Lands of Osai/Myth and Legend

Tales

Nocaneb's Watch

Legend has it that there was once a captain of the Nocaneb Guard with eyes as keen as a hawk. Being a handsome man, he attracted the attentions of a Dark Witch, but he refused her advances. Infuriated, she cast a curse on the captain, and his wondrous eyesight was lost.

Suddenly, the whole world became a blur, and the closer an object was, the worse his vision became. In a fit of despair, the captain stumbled up the long stairwell of the tallest tower in Nocaneb; the White Spire. There, at the highest point on the continent and the lowest point of his life, he readied himself to jump...and suddenly found clarity. Though everything close to him was only a mass of color, he saw the surrounding woodlands which stretched miles and miles away as clearly as if he were looking through a spyglass.

From then on, the captain established the Nocaneb Watch and to this day members of the watch guard the city like hawks.

How Euran Kandurell Lost His Nose

So you want to know how I lost my nose? I'll tell you the tale.

There was this enormous battle in Lenamaziel - Cathayans pouring down on us from all sides. We were all but trapped, we were massively outnumbered, and those Cathayan devils were coming at us screaming like devils. My men and I held against the onslaught - took a good many of them down to hell, but as time passed it became obvious that we Arcaeans just didn't have enough /men/. We were losing one man to their three, but that wasn't good enough odds. So, give this epic battle a few hours - imagine the stench, will you - and I'm standing on top of a pile of dead men about a dozen metres high!

All my men were dead by now, y'see, and I'm surrounded by the Cathayan horde. Let me tell you about the smell! I've got the bodies of a hundred men decaying below me, I've been sweating and bleeding on the battlefield for half a day, and then there are the Cathayans ... Anyway, after a while it gets so bad that I just rips my own nose off.

The Slaying of the Wyrm

There was once a King whose Queen was of great beauty, such that all wanted her. First she stayed by the King's side, and they went hand in hand everywhere. But on the eve of a great battle, a man came into her tent. The King mounted his head on a staff, but all in the realm knew that the Queen was not safe. So the King took her to a stronghold in the middle of a deep forest, where no man could reach her, with a tower so high that it touched the very clouds themselves. But there came a great bird, which could fly up to the tower's top, and almost snatched her away. The King made the bird's feathers were made into a cloak, but all in the realm knew that the Queen was not safe. So the King took her to a mighty city of pious people, where she would be protected by a thousand swords. But there came a fearsome dragon, which scared her guards and burnt the city. It was beaten off, but not before stealing from the Queen.

The King's fury was terrible, and he knew that so long as the dragon lived his Queen would be in danger. If this awesome beast could be slain, however, nobody would dare to cross him again. So he asked for the bravest knights in the realm to seek out and slay the dragon. First, a noble knight of valour and chivalry stood up, and fought the dragon with shield and sword. He was roasted in its flames, and there was great fear in the realm. So the King offered half his Kingdom to any man who could slay the terrible creature. Next, a clever knight with the speed of a sparrow went to fight the dragon. But the dragon was faster, and its cunning more base, and it slew the sparrow knight. And the realm greatly mourned, for the knight had been well loved. The King and Queen despaired that they would ever be rid of the dragon. So a fearful creature, a devil-knight, stepped forward to fight the dragon, and in a contest of strength slew the beast.

There was great rejoicing, and all were happy, for the demon knight proved a strong duke, and the King and Queen would not be troubled on the matter again.