In the fortress of Derdian, in the presence of a crowd of men, to all appearance warriors, a man sitting on a sumptuous and glittering throne, was going to tell an epic history, made of war, of death, of battles and conquests… Troghlor was his name, and this is what he was about to tell.
THE NEW ERA
It was steel’s law…
Up there, Northward, among rich forests, spellbound valleys and skies ploughed by stupendous red purple dragons, many peoples used to live, devoting themselves to sheep-breeding and agriculture, in total harmony with nature and neighboring people. Those were fruitful lands, very rich in fauna. These people were ruled by peaceful kings, who reigned with the willing of happiness among their people, in the name of justice, of peace and democracy. But in that lands there were also populations devoted to war and battles of conquest, led by bloodthirsty and power thirsty tyrants, always looking for lands to conquer and people to destroy; they used to impose their people an atmosphere of terror and total subjection. Derdian was a great fortress, situated on the peak of the Lorvath mountain, behind the valley or Lornack. It was a place of peace and quietness, led for centuries by generations of generous kings able in guaranteeing their people a great welfare, always in the name of justice and the peace. Democracy reigned and it was the people , in Derdian, who took decisions, later on approved by the kings; every week, in the main square, meetings and popular reunions took place in order to take important decisions on political, administrative and economic matters. Such decisions were communicated to the king by spokesmen, people’s representatives. Afterwards there was a discussion between all of them, and together they took the final decision. In Derdian war was used exclusively for defense purposes, and there were no aggressions battles toward another people for conquest reasons. This atmosphere of total peace and democracy, was the reason of an increasing in feeling, among the people of Derdian, of endless safety and faith in values (peace and justice). Derdian was a place where people could have a good life, working hard and being happy as well, because it is right to work for a kingdom that believes in his own people, and that in people has its greater boast. Through these human and government values Derdian reached an excellent level of welfare and quality of life. Everything worked well, and it was a place where people could really live happy, totally tuned with the king and with the society. Nobody could have ever imagined that this whole comfort welfare was bound to finish and that Derdian could fall into a dark and gloomy era, where blood and war, became the only laws to command.
Not far away, in the dark jails of Astar, in Garrold land, a tyrant, named Troghlor, was kept…
Not far away, in the dark jails of Astar, in Garrold land, a tyrant, named Troghlor, was kept; he was imprisoned because of the violence he had perpetrated during the years. He was a warrior, a leader, a fighter, who in the name of violence and of bullying, had created a small “army” of men during the years. Lootings, destructions, homicides, robberies, rapes, all these were Troghlor and his men; people closed themselves in their houses and didn’t even dare to put their nose out of their houses any time they knew he could be in the surroundings, and his name grew in power more and more during the years. In the attempt to grab Astar city, he succeeded in killing king Rodon, but, the people of Astar, succeeded, by uniting themselves, in defending the city, defending their own land, imprisoning him and confining him in the jail for his whole life. Closed in that jail, behind the bars of the gate of his cell, he meditated revenge against Astar. Dark gripped him and he tried to perceive the light beyond the jail; his emotions grew strong during that period.
That jail would bring him to certain death, when one day, while he was meditating and dreaming his revenge, a beggar appeared to him and he approached him in a friendly way. But he was not a beggar as the others but a wicked god. He was Mohzer god of darkness and obscurity.
Mohzer, who saw Troghlor as a worshipper of evil and therefore as a follower of him, proposed him a “blood” agreement. He would let him go out of jail, but in exchange, Troghlor, should to give his life to him: he would, in his name, destroy every pacific people he would meet in his way, every soul unworthy to exist if with no ambition, principle virtue of strong people. Mohzer gave him the power to appropriate, to take possession of the souls of his victims, souls who would, during that time, increase his power enormously, and indirectly, also Mohzer’s. (By having God created an indissoluble bond with Troghlor). So making Mohzer an authentic wicked “demon”, a Vassal of his, able to kill, exterminate and destroy all the pure souls met on his way. Accepted the pact and gone out of jail, Troghlor began to scatter blood in Astar, immediately to avenge the time spent in jail. He immediately gathered a small army and his followers, worshippers of the evil, in every battle became more and more, also because they saw more and more him as a powerful leader, avid of blood. He went toward North, after putting to fire and flames Astar city and he started his “work” of destruction by taking the souls from his victims in the name of Mohzer. He destroyed and killed there where he smelled the presence of pure souls, while in the presence of “black” souls, the wicked were not only spared but with deception and power he enlisted them in the own army. He was the death.
Merciless killers, of blood hungry warriors, ready to everything in the name of Troghlor!
He soon had a big army of merciless killers, of blood hungry warriors, ready to everything in the name of Troghlor! On his way he met the small towns of Petra and Naxar then, which tried in every way to oppose to the power of the army, but every attempt failed. After crossing the mountains of Henlork, the army of Troghlor, reached very soon the feet of the Lorvath mountain, and therefore came to Derdian. The fortress attracted him, the majesty and the magnificence of those walls made him want to invade it and he wanted the head of the king of Derdian. It was the war! People gathered around the walls and tried as much as they could to oppose Troghlor army: but a pacific people could not be equipped and prepared for a similar War! The walls were demolished and the “black” army penetrated ransacking, killing and destroying everything. Troghlor also distinguished himself in battle because at every victim his power grew, the more he killed the more he wanted to kill and the more his power grew! Nobody was save… Derdian was conquered and Troghlor decided to make it become his own residence the fortress of his wickedness. In fact the position of the fortress was the ideal one, situated on a hill, strategic position for every people devoted to war.
It was so that the pacific people of Derdian were destroyed and the white fortress changed into a dark one, grisly, dominated by the cult of violence and blood. Mist now wrapped Derdian and a leaden sky enhanced the grey spirit of it. Troghlor raised to tyrant of Derdian and his power at the time was so great by now that also his “dark people” terrified by him, and now supported him for the fear he aroused and not for trust! Now they saw him as a wicked demon able of any crime! Now in Derdian the law of Blood was ruling, a New Era had started in Derdian.
This is what we will do to the sovereign of Fedher!
The first of great wars of the New Era of Derdian was the one against the small, but powerful island of Fehder. As a matter of fact, the tyrant decided to undertake a long trip toward South to conquer that island that made him angry because it was respected by everybody in the area and during the years it had succeeded in having wealth and some land power. Before departing for this great adventure, Troghlor held a speech of Incitement, in the main square of Derdian; there where once people spoke of laws and politics, today that place was a theater of projects of war and blood of the people of Derdian. In that speech to his army, Troghlor appeared in all his greatness, and gave a sign of the power conferred him by Mohzer by killing, only by the strength of his thought a warrior who, in the first row was listening to him excited, before departing for war. He also felt surprised, because his strength and the power were changing in him, and himself could not know what his own limits and his own strengths were day after day. Took the head of that warrior and showed it to the army:
“This is what we will do to the sovereign of Fedher!” He said… and such it was the excitement of the “black army” that the walls of Derdian trembled… They left for the conquest of the island… fierce and powerful was defence reaction of the Fehderian army, which succeeded in resisting for 6 weeks under the siege of Troghlor and his people. Bloody the battles that underlined as Fedher was ready to defence… but at the end it fell under the demoniac hits of evil. In this cruel battle Golstar himself distinguished , a skilled archer who succeeded by using a skilled stratagem in deceiving a group of hostile warriors surrounding them and defeating them and saving a handful of Derdian warriors. Troghlor during that battle , came near to a dying enemy and (fallen in the mud of the battleground). At the sight of that body of such a brave man who was about die by his hand, he cheered and almost had a total power feeling and at that time he thought that nobody could withstand him because he was the death. He grabbed the soul from him and his face changed by the power that grew in him underlining the incontestable strength by now reached. Because the victory on Fehder, the reputation of Derdian grew enormously: in fact in the past everybody had respected that small island, so well organized and ruled, that nobody had ever tried to attack it.
The God who judged the souls after death
In the Oriental Zone, adjacent to the land of Garrold, the worship of the God Anuby was in force, the God who judged the souls after death. In this earth, called Earth of Anuby, a servant, after many attempts and invocations, through a prayers-sorcery, succeeded in waking up again the God from his sleep.
The rumors for the fact that such prayers had succeeded in the intent of waking up again the God so much invoked, circulated in every part of Anuby’s land, so much that people organized a great welcome ceremony for their God. But this was the end: the legend of the Earth of Anuby and the believes of those people, said that by praying and invoking Anuby, daily they could increase their power enormously, up to the day when the God could incarnated himself as man on Earth and to govern his people. Prayers and invocations of his people kept him alive. This was his strength. On the other hand, Mohzer, who knew everything learned the fact of the awakening of Anuby; as he not could allow this antagonist to become stronger and stronger and even to succeed, one day, incarnating himself on the earth as a man-god, ordered immediately to Troghlor to depart toward the East, to arrive in Anuby’s land, and to try to sweep down on that land and mainly on that worship. The Anuby’s land had to be destroyed and the God had to return to sleep as he did for thousands of years keeping away both from physical and metaphysical world. Therefore they departed toward East, overcoming the Henrolk mountains, passing across the Maxaghor’s land, they continued until they arrived behind the forest of the Trolls. All of a sudden the warriors of Troghlor found themselves in the presence of a frozen lake.
Walking on the crystal plate they began to glimpse under it something strange, little clear, they couldn’t succeed well in perceiving what it was…
It was a marvelously ghostly basin, an iced plate looking like crystal. With a lot of caution, the army drew near it, and the warriors thought of crossing it soon in order to shorten their way (rather than to turn around it). Walking on the crystal plate they began to glimpse under it something strange, little clear, they couldn’t succeed well in perceiving what it was… later, those strange and worrying images under the crystal plate took shape and the army understood that they were crippled human bodies! It was that a kind of common pit: appalling! The army began to move toward with a lot of caution, they started to doubt on the nature of the strength able to make such a massacre: were they gods or men? If they were men, they hadn’t ever met or heard of men, in those earths, able of so much horror. They slowly advanced, and while they were advancing, they heard far away some noises, almost tumults, coming from the forest that surrounded that lake. The doubt to found themselves at the presence of gods made them fear the worst, but when they saw a big army coming out of the forest marching against them, made of men, the became bold and courageous; Troghlor incited the army to the battle and the two armies fought a bloody struggle. It was that a small army of a country defending Anuby’s land , as a matter of fact, the passage that Troghlor was about to cross, brought straight to Anuby’s kingdom. The hostile army was massacred and crippled, almost in honor of the corpses discovered under the frozen lake. The natural beauty was now covered of blood and dead bodies. It was a hard battle, in which, besides Troghlor, Golstar also distinguished, brave warriors, who succeeded in saving some of their men, killing and managing in an utmost way among the enemies. When the battle was over, Golstar also received the compliments from the king, which almost never happened because of the climate of terror that Troghlor wanted to establish inside his own army.
While Troghlor, together with big part of the best men, were moving toward Anuby’s land, the name of Derdian began therefore to make his way, terror and respect were the main feelings that the people of Troghlor aroused in the people and in the sovereigns of other kingdoms. The enterprises of that magnificent army soon disseminated and were told around the world. The Derdian army settled just after crossing the forest of Trolls. And here, Troghlor had to return, together with 4 body guards, toward Derdian, to solve important matters. As a matter of fact, gathered soon in Derdian, a crowd of warriors, devoted to war, who asked to be able to belong to that invicible army, to be able to participate in heroic enterprises. Back to Derdian, Troghlor began to find himself in a situation he had never dreamt: the people and the warriors of Derdian were enormously multiplied, so that only the best were selected, to be part of that unbelievable army. He began to think of the difficulties to govern such a numerous army. He had the idea of dividing the army into legions, initially two, and of these under the command of a trusted and brave man. He didn’t have much time for such decisions because, the big part of his army was busy fighting against Anuby and he was a tyrant who always wanted to be present on the battleground, both to show his strength and to increase more and more his power. Even if he could count and trust Derdian army, he thought he had to take the decision to divide and to find a reliable warrior whom he could give a part of it. But who could he be?
He didn’t have too much time to decide what to do…
In the meantime the army camped in Anuby’s land, was waiting news, now that Troghlor had returned to Derdian. Golstar had returned with him, he had brought him with himself as a bodyguard. He didn’t have too much time to decide what to do: it was not easy to give to a man a part of that creature by him “forged”, even if with the help of a wicked God… but at the end it was this way. Troghlor divided his army into two legions: the first headed by himself, and the second one by the general Golstar who was immediately flattered by the role that Troghlor had given him. The moment had come to leave again toward the Anuby’s land and to reach the army that Troghlor had given to Golstar but Troghlor decided not to leave with him, but to let him go alone. After telling him what to do, he let him go also for observing, far away, this person to whom he had given such an important assignment… Golstar was a commander very different from Troghlor, in him there were not only and exclusively wicked feelings, but he was a man able of loving; in fact he had a woman he loved deeply and with whom he had lived for years: her name was Loren. He often remembered of her during the nights passed away from her in the battlegrounds.
Lady Loren was a very beautiful woman, who always followed her man who was a commander of Derdian. The love for this woman always succeeded in making that in Golstar’s heart there was always mercy for what he had to do; he was the commander of a part of the cruelest army and he had to honor that role that had been given to him, but at the same time he had to fight with his more intimate feelings of mercy. How could he manage to live a life of war and death having inside the burden of a good minded man?