The Books of Renly.
Chapter 1: Legends, Guilds and Blood

Scriptures held in the great library tell of legends when some of these foretold times of old that are now set before us on all sides with a keen and clear vision, they tell us of a lands so vast in its natural landscapes, as to are the diverse creatures that lay as deep as hidden secrets within these lands. Miles upon miles of deep rolling mountains topped with ice so cold as they freeze any manner of beast or creature daring to cross them. Some of these once towering and mighty mountains were broken down during great battles of gods, creatures and men. These mountains reshaped and broken into piles of rocks soon became the hills and clearings that were to become abundant in life as yet more time passed by. Over time grass and trees grew over those now toppled and crumbling mountains, growing ever more dense with life as even more time passed by you could see them creating vast forests with a canopy of trees so dense that they cover many miles of undergrowth. Which as it is today perpetually in complete darkness even as the new sun rises, barely a light beam is seen to hit the forest floor. The hidden wonders of life only known to us as these creatures of natural or unnatural that over time have been seen to wander out from these dark and eerie canopies, venturing out into the clearings only to sip the clear cold blue glacial waters provided by the remaining mountains through vast rivers of enriched waters as they carved their way down from the mountains.

Some of these creatures we know to have been made by gods and magical beings in protection or acts of war in the molding of this land, both a curse and blessing these are depicted in the writings and forgotten scriptures that teach us after the last great war, were all manners of enlightened creatures were said to have abandoned this realm now acclaimed to be the one of man, in favor of a search for far off distant refuge away from the unending tyranny of this backward creature and their untamed, brutal and savage ways. For over the ages no creature across the known empires has done more to scorch and poison this wayward land than that of the way of man and his kin. From years of studying theses writings and historic scrolls it seems as if almost by accident that they replace a way that is beyond their thinking to change and evert what almost feels like an inevitable ending to their diminishing existence, which in their feeble minds always seems to be a solution to right all bad that they have done. A view from a complacent creature of sorts that may in fact favor the low valley village folk, given the fact that they are most certainly the writers of the scriptures, but no fool of the royal courts could deny that not all creatures agree with them.

Never before has any species studied such a creature as man, quick to raise their arms like a small wounded fighting Hound trying to dominate a larger creature, as quick to draw its primeval instinctual weapons and play out the savage violence hidden deep within their nature to its gory and bitter tasting end, they hold within their head a mind were cooperation and companionship is only given to those choice few they may encounter, interacting with those that suit their minds idyllic structure of the pack they reside within. Any animals that don’t fit this structure leads to the inevitable result of bullying, manipulating, tormenting and the possibility of tearing their victim limb from limb, if the hint of disapproval from the pack is not received swiftly by unsuspecting or intelligent creatures. Most of these types of men are seen by many stealing what food they can, hunting down anything within their domain as they claim their dominated areas as their very own including valuable wares and items that may cross their lands or left behind by their would be victims as they fled.

Packs or groups of men like these for better or worse the pack would slowly grow as they captured, ensnared or enslaved weaker beings over time forcing them to do their bidding. All the time within the pack’s leaders grew a need for glittering jewels and metals which grew faster than any magical or morglan creature could gather or forge them. In these such times of insatiable greed the darkest reaches of the evil will of man were obtained, as if pre-ordained by the entities of time they would become ensnared by their own greed and lust for the greatest and most destructive powers that the common folk called magic. Each time a beast of man would seize power all would seem lost, when the tormented beasts and creatures reached all that they could withstand all man had thrown at them, they would call forth a greater hidden power of an ancient magic from within these lands to silence the evil greed that is within man and restore balance before reclaiming lands and structures giving them back to nature and gods. Through its then neglected state and the calls of time and nature seen only by those who dared to remember and revisit such places, decaying as the pulling of each small piece of the fallen dark cites back down to the ground from whence they were once stood, each stone and tree was pulled from these grounds to build ever increasingly big structures of war and power.

From our minds at least it seems that time and nature are not without a sense of irony, one might also consider them humorous and without mercy for those that choose to harm the many creatures of the realm. Take those un-natural creatures that lay in wait in the shadows for a victim or easy pickings to fill an empty predator’s stomach somewhere hidden within the darkness of forest floor. Once part of man’s everyday adventure could be exchanged and turned into tomorrow’s monster’s, as these studied scriptures were written by the victors we could debate the creatures true natures no longer wanted or unwilling to be ruled these creatures known as man, would be slayed and cast out from the cities. These casters of knowledge of sorts each in turn they dared to call these so called undesirable and manufactured creatures unnatural. As you may now figure they only say as such as it was man that changed their very nature with magic and the strong arms of men in pursuit of their power and greed. Even before the battles of the ancestor’s, ancestors had gained or honed the power of the gods to create new creatures, Spells, or incantations, to rule, fight and enslave, populating this realm with life that is not of this plane of existence dragging even more non realm related creatures and elements into this world. The wills of man was known to be one that would lead to evil given its chance and many magical creature buried secrets to crush their advances and ensure the continuation of this existence despite what they hid man would replace them learn about the powers and introduce these unnatural creatures, elements and spells over time.

As ages passed and battles were fought by many of man’s ancestors, fighting to kill or heighten their sinister or enlightened ways of life, power and Knowledge of their plundered magic slowly faded like a candle light slowly burning out sputtering and flickering in a vein effort to stay alit. As the old ages past into the new, an array of rulers came to be perched on the thrones of the realms. Each in turn acclaimed to be the salvation of the realm, as they grew in power they began to cast aside these apparently wicked undesirable, unnatural creatures and their would be followers. One by one these past saviours would be exposed for the evil plots that lie within, as a hero raised their strongholds to the ground from there the leaders would often sliver into the darkness of the canopy only to be slaughtered by a creature hidden within the thick undergrowth or maybe discovered later as thieves, assassins, sell swords or villains for hire by those who sort a power of a dark kind.

Little is known by man about where and what these outcast creatures do thereafter except to move them from the borders of their lands. Driven away like a beast or pest rumors spread by the victors have us believe their complexion would be driven to that of a wild hound who would treat anyone with savage control with fear from the leaders down, with greater cunning and sheer muscle gaining the largest amount of followers over time. Only seen by a chancing glance from the corner of an eye of the most observant and inquisitive being, straying with deadly stealth in and out of the dark canopies and hiding in the shadows watching, waiting for the next poor and unsuspecting victim to stray into their path. Like a pack of wild hounds circling their victim from the treeline they would be poised and alert waiting for their opportune moment to seize their quander, only allowing themselves to be seen exiting the shadows moments before their victims fate is all but sealed. Striking quickly as the vesper fanged snakes of the peasants fields steeling full grown victims like snatching chicks from the empty lazy scavenger eagles nest before sliding back into the dark hideaways as quick as their victim’s life was ended.

As sure as our suns may rise comes the moment of time moving forwards and the will of the gods that require a new change to happen, from the many men who pitted their skills for combat out of the need to protect these victims, over the calls of time emerged an elite set of bodyguards the best of which are said to be formed from pitted warriors trained and molded in a place where vagrants, criminals, undesirables, unsuspecting victims and captured creatures were flung into a deep pitted ring with deadly lined walls that have sharpened wooden or metal spikes embedded within them, their tips soaked in deadly poisons safeguarding the top making a would be fleeing escape impossible. There spectators would gather on circular steps to watch as the battles and bloodthirsty combat would take place, the pits steps could be seen rising higher and more grandiose as more people would be attracted to visit these pits over time. The outcome of these battles would not be spared a wager on the outcome, as the pits grew the bigger the exchanges on a wager or two was seen to grow on the outcome. It was not a strange occurrence when it comes to means of payment in this is a place where a peasant can become as rich as a lord in a day, or even if his fortunes do not follow a lord may become meat for the many hungry pit creatures and beasts that lay in wait for their day of battle or combat.

Even a stark man has taken to devouring his kin to have a good meal in preparation for the pits battles. These bare facts and the nature of the characters that control these establishments would be sat at the lord’s tables often seen to be living a more lavish lifestyle then some bitter lords. There spies are known to be many hidden in courts across the realm, if a lord is smart enough to seek out the knowledge of the pit masters spies he’ll know that all things shiny in this realm are not everything to behold, as power to rule and staying alive comes from the secrets and greater knowledge of the realm.

As the pits would grow in size and strength hidden down deep alleys were there was ash filled smokey buildings bellowing thick black smoke high as the clouds, casting heavy shadows for miles around from the forgers of weapons. New enchanting methods were passed from scribes and clerics and exotic metals were forged into new lighter, faster and sharper weapons more savage in nature adding to their deadly purpose as the forgers experimented with their skills. These new and improved weapons would be bought by pit masters and lords alike seen in displays as fighting methods were honed to an almost acrobatic grace with the newly evolved weapons, guts and honor at stake in their cause the fighters would slay or die at the will of a strong and trusty weapon. As the combatant creatures got bigger the very weapons that slayed them could be said to be worth more than gold as the lord’s and warriors lust for legendary weapons expanded and the fighting over them grew even more bloodthirsty as more would be owners would start to war over them. Secrets whispered by alley rats and spies would tell of deaths to a weapons owners in dark deals in it’s pursuit. As the competition rose new secret weapons and metals were created and forged into the realm.

As with all forms of power there is always room for vanity when requesting protection from those who would be victims of the unnatural creatures and men hidden in the forests, not too many of these kinds of people require nor want a battle scarred man except those in need of men of war or deceit. Deep within these unwanted ranks of wandering warriors are deadly mercenaries with a large sense of honor and loyalty bred into their minds by years of mind bending, battles and blood rich dreams haunting both their past and current actions. Often these kinds of bonds between them as they grouped together leading to these units becoming stronger, as each member was seen to be filling a need for a battle type preference or strategy knowledge, leading to their quests being executed with stealthily or deadly outcomes ending more in success than not. Though their method of execution was sometimes more bloodthirsty and often lead to retaliation from other guilds of fighters who did not like their choices of loyalty in exchange for the coin.

Warriors seeking a guild or house to follow would often show off their prowess and skills in elaborate demonstrations in order to gain notoriety across the realm for entry and coin. The stronger and more successful the mercenaries guild the higher they could sell their talents for. As demand for their protection or skills rose they would build sub guilds, even armies of loyal men to their leaders . With deadly consequences if they dared to become a traitor in the myths of them. Over time these mercenaries would become rich from the clients they protected and the champions and men of rival guilds would battle for the amusements of lords and generals. The glory which could follow such a victory in these death defying battles, often making the higher ranking of the guilds rich enough to buy lands as far as the eye could see. Which would become to be cultivated and kept by the people who would pay their leader and his loyal men to protect them.

Although not always the case a select few that rose to the new heights of glory soon became no longer content with their meager homes among the squabbling people, often they would describe them as the dirty people they protected. Their once a saviour instead now slowly but ever so surely would ultimately enslave creatures and the people who trusted them, all the while abusing increasingly their good nature and faithful gifts of their followers and families. Their loyalty ultimately tested often to beyond breaking point in long years of almost torturous conditions in their pursuit of the strongest or most prestigious city. The people would spend long hours in service to their protectors carving large ornate statues forced by the hands of the ranking guilds men of the city for little or no pay. Those who could not fight instead would make large stones that would be smoothed into blocks, these blocks then could be seen moving out the large stone quarries or coming down from mountain tops in the hands of large forest ogres and mountain dwelling trolls to build large stone walls of vast dwellings, keeps, protective walls and watchtowers.

Wooden forts and army encampments were built by the largest of the ogres as they were whipped into submission their strength tested as they used only their fists as they began driving down stripped bare tree trunks the height of five men with only a few pounds of their fist, as they made the outer walls of the forts, pens for horses and training grounds. The sound of the wooden trunks forcing their way through the hard earth could be heard for miles as the ground trembled in shock and the wood moaned as the ground would push back. Some mercenaries even got rich and strong enough to build giant stone forts and cities of their own built from the mountain stones eventually so vast in size the tips of the mountains can be seen to be lowered the height of an ogre or two, yet only a few of these mercenaries would grow so rich for their cities and buildings to be topped and adorned with enormous intricately jeweled statues, masterpieces of intricate artwork of cloth and painted walls their kitchens and chambers filled with bountiful rarities from the surrounding kingdoms.

Though not all these elite band of would be mercenaries and sell swords wished for all glittering of gold or jewels, nor for such grand structures and endless empires in return for their services, these kind of mercenaries would ask for a variety of different kind of precious pleasures from entry into the pure blood lines of the elders and wealthy families or the right to dwell undisturbed within the client’s lands for a given time to almost anything this realm had to offer. Though not all requests of these type of warriors were welcomed or could easily be paid, asking for even gruesome penalties often lead to difficult choices for a would be lord. From demanding the life of one of their heirs to the right to wipe out an entire family lord worthy or peasant that may be hidden or dwell upon their land. Each of these kind of warriors would gather and lose the loyalty of peasants and generals alike as their popularity or dismay of their actions would become known across the kingdoms. Living almost like nomads lying in wait, or acting as spies hidden within ranks of court waiting on some vital information to sell to opposing sides often feigning joining another warrior’s cause in order to pass information and strategies back to their leaders or highest bidder.

Some of the rulers of these towns and cities would have been quoted to say the people of the land developed a curious taste then a greedy thirst for the blood through the years of anguish thrusted upon them which spread into the pits, allowing them to live out a revenge they only could dream of as the combatants fought. This lead to murderous plots and schemes played out across the cities only serving to increase the need of the protectors and sell swords, any man good with a blade in some cities would be hard pushed not to fall into work or a calling of aid in revenge for coin or some trinket owed or stolen. These behaviours were not limited to the peasants of the lands as by then a band of mercenaries truly devious in their nature and planning who would seek out through rumor and stolen scriptures of fallen and ancient cities all the ancient knowledge that had crawled back into to the light from the shadows in their bid to seize power. Once some of the best kept secrets, some revered as the darkest secrets of everything that should remain hidden, many ancient warriors fought and died to hide them as not to repeat what this magic had once brought to these lands and people. Often a devastating power element used to win battles fought across these lands so long ago was brought back to serve the desires of power hungry men. These powers had been hidden from these kinds of men as they would conjure entire legions of enemies that would be created, destroyed and tossed aside like an unwanted vermin in a never ending battle for, or to gain the greatest powers and riches.