Once upon a time, there were five brothers living in a small village at the foot of Mount Shinjow, the ancient home of the gods. When the great Empire of Shellantyr, then in its infancy, sent its armies to conquer Mount Shinjow and enslave the gods and their people, the boys’s mother, the warrior queen Tyranna, led the gods’ armies into battle, defeating the Shellantyr and thereby delivering the first check to the nascent empire’s rapacious expansion.
In victory, Tyranna came to the attention of mighty Jove, All-Father of the gods. Beautiful, intelligent, and ambitious, Tyranna seduced Jove and soon became pregnant once again. In this, the All-Father was well pleased. He offered to make Tyranna herself a goddess if she would but join him permanently on Mount Shinjow. This she wanted above all else, but Tyranna knew that Jove would rescind his offer and kill her if he ever learned of the existence of her husband and her already-living sons. To hide them, Tyranna lay with her king one last time and then slew him in his sleep. Her sons she sold into slavery, sending them into the gladiator pits of mighty Shellantyr City, far to the south. Then Tyranna ascended, becoming the dread goddess of War, Conquest, and Seduction. There she remains to this day.
The five boys grew strong and proud, for they came from the stock of the mightiest warrior queen in history. Together, they fought in the arenas Shellantyr City and triumphed, gaining fame and a following amongst their fellow gladiators. Eventually, their fame and prowess threatened the very Emperor himself, who ordered them to fight one another to the death in one last great battle, with the winner to claim freedom and Imperial Citizenship. But rather than fight, the boys made a pact the night before the last battle was to take place: they would stand together. They vowed each to defend the others against all enemies and never again bend the knee to another in bondage or servitude.
That night, the Five led the Great Slave Revolt. They killed their guards and assaulted the palace, laying waste to all in their path. Eventually the brothers and their followers escaped Shellantry City and made their way north, towards the foothills and the Great Forest. There they lived for many years, taking elven brides and learning the ways of war and of fey magic. Many were their adventures, and in time, their deeds became legend. Their own men now, the brothers lived by their oaths and stood together. Never would they bow or pay homage to another.
Jak ,the eldest, married the elven princess Arisa, a Lifespeaker, and they moved south to where the fertile Southern Plain meets the waters of the Bright Bay. Here they founded the city of Jakara, the greatest of the Five Free Cities, and Storm Watch, the citadel that watches over the Straits of Olin.
Alin, the Hunter, married Terra, a Druid. Of the five, they stayed closest to the Forest, settling amid the farmlands of the Fork of the Green River. There they founded the city of Alintere and pledged its people to watch the borderlands for any sign of renewed Shellantyr aggression.
Willem, the Mage, married Kara, a Magician. Together they followed the Eastern Star into the Endless Ocean, where they found Moonharrow Island and founded the city of that same name. Ever did they look to the stars for advice and counsel.
Fredrick, the Scholar, was the youngest, and closest to Willem. He married Willem’s wife’s sister, named Elaina, a minor Sorceress. Fredrick and Elaina traveled in company with Willem and Kara east along the Green River to the sea, where Fredrick and his bride stopped, founding River’s End. But they visited Willem and Kara often, and their people became the Cities’ first Free Traders.
This left only the fifth brother, Lucan, called the Killer, last of the brothers to leave the elven cities of the Great Forest, and by far the deadliest. Ever the black sheep, Lucan married Tamanee, an elf witch of dusky skin who was rumored to be a powerful Necromancer. Conscious of his brothers’ disapproval, Lucan and Tamanee moved north and west, beyond the Great Forest and far from the other four settlements. They and their followers passed through the mountains and their many perils until at last they came to a rocky bay west of the great dwarven stronghold of Mundan’s Gorge. Here, on an island in a great river estuary, they founded the fortress city of Caer Lucan and the great tower that would with time become the Arcanium.
When all of this was done, Tyranna, the boys’ long lost mother, was pleased. She laid upon her lost sons and their people a blessing—and a curse. So long as the Five stand together and keep their oathes, they need fear nothing. But if rivalry, betrayal, or neglect ever comes between them, then Tyranna herself will smite all five, razing the Free Cities and giving dominion of the World at last to the Empire of the Shellantyr.
So it is written. So shall it be.
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