S T O N E K E E P's

History

In days of yore the castle was but just a Keep when Prince Lucan came of age and into his birthright.   His parents, King Wanthwaite and Queen Pellinore, had been summoned to the southern country by the gods for a Great Counsel.  The gods’ decree, when presented to them, commanded them that they were bidden to depart in haste aboard the ship Isolde that was captained by Lord Agrisance the King’s half-brother and to bring tribute.   Unbeknownst to Lucan’s parents were the seething seeds of betrayal that sprang to life and full stature in Lord Argirsance’s heart.  Fate had made Argirsance a puny, late-born child always lagging far behind the King, and for that he had never forgiven the cruelty of the gods.  Unwilling to live in his half-brother’s shadow, he had made his own way in the world upon the seas and the intrigues of court life in the low country profiting off the misery of others and the demise of many at his hand.   It was only natural when the gods decided to convene the Great Counsel that they would send kith or kin to deliver the sacred decrees to those who must attend.  Thus, it was Lord Argirsance the gods had chosen and sent to bring word of the Great Counsel to Lucan’s parents.

The voyage went well and nothing seemed amiss. The priceless tribute safely stored below was guarded by some of King Wanthwaite’s most trustworthy personal guard.  It was with utter disbelief when the evildoers at Lord Agrisance’s command set upon them in the middle of the night in their royal quarters aboard the ship.  They were stripped and hauled above deck and tied mercilessly to the main mast.  The royal couple watched by lantern light as the ship was emptied of the priceless tribute and saw it placed into another waiting ship of Lord Agrisance.  They were cruelly made to watch as each and every one of their loyal guards and attendants were ruthlessly murdered and tossed overboard to feed the sea creatures.  They soon realized that their kingdom’s only hope lay in their son and heir who was safely ensconced back home in the Keep at Lands End.  Their decision not to have him accompany them was a fateful one that would change the course of history.

As dawn broke and the rays of the new sun licked at their naked forms, evil hung over the ship and congested the very air they breathed.  Lord Agrisance with the help of the evil Mage Carado had plotted and was about to carry out to perfection this detestable ploy to rid Lands-End of its King and Queen.  Set about to trick the gods, they had contrived a story that many would believe and for countless ages others would argue over its truth.  The two had plotted to have the ship go down in a terrible storm with few if any survivors but themselves left to tell of the sadness and fate of the beloved rulers of Lands End.

 Lord Agrisance raged at the two and could have mercifully spared them the horrors of the day that fate had decreed they would share by taking their lives.  Yet having no compassion and bent on full revenge, Agrisance knew the greatest casualty to inflict upon them would be to tell them of the horrible fate planned for their beloved son Lucan and the people of their kingdom.  He took great satisfaction in watching their reaction to the news and their despair.  The parting words would echo across time and intertwine man’s fate with the other creatures made by the gods.  Fate would hold both good and evil and the circumstances that all life would be governed by would be in the hands of man’s volition and at the pleasure of the gods.

The immortal Mage Carado and Lord Agrisance took leave of the ship to sail safely into the harbor of the great port.  Lucan’s parents helplessly watched as the ship neared the beloved shoreline of the ancestral home of all life.  All their hopes and fears enveloped them.  Adrift and bereft they awaited their fate.  Echoing in their minds were words unknown to them that the Mage chanted before striking the bow of Isolde thrice when he departed.  As Agrisance and his minions sailed away into safety the cursed spell let loose a terrible white squall that only encompassed the Isolde and in a matter of minutes sent her to the bottom of the merciless unfathomable depths of the sea.  Just before they knew their last breath a great multi-colored bird descended and wrenched the ring with the royal seal from King Wanthwaite’s hand.  Fate had an odd way of finding means to balance well with evil.

As time passed the story became truth and truth into somewhat of a legend.  Tales of the beautiful kingdom known as Lands End as the subject of many a tavern talk and brawling fight.  Passing time made those who felt compassion for the young Lucan and his parents seemingly faded except to a few.  It was then that the Kings of the Middle Kingdoms led by Lord Leogrance, son of Agrisance, set about to capture the northern country by the sea disposing of his cousin Lucan.  Amassing a great army and with the aide of the Mage Carado they rode to their destiny.

When news of his parents’ fate reached Lucan he bore the sorrow well and rose to be a great leader of his people and ruler of the kingdom. Into Lucan’s life came the ancient Mage Taliesin.  As they stood one day overlooking the sea a great multi-colored bird landed on a nearby tree and dropped from its beak the lost ring of King Wanthwaite.  The gods having learned of Agrisance’s trickery had determined to give fate a balancing hand and had given the ring magical powers.  Whether those powers would be used for good or evil would be the decision of the wearer. 

One fateful day the gods decreed that Lucan wear the ring.   Taleisin foreseeing this sighed with a heaviness he often displayed and took the ring and slipped it on Lucan’s finger.  A shadow of old pain crossed Taliesin’s face.  Long ago, many lives before this, he could remember the land sliding into anarchy when the Romans left, and the legions marched away.  But that was nothing to the darkness that came down on the Middle Kingdoms when King Oretherese fell.  The northern country known as Lands End had been spared the depravity of those ages. It had settled into a peaceful existence during the reign of King Wanthwaite and Queen Pellinore. It had remained so under the care of Lucan.  The Middle Kingdoms had known no such fortune and ruthless Kings betrayed their own kith and kin to yield to the greeds and debauchery that was their existence.

Taleisin’s chest heaved, and his breath wheezed in his throat as he told Lucan that the Kings of the Middle Kingdoms led by his cousin, Lord Leogrance, were riding to take Lands End.  Their plans were to wrest it from its peaceful existence and make it their own.  The evil of Agrisance had grown in his offspring.  Lucan though trained in battle and wise in his young years had lived peacefully in his kingdom and had little need of a standing army or a large garrison of guards to protect the small Keep.  That night as they returned to the hill and cast their eyes to the valley below, it was as if the ground was the sky because of the countless small campfires, like stars, that told of the great force encamped below preparing to rip the kingdom from it’s rightful heir.

Taleisin having tutored and instilled in Lucan many good things watched the young King look out over the army below.  Looking at the ring and then the valley below, Lucan realized that it this was his destiny it would fulfill itself.  Quietly, as was his nature, he returned to the keep to have counsel with the faithful to prepare for the battle that surely was upon them.  Remaining behind after Lucan left, the ancient Mage Taleisin turned his gaze to the indifferent stars.  His thin frame shook with the effort to master his revenge.  Carado having once taken from him his true love and Taleisin had watched Carado’s evil grow and grow until it had come to this.  The time was at hand.

As dawn broke and the Kings of the Middle Kingdoms assembled and stepping forth was their leader, King Leogance.  The day before he with the other Kings took counsel and had looked up the hill towards the Keep.  They had planned their strategy to move up the grassy slopes of Lands End and easily take the unguarded Keep and the city surrounding it.  What King Leogance saw and those assembled with them would be a moment that would last forever in their minds.  Expectant eyes of men with evil hearts traveled upward over now what was steep rock walls, unbroken by trail or ledge, upward past the tall pines and oaks, which ended abruptly, upward still father to what appeared to be a man-made structure that held at its center the simple Keep of King Lucan.  The Keep was castle like, age-old walls of blocked stoned rising to be topped by turrets and spiraled towers that now cut the sky in proud defiance.  Surrounding it all and encompassing the City of Paranor were blocked stoned walls.  It was unmistakably a fortress built to withstand assault by the strongest army, the former home of King Wanthwaite and Queen Pellinore ruthlessly murdered and now the protectorate of the people of Lands-End and its King, their heir, Lucan.

The battle raged for days but in the end those who survived to return home talked of the STONEKEEP that had arisen overnight and with this tale the Kingdom of Stonekeep housed the City of Paranor and the castle of Lord Lucan who was victorious.  Lord Lucan having a secured kingdom and the ancient Mage Taleisin at his side went about doing what all kings do.  He took a wife.  From that union, his only son, Lord Enoch, inherited Stonekeep and became King.

King Enoch married for love the princess of Cornwall, Princes Margery the only daughter of King Gerlois and Queen Insgraine.  Together with his her he ruled the prosperous gem by the sea.

Their union was blessed with ten children, seven sons, a pair of twins of son and daughter, and their youngest offspring another daughter by the name of Tatyana.  Tragically Queen Margery died in childbirth with Tatyana leaving King Enoch with a bereaved heart that never quite mended and blinded him to treachery that seethed in his own beloved offspring.

King Enoch did not always wear the ring that had been handed down to him that signified his authority and divine right to rule Stonekeep.  Instead he often wore in its place a ring with a large red ruby that the Queen had gifted him with on one of the many jubilee celebrations held in his honor during his early reign.  It was this sentimental gesture that set fate’s hand in motion.  His favorite of all his children was one the oldest of the twins, his daughter Swannoch.  Her twin brother Brawnnoch seethed and waxed jealous of their closeness.  At his majority he slipped into the King’s personal chamber and against all the gods good intentions stole the magical ring.

Leaving Stonekeep Brawnnoch rode to the Middle Kingdoms that lived in anarchy and gathered about him a small but potent army filled with creatures with powers and abilities no human could match.  Setting forth he arrived on the day celebrating his birth and that of his older twin sister Swannoch.  The kingdom was holding a feast and festival for the honor of the King’s favorite one.  Having harbored hate and resentment in his heart and purposing that Stonekeep would be his, he slew King Enoch and his seven elder brothers.  As their innocent blood seeped into the ground he searched for his older twin sister, Swannoch, as she was next in line for the throne he coveted beyond all reason. 

Swannoch and her younger sister Tatyana were hidden away by those who had unfailing loyalty to the King in the face of such a terrible onslaught.  They were slipping away in a small caravan dressed as peasants when one of the ruthless Orc’s captured Swannoch.  His army had been unable to prevent the caravan’s escape.  He stripped her bare and secured her in a cart fashioned with an animal cage and paraded her into the streets of Paranor up to the castle gates.

Prince Brawnnoch watched with great mirth as the favored one was humiliated by the procession that rode through his despicable army.  The subjects of Stonekeep turned out in masses as this took place and demanded that Swannoch be placed on the throne.  Fearing the mob, Brawnnoch had the cart taken inside the castle gates and Swannoch removed and imprisoned in the old Keep until he could decide upon a course of action that would give him the throne.  The people were of no concern to him or their wishes in the matter.  They could easily be crushed if they went against him.

One of the many things absent in Stonekeep, but flourishing well in the Middle Kingdoms was the practice of torture.  Notorious among them was a barbarian by the name of Cullain.  It was with great fortune that Cullain had joined up with Brawnnoch’s army.  He had chosen to do so to better his lot in life with the promises made by the determined Prince and his best pupil in the art of ways of torture.

Prince Brawnnoch had the lovely Swannoch tied to a granite post in the center of the old Keep.  He reasoned with her that she should give up her claim to the throne and name him the new King.  When Swannoch refused he took a small instrument and touching her back in numerous places used the heated instrument to burn her back to mar her beauty.  When this didn’t move her, he removed the stolen ring and took the cruelest whip in Cullain’s arsenal of torture instruments and whipped her back mercilessly. Her death was prevented by Cullain staying his hand in time as he had been moved to pity for the fair Princess.  Swannoch finding an inner strength withstood this terrible ordeal.  Superstitious about being a twin, he would not have her killed as he had the others and bid her cut down and guarded through the night.  Left in such a condition and unconscious an old Mage of little importance (so most thought) stole back into the castle that night and enabled her to escape.  Aiding her as best he could with his waning powers, his last breath enabled her to live.  . 

The small group of people that had left with the Tatyana had joined up with a slaver caravan thinking it the safest place to hide.  Swannoch having a survivor’s heart and spirit managed to keep alive and went off in search of those she new had spirited her sister away she hoped to safety.  After many agonizing days she came upon the caravan one night as it set up camp off the main highway.  She was reunited with her beloved sister. 

When Prince Brawnnoch found her missing the next morning his rage and fury were felt by all. Caring naught but for revenge and the gain of the thrown, he took a small contingent of his cruelest men and set out after his twin.  Back at the caravan, Swannoch had found a champion and lover in Baldur. Upon learning of her plight Baldur and his close ally, Jaymin, set out in search of her evil twin to end his reign of cruelty and attempts to gain the throne.  Well trained the two traveled for days and came upon Lord Brawnnoch and his minions encampment. Taking the group by surprise a fierce and bloody battle followed. Baldur with skill, stealth and determination attacked and killed Brawnnoch. Upon seeing their leader dispatched to the Underworld they quickly fled back to where they came from in the Middle Kingdom. The victory of the encounter went to Baldur and Jaymin. Upon Lord Brawnnoch's death the kingdom of Stonekeep flourished once again.

Returning to camp, he found Princess Swannoch and told her of all that had taken place.  Being the eldest and having the burden of the kingdom on her shoulders she sent back her sister Tatyana to take the thrown.  She had great hopes in her sister for Tatyana was a great favorite of the people.  However being the youngest she had little or no talent or natural abilities to rule such an expansive place.

Swannoch’s grief was great and the scars on her body spoke little of the scars on her soul.  With her sister safely on the throne and peace restored, Swannoch continued to travel with the caravan rising to a position of leadership with her natural abilities.  Seeking the solace of her new family it was there that a message from her sister found her.  Tatyana pleaded with her sister to return and take up her rightful place on the throne.  Both sisters had known an enchanted childhood that was one long summer in sunlit meadows clad in white and gold, daisies and celandines spangling the grass like stars.  Oft at mid-day the sun blazed down on peaceful glades and lofty forests, living green cathedrals roofed by the bluest of skies.  Of all the kingdoms of this world, Swannoch remembered her mother had said that summers were longest here.  That was why when the Old Ones made the world; they called the home of her childhood Lands End, the sweet green northeastern kingdom by the sea.  

It is against this backdrop that Tatyana greeted her sister’s return.  Swannoch quickly and naturally fell into ruling the kingdom of Stonekeep.  She restored its peace and rightful place amongst the other kingdoms of the world.  Except for the brief reign of her brother Brawnnoch, the kingdom had been and was now prosperous and at peace.

"Welcome to Stonekeep, a land of beauty and enchantment, where anything is possible!"

Enchanted Gate