The Legend of Sivrit and Goldenrune's Revenge, 1 (Patreon)

Chapter 1

The realm of Lanthis lay sprawled across several dramatically arching mountain ranges, the deep fertile valleys giving way to rolling hills further than the eye could see.  Beyond that, were oceans teaming with merchant vessels sailing upon the often turbulent and treacherous waters of the Valsic Sea.  The borders of the realm ended at the icy Valsic Sea to the North, the Kingdom of Orianne to the West, the Forests of Mystes to the East and to the South the great Solus Empire, known for it's countless isles and countless greed for conquest.

Of all the stories of Mid-Lanthis, none compare to the greatest of heroes: the legendary Sivrit.  His reputation of being a powerful warrior, a cunning strategist, honorable, loyal and passionate were well earned.  For even of his enemies were many that had come to respect his prowess in battle if not also his fair treatment to surrendered foe.

It was in this age that Godron, King of Orianne, married his fair and beautiful daughter, Goldenrune, to Sivrit forming great prosperity and peace between the two nations.  Though many were the merchants, warlords, chiefs and kings that knew of Sivrit's reputation and traveled to offer their daughters to wed he did not take even one to his bed.  Though tempted by the beauty or riches offered to him, Sivrit stayed true to his one and only love: Goldenrune.  

Of all the fair maidens that Sivrit set his eyes to, Goldenrune was indeed the fairest.  It was only by chance that they even came to know one another at all.  Before the times of peace between Orianne and Lanthis, many wars were fought by Sivrit's father and some even by Sivrit himself.  It was one such conflict that brought an Orianne Emissary and a Lanthian Scout to become subsumed in a mysterious cave.  Each others' guards stricken leaving the two of them the only choice to help each other in order to leave the cave.  Sivrit was enchanted with Goldenrune's beauty and vowed to find the mysterious Emissary once again.

At the time, their love was a betrayal of their country and so each promised to see one another when each nation no longer stood in conflict.  Their honor and their commitment held true, and one day open conflict between Lanthis and Orianne ended.  For each, they felt that they could truly live again and with succession the two had also become heirs to their respective thrones.

With the blessing of King Godron and approval of Sivrit's father, High Regent Arthumius, Sivrit and Goldenrune were wed.  The peace of their marriage reached the ears of the Solusian Empress, who greatly feared what such an alliance would mean for his thirst of conquest and the wealth she sought.  The Solusian Empress became dismayed as her attempts to subjugate and control the territories of Lanthis and it's smaller allies at her border were stopped.  

The Empress sought a very skillful and capable assassin to end the alliance between Orianne and Lanthis, and though Arthumius, High Regent of Lanthis, was stricken by poison to death the alliance between the two countries remained intact.  The Empress then sought the council of her greatest generals and concocted a grand assault on the heart of Lanthis, to sack and destroy the capital city of Valenhall.  

What followed was a series of bloody wars and conflicts, which, before their end had Valenhall sacked and burned not once, but twice.  Even with the walls of Valenhall shattered,

Sivrit and Goldenrune united the lands against the Empress and led a great army, the size of which no one has seen since.  It was in this last battle that the Empresses generals lay defeated and the Empress herself fled, though never to return to her Imperial Isles.  Sivrit had finally vanquished the Solusian Empire, whose armies had caste a shadow over the land like a great and terrible dragon.

Though Sivrit and Goldenrune returned to Lanthis, a monument was built to watch over the battlefield should the Solusian Empire ever return to its' former mountainous peninsula.  There was peace once again, but it was short lived for the Empress had also sought a very wise and powerful wizard named Sycorax.  This wizard learned to hide among Sivrit's people and watched him to learn his weakness.  In so doing, Sycorax learned of the true love that Sivrit shared with Goldenrune.  The wizard also learned of Goldenrune's love for her aging father.

Unbeknownst to Goldenrune, Sycorax disguised themselves as King Godron and assumed their identity.  No one discovered the true fate of King Godron or when he disappeared, as once Sivrit and Goldenrune returned to Valenhall Sycorax confronted them disguised as the King.  He vowed that Sevrit was unworthy of Goldenrune's hand and to prove himself must climb the highest mountain in Lanthis and defeat a beast stronger than any Sevrit had faced before, in order to win his bride back.

With that Sycorax and Goldenrune disappeared from Valenhall, leaving the hero to search the castle and the city for any sign of his bride.  In his heart Sevrit knew that the longer he delayed facing the magician's quest the worse it would be for Goldenrune.  He could not rule Lanthis and search for his bride, so in taking up his quest Sevrit left his brother, Chelperic, as regent of Lanthis.

Sevrit traveled to a weapon-smith in the low-country named Rogan and asked for a weapon that would allow him to face the wizard.  Rogan had known of few wizards, but word had traveled from the days of the Solusian Wars and fearing the return of Sycorax the weapon-smith crafted a sword unlike any other.  As Rogan tirelessly worked, strange dreams troubled Sevrit tormenting him with visions of Goldenrune caged like an animal by the evil wizard, tortured, humiliated and more.

The hero's need became desperate as each successive night brought with it even more troubling visions of Goldenrune driven mad with pain and cruelty.  Finally Rogan delivered the promised weapon, which even in the dim moonlight gathered a golden hue around it's blade surface.  The weapon-smith called the sword Gramr, and old word for Wrath, explaining that it was a weapon crafted to bring justice to evil and would have no use as a weapon of war.  Sevrit believed he understood the smith's meaning, having recently awoken from more dreams of Sycorax torturing his beloved wife and left Rogan to confront the challenges set before him, slay the wizard and be reunited with his true love.