Gendin’s Journal – Red Owl

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 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.

---

Red Owl

August, 1500 AWR

The line of Gisine, daughter of Meselda and Thorin of the Clan Gilderlo, led Red Owl for thirteen hundred and twenty years.

The Council of Rendelshod disappeared in 62 AWR. Thorin had gone missing two years prior, and was presumed dead. Then the alarm produced by his horn rang!

His wife Meselda had enchanted a horn that only he could use. When he blew it, it would create a gate between his location and the courtyard of the Castle Rendelshod. Most of the Council members assembled and went through the gate to Thorin’s aid. The gate closed, and they did not return.

Within three months the Knights of Polaxis were at the Castle, promising no quarter to all within. Muur, the one remaining mage, triggered defenses to keep the Knights out, while the entire complement of the Castle escaped through the caverns beneath the Castle. Thorin’s henchman Gimlock took young Gisine to Sathea to avoid the Knights.

There he brutally took over a criminal organization, training Gisine to be the leader when she reached adulthood.

Baldor, son of Meselda and Thorin, is the deadliest swordsman I have met, surpassing my own considerable skills It is not a surprise that their daughter proved equally deadly. She ruled intelligently through reason, but had a powerful blade and dagger with which to convince those that could not see reason.

Red Owl prospered, especially during the five hundred years the five wars with the Empire of Mathailda took place. In 1139 AWR when Mathaildan forces burned half of Sathea, Red Owl used guerilla tactics to hamper the Mathaildan army enough to make them withdraw, which encouraged the leaders of the Empire to allow Red Owl to operate unhampered by official forces.

Generally the mantle of Master passed gracefully from one generation to the next, although occasionally one seized power through coercion and violence. At other times a Master was removed by a relative because of incompetence. The fragment of the Clan Gilderlo that lived in Sathea prospered.

In modern times, the twenty years of war with the bandit who styled himself Talon took a heavy toll on Red Owl. As a child he was called Gimper, a name he hated. This drove him to succeed, destroying his detractors and forming the Black Eagles to rival Red Owl. As an adult I called him Fundament, a name he hated more than Gimper, possibly because I called him that. I was the Assassin of Sathea, and Fundament envied me and hated me beyond the point of madness.

Tactically, the man was genius. In the short term he out-thought most of his enemies, which made him victorious. In a matter of five years he had destroyed or ingested every criminal organization in Sathea – except Red Owl. This was no small feat, as Red Owl had been adversaries with some organizations, especially the gold elves, for centuries.

Strategically? Fundament’s successes made him arrogant and he failed to capitalize on those successes. His arrogance and self-delusion, bolstered by lieutenants who flattered him, caused him to make grandiose plans that had no chance of succeeding. He repeatedly over-extended his forces and got too many killed. But the dead were all peons and the slums were filled with replacements who firmly believed they could succeed and survive where their brothers and cousins did not.

All other groups gone, Fundament started the war on Red Owl in earnest. He lost greater numbers than we did, but humans are ready to fight at age thirteen; dwarves are capable but not really ready at forty. Our numbers were not replaced as quickly, and through mere attrition he was winning. During this period he managed to kill all my brothers and sisters except Milo. When he killed Arissa, my mother, I thought my father would snap a twig. I countered that with an offensive that drove Fundament out of Sathea, along with most of his forces. I followed him and allowed all to believe I had been killed, so that fool would not realize it was I who was after his blood.

Two years later I returned to Sathea, chasing Fundament who had acquired an item of foul, eldritch power. He killed my father and very nearly my brother, but I drove him out of Sathea and slaughtered the forces he had brought with him. I chased him out of Sathea and gave him the death he earned, but that is a tale for another day.

Milo was too young and I had no interest in assuming the mantle of Master of Red Owl. All the senior members were dead or crippled, so none were alive to vie for the position. A succession of the unworthy grasped the mantle and died for their efforts. Open fighting in the streets invoked the city guard and the local militia, and the remnants of Red Owl were killed or scattered. So ended my great great and then some grandmother’s crowning glory.

Milo was sheltered by the Clan and later grew to become Clan Chief. That, too, is a story for another day.