In which a Loari is encountered
The following morning it was easy to ask around for a Loari apothecary - not too difficult, as he is apparently the only Loari in town. To our surprise, he was expecting us - Karstia had told him that we would be looking for information. (How did she tell him? I presume some kind of mystical means, but I’m not sure how it is done over such a vast distance.
However, I digress. Yes, the Loari called himself by an absurd human name, but it is obviously just a name he uses amongst non-Iylar. I understand perfectly - my companions call me Amith, because I don’t think some of them could cope with saying Amithralia on any kind of a regular basis. So, for the purposes of this tale at least, Fred he shall remain. (Although I do wonder if it is a short form of something, or he has just taken a human alias. But it is not important.)
What is important is that he had further information to add to what we had already learned. Namely, that although they have seemingly vanished, the Narsaelkin were NOT destroyed. They have merely ‘returned to their resting places’ - and by whom they were returned is unknown. What is known is that there are three separate locations, which extensive research has identified in a general sense. But this research was not able to indicate which sword can be found at which location.
The bad news is that Implementor was not destroyed either. The information Fred had is that the wielder, Telaas, has risen again - this time as some foul undead creature (of type unknown). Once the three swords are recovered, they will apparently act as some kind of a beacon for Implementor. Which I suspect will not be one of my favourite experiences.
He had some other information for us too. The Cloud Lords of old belonged to a race known as Ezranarans. They are now extinct, and have been for several millennia. Therefore while there may be some people calling themselves Cloud Lords, they must be a different race.
Tied to the apparent ‘return’ of the Cloud Lords, there are persistent rumours that the Pegasus artefacts have resurfaced. Fred did not have more information that this, but it does lead to some interesting questions. Do these new Cloud Lords have control over the flying horses because they have the Pegasus artefacts? Or did possessing the Pegasus regalia lead to them finding or controlling the flying creatures? Of course I am assuming that the same group have the stearden and the regalia, but this might not be the case.
Fred also gave us a brief rundown of the different groups in Tanara. The Sulini are human (and for those of us who recognise these things, obviously of mixed elven blood), and live in the coastal regions around the bay. The Myri - the big humans - have most of the middle region, except for the areas where invaders from Rhakhaan settled. The mysterious Duranaki live in the mountain regions. And the Yinka - who started the current war - are living to the south.
Something that I took particular note of: the Sulini were engaged with the Yinka, and were in difficulty holding them off. However they succeeded in doing this AFTER a group - an army? Or navy perhaps - of golden haired elves arrived on catamarans. They gave aid to the Sulini and helped defeat the Yinka, and then sailed off again.
This has got me speculating. Urulan was the great elven nation, on islands to the east of Jaiman. The royal family of Urulan held the Unicorn crown and regalia. Of the six nations, they were the last to stop wearing the crown. However this did not help them, as they were apparently wiped out by some magical plague. Now it is reputedly a desolate place - but it would be in vaguely the right direction for these nautical elves to have come from.
Perhaps Urulan is not quite as deserted as we have been lead to believe?
However, I digress. Yes, the Loari called himself by an absurd human name, but it is obviously just a name he uses amongst non-Iylar. I understand perfectly - my companions call me Amith, because I don’t think some of them could cope with saying Amithralia on any kind of a regular basis. So, for the purposes of this tale at least, Fred he shall remain. (Although I do wonder if it is a short form of something, or he has just taken a human alias. But it is not important.)
What is important is that he had further information to add to what we had already learned. Namely, that although they have seemingly vanished, the Narsaelkin were NOT destroyed. They have merely ‘returned to their resting places’ - and by whom they were returned is unknown. What is known is that there are three separate locations, which extensive research has identified in a general sense. But this research was not able to indicate which sword can be found at which location.
The bad news is that Implementor was not destroyed either. The information Fred had is that the wielder, Telaas, has risen again - this time as some foul undead creature (of type unknown). Once the three swords are recovered, they will apparently act as some kind of a beacon for Implementor. Which I suspect will not be one of my favourite experiences.
He had some other information for us too. The Cloud Lords of old belonged to a race known as Ezranarans. They are now extinct, and have been for several millennia. Therefore while there may be some people calling themselves Cloud Lords, they must be a different race.
Tied to the apparent ‘return’ of the Cloud Lords, there are persistent rumours that the Pegasus artefacts have resurfaced. Fred did not have more information that this, but it does lead to some interesting questions. Do these new Cloud Lords have control over the flying horses because they have the Pegasus artefacts? Or did possessing the Pegasus regalia lead to them finding or controlling the flying creatures? Of course I am assuming that the same group have the stearden and the regalia, but this might not be the case.
Fred also gave us a brief rundown of the different groups in Tanara. The Sulini are human (and for those of us who recognise these things, obviously of mixed elven blood), and live in the coastal regions around the bay. The Myri - the big humans - have most of the middle region, except for the areas where invaders from Rhakhaan settled. The mysterious Duranaki live in the mountain regions. And the Yinka - who started the current war - are living to the south.
Something that I took particular note of: the Sulini were engaged with the Yinka, and were in difficulty holding them off. However they succeeded in doing this AFTER a group - an army? Or navy perhaps - of golden haired elves arrived on catamarans. They gave aid to the Sulini and helped defeat the Yinka, and then sailed off again.
This has got me speculating. Urulan was the great elven nation, on islands to the east of Jaiman. The royal family of Urulan held the Unicorn crown and regalia. Of the six nations, they were the last to stop wearing the crown. However this did not help them, as they were apparently wiped out by some magical plague. Now it is reputedly a desolate place - but it would be in vaguely the right direction for these nautical elves to have come from.
Perhaps Urulan is not quite as deserted as we have been lead to believe?