Peace treaty of Farinos

The Peace Treaty of Farinos was a spoken contract that ended the War of Men to the unification of the Highland and Lowland armies, against the common enemy, the Giants. These events signaled the end of the Time of Wander, when humans had existed as mere slaves to the giants, and led to the rise of the early human kingdoms.

The treaty is named after River Farinos (Silver Stream), on the banks of which the negociations for the treaty took place.

Historical context

The War of Men, the first part of the Giant Wars had been a long and exhausting conflict between the Highland men (lead by the Stone Giants) and the Lowland men (lead by the Forest giants), that can be considered an extension of the age-old hatered between the two races of giants. Now the highlanders were leading an advance farther to the lowland territory than they had ever before, raiding villages and burning the forests, until the battles had reached a temporary standstill on the crossing of River Farinos.

Reaching the peace

Among the battles on the banks of Farinos, a half-giant, one of the commanders of the Lowland army had been taken captive. Kauteirin, wife of the highland commander Farinwél, saw him, and to his great surprise, recognised this man as his twin brother Daursan. The reconnection of the two brothers lead them to realise that the enemy they had been fighting was of their own flesh and blood, while the giants were the true enemies of the human race.

Negotiations

Daursan and Kauteirin convinced the leaders of the highlanders to propose a meeting with the lowlanders for exchanging prisoners. This was the beginning of the series of meetings, that took place during the summer.

Resolutions

The most important resolution of the treaty was the ending of hostilities between the human armies. River Farinos was agreed to become the final border between the two populations, meaning that large parts of the Farensal was ceded to the highlanders, in return of their promise to cut their ties with the Stone Giants.

Aftermath

The peace treaty lead to the second phase of the Giant Wars, a long battle of the united forces of humans, with the help of the gods, to drive out the giants. This finally led to the near extintion of the giants on Salan.

Medium

Oral Tradition / Word of Mouth

Authoring Date

c. 5 BFS

Myth

Songs of Daursan and Kauteirin

Location

Farinos (Silver Stream)

Signatories (Characters)

• Daursan
• Farinwél

Signatories (Organizations)

• Lowland army

Medium

As the events happened long before the invention of writing, the treaty was only transmitted in oral tradition and its exact contents are unknown. The main account is found in the Songs of Daursan and Kauteirin, which is among the oldest known myths recorded into writing, the earlies fragments dating to the Early Kingdom Period, ~3rd century AFS (around 300 years after the events took place).