I will continue with my very short summary of the history of the Crown of Drawnwyn: what happened to the Crown after Samron’s defeat, and the death of Drawnwyn herself. — Achrovach, Ushen Teller of History.

As I mentioned in my previous essay, once Drawnwyn was presented with the Crown she trained herself to wield its power, and then used it to defeat her grandfather Samron in one of the great battles of the last several millennia.

Once Samron had been defeated, Drawnwyn established the Council of the Tamarran Continent (widely known as the Council of Drawnwyn), a federation of most nations of the Continent. Her goal was to protect, for years to come, the freedom that had been wrestled away during Samron’s tyranny.

General Maszzik Szaskar

Drawnwyn continued to use the Crown after Samron’s defeat, establishing a new kind of rulership over Tamarra.  More importantly, she used the Crown in her fight against the First Nulentian Invasion (SP~3,743 – 3,760).  When Drawnwyn died, the Nulentians had not yet been defeated.  She had anticipated this, and had arranged for her greatest general, Maszzik Szaskar,the crawn master of war, to take possession of the Crown and to use it to complete the destruction of the Nulentian invaders.

Once the Nulentians had been defeated, another war began – this one to determine who, from the alliances that brought down Samron, would become the owner of the Crown of Drawnwyn. Each grasping ruler hoped to become the next head of the Council of Tamarra, and perhaps the next despot to rule over the continent.  However, in anticipation of this Maszzik and Drawnwyn had put a plan in place.

Soon after the victory celebrations were over, Maszzik declared himself to be the interim head of the Council.  This position would last three months, during which a new leader of the Council would be determined. Three months to the day after that announcement, it was discovered that Maszzik was gone  – as was the Crown.  The uproar was immediate and ferocious, and a new leader, the crawn emperor Sssessahh, was soon installed as Head of the Council of Drawnwyn. However, the most powerful artifact on the Continent, the Crown, could not be found and so the position was, for many years, of little consequence as the Councel had devolved into little more than a loose confederation of states and kingdoms. As for Maszzik, it is still unknown to this day where he spent his final years.

The Crown itself remained out of sight for the next seven centuries. During the first few of these centuries the Council was more of an honorary organization, having little real power. However, several catastrophic events brought the Council together with common need and it once again gained strength growing in stature and trust among its members. In the year SP~4,486, the Crown was was re-discovered almost by chance, in the possession of a wandering kamari bard in the Quay city of Qua Enna. The Crown, which was intact, was quickly, and easily, taken from the bard, and came into the possession of Ado, a powerful ishiri king.  Though Ado possessed the crown, she did not know how to use it, and, in fact, none have since Drawnwyn. The knowledge of how to control the Crown and its Eyes had been lost. Even so the threat of its use was frequently sufficient to make the enemies of the current owner fear her or him.

In the year SP~4,525 the Crown was broken during a battle in the Great Western Forest.  Though none of the seven Eyes or the base were destroyed, they were each separated from the Crown itself.  It would take a powerful Energetic force to break apart these elements and it is not entirely clear what this force was.  However, there were a number of credible accounts that a fire beast* made a sudden entrance during the course of the battle.  Ignoring the armies on both sides, it went straight for the Crown, snatched it up into its mouth, launched itself into the air, and in a fierce blaze of fire exhaled it in pieces, scattering it for many miles across the wooded lands.

The accounts are clear that the base of the Crown and each of the seven Eyes survived the breath of the fire beast (no small feat in itself), but they have remained scattered, and separated, since then.

* Could it have been a flamen?

Summary Report from Dorromee Ado, Grand Scholar, the Six Guilds, Tarnath and member of the Dovvan Section of the Guild Mnemonic Division.  A report to leaders of the Guild Homes throughout the Tamarran Continent.

Given that this organization has no known name, it is not surprising that there is very little known about its origins and that its membership is a closely guarded secret.  It was originally formed in the Kingdom of the Warrior Wembarrem, which is located on the Maharrin Subcontinent, immediately south of the Tamarra Continent proper.   Estimates of the age of the organization vary greatly, but it is believed that it has been around for a number of centuries, at the very least.

The Maharrin Subcontinent

The Unnamed Organization (UO) had a reputation throughout the Subcontinent of being willing to do whatever was asked of it, as long as there was profit involved.  This is not to say that its members were necessarily nefarious; nor is it to say that their intentions were altruistic.  They just believed that anything worth doing was worth getting paid to do, and that anything worth paying someone a lot of money to do, was worth doing.  Even murder.

In the early 4,900s, members of this group made their way north to the Tamarran Continent.  Most accounts say that this journey took place between SP~4,924 and SP~4,930, but the accounts are sketchy, and the Wembarrems are notorious for their poor record-keeping.  They established their first foothold on the Tamarran Continent in the Zweyjen Coastal City-States of the south. Within a decade, they could be found throughout most of the Continent (or to be precise, they could not be found).

During their first few decades on Tamarra, the UO recruited many folks of many kinds. Among their new recruits were a few (very few) Guild members, and a not inconsiderable number of sorcerers.  Having members who understood the Six Energies added a new skill set to their already formidable capabilities for robbery, forgery, assassination, and any other well-paid and illicit activity. In the 4,970’s, shortly after the Third Nulentian Invasion, it is said that many wellyn joined the UO.  The wellyn generally refuse to discuss this turn of events, or even to acknowledge that it happened.  Some do not like the idea that fellow wellyn would join a secret organization; however, it is likely that many believed this to be a vast prank and were concerned that it would supercede their own pranks.

In the last several decades, this highly profitable organization is believed to have  broadened its base to boast a membership of somewhere around 1,000.  It is clear that the UO is the “go to” group for well-placed politicians and business leaders when they need something to be done quietly and professionally.

According to journalists in the larger cities of the Continent, the UO has trained their own colony of blink bats**, enabling members to keep in touch quickly and secretly.  These accounts also suggest that the UO holds a full membership meeting every year or two, at an unknown location on the Tamarran Continent.  The meeting even includes operatives from the Maharrin Subcontinent.  Currently, the most popular rumor* is that the Unnamed Organization is led by none other than Osslin Perranger, the human female who heads up the Charismatics Guild in Tarnath.

In summary, the Unnamed is an Organization of great strength, stealth, and wealth.  It would be wise to give them a wide berth and not ask too many questions.

* With thanks to HH, reporter for the Dovvan Daily News

** Blink bats look like ordinary gray bats, but have the ability to blink out of view and instantly reappear anywhere on the Tamarran Continent.

The history of the Crown of Drawnwyn is older, and far more complicated, than most folk of the Continent realize.  I will attempt to provide a synopsis, and a very brief one at that, in the informal treatise below. — Achrovach, Ushen Teller of History.

The history of the Great Crown, as it is often fondly referred to, is best understood in three parts.  

The first part of this history began many thousands of years ago, during the Second Era of the Fifth Age of the World, the era immediately prior to our own.  This was the time of the immortal races of creatures, the very first races to exist on our dear Ethem.

The Seven Great Stones, as they were called at that time, were created by the Elzheni, perhaps the most accomplished Race of that period. They were responsible for so many magnificent creations, not least of which was the building of the Great City of Angzhelling on this, our Tamarran Continent.  No one knows now where Angzhelling might be; however…ah, it is so difficult to be brief!  The Stones were created by the great Elzheni genius, Dey Affa.  One was created for each of the Six Energies, and another was created to allow the six Stones to act as One.  At this time each Stone was used for its own purpose.  There was no Crown.*

The second part of this fascinating history deals with the creation of the Crown of Drawnwyn from the Seven Stones. In the year SP~3,721, the great ishiri artist Elem Nemma began creating the Crown of Drawnwyn for the Seven Stones.  The Stones became known as “Eyes,” because each Eye gave its owner the ability to see into the Energy Realm with which it was associated (the Eye of Dey had the ability to see into them all by seeing through each of the other six).  The following year, in the Nashem Mountains in the old part of Naldrin City, the completed Crown of the Seven Eyes was presented to Drawnwyn.  The rest, as they say (I’ve said it myself), is history!

And now we come to the third and final part of this history: the education of Drawnwyn.  As powerful as the Crown of the Seven Eyes was, it was nothing to anyone without the skill and strength to control it.  At the very least, anyone who aspired to use the Crown must have overcome Barriers in each of the Six Energies.

It is not entirely clear how long Drawnwyn spent establishing a connection with the Seven Eyes.  Some say it was only a matter of days, but these stories are surely apocryphal, believed only by those who consider Drawnwyn to be akin to a god.  It is likely that she spent several months learning to align with and wield the power of the Crown.  Most accounts indicate that after the presentation of  the Crown, she went immediately to the deeper reaches of Old Naldrin City.  The training was arduous and exhausting, requiring Drawnwyn to call upon every skill she possessed in order to maintain her inner essence while aligning with the Eyes.

At the end of this training Drawnwyn emerged with what would from then on be called the Crown of Drawnwyn.  She was ready for the great battle with the Emperor Samron.

It is known that the Crown and the Seven Eyes still exist.  The Eyes have been separated from the Crown and scattered, but they still remain somewhere on the Tamarran Continent.  We will talk more about this, and the recent rumors as to the whereabouts of the Crown and the Eyes, in subsequent blogs.

*For the full history of the Stones and their Elzheni masters, you must get a copy of my book, “The Elzheni in Their Greatness: A Story of the Second Era of the Fifth Age of the World and a Short Account of what Came before us, and Continues to Guide Us.”  In this fine tome you will come to understand how these seven powerful Stones were used, and misused, by a small group of Elzheni; where the Stones ended up after they attained their freedom; and how, eventually, they were key to the end of the Elzheni race and the final days of the Second Era itself.

— Achrovach, Ushen Teller of History.  Achrovach’s first treatise about the Crown of Drawnwyn is a brief overview of the Crown and the seven “Eyes” that comprise it.  This second installment describes the making of the Crown; future passages will relate its history.

In the year SP~3,683 it became clear to a cabal of powerful Guild members that the despot Samron was planning to extend his empire over the entire continent of Tamarra.  The original members of the cabal, a half dozen highly experienced Cataloguers within the Acquisitions & Archival Department of the GERC (Guild Energetic Research Coalition), soon realized that if they were to stop Samron, they would need the help of other GERC members.  However, they knew that the larger their group, the greater the chance that they would be discovered (and “dispatched”).  In the end, they reached out to two members of the GERC’s Energetic Experimental Group (EEG) and three members of the Materials Development Division (MDD).

Flamen

At first this small group of subversives was at a loss as to how they might combat a foe as mighty as Samron had become.  However, one of the members of the MDD, an ishiri evoker by the name of Odaddun, recalled accounts of the Izhen, also known as the Eyes of the Elzheni.  These were seven stones that, as legend had it, were created by the Elzheni during the prior Era of the World, and were said to wield great control over the Six Energies — the fundamental building blocks of the world itself.  Even if they did exist, the whereabouts of the Izhen were unknown. The search for the Izhen is a story of its own, and would need many more words to recount than we have here.  Suffice it to say that with the help of the Sorcerers, the Guilds’ long-time foes, after many years and great cost, the Izhen were recovered.  

It was decided that the Izhen would be most powerful if they could be controlled by a single individual.  The person with the greatest natural abilities for this job was Samron’s granddaughter, Drawnwyn, who had demonstrated from birth a tremendous affinity with each of the Six Energies.  She also had a resistance to the effects that the Energies could have on an individual, which could cripple their physical (and Energetic) form.  

The next step was to give Drawnwyn the Izhen in a form that would allow her to use them most effectively.  It was decided that a crown would be the best way to provide her access to the seven Eyes.  The hope was that Drawnwyn would defeat her grandfather and become the ruler to replace him, wearing the crown of power that had defeated the despot.  This is when the cabal recruited Elem Nemma for the task of making the Crown.  

Elem Nemma realized early on that the Crown was far from ornamental: it had to withstand great mundane as well as Energetic assaults.  For this reason she chose to make the base from a rare material called “ruttar,” which is formed when an intensely vibrant flamen* descends from the sky and touches the earth and stone of the world.  Ruttar’s rich grey sheen makes the circlet of the crown seem visible, yet almost without discernible form.  Running through the grey base of this material are faint streaks of other, darker colors — hues of black, deep blues, and even thin threads of gold, red, and orange.  Six bands rise up from the base to form a center piece several inches above.  Nemma set an Eye on each of these six bands, immediately above the base, with each Eye placed on the opposite side from the Eye of its opposing Energy.  For example, the Eye of Koldep, aligned with Mental Energy,  is on the opposite side of the crown from the Eye of Amdrath, aligned with Emotion Energy.  Finally, at the top of the crown, Nemma placed the seventh Eye, the Eye of Dey, which has the ability to link the Energies of each Eye so that they all act as one.

In the caverns within the Nashem Mountains just north of Naldrin City, on the month and day of Tasz 44, SP~3,722 the cabal presented the Crown to Drawnwyn.  The results are well known in the history of Tamarra: the Eyes of Drawnwyn, as they were then called, were the decisive factor in the final defeat of the Emperor Samron in SP~3,725.  Even today, the day of Tasz 44 is celebrated across the Tamarran Continent as the day of the defeat of Samron, and of tyranny.

*See “Imbelnhi’s Bestiary” for more information on this fascinating creature.