Volden Everstowe

Volden Everstowe was a notorious explorer, as admired for his discovery of the ancient kingdom of Solamira as he was despised by his family for his method of achieving that revolutionary aim. He lived 500 years ago and is almost thoroughly forgotten, thanks to the efforts of his descendants to hide his work and bury his story. His present descendants, one of only two living, have restored the Everstowe name, making it synonymous with higher learning.
Convinced he had found the safest points of passage to Andetra's south pole, a region protected by strange shallows and reefs that ringed the southern seas, the explorer sought to find willing assistance.
He first approached the wolfish Luperkai, revered seafarers with the power to transform into wolves made of mist that raced across the oceans. They were so offended by his willingness to endanger the land of the ancients, which the oceans themselves were keen to protect, that hey imprisoned Volden for a time. He only won his freedom when he promised to abandon his plans.
However, Volden foolishly believed that since his only intention was on learning and study, that would be enough to honor and protect the legacy of the ancients. As he intended no ill will, he saw no reason to give up own his goal.
Everstowe next travelled to Serconia, where the dragons of Andetra made their home. He met with the King, who was intrigued at Volden’s plan to traverse the shallows from the air on dragon-back. The dragons of Serconia had long lent their aid to the royal family, elementals with whom the dragons shared symbiotic magic. But the dragons were not servants; they were equals if not betters, revered and respected throughout Serconia by all its people, and no dragon seemed willing to lend their wings to Everstowe.
Undaunted, Volden reached out to his final option, the least favorable: the burgeoning military power that was the kingdom of Havelocke. It was too small to rival any of Andetra’s truly impressive kingdoms, allied in their desire for peace. The chance at a conquest like Everstowe presented was too enticing for the King of Havelocke to deny. Imagine! Acquiring a new kingdom beyond an impassable see from which he could reign unchallenged!
However, Volden Everstowe was no fool. He knew that he stood to outlive his usefulness the moment the impassible sea was successfully charted. He knew the power-hungry nation he’d recruited would likely destroy the very place he most wanted to study. For this, he prepared his own dastardly plans, with the best of intentions.
First, he enlisted the services of a trusted cartographer, a few of his fellow scholars, and a pair of mages to accompany him for some degree of protection. He had the cartographer chart both accurate sea charts and false ones. Havelocke lost three ships, which were sent out with a skeleton crew to try the routes Everstowe suggested, before he was successful.
The remaining three ships in Havelocke’s fleet sailed on, and finally reached the shores of the famed first kingdom of Andetra - Solamira. But they were quickly surrounded by war-ready ships, full of warriors determined to protect their homeland.
In the midst of the tense stand off and negotiation, Volden made his ghastly move. He poisoned the ship’s supply of food and drink. When the few survivors were transferred to another ship, Volden repeated his murderous deeds until only he, the mages, the mapmaker, and a handful of suffering crewmen remained. He even poisoned his two scholar friends to avoid suspicion falling on his group.
When the final ship took the survivors on board, Everstowe sent his cartographer ahead with the false sea charts, opting to remain behind. When it set sail back for Havelocke, Volden stayed alone in one of the rowboats.
Starving and dehydrated, he risked death in the hopes the ancients would take pity on him. Just when he was about to succumb, they did.
Volden Everstowe had finally reached the fabled land. For months he was able to study, document, and learn. He began to compile what would become his family’s greatest treasure – and best kept secret – The Everstowe Chronicle.
But all was not well for long. While he was convinced the lone ship would never pass the treacherous shallows with the fake sea charts, he underestimated his cartographer’s memory – and his will to live. The ship did return to Havelocke.
The King dispatched his remaining fleet. The cartographer, on threat of torture, agreed to lead the way. Havelocke returned to Solamira, and this time, they were ready for war.
What the King didn’t know, and Everstowe had learning during his time at Solamira, was that the first kingdom of Andetra maintained a vital function to the very planet’s prosperity. Solamira’s formidable warriors were able to thwart Havelocke’s assault until aid arrived. The white wolves of the sea, the Luperkai, helped turn the tide of battle.
The Luperkai threw Everstowe in the brig and returned for Lunarsong, where he languished in the castle dungeon, more concerned about Solamira’s fate than ever. During his imprisonment, he began to document in earnest, in the pages of the Everstowe Chronicle, the calamity which could result and all he had learned of what may come.
The King of Havelocke was not deterred when his fleet failed to return. He sought council with the King of Valdai, in northern Lunarsong, who he knew had been discontent for sometime. Together, they invaded Lunarsong and took over its territory. In the ensuing chaos, Everstowe was able to escape the castle dungeon. He fled with the Chronicle into the countryside, where he began for himself a simple peasant’s life, rearing Stigiwiks, large owl-like birds known for their oversized eggs. He took a wife, with whom he had a daughter.
In exchange for their aid in the successful taking of Lunarsong, the King of Valdai offered its help to Havelocke in kind, providing a new fleet and forces for another attempt at Solamira. This time, without the aid of their Luperkai allies, Solamira fell.
As Valdai’s vessels returned with riches and treasures from its conquest, and Solamirans as slaves, Everstowe realized what had happened and was forever changed. He abandoned the pursuit of knowledge. Entrusting his wife and child with the chronicle, he set out to devise a plan to liberate the Solamiran captives.
By way of one of his winged companions, Everstowe made a covert aerial entrance to one of the castle towers by night, climbing down a rope from an airborne Stigiwik. Once inside, he resorted again to poison, this time contaminating the castle’s food stores and dinnerware before secreting himself in the castle. Once the toxins took affect, he found his way to the dungeons before the King could send for reinforcements.
Everstowe succeeded in escaping with a single Solamiran family. He secured passage to the island of Sygret, Serconian territory, where they would have the protection of the ever-watchful dragons. Before the Serconians discovered them, he sought the blessing of the dragons. And though the dragons kept their secrets, they ensured the King abided them.
There, Everstowe helped them create a new colony under the guise of a grand school, a place he hoped from which the Solamirans could proliferate and continue their vital work in secret. He aiding them in the recreation of crucial temples and structures. They laid a plan in the hopes of ensuring Andetra’s survival.
Finally, Everstowe not only reinscribed his Chronicle but added to it at length. To ensure its protection, he enshrined it in a sacred chamber. With the help of a trusted mage, Volden Everstowe became the lock upon its door, sacrificing his mortal form to become its everlasting protector.
Everlasting, at least, until the dark day came when Andetra’s time was about to expire. He could only pray that when that time came, one of his line would appear seeking his wisdom in the hopes of saving their world, one for whom the lock might open and his spirit would be free to rest.