Town of Firelink

The Town of Firelink is a town within the Royal Woodland area of the Gods Walk Coast, located in Lorithia.
== History ==
=== Firelink Shrine ===
Shortly after the First Flame was discovered, Lord Gwyn created a Kiln that would house it in order to protect it. However, towards the end of the Age of Fire, the kiln was hidden and its entrance was long lost. Anastacia of Astora, long after Gwyn had linked the flame and prolonged the Fire, discovered the long lost entrance to the Kiln, guarded by the primordial serpent Kingseeker Frampt and so she created an entrance with Frampt and blesses it, so that only those powerful enough to pass through to the Kiln can. She constructs it into the shape of a shrine and constructs a bonfire there, to forever watch over as well as removing her own tongue and imprisoning herself there, so that she cant disclose this information to anyone else. It was then on known as the Firelink Shrine, a place for would be adventurers to stop and rest.
The first major test of the Firelink Shrine came when a single undead slayed the Asylum Demon of the North Asylum and escaped to the land of Lordran, landing at the site of the shrine fulfilling a prophecy and becoming the Chosen Undead. From there on, he traversed the perilous test of the Lords, ringing the two bells of awakening and Kingseeker Frampt then giving him his task. From there on he collected the great souls of Gravelord Nito, The Witch of Izalith, The Four Kings and Seathe the Scaleless, allowing him to pass through the Firelink Shrine and becoming Lord of Cinder.
=== The Never Ending Cycle ===
Following the quest of the Chosen Undead, the Firelink Shrine was open to all, though overtime became more guarded. But with it now being open, many people would travel to see if they could become a Lord of Cinder, but this caused more problems as they would more often than not be just incinerated and turned to ash, not linking the flame in the process, with a new cemetery being constructed specifically just to hold the ashes of those who failed. Still more and more people came, with the flame linking several times over the years. Due to the consistent and prolonged linking of the flame, the world began to unnaturally converge to the site of the Firelink Shrine, joining both continents of Gorlewynn and Dwyrain on their Western and Eastern edges respectively.
Over time as the lands of Lordran became ruled over by the House of Lothric and as such the renaming of the Kingdom to Lothric, the consistent linking of the fire became a major part of Lothrics status in the world. Eventually however, Prince Lothric, the younger prince who was designated to become the next Lord of Cinder, refused his duty when came the time, panicking the firekeepers and leading them to resurrect previous Lords of Cinder to then link it once again. However, all the Lords refused their thrones of cinder, fulfilling another prophecy made years ago. In a last ditch effort, the Firekeepers began to resurrect those that were not powerful enough to link the flame, so that they could do the duty to bring the remains of those Lords of Cinder, so that they could prolong the fire and as such were known as unkindled. One of these unkindled was someone simply known as the Ashen One, who was immediately brought to the attention of Firekeeper Rhian after he woke Iudex Gundyr and slayed him, as many believed that the one who woke and killed him, would be the one who would change the world and become the next Lord of Cinder. The Ashen Ones quest was similar to that of the Chosen Undead's, where he had to bring the remains of those Lords and then link the fire.
And so the Ashen Ones quest began and he journeyed around the continent, slaying the Lords of Cinders Yhorm the Giant, The Abyss Watchers, Aldrich of the Deep and Lothric the Younger Prince. He however on his journey discovered an alternate universe, one in which the world had turned to darkness and the Firelink Shrine inactive and there he discovered a different version of Iudex Gundyr. There he did battle with Gundyr, impaling him with his own sword, revealing that it was the Ashen One who caused Gundyr to enter his slumber. The Ashen One also discovered a Firekeeper, who had clawed their own eyes out, because they had seen a world without flame. Upon his return to Rhian, he gave the firekeeper eyes to her and the remains of the Lords. She remarked that she could see a world without flame in these eyes, meaning that it was possible to live in that world and could break the cycle. No one has been able to understand how this happened to Gundyr, but it is rumoured he was to become a Lord of Cinder, but was consumed by the Deep and therefore affected his reality and upon his arrival to meet his firekeeper at Firelink Shrine, the world had darkened.
When the Ashen One then entered the Kiln of the First Flame, he did battle with the Soul of Cinder, an amalgamation of every Lord of Cinder before him, but the Ashen One emerged victorious. Only then did the Ashen One decide to call upon his Firekeeper so that she could then let the First Flame fade for the first time in history.
=== A Town Built On Ash ===
With the first flame now gone and with the Age of Dark upon the world, the Ashen One took it upon himself to commence what he called an Era of Healing and lead the people of Humanity into a new world, free of the undead. As such the people of the world banded together to destroy every last undead that plagued the earth, with it taking no longer than two years to accomplish. The Ashen One was hailed as the First Lord of Humanity and his first act was to rename the Kingdom of Lothric, distancing themselves from the name of Lothric that had caused so much misery to the world and the kingdom becoming called Lorithia. As such he became the King of Lorithia and even asked Firekeeper Rhian, now simply known as Rhian to become his bride, which she graciously accepted, becoming his Queen.
Firelink Shrine was effectively repurposed, with the original structure being torn down and a church being built upon it to symbolise this new era and world without fire. The continents eventually began to split once again, moving back into their natural states, but as a result, much of the world started to change, with new mountains and rivers being formed throughout the land. As such the area around the Firelink Shrine began to be flooded with several rivers and tributaries, that in turn formed many islands. The Ashen One ordered a town to be built around the church, as it now had access to fresh water and so the Town of Firelink was built and settled on.
One primary figure that rose from the Town of Firelink was that of Roderick Ashwood, who at the age of ten discovered a breed of horses that were tougher and stronger than any other that had come before it, attributed to the ash that seeped into their coat, from that of the Kiln and the Cemetery of Ash. He caught the attention of the Ashen One, who offered him a Lordship, for the breeding and selling of these horse, which Roderick at first refused, but realising the mounting maintenance costs of these beasts, graciously accepted. At a young age he became the Lord of Firelink, but despite this, he was universally accepted, as the breeding of these horses brought a strong economy for several years by this point. The stability of Firelink is often attributed to Lord Roderick's hard work on the town, strengthening it to become a known market town across the whole of Lorithia.
== Geography ==
The Town of Firelink is located on the south-western edge of the Royal Woodland, the central area of the Gods Walk Coast of Lorithia. It is also located on the Lords Bay, a stretch of water that surrounds the entire southern edge of Lorithia. The River Anri flows through the Town of Firelink, splitting in several direction and forming several small islands that could hold several houses on each. The Chosen Road is the main road that starts and runs through the town, running all the way to the capital of Lorithia: Ashrune.
Notable Town of Firelink locations:
* Ashwood House
* Hearth of the First Flame
* The Ashwood Stables
* The First Church of Humanity
* The Market Island