The Roll of the Chieftains of the Sothbori

Introduction

The Roll of the Chieftains of the Sothbori is a work of clear oral composition, fragments of which remain in the Royal Library, carved upon very old tablets of stone. The full manuscript exists upon two sheets of vellum in the old Amborian runic script, and dating probably to the reign of Ranhor. Metrical evidence suggests composite authorship, with the record of the first to twenty-third chieftains having been compiled by a single author, while the twenty-fourth to forty-first chieftains were commemorated by two, or possibly three other poets. But Rinsos of Sencankarr has suggested an alternative theory of authorship which posits that some of the longer sections may be fragments of still-older lays which the poem's compilers borrowed upon but which are now lost to us. In any event, the Roll remains the closest thing we have to a primary historical source regarding the nation of the Sothbori during the Dark Years. Its legitimacy is somewhat enhanced by the fact that, although the many local folk tales throughout the Amborian Wood regarding the chieftains of old (many of which are collected elsewhere in this volume) disagree with each other on many points, none of them disagree with the Roll, suggesting that it is much older than any of them, or at least that the poets who compiled it (whether or not they were the legendary long-lived Laranfaloth) had accurate knowledge of past ages which has since been lost to us.

In addition to its value as a historical source to the heirs of Sencan, the Roll presents an account of the cultural integration of the Treianraal and Sothbori which, although it differs from the narrative of The Songs of Spears--which is roughly that the two groups had already intermarried sufficiently to become a single cohesive people, the Ambori, many years before the Kefnera fell to Orkon--strikes some scholars as more plausible. According to the Roll, Thorinta, the second chieftain of the Sothbori after Orusena, was the second-born son of Lanenomen and Alyeitalya. Lanenomen's eldest son presumably succeeded him to rule the Treian exiles, while Thorinta became the heir of his grandfather. But the name of Thorinta, as well as the names of his heirs for many generations, are Dalian names, showing little or no influence at all from the Treian language. This suggests that the Treianraal and the Sothbori remained culturally distinct well up to the time of Orusena II. In his day there was a second union between the two peoples, for Orusena took a wife from one of the Treianraal exiles who had fled the ruin of the Kefnera (itself suggestive that not all of the Treianraal there were made slaves, as is commonly believed). This probably signals a rapid integration of these exiles into Sothbori society and particularly into the royal family, for it is at this time that Treian dynastic names are introduced into the line of Sothbori chieftains, beginning with Ralush. 

By this theory, the integration of the Sothbori and Treianraal into the Ambori would not have begun until after the Kefnera fell to Orkon, and the Sothbori ruling house intermarried with a group of survivors who had fled the Kefnera and who became a small but powerful minority thereafter. This began the integration of Treian and Sothbori culture which was completed when Sencan led his host to the Amborian Wood and wedded Hasanya, daughter of Klorpeim III.

Text

Laranfaloth, long-lived poet

Twenty chiefs of forest-people,

Twenty more at table honored,

Laid a cunning hand on harp-string.

Well rewarded forty chieftains

With the gleaming gems of amber,

With the silky skins of otters,

Skins of seals, and flowing wine-cup.

So shall chieftains, rulers ever

Well reward the crafty poets,

Well will praise the skillful harper

Who recalls the ancient lineage,

Old descent of honored kings

Down from depths of ancient eons,

Honor brings to praise the living.

Orusen, the first of chieftains,

Slew the Serpent, so songs tell us.

Won an oath from Treian princes,

Stood against the might of giants,

Perished in the wedding-slaughter.

He it was who made the people

All to tend the sacred waters

Which the Stone Kings once had guarded.

Aleytalya, Swanfoot maiden

Wed a king of ancient Feihoth:

Lanenomen, last of Treians,

He who led the host of Starland

Out of ruin to Green-stone Mountains.

Lanenomen Alyeitalya

Bore two sons of mighty aspect:

Thorinta they named the younger.

Mighty in the wild woodlands,

Hunting mighty beasts of terror

Such as wandered long ere Orkon

Came to sully crystal waters.

Him I served, swift Thorinta,

At his table first my word-hoard

For the sons of kings made open.

He with kindness well rewarded,

Gave me meat from his own table,

Poured the win from his own ox-horn.

So should kings and chieftains ever

Well reward the work of poets.

After him sat great Weiksura

On the seat of ancient chieftains.

Westward went to found a city--

Bulwark of the forest people

Which should stand against the Giants:

Hurakarr that ancient fortress,

Which was raised amid the winters

When the grinding ice descended

Down from distant, frozen tundra.

He my fealty well-rewarded,

Nor forgot the gifts of poets.

Paranan his son was chieftain

When Weiksura joined his fathers.

Well Paranan did reward me, 

Gave me costly golden armband

Worked with many cunning carvings

By the smiths of ancient Starland.

Open-handed Chieftain gave it

For the service which I rendered

When I sang before the barrow

Where Weiksura, ancient chieftain,

Rested under heaps of treasures.

Teithbor now my harp remembers,

Chieftain hardy who in battle

Seven times turned back the giants,

Those who sought the sacred waters.

Seven songs I made to praise him,

Sing his might on field of battle.

He did not forget that service,

Well the gold and wine together

Flowed in hall which he established.

Still that hall the Forest People

Name Teithkarr, and there the music

Shrill of flutes and pipers skillful

Echoes, glad with ancient memory.

Klorpeim then, the sword of justice,

Led the ancient Forest People.

Well he led them, cities founded,

Sent a fleet of ships to Southlands,

Islands where in ancient Ages

Stone Kings built their tombs of marble.

Folothpabo then as chieftain

Named himself of all kings greatest--

Niggardly he hoarded treasures,

Feared to lose his long-craved empire.

Palfeinan, the heir of chieftains,

Learned to live more open-handed

After men of southern islands

Chafed under his father's rule.

Palfeinan bought mankind's friendship

With the gold he wisely wielded.

Yalsamlon, a mighty warrior,

Ruled well the Forest People.

I sang songs to praise his valor,

Hand on harp-strings running deftly.

Then Setela, lordly scion,

Sat upon the seat of chieftains. 

Keen his eyes, as bright as emeralds.

In the days of wise Amsotha

Forest People prospered widely.

Bearing gifts from distant kindoms,

Princes came to pay him homage.

He enjoyed the pace of Heaven,

Spread his lordship over cities.

Then his son the seat of chieftains

Held, whose hair was light as tallow.

Tengalbur rode down to darkness--

Even now I see him riding,

See him going down to Southlands.

Dirge was sung to sound of harp-strings.

For that song his son repaid me

With the friendship of his table:

Shadlaharla, brave in battle.

Little peace had Shadlaharla

With the peoples of the Southlands.

Afterwards he too in battle

Fell in combat at the forefront,

Fighting always in the vanguard,

Doughty chieftain, worthy warrior.

Verekan his son avenged him:

Swiftly brought the spears of Northlands

Down upon the southern horsemen,

Fell on them with unseen fury,

Made their princes pay him tribute.

Tenuyala, brave Rinsosa,

Tanurendal swift in battle;

All these chieftains proved in warfare

How the blood of ancient sires

Had not failed in after ages.

In those days, fell creatures many

Stirred from ancient holes and hidings,

Moved by will of one whose malice

All their lesser wills commanded.

Greater need had Forest People

In those days for hardy hand-strokes

Than the skillful hands of harpers.

Yet those chieftains still remembered

All my service to their fathers,

All the battles I recounted

By the craft of cunning verses.

Nanalana, kindly ruler,

Born too late to evil Eons.

Malfaloth sat the seat of chieftains,

Then Urmnursos sat in rule,

Guided well the Forest People.

Orusena, wide-famed ruler,

First of all the water's children

Faced the Nalshbori in battle,

Made a hedge of spears to ward it--

Ward the hill which Orusena

First of all the forest chieftains

Guarded well against the serpents.

So this chieftain, Oursena,

Well recalled the works his fathers

Long had wrought to guard the waters

Where the sacred feet at morning,

At the dawning of the ages,

First had walked, and called it blessed,

When the world was yet undarkened.

After Orusena hoary

Ralush, called the Starborn, ruled.

Starborn, for his mighty father

Long ago a wife had taken,

Maiden fair of Treian people

Who had come there seeking succor

With the last of Treian people

Who, betrayed by faithless monarchs,

Fled the ruin of Eastern cities.

Feiyaleth then sat as chieftain,

Mindful he of lordly duties,

Gathered poets to his table,

Then a mighty work commanded:

All the ancient lore of Starland

Should in cunning webs be woven,

Webs of words which men remember.

So the lore of ancient ages

Long endured the years of darkness.

Aneryalath, bold Anera,

Ruled well the Forest people.

Bold Anera had a daughter,

She the only heir of ruler:

Fair Hasanya, eyes like starlight.

Strong she was and fair as willow,

Yet no husband took she ever.

Long she led the Forest People,

Then her nephew, Tenuyala,

Took her seat and learned to ruled.

In after ages fair Hasanya

Came again, or one much like her.

She, the queen of Water's Children,

Loved the heir of Lanenomen--

Loved the son of blessed Deryal.

Nanalana and Setela

Ruled well the Forest People.

In their days much secret toil

Had the heirs of Orusena.

Hemmed about on every border,

Still they kept their ancient vigils.

Still in halls of ancient cypress

Harps recalled the deeds of ages--

Lanenomen, Orusena,

Neras, and the Might of Starland--

All their toils long, their battles,

Loves, and victories remembered.

Chief among the ancient poets,

I was honored for my word-craft.

Fewer things of gold had chieftains

In those days, when people seldom

Stirred from under forest branches,

Yet with sweetened wine and honeyed

Mead my service well those chieftains

Honored, so should every king of people

Well reward the loyal poet.

Setela next the hidden people

Led as prince, a doughty warrior.

Variyala, warrior maiden

Was the heir of bold Setela.

She her people led with wisdom,

Long in silence kept the vigil

Of the Hill of Orusena.

Clad in shining mail that maiden,

Hard and hand-linked, work of Starland

Which her sires brought from cities

That had fallen with the darkness

Fell upon the Kefneria.

Klorpeim then the seat of chieftains

Ruled well through years of darkness.

Thoranrai, his heir and daughter,

Then the ward of Forest People

Ruled briefly. Brief and bitter

Was her rule, when a vapor

Black as poison from the waters

Rose by cunning craft of Orkon.

Many Children of the Forest,

Not by sting of sword or arrow

Fell, but by those poisoned vapors--

Slept no more to walk in woodland.

Shadlaharla then the people

Led and healed their hearts of sorrow.

Vasiral the people warded.

Kaneral renewed the vigils

Which the years of plague had halted.

Rinsos, mighty battle-chieftain,

Many forays Eastward leading

To reclaim the ancient moorlands

Died in battle on the heather.

Then a barrow, high and hallowed,

Built by men with mountain-boulders,

Forest People made and laid him

Under earth to rest forever.

Seven times around they carried

High on a bier the people's warden

While I sang the praise of ruler,

Bold in battle, in ranks of ash-wood.

Later, Lanenom great-hearted,

Son of Rinsos who had fallen,

Well repaid me for that singing

When he ruled the Forest People.

Later Folothpa was chieftain,

He the son of aged father,

Sat in state and judged the people.

Ways more secret Orusena

Taught the People of the Forest.

Nevermore in open challenge

Rode they ever over moorland.

Orusena taught them secret

War, with poisoned darts and arrows,

Cunning ambush in the forest,

In the maze of fens of cypress. 

Teithbor then the Forest People

Led through years of growing darkness--

Yet, the day was swiftly dawning

When the light would pierce the darkness,

Vishnarr's realm be doomed and ended.

Klorpeim was the son of Teithbor.

He the last of Forest chieftains

Ere the coming forth of Sencan

From the anvil of his fathers.

Hasanya, his star-eyed daughter

Wed with Sencan at the New Year

When the Water's sundered children

Came at last to the grove of cypress

Where in ancient times the Serpent

Fell by Orusena's spear-point.

She the queen of Water's children.

All these chieftains Laranfaloth

Service rendered, deeds remembered.

Never in the world of starlight,

In the ancient past, or future--

Days to come which dark things promise--

Have the kings of men a better

Poet found, to serve the people.