by Terry Brooks
Service with the Legion was not required, but most men within the kingdom made it a point of pride to serve in the Legion. During the reign of the Buckhannahs, the height of the Legion’s glory days, over 80 percent of the adult men within Callahorn were either serving in the Legion or had done so in the past. Those who did not usually had extreme obligations or were infirm. To the people of Callahorn, it was an honor to be a part of the force that kept them free.
Each of the regiments within the Legion had its own crest, traditions, and motto. During the monarchy, the First Regiment was traditionally under the command of the Crown Prince, and its soldiers bore his personal insignia as their crest. During the reign of Ruhl Buckhannah, Prince Balinor commanded the First, one of the most famous regiments of the battle for Tyrsis. Their crest was Balinor’s crouched leopard. In later years, it was the regiment known as the Free Corps, which became the crack unit within the Legion.
The Legion’s fighting force consisted of cavalry, usually armed with long hooked pikes and swords; infantry, armed with short swords, spears, and square shields; archers; spearmen; and sappers. The professional nature of the Legion allowed for a level of training and drill that had been impossible with the old militia system. Its effectiveness was enhanced by the tactical skills of its commanders. Great captains such as Ruhl Buckhannah, Balinor Buckhannah, and Stee Jans often pulled victory from the jaws of defeat with daring plans that depended on the skill and courage of the Legionnaires under their command for success.
When the council abolished the monarchy, it was the beginning of a slow demise for the Legion. It dwindled as its numbers and funds were cut. By the time the Federation officially disbanded the Legion, it was anticlimactic. The Legion had already been defeated by the apathy of its rulers.
The Borderlands:
Fortresses of Trade
It was Tyrsis’ barbaric walls of stone that had given the South a chance to develop. The security of those walls allowed Callahorn to become a place where Man was accepted for what he was and treated accordingly. —Prince Balinor Buckhannah
inding from the vast emptiness of the Streleheim Plains in the west through the heart of Callahorn to end in the vast Rainbow Lake, the broad Mermidon River is the lifeblood of the Borderlands. Its waters nurture the rich black farmland of the region as well as provide the primary corridor for transportation. Spaced along its length from west to east, the three fortified cities of Kern, Tyrsis, and Varfleet stand as they have stood for centuries, the first line of defense for the Race of Man.
The treasure they protect cannot be measured in terms of mere gold and silver, for their true treasure is freedom. Callahorn’s location and the freedom it provides have enabled its cities to become the major trading centers for the Four Lands. Only within the border cities do members of all Races come together to trade freely. Furs from the North, fine metalwork from the East, grain from the West, and manufactured goods from the South all meet in Callahorn. It is the gateway to trade with the Southland as well as the main thoroughfare for trade between East and West. In many ways, it has become the cultural center the Druids sought to create with Paranor, though it lacks the Druids’ focus on knowledge.
Tyrsis
The oldest of the border cities, Tyrsis actually dates from before the First War of the Races. It is believed that the first settlement established on the site was an outpost built before the Druid Council was ever formed. In that uneasy time of warring nations and raiders, only an outpost built on an easily defensible site could survive for long. The first settlers chose a high plateau, three miles across at its widest point, situated on the north end of a small mountain range. The plateau was backed by a steep, smooth cliff, where the northernmost mountain, which they named Mount Sendic, had shattered, leaving only a bluff with a sheer stone wall and the plateau below.
The high plateau prevented easy access from the north, east, or west, and the steep cliff made the southern approach completely inaccessible. The site provided a natural defense from both raiders and war. Underground streams flowing down from the mountains through the plateau provided a source of water, as well as a few underground caves that could be used as caches or hiding places. The plateau overlooked a grassy plain that stretched all the way to the Mermidon River, ten miles to the north, allowing an almost unobstructed view of any approaching danger. The river itself provided a means of easy transport to other settlements as well as good fishing. Able to survive the raids and battles that bedeviled most other small communities, Tyrsis grew into a trading village and finally into a fairly sizable town.
Unfortunately, her natural protection was not enough. The original settlement was destroyed during the First War of the Races. Populated primarily by Men who had been among those swayed by Brona’s cause, it was overrun and burned to the ground by the Druids and their allies. Today nothing remains of that first settlement but a few ancient support timbers.
Tyrsis was rebuilt after the war, but using masonry instead of timber. It was expanded to include the beginnings of the current massive outer wall, fortifications along the edge of the plateau, and removable iron and wood rampways leading from the plateau to the plains beyond. Tunnels were begun, and eventually they were expanded to allow the entire population the safety of an underground bolt-hole—an escape route—should the city ever again be overrun. At the time, Tyrsis was the only fortress in the lands built by Man, and the only real city within the entire South.
During the Second War of the Races, Tyrsis was the only border settlement to survive the Northland army’s march to the west. This was partially due to the fact that the bulk of the Northland army passed along the Mermidon, ten miles away, but only partially—distance did not save any of the other border towns. Scattered enemy patrols made attempts to take the city, but the defenses held despite damage to the fortifications and the destruction of the wooden rampways. Since Tyrsis was not directly in the path of the main army and posed no threat to their purpose, the Northlanders never committed the entire army to the assault. It is doubtful that the city could have survived a concerted effort by the Northland army, given the existing fortifications and the lack of a serious defense force. As the lone remaining settlement in Callahorn, Tyrsis became a haven for refugees fleeing the destruction of their homes. Many of them remained after the war, increasing the population to make it one of the largest cities in the Southland.
After the war, Tyrsis was completely renovated. The rampways were rebuilt out of iron and stone, with removable pins to allow them to be collapsed but not burned. The outer wall was strengthened, enlarged to a height of one hundred feet, and topped with ramparts complete with niches for concealed bowmen. A massive iron gateway with locking bolts and a drop bar was added to the outer wall, and an inner wall was constructed. A professional fighting force was formed to create an active defense—a force that would become the Border Legion—and housed in long barracks between the outer and the inner walls. A grand palace was constructed at the southern apex of the city, against Mount Sendic’s steep face, with a high-arching bridge passing over the low green-belt area to connect it to the main thoroughfare of the city. It became the palace of the kings of Tyrsis. The bridge was called the Bridge of Sendic, due to the fact that it appeared to connect the city directly to the mountain.
For almost five hundred years, the city proudly weathered all attempts by tribes of Trolls or Gnome Raiders to breach its defenses, but none ever managed to get beyond the outer wall before being driven back and defeated by the Legion. None was ever a serious test for the city—until the Warlock Lord’s armies once again descended from the North.
This time the Northland army was intent on invading the Southland, thereby dividing the Westland from the Eastland. Separated, each land would be an easy target. Only one thing stood in their way—Tyrsis. This time Tyrsis would not be overlooked. This time the Northland army pitted their full might against the people of the Borderlands, determined to reach the fatted land of the deep South and guarantee the
fall of the rest of the Four Lands. It was the greatest test the defenses of the fortified city would ever face.
In the resulting battle for Tyrsis, an understrength garrison and the great walls and bulwarks stood against over a hundred thousand Trolls, Gnomes, and Skull Bearers. The battle lasted for three days. By its end the ramps were down, the iron gates on the outer wall were broken—their locking bolts jammed open by spies inside the city—and the inner wall had been breached. The Legion had managed to hold majority of the enemy outside the inner wall, but a small patrol of Trolls made it almost all the way to the Palace, to be held by a thin defensive line at the Bridge of Sendic. Only the destruction of the Warlock Lord in the Northland saved Tyrsis from falling. The Bridge of Sendic itself was cracked in the cataclysmic storm that followed the Warlock Lord’s defeat.
How could an impregnable city come so close to disaster? The defenders had forgotten the tunnels placed beneath the city. This time, instead of protecting the people of Tyrsis, the tunnels almost resulted in their destruction, as enemy forces used the tunnels to gain access to the city. Tyrsis’ defenses, and the courage of her Legion, were severely tested, but they held long enough to allow the Warlock Lord to be defeated.
The damaged city was rebuilt over the next decade. A vault was erected beneath the Bridge of Sendic as the resting place for the Sword of Shannara, the weapon that had ended the Warlock Lord’s reign—and saved Tyrsis.
Approximately two hundred years later, when Callahorn became a protectorate of the Federation, Tyrsis became the capital of the Protectorate of Callahorn. Under Federation rule, the city deteriorated. The Palace, taken over by the Seekers, fell into disrepair. The beautiful Bridge of Sendic collapsed into ruin. The People’s Park became a dangerous wilderness. Only the outer defenses were maintained, but this time they were designed as much to keep people in as to keep enemies out.
With the end of the War with the Federation, Tyrsis was repatriated to the control of the people of Callahorn. They gradually restored the proud city, attempting to recapture the grandeur of her past.
Tyrsis now stands much as she did during the age of the Buckhannahs, though some of her battle scars remain. Fertile farmland and homesteads stretch before her north and west across the open plains between the plateau and the Mermidon and east to the forest of Callahorn. Today almost as many people live outside the city in the rural land surrounding it as live within the walls. The plateau still rises high above the plains, accessible only by a massive iron-and-stone rampway and—to those foolish enough to attempt it—through the hidden tunnels.
Atop the bluff, the fortress of Tyrsis is still unequaled by anything within the Southland, her towering walls and jagged ramparts reminders of a more barbaric age. Along the very edge of the plateau, a few large stones mark the location of the hastily erected bulwark put in place against the Northland invasion. Above her ramparts, the tall, rugged outline of the great cliff rises hundreds of feet above her southern edge, the ageless guardian of the lady nestled in its arms below.
Beginning at the cliff on the western side and ringing the city in a semicircle to the eastern edge of the same cliff, the enormous outer wall is dwarfed only by nature’s wall to the south. The wall stands two hundred yards from the edge of the plateau, its great blocks of stone rising nearly one hundred feet above the bluff, carefully smoothed to allow no possible handhold for enemies. Atop the wall the ramparts, archers’ nooks, and towers are protected by crenellations in the stone. Great iron gates in the wall stand open above the rampway, replaced after the original gates were destroyed during the War of the Warlock Lord. Within the gates, between the outer wall and a smaller inner wall, are the long barracks, parade grounds, stables, and storage buildings once used to house the Border Legion. Today a garrison of Free Born soldiers makes its home within the barracks buildings. Built to house five thousand, they are usually only half full.
Within the protective embrace of the second wall, the city itself stretches across the bluff, sprawling from the wall to the southern cliff in a series of winding streets lined with neat homes and businesses. The main thoroughfare, a broad stone-paved avenue called the Tyrsian Way, runs from the main gates through the center of the city to a large park and a low third wall that once marked the beginning of the government sector of the city. Beyond the wall, across a ravine, is a low-lying greensward that runs the width of the plateau, approximately two miles at this point. Within the greensward, across from the Tyrsian Way, lie the ruins of the Palace of the Buckhannahs.
The ravine and greensward stand on the site of the original People’s Park. Once the Tyrsian Way ended at the Bridge of Sendic, which arched over the gardens of the People’s Park to connect the courtyard at the Palace gates with the Tyrsian Way. Today only the ruins of the supports for the original Bridge of Sendic still stand within the remains of the gardens, as does the vault where the Sword of Shannara was once interred.
The sword is gone, though the vault and its inscription have been left as a source of inspiration to the people. The Bridge of Sendic was rebuilt as a decorative span over the new park during the Federation occupation. Some within the city want to restore both the palace and the bridge to their former glory; others want to leave them as ruins, to remind the Free Born of all that they nearly lost those many years ago when Shadowen roamed freely in Tyrsis.
Balinor Buckhannah
Balinor Buckhannah, the eldest son of Ruhl Buckhannah, was a brave warrior as well as a hero of the quest for the Sword of Shannara. He is also considered the greatest of Callahorn’s rulers. Balinor ascended the throne upon the death of his father and brother at the hands of a traitor while his capital city was under attack. His reign began with the battle for Tyrsis, and very nearly ended during that three-day siege. After the war, he dedicated his reign to securing Callahorn’s defenses and improving trade routes. A warrior at heart, he followed in his father’s footsteps, insisting on personally leading the Legion in any conflict. His only son, Ceran, was a skilled fighter, much like Balinor, and also campaigned with the Legion. It is probable that Balinor never seriously considered the consequences of having his son and heir ride with his regiment, since he had always done the same. He believed that a true ruler must lead into battle, not from the throne room.
But one day Ceran and several members of the Legion did not return from a journey to Culhaven. They disappeared while crossing through the Wolfsktaag Mountains. Balinor immediately took his regiment of the Legion and rode out to find his son. He returned, wounded, with his son’s body and only half his men. He would not speak of what they had found, saying only that the threat to Callahorn was gone. The Legion commander said privately that Ceran was a hero. Balinor took to his bed and died a few days later, despite the Healer’s best efforts. The Healer’s official statement was that there had been poison in whatever had attacked the king.
Balinor’s greatest fear during the battle for Tyrsis was that he would be the last of the Buckhannahs. Over thirty years later, his fears became reality.
Only the ruins of the bridge pilings and the harsh black scars on the stone of the abandoned palace remain to tell of the horrors of the Pit, the travesty visited on the parkland by the Shadowen. The Pit was a place of decay and rot where dark Shadowen magic abounded. Those who dared to enter rarely left alive. With the fall of the Shadowen, the Pit was transformed back into a forested meadow filled with wildflowers, though the ravine remained.
During the time of the Buckhannahs, the palace was set amid lushly beautiful grounds, carefully landscaped and open to the people of Tyrsis for their enjoyment. At the time, it was the only parkland within the city, and covered most of the area between the city proper and the cliff for most of the width of the bluff. The government sector actually contained several buildings: a public forum and the Hall of Parliament, as well as the royal Palace.
The Palace is a magnificent columned building with large ornate doors and high windows set with decorative stone facings. At its height, it had
a splendor unmatched in all the Southland. The colorful murals lining the main halls have faded, but the paintings and crests from generations of rulers still hang along the corridors and the walls of the Great Hall. Fine wood trim still glows through the dust, the centuries of polish showing through the decades of disuse. Most of the original furnishings were elegant masterworks crafted in the Eastland out of the finest woods and metals. Very few pieces survived looting by the Federation. The West Wing, which was used primarily as living quarters, suffered the least damage.
Balinor Buckhannah, greatest of the kings of Callahorn.
Ironically, the library, possibly the greatest treasure of the royal house of Tyrsis, stands untouched. The collection, protected and increased by each king to rule the land and to a smaller degree by the later Council of Cities, represents the collected works of some of the greatest minds of the Four Lands. It also contains the personal journals of many of the kings of Callahorn. Even in the time of the Buckhannahs, such collections of actual books were rare. Only three such collections are known to exist. The greatest collection, of course, resides within Paranor; the second is in the palace at Arborlon in the Westland; and the third is here in the Palace at Tyrsis. Though it is not a deliberate secret, most of the people of Tyrsis have no idea that the library exists, or of the value of its treasure.
The other great secret of Tyrsis is the network of tunnels below the palace. Beneath the wine cellars and storage areas are the ancient dungeons. Below the dungeons, and connected to them, are the tunnels—secret subterranean byways that wind below the city in a tangled maze of wells, sewers, caves, and waterways.