HIGH WAIL ROOK
“High Wail is wet and grey and cold, and The Souse is the wet, grey, cold part of it.
We who live here like to think we counter the weather with friendliness, but like all people the friendliness is only a mask, thick as cobweb.”
- Doran
High Wail Rook takes place on a vast continent.
From the lush rain forests of The Great Verdant to the wealthy cities of the Seed Lands, from the frigid ice of The Vast Aught to the white-out blizzards that cloak the Fist of the Wraith, The Continent is home to all manner of people.
It is a place of legends and magic, war and faith, adventure and misadventure. It contains a myriad of cultures both ancient and new. It is wondrous and miraculous and dangerous.
One small part - a town on the rain-soaked shores of the Mourning Sea called ‘Enon Derris’ - is home to a troubled young lad named Doran SonLogan. The Continent will be the stage for his life’s travels, and his journey to a destination he cannot avoid:
The end, or beginning, of everything…
It is incomplete. But the story unfurls and The Map evolves. Or so it is written, in the ancient texts.
This is a map of The Continent.
Click on it to get a closer look.
Before we get to Doran, however, we must get to know The Continent.
And, like anywhere, the best way to get to know a place is through its stories.
And so we begin, not in the wet streets of Enon Derris, but in the myths & legends of an area called THE SEED LANDS.
THE SEED LANDS
They are the hub of all wealth on The Continent, and contain the epicentre of religion - the famous holy city of Green Temple.
The Seed Lands are a Corpocracy - ruled by the wealthy merchants who control the flow of produce from the Continent’s most fertile region.
Where there is money, there is paranoia. So, to protect their interests, the Merchant Rulers employ mercenary Knights. The Knights are controlled by an ancient and mysterious guild known as 3Moons.
Some of the Knights find huge fame for their battle skills and valour, outgrowing the title of mere ‘mercenary’ to become legends.
Warriors like Irla (The Cleave of Rin) and Elayda of Green Temple have names that are immune to time, that will live forever, in waking and in dreams.
Sponsored* knights roam the Badlands...
No kill, no pay.
*ThreeMoons™ UltraCorp® accepts no responsibility for loss of limb or life.
KNIGHTS OF THE AURIC COAST
THE DESERT KNIGHT
Of her, very little is known.
The Desert Knight has no name.
It is said she was once a great warrior, under the command of Bria in the City of Kreyte, but no one can confirm this for there are no records of her being there.
Only rumour.
All that is known is she was rogue - no longer under the watchful eye of the 3Moons Guild, and roaming the wastelands in search of… what?
A death befitting her, possibly.
Something impossible to find, certainly.
DRAGON RIDERS
Many warriors plying their trade in The Seed Lands prefer more exotic mounts to horses.
For those who hail from the West, near the great lake of Elon's Fingertip and the jungles of The Great Verdant - Dragons are the beast of choice. They make for fearsome companions, and have decided many a battle before the warrior even needed to draw their blade...
From 'Champions of The Seed Lands' by Gawyle, Scribe of Kreyte.
“The Legends Are Known.”
~ old proverb
This saying is one of many that are uttered over centuries by the peoples of The Continent. Its origin is too far back for anyone to care where it comes from. But it’s generally accepted to mean that myths are not myths at all, they are merely history embellished. The old stories of The Continent are known because they are real. Or were. Or will be…
Irla of Rin
The story of Irla, also known as ‘The Cleave of Rin’, and the love affair that destroyed a nation, is one of the most famous and well-loved tales on The Continent.
It has been told in many forms, and inspired many timeworn songs:
Elayda of Green Temple
“It was the year of SummerSwell.
The hordes of Un were driven North by Famine, after they had feasted on The Embers to the West.
They could not sate their hunger there.
The Merchants of Kreyte and Dawn, Rayse and Yat grew nervous, but their fears were softened by the presence of their hired Knights, and all the more by the Holy Order at Green Temple.
No swarm could truly take the Auric Coast, for they had, among all of their defences, the Cleave of Rin - Irla. She would not allow for any incursion.
The Temple too had their Champion - Elayda.
Together, she and Irla had been the Custodians of all the Merchant Lands, safeguards of the fertile soil that seemed to grow Gold straight from the Earth.
Together, they allowed Traders from The Fill to The Cut to sleep easy.
None knew that their love had blossomed.
None would allow it, as Elayda had taken the Green Oath and given herself to the Majiq of the Dead Gods.
Knowing the storm their passion would pull down on them, the lovers agreed to flee.
Irla’s Masters were found slaughtered.
Elayda performed the Absolute Sacrilege, and removed her Lines from the Sight of Gods.
They were never seen again. The hordes descended.”
From 'Histories of The Auric Coast' - Author unknown.
Irla & Elayda, after they absconded from The Seed Lands, just as the Hordes of Un descended…
Kelak the Swift
"It is said of the warrior Kelak, whom many called ‘Kelak the Swift’, that even the wind gave way when he ran.
It was also said that he could make the same wind sing to the dance of his sword. "
By some quirk of magic, if you - traveller - happen to hold this image of Kelak in your ‘Digital Wallet’, you should go to Unlockables where you can access the recovered manuscript of Kelak’s story, and discover the role he played in Irla & Elayda’s.
Baiden the Archer
“How young Baiden came to possess the Swan Bow, when it had been in the possession of one of the most feared warriors in all of the Seed Lands - Elayda of Green Temple - has been lost to time.
Some surmise it was a lover's gift. Others that Baiden was a thief.
However he obtained it, only one thing is sure - with it, he never missed again.”
From 'Warriors of The Auric Coast' by Gawyle, Scribe of Kreyte.
Bria of Kreyte
"It was said she hailed from the heart of The Nightcutters - indeed from the very peak of Heavenslain itself - though none knew the truth of it.
Whatever her origins, Bria was as formidable as those cold mountains, and as deadly.
Not long after the War against the Un, Bria settled in the city of Kreyte and swiftly went about the business of making it her own.
Her ascension to the Granite Throne was complete within a few short months, and she ruled until her death.
Being my home, I have learned the story of Bria since my first days of schooling.
Even now, centuries later, she still strikes the same chord - one of perfect balance between fear and undying admiration.'
From 'A History of The Seed Lands: The Fall of The Corpocracy' by Gawyle, Scribe of Kreyte.
GREEN TEMPLE
THE HOLY CITY OF
The Seed Lands are not just known for wealth and the mercenary Knights who earn their fortune there.
They are also the centre point of the Continent’s religion - the worship of The Dead Gods of Ulthera, who gave them access to majik via The Holy Lines and built The Engines.
The beating heart of this religion is the palace city of Green Temple.
Its walls are guarded by the feared Excubitors, who are sworn not to move, not even a twitch, until called to action.
The sanctity of the Temple is fiercely protected by many more - an army of fighters of various orders, including the elite Cataphracts, Halberdiers & heroes like Adira of Reyse.
EXCUBITORS
"They are allowed no movement, not a twitch.
For age upon age they have mastered the pace of their hearts, found calm in the cold winds that dance among the finials.
They watch in pure silence for the moment they are at last allowed to spring, and none have passed them yet."
From 'On The Guards of Green Temple', by Odel of Rayse
The elite Cataphracts - masters of the short double-point spear and soldiers of The Holy Cavalry.
The Halberdiers: famous armour-crushers
Adira of Rayse was one of the most exalted & formidable paladins of the Temple. Second only to Elayda in battle prowess, Adira lead the Dead God's Army against the hordes of Un when her superior broke her Sacred Lines and absconded with The Cleave of Rin, Irla.
NEOKORO
These are the Custodians of Green Temple
WHAT ABOUT DORAN?
Doran’s story is the long-form part of this project.
A novel - following his life as a runaway through The Continent, via the jungles of The Great Verdant, to the lethal peaks of The Nightcutter mountains, to fame (or infamy) among the warriors of The Seed Lands, and on into ever-deeper dreams of a girl called Koa and their fate, so entwined, calling to them from a place from which no one returns…
HERE IS THE OPENING LINE:
The wind on the seaward streets of Enon Derris, all tangy with brine, always blows up your britches. It goes up every crack of you like an invasion and I curse my father for the thousandth time that he made me work today, one full of ocean bluster and spiteful cold.
The rest is well underway…