Caleran Seacastle

Caleran Seacastle - more often referred to as Caleran Argenthair - is one of the most significant Human figures in the history of Cartyrion. He is recognized by all as the person who brought together the forces that defeated the faithful of the Gods of Coercion and brought an end to the Great Strife.

Life and Times

Early Life

The Great Strife had been raging across Cartyrion for thirty-nine years when Caleran was born. He was the third child born to High Sovereign Anazelle Seacastle and her consort, Egon Whitmore. His elder brothers, Anegon and Alteran, were twins. It was always presumed that one of the elder twins - most likely Anegon - would succeed Annazelle on the throne of the First Kingdom. While the two were being educated and groomed to rule the lands, Caleran was free to pursue other things. He was always devout, so it was little surprise when he announced he was entering the priesthood of the Church of the Humanar. (This predates the schism that would result in the church taking on the name "True Church" to distinguish it from the offshoots.)

Caleran's plans for a life of quiet service to the gods were interrupted, however, by the deaths of his two brothers as they led armies against the Oroks that wer attempting to invade the kingdom along its western borders. At the age of 34, Caleran found himself to be heir apparent, and two years later when his mother died, he was expected to assume the throne.

Ascension to the Throne

Shortly before the Yule holidays in the year 36 BCR, Caleran was formally crowned. He found himself ruling a kingdom in turmoil. Forces made up of followers of the The Gods of Coercion were assailing the kingdom from several sides. The Kingdom was holding its own, as it had been for the seventy years since the war came to the kingdom's borders. The enemy was not winning, but neither was the Kingdom. Caleran decided that it was his destiny to see the war ended.

Appellations

Calearan Argenthair, Caleran the Great, Caleran the Wise, Saint Caleran (to some)

Place of Birth

Elderkeep, First Kingdom

Date of Birth

07 Time of Shimmerscale's Pyramid, 68 BCR(Before the Common Reckoning)

Coronation Date

15 Time of Aanarakka's Staff, 36BCR
Age at Coronation:32

Date of Death

23 Time of V'nbarrgh's Greataxe, 53CR
Age at Death: 121

Mother

Annazelle Seacastle, High Sovereign of the First Kingdom

Father

Egon Whitmore, High Consort of the First Kingdom

Siblings

Anegon, Alteran

The Great Alliance

Caleran made a long, careful study of as many of the skirmishes and battles as he could in order to seek a way to end the fighting. He did not restrict himself to the battles of his own armies; accounts of Duagan vs Jotun and Alev vs Orok were equally important to him. To this time, it was as if the world did not realize there was a single great conflict going on at all; instead there were many individual conflicts being fought.

This was true of his own forces as well as those of the other Folk he studied. The Oroks in the west were the greatest threat, but the so-called Wildmen from the North were troubling as well, and the Taxlatl forces coming across the mountains and attacking the far eastern frontier cities on the Coldsea coast were a growing threat.

But Oroks were threatening the Alev in several places around the world. Three Duagan Delves were apparently either under siege or worse. And studying the reports, it appeared that zealous followers of the same small handful of deities were always at the front lines of the assailants. Caleran realized two things. First, this war was being fought at the behest of some of the gods - gods known to have great rivalries with the deities that the good folk among the Humans, Alev, and Duagan people revere. Second, these gods were waging a global war against their enemies, and perhaps against the world of Cartyrion itself. What was needed was a unified, global response.

Caleran tried reaching out on several occasions to the rulers of other Folk engaged in ongoing struggles, but nothing significant came of these until about five years after his coronation. In the year 31 BCR, two large forces came out of the mountains at the eastern edge of the duchy of Istria - in the land between the Alev Firsthome and the Duagan Ironhill Delve. The northern force of giantkin seemed bent on sieging and capturing the delve, while the band of Oroks, boosted by a large number of trolls and gnolls that had been recruited (or subjugated) into their armies, were bent on slashing and burning their way through the forests to reach the Firsthome. And he knew that once those objectives were reached, the First Kingdom would be next.

Caleran sent emissaries to both the Delve and the Firsthome with a plan that would save both - a plan whereby he would use his own troops as decoys to bring the enemy into a trap where the combined forces of the three Folk could eliminate their threat once and for all. Desperate, the Alev and Duagans agreed, and the Battle of the Redflow saw Caleran's plans come to fruition flawlessly.

From that point on, the grand alliance of Human (and Halfling), Alev, and Duagan stayed in force. Moving first to the west to deal with the Oroks of Lanlokan, and then finally to the east to push back the advancing Taxlatl, Caleran's alliance had turned the tide of the war.

After the God-War

The struggles finally ended when the gods themselves finally defeated and imprisoned those of their own number that had been responsible for whipping up the frenzy of their worshipers. But with the troublemakers locked away, the struggles on Cartyrion soon ended. But while the fighting may have stopped, the monumentally scaled devastation that over one hundred years of war had brought were still everywhere. Caleran convinced Alev and Duagan that their wartime alliance was just as necessary during the rebuilding period after the war. They agreed, and together, the Folk of the lands around the Inner Sea were able to restore their lands and livelihoods faster than anywhere else.

Twenty-three years after the Great Strife ended, Caleran finally answered the call of his deities to join them in the heavens. He was 121 years old at the time - remarkably old for a Human and a sure sign that he had been blessed and protected by the gods. Sadly, the spirit of cooperation that he had maintained among all of the Folk began to dwindle not long after his death - fueled mainly by zealous priests of the Church of the Humanar.

Legacy

Opinions of the First Kingdom Folk in General

It would be difficult to find any citizen of the First Kingdom who does not know Caleran's name and story. He is universally revered in the First Kingdom as the High Sovereign who saved the kingdom, if not the world, from destruction. As people moved out into the frontiers in years after the Great Strife, tales and songs of Caleran's deeds went with them.

Opinions of the True Church of the Humanar

The True Church of the Humanar has a love-hate relationship with the memory of Caleran. He is too well revered and loved for the Church to reject him outright, but over the years, the Human-centric mindset that began to poision Caleran's alliance shortly after his death has only gotten stronger. The Church attempts to teach that Caleran's victories came not because he allied with non-Humans, but because he was devout and faithful to the Humanar gods.

Opinions of the Enlightened and Reformed Churches

The Enlightened and Reformed Churches, which split off from the True Church precisely because of the latter's views on non-Humans, have a much more positive memory of Caleran. In fact, within the Enlightened and Reformed Churches, he is revered as a Saint. His birthday is commemorated with special religious rituals of thanksgiving.