Dwilight University/Arts/Submissions/He who Saw the Deep

He who Saw the Deep

This is a Toprakian epic written by Lord Bowie Ironsides. While it contains true locations, people, religions, realms, and historical events, it is a work of entire fiction and should be considered and appreciated as exactly that. Certain characters may resemble living or historical nobles, but this is pure coincidence and is completely an unintended affect of fiction.

Scattered to the Wind

It was winter for the city-state Morek. The snow fell soft while the Liberonian enemy fought hard to conquer my home, Nifelhold. Amongst the cold frozen stone of the stronghold, my people were outnumbered, overrun, starved, impoverished and empty. We were the last flicker of a once mighty inferno. By the end of that bitterly sad winter, forever extinguished was the light of Morek.

I am Sir Letholdus a former knight of Niefelhold. Enemy nobles captured my estate. Brigands robbed my income and comfort. Defeat tossed my future into peril. I have fallen to the bottom.

Attempt at Regaining Nobility

Fleeing subjugation to the Libero Empire, I wandered south into the Raivanlands. There I hoped to find a new home and build a new identity. My tutor once taught me that it is healthy for a noble to have purpose. That above all the essence of nobility is to commit oneself to a cause, be it your Lord, your army, your faith. He said this truth was the origin of fealty. The dignity of a noble was in the service to their commitment. Having lost everything, am I undignified? Have I even lost my nobility?

That idea floated around in my head causing a sorry feeling in my stomach when I first arrived in the city of Aegir. The Raivanlanders had been members of the league with the Libero Empire, but had lost all support from the alliance and were left to face the Xinhaittites and the Astrumites alone. They had already lost significant battles to these foes, and were facing increasing encroachment by Xinhai. I entered to find a liege and a place in their army, when I spoke my intentions I found no reply. I became concerned that these nobles had somehow lost something important, and that they were likely about to face their doom.

A rebellious uprising broke the silence of Aegir. I witnessed nobles attempt to make a difference in their fledgling realm. These rebels committed themselves to the cause of active change, and by their zeal, they found me a willing cooperator. We called out the silent rulers of Aegir, the tyrants, and accused them of leading us to defeat. The leader of the rebellion was Sir Erwin who said to me, “a ruler without a voice is a ruler without a crown!” A phrase that he explained to mean that there can be no crown without followers, and where can a ruler find followers if they were mute? I thought then that this was not just a rebellion for power or royalty, but also one for the very definition of rulership. For it is not enough, I gathered during this event, for a ruler to be a noble committed to the cause of leading a realm. They must also possess certain noble qualities. My tutor said nothing to me about this, which depressed me, but though our rebellion failed to change the realm, and ultimately Aegir was defeated from the inside out, I had suddenly gained a new purpose for my nobility. I felt such a rush of enthusiasm that the loss and dread growing in me since my escape from Nifelhold was purged entirely. My life, from that moment on, would be defined in the purpose of discovering and practicing true nobility.

I already knew that it was not enough to commit oneself to something, because that does not always mean you have what it takes to lead, which is a greater cause. As I learned in the Raivanlands, leadership takes certain qualities. What these qualities were was the focus of my quest. The first quality is the use of your voice. A noble who can speak properly, effectively, and regularly will no doubt be able to lead realms. That was all I knew for sure.

Our rebellion failed and we were outcast. I am unsure what happened to Sir Erwin or the others. I heard he drifted as far south as the Flow Peninsula and then retired in the city of flowers. After this, I wandered with new resolve into Xinhai, the rising fist of High Toprak.

Actively Seeking Nobility

Being on this quest, a quest for my soul, my heart, and my mind, only gave me a direction to roll. Entering Xinhai did not answer all of my questions, but at least I was not being carried by the wind as after the fall of Nifelhold. My identity as a Morekian fell hard and was buried by the white snow, then trampled on by the reconquering Dalians. My identity as a Raivanlander fell fast and was discredited by both the victorious tyrants and the retributive peasants. Could I now find my self a Xinhaittite?

Finding fealty in Bohai and entering the ducal army, I quickly found myself leading a unit against the Scourge. Monsters and undead roamed ravenously about the southern border of the realm and we placed ourselves as the human wall against their uncivilized advance. My liege told me that Bohai had been the sight of a decisive victory for Xinhai against the Libero Empire. I was proud to find service in a region with prestige. I then began to think that if my new home region could have prestige, was it not likely that a noble could too? Perhaps the qualities of honour and prestige were important for a noble as much as being vocal was. However, what did these qualities mean? How and where did I find them?

Following the orders of Marshal Cresto, I began to notice that this man was very honourable and prestigious. His style of certainty and exactness as a Marshal against the Scourge inferred upon me another characteristic of nobility: action. I heard him say to us before we delved into battle, “sometimes action alone gains victory.” Just by being active, it seems, one can collect honour and prestige. A true noble then, in my mind up to this point, was purposeful, vocal, and active. At this moment, my purpose was to explore my role in this world. I had wealth, I had command of the lower people, but I had to recover everything else. My voice was still weak and unfocused and my actions were limited by my position in the realm. I decided that the best effort I could give was to rise higher in the hierarchy of the realm. By becoming a lord, by joining the military command, or by participating in the governing of the realm I would be living the concept I had of a true noble.

During the return to the capital after this short campaign, I met a priest by the name of Father Maurice. He preached the monolithic faith Astromancy out of its heartland of Caiyun. Though I was once a refugee from the extinguished Morek, I had never encountered or participated in this faith before. Curious about his sermons, I asked him why a noble needs faith and he answered, “faith unites nobles more strongly than the sun burns us.” Did it unite us any less, I asked, if a noble followed a different faith than yours? At first he hesitated, but then spoke wiser words than I expected. “A noble heart yearns for truth and righteousness, but only in each other can we feel fulfilled.” He then explained that other faiths, though he could not understand why they refused to accept the affects of the bloodstars, gave the nobles of that realm commonality, and joined them in devotion. This resonated with me since devotion was a purpose, a commitment, and an activity. Faith, then, as well as enriching the noble, networks them to other nobles. Here I learned another quality of true nobility, communal. A true noble is purposeful, vocal, active and inviting. What use is a ruler’s voice if he has no followers? What use is a noble’s commitment if he has no one to share with, to oppose, to agree with, or to grow with? This, I believed, must be the origin of the realm. The realm must be a community of true nobles. Only then would a realm be honourable, prestigious, and fulfilled.

I decided to stay in Xinhai to try to practice my new ideology. We continued to fight monsters, and to expand our borders into the old carcass that was once the Raivanlands. Through practice of true nobility I earned the lordship of Aegir's Deep. My honour, prestige and wealth rose steadily. By then it was autumn of the next year, and I had forgotten my quest.

Capturing Nobility by Risk

I had become comfortable in Xinhai. Letting go of my past despair, letting my purpose drift away on the river of time, I became a Xinhaittite. When I made it into Aegir for a second time I began to reminisce about the days I spent rebelling against the silence, and about how I rebuilt myself from nothing to something. From the balcony of a friend’s estate in the city, I saw the empty city of Freke across the channel. Freke had no master. If Bohai was prestigious in battle, what was Freke with nothing? I began to think about possibilities. If I had earned so much in my quest for truth, was it possible to give this truth to something else? To someone else? Was it possible to create an environment where true nobility can flourish? My heart skipped a beat when my enthusiasm returned. A new quest had bloomed in me. A true noble must have a purpose. At first, mine was to find a new home, to find a new identity. It then became to explore and learn about the truth and practice of nobility. Even though I practiced my ideal nobility in Xinhai, I still felt unfulfilled. I had learned so much, seen so much, but could leave none of it behind.

“The most important thing a noble has”, I once heard a King say, “is the memory they leave behind.” If it was so important for this king to leave his legacy, maybe this was the final lap of my quest? The most important purpose of a noble, then, is to build a memory of themselves. What would I be remembered for? To be a complete noble, a true noble, you must have some purpose, you should speak for yourself, you should be active in the matters before you, and you should include other nobles in your time. If a noble put the word legacy to each of these qualities, they would have a worthy answer to the most fundamental question: why are we nobles? As a noble, I am here to leave a legacy of some sort. Be it my head under a crown, my death on the battlefield, my prophecy of salvation, my coin in another's pocket, my vision for gathering like-minded nobles, my voice against foes, my hand defending allies, or simply my name on the mouths of generations after me, I am truly noble.

I decided to join an effort to found a new colony. Cast off the borrowed identity of a Xinhaittite and birth a brand new one. Build a brand new home as I want it. In this new beginning, I can mold and shape this realm into something worthy of me, something worth remembering.

I am Sir Letholdus, former knight of Nifelhold.