Andrew Michael Miller's Thought Backlog
Writer and working Agile professional. Author of Pancho's Fall.
The following series of letters occurs between two rival clerics, Recamundus de Gelgadongo and Cesario de Torium. While there can be no question that Torium is a much larger cultural hub - it is the Torian Capital, after all - not enough can be said about the Academy in Gelgadongo, where many lords from the peninsula and trade barons from the the Saibhrean Isles send their children to receive an education.
Vestilla, the fortified castle city in the mountains on Northern Caelon, stands at a higher elevation than any other castle in the whole of the peninsula. Huge, ancient walls built directly into the mountainside offer protection against any would-be invaders. Inside the outer walls lie separate districts where all citizens carry out their lives under the constant oversight of the Vestillan Guard. A king sits atop the throne, asserting his influence on a wide span of countryside that includes smaller keeps and villages, as well as a vast forest across the realm, untouched by the Great Fire.
"Jewel of the North"
Though eye did see and heart did know
The sting of losses too great to show
When Old Shalona and Ismar fell
And too late did ring poor Aston's bells
Yet the brave King his men did call
And I, your knight, with arms and all
My love for thee, o twinkling gem
Shined through the trees, your diadem
Though demons prowled the roads of dread
And darkness fell where they did tread
Trampled flowers and trampled fields
Tremendous strength they did so wield
Yet bravely did King Ávalos rally
His troops and tramps through the valley
Outnumbered we, one to five
We made our stand and gave our lives
And at the hour most uncertain
The Sun shone through a golden curtain
For alas from Western boundaries
Came hillrunners and horses through the trees
King of Olenos, his army did reprieve
Vestillan soldiers, our hopes retrieved
And on they cut into the night
Claiming vict'ry, our Northern rite
And when the morning light was bare
Reflecting in the waters clear
The Jewel of the North still stands
And demons now have left our lands,
They met the ground with their feet
Surely spelling their defeat
Now brothers we the North are born
The Torian North forever sworn
