The Borderlands will never be part of any one land because it’s been part of all Four Lands for as long as anyone can remember. —Panax, Dwarf
he Southland, as established by the Druid Council during the partitioning, was bordered in the north by the Dragon’s Teeth Mountains and the Mermidon River, but the majority of the Race of Man abandoned everything north of the Rainbow Lake, preferring more distance between themselves and the other Races. They settled in a smaller region bordered by the Rainbow Lake and the northwestern branch of the Rappahalladran River on the north, the Irrybis Mountains on the northwest, and the Battlemound Lowlands on the northeast. This left a large unpopulated territory all along the northern border, in effect a separate country, which came to be known as the Borderlands. The people remaining in this sparsely settled area called their land Callahorn.
The Borderlands were initially populated by a few hardy souls who refused to follow the mass exodus of their Race to the larger southern cities. These men and women were a breed of rugged individualists who did not agree with the prevailing human sentiment against the other Races. Most of them felt that each man should be accepted for what he was, regardless of his Race, and treated accordingly. Unlike the rest of the Southland, which prided itself on its isolationism, the Borderlands became a crossroads for the Four Lands, open to members of all Races and all nations.
The battle for Tyrsis in the War of the Warlock Lord.
Immediately after the partitioning, civilization in the border areas consisted primarily of small towns and outposts, some of which dated from before the First War of the Races. The majority of the border people lived in small hamlets or remote farms. There was no standing army, only a small militia of fighting men quartered in the fortified town of Tyrsis. Then around three hundred years after the Four Lands were established, the Northland army swept out of the Eastland and blew west across the Borderlands, wiping out everything in their path as they bore down upon the Westland Elves. Within the Borderlands, only the fortified town of Tyrsis survived. It is unknown whether the city escaped because the Northland commanders did not want to expend the effort needed to take the town, or if it simply was bypassed through the expediency of routing the huge army by way of the Mermidon River. In either case, Tyrsis only faced small skirmishes with outlying units of the Northland army, none of which possessed the strength to take the walled town.
The Borderlands were the only part of the Southland affected by the Warlock Lord’s march to the west. They alone felt the might of his armies. Most Southlanders did not even know of the war until long after it was over. That experience set the people of Callahorn even farther apart from the rest of the Race of Man as they realized that they would always be the first to feel the brunt of any attack. Any foe, whether aimed at invading the Southland or moving from East to West, would come through Callahorn first.
Over the next few decades, fallen towns were rebuilt, and the outpost of Kern was founded. Trade with the Eastland and Westland was reestablished, helping the outposts of Kern, Tyrsis, and Varfleet to grow into city-states, each with its own small volunteer militia. Each crowned its own king to rule over and protect the surrounding farmlands and villages. But the fear of another invasion remained a very real concern.
The Borderlands people knew their separate tiny kingdoms could not survive alone, spread out as they were across the lands between the Mermidon and the Rainbow Lake. Raiders from the north and east, drawn by the lucrative caravans of goods traveling in and out of Callahorn, constantly bedeviled the poorly protected lands. Eventually the separate city-states joined all their communities together under the rule of one charismatic leader to form the largest kingdom in the Southland. The first king of Callahorn was Auren Ravenlock of Kern. His father was Kinson Ravenlock, hero of the Second War of the Races and founder of Kern. Auren knew that only a serious fighting force could provide security and safety for his land, so he founded the Border Legion, a standing professional army capable of facing even a foe such as the Warlock Lord.
The Kingdom of Callahorn was established as an enlightened monarchy. The King technically ruled, but his rule was assisted by a parliamentary body of representatives from each community who participated in the government, especially in the creation of laws and policies. It was the first monarchy in the Southland to make use of a representational form of government.
Four hundred years after the Second War of the Races, the crown was passed to the Buckhannah family, and the capital of Callahorn was moved from Kern to Tyrsis, already the headquarters for the Legion. It was the beginning of the golden age of Callahorn. Under the Buckhannahs’ rule, Callahorn thrived and grew strong. The undefeated Border Legion, now under the personal command of the King, became a legend among the Four Lands, protecting the weak wherever they were needed. Tyrsis became a crossroads for the nations, a place known for the tolerance of its people toward men of all Races. The people of Callahorn believed that they were the first of a new age of Man, the beginning of a future where the separation of the Races was no longer needed. They were among the first to refute old prejudices, looking instead for common ground and ways to build bonds between the Races. The three major cities of the Borderlands grew and thrived, as Callahorn became the center of trade for the Four Lands.
Padishar Creel, rebel leader of the Free Born.
Callahorn still considered itself a part of the Southland and took its role as the Southland’s first line of defense very seriously. But its inhabitants did so believing that any sacrifice on their part would be to buy time for the rest of the Southland to prepare for battle, perhaps in time to come to their aid. Less than five hundred years after the kingdom was formed, that assumption was put to the test when the Warlock Lord’s armies once again swept out from the north, intent on destroying all of Callahorn on their way to domination of the Southland.
The Northland army came very close to success. An infiltrator within the royal household almost managed to destroy the Buckhannahs, knowing that without them, Callahorn would fall. This infiltrator killed King Ruhl Buckhannah and was responsible for the brief reign of the Mad Prince, Palance Buckhannah, who disbanded the Border Legion and left Callahorn vulnerable to the Warlock Lord’s armies. When the Northland army descended on Kern and Varfleet, the Legion, which had been undefeated for so many years while protecting the rest of the lands, was unable to protect its own. Only the timely ascension of Balinor Buckhannah to his father’s throne through an almost bloodless uprising allowed the Legion to re-form in time to save Tyrsis.
Balinor and his understrength Border Legion were all that stood between the combined armies of the Warlock Lord and the rest of the Southland. The Legion fought valiantly to hold the line, taking heavy casualties. Kern was destroyed, and Varfleet was overrun. Tyrsis was breached and had regressed to fighting in the streets, with a last line of defenders holding the line at the Bridge of Sendic, before the Palace gates.
Relief, when it came, was not from the Southland they defended, but from the Elves of the Westland. The cities of the deep South never stirred to send armies or aid. They never even called up their own militias, expecting the Border Legion to protect them, as it always had before. They did not wish to be involved and refused to believe the gravity of their danger. Callahorn spent years recovering from the damage done during the War of the Warlock Lord, but the wedge of distrust driven between the border people and the Southlanders never completely healed.
Padishar Creel, Father of the Free Born
A direct descendant of Panamon Creel, Padishar Creel was the son of a thief from a family of honorable thieves, yet without him, Callahorn would not be free. Though his full life history is still not completely known, Padishar Creel, enigmatic son of “Baron Creel,” is best known for uniting the Free Born and liberating Callahorn from Federation Rule. Though he did not create the Movement, it was his leadership that made it effective. His silver hawk ring, originally used as a signet to prove his will, became the symbol of the Free Born Movement.
Though the tales of his origin are as varied as his moods, he claimed his father was “Baron Creel,” the beneficiary of family wealth accumulated from Panamon’s activities as a thief. The Federation took his family’s lands and wealth and, when his father objected, left him an orphan. He grew up fast, learning the skills of the street to survive. He joined the Movement, working as a forger of weapons for the outlaws. There is reason to suspect that he was also active in the black market, especially where it would hurt the Federation most and provide gain for himself. He married, fathering a son and two daughters.
Within the fledgling Movement, Padishar recognized a fatal lack of organization. Knowing the leaders would never accept the changes he knew were necessary, he formed his own company, focused on the icon of the silver hawk ring he had inherited from his father rather than his name. Under his leadership, the cry “Free Born” became a common rally cry.
The other leaders saw Padishar’s company as a threat to their control of the Movement. They arranged to have him eliminated by giving him up to the Federation Seekers. The Seekers attacked his home in the early hours of the morning, burning it to the ground. Only Padishar and his youngest daughter, Damson, escaped the flames. The men who betrayed him disappeared, one by one. Their bodies turned up in the sewers of Tyrsis, badly mangled.
Once Damson was grown, he refused to publicly acknowledge her as his daughter, creating a separate identity for her and swearing her to secrecy so that no one could ever use his family against him.
Under his leadership, the Free Born movement gained momentum among the people of Callahorn. Padishar spread his people throughout the cities of Tyrsis and Varfleet and established a series of secret strongholds and redoubts within the wilds of the Dragon’s Teeth range. His careful planning allowed the Free Born to constantly stay one jump ahead of the Federation. His bold leadership helped the Movement to grow, gaining popularity with the common people of the land even as he unified the splintered groups within the Movement, eliminating their leaders where necessary. He used old family ties to the Rock Trolls, possibly from Panamon’s day, to open relationships with the Trolls and convince them to ally with the Free Born against the Federation.
Once the Federation was defeated at the Rhenn, Padishar took his message to the people of Callahorn, sparking an uprising that drove the Federation from the Borderlands. The Free Born movement survives, now encompassing all of Callahorn and beyond. But it is Padishar Creel and the image of the silver hawk that supplied the momentum.
Over a half century later, it was that distrust that prevented Callahorn from sending more than two regiments of the Legion to the defense of the Westland during the War of the Forbidding. The Southland Federation had belatedly realized the need for military strength and cohesion and was attempting to unify all of the Southland under its control. Callahorn no longer considered itself part of the Southland and declined the invitation to join the Federation, only to discover that the Southlanders were still advancing on their borders. Balinor Buckhannah’s son had died without issue, leaving the throne to a distant cousin, Quincellen Nall. A weak and cautious man, he was afraid that sending military aid to the Westland would leave Callahorn vulnerable. The Borderlands acknowledged their debt to the Elves for their aid during the siege of Tyrsis, but they felt that sending more of the Legion to the Westland would be an open invitation to their southern “allies” to invade. Undefended, Callahorn would be forced to accept Federation rule.
The two regiments were only a token force, but they were the Legion’s best, the Free Corps, under the command of Stee “Iron Man” Jans, and later, the Old Guard. In the ensuing battle, the Free Corps and the Guard were all but annihilated, but the Bordermen made the difference that allowed the Elves to hold Arborlon until the Forbidding was restored.
During Quincellen’s reign, the combined councils of the cities controlled most of the government. By the time his son held the throne, the king was little more than a figurehead. When the Buckhannah line finally died out, the monarchy was abolished. Control of Callahorn passed to the Council of Cities, a governing body made up of the representative leaders of Tyrsis, Varfleet, and Kern. Unfortunately, each group was focused only on the agenda of its particular city. Without a single unifying leader, there was no one on the council to look out for the best interests of Callahorn as a whole. The council devolved into feuding factions. The increasing pressure from the Federation intensified the divisions within the council. Preying upon the weaknesses of the factions, the Federation leaders frightened the council into becoming a protectorate of the Federation.
Though all records of that time were destroyed, it is believed that the council was assured that they would retain control of Callahorn. They were promised an alliance that would add the strengths of the Federation to the Borderlands in a situation that could only benefit both. They promised increased trade and military assistance. In truth, regardless of the promises, the council had little choice. By the time the papers were signed, the Federation army had already invaded Callahorn with only minimal resistance. Such a bold move would not have been possible during the heyday of the Border Legion, but the Legion, though still in existence, was a pale shadow of its former glory. In earlier times the Legion could have made such an invasion very costly for any enemy, but it had been thinned and weakened by a government that could not agree on anything, including proper management and support of its army. For years the funds normally reserved to pay and outfit the Legion had been gradually siphoned away to pay for more immediately gratifying programs. Historians who believe that Callahorn should have taken the field against the Southlanders forget that the Legion, as it stood, was so far understrength that any defense it mounted would have served only to anger the Federation, resulting in the complete destruction of the Legion as well as severe repercussions for the populace.
So it was that almost 150 years after they had first declined Federation rule, Callahorn, the last free country within the Southland territories, fell to the Federation without a battle. Immediately after the papers were signed, the Council of Cities and the Border Legion were disbanded. Any former councilors who complained too loudly simply disappeared. The country that had proudly served to protect the Southland from all invaders, the country that had never been occupied by any enemy, was itself invaded and occupied by the very people it had so diligently protected. The people of Callahorn found themselves outsiders in their own land as governors from the deep South took power.
The Borderlands did not fare well under Federation rule. Its farmlands sickened, its cities fell into disrepair, and its people were treated as second-class citizens of an occupied territory rather than respected allies. The tolerance toward other Races that had been the cornerstone of Borderlands philosophy was outlawed. Neither Elves nor Dwarves were welcome within Borderlands cities except as prisoners. As a result, Callahorn’s once thriving trade with the other lands evaporated. The combination of the loss of trade and the diseased farmlands led to a major decline in prosperity. Within the cities, the numbers of poor and destitute grew exponentially. Federation coffers were the only certain source of income, so the Federation became the main employer. In Tyrsis alone, there were five thousand Federation soldiers. Providing for their needs—food, weapons, clothing, and entertainment—became the largest single industry within the city. In Varfleet and Kern, locals were even recruited to provide the manpower to fill the garrisons. It meant a uniform and steady pay but required they accept and enforce Federation policy against their own neighbors.
Many in the Borderlands resented the occupation. They especially resented the loss of the basic freedoms that had been an integral part of life in Callahorn. Almost immediately after the Federation took power, pockets of underground opposition began to form. Their ultimate goal was to drive the Federation from the Borderlands. At the very least, they were determined to wreak as much damage as possible to make their occupation difficult. They called themselves the Free Born. The Federation called them outlaws.
At first the Movement, as the resistance was commonly known, was fragmented and ineffective, doing little real damage to the Federation. But then a charismatic man named Padishar Creel took control of the largest cell within the Movement. He began to consolidate the separate groups into a well-organized force with specific goals. The more effective Movement became a serious problem for the Federation; its elimination became a top priority. The Seekers used every weapon at their disposal to eradicate the Free Born. Using information gained through a spy, they brought them to bay at their stronghold atop the Jut in the Parma Keys. Federation propaganda claimed the battle a clear victory, ending in the destruction of the Movement and the death of their leader.
In fact, the Free Born survived reports of their demise, escaping the Jut with very few casualties. They returned, allied with several thousand Northland Rock Trolls, to join the Westland Elves in their fight to stop the Federation invasion of the Westland. The resulting battle for the Rhenn Valley became the definitive battle of the Federation War, though it was the destruction of the Seekers and other Shadowen that actually turned the tide, rather than the arrival of the Bordermen. The Free Born and their Troll allies did make it possible for the Elves to hold the line long enough to rout the Federation army once their morale was broken by the violent demise of the Seekers and their creatures.
Victory at the Rhenn marked the beginning of liberation for the Borderlands. Heartened by the defeat of the Federation in the West, the people of Callahorn followed Padishar Creel and his Free Born in a revolt that drove the Federation from Callahorn. It marked the end of an era; from that time forward Callahorn would never again consider itself part of the Southland, and its people would never again give up their freedom without a fight.
Almost a century later, their descendants were forced to prove the strength of that vow. Recalling the courage of their ancestors and the legendary Border Legion, they met the Federation’s second invasion with an army of Free Born determined to live free or die. With the help of the Elves and Dwarves, the courageous Bordermen drove the Federation back to the South, where the Federation–Free Born war still rages. Though the war remains undecided, the Free Born have already won an important victory: Callahorn stands free.
The spirit of freedom inherent in the people of the Borderlands was epitomized by the warriors who defended that freedom for centuries—the Border Legion of Callahorn. A precision fighting machine, it was famous throughout the Four Lands for the skill and ferocity of its fighters. The Free Born of today owe most of their traditions to the men of the Legion.
Originally formed by the first King of Callahorn, the Legion was the first professional standing army assembled within the Southland. Memories of the devastation caused by the Northland army during the Second War of the Races were still fresh in the minds of the survivors and their children. If Callahorn was to stand against such a foe, it had to have protection provided by an army that was both skilled and courageous enough to face even Trolls. The Legion became that force. In the 650 years of its existence, it was never defeated in battle, though its troops sometimes fought to the last man to claim that victory.
Unlike the militias that had formed its core—and that still protected the Southland cities—the Legion had to do more than defend a single city. It had to protect the entirety of the Borderlands as well as provide the first line of defense against any assault directed at the Race of Man and the rest of the Southland. The Legion achieved all that and more. In times of need, units of the Legion often traveled to other lands to drive out raiders or bolster existing defenses. No foe ever survived contact with the Legion to reach the Southland. They faced invasions from tribes of fierce Northland Rock Trolls intent on plundering cities and villages, roving bands of Gnome Raiders, and of course, the return of the Northland army. They prevailed or held the line in every case.
The Free Corps of the Border Legion
The Free Corps is probably the most famous single unit in the entire history of the renowned Border Legion. It was also the most controversial. The regiment only survived for thirty years, but in that time it established a reputation for valor that has never been matched. With their distinctive gray and crimson uniforms set off by the wide-brimmed hats with a single crimson feather that became their trademark, the Free Corps stood apart from every other regiment. It has been said that the courage of the Corps was matched only by their arrogance, but if this is true, it was an arrogance earned with blood.
At full strength, the Free Corps numbered between six or seven hundred men, but unlike other units of the Legion, there was no rotation. Soldiers of the Corps had no other home and no other occupation. From the moment they joined until the day they died, the Free Corps was their life. The name came from the promise made to every man who joined: Once within its ranks, they were free of their pasts. Within the Corps, there were no questions, no recriminations, and no need for explanations for anything that had come before in their lives. Murderers, cutthroats, and thieves, cheats and soldiers broken from other armies, those high born and low, men with honor and men who had none, all came together with one thing in common—the need to escape their pasts and begin again. Only service with the Corps could give them that. As a member of the Free Corps, each was created anew as a free man, dedicated to protecting the lives and freedom of others.
Life within the unit was usually short. The Free Corps were the shock troops of the Legion. It was they who were always first into battle, and first to die. They were considered expendable and had the highest casualty rate of any unit within the Legion. But to the men of the Corps, death was the only certainty of their existence. What mattered most was to meet it with honor, in glorious battle, covered with the blood of the enemy.
The soldiers received rigorous training in an unusually wide variety of weapons. It was an inside joke that a member of the Corps would sooner sleep with his sword than with a woman, since he was certainly able to trust the sword more. The men of the Corps were said to be the finest fighters on horses in the Four Lands. Most of them had mastery of at least five different weapons.
Time and time again, the Free Corps survived seeming suicide missions, facing odds and forces that would have destroyed any other unit. They pulled victory from defeat so often it became expected. When the Elves called on Callahorn for aid against the Demons of the Forbidding, initially only one token unit was sent: the Free Corps, under the command of the legendary Iron Man, Stee Jans. They were later assisted by a second unit.
A proud member of the Free Corps of the Border Legion.
The Free Corps fought valiantly at the Battle of Halys Cut, and again at Baen Draw, always in the vanguard, always covering the retreat with their lives.
The Mystery of the Iron Man
They called him the Iron Man. His name was Stee Jans, and he commanded the Free Corps of the Borderland Legion during the War of the Forbidding. As with most members of the Free Corps, nothing was known of the fire-haired warrior before he joined the Legion as a young man. He rose quickly through the ranks, a difficult task in a unit where death was more certain than promotion.
Stee quickly gained a reputation for being a skilled fighter, a brilliant tactician, and above all, a survivor. When he was only a corporal with seven months in the Corps, his patrol stumbled on a large force of Gnome Raiders in the village of Rybeck. Despite the vastly superior numbers of raiders, they held for three hours. Of the twenty-two men in the patrol, only Stee Jans lived to fight again. It was the beginning of the legend of the Iron Man.
From that time forward, it seemed that Stee was incapable of dying. His men took heart from his invincibility and followed him wherever he led. Stee was equally devoted to his men. Even after he gained command of the Free Corps, he insisted on sleeping where his soldiers slept and eating what his soldiers ate. He accepted no privileges from his rank, but always met his responsibilities head-on. No matter where the Corps was sent, Stee always scouted the area personally. He claimed that he wanted to know everything about the place where he might die.
The battle for Arborlon was the last for the Free Corps, but not for Stee Jans. He was offered a command by the Elves, and was offered another regiment by the Legion. He refused both, preferring to work as a freelance instructor. Many said he had outlived too many of his men and was looking for death; others claimed that he was just too good to be held back by the limitations of a formal command.
He did return to Arborlon to train a special unit of the Home Guard for Ander Elessedil, and to the Legion, but only to instruct special units. But after his work with the Legion, the Iron Man disappeared from all records.
A few years later, a mercenary known only as the Weapons Master became the bane of the Gnomes in the Border Wars of the Eastland. The Dwarves he trained became the first of a crack unit of fighters who turned the tide of the Wars and drove the Gnomes back from the Dwarf territories. The man, calling himself Garet Jax, had no equal in hand-to-hand combat and was said to be skilled with every weapon ever developed in the Four Lands.
Some time after the end of the Eastland border wards, he reappeared in the South, fighting in the civil wars then raging between member states of the Federation. Occasionally fighting as a mercenary warrior, occasionally as an assassin, he always achieved his goal, whether it was the defeat of an army or the defeat of a single foe. He never lost a fight. His mounting death toll soon made him unwelcome in the Southland.
Garet Jax befriended Jair Ohmsford, rescuing him from Gnome captors and joining his quest to cleanse the Silver River, He told Jair that he believed the boy would lead him to the most important battle of his life. Jair later wrote: “He was looking for the one opponent that would be a match for him, the one battle that would test the full measure of his skills. He told me there was no point in being a Weapons Master but to test the skills the name implied. I wonder if he meant to die.”
It seemed to Jair that nothing could defeat Garet. He faced the might of the Kraken at the fall of Capaal and was pulled into the chill waters of the Cillidellan by the great beast—only to emerge virtually unscathed. There was no sign of the beast.
But at Heaven’s Well, Garet Jax finally found his match. A Jachyra, identical to the one that had killed the Druid Allanon, guarded the Well. No mortal had ever slain a Jachyra without the use of magic. The Weapons Master faced the deadly creature in a pitched battle while Jair completed his task. There were no witnesses. When Jair reemerged from the Well, Garet Jax lay dead. The Jachyra was nowhere to be found.
Garet Jax, the Weapons Master, may also have been known as the Iron Man in his youth.
The Croag, the pathway leading to the spire at Heaven’s Well collapsed before Garet’s body could be removed. He still lies at the site of his last battle with his greatest foe. Jair wrote, “Perhaps it was best that the Weapons Master be left where no other mortal could follow.”
He died as he lived—a man of mystery. No one can be certain that Stee Jans and Garet Jax were names for the same man, and no one but Garet knows if he actually won his last battle. But perhaps there is no question after all—for he finally won his death, on his terms.
Only two defeats mar the history of the Legion: the fall of Kern, and the defeat by the Federation. In both cases the Legion was prevented from taking the field—though in the case of the former, it was that city’s Legionnaires who provided the necessary diversion to allow Kern’s evacuation.
The secret of the Legion’s success lay in its organization. Unlike the volunteer militias that had previously guarded most cities, the Legion was a true professional army. Its soldiers were paid for their time and were drilled and trained to be the finest fighters in the Southland. At full strength, the Legion consisted of five divisions of approximately one thousand men each. During normal conditions, at least one-third of this force was on duty at any given time, spread out throughout the duty stations within the kingdom, while the other two-thirds rotated out to their homes and secondary occupations. In times of war, the entire force could be called to duty within a matter of days.
Service with the Legion was not required, but most men within the kingdom made it a point of pride to serve in the Legion. During the reign of the Buckhannahs, the height of the Legion’s glory days, over 80 percent of the adult men within Callahorn were either serving in the Legion or had done so in the past. Those who did not usually had extreme obligations or were infirm. To the people of Callahorn, it was an honor to be a part of the force that kept them free.
Each of the regiments within the Legion had its own crest, traditions, and motto. During the monarchy, the First Regiment was traditionally under the command of the Crown Prince, and its soldiers bore his personal insignia as their crest. During the reign of Ruhl Buckhannah, Prince Balinor commanded the First, one of the most famous regiments of the battle for Tyrsis. Their crest was Balinor’s crouched leopard. In later years, it was the regiment known as the Free Corps, which became the crack unit within the Legion.
The Legion’s fighting force consisted of cavalry, usually armed with long hooked pikes and swords; infantry, armed with short swords, spears, and square shields; archers; spearmen; and sappers. The professional nature of the Legion allowed for a level of training and drill that had been impossible with the old militia system. Its effectiveness was enhanced by the tactical skills of its commanders. Great captains such as Ruhl Buckhannah, Balinor Buckhannah, and Stee Jans often pulled victory from the jaws of defeat with daring plans that depended on the skill and courage of the Legionnaires under their command for success.
When the council abolished the monarchy, it was the beginning of a slow demise for the Legion. It dwindled as its numbers and funds were cut. By the time the Federation officially disbanded the Legion, it was anticlimactic. The Legion had already been defeated by the apathy of its rulers.