Stran of the Deep

Stran of the Deep is the mythical first high king of Doma who, some four thousand years prior to the events giving rise to the Great Man, united the disparate waygar'i tribes of the continent, and formed alliances with the keshal'i and sammonish'i peoples in order to drive back the Darkness in the west, which threatened obliteration.

The early life of Stran of the Deep is couched in mystery. The waygar'i of Doma, thanks in large part to the Great Purge, have scant little information on either the myth or the man, save that he was a clanless man who travelled the length and breadth of Doma in the company of an enormous white cave bear.

Oral traditions of the fír suthr, however, provide a much fuller story.

Stran of the Deep was, we are told, the son of a chieftain of one of the most powerful tribes on Doma and his fourth wife, whose name is, unfortunately, lost. She fell in love with the chieftain's rival and together they plotted to overthrow him. The coup was successful. Unfortunately for Stran's mother, her lover proved to be a cruel man who ordered the death of all the chieftain's children, so that none might grow to overthrow him. She was forced to watched as her infant son was tossed over the edge of a cliff.

According to southern myth, the child was spared from the clutches of death by a white roc who captured the child before he hit the bottom of the chasm and brought him to Enthe, the white cave bear, who raised him. Of the child's upbringing, there is no mention. He returned to Doma a young man, proficient in spear fighting.

He spent much of his time travelling the continent and beyond, becoming a friend of many a tribe, and even of the keshal'i and the fierce sammonish'i, and earning himself the moniker of The Traveller. In his travels, he acquired a great deal of knowledge, and was renowned for his wit and wisdom.

It is said that Stran of the Deep warned the waygar'i tribes that a great evil was planning to wage war upon them. He travelled hard and far to spread the warning, before disappearing entirely from the continent for a number of years. His warning proved timely.

At the end of the Second Epoch, a creature (in some tellings, a wraith), known only as the Darkness, sent a vast army against the peoples of Doma. The waygar'i tribes, unsettled both by Stran's warnings and his disappearance, had prepared for battle. If the Darkness had expected to find a fractured enemy, it was sorely disappointed.

The waygar'i coalition battled for three days on the Ardean Killing Fields. At the first hour of the fourth day, Stran of the Deep returned to the tribes. At his side were the leaders of the keshal'i and sammonish'i, riding their batlatl; at his back the warriors of both. They joined the battle, turning the tide, and sending the Darkness west in defeat.

The tribes of the waygar'i swore allegiance to Stran as their Chief of Chiefs (the high king), and declared wherever he set his home to be neutral territory. He declared all tribes welcome to his home and built a plaza where the tribes might meet to renew friendships, trade and negotiate.

The location of this plaza is lost to time, alas, though there are some who speculate that it formed the foundation of the broch, which later became the fortress of Brueia, the capital of Karas Strem.

Stran, the story continues, had many children by many wives. Some of those children, such as The Bear, ventured south with a few brave followers to settle the Southern Archipelago. The fír suthr to this day claim to be descendants of those children.