So they came to our land of Osten Ard. The immortals claim they came here long before the first of our own ancestors arrived, but since that goes flatly against the teaching of the Aedonite Church, few scholars accept this as truth. Still, it is known from writings that survived the fall of Khand that even in the days of that impossibly remote empire the Hyan, or “Immortal Ones” as they were named by the Khandians, had already built great cities across the world, from the distant north Trollfells to the southern islands.
What also is known beyond doubt is that the Keida’ya saw the growth of the Nabbanai Imperium from the earliest confederations of tiny fiefdoms to its world-spanning heights. The co-existence of the two empires, mortal and immortal, was not without strife, but the Keida’ya, even after they divided themselves into two great clans, the Zida’ya and Hikeda’ya, their names for Sithi and Norn, respectively, largely kept their attention fixed upon their own domains and ceded all the lands and mortal men that did not interest them to the expanding Imperium.
Like the long-vanished Khandians, we of the current age call the Keida’ya and their component clans “immortals,” but believe from what we have learned that they are merely long-lived, not truly undying. They can be killed, of course, or else the great war just ended would have gone against us, and it seems that at last, after many centuries, a form of old age finally overtakes them. Eventually even these ancient creatures die, although at an age hard for men to believe.
King Seoman met the revered matriarch of the Sithi, Amerasu, called Ship-Born, and the king tells that despite her birth on one of the crafts that brought her people to Osten Ard countless centuries ago, she seemed no older than a woman of handsome and healthy middle age. She died violently, so how long she might have otherwise lived is unknown, but it is agreed by all that Queen Utuk’ku, mistress of the Norns, is older still—she might have been Amerasu’s great-grandmother—and that Utuk’ku once lived in the legendary Garden itself before her people fled. The Norn Queen at least does appear to be immortal, or as close to it as any of her kind have yet come . . .
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. . . At some time between the rise of the mortal empire of Khand and the later dominion of the Nabbanai Imperators, some conflict split the immortal Keida’ya into two races, the golden creatures we know as the Sithi, or Zida’ya—in their tongue the name means “Dawn Children”—and the pale, deadly Hikeda’ya, which seems to translate to “Cloud Children,” the enemies men call “Norns” because of their home in the far north.
In the years since the Rimmersmen came across the western oceans with their iron weapons and destroyed the peace of both men and fairies and captured the immortals’ palace of Asu’a (which now exists only as ruins beneath the castle called Hayholt in Erkynland) the Sithi deserted their great cities and retreated to the forests and wastelands and other remote places of Osten Ard. The Norns, still ruled by their deathless queen, Utuk’ku, also fled before the violence of the newly-arrived Rimmersmen, and the last of that fairy-clan survives in the hidden fastness of their northern mountain fortress, Nakkiga, the last of the great cities built by the immortals . . .
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. . . One last race must be spoken of, because the Keida’ya did not come to these lands alone, but brought with them their servants and slaves, the Tinukeda’ya, or “Ocean Children,” who because of their many forms are sometimes considered together by mortal scholars under the name “Changelings.” The Tinukeda’ya, though they share an origin in the Garden with the Sithi and Norns, are not all of one general appearance, as is true with the golden and white clans of the Keida’ya, who are almost uniformly slender and manlike, with large, upturned eyes and narrow faces. But some Tinukeda’ya are as big as mountain giants, and seem to serve only as beasts of burden. Others are small, fitted for work in narrow underground tunnels, as though Heaven itself had crafted them with that purpose in mind. In truth, many of the Tinukeda’ya grew skilled not just in delving but in crafting stone and other arts, and served the Keida’ya by building their great cities. Some even say that the Eight Great Ships that sailed away from the dying Garden and brought the immortals here were largely built by their Tinukeda’ya servitors, but that is not known for certain. However, High King Seoman was told by a noble of the highest Sithi clan that holding the Tinukeda’ya in slavery and bringing them to our lands against their will, was his people’s greatest shame. In time many of these “Ocean Children” escaped their masters, and it is said that like the Sithi and the Norns, many still survive in places remote from mankind. Others live among us, like the Niskies of Nabban, who use their songs to protect the ships they serve.
So it is that three tribes of immortals share this world with mankind, the Hikeda’ya pale as death, the Zida’ya as golden as the sun, and the Tinukeda’ya in all their manifold sizes and shapes. Perhaps someday these fairy-folk will be gone, and remain only as a memory among our kind, a dim, partial tale like The Lion-Fighter of Old Khand. Or perhaps it is too soon to write their epitaph, and they will rise again one day from the shadowed places to contend with us once more. We know little of them for certain, but we do know that none of them love men, and some despise us utterly.
Glossary of Terms
PEOPLE
RIMMERSMEN
Aerling Surefoot—leader of the Mountain Goats
Alfwer—Rimmersgard thane (baron) of Heitskeld
Brenyar—leader of the army’s carpenters
Brindur—thane (baron) of Norskog
Dragi—the oldest Mountain Goat
Elvrit—founder of Rimmersgard
Fani—one of Brindur’s Skoggeymen
Fanngrun—a Rimmersgard noble of Vattinland, cousin to former King Jormgrun
Fingil Red-Hand—king of Rimmersgard, descendant of Elvrit, conqueror of Asu’a
Finnbogi—a Rimmersgard thane (baron) killed at the Hayholt
Floki—son of Brindur
Isbeorn—thane (baron) of Hargres Dale, later Duke of Elvritshalla and Isgrimnur’s father
Geli—son of Skali Sharpnose of Kaldskryke, late enemy of Isgrimnur
Gutrun—Duchess of Elvritshalla, Isgrimnur’s wife
Haddi—one of Isgrimnur’s house-carls
Helgrimnur Stonehand—Rimmersgard thane (baron)
Helvnur—nephew of Helgrimnur Stonehand
Hjortur—in charge of the Donkey (catapult)
Isgrimnur—Duke of Elvritshalla, ruler (beneath the High Throne) of all Rimmersgard
Isorn—Isgrimnur’s son, killed in the Storm King’s War
Jormgrun—King of Rimmersgard, overthrown by John of Erkynland
Kár—one of Isgrimnur’s house-carls
Kolbjorn—a Vestiman
Marri Ironbeard—one of Brindur’s Skoggeymen