There are many things true in the Kingdomed Lands of John
the First that are not true or at least no longer, in the northern most
province of his Kingdom. For instance,
King John has abolished the worship of Gods.
Emissaries of Deity are forbidden entrance into the lands of the King as
are Acolytes and those who openly practition or openly profess adherency. Johns people were invited to the north by the
Leahdists, seeing strength and future in Men, as did Varmeylius. The King has always seen those lands as a
lease and not his Kingdom but years passed then centuries and soon the North
was as much of the Kingdom as SeaCoast and the Vast Provinces. Many Guards and lords loved the Light and
served LeahDah and many priestesses helped Johns men abroad and in the south
where his people were always at war with the White Plains and its horned
people. Though John never allowed
temples to be built in his land, he did not prohibit her worship in private and
the Priestesses supported the king and did not contradict his invention of LAW.
There was harmony in the north then between the Kings men
and the Goddess and the wild peoples there.
As is said elsewhere, during the Incursion war, the Priestesses fought
alongside the Humans against the Gray Elves.
Their Temples were besieged and some fell, their Guard were attacked and
many died but the Priestesshood could not be up rooted nor their power greatly
controverted. They saved many lives in
the few days of that terrible war, hiding people in vaults and secret places
and drawing a great strength of peoples to them from the open lands and up into
the Temples and the High places, but still too many died. The war ended at the Old Gates with a pact between
John and the Druids, only recently returned to power, having reclaimed
authority from the Oligarchs and the Great Houses who ruled Westfolden for more
than 6500 years through the New Power; the Invoker Armies. Though the Leafwinders and their Emmisarries
and the Invokers they commanded, all retreated back to the Passes, the
devastation they left behind them never was reborn. The River Fort and all the forts for that
matter were razed and the men impaled alive or burned in pits with their
families and animals and wealth. What
remained was a land that had its generational strength neutered. A population hundreds of years in the growing
of, wiped out in 5 days. The Leahdists
remained and those they had hid but never again did John invest in the region
in more than the bare minimum of infrastructure or policy. It is still considered a wild place by the
people of the south.
But before LeahDah was Pholtus, the First Light. First God and leader of all things against
the Darkness. He encouraged language in
the Elves, he called the dwarves to the surface and he awoke goodness in some
Dragons and beings who before were the essence and cradle of darkness
itself. His order of Ascendants the most
powerful beings the world has known besides the Gods themselves that have
risen. Shrines and sanctuaries and
fortresses from his time and the Order of Ascendants litter the Northern
Province. Many are still visited today.
There is Lostwind, a shrine high up in the passes of the
Brake. It was a Beacon in origin and
later, in the Leahdic time it became the second level of Ascendancy, a
necessary destination in the evolution of the soul of the Adherent and the
Priestess. Here Pholtus healed Minar. Here Leahdah found Aday and Clothed him. Here also Luminas lured Idigbrien the
Leafwinder and delayed him with her life from the sacking of Gloria below.
There is the sanctuary of Halifia in the foot of the brake
in the north where Pholtus made the Bow.
It is also where he gave Aday his armor.
Many years later LeahDah instructed the first Priestess here the first
evening of the Passing of the Light. She
also Ascended her First High Priestess here and now even Aday can be seen here
on dark nights in times of trouble.
There is the Fortress Daud to the East of Bricking near
where the kings fort Gesen by the sea was later built. Daud was the third fortress built by the
Ascendants in these lands and looks like it held 500 or so warriors and stables
in its prime. Here Pholtus broke the
Ovardiis Simulacra Ticho and made a feast of his remains. Here also the Demon Hellu was trapped and
then returned to the outer planes. In
LeahDic times, this was a township and garrison for many riders of the North. It is where Itian and Idris married. It is also where John spoke with Leahdah and
accepted her welcome to the lands.
There are 50 sanctuaries that are still known of, over two
hundred shrines and 17 fortresses, all from the Pholtic Era. Though the Leahdists were a continuation of
the Pholtic time and continued to use the old places, she and her priestesses
built Temples, as Pholtus never did.
Before the Ushering and the fall of LeahDah into Darkness, she had built
11 Temples. Each of the Temples served
as living centers for her peoples, having homes, places of worship, of trade
and resources, as well as homes for the dead.
Some of her temples still have descendants of the old guards and some
still take their dead to be buried in these places. The Temple Goldtrees now called Whitearch by
the locals is still inhabited by the descendants of the Guardians of the
Temple. The wealthy of the NP take their
dead here to be buried and unspoiled. It
is a day south and west of Brighton and sees traffic and trade.
Then there is Escantia in the hills north of the Nehi and
near to the Quarry. Here darkness fell
with a vengeance. Vampires live here
now, in the ruined forms of the Priestesses.
The grounds have been polluted and perverted and now harbor fell
creatures. The tombs have been broken
and the dead defiled and raised. The towers
and walls hold grim totems now where the blue and gold of LeahDah once
flew. Many adventurers perish here as it
is just two days from Last Camp and stories of the riches and perils here
pervade all the lands of the king enticing farm boys with their father’s sword
as well as retired commanders and princes from afar.
There are many Pholtic and Leahdic relics sought by
adventurers. From Potions to weaponry to
artifacts created by the Gods themselves.
Leahdic potions are the best healing potions in existence,
each imbued by a fraction of the power of the Goddess and so survived her
destruction. The Shrine of Wellhollow
near Bunking has a potion and it is guarded by Danewell and his sons who have
taken up stewardship of the Shrine. In
it can still be seen, the vanished goodness of those times.
There are the weapons and armor of Aday, the sole avatar of
Pholtus, still alive to this day though his Father and his mistress now are
gone forever. There is The Cannon of
Grace. A book of prayers that still holds
powers not connected to divinity. It is
said that whoever possess the Cannon can control the spirits of the earth and
can fly.
There is Forgeward, Healer, Fey, Thistle, Wyverian, Gast and
Darkadie, all powerful weapons with bound sprits and powers. There is Greenshield, Stonehamen, Hail’s
Armor and Abrust Raiin all armors or shields with bound entities and powers
like the blades only sentient and willful.
There is the Cloak of Tears, the Wind Raiment, Leafshadow and
Harfear all phylactires or vestments and articles that mirror aspects of the
Deity.
Though Leahdah made shrines out of Gold, Silver was the
currency of the lands and so the old gold coins of Pholtus are very rare and
sometimes worth more to sages and collectors than as spend. It seems sometimes that one cannot put a foot
down in the northern province without disturbing some ancient place, stash or
crypt. The longest ride in the Northern
Province is from the mule stone to the Quarry by horse, it will take 120 days. A trip from the Nehi on foot to
the sea following the lost river will take 100 days.
There are wild griffins left from the Days of LeahDah that
her people used as transportation but few can control them now. It is best to ride swift horses and run
slaves and wagons to get around.
Most people still wait for the return of the Light and most
people still perform meaningless rituals that hang on from the dead gods. Most people of 50 years or more still
remember the leadists. All of the
Exvocates now are in their early hundreds or older.
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