The Tale of the Swords of the
Ancients And Other Blades of Power
A Mythology
By
Kit Rae
In the depths of the Underworld the Dark One bred many
terrible creatures in hopes of spawning a beast that could destroy the
creations of the Ancients. Even though the Dark One’s body had been destroyed
by the Mithrodin in the four hundred and eighteenth year of the Fifth Age, a
powerful dark spirit remained that could ensnare the weak-willed, and it
endured for thousands of years in the Underworld. Through those ages the Dark
One created many foul beasts, but none were as terrible as the great Baelin he
created in the four thousand and twenty-seventh year of the Fifth Age. These
immensely powerful beasts towered twice the height of the tallest Elf or Man.
They were covered in thick furred hides with great bony plates of armor and
sharp spined backs. Their great fangs could paralyze and devour with ease. The
Dark One created a multitude of Baelin, but the greatest in stature and might
was the first, the one the Elves called Folkor. Folkor was four times the
height of a man or elf and he sported wings that allowed limited flight.
Anvari, an Elf of the Evesdrou family, was a renowned
warrior of the Fifth Age who had mistakenly killed the son of the Duke of the
Nattan, a clan of men from the Southern lands of Amunach. As atonement he set
out to kill Folkor, who had become the bane of the Nattan. Though his five
companions were slain in the battle, Anvari was successful in killing the
dreaded beast with the poisoned blade Archeros and his finest spear, Occsdrow.
Thence Anvari forged weapons and arms, as his kind were wont to do, and he
presented these to the Duke as a gift. First he created an impenetrable shield
made from a single plate of armor from the back of the beast, which he had
boiled and beaten to shape with Elven skill. The second gift he forged using
the metal of Occsdrow’s steel tip and the armor of the dead Baelin that he had
beaten into its handle. And this four-bladed weapon he named Adrasil, Folkor’s
bane. Engraved on the blades were the names of the Duke’s son, Ettiel, and
Anvari’s family name, Evesdrou. Thus, in the four thousand four hundred and
forty-ninth day of the Fifth Age, was the tradition born of weapon making from
the bones and armor of slain Baelin, and an alliance between Men and Elves was
forged from that day forth.
Anvari trained the Nattan in the ways of Elven fighting for many years and after a time he became as a second son to the Duke. Anvari also trained the Duke's only heir, his daughter Atteniel, and she became protector of the Duke's great house and chief of his house guard. When came the terrible day in 4080 that the Dark One unleashed his new brood of Baelin upon the lands of Amunach, Anvari fought alongside Atteniel in defense of her father's house on the Isle of Eldinyed. The Dark Elves from the Underworld, now in league with the Dark One, made a craft to carry a Baelin across the lake to the Isle of Eldinyed and they attacked the Duke's fortress at dark. The Duke fought many Dark Elves that night. In the end the Baelin mortally wounded him and most of his Men were slain by the horrid beast. Before the Duke died he passed his weapon Adrasil on to Atteniel. In a rage she led a last charge against the Baelin and killed it with the four-bladed weapon, but many of the Duke's army were lost in that battle, and the house of Nattan was no more. The Isle of Eldinyed was overrun and it's fortress taken by the enemy, thus Anvari took Atteniel and they escaped through the eastern forests of Amunach to the land of Deylindor.
In Deylindor the two sought refuge in the great temple of
the Mithrodin, which had become a haven for Elves and Men whose lands had been
conquered by the forces of the Dark One. The Mithrodin had been created long
before to protect the Swords of the Ancients, but now they had also become
protectors of the lands of the Great Realm, and at times had served as its
army. Atteniel, now with no home to fight for, joined the ranks of the
Mithrodin. She was the first female mortal to become a master of the highest
level of the Mithrodin cadre. She taught other Mith in the fighting style of
the Nattan and trained them to slaughter the Baelin, and Anvari taught them the
art of making weapons and armor from the dead carcasses. In later days the
Mithrodin adopted this custom in forging weapons and it was practiced for many
thousands of years. Anvari taught the art of making the great Adrasil to the
Mithrodin and it soon became their chosen weapon. As a symbol of achievement
Atteniel began the practice of tattooing her body with a new symbol each time
she graduated to a higher level of training. In later years all of the Mithrodin
warriors would adopt this practice. A Mithrodin whose body had become
completely covered in tattoos was said to have reached the highest level.
After a time
Anvari wed Atteniel and they both served the Mithrodin temple in Lumenia as
teachers. Before long they were forced into battle once more when the Realm of
Deylund waged war against Lumenia. Deylund had succumbed to the power of the
Dark One through the treachery of his puppet, the immortal sorcerer Navros, and
sought to take Lumenia’s lands. Mithrodin warriors fought long that year and in
the end Lumenia was victorious in repelling Deylund. Unfortunately Anvari was
slain in the last battle defending the passage over the Abelard River at the
foot of the Kingdom of Lumenia. When Atteniel buried him she laid Adrasil, the
weapon he had forged for her father, upon his breast so he would have it with
him in the afterlife, as was the Elvish way.
In later years Atteniel created a new weapon in honor of her
slain husband. It was a double bladed weapon and it was called the Valdris.
The
Tale of the Swords of the Ancients and Other Blades of Power and its previous versions, The
Swords of the Ancients and its abridged excerpts, and other forms, are ©1997 and ©2005 by Kit
Rae. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted in any other form, or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, computer networking, or
otherwise without prior permission in writing by the copyright holder(s).