I give you the tale of the Battle of the Octagon. It has
been very lightly editted from it's original state for flow,
as it was first meant to be a spoken tale, not one put to
scroll.
The tale I have to tell has been passed down orally, bard
master to bard apprentice, for over for thousand years, until
a priestess of the White Lady Rinanni came across it and
wrote it down. It is the oldest tale known in Spur.
Long, long ago, before the deeds of beast and men were
recorded, was the Age of Darkness, also called The First
Epoch of Sa-Taath. Historians approximate the year to be
sometime around 4100 (BC, or before the conflagration) In
those days, the Dragon Imperium held sway over a tumultuous
planet, trying to force Order upon the anarchy of the young
world. Just when the Dragons made themselves recognized as
the masters of our world, a terrible power rose to challenge
them. These ancient foes were so hideously evil that the
storytellers of old,would not even name them to their young
listeners.
The Foe organized the darker races and strove to wreak
chaos. But the Dragons gathered together the Frontacians, the
Psycians, and others, including a now extinct race called the
Llhuminor, to combat this enemy. The world plunged into war,
and great were the clashes of rune and steel as the forces
met in battle after battle.
Now at this time two great figures emerged. Silaersinar
Sinirdlige, also called Sinar, gained reknown as the
mightiest of the Frontacian Rune Mages. Indeed, he is
probably the most powerful mage ever to have walked among us.
Reginorak Drakinor, also distinguished himself as an adult
Dragon Battlemaster, leading his forces to victory in one of
the largest air-sea battles this world has ever known. After
that battle, the Frontacian mage Sinar annuoncedthat a great
edifice would be built to commemorate the victorious battle.
And so it was, that The Octagon was built by the best
mages and craftsmen of the age on a site of great power the
location of which has been lost today. The structure had
eight sides that towered into the air and it is said that its
span from edge to edge was more than a mile. As the structure
was finished, a mighty force of Dragons and Psycians and
other races, led by Reginorak, hid themselves in the pass
just north of the site.
For you see, The Octagon was no memorium
It was the greatest Frontacian trap ever laid.
The last Wyrde of the Llhuminor held a Great Celebration
within the Octagon. The Foe despised the Llhuminor, and thus
they were the natural bait to draw the Foe into the pass. The
Frontacian mages themselves hid in the structure and waited.
Alas, how could Reginorak know that the Foe had been
warned? How could he know there was a hidden route to the
site which the Foe used to bring its armies in strength?
The forces of the Enemy fell upon the Llhuminor within the
Octagon, the last of their kind. Last of their lives at the
Foe they hurled. Broken bodies, sad accompaniment of war.
Something wonderful lost from this world.
Now Sinar the mage beheld the slaughter. At a loss of what
to do, he magickally transported Reginorak from his post
miles away. And Reginorak beheld that carnage, and was
overcome that the Dragons should not be fighting beside the
Llhuminor, there at their last.
So he leapt into the battle, his gold scales shining
brightly. He crushed go-blin-al underfoot like so much brush.
He hurled the Foe about with his swipes of his claws. With
but a single bite even the largest of the Evil Ones perished.
It is said that he breathed the largest recorded breath of
flames of any dragon that day. But even so, the battle was
being lost.
And so, beholding the battle go very poorly, Sinar gave the signal.
Imagine if you will, a thousand Frontacian rune mages
chanting mystic syllables in unison... Louder and louder,
their insistence being answered by the very stones of The
Octagon, and a great magic flashed out of the rune carved
blocks that made up the edifice... In that instant, every
body within was trapped in a web of magic.
No one person could be removed from that spell without
setting them all free. And so mighty Reginorak was trapped
with them all, for centuries and centuries until the fate of
the Octogon is lost in history.
Now... 'Twas this battle that marked the end of the
strength of the Dragon Imperium... And the Frontacians had so
effectively dealt with the Foe that it marked the beginning
of the Frontacian Empire, the greatest Empire ever to grace
or scar this planet, as you would have it.
And that is the Tale of the Battle of the Octagon.