Tar Valon
From Atlantic Roleplay Wiki
Title: Tar Valon
Author: Azoth Malishar
Back in the early days of this realm when people were still learning their skills in sword, spell and anvil the world was undiscovered and new.
Though much of the mainland had been documented there were many islands that had yet to be discovered.
This is the story of how one of those islands was first discovered and settled long ago.
While many of us early settlers scrambled about the mainland hard at work on furthering our skills, one individual in my guild was filled with wanderlust. He wanted to explore the seas and sail about in search of new things that no other humans had yet laid eyes upon. Sadly my old, failing memory cannot recall this intrepid explorer's name but he was in the same guild as I was which was run by Shakkar.
Through a bit of work we were able to collectively earn the coin for a galley for this intrepid explorer.
Just as soon as the ship was in our hands our eager explorer rushed off to the coast of Skara Brae to set sail. Our explorer was relentless in his search of the seas.
On many occasions our explorer would return from his long journeys out to sea and meet up with us at the guild house. There he would captivate us with tales of his many adventures as he sailed and attempted to explore the great unknown.
His tales were filled with narrow escapes from the clutches of villainous pirates, near death encounters with angry water elementals and frightening attacks from massive sea monsters.
The explorer also spoke of the quiet times he had at sea: just sailing around in the peaceful ocean.
He spoke of the times when he would just dock the galley and fish.
It was these tales of peace and serenity that made the rest of us long to experience the journeys of our explorer. At that time in Britannia's history there were practically no other boats on the oceans. Meanwhile the rest of us struggled to stay alive in the increasingly dog-eat-dog environment on the mainland.
Then one day after a long ocean journey our explorer came running into the guild house. The look of excitement exuded from every ounce of his being. After we had all gathered to hear the news he exclaimed: "I have found a new island way out to sea!"
Needless to say this was wonderful news. We had just lost the safe haven of our first guild house when one of our own was murdered while carrying a house key.
Seeing a chance to escape the increasing violence of the mainland we quickly came to the decision to set sail and build a new foothold on this newly discovered land.
Shakkar, Gabriel, the explorer and I quickly set sail for this new land. It was a long way out and it took some time to arrive.
Eventually though our skilled explorer detected the hint of land in the distance.
Not long after our galley was pulled ashore and we set foot on the small island.
Though the island was relatively small and wooded, Shakkar quickly ascertained that we could possibly fit a castle in the one large clearing if we could somehow raise the funds.
We knew that no one else had likely discovered this land since no housing was built. However we also knew that given time others would certainly discover this beautiful island sanctuary and want to call it their home. So we collectively raised the money to purchase a tower and a small house to place in the large clearing.
Then came the task of working as hard as we could to raise the coin to build our castle.
It took us several days of intense work but we finally raised the coin. Tailor, carpenter, cook, tamer, blacksmith and adventurers all did their part for the cause.
When the time came we carefully escorted our guildmaster to the spot. Our entire guild and a cadre of tamed dragons were there to safeguard the event.
Fortunately no one seemed to have yet discovered our island as the dismantling of the old buildings and the raising of the castle went unchallenged.
After many days of intense work our guild of virtuous Britanians finally had our island sanctuary.
A place to escape the seething violence of the called our castle and the island Tar Valon.
Then one day I found myself trapped in some sort of limbo.
I knew not what had happened or where I was and had no sense of the passage of time. Somehow I escaped this limbo and upon returning to Brittania found that nothing was the same. The world I knew was gone.
Worse I could find no trace of my old friends. Perhaps they too had been trapped in this same strange magical flux in the ether that trapped me. When I could find no trace of my old friends I turned to my remaining runes in the bank. I spent time checking them out traveling to what is now called Felucca searching for traces of my roots.
Not long ago I re-discovered Tar Valon. Other than the outline of the island it didn't look at all the same. Marble buildings that weren't there before now stood. Many other buildings cluttered the island.
And then I found what I sought: Tar Valon. It is no longer a castle like we used to have but is now a keep. But it still stands on what is known today by many as Marble Island.