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 80. 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 an enormous book on the table in front of you.
You note the spine bears the word 'Haemir' scribed in earth-colored brown 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 sighs as he recants 'We saved 869 books from Ansalon from before the great Cataclysm through today.'