The Tale of Gesh
Once - in the time of my grandmother's grandfathers, if not before - the world was a cold place, ruled over by giants. And the giants were as wise as they were mighty, and as mighty as they were cruel, and their cruelty would make even the strongest of hearts falter and fail...The Tale of Gesh, as recounted by Niamh Sharptongue, concerns the activities of a giant by the name of "Gesh", who is said to have created the Breaker of Chains and brought it to Lith Kala in the distant past.
Summary
In the closing years of the Aeon of Ice, when the Ordning of the Giants ruled the world, there lived a young giant named Gesh, the favoured son of the King of the Giants. Gesh was raised in opulance in the King's palace above the clouds, at the centre of the world, and from the day that he could walk he was tutored by all the finest scholars of the land. He studied all manner of knowledge and arts that were known to the giants, from astronomy to the work of the forge, though he was forbidden from learning one thing - the language of the slaves who toiled under the yoke of the giants, for his father decreed that it was not fitting for the son of the King to debase himself with such low words.
Being a bright child with an insatiable thirst for knowledge, Gesh fixated on this one thing that he was forbidden to learn, and begged his tutors to teach him - but all were too frightened of the wrath of his father the King. But eventually he persuaded a favoured slave, an elderly kenku scribe named "Scratching Nib", to teach him the languages of the slaves in secret. And when Gesh had mastered the language of the slaves, he soon yearned to see what was in the world beyond the walls of his father's palace, and so he disguised himself as a rather tall Goliath and began to sneak out of the palace at night to mingle with the slaves and learn more of their ways.
What Gesh saw beyond the walls of the palace shocked him - he was appauled by the desperate condition in which the slaves dwelled, by the cruelty with which the giants ruled over them and kept them in line, and by the way in which the higher ranks of the Ordning had so systematically insulated themselves from the truth of the injustices upon which their society was built. Outraged, he came before his father and demanded that something be done - but whilst his passion and his commitment to the wellbeing of the lower orders did persuade his father to commit to some minor reforms, he found that nothing seemed to truly change the conditions in which the slaves dwelled. Eventually he concluded that the society of the Ordning was corrupt to the core, and that for the sake of justice it would have to be toppled.
Using all the magic and the knowledge of the giants, Gesh secretly forged a magical blade of great power, and whispered into the steel three names: Breaker of Chains, Death of Tyrants, and Self-Sown Destruction. He had found a group of slaves who were plotting rebellion against the King of the Giants, led by a dwarf named Taramenabba, to whom he gave the sword and with it the power to topple to Ordning. Taramenabba subsequently rose up against the King of the Giants, and slew him with that very sword.
Taramenabba offered to make Gesh the new King of the Giants, but Gesh refused, saying that if he did so he would surely become no better than his father. And thus, whilst the remnants of the Ordning fled to the distant corners of the earth and beyond the sky, Gesh retired into the mountains, to live out his life in peace and contemplation. And so Taramenabba had finally destroyed the Ordning, he met with his lieutenants Tulokazi the orc and Tauthak the goliath, to decide who should rule them; and the three leaders of the free slaves quarreled over this, and over who should bear the sword that Gesh had created, and eventually came to blows over this. In the ensuing melee, Tauthak accidentally broke the sword, and it shattered into three pieces - and to the amazement of the three leaders, it then reformed into three seperate weapons. They realised that this meant that there should not be a single leader of their cause, but that all three of them should rule as a triumvirate, the power of the weapon and their movement divided equally between them.
Years passed, and eventually peace came to the land, and the three rulers hung up their weapons for good, knowing that they would no longer be needed; and then Gesh returned from his isolation and asked that the swords be reunited in his care - for he knew that in some distant time, in some distant land, others would find them trodden beneath the foot of the oppressor, and such a weapon might set them free as it had the slaves of the Ordning. And in respect to his wisdom, the three leaders agreed, and Gesh thus reforged the three weapons into a single blade once more.
Gesh took the reforged blade, and travelled far from the mountains where he had dwelled, until he came to forest by the sea - Bos Kala - where he carved a cave from the living rock in which to hide the sword. And he thrust the sword into the rock, saying "here shall you rest for a thousand years, and for a thousand more, before tyranny comes to the world one more and you are freed to slay those who would oppress others"; and from the rock into which he thrust the sword erupted a stream of blood-red water, and this became the Everbleeding Shrine of Lith Kala.
Centuries passed, and the Basilisk Queens rose to power and conquered the land. Like the giants before them, they were cruel and powerful, and none dared stand against them; until one night, three refugees came to Bos Kala and took refuge in the cave that they found there - and these refugees were named Giladd Silverbow, Zilyazi Suruk, and Eikos Bheur. In the cave they found the sword that had been thrust into the rock, and as soon as they learned the nature of its magic, they swore to destroy the Empire of Kataris.
With the sword as their witness, the three rebels made their pact - but they could not agree how to bring down the Basilisk Queens:
Said Suruk: "Give me an army unconquerable, loyal to each other and to no higher power - not to gods, not to queens - and I will lead it to victory"
Said Giladd: "Give me a weapon that strikes silent and true, and I shall become the terror in the night, and slay every tyrant from the shadows"
Said Eikos: "Give me magic beyond all mortal magic, and I will unweave all the foul enchantments that have been woven by our oppressors"
Then the sword shook, and split in three: a smaller blade, a bow, and a staff. And each of the three were granted their wish - and thus fell the Basilisk Queens. And perhaps the sword, the bow, and the staff remain out there to this day, waiting to be reunited in the stone, to be drawn forth against a tyrant once more...
Historical Basis
The historical basis of the story is somewhat questionable at best; some parts, such as the inclusion of the character of Scratching Nib, are almost certainly false, there being no indication that kenku existed during the Aeon of Ice - or, at least, not in the sense that they would be recognised today. Likewise, whist Taramenabba is a historical figure (ruling the Tevashi during the 2000's to 1800's Before the First Founding), it is unclear who Tulazi and Tauthak are - indeed, both are relatively common names among modern Dovkoshi orcs and the goliaths of the Merati Plateau respectively, and it is likely that these could simply be placeholder names.
The downfall of the Ordning, as recounted in the Book of the Flood, does not mention any individual named Gesh - though given the fragmentary and disputed nature of modern versions of the text, this is not entirely surprising. Another particular point of difference also comes in the observation that First Alliance who fought against the Ordning is generally claimed to have consisted only of dwarven rebels, whereas the tale of Gesh would seem to imply that the orcs and goliaths played an equal role in that war.
Interestingly, the Anima of Vash Ossai made a single reference to the "Three Blades of the Traitor Smith" in the context of the Seventh Paragon; it is unclear whether there may be any connection between this fragmentary reference and any aspect of the tale of Gesh.
With regards to the actions and motivations of the three rebels - Zilyazi Suruk, Giladd Silverbow, and Eikos Bheur - the tale of Gesh would seem to agree with the generally-accepted narrative around the Oath of Undoing, though whether the wishes expressed by the three are accurately described in the narrative is unclear.
Date of Setting
Aeon of Ice
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