How Primorlen Began: Pt. 3

The one freegiven. Who is he? Well... let's just say his name is Rogchaen. That should give a clue as to his heritage. And the fact that he is their guide should let you know a little more about his character. But to fully develop who he is, we have to go back one hundred and three years to the Blood-Invasion.

One summer day in the year 1342, red-sailed ships crossed the horizon at a dozen points around the Quartorlen coast. And when they landed, they spat an army of massive, armored invaders onto the beaches and shores of the four provinces. These were the shieldsfell, a trained army thousands strong.
Reptillian in nature, their creature forms were hulking beasts with armored backs and clubbed tails. Their leader's name was soon whispered in fear across the length and breadth of the island; the Titan-mage. No one who ever saw him lived to tell the tale, but everywhere once could hear his name cursed and vows of retaliation for his deeds.
Resistance did not stand for long, however. Within days the ordered ranks of the shieldsfell army had swept fire through the four outer provinces, and were marching on the Lightpeak; the natural and political center of Quartorlen. Here, in the Hope-Chamber set in the peak of the dormant volcano, the Conclave met daily. Delegates were sent from each of the provinces, and together they formed the government of Quartorlen.
But the shieldsfell invader has different ideas, and the Hope-Chamber was stormed. That day the blood-red of the invader's cloaks matched the blood of Quartorlen's people as it was spilled in her defense. But all was in vain, and Quartorlen fell.
The Lightpeak was renamed Arcpeak, and the surrounding town leveled to make way for a permanent settlement built in the shieldsfell fashion. The lands that had once been Brightdown became Darkdell, a walled plain encircling the Arcpeak.
As soon as the shieldsfell had cemented their hold on the capital, they turned their attention back to the other lands, and the Containment began. The folk of Quartorlen would no longer be able to alter between forms. They were given a choice, live as a slave, or live as a beast. Many chose to live the free but dangerous life of a beast, but most kept their humanity and were forced to serve the invaders. Still others fled to the hills, forests and swamps, out of reach of the shieldsfell armies. However, this number slowly dwindled as the shieldsfell Containment patrols continued to sweep the land for years after the invasion, still searching for those who had managed to hide their ability.

One hundred years pass. The lands beyond Darkdell have fallen into decay and waste. A few slave-born still live in tiny hamlets and villages along the main roadways, peddling their wares to the patrols as they march through. Blackforge, the city that had wrapped itself around the Arcpeak, and a few port cities have become thriving metropolises sustained by trade with Theorlen. The slave trade, in particular has become profitable.
The shieldsfell have grown in number as more have crossed over from the crowded Dyrmlen. They live longer than the folk of Quartorlen, and so while the most of the slave-born are the third generation of those who were alive at the time of the Blood-Invasion, many of the older shieldsfell still remember those days. And some have begun to question the reasons of their leader. Conquering new lands for an expanding nation, and subsequent subjugation of a rebellious people made sense to their war-like minds, but a continual grinding underfoot of a folk long since defeated... that was going beyond war.

But no dissenters against a strong leader live long, and the Titan-mage quickly stomped out any mutterings against him. The rebels were sent on suicide missions, tried for crimes they did not commit, executed after mock trials. It was a doomed attempt from the start. But some escaped into the wilds. One such outlaw was a Macelen who abandoned his military title in favor of the Quartorlen naming system. Rumor spread among the villages of Deepdale of a vengeful shieldsfell ghost who wreaked havoc on patrols and had been known to snatch prisoners from under their noses.

And thus we meet Rogchaen, shieldsfell-outlaw, the one freegiven for the four freeborn. And thus we come to the beginning of the story. How all five are pulled together by unlikely means and set on their quest of finding their way into the heart of Arcpeak and slaying the Titan-mage.
If they fail, the shieldsfell armies will continue on, seeking out new countries to conquer, and beyond that, new worlds.

"This tyranny is only the beginning. There is a much more at stake here than your own petty pride! In the end, not only Quartorlen will be enslaved, but all the world!   ...and not only this world." 

Thoer, Otter-elder