Paelfort

## Introduction

Paelfort is a former fort turned city of Seelie gryphons near Esgrettio and southwest of the School of the Staff.

## Appears in

Major canon:

*The Ice Plague: Book 3 - The Ice Plague*

## Description

The road into Paelfort is covered in black brick. The city 'was a military fortress that housed the Seelie gryphon military, though it had become a city over time, known for its black stones quarried nearby and the gryphons that soared overhead. The trees here were taller than any Eran had ever seen, their canopies so far up that he had to crane his neck all the way back to see them. Every now and then – suspended from branches – he saw flat, huge platforms that blocked out the sun and created large shadowed or rectangular squares on the ground.' These were gryphon roosts. The area also had 'sculptures of raptors and large cats around the place, made from the black stone so that they appeared like shadows in the forests' because the gryphons 'make devas of the animals they share characteristics with'.

The city itself was grim when Gwyn ap Nudd, Augus Each Uisge, Eran, Mosk Manytrees, Ash Glashtyn, and Julvia Dubna Vajat encountered it in *The Ice Plague: Book 3 - The Ice Plague*. 'It looked like many fortresses stitched together with battlements, all made from the same black stones. Above the city, gryphons wheeled under the clouds, and it was clear that they held large, forbidding spears and were – at any time – ready to come down and aerial attack anyone who wasn’t welcome. . . . Two guards in hybrid form wearing armour that even plated the bridges of their wings, held their spears with the tips down at the ground and bowed deeply to Gwyn and called him the Dual-King. They were led along black streets, streetlamps filled with magelights everywhere to bring an eerie light to a city that seemed bathed in darkness. Long tapestries hung from the towers in bright colours, there were planters of tended grass everywhere. Eran was surprised it was grass and not flowers, but he liked the effect against the black stone.'

The Duke's villa has 'black pillars and flat sections of the roof that might have been roosts.' It contained a guest's lounge, more devas of lions and eagles, a chess set carved from black stone. All the rooms were massive for humanoid fae, likely to accommodate gryphons in their hybrid form. Their bathrooms also have shower brushes that could work on feathers.

## Folklore/Mythology

'The griffin, griffon, or gryphon (Ancient Greek: γρύψ, *grū́ps*; Classical Latin: *grȳps* or *grȳpus*; Late and Medieval Latin: *gryphes*, *grypho* etc.; Old French: *griffon*) is a legendary creature with the body, tail, and back legs of a lion; the head and wings of an eagle; and sometimes an eagle's talons as its front feet. Because the lion was traditionally considered the king of the beasts, and the eagle the king of the birds, by the Middle Ages, the griffin was thought to be an especially powerful and majestic creature. Since classical antiquity, griffins were known for guarding treasures and priceless possessions.

. . . Representations of griffin-like hybrids with four legs and a beaked head appeared in Ancient Iranian and Ancient Egyptian art dating back to before 3000 BC. In Egypt, a griffin-like animal can be seen in a cosmetic palette from Hierakonpolis, known as the "Two Dog Palette", which is dated to c. 3300–3100 BC.

In Iranian mythology, the griffin is called Shirdal, which means "Lion-Eagle". The Shirdal has appeared in ancient art of Iran since the late 2nd millennium BC. Shirdals appeared on cylinder seals from Susa as early as 3000 BC. Shirdals also are common motifs in the art of Luristan, the North and North West region of Iran in the Iron Age, and Achaemenid art.

Griffin-type creatures combining raptor heads and mammalian bodies were depicted in the Levant, Syria, and Anatolia in the Middle Bronze Age, dated at about 1950–1550 BCE. Early depictions of griffin-types in Minoan art are found in the 15th century BCE frescoes in the Throne Room of the Bronze Age Palace of Knossos, as restored by Sir Arthur Evans. Bird-mammal composites were a decorative theme in Archaic and Classical Greek art, but became quite popular in the 6th and 5th centuries BCE, when the Greeks first began to record accounts of the "gryps" creature from travelers to Asia, such as Aristeas of Proconnesus. In Central Asia, the griffin image was included in Scythian "animal style" artifacts of the 6th–4th centuries BCE, but no writings explain their meaning.

. . . Several ancient mythological creatures are similar to the griffin. These include the Lamassu, an Assyrian protective deity, often depicted with a bull or lion's body, eagle's wings, and human's head.

Sumerian and Akkadian mythology feature the demon Anzu, half man and half bird, associated with the chief sky god Enlil. This was a divine storm-bird linked with the southern wind and the thunder clouds.'

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 *The Ice Plague: Book 3 - The Ice Plague*, Chapter 1: The Ice and the Dryad. Accessed 23 May 2021.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 *The Ice Plague: Book 3 - The Ice Plague*, Chapter 6: Intrusions. Accessed 23 May 2021.
3. ↑ "Griffin". Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griffin. Accessed 23 May 2021.