Legacies

Chapter 2

Knowledge is a powerful tool. It can pierce the strongest armour and create the sharpest sword. Knowledge is sacred. It is the one force in the universe gifted by the Creator. Knowledge is too dangerous to be left unregulated. It must be cultivated and protected, it must be conserved and protected, and above all, it must be cherished by those with the wisdom to use it appropriately. We are that wisdom, we are the only ones that can arbitrate the flow of knowledge, only we can protect the world.

Opening remarks of Grand- Loremaster Ilmaahan ap Aliros at the 352nd Convocation of Loremasters

The Collegium Library in Skyre's Folly was the most prestigious civil building in the whole of the Marchlands. It towered over the other nearby buildings it's stone facade cold, imposing, and arrogant. Skyre's Folly was unusual in that the library was much larger than most other towns of its size and importance. Some said that it was built on an old Mafiki structure, but Thorold had never found any evidence of this. It held a huge collection of ancient scrolls and books rivalled only by those in the Great Library of Seven Spires. Most of the scrolls predated their arrival in Hallovan written in ancient near indecipherable Naaenilian Aside from the large main library hall in which the less important and valuable books and scrolls were housed, there were a series of reading rooms, offices and a vast archival vault hewn from the rock beneath it. In a side annex was a school room for the education of the towns children and from the looks for it an extension had been constructed off the north wing that had the looks of a mechanists workshop. That would indeed be surprising because Stalle was a Loremaster of history and tended to eschew the newer crafts of mechanistry, alchemy and physicus that was seeping across the Collegium.

Thorold trotted up the rows of steps to the library and pushed his way through the brass framed revolving door emerging into the light open vaulted atrium. Black and white checkerboard flagstones disappeared into the near distance up to a double staircase with red carpet that swept sinew like to the upper floors. Along both walls stood a series of statues memorialising the town previous mayors. The role of mayor was something that the town no longer observed, instead during the Scourge the position had been replaced by a town council, designed to be a council of equals but had in fact usually been led by the sitting Guildmaster.

The town council sat in its original form with important members of the town such as the dockmaster, guildmaster, local employers and lords each having a seat. Stalle as Loremaster was entitled to attend but in the twenty years Thorold had known him the old man had never attended a single meeting and he doubted that had changed in the past ten years. It was mid-morning, and the library was quiet, the school classes were in session and those that might be undertaking studies were already ensconced in one of the study carols in the reading rooms. Thorold had spent many hours in those quiet cloisters an ancient text laid open before him. He had studied ancient history whilst with Stalle and had been fascinated by the interesting oddities the town offered. For a start Skyre's Folly had a prominent town wall but had never been threatened in battle, it had a tower usually only found in towns three times its size and that tower was of a design that was unlike any other found in Thorridor or in fact across Hallovan. His research had uncovered nothing new and only confirmed the story that the town was believed to once have been a Mafiki settlement prior to the founding under a different name. The towns namesake, Skyre had been one of the Six Knights of Ilhuhk who had led the diaspora from Naaenil across the Ever Ocean. What folly Skyre had committed here that required naming a town after was unknown and Stalle had devoted his life to unravelling the puzzle splitting his time between private study in the library and the research and teaching he did at the Collegium in Seven Spires. Inevitably he had drawn Thorold into his research and the two had spent many hours poring over manuscripts in poor light looking for clues.

Skyre had been the Knight that founded Tan Salovar to the north, so it was strange that a town in what would then have been called Thoros would be named for him. Stalle had found some evidence in the vaults that there had been a civil war between Skyre and Emrys and that a battle had been fought on or around the hill that the town sat on but there was no archaeological evidence and no real explanation of what caused the conflict. Stalle believed, contrary, to most of his fellow Loremasters that Skyre had been slain during the battle and that his tomb might be located somewhere in the town. Stalle had taken much ridicule for this view most of his peers preferring the simple explanation that the Knights Tomb was most likely in the Tan Salovaran capital, Ilthgaar. They had no real evidence of this other than that Emrys was buried in Seven Spires, Bendryke in Valnoth, Aegos in Dumoras and Larion in Taer Garoth, the last Knight, Gholas had died just as they landed as so was alleged to have been buried at sea. This was all ancient history and much had been lost during the Scourge both physical texts and tribal knowledge held in the stories of local people. The Scourge had killed not only the continents population but its past.