Coral the Great

**Coral the Great** (also known as Coral I or **Coral the Blind Fury**) was the first King of the Halflings, and his reign is steeped in myth. It is for this man that the current capital of Coralis is named.

### Historical Documentation

Objective historians can tell modern people this much about the legendary king. It is highly likely a Halfling named **Coral ab Einwes** did live about 950 years b.s.r., as several ancient documents from the region mention a leader with that name. Those documents mention a Battle of Aylesbury where Coral was the general and won a great battle against a barbarian threat, and two documents (one halfling, the other elven) mention him as being involved in a battle against invading giants from the Kald Heights. There is a doorway with his name written with his name on it in the old city of Coralis, along with several other kings. No gravesite has been found to this day.

### Legends and mentions in religious texts

Dozens of folk tales mention him doing some great chivalric deeds, or rescuing some fair maiden. His example is often cited as that of a true man's man, full of strength and tenacity. Some of his greatest deeds are relayed in the Epics of the People, a holy text for the halflings as a race. He is told of being born to a halfling man with various names, and his lover (a sun spirit). The preferred modern pronunciation of the father's name is Baines. He is said to have grown up with nothing but his own indomitable will to help him, and managed to pull himself out of poverty by his wit and battle prowess. The majority of the tales begin by him uniting the halfling tribes into a massive confederation, and leading them against the goblins and kobolds that had terrorized his people for generations. After his initial rise to power, he is said to have discovered silver beneath the valley where Coralis now stands. Many battles are recorded against many enemies, including the gods themselves, who had become jealous of the adoration his subjects were giving him instead of them. One of the most popular stories involves his duel to the death with an adherent of the demonic god Catastrophe. The adherent, named Fjarn, was a barbarian mystic who wished to open a gate to bring his god into the material plane. The battle supposedly went on for days, and the heavens themselves responded to each mighty blow. Fjarn managed to lay a permanent curse of deafness and blindness on the King before Coral could strike the finishing blow. This led to his other title, Coral the Blind Fury. The gods could not restore his sight or hearing, but apparently gave him the gift of perfect precognition, so he could respond to any attack knowing where the blows would come from, and respond to any question by knowing what would be said. He is said to have died at the age of 133, now a holy number to the Halflings, from a prolonged illness that modern Scholars suspect may have been a series of strokes based on the descriptions given. The Epics of the People claim he is buried beneath an unknown mountain somewhere in the Dorry Hills, and none that buried him were allowed to leave the mountain he is buried in for the rest of their lives. The elves also tell many tales about Coral the Great, often in a less reverent yet still respectful tone. Their histories claim the halfling was simply buried beneath the Silver Keep, but none have found his grave amongst the other Kings buried there, and no technology exists to prove whose body would be his to this day.