DAWNS OF SORROW
Preface…
I am Thaldha, true son of Amtran, in turn true son of Rhatimis, in turn very son
of Nicha, in turn very daughter of Kilemetra, in turn true son of Daryius who
was both very daughter and one of the first chosen of Aramath. Five generations
has my blood line been given the honor and duty of keeping and sharing the story
of our people. A story that begins in the time before this time as you know now,
when the land was different and there were many tribes in many lands.
I tell you that the land was not always as we see it now before us. Our
ancestors tell of a much different land before the holy fire of the new
beginning from which all things that we know now once came from. Before the holy
fire there were many people living in many tribes. All of these tribes lay claim
to many different lands. Lands seen and unseen, lands known and even unknown to
us. There were lands within lands, lands joining lands, and many tribes lived in
these lands, bonding with other tribes in the ways that we do today. Like all
people, like all tribes, some chose to follow the path of what is right and
good, while others instead chose to follow a darker path, the path of
destruction and ruin.
I tell you now that several of the largest tribes became powerful enough to
rival even the might of the gods, and these tribes, in their arrogance, sought
to enslave and control the other lesser tribes with their great power. The
greater tribes fought the lesser tribes and massacred them, taking their
possessions, their land and either killing or enslaving their people. There came
a time when there were no laws and all became without order.
Tribe fought tribe.
Bonds were made and broken at whim, oaths meant nothing. The sound of battle
filled the land as the spirits of the fallen and the dead cried out in anguish
to their many gods. All peoples in all lands became as warriors, choosing their
gods and their leaders and using their gifts to make tools for conflict, to wage
war. The different tribes fought to destroy any tribe who did not choose the
same path as they did, who would not bond with them in their ways, or who would
not share their possessions and gifts.
The gods watched all of this and became very angry with the people.
None can remember the time of the old tribes, of the people and the tribes that
lived before the fire, or of the anger of the gods, for all those people are
gone and their stories are lost forever in the ashes of the land that is no
more. Only our people’s story, all that we have remembered and kept sacred,
gives us vision into the land as it was long, long ago. A time before all people
and all things suffered greatly for their arrogance.
Many tribes went to war, and their war covered this land that we can see, and
lands far away that we cannot see and lands still further away beyond that. This
great war filled the sky during the day and during the night. This great war
even flowed out onto the top of the great waters and some say far below them as
well. Entire tribes of people were destroyed and forgotten, their story ended,
their history lost. The gods grew angry at how the people wasted the gifts that
had been given to them by the gods, especially the gifts of fire, of metal, and
of lightning and thunder. For over nine generations the old tribes fought until
the gods could watch no more and the gods punished the old tribes with a fury
never before seen.
Fire sprang from the ground and fire fell from the sky, the land cracked open
and swallowed people. The ground bled hot red rivers of fire that consumed and
covered everything in their path. The great waters turned to steam, the big
rivers dried up, the people’s crops died, stone turned to dust, the great ice
turned to hot water, and parts of the land and many tribes in that land fell
into the great waters never to be seen again. Old mountains fell and new
mountains rose and even the great waters were angry, flowing far into the land
to drown the wicked and flood their homes. The air became hot and thick with
smoke and ash, and the water was turned black and made bitter poison to drink.
Plants and flowers and trees and fruit and the animals of the tribes died, and
the gods chose to put out the light of the sun for a long time, even the lights
in the night sky and the moon were taken away from sight of the people. Sickness
and pain were given to all the people of the land and many died from the great
unseen sprits that walked the lands freely in those days.
Entire tribes and whole peoples were wiped out by the anger of the gods, entire
lands far away were left without people to walk or tend them, cleansed by the
fire from above and below, felled by the unseen spirits and the eternal servants
of the gods let loose upon the land during the time of fire. The gods also chose
to curse some tribes for their arrogance, disfiguring them, bending and breaking
them without killing them, making them shun the light and the contact of others
of their kind, and causing them to seek refuge far below the land where no light
from the sun ever shines. Their bodies became hosts to the great unseen spirits
who dwelled among them and fed from their souls. The cursed people grew angry at
the gods and shunned them, hiding underground from them in spaces that they made
with their hands and they began to worship the dark gods and dark spirits and
found refuge in their beliefs. The cursed people, hungry for the flesh that was
once of their own kind, still live below the land today, and hunt the forbidden
lands for any who would be foolish to explore there. Beware the cursed people,
for their lineage can be traced back to the time before the holy fire, touch is
death, their hunger for the living flesh is without end, and the great unseen
spirits travel with them.
The wrath of the gods was mighty to behold, for it changed forever the land and
the people. But not all people were made to suffer; twenty tribes were chosen by
the gods and judged to be worthy of mercy. The twenty chosen tribes found much
favor with the gods and were therefore set aside to be spared from the cleansing
fire, the fury of the unseen spirits and the eternal servants of the gods. Those
chosen tribes who would lead their people with wisdom instead of the edge of the
blade were spared the wrath of the gods. The gods instructed the chosen tribes
to hide underground, to take refuge under the land so that the very land itself
would lend its mighty strength to protect them from the time of wrath.
Of the twenty chosen tribes who were to wait for this new land, we can draw
lineage directly to the tribe of Aramath.
Aramath was a wise and learned man, a great warrior and a great leader. As the
other tribes fought and died, as great men and women were put to the edge of the
blade and slain, Aramath laid down his weapons and his armor and chose twelve
other great warriors to come with him. Each of those twelve warriors in turn
chose a hundred people more to follow them. Together, the combined tribe of
Aramath, twelve hundred and thirteen strong, entered a garden under the ground,
a garden prepared for them by Aramath, and there they dwelled for many
generations.
Aramath’s garden lay deep below the land, in a place where the sun and the moon
could not share their light. Aramath’s garden was tended by many of the eternal
servants, and watched over by gentle, unseen spirits that worked to harness the
power of lightning and thunder for use by the people. The garden of Aramath
drank deeply of cool water brought up from the great black depths of the land
and drew its heat from the land itself, harnessing hot rivers of molten blood.
Even as far down as the Garden of Aramath lay, the tribe could still hear the
sounds of the angry gods, and sometimes the land moved or moaned, but always the
Garden remained, and Aramath watched over his tribe.
It was Aramath himself who taught his people about the lands to come, and what
would be required of them when it was again time to leave the garden and walk
the land above ground. He taught his people many wise and just things, he gave
them twelve gifts; thunder, lightning, sohma, metal, light, heat, cold, flex,
and many more. His teachings were recorded for all of his people and studied by
young and old. The Chosen Twelve of Aramath were made into powerful leaders
under him, but each was equal only among themselves for the tribe was Aramath’s
and all answered to his law and his judgment. The Chosen Twelve were the best
that Aramath could bring with him, from the strongest and most pure blood lines.
In the world that existed before the holy fires, the names of the twelve carried
much weight and honor, some as much as Aramath did himself. Included among the
Chosen Twelve was Aramath’s own daughter, his only child, Daryius, a powerful
warrior in her own right, and very knowledgeable in the ways of fighting. When
Aramath talked to the gods, he was told that the land would not be prepared for
his people for a long time to come and that he and his people should sleep until
such time as the land was ready.
Aramath and the Chosen Twelve instructed all of their people to sleep. The tribe
of Aramath slept for a very long time, watched over by the spirits of the gods
and their loyal eternal servants until such time as the gods commanded the
people to awaken and come forth and repopulate the land. Aramath and his tribe,
all of his chosen, dreamed of a new time, of a time without conflict where tribe
held bond with tribe and walked the land in peace. The gods watched over their
chosen people as they slept, for many generations, as the gods rebuilt the land,
and created a new land above for their chosen people, moving mountains, changing
rivers, making forests, and filling lakes. The seasons came with great
regularity, and the changes the gods made took hold and were good. The barren
land turned green again, and new creatures and new things replaced those that
been done away with. Those that the gods chose to keep, some they changed,
others they gave great strengths to, and still others they left disfigured or as
punishment. Some works were perfect and were left unchanged at all. These were
few.
But the faith of Aramath’s tribe was not as strong as he thought, and his people
awoke before the time that was to be theirs. The servants and unseen spirits of
the gods that had watched over Aramath for so long were growing weak, some were
dying, and they could watch over his people no longer. The garden would not keep
Aramath’s protected, for even the garden was dying and the tribe of Aramath had
to leave quickly for an evil unseen spirit had grown within the garden and taken
root, driving out the chosen, killing those who did not heed the warning to
leave.
Aramath led his people forth as they left their garden under the ground. It had
been many generations since the gods had brought their wrath down upon the lands
yet Aramath and the twelve found that the land was still harsh, untamed. They
found that the animals and creatures that roamed it were angry at the tribe of
Aramath and looked upon them as little more than prey. The land was not
friendly, or easy to work, parts were still angry and moved often, the hot blood
of the land flowed sometimes, killing many of Aramath’s people in their journey,
and destroying what homes they might build. The rains brought floods of foul
water and strong winds that were cold. The hot seasons brought dryness, and the
plants that Aramath and his chosen people tended withered and died before they
could be harvested. But hardship is the test of the people, and those who did
not die grew stronger because of the hardships. Aramath’s people became warriors
once again, and fought the land.
The chosen of the people grew to great strength, fighting the creatures and
taming or slaying them. Thus Aramath and his people gained favor with the gods
and the land grew quiet, it did not bleed as often, and the unseen spirits that
made the people sicken and die visited them no more. Aramath and his twelve
chosen children came together in council, forming the first such gathering, and
each at that time choosing to form one of the twelve original tribes of Aramath
and to these twelve did Aramath give each one of the twelve Gifts. The Gifts
were presents from the gods, taken with Aramath when he and his people first
went underground, to be used to bond the tribes together, to help repopulate the
land, and to give each tribe a difference between all other tribes, a difference
to lend strength, a gift to build upon another tribe, a gift to share. But even
in this council of tribes there was deceit and treachery, and tribe plotted
against tribe, man against man, people against people. The ways of the people
once again drew the anger of the gods, and the gods walked among the people,
bringing fury and punishment and sorrow. The council fell with the death of
Aramath, the tribes scattered, each under the leadership of one of the original
twelve of Aramath, fighting and taking what they could from other, weaker
tribes. The land flowed red with the blood of the children of Aramath, and their
spirits cried out. Twelve against twelve, brother against brother, man against
man, woman against woman, child against child. For two generations did the
twelve tribes fight among each other, for two generations did the chosen of
Aramath dishonor his teachings.
Our ancestor, Daryius, was the only daughter of Aramath, a warrior of great
legend who led our people forth from the broken council and took with her the
Gift of the Sohma, a nourishing grain that would grow in almost any climate.
Daryius protected us from Grishayl and his wanton lust for the Gift of the Sohma
of our tribe and the power it could bring to him and his tribe. Daryius, with
the help of three gods, hid our people away once again underground while
Grishayl and his tribe searched for us in vain. Daryius hid us, sheltered us,
and protected our people until Grishayl and his tribe was in turn consumed and
put to the edge of the blade by the tribe of Thandos who held the Gift of Metal.
Daryius and Thandos made a pact, and each took their people and their Gifts, far
to the south, to lands that Aramath had told of. Promised lands, rich lands,
lands where the gods smiled and the people could find favor with the seasons and
the gifts of the land. Daryius and Thandos sealed their tribes kinbond with a
union that brought forth three children, the wisest of which was my great, great
grandfather, Apafion. Our two tribes became as one, and the number of the people
was many and they were strong and determined.
Five generations ago Daryius and Thandos brought our people across the burning
sands where many were made sick and died from the touch of the unseen spirits
that lurked there. Daryius and Thandos led us over the white topped mountains
where Thandos died fighting the unclean people who lived inside the mountains and
worshipped dark gods and ate of the flesh of those not like them. Grieving for
our loss and hers, Daryius led all of the people to the shores of the great
inland sea that is lit by the plants that grow there. She led us across the
hills and across the Great Scar and finally across to the grass covered plains
whose beginning lays a full nine days ride from here. The people, her people,
our people, settled in this valley, in the time of my great, great grandfather
Apafion whom Daryius then chose to keep and remember the story of all the people
and their long journey and of those who never lived to see these beautiful
lands. Under Daryius’ wisdom and guidance, learned in turn from the great and
wise Aramath and some say who he in turn had learned directly from the gods
themselves, all the people began to claim this land as our own, to shape and
mold it. All the people worked together without conflict, pushing back the angry
beasts and hungry creatures that would hunt us, working to build our simple
homes above and below ground as Aramath had taught us to do, and taking what we
needed only by the product of our labor, always giving back more to the land
than we received, leaving it better for the next generation of the tribe. Such
was the way of the land, such were the teachings of Daryius and of Aramath
before her. The spirit of Thandos watched over us in those days, for no other
people came to our lands. The Gift of Sohma took root, and flourished, and the
people went without hunger, turning their studies and labor to acts other than
simply growing food for nourishment. We began to relearn the ways of the old
land, of the land before the time of the fire, before the gods became angry with
all the people. We learned slowly, carefully, so as not to upset the gods again
and bring their wrath down upon us and undo all that Daryius, Thandos, and
Aramath had worked so hard to give us.
This is as it has been for five generations now, our people grow more learned
with each generation, we trust the new generation to build upon that which was
taught to them by the generation before. I grow old, only a few seasons more can
I hope to see the light of this land, but it is my duty as keeper of the story
of our people to tell you of all that has come before you, as my daughter will
surely one day add your works to the story that is all that our people are, all
that they have been. You are all that our people will be, you are our future.
The story is for nothing if you do not continue it, if you do not learn it and
pass it on, if you do not take the lessons to heart and live by them.
You must remember what I have told you, and use the teachings of Aramath and
Daryius to guide you, draw upon the strength of Thandos in times of need, and
shun the dark desires of those who were foolish like Grishayl. As our people
work together, so do the Gifts of the Sohma and the Metal work together, one
grows and another reaps. So must it be with all things in life, for life is a
time to grow and a time to reap, a time to offer, and a time to cull. Let the
teachings of Aramath guide you in your life, to offer gifts to any of the people
you may meet. Offer the Sohma, your kindness first and the edge of the blade,
you anger, only as a last resort.
This morn’s dawn will bring an end to your trials, an end to your time as a
child, an end to your teachings. Those of you who are selected by the elders
will be given the task of completing the greatest journey yet ahead of you; the
rite of passage. The people, myself included, can teach you nothing more. The
land beyond this land awaits you, and explore it you must for it will now be
your teacher. You will see many things, learn many things, you must not let your
heart become cold, or your mind forget who you are, what ancestral lines your
blood flows backwards to. Some of you may not return, for the land beyond this
land is not a kind land. There are other people who are not people like us, but
who serve dark gods and worship the unseen spirits. May the gods of the people,
the gods who have guided and protected us for five generations now, smile on
you, and give you the strength to do that which is ahead of you. May the gods
send their own unseen spirits to protect you in your journeys, to watch over you
and to give you the courage to add much glory to the story of our people.
You are the chosen of the many. We are the many of the people. We are the story
of our people and the story has no ending.