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Post by x - Dumonia (OD) on Dec 13, 2015 16:26:03 GMT
Tintagel - the King's Seat
Overview
The kings of Dumonia, living and dead ones, have for centuries held court or rested their mortal remains in the peninsula of Tintagel, literally the Fort on the Mountain.
Whilst the royal court is usually held in the castle standing astride the narrow strip of land linking Dumonia to Tintagel it is widely known that often the deep and yet gigantic tunnels and caves sitting underneath the peninsula itself are used for various functions (such as store room for dried meat, weapons stores or more sinister purposes if one were to listen to some old women folk). The local legends have it that these caves and tunnels had been carved out by a Fomorian tribe, either defeated and slain or enslaved and chained deep under Tintagel by the first Dumonian king, Ernmas, a sorcerer of tremendous powers who had been banished from Hibernia and roamed the land for two hundred and twenty moons in search of a establishment for him and his handful of followers.
Tintagel – the Fort on the Mountain – eventually inspired the name adopted by the house of Ernmas, Sleibhin, whose dynasty scions have ruled the land for seven times seven generations, including the reign of King Oden.
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Post by x - Dumonia (OD) on Dec 13, 2015 16:26:31 GMT
Tintagel’s magic
The scions of House Sleibhin have all followed the path of Ernmas and generation after generation have sought to penetrate the secret and – at times dark – paths leading to the harnessing of the power from the land’s Mebghail.
Known only to the kings of Dumonia, Ernmas’ quest to conquer and master Tintagel stems from the waves of power emanating from an artefact which was revered by the Fomorian, the so-called Heart of Darkness (Croí an Dorchadais). The Heart is a strange-looking lump fist-sized jet-black lump of something appearing to be a half stone and half metal. Only the heirs of Ernmas have ever touched the Heart however each passing generation learned to half loath and half fear this artefact, giving a feeling of heat and yet leaving the one touching him feeling a cold only akin to death. The heart is believed to be a gift from Balor, the God of Fomorians, to the erstwhile Fomorian king of Albion, Crom Cruach.
Ernmas believed that deep under Tintagel was resting Crom Cruach, held for ever under a spell of sleep cast upon him by a long forgotten Aelvenking, however neither him nor his scions could ever find him and the legendary other artefacts he supposedly received from Balor.
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Post by x - Dumonia (OD) on Dec 13, 2015 16:26:52 GMT
Tintagel during the Southron Empire
Sixteen generations ago, the first gilded proudly gleaming armoured warriors of the fallen Southron Empire landed in Albion and using alternatively treachery and sword wormed their way into submitting most of Albion to the inane desires of the so-called Emperors. Grain and gold, men and women from Albion were drawn over the centuries outside of the island to fuel the endless internal strife and wars with outsiders plaguing the Empire until its very downfall.
When the first so-called legions crossed into Dumonia, they were met with fierce warriors supported with the horrific magic the then-ruling scion of Ernmas could unleash upon them. Black fire and vicious plagues decimated the Legion of the Boar and the Legion of the Purple Eagle, however after years of fighting, most of Dumonia eventually fell to the relentless blows of the army of an Empire rumoured to harbour countless people submitted to the yoke of an Emperor ruling from a city built from white and crimson marble.
Fifteen years after the first engagement with the Imperial Legions the proud yet exhausted Dumonians were assaulted by a combination of two fresh Imperial Legions backed by the vessels of the treacherous tribes inhabiting the lands now known as Gawant and Helna, who had willingly agreed to bend the knee and kissed the sandaled foot of the Emperor. King Tigernmas of Dumonia, his elder son, his more senior followers alongside three quarters of his army fell at the battle of Motura, just a few hours ride from Tintagel.
Decimated the House Sleibhin is said never to have recovered from the loss of such a powerful sorcerer as Tigernmas alongside his most promising apprentice, his son. The crown passed on to the infant grandson of Tigernmas, Erimon, who grew in the shadows of the haunted caves of Tintagel, sheltered from the roaming legionaries and tribesmen from Garwant and Helna by a few old wisemen and hundred fanatical warriors.
Elmion, known as the Elmion the Blind, grew into another wizard yet not as mighty as his grandsire, however the magic he wielded from the rock which delimited his realm, is said to have had a dark twist and left dread in the hearts of those who attended to the king. Thus began the long resistance of Tintagel, ever undefeated by the legions of the Emperor and the treacherous tribes of Albion.
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Post by x - Dumonia (OD) on Dec 13, 2015 16:27:15 GMT
The House of the Rock
For the ensuing centuries, legends have it that Elmion the Blind, ruled from his promontory over the remnants of his tribe with fear and madness as well as the sharpness of iron and the fires of the land’s Mebghail. Human sacrifices to long-forgotten gods are said to have imbued frenzied warriors with enough courage and prowess to single-handedly defeat hundreds of Imperial legionaries and their local auxiliaries. If legends differ, all agree that Elmion the Blind or whoever had been ruling over Tintagel, did lay in wait under that rock like a patient spider waiting for flies from the heart of its vast web.
Whilst the fortunes of Albion rose and fall, intertwined and eventually divorced from the splendid decadence of Emperors increasingly entrenched in their city of white or crimson marble, Tintagel became to some a beacon of stability, if not peace. As the Legions started to roll back, their might fading over the land of Dumonia, progressively dark-clad axe-wielding warriors and various prophets appeared here and there, proclaiming the ever-lasting claims of House Sleibhin to the lands left undefended. Night after night, shrieks of terrors answered by maddening pearls of laughter announced throughout the land the demise of those who had mistakenly forgotten the old days and the power of the children of Ernmas. Ravens feasted on the dead carcasses of those who did once lord over Dumonia.
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Post by x - Dumonia (OD) on Dec 13, 2015 16:27:30 GMT
The Dumonia of living memory
The reign of Morcar Sleibhin which ended abruptly some fifteen years or so ago had been an era of agitation and strife with Dumonia constantly involved in low-level feuding with the treacherous lands of Gawant and Helna where longboats full of armed warriors were a common sight on the seas, sailing laden with plunder, slaves and dead men. Towards the end of his reign (and life), King Morcar was said to have set his predatory sights on the lands of Aliened, whether for outright conquest or mere raiding, will remain forever unknown as the King passed away when his longboat sank suddenly off the coast of Tintagel.
The exact date of Morcar’s demise remains unknown for the passing of Dumonian kings is only announced when the throne has been safely ascended to by a new King. However womenfolk have it that King Morcar and his ship disappeared on a moonless night when winds could be heard whispering strange words and honest folk were cowering under their blankets with their homes’ shutters rattling like leaves in the autumn wind throughout the night.
King Oden, the youngest and only son to survive his father, altered dramatically the course adopted by his father. Raids in Gawant and Helna ceased almost overnight and the story goes on how a chieftain from Totness who thought better than paying heed to his new king was burnt alive along with his slaves upon his return from a successful raid in Gawant. Likewise the assumed preparations for hostilities with Aliened came to naught with the new king adopting a policy where trade and peaceful coexistence led to a progressive and bloodless spreading of Dumonian interests and influence in the western parts of Aliened.
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Post by x - Dumonia (OD) on Dec 24, 2015 14:40:27 GMT
Further updates during the Holidays  |
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Post by Maelgwyn ap Cadwgan (TOG) on Dec 24, 2015 16:13:13 GMT
Looking forward, with this bit I thought: "Oh, Plot twist!"
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Post by x - Dumonia (OD) on Dec 28, 2015 18:26:52 GMT
Dumonia and Camelot: the Raven and the Dragon
The reign of Arthur Pendragon marked the first time since the collapse of the Southron Empire dominion when Dumonia, however reluctantly and often with barely concealed ill-will, bent the knee to an outsider, only this time the scions of House Sleibhin did agree to take an oath of fealty. Following the defeat of the Dumonian banners at the battle of Ilminster as the Dumonians assembled to resist the armies led by Arthur and his pet hedge wizard, Merlin. The encounter between vast hosts, some say with Dumonians reinforced with odd-shaped howling shadows, lasted for three days and three nights as falling Dumonians and supporters of Arthur were rising again to fight.
The ending of the battle remains to this day a mystery as suddenly the Dumonians, and whatever the legends have it was supplementing their host, fell back and the Arthurians did not pursue. On the following dawn, Arthur, Merlin and King Rolghar of Dumonia met at the Jagent Castle where it is said that King Rolghar swore never to raise his banners against his Arthur, to ride to the defence of Camelot and strangely enough for the scions of House Sleibhin and Merlin never to speak again in presence of the other. King Rolghar, the grandfather of Oden, stood by his word and never did Dumonia raise its banners again during the lifetime of Arthur.
That the passing of Arthur was celebrated and the fading of Merlin even more so would certainly be an understatement. As the protection offered by the Pendragons’ banner started to feel weaker and weaker many felt that a Dumonian challenge to seize Albion from Arthur’s contending heirs would be occuring. A years passed by, King Morcar seemingly contented himself with reviving centuries-old feuds which were never laid to rest. During the times of strife between Gendall and Grendall, again the Dumonian banners were not raised in support of either pretender to the Pendragon’s crown. Some whispered darkly that Grendall secured some form of understanding with King Oden, however nothing could ever be substantiated and the emissaries of Glendall always reported courteous reception mingled however with little interest for Albionian affairs from the Dumonian king.
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Post by x - Dumonia (OD) on Jan 17, 2016 17:53:15 GMT
The Formation of Dumonia
Even before the days of the Southron Empire’s domination of Albion, the Kings of Dumonia had expanded their rule to subdue lands and people beyond the reach of Tintagel. With the bleakness and inhospitable moors lying to the East of Tintagel, Totnes – a land of hardy sailors, traders and miners and Lyonesse – the pristine and gently rolling land belonging once to the decimated House Tiachered became the natural point of focus of the scions of House Sleibhin. Old folk are used to recall how over decades seemingly insatiable hordes of warriors and other ill-shaped creatures were vomited season after season from the entrails of Tintagel to fight with the sturdy warriors of Totnes and the proud and gallant riders of House Tiachered. Totnes was the first to succumb after a generation of such a fierce struggle with the city bearing the name of its province being spared by the black-clad host of Tintagel and even receiving privileges for its trade for ninety nine generations. House Tiachered lamented the betrayal of the guilds of Totnes who were said to have held hostage half of the children of the last Totnesian king forcing him to swear allegiance to Tintagel. Local stories in Totnes still recount how the surviving children rode to Tintagel, never to be seen again, surrounded by the celebrating riders of House Sleibhin. Visibly oblivious to the loss of a key ally, House Tiachered pursued their war with Tintagel to the very end. Season after season, their warriors clad in shining armour, mounted on fierce stallions held their ranks and cut down hundreds and hundreds of the Tintagelians. After King Rud Hud Hudibras of Tintagel fell with a curse on his lips, under the gleaming sword of King Leyr of Lyonesse, it seemed that the lands joined the endless fight. The pristine lands of Lyonesse started to suffer from a strange sickness that the druids could not cure, ponds of fresh water started to spew gases and the once-welcoming woods near Arbray became menacing and long thorns started to grow from bushes, the trees grew twisted and dark their leaves crimson. Food became scarce in a land where famine had been an unknown word for ages, the cattle weathered with reports of two-headed lambs of chicken with talons and scales setting upon farmers. The sickening eventually consumed the mind of Prince Llud who once night, when the wind screeched through the bare trees of Arbray’s castle yard, slew his father and sons before, as last scion, crowning himself King of Lyonesse. The minstrels still sing the lai of the Last Swan recanting the downfall of such a noble house with a brief civil war eventually paving the way of ultimate conquest for the eager Tintagelians. 
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