The Battle of Crantorr, The Loss of the Sacred Tree

Introduction

The Battle for the Sacred Tree of Crantorr is one of the most well known and often-told story of the Old Clans of Alvens.
In Alven, today, Seven Sacred Oaks tower above the plain south and north of the River Aiker.  These oaks are far taller and wider than your average oaks. These ancient trees belong to this plane and have sadly but all disappeared from Alven.

At the time of the Battle of Crantorr, Alven still counted with nine of them. It is a measure of these dismal times that two of the oaks were lost through the will of men.

The ancient oak of Crantorr was burnt to ashes in the conflict between Clan Adderang and Clan Rennin. None will ever see the likes of it again.

Background

The Battle of the Sacred Tree of Crantorr - a small town now renamed Torrenwill - took place a long time ago, before The Melding of the Clans of Alven and the creation of the Thaneship.
At that time, warfare between clans was a common fixture, and many clans raided each other to steal cattle, crops, anything clansmen could get their hands on. It is difficult for a modern Alvenite to picture such lawlessness. Let's give thanks to Belen that order now prevails in our beautiful country.

Forces at Play

In these distant times, the powerful Clan Wylfedd was just another small clan of The Morgunt Hills and did not own the ground near the river Aiker as it does at present.
Close to the river, the long-gone Rennin clan had rich and fertile lands, which they defended with unusual ferocity. In return, the Rennin territories were often raided by the Marsh Clans of Lowside who came across the River Aiker to pillage their neighbours' settlements.

The Marsh Clans were raiders by excellence as the swamplands they had claimed for themselves gave poor yields and were not able to sustain the growing clan population.
On a dreary dawn of Fogamm, a large raiding party from Clan Adderang set out from their stronghold of Polside - now Polaikside - built on one of the boggy moors of Lowside, intent on avenging the torture and death of their chieftain Laken Stronghold.

Laken had been captured in an earlier raid by the clansmen of Rennin, paraded through the clanlands in an iron cage, and finally trampled to death by the Licorns that the Lowsiders kept in pens in order to scare the hill wolves.
When Laken's sons heard of their father's unholy death at the end of the demon horses, they swore an oath to Donn, the dark-haired god of The Underworld, that 100 Rennin's warriors would die on their spears before the end of Faltyme and the onset of the Dark Months of the year.

Only three days later, the Adderangs arrived at the river Aiker and The Western Ford, which is now the town of Mossaiker  and The Moss Bridge. The first settlement across the ford was the small town of Crantorr. Crantorr was well defended as it was often the target of raids from the Marsh Clans.


Within its palisade, it also boasted of the protection of one of the nine Sacred Oaks of Alven. The Oaks were venerated as they are today, and were thought to have been planted by the Ancestors. To have one of the Sacred Oaks on your doorstep meant your lands and yourself were blessed and ensured the human settlement luck and prosperity for the future.

Battlefield

When the Adderang men arrived in front of the walls of Crantorr, they were taunted by the Seers of the village. The Seers boasted of the protection of the oak and mocked the death of the beloved Adderang chieftain.

The taunts only served to inflame the Adderang clansmen and with renewed energy, they set to tear down the town's defences. Unbeknown to the villagers, a powerful mage had accompanied the vengeful raiders. His name was Sorweed Goldair.

Morden Stronghold, one of Laken's sons and the present chieftain of the Adderangs, had pleaded his case with The Lord of the Aiker, the powerful mountain lord of Clan Hawkspaar. As a token of respect and understanding, Sparhawk Medowan, the Hawkspaar chieftain, had agreed for the great Seer, Sorweed, to leave the valleys and help wreck revenge on the Rennins.

Sorweed did what other armies had not been able to do: he pointed Redstorm, one of Alven's most famous Power Rods at the village, read the runes carved around the rod and the walls of Crantorr were suddenly ablaze, fire spreading throughout the town at an unearthly speed.

Not only did more than one hundred Adderang men died on that day, but the Crantorr Oak died alongside with them. The inferno created by the power rod was such that the oak despite its power and size did not survive the blaze.

Outcome and Repercussions

When Sorweed saw what he had done, it is said that he wept as he knew he had doomed and cursed himself and the Adderang clansmen. The Ancestors' wrath came swiftly.

A sudden violent storm blew in from the north. So strong were the winds that the blaze changed direction and came for the invading army. Many Adderang warriors died drowned by the Aiker's waters as they retreated in haste, including Morden, Laken's son.

The warriors that made it across, returned to the clan stronghold of Polside. However, within a year, the clan was disbanded after The Yellow Plague  ravaged most of the clan population.

The survivors fled the marshlands and asked for sanctuary from Sparhawk, the Mountain Lord. Sparhawk had wanted to chase what was left of the Adderang clan away from the Aiker lands so as not to anger further the Ancestors.

However, his Seer, Sorweed. who was himself on his death bed after falling on his head when his horse was spooked by a ghost, begged Sparhawk to relent, and keep the Adderang outlanders in Aiker to make amends for men's awful deeds.
Sparhawk then welcomed the Marshmen into his lands, and to this day, the surname Adderang can be heard throughout the lower valleys of the mountains.

Legacy

The loss of the Sacred Oak at Crantorr has been the subject of many famous epics and songs over the last centuries. Who does not know the ballads: 'The Red Leaves of Crantorr' or even 'The Seer of the Aiker'?

Many have mourned the passing of the oak and the tragic deaths of the Lowside clansmen. Lowside would have to wait another two hundred years and the pacification of the region under the helm of the most famous of the Mountain Lords of the Aiker, Eaglesham Medowan, to find relative peace and prosperity.

These were dark times indeed.

A Draft Article from Seer Ratton Gleam of Clan Wylfedd for The Conniewill Gazette .

Conflict Type

Battle