Book One: The Circumstances of Her Birth
There were monsters in those days. The land was wild, and without settlement, and wanting. The first people to come into the land were the elder conginzana, the Elffolk and the Dwarves. These people came into the land, but their settlements found no purchase, and so they each retreated to their homes. The Dwarves returned to their halls under the mountains, and the Elves to their homes in the deep sea, dark woods, and sunny plains far from the Isthmus.
Then came the age when Man stepped forth to take what had been granted to him. With Sword and Spear, men came into the Land that laid fallow to make for them the place that was proper and right.
Of these early men who came from across the great seas, the greatest of them was Carcanus of the Senui. Alone Carcanus fought and killed the great Dragon Tyrant Talifrey who lorded over the land South of the great Kanads. After this great battle Carcanus the Greatest of Men founded Mercadion, The Greatest of Cities for his people at the mouth of large western bay.
Carcanus was strong, but his rule was one of terror and destruction, as no man could oppose him in combat. The Gods looked upon this state of affairs and grew distressed, seeing how the land was poisoned by Men. The Great Gods of the Percanea, Erosi of the Earth, Jasceenah of the Waves, Wut’hyl of the four winds, Fyerth of the Woods, Archanea with All Magic, and Emahlus of the Eternal Flames, gathered together in council. The old gods were closer to the world of the living, often interceding for mortals who served them.
The Senui called out for their protection from the tyrant who ruled Mercadion, and the Percanea heard their cries.
Six champions were anointed, each with one aspect of the Percanea. The Anointed Champions were Hald the Smith, Jacomo the Sailor, Tethia the Piper, Nyghter the Ranger, Salabrind the Mage, and Shayna the Charcoal Burner.
Through a combination of their strength and guile, the six anointed were able to defeat Carcanus, and then they and their descendants ruled the city together forming an order of priests called the Ecclesiocrate.
Salabrind the Mage was known to be the wisest among the champions, and did not marry for many years. She had for her constructed a tower raising seventy and two cubits in height, with a base measuring twenty cubits around. The building of the tower took three years, with its stone being quarried from the base of the Kanad Mountains. The stone was quarried by men and women who had moved into the land of the Graten during the time of Carcanus. The stone was loaded onto rafts made of felled trees, and floated down the Carsin River now called the Orsino.
Salabrind’s tower was a great marvel, and as its construction was finished, all wondered what the mage would make of her new home. From her heights she took no visitors for three seasons, only leaving to collect the food that was offered to her by those who honored her and Archanea. On the fourth season, a great light came up from the top window of the tower, and afterwards the
The champion Salabrind lived seventy and nine years and begat a daughter in her likeness whom she called Madele. Madele lived for eighty and three years and with Gussen the son of Hald, begat Ferer. Ferer lived for fourty and eight years and begat Aurelius.
Now Aurelius was Ferer’s seventeenth son, and served in the people of Mercadion well, and in his time has a daughter who was then called Aurelia Sabina.
