LOE Legends: The Bowerchests
November 27, 2020
Vith mythology and children’s tales tell of the great beasts of ages past: The Bowerchests. Metallic creatures crafted from the finest materials, they roams the mountainous passes of Vithland, so huge their lofty heads often broke the clouds. Each Vith Household had a unique Bowerchest guarding their most sacred treasures, and none would dare steal them.
As the old stories went, Bowerchests were created during the age known later as The Splendor of the Vith, when the Vith ascended in power rivaling that of the Sisterhood of Light. Built by Astral Craftsmen of the highest order and powered by an arcane heart, the Bowerchests were created first by the legendary hero Holt of the Mountain who had his treasures stolen by the tribes of Remnath to the south, treasures he never recovered. In response, he commissioned the creation of a “living” treasure vault, one that could crawl, run and fly and was aware of its surroundings, one that would be forever dedicated to he and the treasures he placed within.
Bowerchests of old: The Great Ophidian of Holt of the Mountain, The Golden Bird Cymbelline of House Durst and the Vulpex of House Blanchefort
As he filled its hollow innards with treasure, weapons and arcane items, the Bowerchest grew in size until it was taller than Mt. Vith. Utterly impregnable, the Bowerchest successfully withstood 700 attacks from the Remnath and Zenons. Taking the battle to the Remnaths, the Bowerchest eventually went south, plundering and razing the Remnath bastion at Wiln. When Holt was given one of the 25 Noab artifacts by the Elder Nylax, he placed it within his Bowerchest for safekeeping. When the Sisters came calling for the artifact, as they claimed ownership of all the Noabs, Holt refused to give it to them. Though favored of the Sisters, they attacked his Bowerchest without pause, hoping to claim the artifact and all other items hidden within. They were defeated by the Bowerchest, the only time the Sisters had ever been defeated in battle, and ever after the Sisters grew ever more jealous and fearful, determined to be rid of them. Other Vith Households followed suit, building their own Bowerchests in the form of monsters and legendary beasts and loading them with treasure until all of Vithland trembled under their feet and their wings darkened the skies.
They were said to be incredibly intelligent, crafty, and wise, could grow or shrink, and could transform themselves however they wished and could eliminate entire armies with a single blow. One story tells of a Zenon minstrel who managed to steal one gold coin from the Great Golden Bird Cymbelline of the House of Durst and how Cymbelline dogged and pursued the thief without pause until it recovered the coin.
Eventually, through guile and seduction, the Sisters managed to make the Vith “forget” about their Bowerchests, stealing them away and using the metal of their bodies to craft the original Fleet ships. Tales tell that a few Houses managed to hide their Bowerchests in a “secret place” beyond the Sisters’ gaze called Edamathrombo.
The disappearance of the Bowerchests and the creation of the Stellar Fleet signaled the end of the Splendor of the Vith.
But, those are all stories crafted to entertain children, correct? Such things could never truly exist, yes???
??
copyright 2020, Ren Garcia
Ethylberry–The Dust of the Gods
September 4, 2020
Ethylberry is an odd plant described in numerous texts, stories, mythologies and other such sources. It has been described as the dust of life, the first life on many new worlds, planted there by the gods, and once life has taken hold, the gods harvest it and move on. It has been the stuff of adventures, the object of quests and the prize of the Immortals.
In many tales, the goddess of the Harvest, Anabrax, is the keeper of Ethylberry, tending to hidden fields of it, planting where it is needed and then secreting it away when its use is done. When Anabrax was killed by the Horned God, the task of tending to Ethylberry passed on to another–some tales mention Atha, the goddess of Occasional Chaos, became the caretaker.
Lord Kabyl of Blanchefort wrote of encountering Ethylberry in his memoirs.
“I came upon an iron fountain tended to by the goddess Atha, at least she claimed to be a goddess, and there, growing around the base of the fountain in hard-packed earth under a purple sky, was a bed of mangy weeds. ‘This,’ she said, ‘is Ethylberry.’ With a simple clay pot and my bare hands, I was to pick a plant. The plants were compact and fibrous, dingy in appearance, with dark green leaves twisting about a central stalk. It sported a host of small yellow flowers that exuded a small but continual amount of lilting golden dust that took flight with the slightest of provocation. The plants were studded with savage thorns which penetrated my skin without resistance. The thorns were poisoned, and I felt my heart struggling to beat as my blood boiled. I felt my death coming …”
The dust from the Ethylberry plant has many properties. It encourages the beginnings of life, complete with rapid changes and evolution. It can nullify poisons, repair grievous wounds, enable magic spells, give everlasting vitality and return life to the dead.
The old Xaphan ruler Queen Ghome of Trimble was said to possess an overflowing urn of Ethylberry, or a lesser version of it, allowing her to change her appearance with ease.
copyright 2020, Ren Garcia
LOE Monsters: The Killanjo
April 11, 2019
The Killanjo started out life as “evil spirits“, conjured by certain people with the usual intent of doing harm. Lady Sammidoran, the heroine of the Temple trilogy, was, in the first draft, a Killanjo spirit whom Countess Sygillis captured and held prisoner in a bottle. I didn’t like the direction that storyline took, so a got rid of it, transforming “Sam” into a Monama instead.
The Killanjo also changed. I needed a really nasty, creepy, and just plain gross group of henchmen-style villains, so I turned them into the bleeding, skulking creatures they became.
Here’s what I came up with:
KILLANJO: A mythical creature that has, according to gossip, been plaguing Xaphan space for decades. A Killanjo is said to be a hideous corruption of a loved one: a son, daughter, brother or sister who is then turned loose upon their own families to create grief and chaos. Killanjo are said to be able to cast spells that render Elder-Kind helpless. It is also said a Killanjo cannot bear to see their reflection, one that does awakens from whatever spell they have been placed in and, unable to bear the horror of their own form, kill themselves.
As I love to hear myself talk, I did a short video on them:
copyright 2019: Ren Garcia
World Building: The Ruins of Caroline
June 1, 2012
There are many ruins dotting the landscape of Kana, especially in the northern continent of Vithland where the remnants of old manors and castles litter the landscape. Most are forlorn and ill-trodden places, overgrown and generally best left avoided. One notable exception is the Ruins of Caroline sitting in the green lands of Hala near the Straights of Elder under the eye of the Sisters’ lighthouse. The ruins of the fallen manor are frequently visited. Inns and pubs nearby do a brisk trade of those travelers seeking to visit them. The locals frequently go to the ruins and tend to the grass and keep the footing level so that visitors unfamiliar with the terrain won’t hurt themselves.
“The Ruins of Caroline” by Carol Phillips
The Carolines were one of twenty-five Great Houses to flee the League during the Great Betrayal in 000000AX and become Xaphans. Most of the other fleeing Houses were mal-contents and rabble-rousers: The Burgons, the Zary and Trimbles. The Carolines, however, were content league citizens–it was the House of Zary, a rather wayward House, that cooerced the Carolines to leave the League with them. So, broken-hearted, the Carolines boarded their ships and left their beloved manor by the sea behind.
The Carolines wandered the empty passes of Xaphan space for months. They were raided by several other Houses, including the House of Zary, who were starving in their transports. In danger of becoming extinct, the Carolines put out a distress call, which was answered by the League vessel Victor. With the Victor’s help, the Carolines settled on a gray world in the Tu Mervolin system.
There, the Carolines thrived, becoming Xaphans (technically, enemies of the League). The Carolines, however, always maintained friendly relations with the League and, during the Battle of Mirendra I, provided safe harbor for damaged League vessels, saving many lives. For their part in the battle, the Sisterhood of Light reinstated the House of Caroline’s familial patent in 003152AX, making them dual League/Xaphan citizens.
The abandoned Caroline Manor fell into ruins over the centuries, the grand estate tumbling down and blackening. The Lords of Hala went to the Sisters and demanded they be permitted to raze what was left of the manor and rebuild a new House there. Their request was denied and Caroline remained a ruin.
A Lady in the Ruins
6 ft 7 Melazarr of Caroline ended up in the Ruins a record 59 times (painting by Eve Ventrue)
The House of Caroline’s LosCapricos weapon is a strange garter-belt-like device called the VERY MARY. The VERY MARY, when worn by a Caroline maiden, will spirit her away from danger and return her to her ancestral holdings: the Ruins of Caroline near the sea in Kana. Over the centuries, Caroline maidens grew taller and taller and became more and more adventurous. Often times they found themselves in mortal peril, and many times they found themselves standing alone in the ruins under the Kanan moonlight. In 000272AX, Eon of Caroline was about to be sacrificed in Burgon and was saved by her VERY MARY. She wandered the ruins and, driven by cold and hunger, made her way into the countryside to locate shelter. She was met by Zal of Thompson, a lord from a nearby Great House and was welcomed into their home. Soon, Zal and Eon fell in love and he made her his lady. Eon was well-liked, and when word of how she arrived on Kana got out, gentlemen seeking a fine bride began venturing out into the ruins, hoping to encounter a Caroline maiden from nowhere as Zal had done.
The fad became popular and gentlemen from all over Kana and elsewhere flocked to Hala to take their turn sitting in the ruins under the moonlight. They brought with them flowers and candies, and gifts of jewelry. They wrote heartfelt letters and placed them by a remnant of masonry that became known as the Heartstone. The fad might have faded, as many often do, however, occasionally the gentlemen’s efforts were rewarded with success and the pratice perpetuated itself, eventully becoming a cottage industry in the region.
Carofabs
As with all things, there were those who sought to take advantage of such a quaint fad and turn it to their own ends. Such was the Carofab: a local lady who disguised herself as a Caroline. Kanan ladies became rather jealous of all those eligible men going to Caroline to seek romance. They developed a rather sophisticated spy network so that they could know exactly who was going to be sitting in the ruins and when. When a desired gentleman was slated to be out there, Kanan ladies hoping to catch his eye would dress themselves up as a Caroline and meet him there. Lady Constance of Belmont-South Tyrol did just such a thing and won a husband for her efforts.
copyright 2012 Ren Garcia
The Temple of the Exploding Head 