter. And their captain Dekis fell before the valor of Sencan, and the latter marched unopposed with all his host to the Battle of Denthfeld. Of that great battle, much has been told in story and song. There was Vishnarr overthrown, by the valor of Sencan and Dega, but also by the treachery of Orkon, who turned upon his master and stole from his keeping the Scepter of the Moon, which some have named the Rod of Fate. This Rod was given into the hand of Malfaloth, the Moon, at the making of the world, so that with it and with his spouse Onmanda he might order all the fates of men in the World Under Starlight. But Vishnarr stole the Scepter, and wielded its power through many long Eons. And those Eons all men call the Dark Times.

But the Scepter was lost in a chasm deep within the earth, and Orkon fled, and Vishnarr was overthrown. And taking to the air, he fled in a mist to his strongholds in the south of the world. And though his works and servants have long plagued the sons of men, never again have they covered all the earth in the darkness of slavery. In that day Sencan swore lasting friendship with Dega and with Rian, who was newly crowned king of the Oornans. And though the Ekkisliad quickly forgot their oaths, being ever subject to changes of mood and memory as well as habitation, yet there has ever been friendship between the Ambori and the men of Oorna. 

179 FE - In this year died Sencan, whom his people have called the Great, being 239 years of age. As the poet has written:

Sencan fair was first to sit the throne,

After Feihoth's children were enmeshed

In Orkon's fair deceits and webs of gloam

That doomed the Hills that Heaven's kiss had blessed.

Orkon long the Children had oppressed,

And Sencan worked the bellows of a forge

As slave, until he took the offered quest

And on his father's anvil forged a sword.

Hoororupeim the Shining was that sword,

And by its light the children sought the sky

And came, through many perils long and sore,

To gaze upon the stars which dwell on high.

So Secnan set his throne in Sencankarr,

The rightful heir of the Forest and the Stars.

And Ranhor his son reigned in his stead, and bore the Hurorupeim.

192 FE - In this year, Ranhor summoned forces long-prepared, and with a great fleet of ships assaulted and took the Weixranbo. And of his chief servants he left there Palfeinan to defend the Isle against all assault, and to hold it as a possession of the heirs of Sencan. In that day were the ORgaya YAlbora founded, and the great gates of red metal forged to defend the fastness of the Mountain, as the rhyme says of old:

Gates of Red king Ranhor made

To hold back the ill from the Hills of Jade.

283 FE - In this year, Ranhor, son of Sencan, died, being 193 years of age, and was taken up with his fathers. His people called him Ranhor the Builder, by reason of the many great projects he designed and undertook, and it is said that there was in him greater measure of the cunning for craft of Feihoth of old than in any who have since lived. And it is the custom in Amboria to this day, when a man shall see some shrine or dike which he does not know, to say, "Ranhor built it." As the poet has written:

Sencan fair laid down his treasured life,

Then Ranhor built the gates of iron red

His realm to better shield from mortal strife

Which always issued from the Hills of Dread.

He set them in an isle, and armies led

To drive the Nalshbo from its craggy peaks,

And deeply delved the mountain's sundry depths,

And fortified its towers strong and steep.

And o'er that island fortress, guard to keep,

He set the Order of the Crimson Fang.

So ruled well Ranhor the Wise as king,

And well the Ambori revere his name.

Then Ranhor sailed away when he was old,

And with his father Sencan rides the foam.

And Nanalon his son reigned in his stead, being 93 years of age when he took the Hurorupeim.

FE 300 - In this year, Gorgara, lieutenant of the Black Hills, issued forth in numbers to try the strength of the heirs of Sencan. Black ships assailed the harbors of the Weixranbo, and raids began on the northern settlements. This is accounted the beginning of the First Nalshbori War.

FE 330 - In this year, Nalshbori raiding bands issued forth from the Black Hills. The Lay of the Sons of Nanalon tells how a challenge was issued to lure the Sons of Nanalon forth to battle, and how--despite the counsels of the King's seer and the princess Thoranrai, the challenge was accepted. The three sons of Nanalon, whose names were Sanur, Teithbor, and Setela, marched forth across the Northern moors and fell upon a small Nalshbori encampment. It is said they there captured a Nalshbori scout, who told them the location of the enemy host where they lay camped at the mouth of a frozen stream which joined the Cheyth. The princes rode on, hoping to take their foes by sudden surprise, not guessing that Gorgara had sent the scout into their hands, allowing him to be captured in order to draw the princes into his snare. The trap was laid, and the noose was tightened as the Amborian host entered the river-valley.

Meaning to fall upon a sleeping enemy, they were themselves surprised and destroyed. The three brothers fought with great valor, but were at last knocked senseless by great stones hurled from the heights above. The place of that battle is still named to this day The Valley of the Princes. There I have seen great boulders which sist beside the riverbank, where men say they were hurled from the rocks above. But the Sons of Nanalon were not slain, for Gorgara intended them rather for slavery and torment. They were taken to the Black Hills, and there they languished long in chains.

FE 360 - In this year, the Sons of Nanalon made their escape from the Black Hills. The songs tell how this was the doing of their sister Thoranrai, who sought for them in the waters of the Queen's Pool. For in the waters of that pool, to those in whom the blood of Feihoth runs true, visions are at whiles revealed of things which pass under heaven. And it is told how the Princess went to Artjalava, the Priestess of the Pool (for the Queen was already dead, or else she was too overcome by grief for her sons to attend any longer to the office) and begged her to tell her aught of her brothers, of whom no man had heard any rumor for thirty years. Then they two gazed upon the Pool, and there the darkness was rolled back, and she saw her brothers where they lay in chains, deep in the mines of the Ambori's ancient slavery. And when she saw them, she began to weep for sorrow at their torment. then a single tear fell from her cheek and splashed upon the surface of the Pool. And in that moment, so the songs say, a single shaft of starlight found its way through all the crooked passages of the earth, and shone upon the darkness of the cavern. And by its light the brothers found the anvil of Sencan, on which their great grandfather had forged the Hurorupeim. There they found the means to sever their bonds, and there they found weapons and hauberks which Sencan had forged, and which the hands of the Nalshbori had never dared to touch.

There too, it is said, they found a woman of the Lijuwixil, the race of Serpents, of whom somewhat has been said before. Why she had come to that place, or what she intended, living men do not know. But she spoke sweetly to the princes, promising them that she would lead them by secret paths back unto the realm of Starlight, if only they would strike a certain bargain with her. Of this bargain we know nothing of a certainty, save that she desired of them some great thing it were unbecoming of their honor to grant. The Lay tells that she desired to wed one of them, and that this one must stay with her in that realm of darkness for the remainder of his days. However it was, the brothers agreed to her terms--owing to their great need--and she led them by an ancient stairway up to the doorway which led to the open air, then Teithbor drew his sword and said that they would by no means grant her terms. Then the Serpent Woman hissed and cursed their names, saying that the three brothers would never return to the house of their father. 

And as they fled across the Moor, the brothers heard the horns of Gorgara's hunters blowing shrill and deadly on the chill air. Whether Gorgara had learned of their escape from the Serpent, or whether he had other means of knowing what passed in that great realm under the earth, it is not known. But a great host issued out from the Black Hills in pursuit of the brothers; some say that these were not Nalshbori, but the Hounds of Orkon--monsters slain and raised again by Orkon's black arts, with frost in their veins and a great hatred in their hearts for all things living. Then at last the brothers and their companions--their servants who had been captured and imprisoned with them, and it was said in later times that Fanhal was among these--seeing that was useless to flee from such tireless foes only to die on bitter spears when their strength was spent, turned and gave their hunters battle.

They took the weapons they had found on Sencan's Anvil, and ringed themselves around a low hill, and said:

"Let us now stand, with the weapons of the father of our line, and fight against the ancient enemies of our people. The Hounds of Orkon pursue us? Well, we will show them that the boars of Sencan yet have tusks!"

Glad and grim, and with heavy strokes, the Sons of NAnalon met the onset of the Hounds. Teithbor wielded a mighty bill-hook, Supeishparu, and slew many hunters even as they pulled him down. Then one of the hunters gripped his heart, and froze it with icy talons, so that that mighty warrior shrank, and withered. Setela roared and lay about him with his red sword even as six of the hunters crowded over Teithbor and slew him. All about him the bodies of the Hunters fell, yet their onslaught was unabated. Three times Setela winded his great hunting horn, and three times drove them back, till at last they cast great chains of iron over him. Twice he threw them off, but the third time they overpowered him, and slew him. Then alone, with three companions, Sanur faced the hunters, and fell upon them as a wind out of the West, a memory of the might of Starland of Old. Sanur drove against them, threshing them as the husbandman threshes the new corn, and drove them howling from the corpses of his brothers.

Then he took their bodies and came to one of the great stone houses which was near at hand, which are, it is said, the tombs of the Stone-Kings. And there, amid the treasures of that ancient race and the memory of Kwaodran that was, he lay them to sleep until the world was unmade, in such state as was befitting two sons of Sencan's House, and where no servant of Orkon would ever come to trouble them. And Sanur sealed the tomb, that none might afterwards enter. But as Sanur and his companions left the Tomb, a serpent struck him in the foot, so that he was poisoned unto his death.

Then Sanur knew that the Serpent Woman's curse had struck home, and that he would not survive the wound. Yet he was masterful, and said, "But I will yet see my father's house ere I die." So his companions took him, and passing through many perils they came at last to Sencankarr. And Sanur was brought before his father, and with his dying breath he kissed Nanalon and told him all that had come to pass. And at his news, and at his death, there was great lamentation made in all of Sencankarr, for the space of nine days. And when the time of mourning was ended, Nanalon lay himself down and died, being 170 years of age, and full of grief. And men have called him since "Nanalon the Hapless," and the tale of the Sons of Nanalon is among the greatest tragedies of all which are told among the Ambori. As the poet has written:

Who has not heard with sympathetic groans

The end which almost came to Sencan's line?

Nanalon mourned his sons with grievous moans

And buried them in tombs now lost to time.

Three sons were born unto that ancient line

Which reckoned its descent from Western stars.

Three sons rode North, arrayed in mail wrought fine,

And there were lost in battle on the moor.

Desperate their escape before the Door,

As still the rhymes of ancient times have told, 

But one alone returned with comrades four

To tell the tale to Nanalon the Old.

One of three died on his father's knees,

And Nanalon the Hapless died of grief.

Then Thoranrai the Fair took up the Hurorupeim, to wield it in the place of her fathers, and she was 61 years old when she began to reign. 

FE 361 - In this year, Thoranrai the Fair wedded Fanhal, who was the commander of her legions. ANd some have said that this same Fanhal was one of the three companions of Sanur, who brought him again to the house of his fathers. Fanhal was crowned king, and together they ruled the Amborian people. And this Fanhal was said to be of the house of Lanenomen. 

FE 374 - In this year, Fanhal and Orufal of the Weixranbo led a great host against the Black Hills in the Queen's name, and sacked them, and Gorgara was slain as he fought with his guard before the gates of black iron. So Thoranrai was avenged for her brothers.

FE 385 - In this year, Thoranrai the Fair bore a son, and called him Fanhal, after his father. And that same Fanhal was afterwards called the Great, by reason of his great deeds, and goodness, and because it was said that in him the likeness of Sencan had come again to walk among the Ambori.

FE 427 - In this year, Fanhal the Younger, who was afterwards called the Great, was wed with Reiran, who was of a lesser house of little account among the Sothbori. Yet she was wise, and foresighted, and had the gifts of a poet.

FE 499 - In this year, Thoranrai the Fair and her husband, Fanhal the Elder, laid them down to die in the 200th year of their lives. As the poet says:

When Nanalon had sailed the final sea,

The people set the crown on maiden's head;

Nanalon's youngest child, fair and meek.

But Thoranrai the Fair avenged the dead.

She took as husband Fanhal to her bed,

A valiant captain of the Ambori,

And Fanhal stormed with spears the Hills of Dread,

And from their fastness drove the Nalshbori.

But still those Emerald Hills polluted lie,

And never more will know the speech of men,

Til Sencan comes again to his city bright,

And drives the Lord of Darkness from his den.

And when the lady Thoranrai was old,

She went across the sea with Fanhal bold.

And Fanhal their son took up the Hurorupeim, being 114 years of age when he took the throne.

FE 533 - In this year, those servants of Vishnarr who had been routed at Denthfeld recovered their strength, and Orkon returned to the Black Hills. Then there was a great increase of the evil things which had been hunted into hiding in the days of Thoranrai, and dark tides washed the shores of the Amborian Sea. Word came to Fanhal of a great force of Nalshbori mustering in Palgeimor, at the foot of the Black Hills. So taking the Hurorupeim, Fanhal came to the Weixranbo to make his fleet ready for war. But Orkon struck the first blow, and sailed with a great fleet to assault the Weixranbo ere Fanhal could prepare his full strength. Then there was battle on the beaches and the rocks, and the waters of Kenuximei ran black with blood. Then the king and his knights were driven into the fastness of the Mountain; but the gates of Ranhor no art of Orkon could overthrow. 

For seventeen days, Fanhall and his knights lay besieged in the Red Mountain. There were many great deeds of valor done, and the names of those who died in that siege are counted among the greatest of of the heroes of old: Orufal, Governor of the Isle, who with his two sons fell defending the rearguard of the king after a failed sortie; Raoseina, who commanded the archers of the Southern Tower who were cut off from the Mountain, and who led them in a deadly climb up the mountainside in the dead of night; Laran, who drew his bow and wounded Orkon himself in the final battle; the Spear-Maiden Yalyan, who slew twelve of the horned beasts which guarded Orkon as she pressed near to slay him; Geilarjana, who challenged Mawish, the Nalshbori commander, to single combat. But on the eighteenth day a small fleet arrived with aid from Sencankarr, captained by Varfeil, March-lord of the Royal Wood, who had come too late to Fanhal's first summons. Then Fanhal sallied froth from the Mountain, and met Orkon in battle before the gates. And the Queen Reiran sat beside the Sacred Pool and prayed.

But the might of Orkon was very great, and his servants had been made strong by long enchantment. And though the king's men fought with a valor which had not been seen in the world since the days of Lanenomen, yet their foes were tireless in hate, and many of them rose again as they lay smitten, their ruined bodies raised to wrath again by some dark sorcery which Orkon had worked. Then, when Fanhal's knights were wear and the battle seemed lost, a cold wind filled the banners of the king, blowing hard and shrill down from the great ice-plains of the North, and a great bird rose from the Sea, which the Ambori have named Am-Yalteith. Now this bird was like unto a great swan, but as large as a ship arrayed for war. And from the great swan there came a blast, as a trumpet, and the sound of it was like the horns of a great hose being winded all together. But the host of Orkon shrank before that sound, and the sorceries of Orkon failed in that moment even as the stones range with the echo of that music. 

Then the Ambori renewed their assault, and Orkon's host wavered. And Fanhal came forth and did battle with Okron on the plain between the two great spurs of the mountain. Great was the clash of those two champions; but the Hurorupeim was greater than Yauth-Heidat, the sword of Orkon, and Fanhal smote Orkon about the thigh and groin, so that he fell, and his guard closed ranks about him and bore him from the field. But some say that Orkon, seeing that the battle was lost, took the form of a great bat, and fled the field, but was wounded as he flew by a chance arrow. Then Orkon's host was scattered, and some driven into the sea, and others fled on ships; and all those who could not escape, the Ambori put to the sword. The great swan vanished again beneath the waves, and has not been seen again by living men--although the Deep Men believe it sleeps still in the deeps, waiting for an hour of great need. And those who had fallen in the battle were buried in great honor beneath the Mountain. Then there was peace for a time. 

FE 547 - In this year, it is siad that servants of Vishnarr assailed the kingdom of Kanel, king of Oorna. And Fanhal, remembering the old alliance, and the oaths which Sencan had made to rian, sent a great force to Kanel's aid, and by this help he was delivered. So it was that all the power of Vishnarr and his servants was broken in the North, and Vishnarr had as great a cause to hate the name of Fanhal as that of Sencan.

FE 585 - In this year, Fanhal the Younger, whom the Ambori name "the Great," died being 203 years of age. And his son Lemal became king in his stead, being 102 years of age, and bore the Hurorupeim. And the death of Fanhal the Great was counted the end of the First Eon since Sencan forged the Hurorupeim and led the Ambori to freedom, and ever after the Ambori have reckoned the eons by the reign of five monarchs. And of Fanhal the poet has written:

The tender stem of that victorious stalk,

Which, growing, honored Fanhal's hoary head,

Bore his father's name and, like in thought,

Withstood the awful hate of Orkon dread.

Fanhal the Young fought Orkon till he fled

And traced a hideous pathway through the air:

A bloated bat, his wings of leather spread

To beat the airy track unto his lair.

But as he sped away, an archer there

(Who guarded Fanhal king with ardent bow)

Let fly a true-fletched arrow through the air,

And bleeding, Orkon fled with cruel moans.

Orkon did not soon forget that day,

But Fanhal Young the Children name the Great.