**/*/_Lore
[[still under construction]]
**/*Willow, Mother of Hinds
[[under construction]]
[[Although mentioned just by name in the beginning of the book, nothing is said about this, thus, I made it up�.-_-�]]
**Prophecy: Rannoch�s Prophecy
When the Lore is bruised and broken,
Shattered like a blasted tree,
Then shall Herne be justly woken,
Born to set the Herla free.
On his brow a leaf of oaken,
Changeling child shall be his fate.
Understanding works strange spoken,
Chased by anger, fear and hate.
He shall flee o�er hill and heather,
And shall go where no deer can,
Knowing secrets dark to Lera.
Till his need shall summon man.
Air and water, earth and fire,
All shall ease his bitter pain,
Till the elements conspire
To restore the Island Chain.
First the High Land grass shall flower,
As he quests though wind and snow,
Then he breaks an ancient power,
And returns to face his woe.
When the lord of lies upbraids him,
Then his wrath shall cloak the sun,
And the Herla�s foe shall aid him
To confront the evil one.
Sacrifice shall be his meaning,
He the darkest secret learn,
Truths of beast and man revealing,
Touching on the heart of Herne.
Fawn of moonlight ever after,
So shall the Herla sing.
For his days shall herald laughter,
Born a healer and a king.
[[This is Rannoch�s Prophecy, which came true and is now considered almost a story alongside the tale of Rannoch�s life.]]
**Rannoch�s Story
[[under construction]]
[[Not for people who haven�t read Firebringer by David Clement-Davies, this ruins the book�but I haven�t finished it yet�]]
**Herla�s Death
When Herla die, they believe that the run up into the sky and join Starbuck and Herne amongst the stars in a land of moors and forests (etc).
**Ghosts of the Past
Herla believe that ghosts of the past haunt areas�
**Rannoch�s Story
[[Not for people who haven�t read Firebringer by David Clement-Davies, this ruins the book�but I haven�t finished it yet�]]
[x, depends on year, when we opened it was 1333, it was 65 years] years ago, a fawn was bon on the night his father, a brave and noble Outrider called Brechin was killed by a maddened tyrant named Drail and his his evil Hummel Sekka, Sgorr. He was born of a hind called �Eloin� but because of Drail and Sgorr�s evil, they wish to kill the little fawn to finally destroy Brechin and for they most wanted beautiful Eloin.
She gave her little calf to a hind that had too been an Outrider�s hind before they were killed that dreadful night, this was so because she knew Drail and Sgorr would kill him. Her name was Bracken, and her calf had been a stillborn, this was cleverly devised by the wise old storyteller Blindweed�who knew the Prophecy well, for upon the fawn�s head was the mark of a white oaken leaf.
When the Lore is bruised and broken,
Shattered like a blasted tree,
Then shall Herne be justly woken,
Born to set the Herla free.
On his brow a leaf of oaken,
Changeling child shall be his fate.
Understanding works strange spoken,
Chased by anger, fear and hate.
He shall flee o�er hill and heather,
And shall go where no deer can,
Knowing secrets dark to Lera.
Till his need shall summon man.
Air and water, earth and fire,
All shall ease his bitter pain,
Till the elements conspire
To restore the Island Chain.
First the High Land grass shall flower,
As he quests though wind and snow,
Then he breaks an ancient power,
And returns to face his woe.
When the lord of lies upbraids him,
Then his wrath shall cloak the sun,
And the Herla�s foe shall aid him
To confront the evil one.
Sacrifice shall be his meaning,
He the darkest secret learn,
Truths of beast and man revealing,
Touching on the heart of Herne.
Fawn of moonlight ever after,
So shall the Herla sing.
For his days shall herald laughter,
Born a healer and a king.
So the fawn, who was called �Rannoch� after one of Starbuck�s calves, lived on as a Changeling, his mark hidden by a mixture of berries and leaves, but he knew not of his strange birth, he knew Bracken as his mother. But as he grew, he began to speak with the Lera, when no other Herla could� One day, his mark was discovered and he was forced to flee with his changed mother and a small band of hinds.
He ran and ran, fleeing from place to place. He made friends with a raven and conversed much with One day as the traveled; running from a herd who were beginning to submit to the evil in the south, for Drail had been killed by Sgorr, and he was Lord, and he wanted Rannoch dead, Rannoch was chased by dogs and ended up in the care of man, with who he lived with for years.
One day, the humans he lived with let him go, and he journeyed towards the sea to speak with the wise seal, Rurl. Soon, he left the coast and headed to the Highlands to investigate Herne�s Herd, a strange and brutal heard at the Standing Stones.
From then, he broke the Herne�s Herd and brought peace to them, for they saw him as Herne, of an avatar there of him, thus they listened, and the ancient power was broken and he learned that Sgorr had a dark secret which destroyed the Lore itself.
So, Rannoch dwelt in the High Lands for some time, he did not join Anlach� While his old friends sought to destroy Sgorr and his armies, but Rannoch understood things like no Herla could, he was not as hasty, he still did not know Sgorr�s Secret, Sgorr was too powerful�.
Soon after this, Bracken was killed and as she died, she told Rannoch he was a Changeling� Thus he accepted the Prophecy in his heart and in his mind.
So as his friends traveled south, Rannoch traveled to the sea again and crossed it with the help of Rurl, the seal, he learned of Sgorr�s Secret, on the shore, buried in the sand of a small island was Sgorr�s Secret�
His friends marched South and were caught by the Sgorrla in a Corrie, they fought bravely alongside Outriders who themselves had one been amongst the Slave Herds or Herne�s Herd, Thistle, a stag who�d grown up alongside Rannoch, but did not like him that much was killed, as was the sister, Peppa, of Rannoch�s favorite hind Willow.
When it seemed the battle was lost, Rannoch arrived, caring a branch of man�s fire in his mouth, and then came the crows and ravens, the flying scavengers, Rannoch�s raven friend, Crak, had brought them to restore Herne. Subsequently followed by the true enemy, the wolves came to aid Rannoch, for he had heal one of their number, and Sgorr�s hoof was beginning to affect them too, for he was killing Lera without reason�
As Sgorr tried to flee, Rannoch followed, and Sgorr was slain by the arrow of Man, the boy who fired, chased after Rannoch, seeking a finer quarry, for man is cold and kills without reason, he chased after him, but then saw the mark of the white oak leaf, it was the boy who saved him from the dogs, and nursed him back to health, they looked into each other�s eyes and with that the boy turned and left�
So Rannoch took the Herla, who wished to follow him deep into the Highlands, and there they lived in peace. He was Lord of the Herd for many years, and at his first Anlach, his won twelve hinds, and named his first calf after his father, Brechin. And man�s war had stopped. His days were happy ones and at age fifteen, with his bloodline strong in the herd, long after his friend and hind Willow had passed� Rannoch joined Starbuck and Herne in the sky�.
**Antler�s Rhyme
The antlers of a Hernling are blessing and curse,
For they mean we must fight for the chance to be first.
Though they help us protect both herd and each other,
At the time of Anlach, we must fight one another.
**/*/_Starbuck�s Hinds & Calves
Starbuck�s hinds:
Fourleaf
Cornflower
Lilac
Sweetdew
Leena
Alyth
Lilith
Dorain
Shian
Brora
Lilie
Lass
Bloom
Starbuck�s Claves:
S:Rannoch
H:Bhreac
H:Shira
H:Sora
S twins: Braan & Box
[under construction]
[[Because little is said in the story about any of this, other than Rannoch, I had to do this myself� I also used some names from the book to help with this.]]
**/*Starbuck & the Golden Hooves
[[under construction]]
[[I can�t remember if this was told in the book, but it was mentioned, so I have work to do.]]
**/*Starbuck & Herne�s Antlers
[[under construction]]
[[Told in the book, I�m writing a short summary for it as to not copy it the book.]]
**/*Starbuck & the First Stone
[[under construction]]
[[This was mentioned in the book, but the story wasn�t told so, I had to do some work�]]
*Herne�s Wood, *Herne�s Winter
The great forest where Herne lived, the coldest, longest, harshest winter ever, sent by Herne to earth.
Starbuck & the Tree of Antlers
[[under construction]]
Starbuck & Starr Huntress
Long ago, when all Lera could speak to one another, when Starbuck still ran with the Herla across the moors and through the forests, when the forest god still dwelt in his earthly wood, Herne�s winter touched the earth.
It was the bitterest winter ever, part of a punishment for the Herla, to show Starbuck that his gains for them were not without loss and to putnar for hunting his Hernling while forgetting of Him. He sent frost to kill the grass, snow and ice to coat it and cover the trees and freeze the earth. While ice-cold winds howled and blow the snow to sting the all the Lera and freeze them, to scold them and blind and deafen them for their actions, to punish them, and remind them of His power, for many Lera, especially the hunters, were beginning to forget Him.
Many creatures died in this great Winter, both predator and prey, scavengers became what they are today, scavengers. Proud hunters became lowly beats, but only one creature truly blurred the line between the two�the Fox.
The fox was not a chosen Lera for Herne, but was gifted with craftiness and cunning, stealth and agility and adaptability, beyond most Lera, but not in size or strength like the Herla�s mortal enemy, the wolf�.
The fox could still hunt smaller Lera like the rabbit and the pheasant and the shrew and the mole, but was not large or strong enough to dip through the thick ice and snow or frozen earth to reach their meals, and many of the birds flew away, so they fox became both hunter and scavenger, considered un-worthy by all sides.
Most fox had forgotten about Herne, but one remembered, her name was Starr the Huntress, greatest of all vixens, her thick, rich pelt was a firey orange-rust hue, her ears tipped it black and her brush in un-spoiled white and her eyes flashed with fire. She was a silent as a growing tree or the changing seasons, as quick as the lightening, swift as the wind and clever than Starbuck himself. Her senses of smell were sharper than any wolf, her sight better than any eagle, and her hearing better than the hare or the Herla. She was a true Huntress.
Now, at this time, all young stags were born with antlers, even if they were very small. During calving, they hurt the hind so much that she often passed away in pain. Now, often most things fed on the dead, as everything happens, but bigger Lera got to these first, and the Fox when hungry.
Since youngest stags had antlers, they could defend themselves, with more ease, so the older ones could protect the doe calves and hinds, thus, the fox could not hunt the fawns.
Starr, when her cubs were bitterly hungry, as was she, so she decided to speak with Herne, so she journeys for many days and nights, about thirty sun rises.
�Oh Lord Herne, Lord of the Forest!� she cried when she entered his earthly wood.
The forest god awoke and snorted a snort that shook the ice from the trees as he emerged from his bed of clouds, the sun shining off His antlers and off His golden hooves, and off the snow in a dazzling display, his red pelt shinning gold too as it caught the warming light.
�What do you want Starr the Vixen?� Herne rumbled, for he did not like being disturbed, especially by a creature that was not a Hernling.
�Lord of the Forests, the Herla hinds are in pain terribly when calving stags, their cries are terribly loud and awake my cubs and make it hard for Lera to sleep in these horribly cold times, maybe if young stags grew antlers later in life, perhaps it would spare the poor hinds�� she said, carefully, knowing that Herne knew who wise and crafty she was. She knew she must make it sound like she was concerned for the hind�s wellbeing, but only if she made out that it was her kin and the Lera that suffered so. Herne, despite being a god, was tricked by the vixen�s cunning words.
Herne nodded thoughtfully, knowing how clever the Fox was�. �Well� True, and the hinds did nothing to me, and you still recognize me�. Even for a fox� Very well. So it shall be! Go Fox, return to your thicket or den, return and sleep deeply and warmly!� roared the stag and with that he finished without a sound or trace, just vanished into the sky or the wind.
As Starr left the forest, she was very pleased with herself, for now it was easy for her to feed herself and her cubs and she knew what food was fit for their hunger and their size�a Herla�s calf.
So as a hind was calving, she watched and waited in a nearby thicket, under the Red Star. And after the fawn was dropped, she killed the young one, Starbuck approached; angered that Starr the Huntress dared to kill a fawn, one of his fawns. She said that Herne let it be so, but Starbuck didn�t believe her, but the name of Herne was rarely spoken outside the Herla, so he set out to speak with Herne� As the vixen bounded off towards the Larn Star, towards which her den was, dragging the fawn by the neck in her teeth.
Starbuck, who was Lord of the Herd, was angered by this, and went to see Herne. So he ran all day and all night, being the most magnificent, bravest and strongest Herla he reached Herne�s Wood from the Highlands in a very short time indeed.
�Lord Herne!� he cried his words full of passionate anguish, his mighty antlered head thrown back, his throat echoing with the bellowing roar of Anlach, but mixed with great pain, �Why do hunters brandish your name like a thorny branch, tearing into our hides was we walk, unable to touch them without being pricked again?�
Herne emerged from the wood. �What do you mean Starbuck? Is being a Hernling not good enough for you? Are your antlers or hooves not fitting enough?� he snorted, angered now for a second for being awoke once more.
�Oh Herne! Why do you let such a tainted beast as the Fox pray off our young, when there are few stags left or strong enough to save them all?!� he mourned with ardor, his eyes wide and his head thrown back.
As he listened to Starbuck�s heartfelt words, his heart warmed at the Herla stag�s cries of pain, love and bitterness and then he realized what Starr had done. The sly fox had tricked him. But he knew that antlers caused pain to his beloved Herla, the hinds, and this hurt Starbuck, who he admired in a way of his own� And he recognized the vixen�s cleverness and the right of Lera to feed�. He summoned the vixen to him and she was tossed into the wood by a might wind.
�You call upon your blessed putnar?� she asked him, ignoring Starbuck entirely.
�I summoned you, Vixen.� Herne said shortly.
Starbuck snorted angrily. �It was she! She killed the fawn!� he said, pawing the ground and lowering his antlered head in preparation for a charge.
�HALT STARBUCK!� Herne cried hotly, for violence in his wood was not tolerated, even from his own Hernling. �All Lera deserve life, and without this vixen�s word, the hinds would suffer and die even more than they deserve too. True she deceived me, and used my name to say her own pelt, but for survival. But where are your stags to defend the herd?�
�Lord Herne, I beg of you to listen!!! Many stags are dead; your winter has killed them! Most are too young to defend the herd.�
�Starbuck,� growled the God, �I see� Then shall it be when this winter melts away and your antlers shed, and when Anlach, locking for the antlers, boils again in your blood, the strongest stags standing, below the Lord, shall protect the Herd, the others shall help Council the Lord of the Herd�s decisions� And from their ranks shall be chosen new protectors� And from them, leaders for their own shall be picked, sworn and bound to do duty by the herd, answering only to their Captains��
Starbuck nodded, still a harsh glance given at the coolly sitting vixen. But all of a sudden, his heart swelled with a noble pride, one to protect the herd and do duty as a fighter and a protector but also as a noble stag that must be kind to fawns and helpful to hinds�
�Now, Starr the Huntress-- you tricked me, and therefore, I am angered for this, you used my name to save your own hide, yet were you not hungry, and you still, amongst Lera remembered me, despite my Winter and the problems it give to you and you kin. You have also saved the Herla hinds from much pain�. So�� Starbuck stared in horror as the god spoke, but he remained strong-standing and firm.
�So� Starr, you and your kind shall hunt only the Fawns of Herla, never able to take an adult. And you shall feast forever, but only under one condition�.� The Forest God�s eyes twinkled strangely, and despite his cold hatred at Herne�s comment about the fawns, Starbuck felt strangely warm inside�.
�The strongest stags in the herd are given a chance to fend you off and stop the fox�s hunt, and many a time, they shall�� he said to Starbuck, a wind blowing sparkling stars, snowflakes and rain out across the land from the vapor that curled from his nostrils in the cold. �May this mark the bravest stags and tell them of their duty, may their antlers grow strong and their strength be great�.�
Herne turned back to the vixen. �You shall be a remembered Putnar, cunning, swift and sly, but only for those who are smaller may your kin hunt and only the Herla who know not yet of my Lore, the smallest, whose mother�s pain you eased you shall return when you choose to feed.� He said coldly, using a hunter�s own word for themselves and with that, he vanished into the sky.
Starbuck watched the space where Herne had been. He now knew he must find stags to help protect the herd, but first�
�Starr Huntress, you have heard the word of Herne, and I respect that�but still you killed a Herla calf, my own fawn, and for that, I will chase you, we, the Herla shall drive you away from our fawns, so now, run, run and run away�� he said calmly, lowering his head, he charged at her and the vixen ran.
She ran swift as the wind and leapt from rocks and trees into the sky, where she hid behind the sun, the blinding light not letting Starbuck see her, and the strong and loud wind stopped her from being nosed or heard� She looked around the run and found an egg� She thought this a fit prize to bring home� But she can only journey at night, except when Starbuck sleeps at Arma�
So from that day onwards, the vixen, tries to push a beautiful silver egg, the Moon, slowly, across the night sky towards her den, to feed her kin, with her muzzle. She must do this carefully as to not break and lose her prize. In her hunger she nibbles at a bit more as she journeys from night to night, resting during the day with it tucked under her paws, sometimes carrying on with it into the day. Many are the times when she finishes it early and must find a new one in the sun, which she always does and begins again, that is why the sky goes dark for a few days per moon cycle.
Rare are the times when she brings her spoils home, but when she does, or when her eyes stray to the Herla again, the sun is covered by the egg and day turns to night. A second Larn where her kind get another chance to feed�
Yet she shows herself in more forms, when you see lightening prance between the clouds, lighting them up when the storm rolls through, you have seen her, the Starr Huntress. You have gazed upon the flash of her eyes and claws and teeth, when she chooses to hunt bigger prey, to chase after the souls of bad fawns. Know her powers to bring death, to stop life when it is so young, like her white fire to a tender leafed tree.
She is also seen at times, chasing the souls of young Herla who have not yet learned of Herne or not believed in him� But when Starbuck comes to save the good fawns, then she will vanish into the night over the horizon, a brief flash of her white tag and the glimmer of her eyes, fangs and claws, like a falling star as she runs between her den at the Larn Star and her red star hunting thicket by trying to drive her prey�
And this was how the Outriders and the Corps were born, and how the Herla, driving the Fox away from the Herd, reach Herne and Starbuck in their starry forest, and of the fate of the Starr Huntress, the red star, the cloud-to-cloud lightening and the falling star� So fawns watch out for these signs of Larn and are near your mothers and stay with them at that time �till Arma breaks, and she sleeps.
So be (a) good fawn(s) and listen to your mother and be wary and strong and brave and Starr Huntress cannot harm you, and remember stay with your mother when she asks it of you.
[[This little story I wrote myself, to help incorporate the name I use for advertising �Starr� or �Starr Huntress� into the game. Also, by using a fox, it also connects to a former OOC name of mine, Fox. Further more, I wanted a story to create the Outriders and Corps as well as make one to �scare� the fawns about the �big bad fox.� :-P And if anyone asks why the fox doesn�t die or something, I like �em waaaay to much to do that.]]
[[If anyone would like to submit a story, corrections or more info, please just send it in^^ You�ll get your name under it for recognition and get the warm, fuzzy feeling of of knowing you�ve helped us greatly! :D]]
