by Troy Osgood
The Elvict races and the Dvorkan have their own way of counting the days in a year which will be covered in later sections of this work. The Halfling race, being alongside for humans for so long and having no homelands of their own, have adopted the human methodology. It is not known to the extent of which the darker races have created a calendar to mark the passage of time. With the barbaric and low intelligence of many of those races, it is thought that there is no calendar in use. These other methodologies will be discussed in a later chapter of this work; The Passing of Time - Other Races.
Chapter Ten - Section Three
Religion of the Lands - The Gods Themselves
We have already talked about how the Gods of Atair came to be, now it is time to talk about the beings themselves. These are the human Gods and Goddesses. The other races, with the exception of Halflings, follow their own Gods and Goddesses and those will be discussed in other chapters of this work. The Halflings, for the most part, follow the same deities as those of humanity. The darker races worship deities just as dark and degraded as they are. We will talk about all those in later chapters of this work; Religion of the Lands - Other Gods.
These are the Gods of most of Atair; with the Romus Empire and other parts of the Southern Expanses worshipping different deities.
The Roma worship a being they call the One God who has the name Hovan. The religion of Roma is all encompassing with the Emperor, or Empress, serving as the High Priest as well. The discussion of the Romus Empire and the religion that serves as the backbone of that country is too great a topic and worthy of a book all to itself.
But it must be noted that for many, the One God of Roma and the many Gods and Goddesses of the rest of Atair are in some form of conflict. Not the great beings themselves, but their worshippers. The Romus, especially, want to spread the word of Hovan to all of Atair, at the expense of the other deities.
Not much is known of the deities worshipped in the deserts at the far end of the Southern Expanses. Those that have been there and come back say that each tribe seemingly worships different gods of their own making. There is no connection between these different beings, not obviously. It could be the same being under different names or it could, in fact, be many multiple beings.
With the jungles being so remote, no one has chosen to take the time to study the religion of the tribes. That and some of the tribes are known to be cannibalistic.
The Gods of Atair are a family and rule over the world of the dead, Annwyn, like they do our world. When we die we go to Annwyn and one of three kingdoms of the dead; Avalon the home of the Vanir, Thuinn the home of the Aesir, Duinn the home of the Draugr.
Annwyn is where the valiant warriors and mages go, the ones that fought for others and gave their lives for a cause. Duinn is the home of the evil men, the murderers and thieves. Those that are selfish and do not use their power to help others. Thuinn is where all the rest go, the vast majority of people that just live their lives.
The rules and lands of the Awynnian kingdoms are largely unknown. What we do know will be detailed in a later chapter in this work; Religion of the Lands - Death and Beyond. It is known that the God Donn is the gatekeeper of the dead, deciding who goes to live in what kingdom.
As was mentioned, the Gods and Goddesses of Atair are thought of as an extended family, all descended from Dagda, The Highfather and his brother Donn, The Nightfather. Aside from those two, the others are all brothers and sisters, as we would see it. The actual relationships between them is complicated and changing as they shift their alliances and conflicts.
Gods and Goddesses are above the concerns of good and evil, but human nature aligns the deities with the concepts.
The Gods and Goddesses of Atair and their domains are:
Dagda, The Highfather - Lord of the Gods; God of the Day, Life and Rebirth
Donn, The Nightfather - God of the Night and the Dead
Aylin, The Moon - Goddess of the Moon, Stars, Prophecy and Time
Balor, The Beast – God of Demons and Monsters
Bel, The Coin – God of Prosperity and Trade
Ceridwen, The Unicorn - Goddess of Nature and Animals
Cerunnos, The Huntsman - God of the Forests and the Hunts
Chicol, The Dark - God of Fear, Danger, Hatred and the Dark
Dafydd, The Song - God of Music and Poems
Fand, The Wave - Goddess of the Sea, Winds and the Fury
Frigg, The Heart - Goddess of Love and Family
Forseti, The Scales - Goddess of Justice, Duty and Loyalty
Goibniu, The Hammer - God of the Forge, Craft and Creation
Lofn, The Wanting- Goddess of Lust, Greed and Desire
Loki, The Trickster - God of the Fire, Secrets, Mischief and Chaos
Ogmios, The Book - God of Knowledge, History and Magic
Puck, The Chance - God of Luck, Chance
Rosmerta, The Dawn - Goddess of Dawn, Fertility and the Harvest
Ruine, The Seeker - Goddess of the Mystery and the Unknown
Titania, The Fae – Goddess of the Fairy and Magical Life
Thor, The Thunderer - God of the Storm, Battle and War
As it was noted above, for the most part the Gods do not follow the earthly concepts of ‘good’ and ‘evil’, it is the worshippers that align them with the concepts.
The ‘good’ Gods and Goddesses are:
Dagda, Ceridwen, Frigg, Forseti, Rosmerta
The ‘neutral’ Gods and Goddesses are:
Donn, Aylin, Bel, Cerunnos, Dafydd, Fand, Goibniu, Ogmios, Puck, Ruine, Titania, Thor
The ‘evil’ Gods are:
Balor, Chicol, Lofn, Loki
Being incomplete entries from the book:
The Other Races of Atair
by Jerem Holderen, First Librarian of GriffinStone, 75 WR
appended by Gert Yoren, First Librarian of GriffinStone, 152 WR
appended by Dint Rockfall, Second Librarian of GriffinStone, 229 WR
appended by Arthur Kaden, First Librarian of GriffinStone, 297 WR
appended by Alaistair Storrow, First Librarian of GriffinStone, 319 WR
Chapter Two - Section One
Of Dvorkan
The Dvorkan, or Dwarf as they are more commonly known, are a race of strong, hardy and honorable folk that live in the mountains. Not on the mountainside or the many valleys, but actually within the stone of the mountains themselves. They carve out tunnels and rooms within the rock that they mine.
Dvorkan stand between four foot to five foot in height. They are heavily muscled, broad of shoulder and thick of body. They are like the stone they work with. The males are bearded, with all Dvorkan having dark hair in shades of red, brown and black. Surprising, for a race that spends most of their time in the darkness of tunnels, they are not fair skinned.
Dvorkan are expert metal and leather workers. There are no peers when it comes to working with metals of any kind. Dvorkan weapons and armor are the best. There is no dispute. With leather, they are a close second to the Elvict. Leather is rarer in the homes of the Dvorkan and it is just their innate crafting abilities that allow them to work it so well.
Strangely enough Dvorkan are the best runesmiths in the known world. It is strange because they are non-magical as a race. They do not possess the ability to access the magical weave and cast spells. Only Dvorkan clerics have access to any magic of their own and those spells are Godly-given, by one of the four Dvorkan deities.
Chapter Two - Section Two
Dvorkan Clans and Cradles
Dvorkan make their homes in what are called Heim. Roughly translated from their language to the common trader’s tongue, it means “the place in which I was born and sheltered”, or Cradle as they are more commonly known. Cradles are a system of connected rooms, caverns, mines and tunnels spread throughout a mountain. There are miles and miles of these going from the top of the peak to deep below the ground.
Some Cradles are nothing but a series of rooms spread out with tunnels conne
cting the various chambers. Others have large open caverns in which there are buildings. All Cradles are carved by the Dvorkan that live within, growing as the Clan grows. Except in the mines, there is not a surface of a Cradle that is not covered in elaborate carvings which reflect the great skill of the Dvorkan craftsmen.
Cradle’s have multiple entrances, most known only to the Dvorkan that live within. There is typically a larger main entrance that non-Dvorkan are allowed access to, along with a series of rooms for their use, as it is very rare for a non-Dvorkan to ever see the true extent and depths of the Cradle. Merchants and dignitaries visit just the antechambers. Some Cradles, because of that, have two throne rooms. One for visitors and one for the Clan.
Very few Cradles have exterior buildings for non-Dvorkan. There are two such that are currently occupied by humans; Tul Noval in the kingdom of Ameir, which serves as that kingdom’s palace, and the Deep Station, the Waystation along the Divide Road on the way to Chasm Deep. The Dvorkan name for the Deep Station is not currently known but because of the size of it, it is thought to have been more of an outpost and less of a true Cradle.
Cradles have two part names. It is not known how a Cradle receives the second part of the name, as they are not done so after the ruling Clan or any historical Clan and the Dvorkan have not told any outsiders or non-Dvorkan why those are such named. The first part is either the word Tul or Kul. These two words reference the rough number of Dvorkan family clans that live within. It is not a reference to actual population of the Cradle, just the number of clans, with Tul being the higher number of clans. There are stories of a Kul Heim being renamed into a Tul. Like anything to do with the Dvorkan, the whys of this are secret and not shared with anyone that is not Dvorkan.
Family is of the utmost importance to a Dvorkan with honor and crafting close seconds. They are all about the clan. But for a non-Dvorkan, that is where it can get confusing as there are three types of clans that a Dvorkan belongs to.
There is the birth clan, the family clan and the home clan.
For some Dvorkan, all three are the same name, but for most two or three of the clan names are different.
The home clan is the ruling clan of that Cradle. That is the Clan of the king and that all the Dvorkan in the cradle owe their allegiance. The family Clan is a collective of smaller birth clans. It is an extended family of a sort but can number in the hundreds. There is sometimes blood relations among the clan but most often there is not. A way to think of it is that each family clan is a duchy, each ruling a part of the overall population of the larger kingdom, or home clan. The birth clan is just that, the specific clan that a Dvorkan is born into. That is a Dvorkan’s immediate family.
For most dealings with a Dvorkan, only the birth and home clans matter. The home clan tells you where they are from and who their ruler is. The birth clan is their name.
Being incomplete entries from the book:
The Art of Runesmithing
by Horan Noirson, 135 WR
Chapter 3
Dvorkan Runesmiths
“Ach, how du I make the runes? We Dvorkan have na magic o’ our own, as ye know. I du nat know how we du it, just that we du. I call out ta Nordi an’ me runes work.”
-Bord Ironhammer, Clan Copperspike, Tul Londu
Despite having no innate magic of their own, or the ability to cast spells, the Dvorkan are master runesmiths. They are the best, and that is no idle boast. I have not seen a human yet that can come close to what a Dvorkan Master can accomplish with runes.
So how do they accomplish this without magic?
As we know, the Runesmith must have the ability to cast the spell in order to capture it within the etchings of the rune. This is the first thing any runesmith learns. The stronger the Mage, the stronger the rune.
Dvorkan are notoriously silent when it comes to the craft of metal working, be it runesmithing or blacksmithing. This applies even when drinking. As talkative as a drunk Dvorkan can be, they will still not discuss how they do what they do.
What Master Ironhammer is quoted as saying is the most that has ever been given on the subject.
But much can be assumed from that statement.
Nordi is one of the four Dvorkan gods. Austri, Nordi, Surdi and Vestri are their names and each is responsible for a different part of Dvorkan culture. Austri is the God of Knowledge and Mystery, Nordi is the God of Creation, Surdi is the God of Life and Health and Vestri is the God of the Stone.
The statement by Master Ironhammer leads one to think of Dvorkan Runesmiths as Clerics of their chosen Gods. Much like how a human Cleric chants a prayer to their God in order to use and receive their magic, it is thought that Dvorkan do the same. Considering the high regard that Dvorkan hold crafting of any kind; as high as many humans hold their Gods; it would make sense that Dvorkan Crafters are their Clerics.
So then it is thought that a Dvorkan Runesmith gains magic through prayer, much as a Cleric. It is not known; and there is not enough evidence one way or the other; that it may only be Nordi, the God of Creation, that can grant this power.
For more on the world of Merelein and to see it as it develops, please visit:
www.barkingfirepublishing.com
AFTERWORD
Welcome to the first book in the Taleweaver’s Song family, set on the continent of Atair on the world of Merelein. I hope you enjoyed the Skeleton Stone and are looking forward to more, because I have a lot more to bring.
I’ve always had a soft spot for Dungeons & Dragons and the pen and paper roleplaying game. It’s not something that I actually spent a lot of time playing, could never find anyone to play, but it was always something that fascinated me. I had a lot of the manuals as well as the box sets for the old Forgotten Realms, as well as reading most of the books.
So when I started out making my own fantasy world, years ago (more on that in a second), in the back of my mind I always wanted to develop it into a pen and paper RPG setting. And that’s what will be happening with this.
I’ll be using the d20 Open Gaming License (and rules available online) as the base and making the changes to turn that into the Taleweaver’s Song campaign setting. You’ll be able to watch as the world and the game manual gets filled in at the Barking Fire website. This will be a project that is spread out with sections not being updated in any particular order. It’s a fun side project.
But what’s next for the Taleweaver’s Song family of books?
I mentioned above that the world was first started years ago, and it was. The Skeleton Stone is a pretty recent addition and idea. In fact, the original idea and setting that Atair and Merelein originated as; the kingdom of Ameir (which Culann Hawkfall mentions during The Skeleton Stone); will not appear until the third or fourth book. You won’t get to meet Arek MacLir, and the magical bow he inherited from his father, for awhile.
Funny how writing works.
What exactly is Taleweaver’s Song? Besides an upcoming game setting, it’s the world that my fantasy writings will appear. These will be other books like The Skeleton Stone as well as short stories that will be published by Barking Fire as well as possibly other places.
I mentioned above about my love of the old Forgotten Realms and one thing I loved about that was that there were so many different stories. There were trilogies as well as single story novels. This all served to bring the entire world to life. Granted, those were all by different authors (and who knows, maybe someday another author will want to play in the Taleweaver’s setting), but I really enjoyed the idea.
I’m more of an ongoing writer; not an epic with beginning, middle and end like Game of Thrones. So that’s what the Taleweaver’s Song books will be, any story set in that world that I want to tell. And there are a lot of them. Most will be standalone, not sequels or continuations of previous books.
That’s not to say there is nothing that will connect the books, beyond the setting. You already know that you’ll be seeing Ameir someday (soonish) and since Culann said he was on
his way there before being interrupted by the events in Minoda, it’s reasonable to assume that we’ll see more Culann Hawkfall someday (soonish).
The next book, The Orc Plains, takes place near the opposite coast from The Skeleton Stone but there are some connections between the two (it also takes place in the Northerlands, not the Centerlands). Once you figure out what those connections are, and if you know the old Forgotten Realms series of books, you might see what will be the common connecting thread for most of the books.
Taleweaver’s Song, and the associated books, are not the only things I’m working on and you’ll be able to get updates and see what gets published (and when) by visiting the Barking Fire website (www.barkingfirepublishing.com) and my personal website (www.ossywrites.com). You’ll get to read random musings from me as well as thoughts on other properties, writing and maybe some concepts for other properties that I’m working on. So be sure to follow Barking Fire on Facebook (and my personal, seldom used twitter account: @troynos).