The Legend of the Tella’karythar, the Last Crusader
~ As told by Elralad Calil-Galdor, historian and scribe
Many long years have I spent delving into the depths of the libraries at Istien and Anebrilith. The sands of time are merciless and unrelenting, eating away without respite at the rich history of my kin. Memories vanish and inks fade, tomes are lost and sages are killed, and with every passing breath a fragment of the strength and knowledge that is the hallmark of my people disappears into the fathomless void, never to be recovered again. It is a sad thing to be as old as I, for it is my fight to survive each and every pain-fraught day in the knowledge that my time is soon, and that when I leave this world, yet another invaluable shard of our legacy will leave with me.
Raiaera has stood strong through long millennia of peace and prosperity, and has survived through equally protracted ages of turmoil and strife. Those such as myself, born not long after we first settled these lands, remember well the years of light and hope that were the pinnacle of our lives here. But we also remember the darkness that marred us… the wars we waged against the gods themselves, the schism that tore us apart from our own brothers, and most of all the atrocities we committed towards the indigenous humans of this land. Perhaps it is just punishment for those dreadful sins we perpetrated upon the Durklan tribes, that even now we slowly wane and fade… as I write this, I look towards the setting sun upon the Black Desert, a burning haze of malevolence and vengeance that tears at my very eyes even from this afar, and my aged bones tremble in regret.
Some label us a haughty race, proud and arrogant. Perhaps there is truth in their words, for the perfection we strive for in our every deed may be considered conceit by less long-lived, hastier peoples. But for all we are proud we are also noble… for all we are arrogant, we are brave and just. Though we have made mistakes in our past, there are some of us who are not so blinkered that we will not admit to them. Perhaps in time, even the most ardent of our youths will see this, and we may yet be saved.
I fear, however, that time is not now.
High Bard Ferahar has mustered the mightiest of our warriors and marches on Denebriel and Aesphestos in Caradin, seeking to conclude this endless war once and for all. I myself have had the honour of adjudging his plan to be sound, and the rituals he intends to complete to be, in theory at least, capable of fulfilling their intent. Ferahar takes with him the Regalia Lumina, the Masters of Light, the most powerful artefacts that our forefathers brought with them on their journey from beyond the seas.
If he fails, then we will most likely fall, and the world as we know it will be consumed in an unstoppable tide of darkness and malice. But I have faith that he will succeed… for these are not yet the end times that the prophesies speak of.
And thus, I take to heart his command to set in stone the sum of my knowledge for the benefit of future generations. My first act will now be to write of what I know of this prophecy, and of the fate of the other three regalia, sealed safely within the vaults of their respective keepers.
I shall begin with the legend of the Tella’karythar, the Last Crusader.
It is said that when our forefathers first journeyed to these lands and drew from the power of the Eternal Tap, the greatest seer amongst them foresaw the doom that would befall his people in the millennia to come. But faced with the hope and joy of his companions at their brave new life free of the troubles they had fled, he could not bring himself to warn them of their fate. For weeks he meditated, seated deep in contemplation before the all-powerful Regalia Lumina and its three lesser cousins – the Regalia Valora, the Regalia Benevolentia, and the Regalia Consilum. Ancient relics of great power, named in a tongue that was obscure and foreign even in those times, the sage knew that they would be to the key to the survival of his descendants in the ages to come.
Little remains of the conclusions he arrived at, for there were few who would listen to him. Of the two fragments of his prophecy that survive, the first was what gave Ferahar the key to the ritual with which he now seeks to bind the Forgotten Ones using the Regalia Lumina. The second is what speaks of the Tella’karythar.
Many thousands of years from now, when ancient evil once again stalks the land and the sins of our people return to exact their retribution, our fair realm will face utter and complete annihilation. Our armies defeated and scattered, our leaders humbled and killed, our cities destroyed and our population strewn like fallen leaves upon the four winds, death will roam freely across the realm in numerous disguises, irrevocably corrupting everything it touches with its malign influence. Seasons will pass filled with utter despair, blighting souls with fear and terror and the infinite chill of evil.
In these troubled times, a hero will appear from the rising sun, a far-travelled human bearing a name of the Elven tongue. At first this hero’s path will be in search of something dear, but in time the destinies of this human and those in the company will become entwined with the fate of the very land itself. The hero will take up the Regalia and shine forth as hope amongst the beleaguered realms, and those of good heart and stern conscience will flock to the beacon as if it were the light of Lady Aurient herself. And the hero will be known as the Last Crusader, for it will be the fortune of this fated one to watch over the last days of Raiaera, for better or for worse. In the hands of this hero and of those who fight alongside lies the ultimate destiny of our kin… to perish or to survive, to be extinguished like a feeble candlelight at the mercy of the gale winds of destiny, or to be born anew no matter how small or weak.
In all my years studying our history, only a handful of times have I stumbled upon obscure references to this legend. And yet, when I think of the frightening accuracy of the first fragment of prophecy…
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