A long time before well-known history there was an order of sisters who forged Mage Blades. Each year they would forge special swords to give to very special people. An enemy who slaughtered all but two of the order- an old woman and a young girl- suddenly attacked the order. The old woman felt she would be a burden to the girl so she forged herself into a blade. She called the blade Need, as it was only to be wielded by females and used to help women in distress (a woman’s need made me, a woman’s needs calls for me). Eventually Need was placed in a temple with strong magical shields, thus she ‘wintered’ the Mage Wars and the storms which followed.
In a time, which has only recently come to light, Velgarth was filled with magics and Mages. The strongest of all the mages were the Adepts Urtho and Ma’ar. Ma’ar was known for his cunning evil ways, his obsession for conquest and his control over the nomad Barbarian tribes of the North. He also was known for his creation of the makaar (gryphon counterparts) and basilisks to name a few. Urtho-the Mage of Silence-was the essence of civilisation and scholarship and known for his creation of the gryphons, hertasi and kryee. Urtho had permanent gates set up around his tower and used them to evacuate his followers and friends in three-four groups. He sent them to various points-which he hoped-would be far enough away not to be effected by the storms he knew were about to come.
Ma’ar knew he had to win the war so he set up an assassin to take out Urtho and Skandranon (also known as The Black Gryphon-Urtho’s finest gryphon). The assassin got Urtho with a poisoned blade just before Urtho’s guards and Skandranon took him out. In the very hour of Ma’ar’s victory Urtho sent him a pair of magical devices, which released all the magic in both their spheres of influence. This led to the Great Cataclysm, which warped creatures and created the magic warped Pelagirs forest. Both Urtho and Ma’ar’s towers were destroyed and became the Dhorisha Planes and Lake Evendim respectively. Both Urtho and Ma’ar was thought to have died but Ma’ar didn’t actually die for he had created a spell which would hold his spirit until he found someone suitable from his line which he could take their body from. That person had to have the mage gift strong enough to become an Adept and be an outcast or loner (Ma’ar used blood magic to be able to do this).
Those of Urtho’s people who had remain near his Tower after his death started to argue about the use of magic, some wanted to give it up altogether while the others argued that they needed it to survive. So, their goddess, The Star Eyed, intervened. She gave those who wanted to keep magic the job of cleansing the land of rouge magic to make it habitable for people to live there. Those clans became the Taleydras (or Hawkbrothers). To those who wanted to give up magic she made them guardians of the tower and charged them to keep the plains free of outsiders. They became the Shin’a’in. The Shin’a’in became nomadic horse breeders, whose warhorses were prized for their intelligence.
The other groups were flung further then the others. One, which was mostly made up of the Kaled’a’in, called them selves Clan k’Leysha. They went south and eventually set up the cave city of White Gryphon (named for one of the founders Skandranon who was getting old and white) and made an alliance with the Haighlei Kings (The Black Kings). Clan k’Leysha was made up of humans, gryphons, hertasi, kryee and others.
The third group to gate out only had one mage a barbarian shaman, so he decided to head north towards his homeland. Once settled in the north they found they needed protection from the mage storms so they prayed to their god Vykaendys who set up a magical barrier. This northern country became Iftel.
During the final strike of Urtho and Ma’ar, some of the people fleeing the destruction by gate had the working magics interrupted making the gate go wildly off course. This happened to a group of mercenaries and liegemen who were gating east and the gate led them to a place further east then they had originally planned, they settled where they landed and become the Eastern Empire.
A long time after the mage storms had died out (after many centuries) a minor Baron of a conquered land within the Eastern Empire became, reacted to the abuses of power by his Imperial overlord. He assembled all of his followers in the dead of winter and told them to pack up everything they wanted to take with them. The Baron, whose name was Valdemar, managed to silence all the spies in his court by magic. They then fled to the dangerous west. Valdemar wanted to find some land remote enough that he didn’t need to worry about the threat of the Empire. He wanted a land free from tyranny and to make sure that his country (Valdemar, named after him) would stay free from oppressive rulers. Valdemar sent up a prayer (or spell, the chronicles aren’t very clear on this) and his answer came in the form of the very first Companions, who chose his son, chief herald and himself. King Valdemar decreed from then on only those who had been chosen by Companion could rule and keep the peace.
The kingdom of Valdemar grew and prospered. During the reign of the next ruler, Elspeth the Peace Maker, Vanyel Askevron was born. Vanyel was born with the potential to become a great mage. During the lowest point of his life, Vanyel had his channels (what magic runs through so a mage can use it) blasted open when the backlash of the gate he had helped make turned on him. On that night Vanyel and Tylendel (his lifebond) were sneaking out of Haven to gate to the house of Tylendel’s greatest enemy to kill them. During the slaughter Tylendel’s companion, Gala, repudiated him, which broke his sanity, heart and made him take his own life. Vanyel went to the legendary Hawkbrothers for training and after many trials and anguish became the most powerful Herald-Mage in the history of Valdemar. Vanyel set up a magical web, which alerted other Heralds to a death or an urgent need. He also set up the protection around Valdemar, which alerted the closest Herald-Mage of an outside mage. It was made up of the air elements, the vrondi and made the outside mage feel like he was being watched all the time.
After Elspeth died, Randale took over the ruling of Valdemar. During his reign many things happened, many of the treaties signed by Elspeth fell apart, war loomed on the border with Karse and the long-standing feud between the kingdoms of Lineas and Baires got out of control. This happened when Tashir Remverdis; the younger son of Deveran of Lineas, (ruler of Lineas); was found responsible for the massacre of everyone present in the Remverdis Palace in Highjorune, Lineas. Tashir was chosen soon after the massacre and was caught trying to flee the country. Vanyel and his companion, Yfandes heard the frantic mind call of Tashir’s companion and raced to the rescue and saved the day. Vanyel found out that the Mavelans’ were responsible for the horrible mess found through out the Lineas palace. About the time that the first false Son of the Sun took the throne that war was declared on Valdemar. Vlademar and Karse would remain at war, just pecking at each other’s borders for a very long time.
The war took its toll on Valdemar and with a mortally sick monarch the country couldn’t do more than survive as it was. Valdemar had another enemy to fight, from the north a very dangerous enemy came. This enemy was killing off all the children with the potential to become mages and making the deaths seem like accidents. After the children he came after the last Herald-Mages, which numbered only four.
After Vanyel’s aunt, Herald-Mage Savil, was killed Vanyel wanted revenge and went looking for him. He found the mage, who was calling himself Leareth (Leareth meaning darkness in the Taleydras tongue; he was also one of Ma’ar’s incarnations) in a mountain pass (by the forest of Wendwinter) with a very large army, Vanyel knowing that help was too far away to stop the army from invading Valdemar went in for the final strike, knowing that he would die but also knowing that he’d take a large part of the army with him.
With Vanyel dead, his new lifebond, Stefen, went into the forest of Sorrows (which was the forest of Wendwinter) to try and kill himself and discovered the ghost of his beloved. Vanyel told him that he would be guarding Valdemar’s borders to the North and that Stefen would be able to join him after he earned his place. For Stefen to earn his place he had the difficult task of making the people of Valdemar rely on ‘ordinary’ Heralds to do the job and not to think that mind-magic was inferior to proper magic. Stefen succeeded after many long years and the people forgot about using magic to solve their problems and Stefen was able to take his place beside Vanyel and Yfandes guarding the Northern border.
During his lifetime Vanyel fathered four children. Three of his children went to the k’Treva Vale, one to Starwind and Moondance, his mentors, another to a Shay’a’chern couple and the last to friend who wanted a child. The fourth stayed in Valdemar and went to Randale and Shavri, who couldn’t have a child because Randale’s illness had made him sterile.
500 years later Rethwellan was having royal problems. There was a dispute over which of the two brothers should be crowned king. The younger one, Stefen, was kind and fair while the older, Raschar, was known for his whoring and uncontrollable spending. (The country usually had the Singing Sword, which was used to tell which of the candidates would be the better ruler, but the Sword was lost some time ago). Tarma Tale’sedrin, a Kal’endral (Swordsworn when her whole clan was slaughtered while feasting) and Kethry, her Oathsister, Adept Mage and bearer of the geas blade Need, vowed to place the rightful king on the throne. They found the younger brother in the borders of Valdemar where he had taken refuge. During Tarma and Kethry’s hard climb over the Comb (a pass between the borders of Valdemar and Rethwellan) they found the sword, which sung in the presence of the younger brother. He and the heir to the Valdemar throne, Roald made a treaty that said Rethwellan would help Valdemar in their time of need, as compensation for Valdemar’s hospitality.
Around 40 years later a companion came fleeing over the border of Karse with his newly chosen Herald on his back. The Companion had chosen a Karsite military commander, which was unheard of. Valdemar even had a saying, “the only things to come out of Karse are bandits and bad weather.�? The Herald, Alberich, became the finest weaponsmaster and helped discover the traitorous actions of Selenay’s husband.
About 21 years after the astonishing choosing of Alberich another to-be-Herald was chosen, this time the boy was a thief. At the time Valdemar had a problem with street children just disappearing. Skif being a boy who had grown up on the streets helped the Heralds find the culprits with a great risk to his life.
During the reign of Selenay, Ancar, the heir to the Hordornen throne, killed his father and took control of the country. He drained the land and attempted to invade Valdemar. He managed to imprison and kill two Heralds sent as ambassadors. The Heralds were the Queen’s Own Talia and Kris. While imprisoned Talia found out that the nurse Valdemar heir, Elspeth, was actually working for Ancar. Eventually an all out war started between Hardorn and Valdemar.
During the hardest period Valdemar discovered the old Treaty in which Rethwellan offers to aid Valdemar in times of trouble, and immediately sends an envoy to Rethwellan asking them to honour the treaty by sending help in the form of an army. So during the largest battle Rethwellan and Valdemar armies fight side by side and in the midst of all the fighting Selenay and Prince Daren of Rethwellan find out they are lifebonded to each other and Daren gets chosen (though he doesn’t find out until the battle is over and won). Also to get chosen is the mercenary Captain Kerowyn, whose company, the Skybolts offered to help in the battle. Kerowyn is the grand daughter of the sorceress Kethry and is also the new bearer of the geas blade Need. Valdemar won the battle but not the war, although it was silent for sometime.
When Elspeth was in her early twenties decided that it would be best for Valdemar if she went out to find real magic and learn how to use it. She convinced her mother and the council to let her leave, they had some protests since she was the heir to the throne but in the end let her go.
She left Valdemar with the sword Need (who had chosen her) and a guard, another Herald, Skif. Elspeth discovered that she did indeed have an adept class mage gift (meaning that she had the power to get to that class) but it’s not surprising that she had the gift since mage gift is hereditary and she is a direct descendant from Vanyel. She went to seek training for her gift and found the mysterious Taleydras, as Vanyel did.
She was taken to the k’Shenya Vale that had a very bad problem. The clan was split in half, their heartstone fractured and a very powerful mage trying to take over their magic. The mage was Mornelithe Falconsbane (another incarnation of Ma’ar) and he had already killed two people, the Taleydras Dawnfire and a Shin’a’in shaman, Tre’valen. All was not lost for these two because their goddess the Star-Eyed made them her avatars. Elspeth and Skif agreed to help the Vale in exchange for teaching in magic from Darkwind.
Before Mornelithe became what he was, he was a boy named An’desha. Instead of fighting when Ma’ar took him over, he retreated into the farthest corner of his mind and never made his presence know for he was afraid that if he did Ma’ar would kill him like the others he had controlled.
After much fighting with Flaconsbane, Elspeth and Darkwind thought they had managed killed him with the help of Falconsbanes’ adopted daughter Nyara, who broke his focus crystal that sent Falconsbane into the void. With the help of Firesong, a k’Treva Healing Adept (and another of Vanyel’s descendants), they healed the ruptured Heartstone, and moved the vale to a safer location.
Yet in the process of transferring the power of the newly healed Heartstone to it’s new home, it was stolen by something, and the power was placed in a Heartstone, which was in a hidden room underneath the Palace at Haven.
