Gendin’s Journal – Galafid Part 1

updated 01/10/2025

a page from the journal of Gendin, son of Arissa and Temone of the dwarven Clan Gilderlo

Author’s note: Continents such as Trivana are considered “worlds” by their inhabitants, while the entire world is referred to simply as GeKeb. The point of view of Gendin is limited by his people’s concept of the term world, and his understanding of what GeKeb is.

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Galafid, Part 1

July, 1501 AWR

This journal entry is the first to directly address Galafid, advisor to Teroip Stemtarp who was the senior Lord of Rendelshod at the conclusion of the first War of Rendelshod. This will not be the last entry, as much of what I believe I know is based upon conjecture and I will record updates depending on new facts or ideas.

Who was Galafid?

As I mentioned in my September 1500 AWR entry, Galafid was Stemtarp’s chief advisor during the twenty-year duration of the First War of Rendelshod. He was a scholar of note and was reputed to be very wise. Stemtarp reportedly acknowledged that many of his greatest wins, in battle and otherwise, were due to excellent advice from Galafid. The man was not known to be a cleric or magic wielder; “just” a simple scholar.

Galafid was present when the Lords left on their suicidal mission after their goddess Epixenie was killed by Jxtl’s forces. Their grief and their hubris drove them to attack Jxtl in his demesne, intending to kill him on his own throne. As everyone has known for the last eight thousand years, that plan did not work as expected.

As noted elsewhere, the Lords’ mortal bodies were destroyed, and they were transformed into skeleton warriors, doomed to walk the mortal lands until they recovered their swords, the fabled Cleavers. Their time in this personal version of hell was almost eight thousand years.

At the time the defeated Lords were returned to Trivana, Galafid was on a ship bound for the Southern Isles, apparently besieged by a horrible storm.

Galafid supposedly died within the year following the Lords’ failure. According to one of his surviving writings, he took ship and ended up shipwrecked somewhere in the Southern Islands. He died sometime after being shipwrecked.

Multiple Wars

Trivana was host to two wars at that time, the one between the Lords of Rendelshod and Jxtl, and a more expansive one between the gods.

Of the Jxtl war, much is known. The cause? Jxtl wanted more power in Trivana, and the Lords opposed him. My great-great-and-then-some grandfather Thorin (husband of Meselda, founder of the Clan Gilderlo) spent a lot of time with Stemtarp and recorded what that man said. For the purpose of this journal entry, suffice it to say that it was a typical demon lord vs. mortals fight.

The war between the gods? Little is known of the cause, only the conclusion: over half the gods known in Trivana were dead. The Pyung Pantheon is composed of the survivors of the human gods. All the pantheons were affected, including those of the dwarves and elves, which fought defensively only. I will go into detail regarding what I know in a future journal entry.

What is not commonly known is that there were dozens of other wars fought at that time, in worlds outside of Trivana. I have found writings that talk about such in a varying amount of detail, which I will also discuss in a future journal entry. While most learned people think that the term “After the Wars of Rendelshod” means the two Trivana-based wars, the original meaning was with respect to the many concurrent wars of the time.

Another fact is that the horrific storms that marked the end of these wars were not local to Trivana. They may have covered all of GeKeb.

I have no idea what the causes of these wars were, but the timing of so many at once in diverse worlds indicates that it was not coincidence. As I peruse the many writings I have, I will watch for any evidence regarding a common cause for everything.

Galafid’s Legacy

Galafid’s death should have been the end of his contributions to his legacy, but writings attributed to him have been found, reliably dated within the eight hundred years that followed. Several writings are dated to the period between 470 and 480 ASNK (After the Sack of the Northern Kingdoms), and Galafid has been validated as the author.

Note: within twenty years of the Lords’ defeat, the term “After the Sack of the Northern Kingdom” became common as the name for the time period in Trivana that began with the Lords’ return to Trivana following their defeat at Jxtl’s hands.

One of the writings documents an interview with Teroba Tur, a half-elven fighter and thief who boldly plundered Jxtl’s treasure room, and stole the Cleaver belonging to Stemtarp. Some background:

Jxtl told the defeated Lords that they would wander the mortal lands until all recovered their Cleavers, which he scattered widely across Trivana. He held up Stemtarp’s Cleaver and prophesized that it would be the first one found, then he sent them back to Trivana.

Being the tricky bastard he always was, he immediately hung the Cleaver in his treasure room in his castle in the Infernal Lands. This meant the Lords’ doom was eternal, as Stemtarp would never recover his Cleaver.

Nearly five hundred years later, Teroba Tur used a variety of magics to travel to Jxtl’s domain, disguise himself, and sneak into the castle with the intent of stealing items of light weight and immense value. He had no idea what the large sword hanging on the wall was, but he was drawn to it, and stole it along with a variety of mundane treasure.

Galafid interviewed the thief after his return to Trivana, but after he lost possession of the Cleaver. Shortly after that, Jxtl’s forces caught the unfortunate thief, and he paid dearly for his temerity in stealing from the demon lord. But they did not recover the Cleaver, which disappeared for another seventy-five hundred years.

Side Note: A story circulated that the thief was still chained in Jxtl’s dungeon on the day I slew that bastard demon. The Council of Rendelshod and I were focused totally on escaping the Infernal Lands, and could not have searched the dungeons even if we did know anyone was there. It is possible that the demon lord kept that thief alive for eons as punishment for stealing.

Back to the main point: This writing, recorded nearly five hundred years after Galafid’s supposed death, is solidly attributed to him.

This raises two points:

1. Galafid did not die as was reported.
2. Galafid found some method of extending his life for centuries.

There are numerous theories regarding his extended life, including time travel and his becoming a lich. Up until recently, I did not have a theory.

My Previous Research

During the last few decades, I have devoted time to researching Galafid. There are notable scholars who have made him their professional passion, at the Grande College of Rendelshod, the Grande College of Kerr, and the University of Sathea. While I have found others, the scholars at these three edifices have the most detail.

Side Note: I am disappointed that the dwarves, gold elves, and silver elves have relatively little interest in human history. Oh, they are interested in groups such as the Lords of Rendelshod, but few pay any attention to an advisor.

I have collected copies of nearly three hundred writings that have been attributed to Galafid. All were written prior to 4000 ASNK. I was able to eliminate over half as forgeries or translations from older languages to newer languages. Which still leaves a lot of material that Galafid wrote.

Of the ones validated as Galafid’s, most were written prior to 800 ASNK. I do not have any theories as to the reason for that.

New Research

In recent months I have had several conversations with Jake, Grandson of Marissa and Trajan, of the dwarven Clan Gilderlo, bearer of the second sword of Cieldren. Given that I recently completed my century of service as a Champion of Cieldren, he and I find much common ground for discussion.

Like myself, Jake is a scholar of Galafid. He has collected over a hundred documents attributed to Galafid, and another fifty that are attributed to other people, but he believes were actually authored by Galafid. This collection is an amazing accomplishment for one so young.

We compared materials — while I obviously have many that he has not seen, he has a couple dozen that were previously unknown to me. Jake showed me how he determines the real writings from the fakes. It turns out that some of what I thought were real are real. Well, sort of. Some are copies of previous versions that were translated poorly.

I can read nearly a dozen languages. Jake can read nearly three dozen, and can speak five fluently, and is conversant with over half a dozen more. That gives him a big advantage in dealing with translations.

Cantonnar, the language spoken commonly by humans at the time of the First War of Rendelshod, has been extinct for over eight thousand years. At that time of the First War of Rendelshod, one human language was common across Trivana. The first few centuries following that dark period were nearly as dark, with many civilizations crushed.

Currently there are eight main languages and dozens of dialects. In between the First War of Rendelshod and now, there have been at least two dozen main languages, and countless dialects, all of which are extinct.

By “extinct” I mean there are no native speakers of these languages. Scholars may speak them, but as Jake notes, there is no guarantee that the pronunciation used by scholars is actually how these languages were actually spoken.

Understanding how translations between languages affects wording helps greatly in deciphering which writings are real and which are not. It also helps that Jake has had assistance from other sources in the temples of Demeter, Dorane, Patah, along with scholars in the Grand College of Kerr. The man collects allies like bees collect pollen.

Jake’s Theory

At Jake’s birth in 758 AWR, a man named Galafid was the Cleric-First of Demeter in Kerr. Jake and his companions traveled forward in time with the Council of Rendelshod in 783 AWR, and Galafid supposedly died in 795 AWR.

Jake reviewed temple records, which dated back to the fourth millennium ASNK. He discovered that a man named Galafid was the Cleric-First roughly every four hundred years. Each served for exactly forty-two years.

The last Galafid was the one he knew, who served seventy-one years as cleric-first, then apparently died. The few drawings of the previous Galafids strongly resemble the one he knew.

Jake hypothesizes that a god, almost certainly Demeter, elevated Galafid, and that he has been serving her since then.

Why was he the Cleric-First of the Kerrean temple every four hundred years? Neither Jake nor I currently have a hypothesis for that.

This journal entry is among the ones that will not see light of day until some period after my own death, hopefully centuries from now.