Glorium
The ancient towers of Glorium rise from the waters of the Kindersee atop jagged lichen covered rocks. Once the resting place of the kings of Himinborg, Glorium long ago fell under The Curse that once plagued the Swordlands. It is said that the dead rose from the earth and wandered the land, laying waste to anything in their path. In this time the three towers of Glorium were said to echo with the cries of long dead kings trapped in their tombs of stone. As mysteriously as they had appeared, the legion of dead men vanished, but the folk of the Swordlands never again buried their fallen in the earth. All across the land the dead have since been cremated atop funeral pyres, or, in the case of a warrior of great renown, sent to rest in a burning longship.
The Chamber of the First and Second Age
Seven large murals spanning floor to ceiling 20 feet high, each between 30 and 80 feet in length depict a history of the first and second ages of the Swordlands:
1
‘Byfrøst, Source of all Divine Knowledge’
A mountainous landscape dominated by a single peak that rises above the clouds. Above, a rainbow crosses the clear sky and below ancient peoples gaze up at the mountain in wonder. Amongst the people stand three kings named Balethørn, Bör, and Bestla. Each king holds one fist raised, palm outwards, in the sign of Kord.
(Thunder recognises these names and remembers the kings themselves, picturing their faces as if he had seen them with his own eyes.)
2
‘For The Crown’
Three kings named Helbör, Harman, and Halfmyr lead their armies against one another. In this gigantic panel thousands upon thousands of warriors are slaughtered. The three kingdoms bear insignia that the adventurers recognise as similar to those on the shields they recovered from the skeletal horde that attacked them in the Nine Mothers Gap: The Wolf, The Stag, and The Serpent. The kings slay one another to be replaced in the mural by their successors, representing a single battle lasting some seven generations. The succession of kings is as follows:
For the sign of the serpent: Helbör, Helbryg, Helmüt, Helmyr, Helson, Helgürd, and Helman.
For the sign of the stag: Harman, Hardyg, Harmüth, Haringald, Haralmyr, Hardan, and Harald.
For the clan of the wolf: Halfmyr, Halfbör, Halfborg, Halfgör, Halfingson, Halfgrym, and Halfdan.
(The Crown Wars were said to take place around 6 to 7 hundred years ago, lasting over a century and a half.)
3
‘Here is Halfdan, Man-And-A-Half,
Seventh son of Mycklegarth,
Born to war and in war crowned,
Now finds peace here in the ground,
In wrath he broke the sacred seal,
And rent the root of Yggdrasil.’
Halfdan severs the chains that binds a gigantic wolf named Fenryr, which sets upon the armies around it.
(The party know legends of this creature as an ancient feral monster of the Feywild, or Aelfheim. Fenryr was said to be one of the first lords of Brokenstone Vale, a forest domain deep in the shadows of a mountain pass, in the distant and desolate reaches of the Feywild. Stories of this beast reach back some 800 years or more. Although little is known of Fenryr itself, Brokenstone Vale is now said to be home to lycanthropes.)
4
‘Here is Harald Know-No-Fear,
Seventh son of Thruthgelmyr,
Noble lord in battle torn,
Sleeps forever sorrow-sworn,
When death near loomed and hope had died,
He flung the next gate open wide.’
Sounding his hunting horn as he lies dying on the battlefield, Harald calls an antlered huntress named Angrböde, who cuts swathes through the ranks of warriors.
(Angrböde is described in legend as an ancient creature of the Formorian, fearsome and malign giants of the Feydark.)
5
‘Here is Helman Fire-In-The-Fen,
Seventh son of Hamingjen,
As darkness fell upon the land,
Blind he was to fates cruel hand,
His kin he gave to save the dale,
And thus the Tearing of the Veil.’
Helman walks hand-in-hand with a young child towards a dragon named Nydhøg, who breathes fire on the armies of all banners alike.
(Nydhøg was known as an ancient and terrible faerie dragon said to lair in the fens of Murkendraw deep in the Feywild. Her legend is decorated with tales of tyranny and slaughter, only the hag Baba Yaga rivalled her infamy.)
6
‘Rivenhart, First Knight of Himinborg’
A warrior emerges from the chaos and slays the three monsters Fenryr, Angrböde, and Nydhøg, one after another. He is named as Rivenhart, bearing a stylised eye on his shield, similar to the insignia of the Legion That Waits. King Vingolf is depicted sitting on the throne in a great hall built on the bones of the fallen wyrm Nydhøg. To his right sits Rivenhart with one raised fist, and to his left, Queen Brichta.
(King Vingolf and Queen Brichta are said to have ruled Himinborg some 500 years ago.)
Elsewhere in the scene, curious figures are seen throughout the land, figures that Iben recognises as symbolic representations of Aelfheim spirits revered in villages across the Swordlands, including his home village of Kindraed. These characters are depicted living amongst the people of the land despite their sometimes strange appearances and activities. Some of the figures that Iben recognises are described here:
- A woman tending the apple trees in an orchard. Her distinctive bunched hair identifies her as Appleseed, spirit of youth and guardian of the young.
- A cobbler wearing a single oversized boot on his right foot is Thickmostshoe. He collects all wasted and unused shoe leather to fashion his almighty boot. He is the patron of prudence and foresight.
- A handsome man with gold for teeth looks at his reflection in a pool. He is Goldteeth, the reflection spirit of vanity, and ones inner voice or conscience.
- A man hangs by his neck from a tree. The ravens pecking out his eyes indicate that he is The Hanged Man, king of foolish wisdom and irony.
- An old man sits in a circle of children. His oversized head denotes that he is Storybreath, an everchanging spirit who moves within stories from one teller to the next. He signifies change and dreams.
- Two goats charge down either side of a mountain. They are Thunder and Lightning, spirits of the storm.
- A woman sits at a wheel spinning gold from her own hair. She is Goldenhair, the spirit of battle and perfection.
- A naked giant strides through the ocean which reaches only his ankles at its deepest. He is Cleanfoot, patron of fishermen and sailors.
- A woman sweeps back the tide from the shore with a broom. She is Lady Snowshoes, spirit of the hunt and the land. Wife to Cleanfoot, she works hard to keep her husband in his place, as with any relationship of give and take.
- Building a ship from the nails of dead men is The Boon Companion, or The Apple Thief. He is the trickster spirit who helps as much as he hinders.
- A young maiden looks down from atop a waterfall while children play in the village below. The name of this spirit is unknown but it is believed to be the forgotten guardian spirit of Kindraed.
7
‘Rivenhart sails into the Underworld’
In the final panel, the warrior named Rivenhart sails a boat away from Himinborg and through the gates of the underworld upon a river of knives. Here awaits a beautiful and mysterious woman, black on one side of her face, white on the other. On the shore from where he came King Gylfi looks out across the ocean as Rivenhart sails away.
(Iben recogises the female figure as a fey spirit known as Mistress Night and Day, who tends to the souls of the damned in the underworld (otherwise known as Svartlheim, or the Feydark). King Gylfi is known to have lived some 250 years ago.)
There is an eighth mural depicting a beautifully ornate tree, its limbs, roots and trunk formed of swirling arrangements of inlaid precious stones. Thousands of different pieces decorate this stylised tree, each a different colour and size.
