Excerpt from ‘One Thousand Years Since the Dark Age’ by Owix Thoraquorix, High Acamedie of Octavia, Year 1086, Ulf-Octavian Era

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First we were gnomes, and we were happy. Then came the darkness. For countless generations the land was blanketed in the shadow of evil, and all good things hid in their holes. Danger can be a powerful force of creation. The creatures of this world were twisted and forged by necessity into new shapes. These shapes were given their own names, human, elf, goblin. Stranger shapes were given stranger names. Record of this Dark Era is all but gone.

 

There is one thing we can agree on. The dark age had an end. There came a time when a Great Hero would stand up against the forces of evil. He walked over all the lands and through the seas and the people of the world began to follow in His wake in a great procession of hope, building sanctuaries, temples, castles, and cities, and repairing the fabric of all that is good. The spirit of the people was renewed, and they hammered the darkness back to the edges of the world. The rest, dear reader, is history. This text is is one scholar’s humble attempt to encapsulate the definitive and absolute record of that history.

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A Critique of One Thousand Years by Ronavina Cywl , Year 1099 U-O, shortly before aerial dejection from Octavia

 

“‘One Thousand Years’ has become the de facto historical record for Ulfan scholars to cite and for high-born Octavian school-children to dread, but there are numerous serious reasons to doubt the validity of Thilquixius research. My esteemed colleague begins his weighty tome with the declaration that we were once gnomes, and became humans through the perils of the Dark Age. Numerous sources hold historical records directly contradicting this claim. In this very city, the royal families are near-unanimous in their assertion that the Hanging City is as old as time itself, and say that Octavia was the rival the Empire of Old Xith, much before the Dark Age. As we all know, gnomes are terrified of heights, so how could the city have built if all there were, were gnomes?

 

Any minor inquiry into the songs of the elves recorded in our libraries demonstrates that they too claim to predate the Dark Age. And you will not find a single goblin who will admit to having any association with gnomes in the slightest. Though Thilquixius proudly displays his unsoiled feet at the high table, if he had possessed the fortitude to have ever once stepped on the ground in his long life, he might learn that even the gnomes deny this telling. The hovel-mother of the Meekus clan personally told me that gnomes fought alongside warrior-monks to end the Dark Age, which brings me to my second contention.

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In this grand year ninety-nine in the most beloved alliance between Ulfrefugees of Ulf and the city of Octavia and all its previous inhabitants, many wise scholars have taken to the generous view that the identity of the Great Hero is completely unknown and utterly lost to time, which seems to be the most democratic solution considering the division of perspectives on the matter. However, Thilquixius does not seem to be phased by this tenuous agreement. Though he does not say it outright, the doggedly shoehorned references to building and repairing and altogether unnecessary adulation of hammers clearly intimates that the Great Hero is the First Incarnation of Ulf, God of Creation. It is ubiquitously popular among contemporary Ulfan clerics to echo this version of history, even though no artifactual evidence has ever been uncovered to indicate that this is the case.

 

Again, the songs of the elves disagree with my colleague. These songs speak at length of a human warrior-monk of incredible power, who, I might add, is only referred ever to as ‘They’. This is in accordance with tales told by those many disparate followers of the Way of Buespar. Wretched monks and vagabonds the Buespari may be, but it is undeniable that their telling is the most congruent explanation for the times preceding the War of Sun and Wind. Even Ulfan scriptures quietly admit that the Great Hero was retroactively purported to be Ulf for the purpose of justifying the so-called Third Ulfan Migration, though it did little to prevent the Schism of the Comet. Sadly, too many esteemed scholars bask in the warmth of UlfGlory of Ulf reincarnate to feel the chill of doubt. But far from the Octavian Valley, you will find that many more recall the tale of the Seven Swords of the Great Hero than have ever heard the name of UlfFather or the clanking of His Hammer.

 

Therefore, I call upon Owix Thilquixius to revise his popular story in the spirit of scholastic accuracy and truth. Unfortunately, due to the concerning nature of Owix’s increasingly frequent naps at the High Table, coupled with his growing penchant to hum loudly when confronted with any colleague to whom he does not deem worthy of an audience, I must admit that my hopes are slim. Perhaps it is time for renewed leadership at our beloved Octavian Acadamie.”