niin laitetaan esille myös yhteen turnaukseen Southlands-armeijalleni kirjoittamani taustatarina. En kannata amatöörien kolmannella kotimaisella kirjoittamista, mutta jostain syystä tämän taustatarinan kirjoitin englanniksi. Olkaa hyvä.- Dru Perim
Lynnottec’s Questing Thin Lizzies
A Godly Vision
It all started with a vision Lynnottec had, when he was just a few heartbeats old skinkling, fresh from his spawning.
Lynnottec was born just a tad prematurely and was the first skink out of the spawning pond and greatly confused. There was no-one to meet him. Where were all his kind? Where was his Slann-creator and all his older skink-brothers? How was Lynottec to know, that his spawners and their once great and thriving theocracy had ceased to exist centuries ago.
Lynottec stood beside the pond in the middle of a thick jungle and wondered, what he was supposed to do, when Mictlantecuhtlille – The Ancient Lizard-God of Death – noticed this wet and miserable skinkling of an unclaimed skink spawning. Mictlantecuhtlille projected his presence close to the first born Lynnottec and spoke to him reassuringly. After Lynnottec had covered from his initial shock, Mictlantecuhtlille explained, that he was an old and mostly forgotten lizard-god of death and his power was waning to nothingness, unless the fragments of a certain holy relic of the ancients were retrieved and put together before the end of this world cycle.
As was evident, Lynottec was a very young skink, fresh from the spawning and new to the ways of this world, but he was not a simpleton and he was born with the chosen race-memory of his spawners. So he fearfully dared to question this godly vision and he suggested, that surely this was a task more fitting to a powerful Slann Mage–Priest, than to a meek skink cub, whose soft and white skin was still dripping spawning slime.
Lynottec half-expected to be slain on the spot, but instead Mictlantecuhtlille patiently explained, that only a couple of half-senile Mage-Priest still remembered him, and that his powers in the mortal world were mostly gone. No self respecting Slann would waste his time to help a fading myth of a minor god like Mictlantecuhtlille - never the less start a forlorn and demanding quest for him. No, it was now all up to Lynottec with the little help, that Mictlantecuhtlille could still provide.
How could Lynnottec say no to this. He raised his hands towards this godly vision and uttered: “Father, I’m all yours. I’m yours to command.”
Lynottec – The Thrice Gifted
Mictlantecuhtlille might have been an old and almost forgotten god of the Southladic lizards, but he was still a god and not without some divine powers. To help Lynottec in his quest, Mictlantecuhtlille gave him three gifts of ancient power.
The first one was the Gift of Heavens. With the rare skill of Astromancy Lynnottec could now count on the guidance and help of the stars. As an extra favour, Mictlantecuhtlille also gave Lynottec a shamanic drum of power to help him in his practice of astromancy.
As the second gift Lynottec was granted the Gift of The Jungle. He now had the power to call the very forces of the jungle to his aid. All the venomous spiders, insects, snakes and other nameless little critters were now bound to Lynottec’s will and command. As a mark of this gift Mictlantecuhtlille gave Lynottec a tiny ant as a familiar.
When Lynottec reached for the ant, it bit viciously on Lynottec’s hand and pumped all it’s burning venom into Lynottec’s veins. His blood boiled. He screamed in agony and vomited blood and guts. In his cosy spawning-dreams he had never imagined, that one could ever be able to feel such a pain.
Lynottec knew then without a doubt, that he would die. One tiny crystal clear tear-drop ran on Lynottec’s cheek. He did not utter a single word of complain, just thanked Mictlantecuhtlille for the chance for greatness he had given to a lowly skink and apologised for his apparent failure: “I’m sorry Father for failing you.” Then he closed his eyes and waited for the death to release him from the pain.
But death never came. The pain eased and then stopped altogether. Lynnottec opened his eyes and saw Mictlantecuhtlille’s hazy projection smiling warmly at him. Mictlantecuhtlille explained to Lynnottec, that the bite of the ant had only been a test. By accepting his death without a complaint and remorse Lynnottec had proved his character to be worthy of the quest. Mictlantecuhtlille also explained to the utterly confused skink, that the test had been a necessity for him to be able to receive his third and final gift: the keys to Mictlantecuhtlille’s Kingdom of the Dead. This gift made Lynottec able to travel between places in the mortal world via the Kingdom of The Dead. This power would help Lynnottec greatly in his quest, when he had to travel to foreign and far away lands.
Band of Spawning Brothers
It was obvious from the very beginning, that Lynnottec needed an army to help him in his quest. He already had the critters of the jungle to help him. And when his skink spawn-brothers were born from the numerous surrounding spawn ponds, Lynottec enlisted them to his service. Those skinks who insisted on following their original spawning-purpose instead of taking part in Mictlantecuhtlille’s quest, were mercilessly put to death.
Some of Lynottec’s spawn-brothers could build and fire a bow, some preferred shield and javelin as their weapons. Few of the skinks, had also in their spawned memory the skills needed to tame fire-breathing Salamanders or vicious Terradons. Some skinks even had the skills to practice Astromancy.
It was clear, that Lynottec could not dare to establish a permanent base for his army-to-be. First of all, it was just not proper for a mere skink to found his own temple-city – no matter how favoured he was by a god. Secondly, a permanent base would be surely noticed and thus draw too soon unwanted attention from the nearby hostile lizardmen and other enemies alike. So Lynnottec kept his war band of skinks and their tamed beasts always on the move.
Downeyc – The Renegade Master
Leading a band of skinks was not an easy task. Luckily Lynottec soon met Downeyc – the infamous renegade saurus – and his band of rogue sauri. Lynnottec knew, that he needed a proper field-general for his army and he saw immediately the brutal potential in Downeyc.
Although Downeyc was a bit dim and immensely headstrong, he was also a shameless rogue, brute and a bully who got others to do what ever he wanted. What more could one ask from a general of lizards?
Downeyc had been spawned originally to be just a Saurus drummer in a troop of spear-sauri, but it was apparent from the beginning, that something had went wrong with Downeyc’s spawning. Mark of Itzl was apparent upon him and this extra strength he used shamelessly to bully his comrades. Because of this Downeyc found himself more often than not in trouble with his superiors and was frequently punished by his regiment commander for insubordination.
Downeyc did not know much about drumming either. He could hit the drum loud enough and keep a reasonably steady rhythm, but the real reason why his sauri-in-arms marched in order, was Downeyc’s unforgiving and mean character. If any saurus failed on the march, Downeyc was sure to beat the living hell out of him later on. Of course this was not approved by Downeyc’s superiors - or by his fellow spear-sauri either. This had painful consequences.
After an especially bad punishment-flogging Downeyc decided to desert his temple-army. He stole his regiment-commander’s pants made of jaguar skin and his magical sword – right before he slit his commander’s throat with it. This was not an ordinary desertion. Downeyc did not flee a tail between his legs. It just wasn’t in his character. After disposing of his commander Downey also managed to bully some of his sauri-mates to make a run for it.
Downeyc and his followers roamed the Southands back and forth robbing everyone who happened to stumble on their path. In a very short time Downeyc’s success as a robber started to attract more sauri followers and even a few Kroxigors decided to join his band. For a while life was good for Downeyc, but at the same time he realised, that he was just becoming a too big of a nuisance to the nearby temple-cities for his own health.
Then he met Lynottec. The two leaders immediately saw the mutual benefit gained by joining forces. Lynottec needed a field-general and Downeyc could use the protection of a bigger army, even if Lynnottec’s troops were mostly just skinks.
Lynottec had now an powerful army at his command – or Downeyc’s – and it had a quest to fulfil. (Let the games begin.)
The Quest Begins
Thanks to Lynottec the army was able to travel without hindrance underneath the great oceans and continents via Mictlantecuhtlille’s Kingdom of The Dead. In their search for the fragments of Mictlantecuhtlille’s holy relic Lynottec and his army had to fight against a multitude of races and armies. They clashed weapons with dreaded undead lead by bloodsucking vampires, hordes of Lancers from Bretonnia, sulphur reeking artillery trains from Norland and even mysteriously short footed Chaos Dwarves from the far eastern chaos wastes. Lynottec did not care how many armies he had to crush to fulfil his quest. He would not fail. Mictlantecuhtlille would get every last piece of his holy relic.
