- This topic has 7 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 5 months, 3 weeks ago by .
-
Posts
-
Some may call it a hard life. Cryl just knows it as life.
Like a person born blind or deaf, they never know what they are missing, so it all seems….normal.
Born and raised in and around the Savage Lands, Cryl has only know an existing of fighting, traveling, and fighting. Not always in that order.
From the time he could walk he was on the move with his clan, and he was reminded often that others carried him before he could walk. Based on his account, everyone in his clan had carried him for at least 5 years of his life, so he should have been a solid 250 years old before he could walk. Seems like they may have been exaggerating a bit.The fighting was within the clan as well as from outsiders – sometimes being attacked, but also attacking others.
In-fighting was part of their daily life in the clan. Training was always a staple for hours each day, but that wasn’t all. Everything ended up in a fight, regardless of what it started as. Skipping rocks, eating lunch, learning letters and numbers…it didn’t matter. Someone got butt hurt and slugged someone else. And it was on. A lot.
But in-fighting was never dirty, it was never to death, and was not even intentionally to knock out your foe-of-the-moment. When you bested someone, you never took anything but their pride, but had to take that with caution as they would soon come back to reclaim it later. Cryl learned to mock and laugh at them before the first punch, but never after. You must make your statements ahead of time, or the actions and words afterwards are meaningless. He adopted a laughter before a fight that he no longer realizes is his own. That’s not a bad thing, though, since it gets the fight started, which was going to happen anyway.As for outsiders, anything goes. Strike first. Fight to the death…hopefully their death. Take their belongings as your own and share with the clan. What can’t be used should be traded quickly.
Travel light, pack quickly. Watch out for the clan first, and any belongings when it is safe to do so.Without a place to call home, or material items to call his own, Cryl grew to rely his fellow clansmen and the loyalty needed to survive. Many times the clan would be separated due to attacks or the need for some to travel for a counsel meeting. Regardless of the size, loyalty was the key.
Cryl found himself in a situation with a small portion of his clan. They were sent to do some recon and Cryl was always one picked for these tasks. He has grown to be a solid young dwarf with his battle accumen. He can speak 4 languages – though none of them exceptionally well – and has always outperformed his peers in feats of strength and guile. This time, however, they found little to nothing on the task of which they were sent and headed back. When they returned they realized the rest of the clan was scattered due to an attack – it would be a while to track the clan when they were tracking the attackers. ugh.
Cryl and his companions were getting restless as they felt they were going in large circles trying to track the others. They opted to let out a bit of steam and descend on a hefty looking human riding a donkey. Just planning to rough him up, take his lunch and ale, and move along without any bloodshed.
Lo and behold, the human produces mugs of ale. Try as they might, they could not empty those mugs as they kept refilling.Next thing Cryl discovered is that he woke up starring at the underbelly of a donkey. Not from below it, but strapped to the side with his hands and feet tied together as he was draped over the beast. Yes, he realized quickly – as quickly as possible through the pounding headache – this was payback. He did the same thing to Embrie a few months back, slapped the donkey on the ass, and waiting for 2 days until he made his way back. Once Cryl was free, he’d find the others and fight Embrie. It was a solid plan.
However, he passed out for a few more hours and woke as they approached a town. The hefty guy had cut the ropes so Cryl could slide down off the beast and walk the last mile or so with dignity.Love the backstory!
Here’s how it fits in…
After the Travelers made their way back from the Savage Lands more than twenty years ago, they were able to travel through The Gate unencumbered. This was the alternative to traveling through a hostile Tanseria (to the north and west), or exiting through the southern swamp lands (home of the notorious swamp-shit), which was only traversable during the winter months of the year, and considered a poor choice.
For the next five years The Gate was passable but not something you would do lightly or in small numbers. One of the last to make the passage back to the Savage Lands was one of the Travelers who still held a gem despite Queen Bashira and the Handaris Council asking him to give it up. Precious, the baby giant, not feeling as at home in Muershaden as he did in the Savage Lands, passes through The Gate with the elf traveler, Hollis Shadeward.
Soon, The Gate again became a dangerous path and Kraymorden was good with that as they had no desire to be there and felt nothing coming through was a fair and safe trade. If they had to someday defend against the Savage Land, it was better to defend a 200 foot gate, than the entire Savage Lands.
So Cryl’s Clan could be from the Cemerstous Mountains (Barbarian Clans a plenty) or south of The Gate in the Black Mountains, though the farthest in they could establish a camp would be a day’s journey in before they would attract the beasts from the Savage Lands.
The Gate is a seven-day journey, through the mountains would be weeks.
For this chapter, we believe Cryl’s Clan would be from the base of the Black Mountains.
As you were.
The stories which are told for generations tells the tale of the Stoneheart Clan being the ones relied on by many other clans for their overarching protection. Whether it was ensuring massive deliveries being transported for trades or to stand watch over consorts and critical meetings, they never wavered from their task.
They took these assignments very seriously and would protect all those involved with their own lives, from start to finish.
Needless to say, most who attempted harm upon those the Stoneheart Clan were employed to protect would often get a visit at a later time, especially if a Clan member was killed. It did not turn out well for those individuals, their families, the village, nor their crops and livestock.As things in the North started getting a bit more disorderly, the Stonehart Clan was relied on far more frequently. The efforts to accept more assignments left them a bit thinner in their ranks and eventually created problems for all involved. They lost their reputation of never losing those they protected or the goods they oversaw, and eventually they were no longer called upon at all.
As they regrouped to reset their future, they opted to track down all assailants to get their vengeance and settle the score. Some had ‘gotten away’ for a while due to the limits of the smaller Stoneheart members engaged on the task, but no longer…they would be found. Though they would never be hired again in the same manner, they were engaged in similar, yet less official, acts to take more of an offensive stand in protection, rather than wait to be on the defensive.
For Cryl, those are all just stories and lore with names being repeated and sometimes mixed up based on the number of ales consumed by the storyteller. That was generations ago and in a different time.
The Stoneheart Clan currently has somewhere around 150-200 clan members. The numbers are never quite certain as they are sent on different scouting and recon salvos, just as Cryl and his small group were.
On the occasion of celebrations or major events, they will have a Clan Call for all members to meet, Not all can make these meet ups, or possibly do not even get word of them until too late.Many, like Cryl, will not be considered dead until proven so. It is more likely they are following a quest to gain more insights and find opportunities for the Clan, which they will share upon their return. Only Gorum can know for sure, and he will not share that with anyone outside the halls of Valhalla.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.