THE HERALD

Traditional Oral Story, as originally told by Ciaban the Restless, a wandering bard

Good eve my children, listen close and I will tell you a tale of a most tragic love bonded and then severed…

Long ago, the beautiful and cunning Queen of the Fae, Cliodna, fell in love. No normal man was he that had stolen the queen’s heart; his hair curled and twined with shades dark as deepest night and his eyes glowed like brilliant stars, his skin was pale and fair as snow.  But it was not his beauty that so drew the queen’s eyes, for a fae of love and beauty has access to many beautiful things. It was the audacity of this mortal who returned to the queen night after night and woo’d her with song and gifts, such gifts that she had never received from a suitor before.  She often found on her balcony long beautiful ribbons for her hair, carefully crafted necklaces of  wood and seed, mountains of beautiful and rare flowers from lands beyond her reach in the Seelie Court. The queen would often marvel at these trinkets, and recline on her balcony listening to his gentle songs and poems dedicated to her beauty.

After many cycles this mortal’s charms had their desired effect on the queen and one long night she left the court, and bonded him as her consort. On returning to the court, she looked to all that saw her as if she had won some great prize, and the two lovers spent many a day wrapped in each other’s arms. Such a small distraction left her vulnerable to the machinations of the court and it wasn’t long before someone in the Seelie Court took advantage of this. Her honeyed words were believed to be false promises and dull praises that left many folk soured. So during this slight vulnerability, her enemies rallied and turned the court against her. It was soon after that she was banished across the veil to the Dreamworld, alone, forbidden to ever return to fair Hibernia.

But the rules of others often do not constrain the queen. She still had many agents throughout the land happy to do her bidding. In time, she gathered her forces and sought to return for her love. To guarantee success, she even joined with the Unseelie Court in the Dreamworld, and through her cunning began taking control. Alas, as her power in the Dreamworld grew with each passing year her longing for her lost lover yet outpaced it. Why should she be forced away from her lover, and forced to live away from beautiful Hibernia?  Hibernia should be hers. She should be free to be with her lover. The Seelie Court should be the ones banished. And so she attempted to break her exile. 

Intent on confronting the Seelie Court in Hibernia, she planned a small invasion into the Bog of Cullen as a base of operations. Many of the banished Siabra followed her into the bog to assist her while the rest of her forces continued to consolidate. Tragically, she underestimated the force with which she would be rebuffed. Alas, her vengeful return into the Bog of Cullen was met with force as the Seelie Court were ready.

Her melodic voice could warm the coldest heart and sway the most stubborn mind, but the wise and powerful of the Seelie Court knew well her tricks. They steeled themselves and met her on the battlefield with unwavering veterans, hardened troops who would not back down. Faced with an unrelenting force, she retreated back to the Dreamworld. Her plan ruined and her hidden retainers run out of the Seelie Court, she knew it was only a matter of time. Either she would inevitably return once again, or they would come after her. And so she took over the Unseelie Court once and for all, and began consolidating power.

Oh, but the Seelie Court is not one to leave things as they are. Instead they press forth, knowing that if left to her own devices, Cliodna will return and with a much larger invasion. And so they march, slowly at first as armies tend to do, through the veil and into the dreary night of the world of dreams. They will soon discover the Dreamworld is not merely a reflection of our world, but that it does not take kindly to mortal interlopers.
 

Friends and Realm mates,

Recently, an issue with the Relics has resulted in players being able to pick up and capture a Relic without completing the required unlocking process. This issue has been fixed, and to deploy the fix – all Relics must be reset to their home shrines. 

We apologize for any inconvenience that this may cause. In an effort to make up for the adjust ment to the Relics – the July 4th Holiday bonuses set to end on Monday, July 6th will be extended until the following Monday, July 13th. 

Thank you for your understanding, and please enjoy the extended bonuses.

We’ll see you in the Frontiers!

We had a fantastic time during our Live-stream Developer Q&A last week where we talked about subjects ranging from the Otherworlds campaign, crafting, and Legendary Weapons to returning player tips,  the UI/UX plans, and the website revamp… plus many more!

In addition to the video, Carol and our Knights Shileah and Fugo have created a written summary of our answers in English, German, and French for you to enjoy below!

Location: Jotunheim (Date Unknown)

I believe in the Gods. How can you not? But I never thought I’d see one. There was no mistaking Ymir as soon as he stepped from the portal. Although most Jotun look alike, Ymir is ancient and much larger. He brought with him a horde of frost and stone giants. They gained a foothold in Vanern Swamp.

How can this be? We know the stories all too well, the ones told around the feasting halls of how Odin himself slew Ymir with the help of his two younger brothers.  Ymir’s flesh created the land which we now stand upon, his bones the hills, and his blood filled the void drowning all but two of the Jotuns and remained to become the very seas and oceans we sail upon. Apparently Ymir’s essence was too powerful to extinguish and over the centuries he’s once again grown in power.  I can’t help to wonder if our own shamans knew of his return.  What plans does this ancient god have for us, revenge?  Will Ymir take back what was stolen from him?  Will the seas dry up if Ymir reclaims his blood that was spilt?  What of the flesh?  What will happen to Midgard if he succeeds?

I must focus on my mission… a small army of our kinsmen clashed with Ymir and the jotun causing him to flee back into Jotunheim. Many jotun and giants lay hewn on the battlefield but our losses were greater. His plans were disrupted and we took this chance to explore Jotunheim, but there is something eerily familiar about this place. Like I’ve been here in a dream or I’m constantly being watched. We have been here for what feels like a very long time, just trying to keep the enemy at bay. Due to the incomprehensible nature of Jotunheim, there is no day or night. In the end, I’m not sure how long we have actually been here. I think this may be my last report since everything here wants to kill us mortals. Perhaps I shall take my place at the table in Valhalla tonight.

-Arin Snowtouch
 

The following is an excerpt from “Treatise on Spiritual Residue, Spiritual Conduits, Spiritual Anchors, and Spiritual Reasoning” by Junior Scholar Anna Roversham of the Albion Academy’s History of Magic Studies Institute:

Contrary to popular folklore, ghosts do not exist. What most common folk believe is ghosts are in actuality a spiritual residue formed from the souls of those who died in a moment of great emotional turmoil (1); these residues can take many shapes and sizes creating the common forms most people tend to think of as ghosts. All spiritual residues are translucent and they will try to take on the form of the first soul that started the process. Unlike the traditional ghosts of folklore, spirits gather energy from other souls based upon the trigger for the first soul’s residual manifestation; i.e. a powerful sense of vengeance can build if more than one soul contributes to the cause that they died for, which can become a proportionally equivalent physical manifestation of that spiritual residue.

A particularly nasty physical manifestation is King Uther Pendragon. His soul and spirit were focused on unifying the land. Much of his desires were reflected in his followers and thus sprouted one of the largest mass turbulence events in history. The entire Spirit World became a reflection of Pendragon’s fury and drive. It seems his soul truly believed the land still needed unification and he did not understand that the Lyonesse he found was not the same Lyonesse back when he was alive (2).  That this was even possible creates an interesting conflict with Alain de Lille’s Theory of Spiritual Limitation (3) as related to the Avicennian understanding of Multi-Spirit Sameness (4), which shall be discussed more in depth in chapter three.

It was only through the workings of a brave group of adventurers, men and women with loose affiliations to the different guilds tasked with defending Albion, that King Uther was driven back into the Spirit World. However, it is what they found there that is the most interesting development of this entire episode.
 

1. See Merlin’s work: “Ghosts, Zombies and other children’s tales”
2. Uther visited Lyonesse several times during his reign, but did not annex the land.  See Bertrand Muskhaven’s essay “King-touched lands: An indepth history of Albion and the surrounding areas” for more details on this.
3. From Alain de Lille’s “The Theory of Spiritual Limitation”, first published in its entirety in the Journal Spiritae Naturalis.
4. Detailed in Abu Ali al-Husain ibn Abdallah ibn Sina’s ground-breaking text “One in the same: How all spiritual residue is linked”, as translated by Sir Hubrecht Delacey.