Travels Through Telara


The Story So
Far:
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week1">Part
1
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week2">Part
2
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week3">Part
3
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week4">Part
4
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week5">Part
5
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week6">Part
6
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week7">Part
7
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week8">Part
8
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week9">Part
9
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week10">Part
10
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week11">Part
11
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week12">Part
12
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week13">Part
13
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week14">Part
14
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week15">Part
15
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week16">Part
16
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week17">Part
17
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week18">Part
18
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week19">Part
19

By Padraic




Greetings, dear reader. Today’s subject comes courtesy of Bran. Dear,
yet-ever-so-slightly-dim Bran. He has been talking to Barik you see,
and Barik has been boasting about how amazing the north is, about how
if it wasn’t for the men and women of Iron Pine Peaks, then Telara
would already have fallen to the Blood Storm. Now, I absolutely loathe
boasting, but even I must admit that Barik has a point.



For instance, just before old Barik grew weary, (actually, annoyed is
probably a more accurate term), with Bran’s questions and went off to
hunt boar in the woods (I’m not kidding. They breed hardy, these
northmen.), Barik mentioned to Bran that the noble order of paladins
had its start in the northlands. Bran chased after Barik for a while,
hoping the old man would tell him the story, but after Barik hurled an
axe and a spear at him, Bran eventually got the message that Barik
wanted some alone time.



So Bran has come to ask if I know the story. I do indeed, and I can
think of no better time to write down the story of the first of the
paladins, Amardis Mathos.




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During the Blood Storm wars the tribes of the north were scattered and
proud. They fiercely protected their independence, not trusting in any
form of unified government. They knew that with that kind of power
resting in a small group of people, corruption would soon follow.
Besides, there was no need for them to join together. They already met
up twice a year for hunting competitions and to allow those newly come
of age to take advantage of the more relaxed control of the elders.
Mead flowed, inhibitions were lowered, and nine months later new blood
was brought into the tribes. These newborn babes were raised by a
series of foster families, families of different skills and trades so
that the child would be exposed to as many different crafts as possible
by the time he or she came of age. Then the cycle began again. So it
was, and so it had always been.



But the chieftain of clan Mathos, a giant bear of a man called Alrik
Mathos, knew that the times were changing. His seid (seer) read the
runes when the Midwinter moon cast her cold light onto the snow of Iron
Pine Peak. She warned that Skara (Death) was coming, riding his chariot
from the frozen stars to take the tribes of the north under his cloak.
She warned Alrik that unless he united the clans they would all be
wiped out, enslaved, their blood stories spilled into the snow, never
to be sung again.



Alrik took his charge seriously. It took him half a decade to finally
convince the other tribes they had to unite and fight the scourge of
the Blood Storm. There was much resistance. Most thought the Blood
Storm was a problem of the southlands. That it wouldn’t affect them.
But a few border skirmishes with the cult of Regulos finally convinced
them that Alrik spoke wisely and they finally joined together to battle
the Dragon Gods.



But while Alrik was traveling between the tribes, trying to unite them,
he entrusted the safety of the land and people to his daughter, Amardis
Mathos. Alas, the effects of the Blood Storm wars were felt even this
far north. Planar energy interrupted natural cycles. Breeding patterns
were disrupted, homing instincts confused. The migration of the mighty
afgar beasts, a migration that the northern tribes relied on for food
to see them through the cruel winter, failed to happen. Crops withered,
and famine took hold of Clan Mathos.






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After months of starvation, a group of traders approached Amardis. “Let
us mine on your land,” they said. “There is much sourcestone in your
caverns, lying unused. Let us take it and we will reward you. You will
be rich. You will be able to buy as much food as you wanted!”



The people of Clan Mathos cried out for Amardis to accept their offer.
But Amardis resisted. She was starving, yes, but she felt that
something was not right. And how would she face her father when he came
back to discover she had sold of their lands to southmen?



Amardis entered the caverns that held the sourcestone, seeking
inspiration, hoping to commune with Thedeor. She moved through darkened
tunnels for hours, hours that turned to days. But always, she felt it
wasn’t the right time to stop. So she kept going. Without food,
drinking from the mountain springs that cut their way through the
caverns.



Until she finally entered a cave that was constructed entirely from the
mighty sourcestone. It was everywhere. The floor, the roof. It shone
with an internal light and Amardis, knowing she had arrived, instantly
fell to her knees and prayed to Thedeor.



When she was finished praying she opened her eyes and saw her father’s
shield lying before her. Affixed to its very center was a pulsing shard
of sourcestone.



“Take it, daughter,” said the voice of Thedeor. “Take it and reveal the
truth."



Amardis took the shield and returned to her people. The traders were
already gathering. They had assumed she had died in the caverns, and
were seeking someone else to negotiate with. Someone who would be more
open to their offer.



Amardis strode out of the dark cavern into the frigid, golden dawn of a
winter's morn. She struck the caravan master with her shield, sending
him flying through the air. Gold coins stamped with the glowing mark of
Laethys flew from his robe, and Amardis’s people saw that they had
nearly turned their holy caverns to agents of the Golden Maw.








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Amardis led the charge as Clan Mathos took up arms to drive out the
cultists. She intercepted blows meant for her other members of her
clan. She drew the enemy away from weaker clan members. People later
said that a glowing aura surrounded her, growing stronger each time she
cut one of the dragon's agents down.



But then, disaster. The leader of the Golden Maw ran Amardis through
with his serrated blade. Amardis fell to the ground, her blood staining
the white snow dark red.



But she did not simply lie down and die. She pushed herself up and
pressed her hand to the wound. A golden light, brighter than the dawn
itself, burst forth from her hand, healing the wound and closing it up.
Amardis then cut her attacker’s head from his body, breaking the Golden
Maw’s offensive with one stroke of her blade.



The Mathosians drove the remaining cultists into the mountains. They
took all the food from the caravans, but Amardis insisted they melt
down the gold they found to forge an altar to Thedeor. This monument
would one day stand in the heart of Caer Mathos, the home of many
Mathosian paladins for centuries to come.



And that is how Amardis Mathos, daughter of Alrik Mathos, became the
first paladin to walk Telara.





The Story So
Far:
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week1">Part
1
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week2">Part
2
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week3">Part
3
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week4">Part
4
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week5">Part
5
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week6">Part
6
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week7">Part
7
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week8">Part
8
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week9">Part
9
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week10">Part
10
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week11">Part
11
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week12">Part
12
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week13">Part
13
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week14">Part
14
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week15">Part
15
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week16">Part
16
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week17">Part
17
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week18">Part
18
| href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/features/travels/week19">Part
19


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Last Updated: Mar 29, 2016

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