Brian Kane

Bardic Tales of Ayalos:

The Bard set up a display for Shadow puppets. He had assistants doing the puppetry. "I am Connor and I have since the rising of the Ard Ri Brian have served as the court bard. I have slightly irregular qualifications for most of the Bards but the King saw to it the College of the Bards certified me. As he said I could do something no other Bard could do. Tell part of his story with my own eyes. While Ayalos has had high kings in times of need, and high kings called to the role by force of will and power they started with more traditional stories. Brian's story in Ayalos starts with him being enslaved. I know that story because I was there. In the days before when we were fighting each other under the yolk of the false god many corrupt practices had come to Ayalos. One of those was slavery. My family sold me because the crops were meager and I was being marched off to the mines."

The shadow of a trail of child slave with Monsterous men dragging them along and a tall youth standing alone.

"He spoke a strange speech. None understood it who were there. I've heard him speak it to the queen who understands it. Though it sounds different coming from her. The guards captured him. He ran, he struggled, and to be honest he would have done better then any of us if we ran. He was however just a boy then. And these soldiers were very fit and capable. But since he made them run they beat him hard. He was beaten often he was willful. The toughness of the man was in him though he was a boy who wasn't yet a man of Iron."

The shadow puppets are beating the shadow puppet of Brian down.

"Our words were alien to him. But he seemed to pay attention whenever anyone spoke. He began to put our words togther in his mind. But he didn't right away. And he didn't tell anyone for some time later still."

"He also paid attention to script and writing. None of us could read. Something that was an anathema to him when he came to understand it was a way of the world. I was the first person he spoke to. His speech was broken but he asked me about the signs in the mine. He asked me if I knew what they meant. He figured the answers out in time of course."

"He learned to comply but he was put on punishment detail running the well. The false god was still worshiped then. Ironically the false got was another Warrior of great physical strength. During a time of crisis he was king of a great empire and had almost united all the people of Ayalos. He was asked to pray and prostate himself. He refused and they beat him and put him on the wheel."

"The next time Brian spoke was when he convinced everyone we could redistribute out food and resources and work better then the overseer managing us wanted us to. We did as he said and it worked. But his mind had other designs."

The shadow puppets show a mine rebellion.

"One of the guards came up to me. He said 'Can he understand our speech?' I was a fearful boy then. I nodded. 'Can he read our script?' I said ' I don't know but I think so sir."

The Shadow puppets show a boy standing before the table.

"One of these is poison, one is water, and one is alcohol.' the Guard said. "Drink the water and live."

The puppet of Brian grabs a bottle.

"The guard worked for Old King. The Ri of the Region.He was testing Brian. Years later he told me the trick. One bottle was Poison. A kind that was used to clean our tools. One was water but it said -spoiled water- and the third said water of life. He later told me in the world where he came from Booze was often called the water of life. He drank it. The guard stared at the mine forman and ordered Brian to be prepared. He cursed at the foreman of the mine. 'The boy has an education, and he learned to read our script in your service. He isn't some sort of chattel."

"And he took Brian from the camp that very night. A week later all the staff was sacked. We were still slaves till I saw Brian again. But that is another story."

So the story goes It was heard from a cowheard who heard it from a goatheard who was there.

Was it true? Who knows. Does the story have truth? Most assuredly.

The first real battle of Brian's war with the Usurper God game in the heat lands of the Tuath of the man who had fostered him. A powerful Lord who went by the name of Old Kaine. He served as a marcher lord to another great Lord who claimed the title and Honor of King of Drayega. Though it was not a kingdom as they were known in the old days. It was said to have been built from the remains of a mighty Dragon slew long ago.

When Brian saved the daughter of the styled King he set himself on the course of the war. And he swore his oath as High King of all Ayalos to make that war a reality. And his wife the Phantom Queen claimed him as her husband. But they did not consummate their union when the oath was given. It was consummated by The Morrigan taking the form of a wild red headed maiden plaguing the land with goat and cow thievery. Young Kane did not send men to seek out this thief. But Brian knowing his queen knew it was her hand. He went out to meet her in the fields. She knew he would come and she asserted her rights over the Young King. As was her right to do.

"Other then to draw me out of the Palace. Which was to allow for trouble to blossom." Brian said upon a field of poppies with his bride.
"And trouble that might have killed you. You have forced me to keep you from oath breaking yet again my dear boy Brian." She said with a poetic tone.
Brian laughed. "Yes....but why steal the cows?"

She smiled at him. "There are many reasons one would steal the cows..." And he touched his finger to her lips. There was a bestial gleam in her eyes as he did so. "I didn't ask for a lesson....I asked for why you stole the cows."

The fire and fury in her eyes went soft for a moment. "You need the fire in your blood. Stealing to assert your power. Demanding others rise up and do what is right. Tasting that which you earned. And feeling pride in showing other's failure to do their duty."

He nodded to her at that. "Such is the way for my Lady Goddess wife. Such if the way of a divine queen."

She stared at him for a long while. "You are not like the others. You are not even like my dear Setanta who refused me so very long ago. You are similar to him but you are a young Mystery."

The young King arched an eyebrow and the lady rose up and dressed herself.

"Best get dressed. You have a castle to storm. The princess is doing her part. Now go steal back your cow Brian Fostern of Old Kane."

"The laws of Ayalos are based on many things. Edicts, treaties, compacts, contracts, and traditions." The Druid says to Brian. He rolls his eyes at him. "And you to convince my fellows that we should assist you in your scheme you need to understand out legal principles. " Brian rolled his eyes. "A Throne is made to be filled, and sitting on a throne doesn't fill it." The Druid nodded. "And what do you Brian: Fratricide, Regicide, and Decide believe that means?" The Druid pulls its beard in ponderance.

"First the simple thing. Some one has to be in charge of any complex group. More then 3. It is the nature of things. 'A throne is meant to be filled.' But more importantly an unfilled Throne will lead to people seeking to fill the throne." The druid nods "Continue." Brian clears his throat. " But sitting on a throne doesn't fill it. Rank and status does not mean you are king. You actions and your honor make you a king. So when a king...even if he is a king of just three... is flawed in his mind and body he ceases to fill and the throne is emptied and conflict is inevitable." Brian chuckles a little bit. "The son fights his father when he feels he can fill and his father cannot, the daughter fights their mother for the same thing. And there in we have another principle. A King needs a queen, and the king is married to his queen and his land." The druid nods for a moment. "I am impressed. Did the Witch teach you?" Brian looks at him shocked for a moment and the Druid smirks. "By nature she is a Bard. And by nature we mock our Bardic cousins. Because a Throne is made to be filled. And we fight them for the throne of Wisdom." Brian nods to all of this. The Druid then speaks up.

"And how should I tell my brother's they should support your cause. As King you would have superintendency over us all." Brian smiles. "If I can apply an Aphorism of my own: 'He knows your ways as if he is born to them." The Druid smiles at him. "Well....it seems you might have the Wisdom to be a king after-all my boy."

Between the Seconds:

As the Bright light consumed him Brian thought about the last two times. Both on moons of Ayalos.

He remembered the cold sensation, being exposed to the atmosphere. He remembered the sense of his skin starting to Numb. The flame inside him growing Dim. He remembers his Lady wife, newly his lady wife then, calling to him with her voice.

His dying there would have made him an oathbreaker and her as well. She fanned the flames enough he was able to get up. She wasn't washing his armor that day. He made it free from that moon half then. The Authority of High King was his. The Duty was his then. But not that anyone would know it yet at the time.

The other moon was poison. His nemesis the God King had sent an assassin to him. Brian thought it was best to keep her close so he could have an eye on his enemies actions. She slipped the poison into his drink. But the magic of the place kept the poison from killing him.....

It didn't take away the pain. It didn't take away the Visions. It hurt so bad. I remember wanting to die. But my enemy came to me then. He thought he was powerful enough he could buy me off. He only bought me off because I was trouble for him then. It allowed me to get close enough to get the power I needed to beat him.

In Comparisson being stabbed and bleeding feels nicer. Less suffering.

He wonders if this is the day his Lady Wife washes his armor.

But if he makes it out of this he has to get word back to the others.

He needs to get to Amber to see if they will finally give him some information.

It is nice to take a brief rest.

This tale is one before Brian went to the Courts of Amber? What's that? The High King Brian Kane of the blood of Kolvir?

It's the truth of it but let us be honest. Brian slew the God-King did he not? He survived the test of the four moons and gained access to their secret treasures. His being of the blood of Kolvir is not a surprising thing when you think of that. I didn't know that when father brought Brian to our court.He was a rough and ready slave boy. He was raised to be the house guard for me and my brother. He was to be the Dog to the family of the Marcher Lords of Kane.

He came home to me before he went off on his Journey to Kolvir. When he returned and married The Dread Phantom Queen beyond just the handfasting he came to visit me and see his nephew. He was not a brother of blood to me, but I knew him since he was a boy and my father raised him like he was my brother of blood. Brian told me many things. I was a Ri myself and I knew things that the common folk didn't know. But fewer knew of things like KOLVIR and REBMA. Merchants heard such things in half whispered fish stories. The Druids spoke of such things in secret, and only the rarest of Druids knew any such a thing.

Brian and his Ancient and Terrible wife knew of such things. His wife had a fearsome energy. She would put the cold feeling of walking on a man's grave when she was alone in the presence of others. But Brian calmed that in her. I feared for him being married to her but she also healed something in him. "Love" my father would tell me "Can be both a honey and a poison."

Before Brian went to Kolvir he sat with me.

"What you tell me of Amber, do you know it to be True?" I asked him and he shook his head. "I don't but I need to know it. That mote of knowledge is growing inside me. That incompleteness and that grievance will eventually lead me to an ill end." It was fitting of course that his wife told it to him. But she is the one who drives Warriors, Heroes, and Kings to their ultimate end. She doesn't do it with kindness. And the harshness isn't always pain.

"You remember the first time father took you to the court of Draeyga as a young man?" I said to him. He thought long and hard nodding eventually. He played coy like that when I asked him questions. "Father answered all your questions. He saw to it the king didn't take your head. Did you follow any of the rules he taught you the second time you went?" I said with a smirk on my face.

"No." He laughed and ran his hand through the Mohawk in his hair. He wore that thing with bizarre pride. He told me I didn't understand why it was important. He since told me and I still don't understand. "If Kolvir is what you say of it then it is the Empire of All Empires. The first beat they all follow?" He nods a bit at that. "You will need some one to help you get by."

He shook his head. "I don't intend to stay there."

I looked at him sternly. "If what you say is so then you are of Kolvir. Just as events you didn't intend lead you to become my brother.....events you don't intend might lead you to stay there."

He had a sad look on his face. "This is different." He would say things like that when he knew I was right. When he knew it wasn't different at all. When he talked to me he was still that young boy I was so fond of.

"Father always used to say everything is a chain. You just needed to know how it linked together." He nodded at that. "At least for people of Duty. Because we are connected to our Tuath."

He then relaxed a bit. "If you tell me I don't need to go. If you tell me these people are all the Tuath I need to be concerned with...." I didn't let him finish. I gave him a smack to the face.

"Don't dishonor our father. He loved you. He loved you more than our brother. And had he lived to see what he became he would accept what you had to do to him. But he knew your people were out there. You thought they were on Earth. It seems you have to go farther to find them."

He was silent and quiet for a bit. " They didn't want me....if what they say is true....."

I pointed my finger at him. "This is the land of Ayalos in the mist. As you say our past is lost here. You find all sorts of secret meanings in this land and in its people. All sorts of things here are hidden knowledge for you our destined King. You don't believe that. Don't be foolish and wear that wound in front of people who don't love you."

He gave me a big hug.

"Annie also says we need a son. She tells me if you are going to knit Ayalos under one banner you will need a Son to sit on the Raven Throne you build."

I laugh at him. "Sounds like she wants you to put any of this foolishness out of your mind before you have Children. As a mother I can tell you putting foolishness out of your Husband's mind is wise. It focuses him on the business of his children."

She was a dark mother, drenched in blood. A dark mother whose blood fed the land. Perhaps this bit of mothering was true to her.

"Perhaps you are right. Children have never worked out for her. So the stories go."

He didn't believe I was right....but he liked pretending.

"You had two father's. Both men were warriors and both lead men into battle. Both served warriors and masters greater.Maybe your father if that is how your blood goes there is a greater version of those two men? As above so bellow?" He nods at that "Maybe you are right of course."

He went to play with his Nephew. The boy was now of the age where Fosterage was to be considered. Fostering my son and apprenticing him to another leading man of Ayalos would forge to that person an alliance with Brian. But he was simply avuncular. Here in his first home on Ayalos he could be such a man. No worries of Kings, or Earths, or Lost Families, nor even the lands under the shadow of Mount Kolvir.

So it was the God-King of Ayalos sat inside the Great Machine of Ayalos.

His body was a marvel but it carried the weight of age. Outside the edge of the machine, he would rapidly expire. His strength and power would burn away.

In the holy of holies of his temple, the Templars bring a man into the heart of his faith.

He was a confirmed Atheist. He didn't care for the old faith or any of the superstitions of the peoples of Ayalos. But he saw the decline of Ayalos. He had to become a god to forge them into -something- that could survive.

"He is a pawn of the witch queen." The God King muttered to himself. The truth of things however was another matter entirely. Brian was in the process of unlocking the machine of the Second Moon. He had embedded some one with Brian's party. Time would come for him to pull the trigger on the Assasin. But that time wasn't yet.

The man sitting in the holy of holy was a soldier, an old one. He was of the Caithan's Tuath. Under the Over-R of the Draygeans.

The princess wasn't even anything....He had sent the dark Wizard to kill her parents because he was told one of their children would be the key to his downfall....Prophets setting up the events they warn of.

No matter. He had business to discuss.

In the Holy of Holies the Old man see's the manifestation of the Great Warrior. The slayer of great beasts that restored the land.

"Why have you come here?" The psychic resonance echoed with sound.

The old man looked at him for a moment. There was a slight sadness.

"Its a pity you aren't a God. Its a pitty that your men thought they could beat knowledge out of me. Try to harm the ones I love. They did eventually come to see reason. Bribing a man is a civil thing. I thought maybe it would have been the Hierophant who came here to tell me....but it was you." He is silent for a bit. "You don't trust them? DO you."

The Pressence was caught aback. "You have a service to provide to your god and your church. And you will will be richly rewarded." The old man seems to nod at that.

"The boy. You think you can assassinate him. If you try that it will need to be a woman. He was abandoned. Spoke of some strange land no one knew any thing of. The Master was a father figure for him but he didn't have a wife. The daughter was a strong female influence on the boy. I take it however he ended up lost in our lands women were at the heart of it."

The Pressence booms at him. "How is it he defeated my knights so easily?" The God-King was thankful he did have a female assassin already near Brian. Most men don't think much of females so they always have a talent for a blade.

"He is gifted. If he is fighting some one who follows to the old code. Honor duels and the like...he challenges them to battle. Those sort usually command loyalty from other men. Are also the sort who have a fearsome reputation. Its why he favors decapitation as a tactic. Starve an army of its thoughts, its food, and its supplies. If someone is troubling him to much he'll go after their water. If it's an army where the subordinates have half a brain....he does really well against them. He tends to have a nose for a Sergeant who has more sense than his officer. If it's an army where the commanding officer has all the thinking well.... it's why he favors decapitation. Such forces don't think well without their head. Break that connection then drive disorder in the men. "

The old man looks over the glowing apparition.

"He will have to use whomever you have in his trust. That is the only way they will get close enough to kill him. You'll have to feed him some victories and successes." The old man says to the 'God'

The Older barbarian nods a bit.Brian is very much like he was before he became a King. Before he nearly united all of Ayalos as High King. His flesh was becoming weak though.....so he did what he had to do.

"Can he be bought?"

The old man thinks for a moment. "He's an outsider sir. But he knows our ways well. Bribing him will be tricky. He's a vain cuss however. His fixation on a certain sort of woman means he can be bribed. The truth of things sir.....he's like you once were if the good book is anything to go on. Like I once was as well. He fights and kills for men of power. He is free but he is their dog. Some men like myself have a mind to be happy as a dog. But men like that boy....men like you.....You are more then a dog. Thats probably the approach you will need to bribe him."

The old man smirks a jagged grin. "But if you bribe him.....he'll probably try to play you on a long game. He can be very patient. You will need to be mindful that just because he's a good dog who wags his tail.....he might really be a wolf."

The God-King is thoughtful with this information. The plan forms in his mind. He will have to see to it this all plays out when Brian unlocks the third moon. The bribe he has in mind might work.

"Any other weaknesses?" The presence booms.

"Yeah" The old soldier says. "He is like a dog when he thinks he has a sent of something. He hunts it. He chews on it. He paces on it. Don't let him get to much of the scent. If you do he'll likely bite you again."

The old man's eyes and ears began to bleed. He was about to scream but collapsed to the floor.

"Thank you.....your greed was very rewarding indeed." The fool thought he could hold up a God.

As he did this a White Raven hopped on the Window Sill and laughed.

"My mistress has a message. You play at being a God but you are still a man. You fail because you think with Manish ways....."

In his fury the God King kills the messenger.

He has no stomach for the old witch's prophecy.

The Heirophant enters the holy of holys and falls to his knees in the pressance of his God.

"This blasphemer defiled our Temple. I am displeased but I will hold back my rage." The truth of the matter is far more troubling. He feels his powers over the land weighing. The Great Machine is something he didn't understand. The Wizards he employed didn't either....but he knew they could turn it into what he wished. Even fueling it with the souls of Wizards was not a true challenge. But he's powers are weakening.

Each step Brian is taking is a step on his grave.

From the Library of the King and Queen of Lyonesse:
Addendum on the Lands of Ayalos hidden in the mist
By Crown Prince Tristan of Lyonesse
On the Politics of Ayalos

The lands of Ayalos are old. The additional texts in here details Ayalos of the God-King. Made King by his own name and ascended to heaven by the labor of his own hand. My work will only detail matters of Ayalos that I have seen and witnessed by my own eyes.
Ayalos under the regime of Ard-Ri Brian has taken on what I believe most likely was a system like ancient days. I cannot speculate on how close he is to this but we in Lyonesse are more familiar with other Shadows. Our paths in shadow skirt near the mists that cut across the edge in Shadow that make Ayalos itself.
Ayalos is dominated by multiple social castes:
Those at the top who are the nobility and some amongst the druids are the sóernemed: Though in the age of king Brian many members of the Druids and Nobility hold positions in the secondary social caste.
Dóernemed: This is the class of the bureaucrats, the specialists, the merchants, and the experts. They are the connective tissue of the society that King Brian is making a effort to build as the broader structure to stabilize Ayalos.
The Freemen: Landed men who are not of any particular standing.
The Labors. People who do not have land, do not have skills or talents of note……
Beyond this there are the Fiann: the Warrior Caste. Which people of the three landed classes are able to have their sons entering into ( prior to inheritance or marriage). This is not to say Laborers are unwelcome in these camps but they have to prove their worth.
However as he is building a professional state and professional society King Brian has been making efforts to bolster them with a professional military. This innovation allows for a different sort of service and military skill. The Fiann work as a Militia and Policing force….this is not to say they aren’t capable warriors but they aren’t a formal army. This is an innovation King Brian learned in his wars against the God King and put to application.
Within the Professional Caste the Druids and the Merchants tend to often clash with each other. In ways that are to be expected.
Amongst the Nobility there are many classes of Ri (which translates to Lord or King in their speech). Lords of the Land rule over a specific area. Some are lords of Hills and some are lords of Valleys. Clan chiefs are lords and subordinate groups within a clan (called Septs) have their own lords as well.
As Ard-Ri (the High Lord) King Brian has made an effort to balance and mitigate old rivalries. The old era did a great deal of damage to the old systems. The reassertion of old privileges and powers likely has bought him some quite time. Lords scheme when left idle…..often they leave themselves idle by choice (which encourages other scheming)…..is an expression many of the guests I met in the Merchant city expressed to me.
There are 4 sacred cities. The rulers of those cities are over-ri of many subordinates. And they all currently are supportive of Brian’s kingship. He is bringing to them prosperity so no one wants to sacrifice the cow yet.