In the year of our Lord, the Invisible God, Makan, 1621 Solarum Temporum, some say the Hero Wars truly began. Mutterings of the fall of the last storm barbarian stronghold of Whitewall reached The West. This conquering of the last holdout of rebels rang the death knell for the fierce god Orlanth- or so the Lunar Empire would have it. But to those in the West this was more curiosity than a subject of serious interest. Yet later, in hindsight, it became clear that it was one noticeable symbol of a new time, a transition between the Third and Fourth Age of Glorantha, in which great heroes were achieving great, world-changing deeds against a backdrop of a clash between new and old empires. The Hero Wars, they called it even then, and it was a time of awesome magics and terrifying monstrosities.
Take the tiny happenings first on the isle of Giraine, not noticed by any but a few paltry inhabitants (although some would say those happenings were eagerly watched by eyes elsewhere, in higher places), and then on the seven isles of Handra.
Our heroes in question for this early saga in the Hero Wars struggled for existence on Giraine, grabbing a foothold for true Malkioni civilization there against backwater savages and evil forces, but then in Storm Season of 1621, just as Whitewall's last inhabitants were put to the sword or consumed by the Crimson Bat, some of them felt a calling from afar. Dreams of a city on seven shimmering isles, under the looming shadow of an approaching tsunami; and dreams of an exotic bazaar where anything could be bought, and an elusive foreign face in the crowd that crept close to whisper “Elandra can save you.” One hero, we will call him Captain Ahappi, had the former dream, and relished in its holy significance to his cruel Saint Magasta, and another, whom Baronet Shaven is a fitting moniker, had the latter, and it puzzled him. Some Ouori mermen and a magic fish-spirit named Omen visited their little home on Giraine, and mentioned a famed merman (merwoman?) sorceror named Stormswallower, and soon it became clear they all dreamed and talked and yearned for a distant city named Handra.
A man on Ahappi's vessel, The Shadow, knew of this legendary port city, ideally positioned on the New Coast, halfway between the rich ports of Nolos nearby and the distant, still-rich but gradually being-plundered lands of the Holy Country to the east. A hero gave the city its name late in the Second Age as he fled from beast-sorcerors from his homeland of Estal (of the irDranyo) and followed a godly vision of a city on seven isles, which he learned he was to create. A tolerant, egalitarian and multifarious city did he found, and did flourish at the end of the Noshain river, near the New Fens, in the Mournsea where the dry lands of Slontos once perched before they were ripped to pieces as the Second Age ended. This city of Handra is ruled by guilds, Ahappi's crewman told, and to do the guilds' work was to honour Makan and the Handran Church. No king, no self-righteous priesthood, and no warlords ruled there- it was a place ruled by people and for people.
But Handra grew rich and famous off trade with friendly Ludoch mermen, with land-locked neighbours, and with discoveries of flooded Slontan riches in the Mournsea, and so attracted many greedy foes- the sea-hating Ramalian demon-worshippers, local broo from the New Fens, pirate of many flavours, and even the Holy Country. Slowly its strength was whittled down over the centuries, especially as the seas were opened by Dormal, and today it clung desperately to independence in a hungry land of swollen despotic states. But Handra was a proud place whose citizens loved its ideals, and boasted a still fine navy called The Wooden Shields that could drive off even the Wolf Pirates– once, at least. The power of the Quinpolic League had found friends here, and built that fine navy using the talents of Master Saribert of Nolos, the famed shipwright.
And so our heroes set sail for Handra on The Shadow, and arriving there, found themselves hurled into the Hero Wars…
You were directed to dock on the edge of an “island” of boats and floating piers just outside Handra, and on the pier there, in a strangely salty rain and sudden gloom, you met your first two Handrans– the local man Quirsket, a true believer in the city and his Maritimer's Guild, and you first main contact there; and the Old Slontan scribe named Aestulophius Carmentarabol, who fulfilled the common role of document-obsessed bureaucrat for the Scrivener's Guild, with whom you were reminded all formal business must be recorded while in Handra. You were registered as “penitent foreigners” and warned not to criticize or defame the Church of Handra, then welcomed into the city– although the Baronet's queries about Elandra were met with shock and scoldings of mentioning such a forbidden criminal element. Your weapons were hooded or tied in their scabbards with lovely coloured ropes, and you came ashore on a sturdy, swift little local boat.
Quirsket took you to the Blue Dock, a sailors' hangout on Mooring Isle, and nattered on about the great city and how there should be a thousand Handras out there for the world to be a better place. Strange as the place was, with all its obsessions for wearing coloured guild-caps and odd clothes, as well as its mix of odd races like newtlings and beast-worshipping inland barbarians, some of you might have begun to agree with him. Not a hint of Rokari austerity or Seshnelan power-grabbing here; indeed anything seemed possible in Handra, and Quirsket was quick to encourage such notions. Here, you all felt reasonably welcome and none of you stood out as too odd for Handra's eclectic melting pot. But even Quirsket noted shadows looming- Harrek the Berserk (! A name you recognized from the Mud Hag!) of the Wolf Pirates had raided here, and would return to try to sack the wealthy city, all feared. And the broos in the nearby New Fens had been far too active for anyone's liking…
Soon enough Quirsket took his leave of you, and as you took leave of the Blue Dock, another local lad pranced after you. His name was Bradde Mukkh, and he was a gruff, bitter, but often helpful man of the Valeki folk (civilized beast-revering Malkioni?) and Ropemaker's Guild, who suddenly became your guide “for a price” that would be negotiated later, he promised. He had a newtling named “Gulp” on a rope leash that he said was serving its year of life-debt to him for saving it from broo in the Fens. Ciddar was interested in purchasing this debt but Bradde set a ridiculously high price that stopped negotiations dead. Bradde seemed to know the seedier side of Handra but also many practical aspects, such as how to quickly get rain hats, where to send Ciddar for good clothes shopping and where to get a decent, dry inn without mosquitoes (on Queue Isle, across the 7-isled chain). He gave you a tour of the isles after showing you to The Smoke House where the Magician's Guild was based (and where Ahappi had a battle of wills with the surly “Butler” spectral head that tried to keep visitors away, and placated him with an appointment to meet Stormswallower the next morning). Then the landlubbers took adequate beds - and soothing baths- at the inn while the sailors returned to bunk on The Shadow (amidst, as they found, horrid mosquito swarms at night; in addition to a stowaway that the Baron's man Kaladice may have helped escape before he took leave of The Shadow).
The Baronet had a side tour with Bradde of Dark Town on Yard Isle, to chat in Bradde's house about matters of mutual interest (a meeting with “Old Teelis” who knew of Elandra, a thief god/cult, was to be arranged). Bradde mentioned a Market of the Future in town that matched a description the Baronet gave, and offered to take everyone there tomorrow, to see what portents the seers might divine for you (for a price).
The next morning, after a unsettled sleep with hints of unsettling dreams, you met at the Smoke House and waited for Ahappi to meet with his sorceror-merman contact, who turned out to be a shapeshifting, human-liking, grey-skinned creature that, after testing him, agreed she would help Ahappi in his religious goals if he in turn helped the city against a looming threat that seemed centred on Mooring Isle. He was sent to try to dig up more information on this threat, as Stormswallower was too busy magically holding the latest floods and storms back from the city (apparently, her major job here, and a very important one!).
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