The Return of the Dragonhawk

Book One: Muktar's Folly

Soon after time began, the Avatar summoned the One Light to give birth to the sun, the moon, and the stars. When the sun embraced our Mother Rhea with his fire, she split asunder. Her crystal heartblood spilled unto the plain, causing grass and trees and flowers to spring forth. Groaning with her birth pangs, she engendered birds and beasts to roam the greening earth. Again and again she groaned and shook, knowing no rest day or night until the sun attained the zenith of his power. The Brazen Stallion, whose true name the Mystic Brothers hold in trust, tore his body from her side at the dawning of that unfathomable day which marks the beginning of our history.

The Stallion wandered the plains, lord of all that his hooves touched, yet consumed by restlessness. He knew not what he sought until the wind brought him the scent of Rhoz, the mighty mare of the Northland. He found her in the snowbound dwelling of the giants, and stole her to be his mate.

The giants had branded the runes of power into her hide, endowing her with all their wisdom and their strength. When Rhoz and her mate came together, the might of the runes passed into the fruit of her womb. Iryk was her firstborn, followed by Hilf, Utor, and Tir; next came Mera, Pymak, Lili and Ayra. The rest followed in order, ending with Axen, the mightiest of all.

The giants of the Northland never forgot what they had lost, but nursed the fires of revenge in the depths of their hearts. Each summer, they raided southwards, taking what they could carry and ruining the rest. In time the people of the Ur-Tongue tired of the oppression, and banded together in the first Great Alliance to defend what was theirs.

Rhoz and the Brazen Stallion joined the battle, and their enemies rued the day. Those giants who were not killed sailed away to parts unknown in their great fur-lined coracles. It is said that they settled on an island in the Northern Sea, but no adventurer has ever laid claim to finding their dwelling place.

The victory was not without cost. Rhoz was turned to stone by a giant's spell and stood between her allies and her foes like a great statue, still breathing, but helpless to defend herself. One of her own mages mistook the course of his lightning bolt and struck her in the shoulder. Her mighty body shattered into thirty and three pieces -- the first rune stones known to mankind.

Though the nations formed languages of their own when the Alliance dissolved, the same runes served them all, and continue to do so today. Not only do they preserve our words for generations to come, but they also offer an inheritance of inestimable strength and wisdom to those with the giftedness and patience to become adepts of the virtus mystica.

Chronicles of the Great Alliance

by Halyrr Horakkyn Minor

historiographer of the Order of the Brazen Stallion, YBS 3405 - 3431