Fandarr the Enchanter - Mad shaman of the Serpent People

Many years ago, before the Westroners came into the valley, there were several races of man that co-habitated with the Old Ones.  The most famous (and most numerous) were of course the northern Storm King Barbarians and the southern Sun King Barbarians.  But there are also numerous small groups of primitives - even less developed, culturally, than the Barbarians.  These include the Shagmen of the Aghanz Hills in the Darkearth Plains, the Oordut people that dwell around the Groben Caves, in the Enchanted Forest, and the Keepi-keepi rock dwellers in the Shattered Plains.


Another group of primitive men that live in the valley are the Serpent People, who live in a dense jungle-like area of the deepest south part of the Tiazarr forests, known as the Serpent Jungle.  The Serpent People are primitive humans, that live in treehouses in the jungle.  They are expert at extracting and using poisons and magical substances from the strange creatures that dwell in their jungle.

While the Old Ones still inhabited the Valley, one of their sorcerer-priests, who venerated the Earth Weaver (one of the elemental gods of the Old Ones), realized that the time would come when the Old Ones would leave the world.  Eager to leave behind some method for the Earth Weaver to make his presence felt in the world, the sorcerer-priest decided to foster a follower.  He selected a shaman from among the lowly Serpent People to raise up.  The shaman was named Fandarr-i-kyky and was especially adept at extracting and using venom from the spider-asps the dwelt in his tree.  He was visited by the sorcerer-priest, who not only awakened some latent intelligence inside the primitive, but also gave him the gift of speech - in the manner of the Old Ones.  Then he took Fandarr (who dropped his last name, out of shame from coming down out of his tree) on a journey, back, back through time - back to when the Earth Weaver was creating the concept of tree, and forest, and rock.  Fandarr saw how the Earth Weaver made for himself a sister-lover, who would give birth to the mushrooms and insects and other despised beings.  Out of pity, the Earth Weaver killed and ate his sister-lover, but the despised beings were loose in the world, and they have been there ever since, and are the reason why soil and trees and forests work.  Then the sorcerer-priest took Fandarr far into the future, where he saw how the element gods would come and devour the whole world, reducing mankind to little more than serving playthings, or food, or worse.  This was the dream of the four elemental gods.  Then the sorcerer-priest taught Fandarr the use of certain spells, to better serve the elemental gods, especially Earth Weaver and his followers.

Fandarr lost his mind.  But enough of it remained that he realized he would have to do his part to try and preserve some part of humanity.  He feverishly began studying magic, as much as he could.  He has knowledge that the Archivists at Parn Tandalorn would not even know how to categorize, much less understand.  But at a price - his mind? his soul?

Out of fear, over the years Fandarr turned his body to metal.  He has inscribed spells, supposedly taken from the book of Zargo Zar the Sage, on his metal skin. He has also extended his lifespan an extraordinary amount.  He has built a tower of star metal (collected, over centuries, from sites of fallen stars) near the Serpent Jungle of his birth, and now lives there.  He has begun teaching his people the flute-of-stone, and the songs and chants that would be used to appease the despised young of Earth Weaver's eaten sister-love.  With his weak grip on reality, he sometimes teaches the Serpent People how to actively worship Earth Weaver, and how to summon his servitors to this world for their own purpose.  At other times, he is actively trying to teach them defenses and ways to thwart Earth Weaver.  The situation grew out of hand, with tribes and tribe members almost open warring with each other over the two doctrines of Fandarr.  So the elders have prohibited contact with the mad enchanter.  The shamans and tribesmen of the Serpent People, now armed with knowledge of how to contact and appease and employ the servitors of the Earth Weaver have become a dangerous threat.  But very few know of the reason, nor do they know anything of Fandarr the Enchanter.

Fandarr still lives, although in his form of all metal.  He lives in his tower, near the Serpent Jungle, and summons and creates all manner of creatures (which inhabit his tower and dungeons beneath) who may help him once the elemental gods return.  In the meantime, the evil he unwittingly unleashed on the Serpent People has been growing and growing over the centuries.

Mead Hall - River Jarl Steading (7)

There is a skald's song that starts out "Mead Hall, Mead Hall - Home of Heroes Brave and Tall!"  And it has, indeed, been a home for many heroes over the years.  If there is a Steading of Storm King barbarians that fits the stereotypes that Westroners believe in - it is definitely Mead Hall.

Interior of Mead Hall, preparing for the nightly hero's feast

Mead Hall is structured with a great hall at the center of the settlement, surrounded by huge long houses in a double thick circle around the central hall, and then small plots of artisans, craftsman, and houses of huscarls, etc, out to the edge of the central settlement (which is about a mile across, a little over three miles around the perimeter).  It is all protected by a very tall wooden palisade, and a deep ditch, and a wall of spikes outside the ditch.

The great hall (itself properly referred to as Mead Hall, the rest of it referred to simply as The Steading) is home to the Jarl, his (extended) family, huscarls, women, travelers, wandering warriors, and lots and lots of skalds.  The favorite past-time in Mead Hall is to have warriors go out on adventures, and then come back and have skalds sing of them.

The Jarl and his men, enjoying the tales of the skalds

The current Jarl is Snorri Halftrollsson.  His father, old Halftroll, was the Jarl before, and ruled the hall for some four decades, before being killed on a hunt for giant wooly boar.  Snorri has a wife, and a dozen proper children, not to mention a large number of young women attached to the settlement, who all have children with the curious Snorri twinkle in their eye.  His band of Huscarls numbers close to three hundred, although at any one time more than half of them will be out on adventures, or viking raids.  Snorri's favorite skald, named Alvin Lyremaker, often sings a series of sagas that compare Mead Hall to the great hall in the Storm King's castle at Windkeep.

Windkeep - home of the Storm King

What is commonly known, but not talked about, is that Snorri's sister, perhaps showing more of the troll side of the family, from old Halftroll, is a witch.  She lives in a hovel, outside of the steading, in a marshy place beyond the poorest of peasant farms, but frequently comes into Mead Hall for the nightly feasts, in disguise.  She has a long and burning hatred for Snorri, his men, the steading, and most things from the world of men.  She scorns the religion and culture of her fathers, finding even the worship of Helgor (the Black Chieftain) to be too close to the family of the Storm King.

Instead, this witch, Heizelnag, chooses to worship the demigoddess of the underworld, Noxecatt, a foul creature related to the pantheon of the Westroner Church (the three Goddesses).  In the understanding of Heizelnag, however, Noxecatt is actually a daughter of the Old One deity, the Earth Weaver.  Sufficient understanding of the nature of the Earth Weaver is not known, so that this can be confirmed, however it is suspected among some of the Archivists at Parn Tandalorn. 

Many a hero from Mead Hall has come to a dark, grisly ending due to the magics and summonings worked by Heizelnag against all those allied to her brother, Snorri.

The writeup of the Roaming House of the Elkmen King was originally an adventure location that was part of this article.  It was part of the Week of Adventure Locations, but has been removed to make its own article.

History of the World - Valley of the Old Ones

The Valley, of course, is part of a much larger world.  This is a short version of the history of that world, according to the Archivists of Parn Tandalorn.

Once, a long time before there was time, the world had no music.  Without music, there was no magic.  Without magic, there were no numbers.  But one by one, through the strength of their will, the elemental gods of the Old Ones awoke.  Their names are now long forgotten, but in the course of things, each of them had a number.  The first, the lord of fire, helped to bring the rest into being.  They came in order, the Lord of Fire, the Lady of Air, Earth Weaver and the One beneath the Waves.  From them the rest of the gods of the Old Ones came, each after its own element.  Now their numbers were many, and  from this they could wring out all manner of magic.

The magic allowed the gods to create, each after his or her own fashion, the things that would live on the earth.  Plants, Animals, Fish, Birds.  Even the Old Ones.  They were created by the Lord of Fire and the Lady of Air directly, and held sway over all other things.  Through their ordering, the magic gave way to music, and now the world was complete.

After a time, a king arose amongst the Old Ones named Ba'a Zarn the Builder.  Ba'a Zarn and his people built all manner of fantastic cities and wonders.  Some still stand - the Sky Lake of Cittar and the Great Block.  Some are long gone.  Many were deep under the earth, still more were among the clouds.  One of the amazing feats of Ba'a Zarn was the construction of the Great River, which completely crosses the face of the world from one end to the other.  Along with the Great River is the King's Highway.  Much of the King's Highway is still in existence, and these two wonders - the River and the Highway - run through the middle of the Valley of the Old Ones.

It is said that the Valley itself was once a garden of the Old Ones, where they would come to take their ease and talk with all of the creatures of the gods.  Certainly they left behind some fantastic structures in the mountains and on the plains of the valley.  Many these days shun such spots, as they are the home of amazing creatures and inscrutable magic, but others seek them out as spots of adventure and fantastic treasures.