Barek's exploits: The training of a mage

[Aaron Winsett]

Aaron Winsett, a young, green haired, dusty-headed mage climbed wearily up the steps to his room for the night. He was fourteen years old, and had been training with his Grandfather, Barek Adams, for about two years now. Since starting, he'd had training in geology, tracking, and how to survive away from a town's resources. He'd worked on strengthening his mind as well as his body. Mathematics, history, the design of structures, and of course, the arcane arts of the magic of nature. Aaron could scarcely believe that he'd covered so much, and yet, the old man had such a way of explaining it that everything seemed to come off as entertaining, as though he was telling a story around a campfire. Sometimes he had been.

Earlier that day, they and various other students and staff of the place had finished the preparation for one of the old sage's many projects: an arboretum. It was to be a place where many shrubs and trees would grow. Specifically, plants that had, or were believed to have healing properties. Barek insisted that a strong body was one thing a mage should have, and so they were out digging the trenches for the irrigation system by their own physical effort, instead of hiring others or finding a way to do it with magic. During a break, one of the students asked why they weren't using magic to do the work, and Barek decided that perhaps a demonstration would be a good thing for his "work crew".

He stood up and approached one of the lines that they had yet to begin digging. Aaron was amazed as he witnessed his Grandfather simply thrust his hand out, and cause an intense burn, carving away the dirt to be dug out.

"You all want to find a better way to do the work. A faster, and easier way. It is a common goal of many people, and sometimes it works... but I want to show you something." By the time he finished speaking he had carved out the whole row, a good sixty to seventy feet. He turned back to them then. "Sometimes it is better to take the proper amount of time and devote enough effort to your task that it becomes valuable. Sometimes, if you hurry, you can find that the object you've been struggling for has merely become more difficult to attain."

The students watched the dirt behind their instructor collapse back into the newly dug trench. It was nearly as full as it had been before, and now the footing around the trench would be more difficult, due to the collapse. He looked back for a moment before laughing and returning his gaze to his students. "Haha...Certainly, I could've done that in a way that it would have remained stable, and prevented the collapse, but it would not have saved much time or energy. Some things are just better done without involving the use of magic."

They had all gotten back to work and that was one of the reasons that Aaron felt dusty, tired, and sore. He went in and cleaned himself up before heading off to bed. When he got to his room he found a stack of papers tied and resting on his bed. There was a note on them.

Aaron,

I finished looking through the Illian section of Master Barek's records of his travels. I'll keep sending them after I finish each section. He's really traveled alot of places.

Enjoy browsing them,
James

James was one of the other mage apprentices, more advanced than Aaron, but still on friendly terms. Aaron pushed his hair back out of his face and opened the package for a brief perusal. He could spare a few minutes just to see what this was all about...

[Aaron Winsett]

Aaron flipped open the pages and read the first page. It was dated to twenty years before.

Dear reader, the following recorded materials are the compiled results of my observations of the northern land of Illia on their culture, cities, and the very land itself. I have hopes of someday returning to do more in depth searching out of this determined people of the snowy north

-Barek Adams, Sage of Ryerde

Where to begin about this fascinating land in the north is a question that I pondered for a good long while. In the end...

...The climate in Illia is colder than anywhere else in the known lands of this world. This obstacle has made it difficult to farm successfully, though, given the proper location, small harvests of hearty vegetables or potatoes can be brought in by those who work diligently at farming....

...Some have attempted to get by on carpentry work. While sometimes more successful than farming, this also has problems. Due to the cold, most wood has to be used for building shelter, or burning as firewood. In addition, there is simply not enough of a market among most of Illia's population for such work. Exporting also can prove difficult, as it is a remote country, and there simply isn't enough interest in the buying of Illian made furniture. Some still support the idea though and are attempting to plant more trees to use in the future. We shall see if it ever pans out....

What Illia has accomplished is to make a name for itself in the world of mercenaries. It's capital, Arphen has been called the mercenary training capital of the world. This author cannot speak for all such fighters, but it seems as though these people are not the common ruffians and sell-swords that populate the other lands. As this is the best chance of earning the money to support their families, it seemed like the majority of Illianers were truly dedicated to becoming the best mercenaries in the world.

I spoke with a young pegasus knight named Hera Feldsky while I was there. She had already made a name for herself on the field of battle, and was known to be quite skilled among Illia's trademark flying cavalry.

She told me that... "The Illian mercenaries depend on being hired to do jobs. As such, we can't allow the kind of riff raff that most people think of as mercs to dominate who we are. Instead, we've adopted a code of conduct, to be honorable, polite, and most of all, the best at what we do. Not all of us are part of the central headquarters here in Arphen, many are still independent soldiers, but the ones who have joined are held to a standard of behavior that brings honor to Illia, and often gets us the jobs from the nobles in the summerlands.

We aren't fighting to get rich up here. Often as not, our payment consists of food and supplies sent up to help us get by."

I found the fighters of Illia's central headquarters to have a strange blend of the Olde Knights Code, and the thinking of a mercenary out to accomplish the job however they could. Dame Feldsky explained to me that, although she valued fighting honorably and straight forward, she could not afford to hesitate, if given a chance to defeat the enemy in a way that cut her own losses. It seemed to ultimately be a commitment to win, and to win in the least costly way....



The city of Arphen, perched on it's mountain, may be one of the most difficult cities to assault on the continent. With the rocky slopes making it difficult for an army to approach, as well as the surrounding wilderness with little resources available, it would not be an easy target. Small towns and villages around the base of the mountain are where most of the cargo is unloaded, before being carted up the hill...

[Aaron Winsett]

Aaron kept on leafing through the pages, knowing he should long since have gone to sleep. The entry was still dated twenty years before.

...The Lady Feldsky obliged my curiosity of the fortress city to the northeast of the main city, and granted me a tour. It is not only the training grounds for the their soldiers, but it also serves as a bulwark against any great threats that may come against the people of Arphen.

The walls of the city stood high on the solid rocks of the mountain, giving what seemed to be a stable foundation to the high place. Soldiers stationed there kept watch from the walls alongside archers and balasticians. Inside the city, the streets elevation rose as it approached the main Headquarters in the Northeast. There, one encountered yet another wall, separating the rest of the city from the compound. It stood strong with seven towers surrounding the walled stronghold. On each tower was a ballista ready to be used. I imagine that they took special construction to withstand the cold of Illia for so long. I know I was chilled straight to the bone by that point.

Then I saw it. The HQ. Anyone who thought that Illian's didn't have talented stonemasons among them would instantly have taken back their words and started searching for the master who carved this monolithic work. I confess that my jaw may have gone slack as I saw this great structure in the heart of the mountainous north.

As we approached the building, I watched a group of trainees who seemed to be involved in a practice battle, attempting to steal their opponents flag. It struck me how much this peoples life centered around proficiency in arms then...

I realized that the main entry way to the building was nearly thirty feet across and thirty feet high. What surprised me more was that there were no doors, no gates. Lady Feldsky explained, "The main headquarters here, was designed with Illias strength in mind. We have infantry, and cavalry, archers, but Illia also has one thing that no other nation can boast. Our pegasus knights. The entry way is designed large enough that even a pegasus in flight can comfortably enter the building if need be, and the inside is designed in much the same way. Come."

I followed her in, my curiosity piqued. Inside, I found that the entire center of the building was one large open room, one hundred feet wide, one hundred feet tall, and about one hundred and fifty feet deep. I noticed wide hallways that bisected the place, front and back. These ran floor to ceiling.

"If this place were ever attacked, not even getting inside the keep here would provide them shelter from our flying cavalry. The place is designed to allow free mobility of nearly any type of force we could assemble."

It was clear she was very proud of the place. I suppose that Bern's wyverns could prove deadly to them inside here, but she clearly thought that between the defenders on the walls, and the skill of Illia's defenders in this day and age, the place was unconquerable by force....

...She'd explained about some of the measures they took to help stop the cold from infiltrating the place. At night, or on especially cold days they would take heavy curtains, and pull them across the great front doors and the roof entrance. This helped contain the heat and prevent drafts....

The place had landing balconies inside on all floors, which I was advised to keep clear of, lest I fall or be crashed into by one of their winged horses. The basement was apparently used for storing supplies of various kinds. First floor had housing, common rooms, and meeting rooms. The second room had much the same, but was reserved for matters of greater importance. On the third floor was the in house pegasus stable, and at the back of that third floor was a ramp the led up onto the roof. She did not go into how they dealt with keeping the third floor tidy...

By the time we made it to the roof I was no longer surprised to find that there were two more balistae on the roof. I was mildly surprised to find that the building was taller than the walls surrounding it though....

Due to the construction of the roof served as a large rain collector, funneling water down into holding tanks where it could be used to fill the watering troughs of the pegasi, or other purposes....