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On the Life and Death of the Dancing Falcon (Farley Stafyr)


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On the Life and Death of the Dancing Falcon is a biographical account of Farley Stafyr (Naumarian: Farley Stafyr) and his service to the later Second Empire era. Farley served in numerous high positions in the Heinrician court and was one of the more prominent non-Carrion supports of the house despite mounting opposition. He was also the husband of Milena Carrion, the daughter of the Prophet-Emperor Sigismund, and therefore one of the members of the larger imperial Karovic clan. The account was written by the Haeseni writer and historian Berendon Hanethor (Naumarian: Berendon Hanethor), a distant kinsman of Farley.

 

(OOC: Full credit to @Emenzi who wrote this, posting it here for easier access. Link to his original thread below:

 

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ON THE LIFE AND DEATH OF THE DANCING FALCON

AKA

FARLEY STAFYR

 

WRITTEN BY THE HAND OF

BERENDON HANETHOR

 

PUBLISHED BY

HIEROMAR LUDOVAR THE ELDER, SSE

 

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CHAPTER I

or, Early Life

 

Born the son of Lord Edmund Stafyr and Lady Angelika Geminine many would think Farley’s life would be the noble dream, growing up in the largest castle of the south in one of the most peaceful regions of Oren, but alas so it was not.

 

Just a year after he was born, his mother suddenly disappeared without a trace leaving him and his older sister alone to be raised by their father, a stern but also loving and caring man. With the help of servants and family members Lord Edmund managed to take good care of his two children, even though their mother was absent.. But chaos was about to strike in the distance. So was the exodus, the emperor Horen the fifth and his most loyal heartlander and Kaedreni subjects ventured across the seas to find new land in the midst of a great war between the empire and the Grand Kingdom of Urguan,

 

The remaining nobles were left in disarray as the emperor’s third born son William ascended to the throne, declaring himself the new emperor of Oren. Thus the era of Five kings began. Lord Edmund, now the Lord Privy Seal, Knight commander of Renatus and Commander of the Lion Knights, the emperor's personal guard contracted an unknown illness and his health declined rapidly until he eventually passed away in his sleep, leaving Farley in the care of his aunt Leana who was named regent of House Stafyr until the young boy was of age.

 

His uncle Beron Sturm, the illegitimate son of Saint Godwein was named guardian of Farley and took him under his wing, teaching him how to read, write, speak properly, act accordingly and all manners that was expected by a lord. His other uncle Alistier and the Grand Knight Daniel, an old friend of his father started to teach him how to fight and all the moral codes of a true knight, like his father. When he was twelve years old his uncle Beron gave him a falcon named Thondor, supposedly it had belonged to all the other true Stafyr lords before him, centuries before Saint Godwein was ennobled by the prophet emperor Godfrey.

 

During the many years of chaos and madness during this infamous era of history, his aunt, who feared what could happen with House Stafyr if the house got involved with the unstable Orenian politics closed the gates to Shadowcastle letting very few people in and out. During these years seeing a member of House Stafyr or any inhabitant of the southern province of Schattenburg roam the streets of the fractured human realm was a rare instance. On his sixteenth birthday Farley was officially declared lord of House Stafyr, something he had been trained to be ever since he was a young boy, but is anyone really prepared for the duty?

 

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CHAPTER II

or, the Beginnings of a Lord

 

His first command was to once again open the gates of Shadowcastle, not fearing the world like his aunt did. But the world was a different place from when the gates were shut, the Horen dynasty was weak and the empire fractured into several kingdoms ruled by different houses and much land had been lost to Urguan puppet states. The main kingdom separate from the Horen dynasty's rule being the old Blackmont vassal House Carrion, led by the charismatic and wise Siegmund Carrion.

 

Through smart maneuvering of politics together with the Herendulian house Winter, Siegmund Carrion used the religious conflicts that were brewing between the Raevirs of Ruska and heartlanders of Renatus to dispose of the weak King William Horen and replaced him with his Uncle Silus, an old family friend of House Stafyr. He would be known as the puppet king.

 

King Silus rule was short, he gave up the crown to Ostromir and Tuvya Carrion who bent the knee to their father Siegmund and slowly but surely the empire was refounded as an elective imperial monarchy, all votes casted on Siegmund as the new emperor.

 

One could think peace was finally upon Oren, all the houses had aligned themselves under the new emperor and Oren was finally growing once more but so it was not. The daughter of Saint Godfrey, Sophia Horen emerged from hiding in Malinor with a claim and backing by different elven factions, including the support of Daniel Baelish, who had left Oren and joined the Clerical Order.

 

During this time, his cousin Godwein, named after the saint, was after a misunderstanding with the church, lashed by the High Ecclesiarch Radomir Carrion, something which angered the young lord Farley greatly.

 

He arranged a meeting through Daniel with Sophia Horen and was moments away of joining her side and declaring open rebellion against the Carrion crown, but history took a different course. Farley’s cousin Walter, a strong Carrion loyalist got word about Farley’s possible intentions and arranged a meeting with the emperor, the meeting was attended by a few select individuals and no one except those that attended know what words were spoken but House Stafyr left the meeting loyal to the empire.

 

Sophia’s rebellion quickly disintegrated after that, no Orenian house wished to take up her cause leaving her without support within the empire and her elven allies did not have the strenght to go against the Orenians on their own, she once more vanished into hiding. But peace was not found that easily, the Grand Kingdom of Urguan had gained a lot of power started backing the exiled House Tarus who now pressed claims on the Orenian throne, they invaded Oren from the south. Attacking the Stafyrs home, Shadowcastle.

 

It was shortly before the dwarven/Tarusian invasion that Farley met a young commoner woman named Asira who he quickly fell for. She made him laugh and smile, something that was rare in this dark world. Farley feared he could not safeguard her from the upcoming war so he sent her to Malinor, leaving him heartbroken and dedicating himself deeper into the roots of politics and war. Unknowingly to him, a son was born by Asira.

 

As the dwarven host marched towards Shadowcastle together with the Tarus rebels the high commander of the Orenian military Heinrik of Roy, the nephew of emperor Siegmund arrived to Schattenburg with the Raevir forces, together Lord Heinrik and Lord Farley forged a plan, under the village of Fieldchurch was an old mine, only held up by wooden supports. They weakened the wooden beams and greased the mine up with oil.

 

As the dwarves marched through Fieldchurch sacking the now abandoned village on their way up towards Shadowcastle a small group Almannir hiding by the entrance to the mine started a fire and it didn’t take long until the beams broke, collapsing the mine.. The village went down into flames with it but also a third of the dwarven host perished.

 

The dwarven king Thorin was furious, charging his army up the mountain only to be met with pikes and arrows from the walls of the castle, they had lost their superiority in numbers and seemingly from nowhere cavalry from the heartland, led by the emperor himself emerged from the north cutting the dwarven and Tarus forces into two. The Stafyr and Raevir forces sallied forth from the castle and slaughtered the dwarven forces covering the rear leaving. The Grand King had been defeated and the emperor sought peace with the Tarus rebels.

 

However, shortly after the emperor of Oren would perish and a new emperor was to be crown. The two possible heirs to the Carrion dynasty was both considered unfit to lead, Ostromir to greedy and neglective and Tuvya, a great minded steward was considered to weak. The Carrion dynasty was considered weak and the empire collapsed into two kingdoms, Herendul led by King Edward Winter and Oren, with no king.

 

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CHAPTER III

or, the Holy Kingdom of Oren

 

However to clearly select a king of Oren, a vote was cast between the Raevirs of Kralta and with the battle of Shadowcastle fresh in mind, Heinrik of Roy was made King Heinrik Carrion of Oren, a man who had now become a good friend of Farley after the battle. His first order was to bring Herendul back into the Orenian hegemony, in order to do so he married the Princess of Herendul, Katherine Winter, elevated Herendul to an archduchy, made the archduke his chancellor and also issued a decree elevating House Winter as guardians of the vast uncharted north.

 

Now once more united as the Holy Kingdom of Oren, King Heinrik, instead of sueing for peace marched further south to invade the dwarven lands, as emperor Horen had done years before. Farley was against further war but would not oppose his king and friend, as the Orenian army marched upon Thoringrad with a large host, Farley was made commander of the rear guard with twenty thousand men under his command. The Orenian vanguard sallied over the river to Thoringrad and took the castle with the rearguard following closely behind.

 

Shortly after the battle, Farley with the assistance of the exiled House Amador and his old friend Daniel who had now once more aligned himself with Oren managed to stage a coup in Adunia and their human subjects living there, the land was returned to Oren by the Amadors who had usurped the last true Adunian earl and was granted nobility in Oren under the condition that they swore vassalage to House Stafyr. However it wasn’t long after that the dwarves reclaimed the Adunian lands under a new jarl.

 

The elves of both Malinor and Hae’Lunor who had allied themselves with Oren sent soldiers to the Orenian army marching deeper and deeper into the dwarven lands, increasing the Orenian forces  as they approached the fortress under water, Indograd. Realizing that Indograd would be to difficult to attack, King Heinrik constructed a series of forts covering all the ways out of the dwarven lands, cutting them off from the rest of the world. The loss of trade and the growing starvation in the dwarven lands made Grand King Thorin sue for peace, abandoning his Tarus allied. The war was won and Farley could return home.

 

As a reward for his service to Oren during the war, Lord Farley was granted the position of Lord Privy Seal and a position in King Heinrik’s privy council. He was also made warden of the south, tasked with protection Oren against any threat from the south, be it dwarves or orcs.

 

But with power comes stress, Farley became more and more conflicted about his surroundings and had grown to accustomed to war that the peace that was made him stressed and distorted. At this time the halflings that had a small village on the outskirts of the Shadowcoast was growing discontent with the treatment from the humans and 30 halflings marched to Shadowcastle in a protest, however Farley who had been blinded by rage from the war saw this as a threat and sent a retinue of men led by Ser Alexander Valos to the halfling village to scare them back into submission but Ser Valois slaughtered the halflings that had protested and strung up their bodies on the trees around the village.

 

It was at this point that Daniel, who now resided in Shadowcastle with his wife raised his concerns about the path Farley was taking Stafyr who had been renowned for their peaceful ways, Farley realizing the error of his ways had the men who slaughtered the halflings beheaded and Ser Valois was exiled from Shadowcastle and branded an enemy of Stafyr.

 

As to reward Lord Farley and ensure House Stafyrs loyalty to the crown King Heinrik arranged a courtship between Farley and the king’s cousin Princess Milena and a courtship between Farley’s sister Cecilia and the Archduke Winter. Farley had not let a single person truly into his life since Asira and was very uncomfortable being around Princess Milena at first, but her beauty and compassion was astonishing and Farley could not help falling in love.

 

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CHAPTER IV

or, the War Against Setherien

 

The two got married in the chapel of Fieldchurch with the blessing of King Heinrik and for the first time in many years, he felt true joy and happiness. But only a few months after they had gotten married all of Anthos would shake. From the northern wastelands and southern caves Bohra came charging out, they had not been seen since the siege of Greywind many years earlier. They attacked and raided everything on their way, as being commanded by an higher being. And so it was that, the daemon Setherien in the form of a great northern dragon commanded the Bohra to invade. His intentions unclear.

 

A rather fragile coalition was formed between Oren, Malinor, Hae’Lunor and Urguan to combat Setherien and this northern scourge, the coalition army consisted of a combined number of over a hundred thouand men, elves and dwarves. At the passage into the northern valleys the army made camp, fortifying their position as the awaited Setherien’s army, not knowing what to expect. At nightfall, as snow fell cold over the passageway, Setherien arrived with overwhelming amounts of Bohra, flooding from the hillsides.

 

The battle was long and brutal and Setherien had managed to cut off a large portion of the army from the rest, their cries of pain and rage echoed through the valley as they valiantly fought the Bohra in the distance, King Heinrik being one of the men cut off. Lord Farley and his vassals, together with the Holy Order of Saint Lucien managed to push through to the other side, creating a path for remaining coalition forces to get into the valley, Setherien flew off in the distance, leaving his Bohra to die. The coalition saw the retreat of Setherien as a token of victory and the remaining army marched back home, echoes of the bravery of Lord Farley was heard all over Schattenburg. But Setherien still had a hand to play.

 

Not long after the battle Farley and his retinue was out hunting on the plains of Furnestock, peace was finally truly upon them and his wife Milena was pregnant. But the ground started shaking and parting between their feets as lava poured through the holes, the smell beginning to spread through all of Furnestock. Almost all of them perished except for Farley and his friend Vaclav, who through a stroke of luck managed to get away from the plains and over the hills back towards Shadowcastle, which was no more.

 

The entire castle had been struck to the ground and along the coast, all of the now rebuilt village of Fieldchurch was ablaze as drakes were seen in the distance. They searched through the village and castle but could not find a soul or body, a strange thing. But their search was halted when the roars of the drake echoed as they smelt the scent of living flesh. Farley and Vaclav drew their blades, prepared to die at each others side as brothers but a beckoning light was cast from the sky, sending the drakes off in fear. The Itharel Daniel arriving to save the two.

 

They arrived to the cloud temple were the Clerics and Temple Monks had created a ward over the area, preventing Setherien’s spawn to reach them.. Daniel showed them to the Orenian camps where he was reunited with his wife and family. But alas, Anthos was almost all but a memory. Many elves could still remember the floods of Asulon and the destruction of Aegis. The ancestral homeland. And history always repeats itself.

 

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CHAPTER V

or, New Huntshill

 

Through the guidance of the Cloud temple monks a portal was created through the mountain, all survivors was flocked through it and sent forth into the unknown future, The Fringe.

 

They arrived in The Fringe where they were immediately sent south by Orenian scouts, fertile lands to farm and live on they said. House Stafyr settled into a mountainside, and through time building a small village and fort along it which they named New Huntshill. Protecting the trade routes and fields of the south once more as they always had.

 

It was at this point, around the time of the birth of his son Athelstan that the Zionist war broke out, as all nations had grown weary and tired of the Orenian dominance of King Heinrik they declared a coalition and war upon the Holy Kingdom.

Farley and his retinue who had attended a privy meeting in Vekaro was attacked by Orcish raiders who was assisting the coalition. They managed to fend of the party but Farley was injured.

 

The battle of the Fields they called it, King Heinrik’s last battle. He led a cavalry charge straight into lines of dwarven pikemen. Almost as if he wanted to die. The Orenian army was crushed and his only living son Roy was left to rule, but many considered Roy unfit to lead the nation during a time of war and crisis so the Raevirs once more assembled a council and elected Heinrik’s uncle Francis as king.

 

War broke out between the church, backed by the Holy Order of Saint Lucien, House Winter and most heartland houses against the crown, The Decterum and the Raevirs. Lord Farley, who still was in bedrest after his injury did his best to keep Stafyr out of the war, as he did not want to shed blood of other humans.

 

Many prepared for a long and gruesome war but one of the king’s most trusted bodyguards, a knight of the Decterum murdered the king. Oren was now in chaos, the Carrion dynasty had fallen and their most loyal soldiers, The Decterum had betrayed them. The remaining Carrions with their Raevir supporters fled to the keep of Mount Augustus, where they barricaded themselves awaiting the rebel army.

 

It was at this point, that the bishop Vekaro received a vision from the prophet emperor Godfrey, that the kings of Kaedrin would soon return and Peter Chivay was to be crowned emperor of Oren. Many laughed at the bishop at first but as a large fleet arrived on the coasts of Thalos, many of the ships the same that had disappeared years ago during the exodus, led by Peter Chivay.

 

All the Orenian houses flocked to his cause, including Lord Farley who bent the knee and declared his loyalty to the new empire. The new imperial army, from the sons of the most battle hardened men in the history of Oren besieged Mount Augustus but instead of attacking. The new emperor made a truce with the Carrions, granting Boris Carrion, the brother of the late king Francis a Princedom within Oren in return of the Raevirs loyalty, with Roy as his heir.

 

Lord Farley was removed from his position on the privy council as the emperor restructured the entire nation, the Third Orenian Empire saw a rise of prominence in wealth and to show of the newly found Orenian might, he declared war on the rebellious snow elves and crushed them utterly, almost causing their immediate extinction.

 

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CHAPTER VI

or, Later Years and Death

 

House Stafyr retreated into solitude as a long era of peace was upon Oren, Farley who had grown weary and tired of the life of war and politics. Realizing he had missed the first years of his son and his wife almost looked upon him as a stranger due to his duty in life he took a decision which would change the course of his life forever.

 

A decree was issued all through Oren, Lord Farley abdicated. His cousin Symon, a young and calm man with lesser ambitions was named steward and regent of Stafyr until young Athelstan was of age. He did this so to be more with his son and wife, he remained as house patriarch to oversee the decisions of Symon but more so as his advisor.

 

The years passed as young Athelstan grew older and older and Farley and Milena rekindled their love for eachother, but shortly before the young heirs fifth nameday Farley received word from Roy Carrion son of late King Heinrik requested a duel for his family’s honour, as he saw Farley as a traitor for not defending the Carrion crown.

 

It was a warm summer day as the banners of Stafyr and Carrion flew high on the fields outside the imperial capital Kaldonia. Upon the field Roy Carrion and Farley Stafyr met and fought, blades clashing and men chanting as they watched upon the fight between the once great young lord and the Carrion heir. The chants died out when the green grass  was soaked with blood and Farley fell lifeless to the ground.

 

Lord Farley II. Stafyr is hailed to have given birth to the modern traditions and ways of Stafyr, moving the house from the brink of extinction to becoming one of the major houses in Oren and fielding one of the largest armies at the time. His insecurities and flaws were heavily outweighed by his competence and noble ways. He is remembered as one of the greatest lords of the Almannir that has yet lived, if not the  greatest after Saint Godwein. 

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