He left home and enemies after being betrayed by his wife and brother. His army, ever loyal to him and having as little to lose as he in the ravaged land, set off to follow the Great River (the Janubian) inland, eventually finding employ by the Sweet Sea merchants to combat the savage Baloris barbarians. Settling that, Syranthir and his army set out eastwards, to lands fairly unknown to civilized peoples.
Around 729, Syranthir met the people of Lake Oronin, who guided him down the Oronin River to the place where Dolebury, later the Carmanian capital, was established.
The Carmanians established a feudal society upon the "pauper farmers" who they encountered, and pressed conquests into the rich river valleys. They were militarily feudal in nature, favoring an armed nobility, superbly trained and equipped, to a rabble of foot soldiers. They also introduced a new type of farming into the land, which increased the yield of every field it was used upon. Finally, they brought the Third Eye Blue cult of metal-smiths to Peloria. These innovations, and a brute band of gods to maintain their power, established the Carmanians early, and greatly aided their growth.
They eventually helped the Empire of the Wyrms Friends dispose of the decadent Dara Happan Empire, and led nations aiding in the disposal of humans and dragonewts of Dragon Pass many years later.
By the time of the war with the Lunar army, the Carmanian Empire had changed little in internal structure, despite its conquest of large territories and populous cities. The metal-smithing had spread across all of Peloria, and the old agricultural methods were known to the enemy. The old kingdom could not respond to the changes forced by the Lunar Empire, and collapsed under pressure.
At that time, Rinliddi was broken into small, mistrusting duchies, each ruled by established dynasties, and each working for their own petty ends. To the west the Carmanian Empire manipulated the border duchies, while to the east the increasingly hostile horse-barbarians were regularly raiding the country in growing numbers.
Little is actually known of the political motives for the Seven Mothers. Lunar legend gives them only the highest praise and moral righteousness. Other hints indicate that political expediency and a simple lust for more power motivated at least two of the conspirators. Whatever their motivation, their results were permanent and inspired.
Four days before the birth of the Goddess, a horse tribe shaman, who was probably in the conspiracy as well, ambushed and wounded the Carmanian wargod (Humakt) during a ceremony in Spol while an enchanted hunt had drawn off most of the regional nobility. The birth was attended by three miraculous signs: the Young Elementals appearing to promise homage, the Song of the Animals, and the Spider's Protection. Shortly afterwards the Spol noblemen who managed to return from the hunt began a search for the infant Goddess which resulted in their deaths.
In 0/6 (1226) the army of the Goddess drove off neighboring invaders at the Battle of Eleiu Hararn, established her control, and expanded her territory. In response to harassment and plain desire for additional territory, the Goddess began encroaching upon the neighboring duchies who did not join her rule.
In 0/8 (1228), while raiding the territory of Duke Nandelus, the Lunar army was confronted by a major nomadic invasion, possibly at the hire of said Duke. At least four tribes had sent warriors, probably numbering some 12,000 riders in all. The engagement is called the Battle of Seven Horses, because the Goddess captured that many trained steeds from their barbarian Runelord masters. One barbarian contingent was virtually annihilated by a dazzling array of magic from the Goddess, two others wasted themselves upon fixed Lunar infantry squares on a hilltop, thanks to the promptings from the Lunar mages. The last contingent, the Char-Un, were fixed into place first by spells, and then by enchantment at the spectacle of their allies' destruction.
At the end of the day, the Char-Un warriors swore loyalty to the Goddess in the most demeaning terms, virtually offering themselves in slavery to her. She accepted, and shortly afterwards the savage barbarians moved close to the Lunar lands, shielding the eastern border from the other nomads. They grew quickly in strength, thanks to Lunar money and training, and were loyal allies through the whole period of the Goddess' stay on earth.
In 0/8, after the Holy Time at the end of the year, the Goddess left the mortal realms upon adventures which carried her beyond the lands of her followers.
The Battle of Chaos was a three day affair, excluding the skirmishing between scouting cavalry as the armies closed. The first fight took part far from the city, when a tribe of Char-Un cavalry took the initiative and attacked wildly down the main road, drawing much of the Carmanian infantry to stopping it in the late afternoon. A solid infantry square held off the Char-Un, and awaited reinforcements which scared off the cavalry. But the maneuver had been a feint, and a select band of people managed to break out of the city and join their friends outside. There followed a Lunar ritual which lasted two full days, and was a dangerous attempt to find the Goddess wherever she lay.
On the second day, the alerted Carmanians drew up to await the Lunar relief forces at Horgaf's Pass. The half-crazed Char-Un gladly charged at the Carmanian knights, who impetuously met them with charge and countercharge. The heavily armored knights carried the day, but were too winded to follow up properly against fresh spear- and bowmen.
During the night, fresh troops arrived from the Carmanian armies left behind to besiege the forts. The Lunar ritual had rewarded them with several valuable allies, and a force of Yuthuppan mercenaries had arrived as well, with a mercenary force of Sable People. But the Carmanians still outnumbered the Lunar forces, who were relying heavily upon magic to withstand the attack.
On the third day the Lunar forces stood desperately on the defensive while the Inner Circle magicians finished their long search for the Goddess. The army formed into a large square atop a hill, where the exhausted magicians and Char-Un took refuge. The Carmanian commander threw his infantry against the fortified position and managed to breach it with his own leadership and magic. The Char-Un reserves fought poorly on foot, and the Carmanian knights had reached the sacred Lunar band and even slain two of the Mothers before the search was completed and the Goddess appeared.
She came riding atop the demon known as the Crimson Bat. This was a creature from Chaos itself, with unearthly powers and abilities even when constrained to the Physical Plane. Never before had a mortal exhibited such control over a Chaos creature, but the Carmanians were not heir to such knowledge. The Goddess rode among them, spreading appalling death wherever she went, and driving many mad who were unable to defend themselves against the mind-warping properties of this Chaos influence. The sad survivors of this fight wandered madly off in a group, and roamed the countryside for generations as a dangerous band of crazed and semi-chaotic marauders known as the Mad Sultanate.
The Carmanians who managed to escape went home with tales of Lunar evil, and in their way of thought saw that as Truth. Proof was easy to present, and the Carmanian Empire began girding itself and seeking allies against this force in the world which flaunted its power over abomination and evil. Nations and peoples who had previously stayed neutral in the war quickly joined the Carmanians in their fight against the Lunar Queendom. This fanatical and unthinking hatred and psychic fear of the Lunar potential would plague the Empire for all of its centuries of existence.
The friends of the Goddess who viewed the victory and the subsequent control of the Goddess over the demon were only further convinced of the truth and strength of the magic present before them, and their internal and integral Power increased with their connections to the Goddess thereby.
Afterwards this battle was called the Battle of Chaos, though this was later amended to be the First Battle of Chaos. The overwhelming Lunar victory assured them of a period of peace to rebuild their losses, and glory in the power of the Red Goddess.
The losses of the Carmanian feudal nobility in the Battle of Chaos weakened them seriously for years, forcing a reliance upon allied and mercenary troops for the fighting while the younger children and newly knighted families trained to skill and grew in numbers.
The Carmanian Empire held solid allies among all those peoples who did not witness the abilities of the Red Goddess. Those beings who did view the carnage included many immortals who viewed the event with varying reactions. Particularly important was the reaction of Raiba, city-deity of Raibanth and one of the deities of the Dara Happan Tripolis, which had been defeated and occupied by the Carmanians for a hundred years.
When the Goddess led her armies to attack the Carmanians in 0/15 (1235) or so, she led her army through the land of Kostaddi, whose inhabitants were available as untrustworthy mercenaries, and dangerously left the lines of communication open to enemy attack. The Carmanian general was no fool, and promptly sent forces to cut off the Lunar retreat and stir up trouble among the Kostaddians, and then took his main force southwards through the Oslir Valley to intercept at Raibanth. Much of his force was made up of native Yuthuppans, although at least half were allies from Spol and Arir.
The Lunar army camped at the gates of Raibanth, and the Goddess began her great greeting ritual for the city god. The inhabitants waited patiently while this went on, under strict orders to wait for the approaching army.
To the astonishment of the people of the city their own god Raiba rose from his temple and went to greet the Goddess, promising friendship and honor between them, and the immortals made terms for their alliance. By the time the Carmanian commander arrived, he found the occupying troops of the city dead or captured, and the whole of the Raibanthan army mustered beside the Goddess. When Raiba spoke secret words to his cousin, Yuthu, the troops of that city deserted as well, leaving the Carmanian commander to delicately extricate himself and his troops from the rebellious province. Shortly afterwards, the city of Alkoth, unconquered by the Carmanians and strong from its lands called Dara-ni, joined its brothers, and the Dara Happan Tripolis once again raised its triple-spheres over the battlefield.
The Kingdom of Karasal resisted the Lunar attack for some time, but when Elz-ast fell in 0/18 (1238) the rest of the land surrendered as well. Twice Blessed, a thinly populated and wildly hostile land, maintained a friendly relationship with the Lunar Empire after that.
The Carmanians had been fighting desperately to lure or draw the Lunar Powers into a fight when the Carmanian Deities were at the height of their abilities. Based on similar Fronelan examples, I believe that the Carmanians used the Seven-Year Buildup (probably based on a sea-related ritual of Loskalm) for their deities. The Carmanians wasted many months and sacrifices in ploys and diversions, for the Red Goddess was likewise working all of her energies towards the same point of climax and conflict, but without wasting men and magic on diversions. Even so, most of the Pelorian Plains fell to the Lunar troops at this time.
The Carmanian deities chose to fight from their position of greatest strength, and gathered about the axis of their oldest altars, located in the capital of Dolebury. The armies were strengthened by all those peoples who were convinced that they fought against the growing of evil chaos, and awaited the invading Lunar host in the wide plains before the capital.
On the day before the Lunar scouts encountered the Carmanian outposts, the monstrous Cacodemon was sent by the Red Goddess against the Carmanian priests. The Chaos demon and his allies were driven off by a small deity from Ssar On Gror, who was born of Darkness and had the shape of a giant scorpion.
The next day, as Char-Un cavalry drove off the Spol, Worian and farther Fronelan allied cavalry, the four Young Elementals made a determined attack against the Will of Humakt, the Carmanian Wargod. Humakt summoned the deepest of his dark powers to combat the servants of Chaos, and the einherjar of the True Warrior chased the four Young Elementals to the edge of the world.
The morning of the third day dawned, and saw the Lunar army assembling for battle opposite the mustered Carmanian host. The body of Carmanian deities drew up in shadowy form hovering over their army, endowed to their fullest power and manifested in their Dark Aspects, as destructive agents rather than the bringers of Life. Thus, by mustering the natural forces of Darkness to overcome Chaos, the Carmanians prepared to meet their Lunar foe's most hideous aspect in battle.
The Char-Un cavalry drove off the Spol allies again, but were shattered by the Carmanian Exile Knights, who pursued them wildly off the field and past the camp where the Lunar priests were completing their ritual. The Elemental priesthoods attached to the Lunar forces provided battle magic support against the Carmanians, but the enemy superiority soon exhausted the Lunar forces. The manifestations of the Dark Sides of the Carmanian deities were naturally finished earlier in the day than their Light Aspects would have been, and the spirits moved forward with the priests and the worshippers' power.
This forced the Lunar priests to expend portions of their energy earlier than hoped, for their ritual could not be completed until more of the Power of Light had surged into the surface world. But the Lunar priests had again tricked the Carmanians by revealing a yet-unexposed side of themselves, and exposed the inner New Light of the Goddess, every bit as powerful as that of the ancient Fire Gods, and with all of the natural advantages of Light against the forces of Darkness.
Once committed, the aspects could not be changed, and the Dark-visaged deities of the Carmanians hurled themselves upon the Lunar forces. The Lunar mages loosed the first of their deities bathed in a weak glow of Lunar Light. This was Irrippi-on-tor, Master of Secrets, who revealed the First Arrow. These were the weakest aspects of the Light, which was an array of Glamour with enough Power to bedazzle the powerful deities of Carmania, and a foray of Illusions powerful enough to slay the weaker deities and spirits of the foe. But Irrippi-on-tor was knocked down by a Hammer of the Sky, and the Carmanian deities moved forward and were met by the Second Arrow.
The Second Arrow struck the Carmanian gods just as the Lunar Priests cast great magics of Binding and Demoralize upon the Carmanian knights, and succeeded in stopping all but the Elite, who were engaged by the Full Moon Corps in close combat. The Second Arrow was Yanafal Ta'arn'ils, Wargod for the Empire and Wielder of Fury, who fell first upon the King of the Carmanian gods. King Karmanos was wounded in the assault, but brushed Yanafal upon the several sons of the Carmanian deity, who engaged the Lunar Wargod and were slain. At last Humakt fought Yanafal, but they fought each other to a standstill, even though Yanafal was aided by his einherjar and Humakt was not.
The Third Arrow was delivered at High Noon, and was the Arrow of Pure Sky Light. This was controlled by Kana Poor, Scribe of Time and Wielder of Age, who used the immense and all-pervasive light of the world to drive back the minions of Carmania with his Truth, and there followed a general attack to drive away all of the Carmanian deities except those with Secret Powers.
The Lunar infantry fell upon the Carmanian infantry, but the surprise appearance of an Altinae demigod for the Carmanian side temporarily held the attackers as he sacrificed himself and his fellows for the escape of a good portion of the men, who by this time had noted the defeat of their deities and were leaving the field.
The Fourth Arrow was delivered by the Goddess herself, and was her own secret Lunar light exposed in brilliance to the few remaining Carmanian deities. Their secret powers withered before the glare of the Goddess, and the enemy deities fled or died.
The Goddess allowed her army to celebrate the victory with a complete sack and burning of the city of Dolebury, which has remained in ruin ever since then.
This completed the major conquests of territory by the Goddess herself, and left the Lunar forces controlling or allied to most of the major powers in Peloria at that time.
Harash Darbeest was the name of a human lord married to a princess from Castle Blue. Harash was slain in the Battle of Four Arrows of Light, and his sons took powerful oaths to avenge the death. With their family connections the Sons of Darbeest soon involved all of the magical isle's inhabitants, as well as the remaining humans from the lake's shores.
The Red Emperor first appeared to lead the fight in this battle. The Goddess mustered a wide array of powers to confront the growing foes, including the Crimson Bat, who gained a semi-permanent state of reality in the physical plane after the long fight.
The Old Gods chose Castle Blue as their last stand. It was as if the Goddess proved her right to exist in the world to all of the beings that she had conquered, but the Old Way had not yet completed their own test. The gods, often with some reluctance, entered themselves and their followers into a two-year fight about Lake Oronin, during which the normal separations of Myth and Mortality were erased as gods and mortals met and died upon magical fields of blood and belief.
At its end, the Old Gods abased themselves before the Goddess and swore acceptance of her. Some swore allegiance as well. The Natural Order had been torn by the fighting at Castle Blue, and after peace came again the universe was made whole once more by including the Red Goddess and her Powers.
The magical city of Castle Blue was reoccupied by the surviving members of the old race, who accepted a single migration of strangers to enter, then shut their gates to all but the most determined of seekers. Inside, it is said, they nurse the maimed and weakened casualties from among the immortals who also survived the War of Castle Blue, although no one knows if this is for mercy or vengeance.
Upon the Surface World the Red Emperor was left in the void of the Goddess' leaving. He summoned the first of his Inspirations. With the other High Initiates he led them in the Dance of Returns, and drew upon the world the plans and dreams where they would live, giving strength and comfort to those who had made the dance, and making secret doors for reaching the Goddess and other worlds.
Where the Goddess had taken the earth for herself was left a great gaping hole, whose bottom no mortal knows. Its sides are lined with steep impassable walls, but one entrance is available. This is protected by the capital city of the Lunar Empire, called Glamour, which is also the First Inspiration of Moonson. From there the Red Emperor, son of the moon, rules over the Empire, while his scarlet mother watches from overhead.
The quest of the Goddess is famous throught the Lunar Empire, and illustrations of it are common in many artistic media. The most famous images depicting this quest is a set of seven plates.
The origin of these places is questionable, and possibly varied. It is certain that their origin lies, like all else, in the spawning of Time. It seems likely that these Hidden Places were not of temporal origin, but were mostly magical in nature and thus able to appear in other places to some extent.
Their regular appearances in the mortal sphere may have included years of absence sometimes, and a flickering back-and-forth reality at others.
The inhabitants were evidently immortal to a 'natural' death, or else were extremely long-lived. They were generally of considerable power, but seemed lacking in ambition or ability to expand far beyond their own flickering properties.
Nonetheless, they were unusually good-natured if unprovoked, and it was easy to maintain friendly relations with them, whether the friends, who occasionally offered sacrifices as well, were human, troll, Aldryami or Mostali.
Establishment of First Blessed Sultanate
Torang declared itself in support of the Goddess, followed by other towns nearby. A battle on the Arcos River established the ragtag army and nation of the Goddess, and the followers immediately named the battle "First Victory". The Goddess, in turn, named her new lands "First Blessed," and named a lover as first Sultan.The Battle of Chaos
Two years after her departure, the Carmanian sorcerer Mahedres Redbeard, who had served four generations of Carmanian kings, declared that the Goddess was gone, trapped in the Seven Teeth and Two Jaws, and that her lands were ready for reconquest. Yanafal Ta'arn'ils, the Superhero, had gone to try to rescue her, and the other remaining Mothers were unable to properly defend the lands of First Blessed. Probing attacks were followed by invasions and culminated in 0/12 (1232) when the Carmanian army marched to the walls of Torang, besieging seven forts or cities along the way, and laying assault ladders upon the walls of the sacred city five times before the arrival of the relief army under the command of the returned Duke Yanafal.Conquest of the Pelorian Basin
After the establishment of First Blessed as the center of the Red Goddess' power, the Lunar country began a period of solid growth and expansion. Under the tutelage of the Goddess the troops and magicians were able to learn many new spells and tactics for the battle, and other more creative skills went to work in constructing the legendary realm of peace and prosperity which the Goddess promised.The Four Arrows of Light
Fighting between Carmania and the Lunar forces continued for ten years after the liberation of Dara Happa, but intermittently as both sides probed and hoarded their strengths for the big battle to come. In 0/17 (1237) it seemed they would prematurely be drawn into battle, but the Carmanians withdrew from their attempt to rescue High Duke Korlov Ogolthor, brother to the king of Carmania, and the Lunar Empire withdrew from their attempt to recapture the city of Carantes, leaving behind many prisoners. (Little else is known of this incident, which was written as a play in the Second Wane by the scholar Jananin Heeraru, but seems to have been extremely unpopular with Lunar audiences. Non-Lunar magicians contend that the play held secret weaknesses of the Lunar Way up to public light, and so was suppressed by the Empire to hide their vulnerability. Scraps of the ancient text were prized by some of them, but the whole play has never been completely recovered).Castle Blue
Castle Blue is the name given to the hidden castle located in Oronin Lake, at the edge of the territory conquered by the Lunar advance. The inhabitants of this castle were typical of the type, and were very close to the inhabitants along the shores of the lake. Castle Blue considered those people among their own followers, and had always defended them from external aggression. Even the Carmanians had respected the holding of Castle Blue.The Apotheosis of the Goddess
In 0/27 (1247) the Goddess danced her last dream upon the face of the earth, sketching out the plans for her heavenly and temporal domains, revealing the secrets of her inner soul to the High Initiates of the Lunar cult. Then she took the ground she had danced upon, and wrapping it about her like a cloak or a cuirass, clinging her secrets close to herself, she ascended into the sky, rising higher and higher into the Upper Air, where she sits and turns slowly, looking over her domains in history and myth from the heavens.
Go to The Redline History: First Wane
The Seven Mothers
Queen Dee'zola - "The Binder Within"
Formerly a priestess of Arachne Solara and a ruler of the lands on the Arcos River. In the Lunar Pantheon she is the Keeper of Vows, Avenger of Wrongs, and the Unshakable One.Jakaleel the Witch - "Spindle Hag"
Once a priestess of Zorak Zoran from the Mountains of Jord, on the Pantheon she became the Mistress of Black Magic, Keeper of Vile Secrets, Source of Misery.Teelo Norri - "Young Life"
A girl apparently drawn at random from the many of Torang's streets for the ritual. In the Pantheon, she became Spring of Eternal Youth, and served as Cup Bearer to the Goddess.Irrippi On Tor - "The Brown Man"
A sage from Yuthuppa, probably a friend of Duke Yanafal's, he became the Master of Secrets from the Goddess.Yanafal Ta'arn'ils - "Ram and Warrior"
An outlaw nobleman from Yuthuppa who managed to wield considerable influence even after his exile by Carmanian authorities, he became the War God for the Lunar Pantheon.Danfive Xaron - "Bridge for the Seeker"
A bloodthirsty outlaw who volunteered for a dangerous task and whose partial success resulted in his immortalization. In the Lunar Pantheon he was Gatekeeper, Savage Guardian, and Night Watchman.Unnamed Servant - "She Who Waits"
An enigmatic entity whose presence is nearly ubiquitous, but whose exact function and purpose are not revealed even in later lore. My personal opinion is that she was a member of the Blue Moon Cult.
See also:
Cult of the Seven Mothers
return to The Birth of the Goddess
The Quest of the Red Goddess
Note: the original article listed these plates in a different order than presented here. Readers are encouraged to accept this version over the previous one.The Goddess Enters Godtime
The Empty Victory of the Goddess
The Goddess Meets Arachne Solara
The Binding of Gbaji
The Goddess Riding the Sky Bear
The Full Victory of the Goddess
Return of the Goddess Triumphant
return to The Battle of Chaos
Hidden Castles
The Hidden Castles were magical places, often of fairly large expanse, which appear infrequently in Glorantha. Other examples include the Hidden Green of otherwise deserted Prax, ghostly and deadly Kartolin of Ralios, the City of Rose-Colored Glass Towers in the Far East, and several islands.
return to Castle Blue