An Aesthetic shows you to a small reading room.

Stories of Ansalon from the view of Haemir.

A little gully dwarf runs by and says 'Wordwrap is at 65. You change? Off 65 80.'
The gully continues 'Eyes hurt? Turn Color OFF!! (regular story dates)

Astinus says 'Enter the main library here to view only the author list.'
Astinus gently places a private journal on the table in front of you.
You note the spine bears the word 'Haemir' scribed in deep blue ink.

Author:    Haemir         
Date:      Sun Jul 11
15:03:14 2010
Subject     A families failure

Growing up
as the youngest cousin in the Silvanos blood line had
its
distinct advantages. The best tutors and weapons instructors
where always
made available to help with martial studies but it
also had its
disadvantages. Every time I ventured into the forest
wanting to explore or
be alone there would be a group of
bodyguards out of sight but I still knew
they were there and so
was never really alone.

There was also the pressure to perform
as my father and his father and his
father and his father had
done. They were all respected Mages having
survived the Test of
High Sorcery and for a time served on the High Council
of the
Conclave. They tested me for magical aptitude and although they
all
said I was capable the act of casting a spell seemed to elude
me.

Frustrated by the constant lessons in concentration and
meditation I also
threw myself into practice of the more mundane
martial arts such as knife
fighting and the use of different
types of bows.

Finally they gave up on me becoming a Wizard and
I was allowed to start
going on internal patrols of the
Silvanesti home lands. These dull routine
patrols held no place
in my heart. I wanted to be out on the borders doing
what really
mattered, expelling those who dared to cross into our
lands
uninvited. Those who came to cut down our precious forests
and hunt the
plentiful game that flourished under the protection
of the wise Silvanesti. 

Author:    Haemir        

Date:      Mon Jul 12 12:00:41 2010
Subject     Right of
Passage

Looking back on that day I realised it was a
right of passage unlike any
that could be planned. I'd been
allowed to join a border patrol for the
first time. Id been
demanding to be transferred to the active border regions
and
patrols but until last month had been denied.

We had set out
from Sithelnost and followed the river north and west to
the
border and then started our patrol. It was the first time I'd
been out of
the safety of the forest and the open grasslands
leading to the dessert
north of us was fascinating.

We moved by
night using the light of the moons and stars and kept a look
out
during the day for foreign travellers. It was on the fifth
day out that we
spotted the camp of a small band of travellers on
the opposite side of the
river to us but moving towards the one
fordable place where we planned to be
in two days time.

Like us
they moved at night but were a lot more noisy, whooping
and
screaming as they moved, and slower too and we reached the
ford ahead of
them. 

The patrol commander ordered us to take up
positions on both sides of the
river to ambush who ever it was
that was coming into our territory. He
seemed to have a good idea
of the make up of the noisy band we were going to
ambush but
would not divulge it to me or any of the others.

They were very
careless or complacent. They hadnt even sent a scouting
party
forward to investigate the ford and were coming from upwind
so their fetid
stench was what reached us first. The second thing
to reach us was the sound
of their guttural languages, a mixture
of what must have been goblin and
human as that is what this
patrol was made up of. Finally they came in to
sight and began to
cross the river into the lands of my ancestors.

When they were
half way across the order to attack was given. We broke cover
and
a volley of arrows rained down upon the invading host. The thrill
of
killing unworthy scum that dared to come into the land was
exhilarating.
This was unlike hunting the animals of the forest
and plains for food.

Those that didnt fall under the rain of
arrows turned and ran back towards
us and we closed in on them
with weapons drawn. I dont remember much of that
first fight with
a real enemy desperate to survive but I do remember clearly
how,
when the last goblin turned and started running, some force
generated
by the anger of my prey escaping caused me to lash out
with all my will and
a magical arrow sprung from my hand and
drove itself between his shoulder
blades killing him instantly.


Author:    Haemir         
Date:      Mon Jul
12 20:08:50 2010
Subject     Betrayed by my own
powers

After that fateful night, that I realised I could
do magic and had the
potential to be a Wizard, I kept trying to
use the techniques taught by the
tutors in Silvanost but to no
avail.

It was purely by accident that I discovered the source of
my powers. Rather
than quiet contemplative meditation for focus
my mind on the energies
required it was when i was angry and
frustrated that the magic would flow
from me.

Once I realised
that it was easy to channel all my pent up anger and
frustration
and soon my magic was more reliable and stronger. Now I
just
needed more to learn so that I could destroy my enemys with
more than just a
fiddly magic missile. I had heard the tales of
how armies of elves had
fought with the aid of great wizards and
destroyed all those that stood
against them and I wanted to be
like those wizards and destroy all those who
threatened our way
of life.

By the time we had returned from our patrol and the
commander had reported
my magical awakening I felt I was ready to
go to the tower and begin my
studies.

On returning to Silvanost
I was greeted almost as a hero but also with
suspicion as I had
never been able to muster even the smallest signs of
being able
to wield the arcane powers. I was placed before the high
council
and told to demonstrate what I could do. I knew deep down
inside that this
was my last chance to make my parents proud and
so I dug deep down and used
all the anger and hatred I could
muster and hurled it at the targets they
had set up for the
demonstration.

I saw the looks of shock pass through the council
as the watched the
demonstration of my powers. When I was
finished they stood as one and filed
out with out saying a word
to me. Less then 5 minutes passed before they
returned with the
high priest who started an incantation I had heard once
before
when an elf had been expelled from our midst. By the time I
realised
what was happening I was bound by the words of the spell
and found myself
magically transported to the northern edge of
the Silvanesti lands with the
final warning in the spell ringing
in my ears.

I vowed then that I would find the tower of high
sorcery on my own and join
as my father had and his father had
and his father had and show them that I
was a great a Wizard as
they had ever been. 

Author:    Haemir        

Date:      Sat Jul 17 07:57:01 2010
Subject     From the
Light a desciple of Darkness is borne

The first few weeks
alone were the hardest. The final words spoken to me
by the
people I had served loyally still echoed in my mind. I had
been
banished for all eternity, never to return on pain of
death.

The feeling of betrayal festered and grew until it turned
to anger, anger so
great that I could fuel any spell my heart
desired with it. 

As I moved through the lands of Blode, seeking
a safe route to the tower of
Wayrest, there were many times that
I came across patrols of goblins and
hobgoblins. Each time I left
a trail of bodies having picked off the last
member of the patrol
as the moved along until the fools realised they were
the hunted
not the hunted. I learned an important lesson while
slaughtering
those filthy creatures and that was that I could
feed of their fear, it was
almost like I could draw on it and use
it to power the next bolt of arcane
energy to strike one of them
down.

As I moved west towards the plains of dust the patrols
were re-enforced with
hunting dogs. I'd managed to kill almost a
third of their patrol before they
realised they were being
hunted. Only then did the foolish little creatures
release their
hounds to track my scent. There must have been some being with
a
semblance of intelligence up their chain of command to send them
out with
dogs.

They kept circling my position pushing me back
against a cliff, for although
they couldn't see me with the aid
of the dogs they could track my scent. As
I stood their wandering
what would become of me, I looked up into the dark
night sky and
for the first time sensed the presence of the dark moon. I
felt
his power then radiating into the night and heard his whisper to
me...
jump

I didn't hesitate when I heard his command and as a
reward for obeying my
new master the words a new spell formed in
my mind and as I channelled
energy into those words I felt wings
sprout from my back and I found myself
soaring on the currents
blowing up the cliff face.

Not knowing how long these wings
would last I set off west towards where I
knew Tarsis lay hoping
to find someone there that could guide me to the
Towers of High
Sorcery. 

Author:    Haemir         
Date:     
Tue Jul 20 21:22:54 2010
Subject     Lessons hard
learned

What I had thought was desert turned out to be
foul smelling swamp lands
and I was grateful for the gift of
flight that Nuitari had bestowed upon me
but even that I
discovered was not a permanent boon. 

All to soon I found myself
waist deep in foul smelling water, that is when I
couldn't find a
dry route through Sable's infernal swamps. The meagre
rations I
had managed to loot from my fallen enemies rotted quickly in
this
place and the water was not fit for even goblins to
drink.

I found it best to rest during the hottest part of the
day and only move
from late afternoon till there was no light to
navigate by any more, and
then Id rest again till the false dawn
and proceed till it got too hot to
move again.

After 3 days I
had no water and no food and there was nothing worth hunting
in
these infernal swamps. My vision was starting to blur from a
mixture of
dehydration and exhaustion. It was during this period
of delirium that I
remembered some of the teachings my tutors.
Reaching deep into my reserves
of anger I slowly recited the long
forgotten words of a spell I'd never
mastered but somehow knew
and felt my water skins slowly start to fill. it
was the sweetest
tasting water I'd ever had the privilege of drinking and
that
help to restore my spirits and my faith in my new
master.

Thinking more clearly now, I once again drew on that
well of betrayal and
hatred, and began an incantation that would
provide me with sustenance for
the journey ahead. I was not
surprised when I felt my pack getting heavier
and upon
investigation found an assortment of berries that I
quickly
consumed.

Feeling reinvigorated and knowing that Nuitari
still looked down upon me
from the heavens I once again tried the
spell that had given me wings to
evade the pursuing goblins. I
felt the wings extend from my back again and
new that it was time
to travel west towards where I knew the plains of dust
began. By
sunset I set down on the edge of the wasteland finally free
of
that oppressive swamp. 

The Storytellers of Ansalon, The DragonLance MUD

Astinus points to the massive wall of books behind him and bids you to make a selection.

Authors: All|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M|N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

Astinus mentions 'We have had over 869 storytellers on Ansalon pen their epic stories here for all to read.'