Crown of Balishaz III Balveda
"Lo! I am Balishaz III, and my reign is one of magic! I shall view the Heart with my own eyes, and in it see the full of The God!"The Folly of Balishaz III, Elikan Porennus.
History
Balishaz III Balveda, ninth king of Kingdom of Balveda, took the magical heritage of his kingdom quite seriously. Like other leaders before him, he filled his court with the greatest magical scholars and mages he could find in his lands, and took their advice quite seriously. Where Balishaz III differed from his predecessors, however, was in his desire to anoint himself with that magic as much as possible.
He took his great-great-grandfather Barnomish Balveda's crown, a simple but regal golden crown, and requested that his palace jeweler add places for gems to be installed. A simple and easy enough request, nothing too out of the ordinary for the sharply dressed Balishaz III. While the jeweler worked, he went to a group of the finest enchanters the kingdom had, asking them to create Magicite gems to slot into the crown, each granting him a different magical boon. Fair health, a greater command over crowds, even flight if they could figure it out. They got to work, and soon enough the two endeavors were united. He placed the reworked crown upon his head, and the enchanters slotted the carved magicite into place.
The crown's new magical enhancements did indeed give Balishaz fair health and a long, successful reign, but it also gave him an overwhelming sense of confidence that bordered on foolhardy. He insisted on being present at every battle, land and naval, that his army fought in. He took an extended two-year journey across the World, meeting leaders from every region in a display of Balveda's diplomatic might. Most foolish of all, he chose to visit the Heart of the World himself, wishing to view the Fallen Heart with his own eyes.
A fleet of three royal vessels arrived at the Heart's island. Balishaz triumphantly stood on the first rowboat of many that approached, and stepped on the beach before any of his crew. Piecing together what happened next is difficult due to the unreliability of eyewitness statements, both from the sailors still on the larger vessels and those in the rowboats. Balishaz seems to have taken no more than ten to twenty steps inland, marching forward without waiting for any of his men, when the magic stored within the crown reacted violently to the natural magic of the island where the Heart dwells. The crown glowed a blinding white as Balishaz rapidly and violently shapeshifted from his Lycan self into an enlarged orange monstrosity, described as three to four times his previous size. The crown was stuck on the abomination's head as it let out a horrid shout and dashed deep into the island's jungled interior. The crew, horrified, never set foot upon the beach.
Significance
The deep respect and pride in its own history that Balvedan cutlure takes makes the Crown and its location a matter of cultural significance even today. Many a claimant to the throne has declared their intention to recover Balishaz III's crown, and with it one of the original relics of Balvedan history. Several plays, most famously "The Folly of Balishaz III", have been written about this event, as well as numerous poems, novellas, and historic documents. While the story may not be as well known outside of Balveda, to the people of the Kingdom it illustrates the potentials of their magical connection - as well as its dangers.
Comments