Francis' Questions

#### **Indigenous, or first arrival of which we know? Dragons**?

There were tales of Elves, then Orcs and then Humans first arriving at Far Haven. The elder races were the Ariel, the Maratasen, the Lizardmen, the Giants, the Trolls and the Centaurs (first meeting with centaurs, (**Day 49-57 – Centaurs)**

At Roubank we found the tower showed signs that Elven elements were built on top of an earlier crude structure. Day 72 1am - The Hill Fort At Roubank : Part 3

#### Are Elven ruins the oldest, or any underneath?

At Roubank we found the tower showed signs that Elven elements were built on top of an earlier crude structure.

The tower construction is strange, a hodge podge of construction.

The ground floor is very solid, but simplistic in construction, and Twoo believes it was originally a simple single storey construction. The next two floors, although somewhat decrepit now, Twoo believes were built by Elves, and the top floor looks to be standard human construction. Outside of the fort, the Orcs and Maratasen warriors are still milling around, although a small number of them are now working on repairing the damage to the village.

Day 72 1am - The Hill Fort At Roubank : Part 3

## Legend of the Mithril Gauntlet

At the beginning of the Last Goblin War, there came forward to the center of the attention of the War Council a peculiar Dwarven Knight. Unlike all other Dwarves he had but a stubble of a beard and had no family history, in fact, no one knew him even though he seemed to know about everyone else's story. He came forth at a dark time to offer his services in the name of settling the score with the Goblin's who were very close to pushing the Dwarves off of the Golden Mountains and **back to the coast where they came from**. He wore mithril armour and had a magic mithril gauntlet about his shield arm, and again in contrast to other dwarves he actually seemed to be at home riding a small ugly pony creature with a misshappen head and a an almost fat belly.

He proved his early worth by going into the Cave of the Hellspawn and slaying the necromancer there, bringing an end to the zombie like allies of the Goblins. He then led a famous charge of the 'old Axes' at the Battle of Bloody Helm where they swept through the Shadow Warriors and into the pike lined battle square of the Hob-goblin elite. It seemed that wherever the need was the greatest, the Mithril Knight would join the conflict and help turn the battle. He was often heard muttering to himself or possibly his repulsive mount, while making numerous notes in his diary that never seemed to reflect any writing. He refused to take any beer or to partake in any victory celebration over his foes though most of the victories were partly owing to his keen awareness of the right time for the right move.

As the Dwarven army closed in on the last stronghold of the **Goblins: their vast breeding labyrinth cave**, there was a major debate in the War Council on the next step in the War. He sat silent as the almost traditional debate over the utter destruction of the enemy was argued against the universal call for life and peace. He declined to offer comment but was obviously extra sullen and cross that day, though he was never thought of as an amiable person on his best of days. The debate continued through the night when there was a brief raid by the last of the Goblins on the baggage area of the camp. The thought was that they may have been seeking the pack animals to escape with to the North for that was the way they were last seen heading. Discovering that his mount was amongst those taken, the Mithril Knight charged directly to the mouth of the Maze and there worked the magic runes on his gauntlet till out of the Arcane Plain came 5 giant stone like warriors that moved into the cave beyond a circle of flames bringing down the labyrinth and **destroying the last of the goblin vats**.

The knight himself was also never seen again for he went north in chase and the trail of the dead goblins was the only thing left to mark his path which seemed to end, with the goblins at the desert pass of No Return.

ONWEN NOTES:
Generally this seems like a collection of fabrication and exaggeration but there are some points worth noting.

* The Goblins seem have used Necromancy, could they be the source of Necromancy arising in the North?
* Goblins fleeing North ties in with the rumours of Soratan offering them shelter
* **The implications of this are that the Dwarves are another race that landed on the shores of the North Island - but this cannot be substantiated elsewhere**
* I have heard of the Mithril Gauntlet elsewhere.....

## What is the history behind the two dragon hunters song?

### Centaurs

No evidence for Maratasan riders, but any light infantry, especially archers. Centaurs excel at shock tactics and open warfare. They are unlikely to be good at sieges, though useful for raiding in support, and can be fended off by a good pike phalanx, unless they have massed archers available to break the pike line, or force the phalanx to move. While it is conceivable that centaurs might consent to carry troops to battle, it is less likely that they would carry cavalry troopers in battle, who might well impede their close order tactics. Light infantry might usefully be carried into battle, to dismount and disrupt massed pikes, or spears, opening a path for centaurs to charge home. They might also be useful scouting terrain the centaurs suspect has been "prepared". Armoured (barding and heavy armour, plus shield) centaurs would charge home like Sarmatian cataphracts or Crecy knights. The second weapon of the heavy centaur is more likely to be a battle-axe than a sword, even a poleaxe might be feasible.

I am not aware of any stories of centaurs carrying riders, but they are intelligent and adaptable. I have read a theory which suggests light infantry could run beside cavalry, holding a stirrup to keep up. This would only work with relatively slow cavalry - any trip and the infantry is dead weight, though it might just work for some of the quicker races. A cavalry sabre might be a good weapon for the disengaged hand. Such a tactic would tend to disrupt a close order charge, but might work for second chevron troops. All highly theoretical however.

The heavy cavalry needs light cavalry support, to run down troops who have been forced out of position. These would normally be provided by the younger or smaller centaurs, armed with breastplate and lance and sword, though any light cavalry could serve.

Any centaur, heavy or light, could carry a bow. Often depicted in art using a composite or recurved bow to fire Parthian-style back over the flank, there is no reason that heavy centaurs- might not carry longbows to be used conventionally, except that it would put at risk valuable heavy cavalry. Archers are usually cheaper. It has even been suggested that the females might serve as archers, but I could only see this happening in a 'life or death' struggle for the tribe, as females are usually much too valuable.

\*\*\*
So we are left only with evidence that the centaurs are buying, and have been buying, weapons likely to be used by a third party who may be unable to trade directly owing to geography **or** politics.

More worrying is the displacement of Wyldwood by Shanah, especially as it affects a Speaker candidate. Who has been proselytizing? When? Is it a result of the sacking of the library? And does it also account for the relative lack of interest of other centaurs? Perhaps the numenistic features of current centaur religion is more recent than we might think,

### Sahuagin

Why do sailors on Northlake think they are a good omen?

### Riverside

#### Riverside fell quickly through foul treachery to the Elves

Riverside was established as the Winter residence of the Kingdoms rulers not long after the unification of the various human fiefdoms. The city has an imposing set of inner fortifications with massive main gates that were enchanted to only open to particular personages. The kings mages working in concert for nearly a year modified this enchantment so that only members of the royal family could activate this enchantment. As such, the gates are normally left open, and only closed when the royal family were in residence or in times of extremis.

When the Elven invasion sent a force up towards Riverside, the majority of the cities populace and soldiery retreated inside the inner fortifications and closed the gates. However, during the second day of the Riverside siege, the enchantment was activated and the gates opened, the city fell shortly thereafter.

Both sides in the civil war accuse each other of being the traitor, and this has driven the Solarans and Alverans even further apart. Some of the more cynical point to Adamas and Reston as acknowledged bastards as other potential candidates, whilst others simply point out that William had any number of bastard offspring who might have met the enchantment criteria. [Day 49-57 – Centaurs]