Lost Lore, The Long Night Part II.
Excerpt from the diaries of Prince Doran Nymeros Martell:
The consort of the Amethyst Empress returned to the imperial palace, he killed the traitors and turned the loyal ones into what we now know as White Walkers or the Others.
What happened next is a mystery, in no book did it say how these beings came to Westeros or how the doom of the Greatest Empire of all times was.
The war between gods is also full of mystery, we only know about it because several legendary heroes of that age were demigods or descendants of gods who were still in contact with their divine relatives.
The only thing we know for sure about that divine war is that its end marked the dusk of the Dawn pantheon, after the war none of those gods walked among mortals again. Legends say that the God of Mortals, the legendary first emperor of the Dawn Empire, sealed the gates of the Celestial realm, preventing the gods from coming to the mortal world and causing more harm. They say that the only divine beings who were left in the mortal plane were some lesser gods and some spirits (somewhat similar to nymphs, fairies and nereids).
Of what happened in Essos or in the Celestial plane the First Men knew little but the Long Night in Westeros is well documented.
First I will talk about what Westeros was like just before the catastrophe.
Contrary to what many historians believe the continent was not divided into seven kingdoms, back then there were hundreds of kingdoms whose borders changed with each passing year.
Many kings and queens were exceptionally powerful demigods or mages.
The Mountain Kingdom was ruled by Robb Royce, the continent's best Rune Master. Robb was a human without divine ancestry and yet he could compete in equal terms with the many demigods that inhabited the continent thanks to his ingenuity and his creations. He created weapons and armor capable of neutralizing or turning against them the divine powers of many demigods, one of his most famous creations is the Silver Shield, a shield capable of blocking and reflecting any spell.
The Rock kingdom was ruled by Lann Lannister, a descendant of a spirit and a powerful skinchanger. Lann could take the form of a gigantic golden lion, but he preferred smaller, more elusive animals. The cunning mage was known to infiltrate enemy camps and steal and sabotage the strategies of his enemies. He too was a silvertongue, it is said that he even sold water to a mermaid once. His wit and his glibness managed to make Casterly's heiress, with whom he married, fall in love with him.
The kingdom of Lonely Island was ruled by Frank Beastborn or Frank the Beast, the most powerful skinchanger in history. Frank was an introverted man who preferred solitude to company, rarely interacting with other men or women, he didn't even rule his own kingdom; It was his wife who ran the day-to-day running of the kingdom. His fame stems from his contributions during the Long Night, in particular the times he transformed into magical beasts to fight the dead.
The realm of the Never Ending Storm was ruled by Durran Stormbreaker, a descendant of the Sky God and husband of the Storm Goddess Elenei. Durran was the grandson of the Sky God, born to a humble weaver and a mighty warrior.
His parents died when he was still very young and his grandfather sent some spirits from the Celestial realm to raise him, he had a rich education and became a powerful warrior, a wise man, and a talented artist. As a child he saw the Goddess Elenei walking on a beach near his home and fell in love with her at first sight, since then he did everything possible to become a man worthy of her.
She noticed his efforts and fell in love with the brave warrior that faced a leviathan to retrieve her favorite bracelet. Her parents were never in favor of the marriage and tried to get rid of Durran many times.
They sent monsters and (un)natural catastrophes, yet nothing could kill the young king. Durran ended up challenging his in-laws saying that if he manages to build a house that not even all their might can destroy, they will accept their marriage and leave them alone, they accepted thinking that no mortal could achieve such a feat (the only mortals who had the power of building constructions capable of contain the power of a god were the descendants of Father God and the Mother Goddess).
Durran built dozens of castles and fortresses but none of them could withstand the power of the gods. After several years the king began to lose hope, then he met a boy about ten years old with gray eyes mixed with silver. The boy, moved by the story of the star crossed lovers, decided to help him. Durran had no confidence in the boy´s skill but since he had nothing to lose he agreed to let the boy show him the blueprints he made.
The round fortress was not especially beautiful but it seemed very resistant and Durran agreed to build it, after four years the fortress was finished and the moment of truth came. The God of the Sea and the Goddess of the Wind tried to destroy the fortress again and again without success. And so Durran won the challenge, the lovers were reunited at last after several decades.
The boy disappeared the day before the fortress was finished, Durran sent many soldiers in search of him because the boy left without receiving his reward but no one found him. It would not be for several years that Durran would meet the mysterious boy again.
The Green Kingdom was ruled by Garth Greenhand, son of a novii prince and the Goddess of Nature.
The novii prince was one of the novii who accompanied Prince Zuko to his home and fell in love with the warm and splendid empire. He also fell in love with the Goddess of Nature with whom he had an affair and from that affair Garth was born.
When the First Men were exiled, it was Garth who told them about the Last Land, a land to which he had already traveled and where they could settle to start anew. He inherited from his mother the gift of nature, he could turn dry deserts into fertile green fields and much more.
There were many other kingdoms but the ones I mentioned were the most important in the events to come.
The Targaryens claim to have been the first rulers of the entire continent but they are wrong. In the Age of Heroes there were hundreds of kingdoms but all the kings and queens answer to one High King, the supreme ruler of the continent. Lysander the Blessed was the High King of the First Men.
Lysander was the son of a minor god and a woman descended from the children of the Forest, which is why his physical appearance was very remarkable. He had gray eyes and forest green hair, his complexion was the same white as the trunk of a weirwood tree. The king was not very tall, barely reaching 160cm and his appearance was very youthful, even at a hundred years old he did not appear more than fifteen. Lysander was immensely beautiful, many fell in love with him at first sight, he was also charismatic, intelligent and just.
He was the perfect king, adored and respected by all his subjects.
The policy of the High King was very permissive, the vassal kings could do whatever they wanted in their kingdoms as long as they did not break his laws, laws that did not prevent the vassal kings from fighting each other to increase their territories.
Approximately four millennia after settling in Westeros, a winter came accompanied by dark creatures. Those demons came from the North of the continent, from the lands of Always Winter.
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NOTE: I was going to finish the Long Night in this chapter but in the end the chapter was too long and it's late. I work tomorrow so I have to go to bed soon. Sorry, Long Night will have another chapter.
NOTE Part II: The third chap of the Long Night is gonna be the longest chapter of this story, about 4K words. Also is gonna be the last one of the Lost Lore saga.
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