A Brief History/Adventures in Eternia

## A Brief History/Adventures in Eternia (RP)

#### A Brief History of Manaia Longfellow for those not familiar with the Void-born son of Eternia and a generations of warriors:

*Not knowing of the events surrounding his birth, Manaia was raised by an aged farmer in the land of Mysteria. Tending the land and caring for the livestock was the only life he knew until the day the man that raised him was taken by the shadows.*

After much travel and soul-searching Manaia found himself in the company of a ragtag group of travellers known as the Mystic Nomads. Together they eked out a living on Mysteria before the group began to disband in search of their own personal goals.

Longfellow himself was drawn to the road after an eventful night in which a dream-like state turned into a nightmare epiphany. Manaia learned of the fate of the only parent figure he ever knew, his capture and assimilation by the void-dwelling hive mind known as Archon.

Pulled from the distorted sound of the old man’s voice and into a cave with two strangers above him, the dream experienced that night was on of an ancestral conference. Manaia learned from the long-dead Giant King, Lord Bond and his close friend The Davekiller, Dave that he himself was of noble heritage. Manaia is the descendant of the first of the Giants and of Elven royalty, of human warriors, of the demi-god Maui and perhaps most worryingly, of the demonic trickster, The Ringmaster. The histories of these beings can be found throughout the Dimensions, many still walk these lands to this day.

After seeking a council with his Elven friends in order to learn more of his heritage he found that they had left Mysteria. He decided to pack his belongings and seek answers in the land from which they came, the Void-born son of Eternia returned to his ancestral home, to Eternia itself.

Manaia left the castle which he had called home for many years, he travelled through the dense jungle and down to the waterfall that he knew could take him into the Pandoric zone. He had been told by the Elves of the Wizard Merlin and how he knew of a great many of the Evergates which were used to travel to places and times across the Dimensional Plane. Upon arriving at the Evergate, not knowing what to expect on the other side the gentle Giant turned to say goodbye to his home and the life he knew, he stepped through the gate and arrived at a lighthouse on a beach set aside rolling, beautiful hills.

#### Adventures in Eternia:

Manaia arrived on this new plane as the sun was setting over the sea and so the Half-Giant took shelter in the ruins of the lighthouse beside him, he found a nearby sheep and slaughtered it for its mutton, built a fire to cook it and slept besides the warmth of the embers.

The next morning Longfellow was awoken by a roaring. Outside of the lighthouse was a beast of terrible rage, the demonic bird-lizard attacked at the lighthouse to no avail. Thankfully the farmer was a great fan of the gliding technology of the Pandorans that had settled in Mysteria and so he climbed to the top and leaped towards the land.

As the winds took the Giant, he saw a crack in the ground ahead of him, he headed towards it with an eye to hiding from the monster behind. As he banked off to drop in towards what he believed would be safety he was greeted by a fire-breathing wyvern with a hunger for Giant blood.

Manaia managed to turn in time to avoid the flames, but his glider’s wings were not so lucky. As he crashed to the ground, the farmer rolled down the hill of volcanic soil, brought himself to his feet and ran faster than he could remember running before. He pelted down the mountain seemingly leaping tens of metres with each bound until he reached the shore ahead of him. As Manaia turned to see the wyvern still following, he heard a call from the waves.

“This way, friend!” a voice called out. “Swim towards the rocks!”

With no reasonable alternative but to do so, Manaia followed the instructions given. As he dove into the water, he saw a ship emerge from behind the rock with a roguish figure standing at the front behind a ballista pointed straight at him. Before he had time to react a bolt released and fired right at Longfellow. He turned to avoid it and the void-born behemoth saw the bolt drive straight into the neck of the Wyvern. The winged beast flailed, dropped to the ground, turned and flew back towards the trench from which it came.

“I hope that was not aimed at me!” The farmer exclaimed.

“If it were, you would not still be talking, giant one.” Came the reply. “Now get up here”

And with that the stranger dropped his ladder and dismounted the ballista. He then attempted to pull the significantly larger man up to his ship. Once on board the two stared at each other, Manaia in his Mysterian armour looks at the shorter, dark haired, muscular man in front of him.

“Thank you sir, you have saved my life and thus I am forever in your debt” The green-eyed Giant proclaimed.

“Well normally I would take my Captain’s advice and charge you for the service but since I haven’t seen him for as long as I can recall I suppose I will take your company as payment.” The man explains. “My name is Barrabas Kilgannon and you are aboard The Rocinante, I have been living in these Highlands with a group of Scottish warriors, I don’t recall seeing you around here. Come to think of it I don’t think I have seen a Giant since Lord Bond and Odden were last in a room together and that didn’t go well for either of them” he continued.

Looking perplexed at the mention of the ancestor that he had recently learned of Manaia asked “What do you know of Lord Bond?” his voice raising quickly with a desperation about it.

“He was a great leader in a land I once lived with my crew, Firebrand. He ruled the land on which we sail right now for a time before he met a brutal demise at the hands of the same twisted man that took the minds of my crew and distorted them to his maniacal will.” Barrabas replied with a mournful tone.

“Do you speak of The Ringmaster? Of Archon?” Manaia enquired, the cadence and panic about his voice increasing.

“You have heard of him? Yes, Ringo has plagued our existence for what feels like millennia. I am set to leave this land and to follow the trails of my former crew in order to find what became of them after we shook the control of the trickster during the bloody battle that landed me here.” Barrabas informed the farmer.

“I have seen Lord Bond, he and a companion pulled me from my slumber into the afterlife to inform me of the evils of The Ringmaster, they told me to find my power, to follow the light. I am descended of Bond’s blood and that of other warriors from this place.” Longfellow explained.

“Yeah old Bondy loved all that light-talk, I think he got it from the Wizards but there is no denying that he took some power from that light stuff, never seen a man hit so hard as him when he was ragin’. It seems that you and I were fated to meet. When joining the crew, my lads and I are permanently branded to each other, I can feel their presence dimly, even from this place.

When out in the snow I found a beacon with a message encoded only to Firebrand and it told me which heading to take. I am ready to set sail to find the rest of the lads just as soon as I am done with this rum, I got some intel from a dwarf that they were last seen in the land of Lemuria. Apparently, it is only reachable by sea.

Tell me, that companion of Lord Bond’s, it wasn’t a Dave was it?” Kilgannon asked.

“IT WAS! You seem to know more of my family history than I do, I would gladly accompany you to this Lemuria if only to learn of the power that I am supposedly fated to master. I would gladly relieve you of some of that rum as well if you’re looking for a drinking partner.” Manaia’s tone changed from panic to confidence as he smirked at his own request.

“Drinking and sailing, two things I know plenty about. I should tell you that the Daves are likely a key to the power you seek, Lord Bond once told me that Every Bond needs a Dave and every Dave needs a Bond. Together the two have the power to save or break worlds. Perhaps my crew will know what came of The Davekiller”. Barrabas proclaimed as he handed the bottle to the Giant, swung around the mast and pulled a lever to up the anchor.

“To Lemuria! To Firebrand! To the open seas!”

- By Martin Bond