Hero Wars
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The Battle of the VergeBy Greg StaffordHere are the facts that everyone knows about the Battle of the Verge. In fact, this is the subject of Greg Stafford's unfinished novel. Loko Moko was the Evil Wind who wounded Orlanth then caught his breath in a jar. The god disappeared. The Loko Moko occupied the God World and killed everyone who opened a way to Orlanth's Realm. For years he also slaughtered everyone who tried to initiate new men into Orlanth, so that after a generation no one would be worshipping the old god. Loko Moko was so powerful that he then killed all proven heroes and drove everyone else to hide. Vargast Redhand was the hero who broke this. He was stung by a woman's words and he determined to break the curse. He went to a secret place in the verge, at the edge of the Praxian wastes where men and women gathered, and they made the Clan of the Verge. Then Chief Vargast summoned evil to him, challenging Loko Moko and his terrible allies to come and face him there. Word went out and out of hiding came many warriors and holy folks to help Orlanth, or die trying. At the same time he set up the initiatory camp where the ancient rites exposed the boys to I Fought We Won. The event was nearly destroyed when Loko Moko appeared, but a then unknown stranger drove the evil one off and the boys became men. The curse was broken for future generations, and these young men and their initiators began to free Orlanth again. Loko Moko was enraged and summoned an army and his brother in evil, named Palangio. They had been enlightened together at the Battle of Night and Day and both were devoted to the ways of Nysalor. Chief Vargast and his band of great defenders first survived a hundred attacks by the ruthless army who were so slaughtered that the few survivors revolted rather than follow orders again. So then Loko Moko fell upon Vargast and his survivors, but Vargast astonished everyone because Loko Moko had a weakness, and Vargast used it like Death upon the evil wind. With a shower of burning cinders, the evil wind blew out. Then Palangio waded into the fight against Vargast, who now stood alone. He wounded the demigod, but he was just human and had already slain a greater demigod than this. Palangio clove Vargast through the body, then dismembered the corpse and burned down all the bodies in the camp. Hundreds of Dara Happans died there, and they are now all slaves in the Orlanthi Otherworld to Vargast and his men. NotesLoko MokoLoko Moko is one of the popular names for Lokamayadon, the traitorous Orlanthi war lord of the early Gbaji Wars.Battle SiteThe site of the battle is located on a height about ten miles east of Old Temple, on the south edge of Dundealos Vale.Vargast Redhand"Vargast Varmathsson, is it? I have heard of a raider in the Spinelands called Vargast Redhand, who was an enemy of the Liornvuli, but especially hated the Stravuli. He wore, they said, the marks of the Alynx, of the lop-ear, and of the four-fork. Would it be possible that such a man might be in these parts?""Yes, and he is sitting in front of you." "Then I am doubly honored to be here," said Grenmon. "I thought I was doing the duty of Orlanth, but I find myself side by side with another champion. Your fame is great, and my teachers said you seemed impossible to find in the Spinelands. They thought you'd burn down every city where Lokamayadon was worshipped." "I tried," said Vargast. "But finally they found a priestess who hated me enough. She was called Edikopa, and she finally sang an enchantment which made the land scream out in pain wherever I stood upon it. I stayed on horse back and chariot for over a year, until a poison arrow made me lie down. Since then I have been here." "Only such could have laid a great man low," said Grenmon. -- Excerpt from Harmast's Saga, by Greg Stafford |
