The Wintershall Tales

In children’s tales, everyone lives happily ever after once the king has been crowned and married his queen.  For Fortitude and his companions though, things were not so simple. 

Archesia proved to be a hard realm to rule.  Its lords were proud and Fortitude’s desire to create a fair and equal land for all caused considerable strife.  In the few years following the coronation there were no less than five uprisings and rebellions.  Each, in turn, was crushed by a mass of Lunar, Kingdom and Dierdrakin forces.  Many estates were confiscated or overrun by goblins during these times. 

The last open rebellion was three years after the coronation.  When the archduke concerned was publicly devoured by goblins after having several large shambling masses of gelatinous ooze rampage through his estates, the Archesian nobility grudgingly gave up their struggle.

Fortitude’s low birth did give him some advantages, however.  Where the nobles saw Fortitude as an usurper, the people of Archesia came to love and support him.  He removed unfair laws, reduced onerous taxes and treated even the most common of people with dignity and respect.  Peasants flocked to his banner and swelled the ranks of his new armies.

Throughout this time, Fortitude grew in confidence and experience.  His judgements were considered and well-advised and he developed a reputation for his sense and insight. 

Adela remained firmly at his side bolstering his confidence when it was needed and providing him with intelligent advice, and unflagging support.  Though their first child was born a little under a year after the coronation, Adela barely slowed in her work forming the new administration, and brokering support for Fortitude’s various initiatives.

The spirit of Baron Mortimer continued advising Fortitude on statecraft.  The blade remained at his side at all times and Fortitude found its advice grew, rather than diminished, in usefulness as the years passed.

Carolus continued serving Fortitude well in Archesia during these years.  He built a powerful administration and intelligence service for the new monarchy and complimented Fortitude’s humanistic leadership style with a ruthless and carefully considered approach that earned him fear and respect in equal measure.  When Fortitude’s reason and judgement failed to sway opposition, Carolus would use fear and unflinching action to help people understand the error of their ways.

In Gavin, Martyn and the Dierdrakin provided similarly loyal service to Fortitude.  The people there were more accepting of Fortitude’s rule and Martyn’s astute judgement and deft leadership approach prevented much opposition from arising in the first place.  The Dierdrakin flourished in that land and built new villages and towns in the high hills below Merrin’s mountain.  They continued to worship the Lady Dierdra in all her guises, but, as demanded by Fortitude, they mostly ceased their practices of sacrificing the elderly and the infirm.  Over time, their seven villages became ten and then twenty.

Merrin also continued her obsessive support for the Beastlord and, perhaps intentionally, developed a habit of appearing floating in mid-air before Fortitude in her twisting writhing dress at times when he was locked in confrontation with one lord or another.  Her supplication to him had a salutary effect on many of Fortitude’s opponents who were both impressed and intimidated by the fact that a goddess bowed to him and addressed him in the humblest of tones.

Good as always to his word, Fortitude remained loyal to King William in Bayonnar.  He raised and fielded armies year after year to support the King’s imperial ambitions and the Lunar, Dierdrakin, Gavinite and Archesian standards appeared across the world over the ensuing decades.  The judicious use of goblins and the powers and creatures of the temple of Merrin enhanced their capability to previously unheard of levels and the royal banner of Archesia became one of the most feared and respected symbols on battlefields.  Nothing stood before Fortitude’s armies.

***

The majority of Fortitude’s companions and followers dispersed soon after the coronation to pursue their own destinies and ends. 

Sang was the first member of the company to leave.  Three months after the coronation, he came to Fortitude in his chamber one evening to bid him farewell.  “I grieve,” he said without preamble.  “My heart is sick for those who died at Tsi-Nan.  Forgive me friend Fortitude, but I must leave you.  I must atone in some way and find peace.” 

Despite Fortitude’s entreaties, Sang could not be dissuaded.  He disappeared into night and none of the company ever saw him again alive. 

His fate was not ignoble, however and it was reported back to Fortitude in the later years of his life through tales and songs.  It is said that Sang left Archesia and travelled south into Han.  He wandered those lands for many months trying to find some way of assuaging the guilt that continued to haunt him. 

At length, Sang’s wanderings brought him to the monastery of Kwai Huo.  It was an ancient place that sat above a mountain ravine linking Han with the barbarian lands of the Khanate Hordes to the south. 

His sorrow must have been great indeed.  In his first months there he penned the Songs of Regret and the Thoughts of the Man Who Lived but One Day.  Both of them were printed, reprinted and circulated across all civilised lands.  Few who have read them have not shed at least one tear.

Sang meditated, lived and trained at Kwai Huo as one of the monks and, after a time, found a kind of peace teaching the arts of Aybani to those who shared that holy place with him.  He achieved renown in those times for his wisdom, compassion and mastery of Aybani.  After his death, his writings were published as the Sutras of the Bottle and the Kneecap and greatly influenced the art of Aybani for centuries thereafter.

His fame was ensured, however, through the manner of his death.  In the eighth year after the taking of Archesia, the barbarian hordes of the Khanate massed and struck towards Han.  The Han army was still weak and was dispersed across the Empire.  It could never have held the hordes had it not been for Sang and fifty of his students.

They held the little road in the narrow pass below Kwai Huo for twelve days against the horde of thirty thousand and through skill and dedication, contrived to kill more than five thousand of those savage southern barbarians.  It is said that more than half of that horde fled back to their own lands when they saw the ferocity of Sang and the Fifty. 

It is also said that when Sang and the Fifty finally fell the Khanate Warlord turned his army about and marched them back to their own savage lands.  “If a few monks could hold us thus, then what would we find awaiting us beyond the mountains,” he is believed to have said.

When the Han army finally reached the pass below Kwai Huo, they found thousands upon thousands of Khanate dead piled high in the ravine below the roadway.  Sang’s body was lying in a position of honour upon a stone bier.  The bier was surrounded by crude offerings and looked more like the last resting place of a barbarian King – than that of a humble monk.

***

Marcus married Margrite later that first summer and rather than settling down and becoming respectable, Marcus seemed to delight in attempting every dubious and lucrative scheme that his over-imaginative brain could concoct. 

Fortitude placed him in charge of finance in Archesia and, for a while things seemed to go well.  Revenue doubled then tripled as Marcus encouraged trade, attracted new enterprise and invested cleverly in a variety of activities.  However, rumours began to circulate as a variety of scams and other dubious ventures began emanating out of Archesia.

The Han Widows and Orphans War Fund was the first of many collections taken up for non-existent charitable organisations.  These were accompanied by raffles with huge but non-existent prizes, confidential offers of too-good-to-be-true investment opportunities, pyramid schemes and floats of shares in talked-up companies which invariably failed.  All of these were traced back to Archesia during those years.

Marcus grew improbably rich and came to own huge estates in six countries.

Six years after Fortitude’s coronation Marcus’ involvement in these enterprises became widely suspected.  The arrangements were clever and nothing could be actually proven, but Fortitude knew Marcus well enough to be sure where the blame lay.  He took the unusual step of making Marcus retire from all his public offices and offered him a ducal estate in Archesia if he agreed to forswear all illegal and immoral activities.

Marcus was so wealthy by that time that he accepted this offer.  He and Margrite retired from a career of state-sponsored extortion and moved into international banking and trade.  At last count the assets of the Grand-Duke; Marcus uls Baden was several times greater than that of the rest of Archesia combined.

Dunstan assisted Marcus in many of his little schemes in those early years and was also greatly enriched as a consequence.  In the end, however, Dunstan’s interests lay primarily back in Warminster and Skenfrith.  He returned to the royal palace of Bayonnar with increasing regularity and became a popular figure in the court through a long string of successes in the royal tournaments.  Prince Erneis continued to regard him with a kind of depraved admiration and made him a trusted confidant and advisor. 

When Dunstan’s father died in suspicious circumstances it was Prince Erneis’ friendship that saved Dunstan from a messy investigation following accusations of patricide. 

Dunstan settled down to a disreputable life as the infamously rich Earl of Skenfrith and royal advisor to Prince Erneis.

***

The Lunar temple of Grippli flourished under Carolus over these years.  Much to the disgust of Celia, Carolus continued to support and uphold Fortitude in all things and, in turn, Fortitude rewarded Carolus’ loyalty with offices and powers.  Within five years of Fortitude’s accession to the Archesian throne, the temples of Grippli and Merrin had come to dominate the Archesian pantheon – just as the temples of Merrin and Dierdra came to dominate the Kingdom of Gavin.

Unlike the temple of Merrin, though, the Lunar temple under Carolus held and effectively exploited most of the non-revenue related high offices of Archesia.  Within a decade, Carolus was able to truthfully boast that those sacrificing and worshipping in the temples to Grippli numbered more than a million.

The word of Grippli was not received so well outside Archesia, however – due, in no small part, to the work of Celia. 

Seeing that growth in Archesia was unlikely given Fortitude’s loyalties to Merrin and Carolus, Celia quit it early and returned to Warminster where, with the King’s approval, she began construction of a great temple to Kyril.

Celia had always had a penchant and a talent for gathering and assessing information.  She developed a formidable cadre of followers and funded information gathering throughout the Kingdom and the Kingdoms around it.  She grew an intelligence service that rivalled and, eventually, exceeded that of the King himself.  Following Carolus’ lead in Archesia, she then made herself indispensable to King William. 

Every scrap of information she received was passed back to him.  She gave him information that he both desired and needed for the expansion of Bayonnar.

Three years after the Han war, Bayonnar directed all its naval resources to wiping out the pirates that had been raiding along the Kingdom’s western coasts.  Celia produced incontrovertible proof that the government of the Kingdom of Ivo had financed their raids.  She also provided the King with a comprehensive plan for invading Ivo and listed a number of officials and nobles who would support the King during and after any military action.  The war that followed was short and completely successful.  Ivo joined Archesia and Gavin in the growing Empire of Bayonnar.

Celia aided the King in similar ways with the annexation of Torp and Drogo over the next five years.  In addition to being High Priest of Kyril, Celia was made Grand Duchess of Torp with the rights and powers of a queen in that land.

That was not enough for Celia, though.  She was determined to increase her influence and the penetration of Kyril’s message in any way she could.  Her opportunity came almost ten years later – when Prince Erneis converted publicly to the worship of Kyril. 

The Prince had lived a dissolute life embracing every perversion and indulgence conceivable.  In his fortieth year, the lifestyle proved too much for his body.  He collapsed and no one was able to revive him.  The greatest rune masters tried their runes and the healers of Illana called upon the goddess’ powers but to no avail. 

Finally, Celia went to the King and offered Kyril’s healing powers.  Celia sat with the dying Prince for three days praying over him.  When the Prince awoke – seemingly fully recovered in both body and mind – a feastday was called in Kyril’s honour.

Not only was the prince cured, but his dissolute passions had seemingly been removed.  He embraced and publicly advocated a life of simplicity and discipline.  His public conversion to Kyril came a week later.

When Erneis succeeded to the throne several years later, he remained steadfastly true to Kyril.  Celia became his most trusted and ever-present confident and councillor.  Temples to Kyril were built and dedicated in all the cities and towns of the empire. 

Within two decades of Fortitude’s coronation in Archesia, Celia was confidently able to declare that more than fifteen million voices were raised daily to Kyril’s name. 

***

Willim assisted Celia greatly in the early days after Fortitude’s coronation; however, he was unable to keep the darkness growing inside him at bay for long.  His half-wâhlkind half-dimensional hunter makeup meant he continued to feel less and less affinity for humans and their affairs.  He toyed with worship of Kyril for some years but that came to feel trivial and insubstantial compared with the powers burning and growing inside of him.

Celia was forced to drive him from the Temple of Kyril three years after the taking of Archesia when she found he had assembled his own army of undead servants and was using them for increasingly violent and amoral ends.  The banishment was a relief to him as it permitted him to pursue his destiny without constraint.

He turned from Kyril to the worship of Merrin.  Merrin, by this time, had become a powerful god feared and respected by all sane people and worshipped by more than a few of the insane.  Her creed of madness, death and chaos resonated strongly with the growing strength of his dimensional hunter half and for some time he served as her paladin – aimlessly travelling the land, spreading tales of Merrin’s madness and striking fear into all he met.

William departed this world a year to the day after Sang’s heroic end.  The exact manner of his departure from this world is not clear, but the accounts agree that his last day was bloody.  It is said that he went mad in an insignificant town inside the Kingdom of Odo.  Using his black enchanted blade he slew every living thing there and then proceeded to destroy buildings, trees and even the rocks lining the roads.

One survivor said that she saw his physical body fall away leaving a creature of flat surfaces and impossible alien speed.  This witness said that a hole opened in the air and the sound of thousands of unnatural howls emerged from it.  She said that the creature that had replaced William howled back in the same manner then sped through the hole and was gone. 

Another survivor said that a strange half-man half-dog appeared and began to play with what was left of William.  A flat square of light appeared and William chased this half-dog half-man creature through it. 

Whatever the truth, William was never seen again.

***

Of all Fortitude’s companions, the most unexpected ending was reserved for Aidan and Nan. 

Nan worked closely with Celia and went on many expeditions in Kyril’s name.  However, she returned regularly to Archesia to visit Fortitude and to issue various decrees to the goblins while accepting their shiny tributes.

Aidan saw much of her during those times as he assumed increasing responsibility for the growing goblin nation in the mountains.  For some years, his life was dissolute and depraved.  He drank hard, argued, partied and looted with the goblins. 

It was near his thirty-seventh birthday that Aidan’s body finally collapsed on him – starting with the liver.  He was brought back unconscious to a human settlement in Gavin on the shoulders of dozens of drunken singing goblins.  There, he was placed in a room of an inn where a village priest tended to him.

Nan found him in this condition a week later on one of her periodic visits.  Something about his piteous state and pathetic expression must have touched her, for she delayed in that place two long months and slowly nursed Aidan back to some semblance of health.

The ending of Nan’s curse, combined with Aidan’s general weakness and their shared time together created an unexpected bond.  Nan became an anchor to Aidan and a source of great comfort.  In turn, Nan found to her surprise that Aidan was tolerable, even enjoyable company when sober.

Fortitude married them later that year in the presence of several hundred thousand cheering goblins.  Aidan washed up well for the wedding and, by that time, had been sober nearly a year.  He was mellow, polite, and much of his old bluster and appalling insensitivity had faded.  Fortitude was overcome by some strange mood at that time and made Aidan and Nan, Duke and Duchess of Nordphalia.  He granted them that city and its surrounding lands for as long as they and their descendants should hold it.

Nan surprised everyone by becoming a wise and tolerant ruler.  Under her hands Nordphalia became a great estate and Aidan became something of a decent human being.  Whenever the spark of the old Aidan would return to his eyes and he would eye a tankard of ale a little too fondly, or he would fondle his mace with just a little too much belligerence, she would abuse him roundly and send him on some menial chore.  “Yes dear,” he would say meekly and scurry off to do as she bade.

He and Nan had three strapping sons and later, fifteen grandchildren.  Aidan grew fat and complacent as the years passed while Nan developed wisdom and restraint.  They both lived to a ripe old age and, of them, it can truly be said, they lived happily ever after.

***

Over the many years after their great adventure those members of the group that could, met at least once each year in Saxonburg to recall old times and to rekindle the memories of deeds and faces long gone. 

Sang never joined them but he wrote to Fortitude regularly and sent letters with his thoughts and genuine best wishes.  William also ceased visiting them after his banishment from the temple.  The others, however, continued to meet, talk and reminisce. 

Merrin would invariably appear with the dog-man in the middle of the dining table and amuse and appal those present with accounts of her deeds as goddess of madness and chaos over the preceding year. 

Those were the best of times for Fortitude and he looked forward to those gatherings.  He would sit there with his arm around his beloved Adela and a glass of wine in his other hand beaming fondly at his dearest friends.  Their children would run and play with the dog-man or listen at their feet as Fortitude and his companions reminisced and gossiped about times long gone.

“We’re older,” Fortitude would say.  “But we’re still who we used to be.  Who would have ever believed we’d be here today.  All those years ago…” 

He would then hold the hand of Adela for the rest of the night as the conversation flowed around him – wistfully recalling the simple days when a simple blacksmith’s son met his best and most trusted friends as a reserve sergeant in the Baronial army of Wintershall.