Eilian the Old

Young Eilian Kessler approached the tower with equal parts anticipation and trepidation. The anticipation part was straightforward: He's suffered through countless tests, examinations, and demonstrations to earn a place at the Rekkenmark Academy. As the firstborn son of General Vorelus "Horseshoe" Kessler, Eilian was taking an important step in his family's destiny by enrolling in the junior officer corps today.

But the trepidation wouldn't go away. What if he washed out of the academy? A third of first-year officers don't come back to Rekkenmark for the second year. Ten years ago, Eilian's uncle Wultram volunteered to fight on the western front after his first year at the academy--and the family always whispered that he volunteered because he was on the verge of flunking out. Well, he proved himself in Scions Sound, Eilian thought. The Kessler family could use more Uncle Wultrams.

Eilian spent the chill autumn morning standing at attention, waiting for Rekkenmark clerks to check his entrance papers. Figuring that the long wait was just another test, Eilian concentrated on maintaining his posture and breathing, trying to keep his anticipation and trepidation from showing.

If the morning was devoted to standing at attention, the afternoon was an exercise in line-waiting: lines for uniforms (the plain tan of Karrnathi cadets), lines for books (chief among them an annotated Analects of War by Karrn the Conqueror himself), and lines for armor and weapons.


It was at the end of the last line that Eilian's trepidation went away, completely overwhelmed by anticipation. Eilian took the sheathed longsword from the supply sergeant, suppressing a gasp when he saw the Rekkenmark insignia, an "R" scripted in filigree, on the pommel. Just like Father has, and just like Uncle Wultram had. Soon I'll show everyone how well cadet Eilian Kessler wields this sword, he thought.

Portraits: 1) Eilian today (999 YK). 2) Young Rekkenmark Academy cadet Eilian Kessler circa 962 YK.

Lake Dark

The pitch-black waters of Lake Dark shimmer in the farmland in eastern Karrnath. Fed by the cold runoff of the Iron River, Lake Dark is a large body of mistshrouded water that collects in a depression in the fields between the Icetop Mountains and the Talenta Plains. The small towns of Lakeside and Irontown flank Lake Dark, and smaller farming communities encircle it with their various kinds of crops. Many believe that spirits haunt Lake Dark, and that the pitch-black waters provide a pathway to Dolurrh, a location from which the living can sometimes speak with the dead. Lake Dark is a manifest zone connected to the realm of the dead, and spells related to necromancy have greater power when cast in proximity to its dark, restless waters.

Karrnath

Two Silver Flamers brave the streets of the Styes, the filthiest district in Karrlakton, Karrnath. This Order of the Emerald Claw vet intends to show them Karrlakton is no friend to Flamers...

Of the Five Nations founded by the human settlers of Khorvaire, Karrnath has the strongest military tradition. Famous as the birthplace of Galifar himself, the great king who unified the Five Nations, the nation consists of lush forests, fertile plains, and extensive waterways flowing from snow-covered mountaintops to the sea. Once, the borders of Karrnath included most of the land east of Scions Sound, covering what is now the Mror Holds, the Talenta Plains, Q'barra, and the Lhazaar Principalities. Today, the nation stretches from Scions Sound and the Cyre River on the west to the Ironroot Mountains in the east, and from Karrn Bay in the north to the start of the Talenta Plains in the south. The nation’s name has not changed since the ancient days before the founding of the Five Nations, when Karrn the Conqueror not only established the country that still bears his name but also tried to conquer and unite all of Khorvaire under his rule. Centuries later it was another Karrn, one of King Galifar’s sons, who rededicated the nation to himself in 32 YK, the same year when the Five Nations officially adopted the names of Galifar’s five eldest children.

During the reign of Jarot, Galifar’s last king, Kaius I governed the nation. Third born of King Jarot’s children, Kaius was a tall, whip-thin man with intense eyes and a sharp mind. With the death of his father, Kaius joined his siblings Thalin of Thrane and Wroann of Breland in rejecting their eldest sister Mishann’s claim to the throne. The Last War began as a two-sided affair—Cyre and Aundair on one side, attempting to uphold the tenets of Galifar succession; Breland, Thrane, and Karrnath on the other, rejecting the crowning of Mishann but unsure how they wanted the question of succession to be settled. It wasn’t long before each scion decided that he or she was meant to rule the kingdom, and the initial alliances collapsed in blood and fury.

The current ruler of Karrnath, King Kaius ir’Wynarn III, uncannily looks just like his great-grandfather, that scion of Jarot from whom his name derives. Kaius came to power in 991 YK and quickly became one of the most vocal proponents of peace in all the land. He was instrumental in convincing the other nations to attend peace talks at the ancient capital of Thronehold, and consequently was the first to sign the Treaty of Thronehold.

Today, Karrnath works hard to keep the current peace from failing. Without any children of his own as yet, Kaius has nonetheless exchanged his own brother and sister as well as the heirs of his most prominent nobles with the royal families of the other nations to assure cooperation and continuedpeace. He has taken in two of Boranel of Breland’s children, Halix and Borina, to help ensure a lasting peace and promote friendship between the two nations. Karrnath seeks to improve relations with Aundair and Thrane, two of the nations it fought most fiercely during the war. It continues to have a good relationship with the Mror Holds, one of its most staunch allies throughout the war. In the south, to curb continued aggression from the Valenar elves, Karrnath has established a separate alliance with the halfling clans of the Talenta Plains. This alliance has allowed Karrnathi troops to set up forts in halfling territory for the mutual protection of both nations.