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Tag: Galafid

  • Gendin’s Journal – Galafid Part 1

    updated 02/06/2025

    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.

    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 Anaxios 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 three questions:

    1. What prompted a thief to try something as suicidal as robbing a demon lord’s treasure room?
    2. Once there, why would a thief steal something as massive as a Cleaver, when the goal was lightweight items?
    3. Since Galafid died five hundred years previously, how did he interview the Teroba Tur?

    The thief’s actions lend me to consider there was an outside force prompting and guiding him, which he may not have realized was happening.

    There are numerous theories regarding Galafid’s 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.

  • Galafid’s Writings of Rendelshod

    updated 29 October 2006

    These pastiches were intended to give our group a feeling for the history of the First War of the Gods, also called the Wars of Rendelshod and the Sack of the Northern Kingdoms. Using this form let me provide information without too much detail. And since it’s hearsay from 8,000 years ago, the writings may be less than accurate.

    One of my tenets of world building is to not flesh out details until they are needed, as ideas can morph with experience. Plus, anything the PCs have not directly experienced is hearsay and may be wrong. This allows for fixing and molding things as we go.

    It also let me exercise creative writing, which was fun.

    Note: These pastiches are displayed in what is believed to be chronological order. All are attributed to Galafid; yet he supposedly died during the year that followed the Lords of Rendelshod’s defeat at the demon lord Jxtl’s hands.

    Aftermath of the Great Storm

    The Southern Seas are roiled and the corpse of many a creature, both of land and sea, lie dead on the beaches or lost forever in the depths. Our party came near such a fate but a friendly bit of land interposed itself between our ship and the deeps, and we are wrecked but alive on a fruitful shore. Where we be now I know not but those of us knowledgeable of such things believe our position to be the Island of Korpu, somewhere on a northern shore.

    Reaching Rary, northern most of the island of the Southern Kingdoms, I no longer believe possible. Whether they exist any longer, or no, I cannot say. Travel we did, not four hundred miles due south of the point south of Jakith, and there, where two hundred miles travel should have brought us to Rary, we found no land. As noted before the seas were rough, but a ship of our size, while not equal to a dromond, was still able to laugh at such waves.

    I take this time to now record and preserve my account, that such might outlast my pitiful self and be of value to some future generation. I am old and may not survive the coming rainy season, this spring of 6847, nineteen years after the beginning of the Great Wars of Destruction.

    On our eighty-first day out from the point south of Jakith the storm sprang up and put to an end our search for a place of refuge. The winds and high seas pushed us north at an incredible rate. From the First Mate’s calculations of our present location we traveled eleven hundred miles in a day and a half.

    Lost at sea are seventeen of our twenty-nine crew, including our Captain. Out of one hundred twelve passengers seventy-two remain, but seven are expected to die within the week from injuries sustained during our rapid travel. We no longer have a cleric of power to save them, even if our patron gods were accessible to us. Too, if permanent shelters cannot be erected and sufficient quantities of good gathered before Fall, many more shall perish.

    We have food enough to sustain our reduced numbers for three weeks, double that if strict rationing is imposed. Fortunately, fresh water is plentiful for there are three springs in the area. The rainy season will be bad, but some will survive and will be able to raise crops to prevent a second happening of famine. I despair I will not be among them.

    Of the Lords I cannot say. They sent myself and all other servants away some four months past. I speculate that the Great Storm sprang up at the time of a terrible battle between the Lords and the enemies of the Lands of Men. The result I may never know.

    The Doom of the Lords of Rendelshod

    Two centuries past the Lords of Rendelshod still held sway over many a desolate and formerly evil place. Many a king or prince felt envy, but no kingdom had the power to challenge the great Lords. Many a Lord died in the service of his Goddess, Epixenie, but always came another to replace his great predecessor.

    A tragedy it was that their greatness extended itself to their minds, for the truly great have no need of arrogance. Even more unfortunate it was that Epixenie herself drank of the deadly pride that infected us all.

    They battled devils, Greater and Princes, and a many it was they slew. But their short sightedness was their downfall, for they looked not at the dangers of the Abyss. So it was that Jxtl, Demon Prince of Deception, intervened on the behalf of the devils and struck the Goddess down through trickery. And So It Was Her End!

    Now demons, devils, and many evil creatures aligned themselves with the evil kingdoms and the Sack of the Northern Kingdoms began.

    For twenty years the Wars continued, and in that time the Keeps of the Lords of Rendelshod fell, one by one. In the year their last Keep stood unsacked the Lords made their decision. Sending away their lesser members and servants to help the remaining good forces, they left their Keep undefended and traveled to Jxtl to face their doom and avenge the death of their Goddess. Revenge they found not! Only unending doom!

    Defeated they were and doomed to un-Life everlasting. Their Blades were taken ‘way and left with false hope they returned to their homelands and dispersed.

    Jxtl spoke: “Your Blades I return to the land of men. When all are recovered you may try again your luck and then be doomed to an unending fate worse than that has already overtaken you. But before you leave on your separate ways I say this to you (as he held one Blade high): Until this very Blade is found none of the others will reach your hands!”

    And so he dispersed them, but his doom was the trickery that all else about him is, for the Blade remained with him in the Abyss so that the Lords’ torment would never end.

    The ruin of our world is complete. Gone forever is Caradin, the bright kingdom adorning Mount Thunder. Gone is Lepadillia, heart of the Elves, its great forests blasted to splinters and burned. Gone are the warrens of the Dwarves and Gnomes, the Kirik Mountains, shaken and crumbled by Hell. Sunk is the bright land of the Halflings, changed now to a deadly marsh.

    But, too, is destroyed Saracind, the heart of evil, shattered by its own greed, its mountain fastness now known as the Plateau of Death. Where lay horrid Jkith is now the Mithril Mountains, their evil cities shattered and buried. The cities of Rharhiky died in the creation of the Great Sandy Waste, consumption by sand a most proper fate.

    Only untouched are the Valley Elves, denizens of the Valley of the Mystical Mage. In the far frozen north, in a land of steam, this magical place remains as it was. To reach it one must travel past the Shattered Hills, once the Kariks, and travel to the gate …

    Fate of the Lords of Rendelshod

    This I write in the four hundred seventy-first year after the end of the Wars of Rendelshod. I am at the last castle of Rendelshod that still stands. The other seventeen are scattered in pieces or crumbled by ill-used forces of nature. Druids still curse those who would do such.

    My investigation of the burial crypt far below the castle first discovered strong enchantments upon it. I was able to discover that more than one spell has been cast. Good has protected the burial chamber for the former Lords with creatures of the Positive Plane. Evil has protected the eighteen biers of stone.

    The Lords never added those biers, so I know not why, for sure, the reason for their placement. I suspect, but may never prove, that when each Lord recovers his Cleaver he will be forced to rest upon one. Also, when each Cleaver has been found all the Lords are assembled a shift will take place — to the realm of Jxtl.

    Of course, this may never take place, as the Prince of Deception kept the Cleaver that is fated to be the first found. But I know a brave fool stole that fated Blade and escaped Jxtl’s realm. He later lost that Blade but told me the story afore demons caught and punished him.

    Think, I do, that Jxtl prepared for the possibility that the Lords might recover their Cleavers. Even with that Blade upon our Plane the eventuality of retribution is small.

    Searched I have for the other seventeen blades, but none could I find. I hoped that such help might gain the reprieve that the Lords desire and deserve, whether it would or not I shall probably never know. In the past four hundred and seventy-one years I have seen four of the eighteen Lords, and if they are rare, their Cleavers are rarer.

    Teroba Tur, Half-Elven Fighter & Thief

    Recorded by Galafid

    This is a brief account as told by Teroba Tur, a half-elven fighter and thief who raided the demon prince Jxtl’s treasure room. Tur did not survive much past telling this story to Galafid.

    Having cast a Change Self spell I simply walked through the palace of Jxtl, looking like a Type VII demon. I used a quick mind and found his treasure room, which was completely unguarded as no thing would DARE to enter it for fear of his wrath. HA!

    I had an idea of what I wanted, mostly jewelry and gems, things easy to carry. I knew magic deteriorated in that hellish place, so I planned on little, having gone for fame and wealth anyway.

    I changed my mind once inside. I saw the broadsword hanging on the wall, all silvery and gleaming. I HAD to have it!

    That idea changed when I pulled it of the wall. The shock nearly fried me clappers! I still wanted it so I wrapped it in cloth to shield me, grabbed a few items that appeared the most valuable, and lit out of there.

    I was almost back to the gate when the alarm sounded. I made it through by the skin ‘o me teeth. Once back I faded through the city and listened to a thousand people get croaked as a horde of demons poured through the gate. As soon as the coast was clear I got clean out of the city and came here …

    Teroba Tur’s Fate

    This short note was found with other writings attributed to Galafid. However, this one is clearly not one of his — the unidentified author’s writing does not match Galafid’s style of writing, although the piece is believed to have been written between 470 and 480 After the Sack of the Northern Kingdoms (ASNK).

    The thief Teroba Tur rambled an unbelievable tale in a drunken rant. He had much clinkers and was free with drinks, so like the other gats, I slurped free ale.

    But I’s smarter than the other gats — wanting some of that clinkers, I drank little while the others passed out, one by one. It was just Tur and me at the end. He told be a tale that sounded like the boasts of a soused idiot. Anyone with that much clinkers in his pockets had to be stupid to get drunk, especially after flashing it around.

    He bragged he breached the demon lord’s castle — I fears to even write the name, as names have power. Once inside, he stole a great sword and a bunch of easy to carry loot, like the gems he flashed around. Some demon worshiper had opened a gate in one of the Pahkian cities, and Tur snuck through to get to the castle.

    He was so full of it, the whites of his eyes were brown. Ain’t no one gonna do that, go to the Abyss! I didn’t call him a liar and he was drunk enough he didn’t know what I were thinking.

    He crowed that the alarm was sounded just before he got back to the gate, it sounded like bedlam. A horde of demons boiled through the gate. Not slowing down, he stole a horse and rode out of the city like his ass was on fire.

    Maybe he wasn’t so full of it. A gat like him ain’t gonna admit to running. But still?

    As much as he wanted to keep the sword, it was enchanted and didn’t like him. If he touched it without a pad, he got shocked hard. He showed me the scars on his left hand and arm where it looked like he was burned badly. Whatever happened, the wound was fresh, less than two weeks old. Something happened and it didn’t look like fire. Not that I’m an expert or nothing.

    Anyway, he sold the sword and kept riding south, intending to take passage to the Southern Islands. Said he was knew the demons was tracking him.

    Huh! The dumbass spent clinkers like it was water, leaving a trail a blind badger could follow.

    That said, he plunked face down on the table. I grabbed a handful of smaller stones and silver clinkers and took my leave. Enough to stead me for a year or two if I was smart, but not enough that he’d track me down. Figured he’d not wake up for hours and probably wouldn’t know he was short, any how. Not that I was counting on that.

    Months later I heared someone caught up with him early that following morning. The other fellows we drank with were torn apart like sabre cats got ’em, and Tur was shredded from the bottom up. Someone wanted to know something, I thinks. Sure, the guy that told the tale pulled it a bit, but I heared from another guy another story so I believe Tur died hard.

    As much as I thought he was full of crap, I heard that the Pahkian city Dar-El-Kas was sacked about the time Tur said. Word is demons slaughtered all’uns, but ya can’t believe that hooey.

    Also heard some ugly gat was asking about me, a guy that made people scared just to be near him. I thinks I’ll be booking passage to the Southern Islands quick like.

    Copyright Bryan Fazekas 2021

  • Writings of Galafid

    Author’s Note: The writing of Galafid were originally conceived for the background for my series of adventures involving the search for the Rod of Seven Parts. I scrapped the original background and used a mandate from a god to find the Rod so he could use it to avert a war between the gods.

    However, the Lords of Rendelshod proved too interesting to let die, so I used it to flesh out the back history of the World. This led to a non-party adventure in which our group played the eighteen Lords of Rendelshod after they reclaimed their Cleavers and hunted the demon lord Jxtl down. It was an interesting adventure for the party as they got to play the Lords, condemned to Skeleton Warrior existence by Jxtl, while letting me avoid the pitfall of letting players play regular characters that are undead. Given the ease with which eighteen Skeleton Warriors went through armies of demons, it reinforces the idea that undead are NOT player characters!

    I decided afterward that Jxtl was only slightly dead and he later recovered and rebuilt his power, although that took another 600 years of game time. While he was no longer a factor in that campaign or the two that followed it (nor my brother’s two campaigns), Jxtl is is a factor in the current campaign.

    Most surviving accounts of the Wars of Rendelshod, sometimes called the Sack of the Northern Kingdoms, were recorded by Galafid, the noted sage and adviser to Teroip Stemtarp *, the last Senior Lord of Rendelshod. This noted sage was believed to have been in Stemtarp’s service prior to the beginning of the Wars, stayed with him during the 20 years the Wars lasted, and was finally sent away with the other servitors just before the Lords of Rendelshod faced the Demon Prince Jxtl and lost.

    It was believed that Galafid, a human, died shortly after the Wars ended. Every evidence from that time, fragmentary as it is, points to this as a fact. However, accounts supposedly written by Galafid turn up, dated centuries later. An analysis of the age of the documents and the handwriting, as well as the writing style lead most authorities to believe that they are authentic. How this is so is unknown.

    Note:

    * In the language of that time, the “p” silent so the name Teroip Temtarp is pronounced tear-roy stem-tar.