Great Crossroads Statue

The Great Crossroads Statue is a statue of King Rinburn II that towers over the Great Road. Rising thirty feet into the air from its pedestal, the King looms over travelers on the Road, bearing a sword in his right hand and holding his left hand outwards in token of greeting. A crown studded with three massive sapphires nearly six inches across is set upon his head. He faces north, towards Winhope, where the great statue once stood.
Located about thirty miles southeast of Winhope, the statue was originally built by Rinburn II before Robert the Dark moved it to the Crossroads almost two hundred years later. Moss covers its pedestal, and the inscription "Rinburn I Axmund" is barely readable now, but the remainder of the great marble statue is unweathered by the years, placed (some say) under a magical enchantment that will protect the statue from harm so long as the Kingdom of Axmund exists.

History

King Rinburn II was renowned for his respect for the past, such that he began the building of a great statue nearly thirty feet tall of his namesake, Rinburn First-King, the founder of the Kingdom of Axmund. He searched the entire kingdom, but could find no representation of Rinburn First-King that could be used as a reference for the statue. He therefore modeled for the sculptor himself, but still inscribed the name "Rinburn I Axmund" into the pedestal. Over the years, the tale has been twisted to mean that Rinburn II was, in fact, the same as Rinburn First-King, and a legend has arisen that Rinburn I returns to lead his people in times of trouble.
When the statue was first built in Winhope, Rinburn II placed it outside the King's Palace, in a wide courtyard before the steps that led up to the building. It remained there unaltered for almost two hundred years, before Robert the Dark, in his expansion of the Great Road, began searching for something that could be used as a monument at the Crossroads, where the road's northern, eastern, western, and southern arms all joined together. He ordered the statue moved to the Crossroads and placed a fountain in the courtyard where it had once stood.

Type

Monument / Statue, Large

Parent Location

Great Road

Owning Organization

Kingdom of Axmund