The Account of Ser Caneth Gaulyn, Knight of Ebonarm

Dedicated to /u/Zinitrad. Hope you like your present, even if it is late.

For those new to my Ebonarm work, I highly recommend you start with this one.

To Choirmaster Kormring

Found in a library in Dunlain Falls, under a bookshelf already open and next to a copy of "The Warped East, or how Dunlain became a Chimera-Land." Something to do with some kind of star altering the landscape, but I’ll have to look into it when I get the chance. Hoping you would have some ideas.

Regards, Æþelbeorht

The Account of Ser Caneth Gaulyn, anon Cy'rdyllcym, Knight of Ebonarm and Steward of Altbal.

The beloved servant, who was called Caneth Gaulyn.

My beloved filled me with his seed of hope, like sap it filled me.

And it was for this that I become the theoretical scion, Cy'rdllcym, reborn of a dreugh mere and the Eternal King, whose progeny will carry forth my Lord's Will.

This is an account of my Lord, King Ebonarm, and Lord of the Great Rock. For it is true that he was anointed into a priesthood of sorcel-saints by the Bjoulsae. For it true that he was blessed by the stars and elected to be the King Upon the Mountain, High Wrothgar the Holy. And it is true, that he held the whole of the lands of the Rock, from Normar, to Dunlain, and on to the Bay.

Reymon went into the wilderness, meditating on the meaning of MUNDEX ARENA, and on the wisdom etched in clay on his brow by the River-Queen. Thence he came, and thence he went, all under the embrace of the firmament. He drank the blood of marrow-filled trees and ate the buds of beautiful two-lips. Everywhere he went, he saw that there was cast a diorama of flux. And thus on this did the Ebonarm ponder. He watched the twinkling of stars, and became learned so that he might read them. It was such that the stars proclaimed him his dire doom. Cast they, that Reymon will unite the Rock. Spake they, that Reymon would be King.

And so Reymon followed the star, travelling from the east, to the ancient ruins of Normar, near to the mountain of Wrothgar. The spirits came and with eager light, did try to seduce him to stay with them forever. The wisps of joy and madness did not touch Reymon, and he cast them away, naming them by the forgotten names of the stars shed by the breaking. Reymon dispersed the twil-taints and continued on.

He passed a caravan travelling on the beaten trails of the wispy Normari desert. They laughed and scorned Reymon who travelled through the bleak wastes only to step into pathless, barren land. But the clay seal cracked open and revealed a light upon his brow. Tracing the path not given to them by desert-fever, and they were silent. And it was they who were first to follow the Ebonarm. And Reymon continued on.

And it was then, upon reaching the foot of the Holy Mountain, Most High Wrothgar, that my Lord the Ebonarm did meet a terrible test. The wretched pig-mer who had taken our sacred lands had sent many a shamaness, with orc-guile and orc-wit, to end Reymon’s quest. They summoned a mighty demon, that stood the height of many men. Malak Orc-Maker barred the way to his people. With one arm, he held his mighty hammer. With one swing, he lay the whole of Nirn asunder. On his breath, he carried the 47 curses of his people. With his feet, he rode the world. Mighty mer-lock, conquering and to conquer.

Ebonarm the man, approached the Doom-Dumb Blasphemer, and raised his hand to the Magnus’ tapestry. In it were inscribed the three stars of Malak’s three lies, and the false god faded into a heap of filth, writhing with the scales of a snake. The great horde of pigs were frightened, and on my Lord’s command, those following him did butcher and cut down the fell foe. In this is the truth of where the united kingdom of Altbal first began.

Gesemie Julhoen, a dunlish peasant in the group and still in the waning years of youth, had taken a spear from a fallen man and had lain it into the beasts, felling them as a farmer would cattle. When those around her fled, she hunted them down and fed their entrails to the centipedes. It was this homely girl, surrounded by carnage and death, who knelt first to our Lord, and became his first knight. He marked her brow for passage into priesthood, and the command of those following was handed to her. And then alone, my Lord began his ascent up the Holy Mountain.

It was here, that my Lord went, fighting unarmed against orc raiders, until he reached the summit, battered and bloody. A red flame exploded in the east, and the stars painted the sky with color. MNEM the Lady, bright and luminous came down upon him, arrayed in jewels of starlight. She kissed his brow, and explained to him the meanings of stars that he had begun to see truly from the time he rose at the Bjoulsae. He was anointed with the still freezing water of Ald-Aldmora, anon Aldmeris, and so blessed with the knowledge of fate and that which occurs only sideways, as though through the wings of a dragon, and not along them. As Ebonarm stood in the midst of memories, he learned of the meaning of Kings and Rebels, of states and tribes, of rulers and peoples. He stood then, in the place of Ruling Kings, and became then, Ebonarm the God. And then he stepped down from the heavenly convention, with the alignment of 108 stars behind him, conquering and to conquer.

My Lord then, with his knight Gesemie of Urnlowe, began his war on the Iliac Barons, as he pressed his way to Wayrest. At the battle of Bleakwater Oasis in Gavaudon, Reymon routed the enemy army, and drove them for refuge within the realm of their ally Wayrest. My Lord, in his infinite wisdom, knew the corrupt hearts of the Lord of Wayrest, whose name has been blotted out from the world. Reymon deceived him into stabbing Gavaudon’s soldiers in the dead of night, believing it to be more profitable with the friendship of Reymon and the gold of Gavaudon in his coffers. Reymon’s men reported this to him, after he had snuck 100 of his men into Wayrest’s castle. The gates were opened, and Wayrest was taken. The remainder of her army was routed upon reaching the gates, believing themselves to be in the arms of friends.

Having ended the cruel reign of the Lord of Wayrest, my Lord the Ebonarm took away the rights of the nobility and gave the people the lands that they had toiled on. The remainder of Wayrest’s armies chose to follow him, and my Lord announced that he would be King over all of High Rock.

It was not too long into Ebonarm’s reign, when an assassination was attempted on my Lord by the disenfranchised nobles. Having put poison into his cup, they had planned for him to be murdered at the autumnal harvest feast. Yet Reymon, King of Altbal could not be fooled, for his eyes had been given clear sight by the eternal vigil of stars. He then made a plan to test his followers. He gathered the families of his court into one room, and declared that of them, there were traitors in conspiracy against him. Those who were loyal must purge their families, or suffer the punishment of traitors.

The wicked conspirators quickly made way to dispatch their kin, but Colette Menonsque, a priestess of MNEM requested that those in the room be pardoned with her own death.

“But what of you, dark hearts, that you could kill your wives, your mothers, your children? We were in time uncovered, save by MNEM, family in truth. My Lord, have I not been faithful to your decrees and laws, and to the muddy prayer of MNEM? Was it not I who left the knighthood to become a priestess, and build Her temple? Should you not punish those that did the wrong, and should not my blood suffice for the rest?”

And Reymon, mouth twisted in cruel joke, nodded assent, for the priestess had spoken truly.

“Those who would follow me, must be willing to die, bleeding and tearful for my sake. Those who would rule must first serve, and every ruler must ever be first in service.”

The Black God of knights then took a hand and ripped open his arm, letting the blood pool on the floor. He let everyone drink of it and taste the Will of a living god. The guilty perished, and the honorable lived. And then Colette Menonsque, devout and pious, became the second knight of Ebonarm, and was blessed by the waters of Way Rest.

My Lord then conquered the whole of Glenumbria, and then laid waste to Daggerfall. As news of my King spread, cities would yield without a fight. Cielibeth Iskandu, myself, and Abalard Surgo all joined his knighthood during this time. The dark-skinned Lady Iskandu from the battlefields of Dwynnen, clinging to murdered family. The Baron Surgo who left his city of Northmoor renouncing his titles and then myself as a son of Daggerfall. It was there, that the Dreugh chieftains emerged from their ocean baronies and named my Lord the King of Bal. The Dreugh King Abv’cytx gave his daughter Ix’Ixthylcix in marriage to my Lord. The union of their marriage was an egg.

And then he placed myself in it, sealing it with the names of fallen stars.

“He who would be born must first destroy a world.”

I meditated on this in darkness, being filled with the seed of Reymon. It was through this, that I, Caneth Gaulyn came to the knowledge of kingship. I was born in the flesh of the New Man, and my mother gave me my name, Cy’rdyllcym, to be passed on to the one who is to rule the far heavens.

And after a time, my Lord was called to the land of his birth to defend them from the savages of the ‘karth. My King overtook Farrun, Evermor, Jehanna, and the great city Dunlain o’er the Falls. The tribes who worship Krohn, the horse tribes of the Bjoulsae, and the savage men of the North, each swore fealty to him in turn. A defeated mercenary named Okamida no Sai chased us with the eyes of a mad wolf, and upon being defeated in a duel, submitted to my Lord. He was a ruddy and dark youth with angled features, born of Southron men and of a line of men from a Kingdom of Lizards, now lost to the world. Meir-Brosti Gimbrouille came next, the Heretic Witch of Ykalon, who was outcast by the Druids for chasing Reymon’s profound mystery.

From the mountains of the heathen Reach, came Y, daughter of Traillac and Cnuth, bastard of Traillac. The sister came gagged and with the eyes of a dragon. When asked her name, she shook her staff of tongues and whispered into an oak tree, and as the world shook, it was remade into a branching Y. Cnuth, barbarian-kin and tattooed from head to toe bore the markings of every victory against the mountain chieftains. The fey rivers and rocks of Dunlain spoke to him, and his enchanted runes had been dyed into his skin with the blood of fallen foes. A necklace of ears hung from his neck, preserved by the salts of icy demons. The host of Ebonarm saw them, and were afraid, for they feared for the sight of such Atmoran devils. The sister challenged Ebonarm to a duel of words, and the brother came with a duel of swords. They were defeated and once they had procured a promise that the far off ‘Rim would lay unplundered, they gave their fealty.

With the whole of High Rock and his nine knights, my Lord returned to Normar to claim it. Shornhelm fell swiftly. Here it was that Reymon met the demon Xovic, who had travelled from worlds beyond worlds to find entertainment in the conflict of the Arena. His eyes glared with fire as he watched the city of Shornhelm fall swiftly, and the dissidents put to the sword. He came down from Normar Heights and came upon Reymon in the night, seeking a worthy foe. The clamor of their weapons rang for hours before the infernal Xovic was bested. He received the word of MNEM and saw worthiness in the King of Altbal, and pledged his service to him.

Upon reaching Northpoint, Reymon struck down their commanders in battle. A victory was quickly earned when the war-thirsty nord-raised orc Uthryn Gimmil led his men and defected to the the side of my Lord. He was Uthryn of the Bloody Triquetrum, for the manner in which he single-handedly struck down 87 Ordinators while fighting in the devil’s land of Morrowind. And such as it was with 13 of Northpoint’s commanders, and handed their bones to Ebonarm as an offering. At the gates, Lirigolda Rosceaux held the heads of her family who had become traitors when they barred the city to Reymon, and so the twelve Knights of Ebonarm were realized.

The Kingdom of Altbal was established throughout the land, throughout the sea, and throughout the heavens. For the first time since it’s birth, there was peace in the land. My King and Lord, took the twelve of us within the shadow of Balfieras, deep within it. Within the darkness, he unveiled to us the fullness of his glory. His armor was Bare Bone, and burned with the light of a thousand stars. It radiated us and filled us with light and granted us a place in the heavens among the gods thereof.

To Gesemie Julhoen was the spectra MNEM-water granted.

To Colette Menonsque was the spectra Stygian Hollow granted.

To Cielibeth Iskandu was the spectra of the Violet-Calculatrice granted.

To Caneth Gaulyn, anon Cy’rdyllcym, was the spectra Myel-ada granted.

To Okamida no Sai was the spectra Aged-Wasabi granted.

To Meir-Brosti Gimbrouille was the spectra Infra-Chartreuse granted.

To Y, daughter of Traillac, was the spectra Acephaeolus granted.

To Cnuth, bastard of Traillac, was the spectra Ultra-Rhodon granted.

To Xovic of Normar was the spectra Scorched-Sea granted.

To Uthryn Gimmil was the spectra Magne-Caudex granted.

To Lirigolda Rosceaux was the spectra Hyperbolic Arrhyma granted.

And we drank from the cup of memory and left for the corners of Altbal to do our lord’s bidding. To protect our borders, to administer justice, and to spread the teachings of MNEM. However, against the wishes of our Lord, Ser Uthryn began an attack on the southron land of the dark-skinned men which some call the Hammerfell. Ser Uthryn defeated even their strongest of warriors, but the pressure he laid on them brought out their fearsome god of Make-Way. Ser Uthryn was wounded and his army routed. He fled with a detachment to return home, but was taken prisoner and carried back to the Rock. Our Lord the Ebonarm, having heard these tidings, had already come forth with the other eleven knights and as large an army as could be spared. The fighting lasted for days, but in the end, we all watched as our King and their god did battle on the green field. My Lord pressed the Hoon-Ding hard, but in the end, the Hoon-Ding struck with the combined knowledge of infernal sword-demons and struck him a mortal wound.

We, the knights of Ebonarm, in the end, did nothing but fail to protect our Lord, for who of us could measure up to him enough to do so? We carried his body to the place he was born and grieved. Ser Abalard took his armor and returned it to the river-folk, and left for parts unknown. The knights bickered over the governance of our realm, while it tore apart. Ser Xovic fought her enemies, and Ser Uthryn broke his tusks in penance and disappeared, searching for death. And now, I alone watch from High Wrothgar as I write this, having already laid the seed of my master’s Will.

The beloved servant, who was called Caneth Gaulyn.

Cy'rdllcym, reborn of a dreugh mere and the Eternal King, whose progeny will carry forth my Lord's Will.

And we as one shall wait until his return, when the wheel turns anon.