The castle of Hearth Keep, the largest castle in the Kingdom of Lorine, built with a burning hearth that stretches the distance of the main hall.
Hewn of stone and brick
Placed along the mountainside
Hearth Keep makes it watch
Over the green rolling hills of Lorine
The red towers
Scaling tall through the sky
The yellow hearth
Burning bright through the hall
The Green Mountains, composed by Forrin, King of the Dweor, as his folk caught sight of the Green Mountains on their long march to the south, fleeing from the upheaval of Usham.
Hark my Brothers!
For what is that upon the light of the horizon?
A land filled with milk and honey
A land to carve halls and brew beer
Where the furthest peak is ornate with green growing grass
Here we make our fortune once more
Safe from the chilling sorrow of Usham
Here upon the Green Mountains
Shall the Dweor be sung of again
The ominous poem composed for the dread and fear of Crassus Baal the Rat. A demon who gambles and seduces. He makes his victims destroy themselves, rather than by sheer force.
By the gods
The rat comes to scratch at the door again
He comes in red silk clothes
With feet of hooves
And head of vermin
To dance and deal
To wreck and cheat
His power is truest deceit
For it is not the bellowing and thundering storm
But the precise and silent chisel
That brings down towers and kingdoms
So hold fast the doorframe
And do not let him in
For once his whisper is eared
None can withstand
The seduction of the rat
Lest you hear the rat’s true name
Crassus Baal
Common shanty sung by the sailors of Tanaria, constantly on watch for pirates, most of all, the Sea Lord of Nazir
Be wary you sailor
Be wary you trader
Of the Sea Lord of Nazir
The cleverest pirate of here
He comes on the good wind
He comes on the bad wind
He comes all the same
On sails furled and whited
Like the pearls of the deep
With tongue of honey
And blade of sharp steel
He comes on the good wind
He comes on the bad wind
He comes all the same
Be wary you sailor
Be wary you trader
Of the Sea Lord of Nazir
A traditional drinking song of the Deangli, the folk from across the Sea of Stars. Invokes the name of their chief god, Welund the Smith, and his son their first king, Pwyll.
Hammer (Welund)! Hammer (Welund)! Call down your son!
Who sailed cross the Sea of Stars
Hammer (Welund)! Hammer (Welund)! You came once before!
To the brave and fair one
The good maid Gweneth
Pwyll you did father
Us you did shelter
Hammer (Welund)! Hammer (Welund)! Now come once more!
Upon the Moonshore
You beat and you hammered
The foulest of demons, away from our hearths
Now brave hammer, bless us once more
Hammer (Welund)! Hammer (Welund)! Call down your son!
King Pwyll the Wisest of All!
The poem composed by the famous orator, Libacius, lamenting the sack of Nacia. Written as he fled the city on foot with many other refugees, watching great pillars of smoke envelope the walls.
By what have the sharp fangs gone dull?
Or roar so thunderous now like a mouse’s squeak?
Now marble towers
Lie in ruined pile
And gardens
Sit Overrun with weeds
By what force has the world tamed the Lion of Nacia?
Which did once prey on whole hosts of nations with razor teeth
And make cower all with a roar of deafening magnitude
By what milk shall the lion grow strong again?
Can such elixir exist?
Can such a man be born?
To make the lion roar once again
Poem composed by King Rogbert when he and his hunting party were cast off their horses by a burning visage of a black elk.
What mortal man dare to stand
In the presence of the Black Elk?
What fire has he
That the Elk does not envelop?
With horns like darkened ivory
And eyes of burning suns
With hooves that singe against the dirt
And breath that turns to steam
Aye the man that stands would be mortal
For not long shall he stand in the presence
Of the Black Elk!
Since Adalgott’s time, Lorine has ruled as an independent nation, under countless dynasties and kings. The southernmost of the kingdoms of the north, Lorine enjoys the benefits of a border with the elves of the Golden Court, and the Elnish men who trade in sweet wines and fine crafts. Lorine has its capital at Wulfstan, the ancient city where Adalgott once ruled the entire north. In this city, Adalgott carved his palace from a massive rock which jutted from the ground and prescribed the first written set of laws upon it.
Lorine has never been able to recapture the glory of their former king, and rather the nobility squabble over land and power, crippling the effectiveness and prestige of Lorine. The best hope for Lorine’s return to glory is vested in King Oswine, the aged ruler who has restored some sense of order and stability to the country. From Wulfstan, he commands a powerful host of knights, the Order of the Red Gyrfalcon.
Even with this newfound prosperity, the realm sits on stale and waiting wind, for foul omens fills both rural and urban lands. In the alleyways, languages thought cursed and dead are spoken. In the country rituals to powers long banished are uttered in profane blasphemy. Lorine must prepare for war.
Composed by an unkown squire, sometime in the Age of Glory, since then, a staple of Ritter bards and performers.
Upon the gleaming lands of Ritter
A knight clad in shining steel rode
His face and crown adorned in gold
With the clinking and jangling of his metal
Which did sound much like potted kettle
By the road
Set upon by bandits with broken blades and rotted teeth
The knight let out a great laugh and took out his blade from its sheath
With a great swing he made quick work of them
Leaving them upon the forest floor they were condemned
By the cave
Awoke a great bear
With a roar that did pierce the fair air
Slashed and claw it did
By the shining armor of the knight all harm it did forbid
When the knight swung his sword
And took the bear’s head to the local lord
By the river
The folk told of a beast
Hewn of scale which had swam from the east
Upon the sea the knight did wade
To pierce the sea dragon with his blade
By the rushing flow of water
The knight found his own slaughter
For now upon the bottom of the river
Clad in shining metal like that of silver
Sits the Drowned Knight
The Order of the Eternal Dawn has stood watch over the various kingdoms of the north since the Age of Glory, when Adalgott, the first king, fought against the demon Azrael. The order was founded from former companions of Adalgott, who knew the battle between good and evil had only just begun. Their first knightly commanders prayed along the shore of Midland to Cinder, god of the sun and light. Upon hearing their call, Cinder bestowed the world with a dawn brighter than any fire or midday sun, golden and radiant beyond words. Upon this sight, the knights painted their shields with the image of the dawn upon the ocean’s horizon and formed the brotherhood.
From Castle Zweleran, a massive complex of towers and walls, the Order of the Eternal Dawn guards the realm against various foes, from lowly bandits to giants come to reave along the shore. In recent years, the rise of kingdoms in the north has taken away much of the power, crippling their reach and influence. Now the knights operate chiefly in Midland, though a few of their order quest through the rest of the world, seeking holy relics or lost knowledge.
The Sword to Unite 