It was Tyrsis’ barbaric walls of stone that had given the South a chance to develop. The security of those walls allowed Callahorn to become a place where Man was accepted for what he was and treated accordingly. —Prince Balinor Buckhannah
inding from the vast emptiness of the Streleheim Plains in the west through the heart of Callahorn to end in the vast Rainbow Lake, the broad Mermidon River is the lifeblood of the Borderlands. Its waters nurture the rich black farmland of the region as well as provide the primary corridor for transportation. Spaced along its length from west to east, the three fortified cities of Kern, Tyrsis, and Varfleet stand as they have stood for centuries, the first line of defense for the Race of Man.
The treasure they protect cannot be measured in terms of mere gold and silver, for their true treasure is freedom. Callahorn’s location and the freedom it provides have enabled its cities to become the major trading centers for the Four Lands. Only within the border cities do members of all Races come together to trade freely. Furs from the North, fine metalwork from the East, grain from the West, and manufactured goods from the South all meet in Callahorn. It is the gateway to trade with the Southland as well as the main thoroughfare for trade between East and West. In many ways, it has become the cultural center the Druids sought to create with Paranor, though it lacks the Druids’ focus on knowledge.
The oldest of the border cities, Tyrsis actually dates from before the First War of the Races. It is believed that the first settlement established on the site was an outpost built before the Druid Council was ever formed. In that uneasy time of warring nations and raiders, only an outpost built on an easily defensible site could survive for long. The first settlers chose a high plateau, three miles across at its widest point, situated on the north end of a small mountain range. The plateau was backed by a steep, smooth cliff, where the northernmost mountain, which they named Mount Sendic, had shattered, leaving only a bluff with a sheer stone wall and the plateau below.
The high plateau prevented easy access from the north, east, or west, and the steep cliff made the southern approach completely inaccessible. The site provided a natural defense from both raiders and war. Underground streams flowing down from the mountains through the plateau provided a source of water, as well as a few underground caves that could be used as caches or hiding places. The plateau overlooked a grassy plain that stretched all the way to the Mermidon River, ten miles to the north, allowing an almost unobstructed view of any approaching danger. The river itself provided a means of easy transport to other settlements as well as good fishing. Able to survive the raids and battles that bedeviled most other small communities, Tyrsis grew into a trading village and finally into a fairly sizable town.
Unfortunately, her natural protection was not enough. The original settlement was destroyed during the First War of the Races. Populated primarily by Men who had been among those swayed by Brona’s cause, it was overrun and burned to the ground by the Druids and their allies. Today nothing remains of that first settlement but a few ancient support timbers.
Tyrsis was rebuilt after the war, but using masonry instead of timber. It was expanded to include the beginnings of the current massive outer wall, fortifications along the edge of the plateau, and removable iron and wood rampways leading from the plateau to the plains beyond. Tunnels were begun, and eventually they were expanded to allow the entire population the safety of an underground bolt-hole—an escape route—should the city ever again be overrun. At the time, Tyrsis was the only fortress in the lands built by Man, and the only real city within the entire South.
During the Second War of the Races, Tyrsis was the only border settlement to survive the Northland army’s march to the west. This was partially due to the fact that the bulk of the Northland army passed along the Mermidon, ten miles away, but only partially—distance did not save any of the other border towns. Scattered enemy patrols made attempts to take the city, but the defenses held despite damage to the fortifications and the destruction of the wooden rampways. Since Tyrsis was not directly in the path of the main army and posed no threat to their purpose, the Northlanders never committed the entire army to the assault. It is doubtful that the city could have survived a concerted effort by the Northland army, given the existing fortifications and the lack of a serious defense force. As the lone remaining settlement in Callahorn, Tyrsis became a haven for refugees fleeing the destruction of their homes. Many of them remained after the war, increasing the population to make it one of the largest cities in the Southland.
After the war, Tyrsis was completely renovated. The rampways were rebuilt out of iron and stone, with removable pins to allow them to be collapsed but not burned. The outer wall was strengthened, enlarged to a height of one hundred feet, and topped with ramparts complete with niches for concealed bowmen. A massive iron gateway with locking bolts and a drop bar was added to the outer wall, and an inner wall was constructed. A professional fighting force was formed to create an active defense—a force that would become the Border Legion—and housed in long barracks between the outer and the inner walls. A grand palace was constructed at the southern apex of the city, against Mount Sendic’s steep face, with a high-arching bridge passing over the low green-belt area to connect it to the main thoroughfare of the city. It became the palace of the kings of Tyrsis. The bridge was called the Bridge of Sendic, due to the fact that it appeared to connect the city directly to the mountain.
For almost five hundred years, the city proudly weathered all attempts by tribes of Trolls or Gnome Raiders to breach its defenses, but none ever managed to get beyond the outer wall before being driven back and defeated by the Legion. None was ever a serious test for the city—until the Warlock Lord’s armies once again descended from the North.
This time the Northland army was intent on invading the Southland, thereby dividing the Westland from the Eastland. Separated, each land would be an easy target. Only one thing stood in their way—Tyrsis. This time Tyrsis would not be overlooked. This time the Northland army pitted their full might against the people of the Borderlands, determined to reach the fatted land of the deep South and guarantee the fall of the rest of the Four Lands. It was the greatest test the defenses of the fortified city would ever face.
In the resulting battle for Tyrsis, an understrength garrison and the great walls and bulwarks stood against over a hundred thousand Trolls, Gnomes, and Skull Bearers. The battle lasted for three days. By its end the ramps were down, the iron gates on the outer wall were broken—their locking bolts jammed open by spies inside the city—and the inner wall had been breached. The Legion had managed to hold majority of the enemy outside the inner wall, but a small patrol of Trolls made it almost all the way to the Palace, to be held by a thin defensive line at the Bridge of Sendic. Only the destruction of the Warlock Lord in the Northland saved Tyrsis from falling. The Bridge of Sendic itself was cracked in the cataclysmic storm that followed the Warlock Lord’s defeat.
How could an impregnable city come so close to disaster? The defenders had forgotten the tunnels placed beneath the city. This time, instead of protecting the people of Tyrsis, the tunnels almost resulted in their destruction, as enemy forces used the tunnels to gain access to the city. Tyrsis’ defenses, and the courage of her Legion, were severely tested, but they held long enough to allow the Warlock Lord to be defeated.
The damaged city was rebuilt over the next decade. A vault was erected beneath the Bridge of Sendic as the resting place for the Sword of Shannara, the weapon that had ended the Warlock Lord’s reign—and saved Tyrsis.
Approximately two hundred years later, when Callahorn became a protectorate of the Federation, Tyrsis became the capital of the Protectorate of Callahorn. Under Federation rule, the city deteriorated. The Palace, taken over by the Seekers, fell into disrepair. The beautiful Bridge of Sendic collapsed into ruin. The People’s Park became a dangerous wilderness. Only the outer defenses were maintained, but this time they were designed as much to keep people in as to keep enemies out.
With the end of the War with the Federation, Tyrsis was repatriated to the control of the people of Callahorn. They gradually restored the proud city, attempting to recapture the grandeur of her past.
Tyrsis now stands much as she did during the age of the Buckhannahs, though some of her battle scars remain. Fertile farmland and homesteads stretch before her north and west across the open plains between the plateau and the Mermidon and east to the forest of Callahorn. Today almost as many people live outside the city in the rural land surrounding it as live within the walls. The plateau still rises high above the plains, accessible only by a massive iron-and-stone rampway and—to those foolish enough to attempt it—through the hidden tunnels.
Atop the bluff, the fortress of Tyrsis is still unequaled by anything within the Southland, her towering walls and jagged ramparts reminders of a more barbaric age. Along the very edge of the plateau, a few large stones mark the location of the hastily erected bulwark put in place against the Northland invasion. Above her ramparts, the tall, rugged outline of the great cliff rises hundreds of feet above her southern edge, the ageless guardian of the lady nestled in its arms below.
Beginning at the cliff on the western side and ringing the city in a semicircle to the eastern edge of the same cliff, the enormous outer wall is dwarfed only by nature’s wall to the south. The wall stands two hundred yards from the edge of the plateau, its great blocks of stone rising nearly one hundred feet above the bluff, carefully smoothed to allow no possible handhold for enemies. Atop the wall the ramparts, archers’ nooks, and towers are protected by crenellations in the stone. Great iron gates in the wall stand open above the rampway, replaced after the original gates were destroyed during the War of the Warlock Lord. Within the gates, between the outer wall and a smaller inner wall, are the long barracks, parade grounds, stables, and storage buildings once used to house the Border Legion. Today a garrison of Free Born soldiers makes its home within the barracks buildings. Built to house five thousand, they are usually only half full.
Within the protective embrace of the second wall, the city itself stretches across the bluff, sprawling from the wall to the southern cliff in a series of winding streets lined with neat homes and businesses. The main thoroughfare, a broad stone-paved avenue called the Tyrsian Way, runs from the main gates through the center of the city to a large park and a low third wall that once marked the beginning of the government sector of the city. Beyond the wall, across a ravine, is a low-lying greensward that runs the width of the plateau, approximately two miles at this point. Within the greensward, across from the Tyrsian Way, lie the ruins of the Palace of the Buckhannahs.
The ravine and greensward stand on the site of the original People’s Park. Once the Tyrsian Way ended at the Bridge of Sendic, which arched over the gardens of the People’s Park to connect the courtyard at the Palace gates with the Tyrsian Way. Today only the ruins of the supports for the original Bridge of Sendic still stand within the remains of the gardens, as does the vault where the Sword of Shannara was once interred.
The sword is gone, though the vault and its inscription have been left as a source of inspiration to the people. The Bridge of Sendic was rebuilt as a decorative span over the new park during the Federation occupation. Some within the city want to restore both the palace and the bridge to their former glory; others want to leave them as ruins, to remind the Free Born of all that they nearly lost those many years ago when Shadowen roamed freely in Tyrsis.
Balinor Buckhannah
Balinor Buckhannah, the eldest son of Ruhl Buckhannah, was a brave warrior as well as a hero of the quest for the Sword of Shannara. He is also considered the greatest of Callahorn’s rulers. Balinor ascended the throne upon the death of his father and brother at the hands of a traitor while his capital city was under attack. His reign began with the battle for Tyrsis, and very nearly ended during that three-day siege. After the war, he dedicated his reign to securing Callahorn’s defenses and improving trade routes. A warrior at heart, he followed in his father’s footsteps, insisting on personally leading the Legion in any conflict. His only son, Ceran, was a skilled fighter, much like Balinor, and also campaigned with the Legion. It is probable that Balinor never seriously considered the consequences of having his son and heir ride with his regiment, since he had always done the same. He believed that a true ruler must lead into battle, not from the throne room.
But one day Ceran and several members of the Legion did not return from a journey to Culhaven. They disappeared while crossing through the Wolfsktaag Mountains. Balinor immediately took his regiment of the Legion and rode out to find his son. He returned, wounded, with his son’s body and only half his men. He would not speak of what they had found, saying only that the threat to Callahorn was gone. The Legion commander said privately that Ceran was a hero. Balinor took to his bed and died a few days later, despite the Healer’s best efforts. The Healer’s official statement was that there had been poison in whatever had attacked the king.
Balinor’s greatest fear during the battle for Tyrsis was that he would be the last of the Buckhannahs. Over thirty years later, his fears became reality.
Only the ruins of the bridge pilings and the harsh black scars on the stone of the abandoned palace remain to tell of the horrors of the Pit, the travesty visited on the parkland by the Shadowen. The Pit was a place of decay and rot where dark Shadowen magic abounded. Those who dared to enter rarely left alive. With the fall of the Shadowen, the Pit was transformed back into a forested meadow filled with wildflowers, though the ravine remained.
During the time of the Buckhannahs, the palace was set amid lushly beautiful grounds, carefully landscaped and open to the people of Tyrsis for their enjoyment. At the time, it was the only parkland within the city, and covered most of the area between the city proper and the cliff for most of the width of the bluff. The government sector actually contained several buildings: a public forum and the Hall of Parliament, as well as the royal Palace.
The Palace is a magnificent columned building with large ornate doors and high windows set with decorative stone facings. At its height, it had a splendor unmatched in all the Southland. The colorful murals lining the main halls have faded, but the paintings and crests from generations of rulers still hang along the corridors and the walls of the Great Hall. Fine wood trim still glows through the dust, the centuries of polish showing through the decades of disuse. Most of the original furnishings were elegant masterworks crafted in the Eastland out of the finest woods and metals. Very few pieces survived looting by the Federation. The West Wing, which was used primarily as living quarters, suffered the least damage.
Balinor Buckhannah, greatest of the kings of Callahorn.
Ironically, the library, possibly the greatest treasure of the royal house of Tyrsis, stands untouched. The collection, protected and increased by each king to rule the land and to a smaller degree by the later Council of Cities, represents the collected works of some of the greatest minds of the Four Lands. It also contains the personal journals of many of the kings of Callahorn. Even in the time of the Buckhannahs, such collections of actual books were rare. Only three such collections are known to exist. The greatest collection, of course, resides within Paranor; the second is in the palace at Arborlon in the Westland; and the third is here in the Palace at Tyrsis. Though it is not a deliberate secret, most of the people of Tyrsis have no idea that the library exists, or of the value of its treasure.
The other great secret of Tyrsis is the network of tunnels below the palace. Beneath the wine cellars and storage areas are the ancient dungeons. Below the dungeons, and connected to them, are the tunnels—secret subterranean byways that wind below the city in a tangled maze of wells, sewers, caves, and waterways.
By the War of the Warlock Lord, the tunnels had fallen into disuse, sealed when a young Ruhl Buckhannah closed the dungeons shortly after his coronation. Most had forgotten their existence—an oversight that very nearly caused the downfall of the city. The Northland army learned of the passages from a spy planted in the royal entourage. They attempted to invade the city through the tunnel that connected the plains to the dungeons beneath the castle. The plot was discovered in time to stop the invasion and save the city. After the war, they were sealed again and then, over time, nearly forgotten again. They were rediscovered and put to use by the Free Born resistance movement during the Federation War. This time, instead of an invading army, it was the city’s liberators who made use of the dark passages.
Though rarely used, the tunnels still exist, winding throughout underground Tyrsis in a tangled multilevel maze that runs from the cliff and the dungeons beneath the palace to the plains below the bluff. Through a myriad of connections, the tunnels are accessible to most major streets and buildings throughout the city. Storage rooms and living quarters lie below old wine cellars and sewer drains. Altogether, the tunnels extend for over a hundred miles throughout the rock of the plateau. Many layers deep, the tunnels can be deadly to one unfamiliar with their twists and turnings. There is no one now living who knows the location of all of them, and few are willing to brave the darkness to explore.
Aboveground, far removed from the gloom of the subterranean world of underground Tyrsis, the parks district is usually filled with sunlight and the bright, cheerful gaiety of children. The district consists of a number of small parks and markets sprinkled with residential estates. A favored location for a family outing, the parks contain numerous markets shaded with colorful canopies as well as several pavilions where families may spread their picnics without fear of sun or rain. Large shade trees line the roads, gracefully lifting over the brightly ribboned carriages passing below. The parks are usually crowded with vendors specializing in sweets, fruits, ices, and banners, as well as all manner of entertainers. Here the children of Tyrsis, and some of the adults, are delighted by mimes and musicians, jugglers and magicians, dancers and drummers, and even animal acts such as the ever-popular dancing monkeys.
The Mole
The only person to have completely mapped the tunnels and passages beneath Tyrsis was a man known only as the Mole. A strange, squat, fur-covered man who strongly resembled his namesake, the Mole made his home in the subterranean chambers within the plateau beneath Tyrsis. Nothing is known of his life before leaving the surface, or what trauma drove him to live forever in the twilight and darkness of the tunnels, though there is little doubt that the Federation occupation of the city may have been a factor.
The Mole lived alone, his only family a collection of stuffed animals rescued from the refuse of surface dwellers. They, like him, were outcasts of a society that had lost the ability to see beyond the surface of a toy—or a man. His home was any of a dozen underground chambers, furnished with castoffs scrounged from the surface. Yet as unlikely as it seems, this eccentric little man became a hero of the Free Born. It was the Mole who was largely responsible for the Movement’s success in liberating Tyrsis from the Federation. With the Mole as a guide, the Free Born were able to enter and leave the city undetected, as well as make use of the boltholes built into the city’s sewers centuries before as hideouts. His willingness to share his knowledge of underground Tyrsis with the Movement played a crucial role in the Shadowen War.
With his aid, Tyrsis eventually became free, but despite his success, the Mole never returned to the surface. Though his friends encouraged him to join them above, especially in later years, when the cold and the damp of his chosen home affected his health, he refused, living in his subterranean refuge until his death two decades after Tyrsis was liberated. His “children”—the stuffed animals, which numbered over a hundred by the time of his death—were “adopted” by his friends and given a special room in the palace as a monument to his courage.
Torches are often cumbersome and impractical for those who explore the tunnels below Tyrsis. During times of siege, their light and smoke could easily reveal boltholes and passageways to the enemy. Instead, glowstones were used to provide the illumination needed to navigate the tunnels.
Found only in the mountains of the Borderlands, glowstones are considered street magic, because they appear to use magic but in fact utilize natural phosphorescence within the rock. When cold, the stones appear to be simple white rocks streaked with silver, but when warmed, the rocks glow with a dim silver light that can he reactivated by additional warming Body heat, from holding them tightly in the hands or by pressing them to the body for a few moments, is enough to activate them. The glow is actually caused by luminescent particles that are dormant until heated. Warmth excites the particles, causing them to give off energy, which appears as light.
Glowstones are used to light the way in the tunnels of Tyrsis.
The stones were heavily used during the early centuries of Tyrsis’ existence, when a run into the tunnels for safety during an attack was a common occurrence. As the people turned away from the tunnels, the stones became more of a curiosity. They had a brief resurgence of popularity during the Free Born infiltration of the city, but by that time there were few of the stones still in existence, and the location of their origin had been lost.
Not far from the parks district, set right off the Tyrsian Way, is the heart and soul of modern Tyrsis, the Open Market. Here goods from all over the Four Lands fill open-air stalls as well as the larger brokerage centers in buildings beyond them. Trade, the true lifeblood of the Borderlands, is exemplified within this, the largest of the Borderlands markets. Only in the Borderlands markets can people of all Races vie for the finest goods from the four corners of the lands. Almost anything can be found in the market—for a price. Trolls and Elves barter with Gnomes and Dwarves. Caravans loaded with goods from other lands enter and leave daily.
While the other lands all have markets, and all but the Southland encourage trade with other Races, only the Borderlands connects all four of the lands. Southland-manufactured goods and Borderlands wines are only available through the Border markets. Teamsters for the South transport goods to and from Tyrsian markets, but never further. There is no doubt that the Federation would prefer to trade directly with the other lands, but few are foolish enough or brave enough to deal directly with the Federation, especially given its historic hatred of other Races.
Trade is not the only asset Tyrsis has to offer, for the Borderlands are also home to the largest distilleries in the Four Lands. Over 80 percent of the wines and ales within the Four Lands is produced in breweries and distilleries in Tyrsis and Varfleet. Grapes from the vineyards around the Rainbow Lake, as well as some from the Westland vineyards, are transported to the border cities, where they are transformed into the finest wines and ales in all the Four Lands. Only within the taverns and alehouses of the Borderlands can a true gourmet sample all the varieties of wines and ales produced within her breweries. Spirits make up the single largest export item shipped from Callahorn.
From Tyrsis, the Mermidon winds east through the edge of the Forest of Callahorn before it turns south across the grasslands, breadbasket of the Borderlands, and finally through the Runne Mountains to the Rainbow Lake. The city of Varfleet guards the only sizable passage through the Runne Mountains. Situated on the edge of the Mermidon in the grasslands at the southern end of the Rabb plains, Varfleet lies at the eastern edge of the Borderlands, a place where the seasons are both harsh and beautiful. The farms in the area grow grain and raise cattle, which are marketed within the city.
The people of Varfleet understand what it means to live at the edge of civilization. Varfleet is always the first to feel the brunt from any northern or eastern attack, the first to fall, and the first to overcome its losses and rebuild.
Varfleet was first founded as a frontier outpost sometime after the First War of the Races on the site of an earlier town whose name has been lost. The settlement’s location on the northeastern edge of the Southland made it a home for rugged frontiersmen.
The Northland army razed the original town of Varfleet during the Second War of the Races. It was an attack no one expected. At that time, Varfleet had no wall and no fortifications. All of its people were killed or driven off, except one—a boy called Allanon. The Druid Bremen wrote of the carnage: “People and animals lay dead at every turn, sprawled in grotesque, careless heaps amid the rubble. The attack had happened at night; most of the dead appeared to have been caught sleeping. There were few spent weapons. It was hard to believe that this charnel house had ever been a thriving town.”
The city was rebuilt thirty years later, with a stone wall for protection. It became the bastion of civilization in the East; its garrison of Legionnaires were often called to defend the outlying villages against raiders from the North and East.
During the War of the Warlock Lord, the wall and the city’s garrison managed to keep the city from being overrun, but only because the Northland army focused its energies against Tyrsis once Varfleet was rendered helpless. Communications were blocked between Varfleet and Tyrsis, forcing the defenders of Varfleet to simply fight a holding action while their city was under siege and hope that Tyrsis could prevail to come to their aid.
After the war, the proud city rebuilt once again, strengthening the outer walls and ramparts with stone but constructing most of the interior buildings of slat wood. Years later, as with Tyrsis, the wall did little good against the Federation. Unlike Tyrsis, Varfleet was so far from the centers of Federation rule that they rarely bothered to enforce their laws. As a result, the city became a haven for the lawless and refugees. Most of the soldiers that made up Varfleet’s Federation garrison were recruited from local talent; they were understandably reticent to bring the full power of the Federation to bear upon their neighbors. Most of them simply needed a steady job. The city became known as an outlaw city just barely within Federation rule, where anything was possible if one was bold enough. Even magic was still tolerated—an open secret almost defying intervention from the Federation. For the most part, the Federation ignored its outlying possession, content to drain its resources and leave its people to their own inventions.
During the Federation years, the city became squalid and run-down. The poor built makeshift shelters along the outer edge of the city wall and begged in the streets. As the once fertile farmlands around the city failed, destitute people crowded into Varfleet. But the Free Born Movement thrived. There were too few trained Federation officers to cause them trouble and large numbers of dissatisfied people who were eager to become part of a revolution.
Once the Shadowen fell, Varfleet was the first of the border cities to rid itself of its Federation masters. Once it was free, the city served as a support base for those who fought with the Dwarves against the Federation.
Now Varfleet is once again a proud border city, despite the fact that she is not so beautiful as either of her sisters. Supported by farming, fishing, and of course trade, it is a thriving metropolis only slightly smaller than its sister city of Tyrsis. Its location on the Mermidon gives Varfleet access to trade routes from both east and west, as well as easy access to goods from Tyrsis and Kern. Sprawled across a series of low hills, the city appears from a distance to be a maze of stone walls and winding streets. Most of the buildings inside the walls are built of wood, with pitch-sealed roofs, although the more affluent estates are constructed of stone.
Like Tyrsis, the outer edge of the city contains the barracks and parade grounds originally used by the Border Legion. Unlike her sister, Varfleet’s poorer residents also live near the wall and outside it. Reaver’s End is one such poor section, filled with warehouses, poorer tenements, forges, and manufacturing areas as well as taverns and entertainment for the workers.
The wall surrounds the city except where it touches the banks of the Mermidon to the north and east. There the piers and boathouses jut into the river, always busy with fishing boats, barges, and the occasional riverboat. Taverns and hostels serving the dockworkers line the shore along with fishmongers’ stalls and all manner of warehouses for the goods sent by river to be stored for market.
Within the city proper, the streets are all named, and merchants and tradesmen hang neatly painted signs outside their shops to advertise their wares. In the center of the city, the main road, Wyvern Split, leads to the principal square, a paved commons ringed by taverns, inns, and pleasure houses. Most of the buildings are slat-boarded houses that share a wall with the buildings on either side. As space is limited within the city, most buildings rise two or three stories, with living quarters on the second and third floors and shops or working quarters on the ground floor.
Despite the unattractive outer shell, many of Varfleet’s homes and shops are quite attractive inside. Its people tend to prefer focusing their attentions within their walls, leaving the outside as plain as is practical.
Most of the more affluent homes are located in the southern part of the city, near the Council Hall, a great stone edifice that was originally built to house the King of Varfleet during the brief city-state period before Callahorn united under one ruler. Most of the few parks within Varfleet are clustered in this district, between the manor houses of the councilmen and the merchants.
West of Tyrsis, on an island in the center of the Mermidon, lies the youngest and smallest of Callahorn’s cities, Kern. Though the city was not founded until after the Second War of the Races, it was the birthplace of the first dynasty of the kings of Callahorn. Founded by Kinson Ravenlock and his wife, Mareth, both heroes of the war, Kern was a protected haven for traders from the Westland and Northland.
The Ravenlocks, searching for a place to settle after the trauma of the war, fell in love with the wooded island in the shadow of the Dragon’s Teeth Mountains. The broad Mermidon ran full almost year round, its waters deep and swift, making the island easily defensible while providing a water highway for traders from the Westland and easy access to Tyrsis and Varfleet downriver. Kinson and Mareth established a trading post on the island and were soon joined by others from the Borderlands who had lost their homes in the war. The island town became a symbol of rebirth, growing into a thriving community and then, in only a few decades, a city.
As did Tyrsis and Varfleet, Kern declared itself a separate monarchy, choosing for their king the enigmatic son of Kinson and Mareth, Auren Ravenlock, the man who eventually united the Borderlands under one rule as the first king of the Borderlands of Callahorn. The capital remained at Kern until the Buckhannahs of Tyrsis came to power, when it was moved to Tyrsis. After that time the Palace of Kern stayed within the Ravenlock family. They referred to it as Ravenlock Manor, though most within the city still called it the Palace. Its vaulting archways and elegant courtyards were said to be more beautiful than the Palace at Tyrsis.
The Evacuation of Kern
Almost five centuries ago, the people of Kern found themselves facing annihilation from the Northland army. Over forty thousand people were trapped on the island by the mass of the Warlock Lord’s army, over a hundred thousand strong, gathering on the banks. Only the raging fury of the Mermidon, swollen from rain, held them back. The Border Legion had been disbanded, save the small local garrison, leaving no hope of rescue for the trapped city.
Menion Leah, who had also been trapped in the city, designed a bold plan to use the river highway to evacuate the people. Boats of all types and sizes were commandeered and cobbled together to carry the people of the besieged city to the landing north of Tyrsis. Rafts, cargo barges, skiffs, and ferries were gathered at the dock along with craft concocted from old furniture, pallets, and anything else that would float. A small garrison of two hundred seasoned soldiers under the command of Lieutenant Commander Janus Senpre crossed the river to strike at the flank of the massing army, making them pull in the sentries that watched the city. The men landed at Spinn Barr on the north bank. Leaving a small contingent, including the Prince of Leah, to guard their retreat, they attacked the Northland army where it slept. Menion later wrote: “The few men of Senpre’s command so disrupted the camp that all the sentries left their posts, believing they had been flanked by another army. Even four hours after the strike, the enemy camp was still confused and disorganized.”
As soon as the enemy sentries were gone, the mismatched armada took to the water, carrying forty thousand people, including the survivors of the attack, to safety downriver under the noses of the Northland army.
Only hours after the last boat left the docks, the Northland army invaded the island city. In their fury upon finding Kern deserted, they put her to the torch, leaving nothing but charred earth where the city of the Ravenlocks had once stood.
Senpre survived the attack and the evacuation and, for his bravery, was promoted to full commander and given command of the city defenses of Tyrsis days later, during the battle for the city.
Unfortunately, nothing remains of the Palace or the original city of Kern. It was destroyed by the Northland army during the War of the Warlock Lord. But though the city was lost, the people were not. In one of the more amazing acts of courage of the war, the people of Kern were evacuated downriver to Tyrsis before the Northland army attacked.
It took fifty years for Kern to be rebuilt. Many believe that the newer city lacks the beauty of the old. There is no doubt that the second incarnation of Kern is different in many ways from the first, but she is still an elegant city. The Palace was never rebuilt, since there were no longer any kings, but the Council Hall and most of the major trade centers were improved. Fortunately, most of that elegance remains, since Kern did not suffer as badly during Federation occupation as did Tyrsis and Varfleet.
The city has no walls, save that provided by the rushing Mermidon. The only access to the island is via ferry or private boat, though there is a period of about a month during the dry season when the waters are calm enough to allow access by swimming. Most of the buildings on the island are stone—possibly to make it more difficult for an enemy to burn the town again—and are built several stories tall. Limited land area has forced its citizens to build vertically wherever possible.
The existing Council Hall is believed to be a close replica of the one destroyed in the burning, with arched windows laced with metal latticework, covered walkways, carved wooden doors, and graceful columns along the exterior. The original council table, a masterpiece of burnished wood, was lost. The new one is elegant, with a more modern styling of flutework on the legs and edges.
Today the city of Kern is one of the primary trading centers for goods moving from the Westland to points east and south. Warehouses and craft halls line its streets, and its docks are active year round with fishing and trade. The forests of the original city are long gone, but a number of parks have been cultivated with shrubs and trees native to the area, enhanced by the addition of flowering bushes and colorful gardens.
Northwest of Kern lies the Tirfing, a land of woodlands and small lakes. The area is a haven for Rovers journeying to and from the grasslands of the Westland. North of the Tirfing, at the farthest reaches of Callahorn’s borders, are the flats below the valley of the Rhenn, where the climactic battle between the Elves and the Federation was begun. The alliance that faced the Federation included Padishar Creel’s Free Born as well as five thousand Rock Trolls.
The participation of the Free Born in that crucial battle was only possible because of their success eluding the Federation long enough to build a fighting force and ally with the Trolls. They evaded the Federation by using secret strongholds built within the wilderness of the Dragon’s Teeth Mountains.
Located north of the Mermidon’s north-south juncture at the edge of the Dragon’s Teeth are miles of unending ravines and defiles cutting all the way back to the bedrock of the mountains. Set amid a thick blanket of misty forest and almost impenetrable scrub, these deep ravines and sharp ridges, known as the Parma Key, hide the all-but-invisible trails that were the highways for the Free Born during the occupation. Anyone who dared enter the Parma Key without a guide was doomed to become hopelessly lost soon after entering. Even today, few dare to journey far within its range without at least carefully marking the trail. It was deep within this rugged land, atop a rock outcropping known as the Jut, that the Free Born established their primary stronghold.
The sheer wall of the Jut rises above the lands of the Parma Key for hundreds of feet. It is a natural stronghold capable of resisting even a sizable army. Midway up the cliff is a grassy bluff, approximately three hundred yards deep, ending in series of caves and tunnels. During its use as a Free Born outpost, the bluff was accessed via a series of lifts. These gated lifts were large enough to hold up to a half dozen people and were lifted by large winches set into rock ledges. It took three different lifts to reach the top ledge from the ground. Each lift was guarded. An enemy would have to take all three to gain access to the bluff.
A waterfall spilling from the mountains above to a pool on the bluff provided fresh water. The largest of the caves on the bluff, over two hundred feet across inside its main central chamber, opened into dozens of smaller chambers, which were used as storage areas and training rooms, as well as sleeping quarters during inclement weather. The Jut was home to between two hundred and five hundred men at any given time.
The deepest of these storage caves leads to a tunnel, disguised with a false front, which bores through the mountain to come out above Parma Key just south of the Dragon’s Teeth. Crevices split the path at several points along the tunnel. Some of the remnants of the rope-and-wood bridges used to span the crevices are still in place. The largest of these crevices is located a mile into the mountain. It cuts a deep channel, over fifty feet wide edge to edge, through the largest chamber known to exist within the mountain. The iron drawbridge, which was designed to be raised and lowered from the Jut side of the crevice, still stands across the yawning crack, though its gears and levers have been jammed, locking the bridge in place. Beyond the bridge, the tunnel winds for miles over similar terrain before emerging from the mountain.
Padishar Creel’s hawk signet ring, the symbol of the Free Born Movement
Several other caves on the Jut lead to tunnels as well. Some of them also lead to the outside, but most simply lead into a maze of underground passages that dead-end deep within the mountain. Most of the Free Born knew better than to attempt a tunnel passage without their leaders. Anyone who chose the wrong passage was hopelessly lost before he or she realized the mistake.
Fortifications were built along the edge of the cliff and around the cave mouths to protect against arrows or spears. Defenses were mounted in the cliff walls above the bluff within the splits in the rocky face. Some of the remains of these fortifications can still be seen today.
The second largest stronghold used by the Free Born was located at Firerim Reach, so named because of the breathtakingly brilliant crimson sunsets visible through the mountain mist. At sunset, the whole mountain range appeared to be burning.
Firerim Reach is located in the rugged slopes of the Dragon’s Teeth Mountains, northwest of the Rabb. It can only be accessed by a narrow trail that passed through the cliffs to a secret entrance within a cliff wall, though there are rumors of a second secret entrance that may not be revealed to those outside the Free Born. At many points, the trail appears to disappear into boulders or cliffs. Only those who know the way can find it. Climbing ever higher, the trail narrows at several points to the width of one man. Many of these splits are open to the sky, providing a point of attack if an enemy ever found the path.
The Reach itself is a large plateau with a spectacular view of the mountains to the west. To the east, a ridge overgrown with cedar and spruce protects the plateau. During the occupation, the Free Born built their makeshift cabins and tents within the shelter of these trees. Some of the stone-lined pits used for cooking fires are still visible.
The northern and western edges of the plateau dropped away over a steep cliff above a mass of canyons and jagged fissures. If anyone ever found a way to access the area near the Reach, he or she would never be able to climb the sheer walls to reach the redoubt.
Firerim Reach was used primarily as a fallback fortress for the Free Born. The Reach, even if it were revealed, could never be taken, but it was too far from the cities to provide active support for groups working within the cities. It was here, at Firerim, that Padishar Creel consolidated his forces before moving on to support the Elves at the Battle of the Rhenn during the Shadowen War.