House Letharesi

The ruling house of the Stone Dwar clans of Falikud. They were integral in the founding and building of many of the cities and civilizations of Eadun.

Description
The Nor ti Begen, or Stone Dwar, are renowned miners, stone masons and architects of the northern continents. Their craft with stone is unparalleled. Their metal working is second only to that of the Meka Dwar. After the upheaval following the Daemon Wars, the Stone Dwar became semi-nomadic. In Eadun, House Letharesi rose to prominence and built several of the major cities on the continent, some of which are still in existence.

History
Lethares the Stonewright was the first in the line. He lived before the Daemon Wars and figures prominently in legend as a prophet, preaching against the ills of a society over-run by the Faed. A leader among the Stone Dwar, he deepened the rift between his people and their hereditary rivals, the Meka Dwar. This was due, in part, to the fact that the Meka Dwar were the creators of the Faed and shared a close affinity with them.

When Drakha betrayed the other Progenitors, and spurred the Faed into rebellion, the Daemon Wars began. In the midst of the carnage that was unleashed upon the world, the Stone Dwar fought against the Meka Dwar, until Goler himself intervened. He brokered a truce between the two factions. He worked with them to turn their attentions to creating a race that would be physically able to stand against the mightiest of the Faed host. Thus were created the gigantic people called the Joatuni.

Lethares feared that without proper discipline and faith, the Joatuni would become as much of a threat as the Faed. With his guidance, a leader clan was bred from them. These were somewhat larger and stronger than the rest of the giants. They were ingrained with an innate morality to direct the bloodlust of their brethren. Under the spirital and moral guidance of these "Arimori" (Light Bearers), the Joatuni became a formidable weapon indeed.

Lethares was slain in the battle of Corleo which took place in Arcel on the site of the present-day Lamasarat. This was remembered as the bloodiest battle of the wars. It is also revered as the end of the conflict, as it was here that the Faed were sealed away in The Beyond by the four remaining Progenitors.

Remel Letharesi was the eldest son of Lethares. At the time of his father's death, he was commanding a force of Dwar engineers within the mines of Falikud, deep within the Dorndill mountains. Though the Faed had been banished, still the times were troubled. Too many Arimori had been slain in the final stages of the war and the Joatuni were uncontrollable, slaking their bloodthirst on the lands. Nanata users became unstable and many went insane as the backlash from the fall of the Daemon host spread like wildfire among them. Roving bands of displaced soldiers burned and looted cities and towns, and refugees sought a place of solace. Thylia itself buckled and strained in a series of natural disasters. To Remel and his fellows, it seemed as though the end of days was upon them, and they fortified Falikud against their perceived fates, turning the mines into a holdfast.

As news of the war's ending began to spread, so too grew the legend of the elder Lethares, and his holy self-sacrifice at Lamasarat. The Dwar, especially the Nor ti Begen, began to rally to Falikud. Like all of the other refugees, they were seeking safety, and it seemed natural to put themselves under the protection of the son of the great hero, Lethares.

Remel took up his father's mantle of leadership somewhat reluctantly. He looked upon the protection of his people as a duty, not an honor. With the great influx of people, Falikud was overwhelmed. Food was scarce and disease was rampant. Yet the Dwar persevered, like the stone they worked. They learned to hunt the pine forests and fish the mountain streams. They learned to harvest the wild potatoes and eventually to cultivate them. They expanded the holdfast of Falikud into a home under the mountains. Under the leadership of Remel, hey survived. They became strong.

Aidal Letharesi was the only surviving offspring of Remel. She was born some five years after the Daemon Wars. He childhood was hard, as life was hard in those days. She was well loved by her father and mother, but her's was not a life of privilege, by any measure. In her youth, she proved to be a natural leader and began leading a band of other young women; lean and famine-hardened, down the mountains into the burnt lands of the west. This band, along with several other ranging parties, would seek out food stuffs and supplies from the abandoned towns, and trade with such settlements as they could find. Her band, which came to be called "the Blood Maidens," became especially renowned for their prowess in hunting down the so-called Gholi, or feral giants that plagued the lands.

In the thirty-fifth year after the battle at the Lamasarat, Remel died. Aidal was very popular among the clans of the Stone Dwar, and when she was named Clan Chief of the Letharesi, most were happy with her leadership. As a result of her becoming the clan chieftain, her Blood Maidens became her personal body guards; a tradition that has continued down through the age.

Aidal never married, but took as her consort an Alsweri Mage-Priest called Acuan, of Arcel. Their relationship forged an alliance between the Church of Alswer and Falikud. She bore but one child, a son, who she called Mattan.

Her influence extended as far as the Great River in the west, and several Dwar migrated to the rich farmlands between the mountains and the river.

Mattan Letharesi was born some ten years after Aidal assumed the chieftainship of the Letharesi. When he was about seven years old, he was sent to Arcel to study with the mage-priests of Alswer. He showed a remarkable facility in the use of nanata, becoming a powerful mage in his own right. At the age of twenty-five, Mattan returned to Falikud to establish a mage's college in the Dorndill Mountains. The college was built near the Billikin Pass on the western side of the mountains.

When his mother died, Mattan became the Letharesi clan chief. Although he was nearly forty, he had never been interested in women. His focus has been on his training and the mage's college; now there was pressure from his folk to marry and pass on the family legacy.