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  1. #1
    c558382@showme.missouri.
    Guest

    A little history

    The following text is a history of the demise of the Order of the Sun
    and its connection to the founding of the Greybeard line. To assist the
    reader, I offer these useful facts: the adventurers and perspective are
    dwarven. Reference to our friends and our lands refer to friends of the
    dwarves and dwarven lands. Eltarin Llewylen is an elven ranger who took
    up service in the lands of Hildigart Endrede, dwarven Envoy to the elves.
    Arbik Oakenhand his his dwarven assistant who posseses the guide class
    described in Sages and Specialists. Thaim Ironsmelt is a high level
    dwarven chanter (demi-bard) who was the overthane's tutor, and continues
    as his advisor. Fuden the Silent is a mid-level priest of one of the dark
    cults the dwarves keep suppresed. One of the perennial problems of the
    dwarven realm is the cult menace, insidious, many dwarves do not even
    realise they worship un-approved entities. The overthane faught a battle
    with (adventure type) with Fudin, in which Fudin escaped covered by his
    undead minions. The dwarven calendar coresponds to Masetian Arrival.

    Kenneth Gauck
    c558382@showme.missouri.edu
    - ------------------------

    The assistant to Eltarin Llewylen, the dwarf guide Arbik Oakenhand, was
    looking for evidence of crossings from the Chimearon into the Promontory.
    Arbik, a retainer of Hildegart, was doing this work in the lands of
    Wulfram because of the role his superior, Eltarin, played in the pursuit
    of Fudin the Silent. While crossing desolate peaks and valleys devoid of
    mineral wealth, Arbik found a construct which he first took to be a refuge
    of Fudin, indeed he supposed he might find the cultist and surprise him.
    Instead what he discovered was an old ruin, abandoned for centuries.
    Arbik's immediate investigations revealed that it was infested with foul
    vermin, such as giant rats, cave crickets, and giant ants. Knowing the
    danger such vermin pose, Arbik withdrew and made his way to Kurkburg, the
    seat of the Thane, Wulfram Ironvein. Wainier House was then in the
    midst of great preparations, and the Thane was too busy to receive Arbik.
    Rather, his son Raknarr received the dwarf guide and heard his story.
    Raknarr sent for the Thane's Miner, and ordered a team of Pest-masters
    conscripted. A platoon of twelve Pest- masters were assembled and issued
    kettles, tents, and axes. The noble, Morolk Stonefist, a knight in the
    service of the Thane, led the pest-masters in their mission. They were
    ordered to clear the ruin of its foulness and prepare it for proper
    investigation by learned men. As the Overthane was expected to arrive for
    the christening of the Ironvein children, Arbik was instructed to await
    his arrival to inform him personally.

    [With this adventure hook the players visit the ruin...]

    Thaim's Explanation: This tower bears the design and ornament of Avani!
    There is no doubt that is one of the towers built by the Order of the Sun,
    Avani's Order. In the days before the Anurians came to Khinasi, when the
    land beyond Baruk-Azhik was still ruled by Basarji traders, an order of
    knights defended the city-states. This was the Order of the Sun, also
    known as Avani's Order, or the Knights of the Eternal Sun, a brotherhood
    of Paladins, chosen from among the ranks of the soldiers of Avani, goddess
    of the sun. The knights stood for justice, stability, and reason. The
    order defended the Khinasi against the Anurians during the Anurian
    expansion, over 700 years ago. Founded initially after Deismaar to combat
    the awnsheghlien, the Order of the Sun achieved military, political, and
    spiritual might in the Western Khinasi lands of Binsada and Dhafrane, as
    the Chimaeron was known before the coming of the Chimera. The Khinasi
    pushed into Baruk-Azhik intent on subjugating us, and we turned to our
    long-time friends on the Anurian throne, the dynasty of Roele, for
    assistance in 1277. The new emperor, Alandalae, nobly took up our cause.
    The coming of the Anurians was the direct cause of the fall of the Order
    of the Sun. With our assistance, the armies of Anuire crossed the Iron
    Peaks and pushed into Dhafrane. A citadel known as the Spires of the Sun
    was the order's greatest stronghold. It was located in the city of
    Dhafrane, which was leveled by the Anurians and refounded as Barniere.
    They had outposts all throughout the Iron Peaks, along the Tarvan Hills,
    near the Rain Serpent Mountains, and along the Kratal river facing
    Coeranys. The adventurer-knights of the Order could not withstand the
    organized forces of the Anurians. Pressed by the Anurians in the west and
    the awnsheghlien in the east, the order collapsed. While this occurred,
    the renown Khinasi general, El-Arrasi organized the Basarji Federation to
    meet the Anurians. Most of Alandalae's army was heavy cavalry poorly
    suited to fighting in the southern Iron Peaks, so he tried to fight the
    Khinasi in the Khurinbyrn Valley and east into the Rohrmarch, then subject
    to the Khinasi. In the southern territories of the Rohrmarch, where
    Khinasi colonization took place, the Basarji Federation and the last
    companies of the Order of the Sun met Alandalae and his Anurians at the
    Battle of Asarwe in 1299. Many dwarves fought alongside the humans in
    special companies. One such warrior was your ancestor, Makkan Rockhammer.
    During the battle, the Knights of the Sun launched a suicidal charge to
    kill the Emperor. While they succeeded in killing Alandalae, they were
    themselves destroyed by Alandalae's honor guard and the dwarven company to
    his right, including your great, great grandfather Makkan. It was then
    that Makkan earned his birthright by killing one of the noble captains of
    the Order. Upon assuming his blood power, Makkan Rockhammer's beard turned
    stone gray, and he was forever known as "graybeard", as you are today.
    The Order of the Sun was destroyed and was never reestablished. Now all
    that remains of the Order are its ruins, such as this one.

    1277 GR (Gideon Rinsparr) Emperor Alandalae takes Iron Throne opens
    a campaign against the Basarji
    1279 GR El-Arrasi organizes Basarji Federation
    1299 GR Alandalae killed in Basarji campaign at the battle of Asarwe,
    Caercuillen becomes emperor and ally of el-Arrasi
    1311 GR Death of el-Arrasi
    1327 GR Eldracht Hoffstugart of Mafden leads rebellion against Anuire
    1328 GR Makkan "Greybeard" ambushed and killed on a diplomatic mission.

    By the way, the story of your ancestor Makkan remains tied to the imperial
    house of Roele. After the Battle of Asarwe, Caercuillen became emperor
    and made peace and concluded an alliance with el-Arrasi. But this was the
    high watermark to the Empire. In 1327, Eldracht Hoffstugart of Mafden
    started the rebellion against Anuire. The Emperor, aware of the noble
    reputation of Makkan, who was as endowed with charm and grace as he was
    with strength and courage, asked Makkan to undertake a diplomatic mission
    to Brechtur. He was asked to call upon the Dwarves of Massenmarch to
    suppress the rebellion, to journey to Brechlen to ask the Herzog of Muden
    to arrest Hoffstugart and the ringleaders of the resistance. Such a
    mission, if successful, could have ended the rebellion and stemmed the
    decline of the Empire. The Brechts knew it and they laid an ambush for
    Makkan as he crossed the Thurin River between Kiergard and Massenmarch in
    the Thuringode Forest. We do not know exactly what transpired, but it is
    known Makkan and his diplomatic party was killed by the rebels. His
    birthright descended to his son, Golan, whose sterling character, heroic
    reputation, and marriage to Grabbo Rockhammer, his cousin, secured his
    acquisition of the Thaneship of Rivenrock, which has been in the hands of
    Rockhammer for centuries, and was thence passed to your collateral branch.

  2. #2
    prtr02@scorpion.nspco.co
    Guest

    A little history

    [With this adventure hook the players visit the ruin...]

    Thaim's Explanation: This tower bears the design and ornament of Avani!
    There is no doubt that is one of the towers built by the Order of the Sun,
    Avani's Order. In the days before the Anurians came to Khinasi, when the
    land beyond Baruk-Azhik was still ruled by Basarji traders, an order of
    knights defended the city-states. This was the Order of the Sun, also
    known as Avani's Order, or the Knights of the Eternal Sun, a brotherhood
    of Paladins, chosen from among the ranks of the soldiers of Avani, goddess
    of the sun. The knights stood for justice, stability, and reason. The
    order defended the Khinasi against the Anurians during the Anurian
    expansion, over 700 years ago. Founded initially after Deismaar to combat
    the awnsheghlien, the Order of the Sun achieved military, political, and
    spiritual might in the Western Khinasi lands of Binsada and Dhafrane, as
    the Chimaeron was known before the coming of the Chimera. The Khinasi
    pushed into Baruk-Azhik intent on subjugating us, and we turned to our
    long-time friends on the Anurian throne, the dynasty of Roele, for
    assistance in 1277. The new emperor, Alandalae, nobly took up our cause.
    The coming of the Anurians was the direct cause of the fall of the Order
    of the Sun. With our assistance, the armies of Anuire crossed the Iron
    Peaks and pushed into Dhafrane. A citadel known as the Spires of the Sun
    was the order's greatest stronghold. It was located in the city of
    Dhafrane, which was leveled by the Anurians and refounded as Barniere.
    They had outposts all throughout the Iron Peaks, along the Tarvan Hills,
    near the Rain Serpent Mountains, and along the Kratal river facing
    Coeranys. The adventurer-knights of the Order could not withstand the
    organized forces of the Anurians. Pressed by the Anurians in the west and
    the awnsheghlien in the east, the order collapsed. While this occurred,
    the renown Khinasi general, El-Arrasi organized the Basarji Federation to
    meet the Anurians. Most of Alandalae's army was heavy cavalry poorly
    suited to fighting in the southern Iron Peaks, so he tried to fight the
    Khinasi in the Khurinbyrn Valley and east into the Rohrmarch, then subject
    to the Khinasi. In the southern territories of the Rohrmarch, where
    Khinasi colonization took place, the Basarji Federation and the last
    companies of the Order of the Sun met Alandalae and his Anurians at the
    Battle of Asarwe in 1299. Many dwarves fought alongside the humans in
    special companies. One such warrior was your ancestor, Makkan Rockhammer.
    During the battle, the Knights of the Sun launched a suicidal charge to
    kill the Emperor. While they succeeded in killing Alandalae, they were
    themselves destroyed by Alandalae's honor guard and the dwarven company to
    his right, including your great, great grandfather Makkan. It was then
    that Makkan earned his birthright by killing one of the noble captains of
    the Order. Upon assuming his blood power, Makkan Rockhammer's beard turned
    stone gray, and he was forever known as "graybeard", as you are today.
    The Order of the Sun was destroyed and was never reestablished. Now all
    that remains of the Order are its ruins, such as this one.

    - ----- End Included Message -----

    This is great adventure background. Connecting The Order of the Sun with your
    campaign presents some historical consistency problems though. Published in
    "The Sword of Roele" official BR adventure, the history of the order (and thus
    the whole adventure premise) conflicts with other TSR products. What else is
    new?- they should hire me as continuity checker for the Birthright line.

    All dates HC

    40-80 Roele conquers most of the known world.
    In Khinasi, Roele conquers to modern Khourane, Ariya remains independent

    approx 740 El-Arrasi leads the Khinasi revolt which ends with the battle of the
    emperors, golden age of Khinasi begins.

    The history of the Order of the Sun as presented in Sword of Roele could work if
    your transplanted the order to Djafra or Min-Dhousi. It couldn't have been
    defending the passes of the Iron Peaks from the Anuireans during the reign of
    Emp Al because in had already been Anuirean for over 600 years.

    I haven't resolved this yet. I was thinking of moving the story to Min-Dhousi
    and substituting the 5 Royal Mages for the three brothers. I don't know who
    would take the Chimera's place. If you move the adventure though, all the
    maps etc. that you paid $14 for are useless. I guess that's what upsets me
    about Sword. It's monsters, treasures and premise are inconsistent with the
    BR world. I could have written a much more cohesive adventure for free. Makes
    one appreciate LotHK and KotGD. Having one group of authors (our fearless and
    underappreciated BR team *kiss kiss*) has made the world much consistent.

    Oh, in case it's not clear, consistency is a very good thing.

    Randax

  3. #3
    c558382@showme.missouri.
    Guest

    A little history

    Thanks for the correct historical dates.

    I had noted the problem of the Anurians fighting in territories they
    already controlled. But I reasoned it this way. The Khinasi rose up, and
    pushed their organized forces forward to allow the rebels to liesure to
    win back the homefront without Anurian interfearance. If the Anurians are
    exerting their efforts trying to break back into Binsada, instead of
    putting down local uprisings, relieving garrisons, arresting ringleaders,
    &c, &c, &c. I assume there were a great number of Anurian or Anuire-loyal
    forces besieged, ambushed, isolated, &c.

    Kenneth Gauck
    c558382@showme.missouri.edu

  4. #4
    Samuel Weiss
    Guest

    A little history

    On the topic of Sword of Roele,

    S

    P

    O

    I

    L

    E

    R

    What ever happened to the description of the vampir ein the upper tomb
    area? I found the early reference to it, but nothing more. Is there some
    errata on this somewhere?

    Samwise

  5. #5
    prtr02@scorpion.nspco.co
    Guest

    A little history

    Yeah, where is that Vamp? Actually, The Sword of Roele would be an OK adventure
    in the Forgotten (rightly so!*) Realms. It's power level, many of the
    premises, and of course the somewhat lame sword itself just don't fit into BR.

    Back on history. I too considered having a local uprising to justify the
    timing. The presented history makes it pretty clear that the Order guarded
    the passes in the Iron Peaks for 100s of years though. The tomb complex in
    the adventure isn't something one builds to support a local rebellion.

    I've got a cunning plan. How 'bout having the Chimera (what was it called
    before?) be a Khinasi 'crusader state"? It's pretty clear Roele marched over
    the Iron Peaks in his initail conquests, but let's say the knights of the order
    took it back several 100 years later- say about 500 HC. This would give the
    order 200 years to fight and fortify before losing it to the Anuireans again.

    I picked 200-300 years to correlate with the RW crusader states which lasted
    about that long.

    Randax


    * TM of Randax

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