Solaim
Vassal Lords | Eorldom of Swords
Vassal Lords | Eorldom of Swords
For over two and a half centuries, the SOLAIM lineage has fought and died for the Throne and the glory of Rhone. From their origins in the Midlands to their efforts at the side of the Raven Queen Moralei all the way to their acceptance of land and title in service to the Brynagars—the Solaim have pledged and delivered their lives or those of their enemies in service to the Throne. The lineage of Solaim holds heroes aplenty stretching back into time immemorial and it is often boasted in their Sword Coast hall that spilled blood anywhere in Rhone cannot be called a war without a Solaim in the vanguard.
The Solaim family is sworn to the service of the Eorl of Swords, that held by the line of Brynagar, and has been rewarded with lordship and lands for it. They hold two communities along the middle portion of the Sword Coast and near the very summit of the Eorldom’s borders. Around 1800 souls live and breathe under the protection of the Solaim and have prospered doing so for over one hundred and eighty years.
It is said that the heroism of the Solaim bloodline is only tempered by the rhythmic descent that comes with a shadowed ambition embedded within their blood. The Solaim have been warriors and conquerors, yes, but also murderers and traitors. It is often whispered that every few generations, when the Solaim have accomplished too much or seem to rise without fail, that the legacy of their ambition is inflicted on them as a lash for their presumptions or perhaps that of a slavemasters whip to keep them from rising to the very top.
The current Lord Solaim is MAVRON SOLAIM who has seemed to embody both sides of the Solaim coin in the first few years of his adult life. Strong in swordsmanship and his horsemanship, MAVRON inherited his lands upon gaining his majority and being sworn to knighthood in service to the Eorldom of Swords.
History
EARLY HISTORY | FOLKLORE
The SOLAIM lineage has been part of Rhone for over two hundred years. But unlike many in Rhone, the family’s roots lay in the MIDLANDS where they were part of the original landholding class in the KINGDOM OF TAIRENTH of the central MIDLANDS. They held lands and bore arms as part of the warrior class. TAIRENTH was one of the kingdoms that was taken by the forces of the traitorous sons-in-law of King Naeras. In the chaos, the SOLAIM family resisted those who rose up against the rightful King and were cut down for their convictions. When the uprising had swept over TAIRENTH and left it behind, the last SOLAIM family member, Tiros Solaim, had been left forgotten and imprisoned in a dark cell.
Here he would lay, in the darkness, until the arrival of Rhone and their liberation of his captivity.
THE ROAD TO RHONE | 1st MIDLANDS CAMPAIGN
The strife in the MIDLANDS began with the ambitions of the warlords chosen to marry the daughters of KING NAERAS. Although content for a time, the warlords and their wives conspired amongst them to take power, land and wealth from KING NAERAS. In the chaos of their betrayal, King Naeras was able to flee the MIDLANDS and sought refuge in the court of QUEEN AROSAINE of RHONE of RHONE. The tales of his friendship with PRINCE ARTATH and the subsequent decision by RHONE to restore NAERAS to his throne are discussed in greater detail elsewhere but concluded with the launching of the 1st MIDLANDS CAMPAIGN.
In -219BL the forces of RHONE liberated the holdings of old Tairenth where the last SOLAIM lay weakened from more than three years of captivity. The first kind voice heard by TIROS in over a year was that of KINA ATHYROS ATHYROS—a Rhonish noble and warrior woman. Freed from his captivity, TIROS SOLAIM threw his lot in with the Rhonish and dedicated himself to seeking vengeance for the deaths of his kin. Over the course of the next few years, ATHYROS and SOLAIM fought side-by-side and back-to-back across the Midlands.
At her side, the last heir of SOLAIM fought alongside the Rhonish army against the usurpers of Naeris’s lands for several years. He acquitted himself well in several of the better-known battles that led to Prince Artath’s victory over the Midlander nobles. It was this friendship that convinced TIROS SOLAIM to emigrate back to Rhone with her.
When the conflict in the MIDLANDS had died down, there were too many bad memories that plagued dissenters such as TIROS SOLAIM. A generation of blooding his countrymen and seeing all that he loved turned to fire would leave an indelible mark upon his peace of mind. While NAERAS and his third daughter had been restored to the throne of the Midlands it was no longer home to TIROS. The foolish heart of Naeras forgave his daughters and their husbands. Under his decrees, the two couples were confined to minor estates within the Midlands. Those Midlanders who had raised blades against these four were aghast at their lenient punishments and knew that it was a mistake.
At last, when the victory was secure and the Rhonish nobles headed for the shores to catch the westerly winds and sail home—Tiros accompanied them to begin a new life.
Once in Rhone, as a hero of the Midlands Campaign, Tiros Solaim was granted refuge in the halls of the ATHYROS family. With respect for his grief and family losses, the ATHYROS settled him on their lands temporarily. Here he was given the opportunity to rest and recuperate from the hardships of the past decade. It was during this time that Tiros met and married a young woman who brought a spark of life back into his day-to-day. Once married, children soon followed and Tiros began a new chapter in his lineage in the Kingdom of Rhone. For all they had done for him, TIROS continued to fight alongside the ATHYROS and remained a loyal friend to KINA ATHYROS until his death during the 2nd MIDLANDS CAMPAIGN. At the time of his death, Tiros left behind a grief-stricken wife and several children that bore the name and blood of Solaim.
Afterward, the SOLAIM family remained in Rhone and built a new life through fealty and the strength of their sword-arms. They fought on behalf of many nobles in hopes of gaining favor. Years without land to call their own had embittered the warriors in the family and they sought more desperate means to attain holdings befitting their station. This bitterness would lead to a low reckoning and change the Solaim family forever. They had left the South a decade earlier as Rhone slowly spread north into the Sword Coast. As the borders of the kingdom moved, the Solaim family followed along in search of lands of their own. Conflicts with the Sword-Lords there were seen as a chance to attain glory and rewards in the Throne’s service.
But the turning point came when the family leader, DOLIS SOLAIM, leaped into action at the call of the Rhonish KING THYARAS. For years the CUTH raiders along the southern and eastern shores had been relentless. Rhone had weathered them with sacrifices of blood and it came to a head with the slaying of the Eorl It was in -157 BL when King Thyaras led his campaign into the Cuthwold and the DOLIS, the firstborn Solaim heir, accompanied him. Once the ambushes became as thick as flies the call to retreat was sounded and many fled back to the shores in terror. It is unknown when and how DOLIS SOLAIM was slain but he was last seen fighting for his life in thick trees—surrounded by the merciless Cuth. See The Death Of King Thyaras
It was here that the Solaim’s fortunes were brought low by ambition and greed. Tired of shedding blood for Rhonish ambition, the new head of SOLAIM—TAVAR the brother of Dolis—unwittingly placing their lineage into the hands of destiny. While Dolis Solaim had been a companion of the former Prince Thyaras and was tied to him by those bonds the other Solaim had felt differently and tired of the endless pursuit of land and title through the Rhonish Throne.
TRAITORS OF THYR | A WARRIOR QUEEN’S MERCY | -156 BL
The death of King Thyaras caused a ripple of unrest throughout the kingdom with the heir, a mere child, unable to immediately claim the throne. This unrest settled in the lands of the Sword-Lord of Thyr. In -156BL, sensing an opportunity for power, the Lord of Thyr quickly gathered his forces and declared his own independence as well as turning on his neighbor’s lands to expand the borders of his newly founded kingdom. To this newly furled banner, Tavar Solaim rushed to pledge his allegiance upon promises of land and titles. The entire family was dragged along with his dark ambition and found themselves fighting against Rhonish neighbors in search of power.
During this time, it was the former King’s sister, the future Raven Queen, Moralei, who took up the Throne’s authority and proclaimed herself the guardian of the Throne and her brother’s children as the heirs of the kingdom. As the Thyrian Uprising started to gain momentum, Moralei wasted no time in gathering a small but dedicated force of her own followers and loyal nobles to head north against Thyr.
Displaying the war-genius that would serve her well in the future, Moralei and her forces engaged the greater Thyrian numbers in a series of ambushes and unconventional battles that maximized her mobility and speed. Group by group, the forces gathered under Thyr were cut to ribbons and left behind in Moralei’s rapid advance through their newly occupied territory. In a matter of weeks, the walls of Thyr Keep were all that stood between the dwindled rebel forces and Moralei’s patriots.
It is a matter of Solaim family lore that the Siege of Thyr Keep ended so quickly due to the intervention of the Tavar Solaim’s niece, THELIRA SOLAIM—the daughter of Dolis. Official records do not support this apocryphal story of the conflict but any Solaim knows the tale and relates it and our patriotism with pride.
While Tavar Solaim may have been the head of the family, our foundations laid within the remainder of the Solaim family. It is to that higher calling, in service to Solaim honor, that caused the other family members to still hold tightly to the bonds forged with Rhone and the line of Rhuanon over the years—even when they had raised banners against it. They stayed quiet as the Thyrian Uprising picked up and there was much dissension in the familial ranks over Tavar’s greed. As the remnants of the rebels huddled behind the walls of Thyr Keep, surrounded by Moralei and her patriots, the Lord of Thyr and his most devoted followers, which included Tavar at this point, held fanatically to the cause. There were several signature lessons for those who sought to abandon the keep or showed less-than-adequate faith in their campaign. These punishments were shown to all as the fate that awaited those who lacked the steel to continue their uprising. Such cruelty silenced all critics within the walls.
And so it was that THELIRA a took it upon herself to bring down the head of her family and open the gates of Thyr Keep Keep. It was her actions, the later Solaim would point to, that ended the siege in less than two weeks and engendered the strange mercy of Moralei. When presented with Thelira’s uncle and a young maiden on bended knee, Queen Moralei slashed the face of THELIRA as constant reminder of her family’s treason but forswore a sentence of execution for the family. One by one, every Solaim family member was brought before her and bound tight with oaths of service to the Throne. Such oaths came with nothing but their lives but the Solaim family, who had always been so loyal to Rhone, leapt at the chance to prove it yet again.
That is, of course, according to the SOLAIM family histories as we have learned them. You will find no such heroism in the books lining the walls of Rhuvael. You will not find the honor of the SOLAIM held up high and responsible for Rhone’s great victory. Our honor is not preserved in those southern libraries—it is preserved in you and your heart and in your blood.
IN THE WAKE OF A WARRIOR QUEEN | -156BL to -136BL
The Princess Moralei became the Queen in good time as crisis after crisis required a steady hand as the heir grew to maturity. As Queen, her conquests of the Sword Lands, Aenar and more are writ large in the history books. It was during nearly two decades in her service that the Solaim family restored their honor as they served with fidelity and courage. In those war-filled years, the Solaim spilt as much of their own blood as that of the Queen’s foes. Thelira was a battle-friend throughout these years and gave her life in service to Queen Moralei in the 2nd SWORD COAST CAMPAIGN.
And so it went, a member of the Solaim family always bearing arms in the Queen’s company for nearly two decades. No mention was ever made of their obligations and oaths to her. There was no reason to invoke them as our bloodline showed itself strong and loyal time and again. In the -140’s, the Queen mustered the forces of Rhone into the 1st AENARIAN WAR as the Raven Queen worked endlessly to expand Rhone’s borders and protect those within its territory. By the end of that war, she had taken lands up within sight of the Aenwold before stopping the advance. Nearly two decades of blood and war had taken their toll and she deemed it time for the blades of Rhone to rest.
THE SWORD-LORDS OF SOLAIM | -134 BL
It was on the march south, in -135 BL, that the Solaim sons and daughters were finally rewarded for their oath and service to the Queen. In the lands of the Eorl of Swords, himself a steady war-companion of hers in Aenar, Queen Moralei delivered unto another companion an infant child for safekeeping. In speaking to the Eorl, she spoke of the bravery of the Solaim—their loyalty and exploits in battle over the nigh twenty years. She finally released the Solaim from their oath to her on the condition that they would serve her friend, the Eorl Brynagar of Swords, with the same ideals and fervor.
And it was THELE SOLAIM that was first given the title of the Lady-Knight Solaim of Swords.
And so, in -134 BL, through blood, betrayal of corrupt kin and years of warfare that the Solaim finally received that which they had hoped for since arriving on these shores from the burning Midlands: a true home. A century of service through the sword had finally won our ancestors that which we hold to this day—as it should be. Know, you who read this, and remember the sacrifices of those who bartered their very lives to win you this hearth and defend it accordingly.
BLACK BLOOD OF SOLAIM | THE TEMPTATION | -133BL to -96BL
The Solaim line served as lords, nobles and knights in Eorldom of Swords for several generations in an exemplary manner. Their courage could always be counted upon in battle and their voices in support of the Eorl at court. The Solaim line had thinned in those years as nieces and nephews obtained fine marriages in other parts of Rhone due to their standing.
The star of their lineage was on the ascendent for nearly forty years before tragedy struck. It was in in the mid-90’s BL when our dark curse that peculiarly Solaim streak of dark ambition and greed reared its head. Know it and guard against it, it is our burden and we must know that its whispering and temptations come from the Adversary who seeks to lay low true warriors by sin so that It may prevail. This darkness has plagued our line as a reminder and punishment for the long-ago actions of Tavar in Thyr. It lies within us all.
And so it was, at the turn of the century looking back, it came to fall once again on our line during the reign of LORD DAIVIDEN SOLAIM and his treacherous younger brother, MARDAN SOLAIM. Only half a decade apart and yet much further in temperament, Daividen and Mardan were still close in their youth and maintained that companionship into their young adult years. Both were squired and knighted and, due to the good fortunes of their family, Mardan stayed on the family estate to serve and protect while his brother ruled the family lands. There were several years of good living between the two and the estate prospered. Both brothers were skilled at lance and showed their mettle at tournaments near and far. For Mardan, it was a more continual pursuit as he was not shackled by the obligations of lordship as was his brother. But it was not the thought of the obligations but the prestige he lacked that turned Mardan’s heart dark and sang to the foul blood in his veins that had been absent from our lineage for so many years.
During a summer of tourneys and revels, Mardan met CATRE GANATHOR, the daughter of the northern Free Lords, and was enraptured by her beauty and wit. Over the course of the summer, they met and flirted at event after event, with Mardan growing ever more ensnared in her charms. But when he finally advanced himself before her she sadly spoke of his lack of lands as unacceptable to her father for her hand. Despite this obstacle, Mardan could not help but keep pursuing her and the young woman did little to dissuade him—even fanning his desire whenever possible.
Over the winter, Mardan sought the favor of his brother to be granted some lands of his own but was rebuffed as that would weaken the entire estate. It was an irrational request by any measure but Mardan saw it not that way. His correspondence with Catre Ganathor continued and they were reunited over the Midwinter Swords Court for a feast, dancing and more temptation. It was during this time that Mardan saw only a single means to an end—the hand of Catre Ganathor. Nothing would satisfy him, he realized, and so it was that a dark seed slowly began to form within him. It was of some daring that he revealed his plan to Catre Ganathor and the young woman fanned his fevered dreams even further. The young woman did not turn from him in disgust or reveal his dark ambition to anyone. She supported and encouraged it—with her words and her skin. She declared that it was the only way that they could be together with her father’s approval and to support her in the manner she was accustomed.
It was that temptation that inspired Mardan to listen to our dark ambition. And that ambition pushed him toward the inevitable decision to murder his lord and brother.
Over the course of the next year, Mardan continued his wooing of CATRE GANATHOR while he pursued a means to inherit the SOLAIM lands. His obsession for the young Ganathor maiden grew deeper with each day that passed when she did not belong to him. His letters to her were explicit in their explanations of how he would make it possible for them to be together. Up to the moment of his eventual execution, MARDEN swore that Catre Ganathor had been privy and counsel to his planning over the summer months.
In the fall of -96 BT, after a torturously slow summer, MARDEN SOLAIM plotted a hunting trip with his brother, the LORD DAIVIDEN SOLAIM, within which to put his plan into motion. The two men and their squires headed north-west into the thick woods lying at the feet of the GIANTSPINE MOUNTAINS. Once they were thick within the autumn leaves MARDEN waited for a moonless night and slipped out of his tent—blade in hand. The two squires, sons of local knights and neither of them over the age of sixteen, were sharing watches and Marden took them both without a sound. His brother, asleep since the partaking of a gooseberry brandy after meal, never saw the blade flash down that first time. But it is more than certain that as Marden lost control of his rage and frustration that his brother Daividen was alive long enough to feel at least some of the hundred stab wounds inflicted by his maddened brother.
Two days later, MARDEN SOLAIM stumbled out of the forest canopy and made his way to a small cluster of huts on his land. He was bleeding from cuts on his arms and a stab wound in his stomach. It was only hours later that, while the chirurgeon stitched his wounds, that MARDEN unrolled his tale of brigands, ambush and death in the night and came to the sobbing finish he had practiced countless times—the Lord Daividen Solaim had been slain.
Not three days later, Marden paid court to the maiden Ganathor. His expectations must have sweetened all thought of his depravity and his imagination brooked no relation to the truth such was his surprise. The Ganathor witch had beguiled him and leveraged him every step of his journey towards madness and yet—here, now—she spurned without even deigning to meet him. Marden lost control of that interminable rage again and, in a heartbeat, brought the blades and spears of the Ganathor warband to where he screamed and smashed at every thing in sight. It took unconsciousness to secure Marden and he was thrown out into the newly-falling snow to leave and not return.
The ‘Lord Marden Solaim’ held court for less than a month before his story unraveled around him. By the time Marden had returned to his new lands, on that long journey south from the harlot’s tower, he was helpless before the maddened impulses of that dark soul within him. A hundred voices must have accused him as he sat in the dark hall until the wee hours of the morning—sometimes answering silent accusations with bloodcurdling screams and profanity of the basest nature.
The discovery of Daividen’s corpse, hacked into nigh-unrecognizable chunks of meat by his frenzied attack, bore none of the hallmarks of a clan raid and the sheer violence with which the noble had been slain occasioned much comment and gossip. So it was that the whispers began even before the Eorl leaned into the matter. One by one, the domestics and foot servants abandoned their work to seek the safety of their village homes. No more would they come to the manor nor work under the gleaming stare of the kinslayer lord.
By the time the Eorl’s inquest had been completed and his knights stood outside and demanded justice—Marden was a mere shell of a man, let alone a knight in his prime—he was helpless to resist them. The judgment was swift and the remaining Solaims moved quickly to install a new head of the family even before the execution was carried out by the Eorl himself.
It was during those days between judgement and sentence that the Eorl delivered our ancestor to the rack and the coals. Both as excoriating punishment and as a means to uncover all of the dark twists within that beast that called itself Lord Solaim. It was here that Marden provided a detailed recitations of actions and correspondence, which Catre Ganathor was privy to and contributed, that led to the final planning of his brother’s murder.
But the letters and corroborations were gone. Marden gave detailed descriptions of the loose stone under which he had stored this most vile exchange between him and his Catre but nothing came of any search. To the moment his head hit the cooling ground, Marden screamed and pleaded with those around to believe him and deliver justice to the Ganathor woman for whom he had done all these things—as she had requested.
There is no excusing Marden for his actions and they illustrate the very real darkness that lies within us. But where Marden was punished and tortured before death for his heinous crimes; the snake-tongued Ganathor witch faced nothing—not even an inquest. Our family histories show that we corroborated much of Marden accusations simply with his known activities and the pattern that emerged in review. But again and again, we sought justice for our brother, Daividen, and those poor squires but the Ganathors too powerful or our nobles too meek—a murderer walked freely down the wedding aisle that winter with nary a moment’s thought for our dear, departed Daividen—Lord Solaim.
The Ganathor witch married a Taerma, of the line of the Eorldom of Eventide that year and still we sought to bring her to justice—our histories show a journey was made to EVENTIDE even up to the night of the feast and ceremony—but neither the TAERMA nor the GANATHORs were interested in the truth. They had only their own interests and sought those over and above the retribution that even the Church agrees is right to wish for so as to obtain balance again.
THE EMPTY THRONE | TO THE THIRD GENERATION | 8ET to 50ET
Our family is proud to speak the exploits of LORD ARYDUS SOLAIM. Like most of RHONE in those days, the lord and knight of the SOLAIM line, ARYDUS father, had disappeared along with all those who accompanied the Queen's Crusade. It was not until 8 ET that his son, ARYDUS, was legally able to take the title. He was sworn in as the LORD SOLAIM at the age of twenty. In 14 ET, he answered the call of the Regent and his Eorl to travel north and push back the Highlanders probing south from USTAL. A year of hard skirmishing and ambushes taught him the harshness of war. By the end of the year though, the Rhonish forces were able to drive the forays back.
In 18 ET, the NAMARIN family fled south under duress and sheltered in Lord Arydus home as the Kingdom began to tear itself apart with the death of the Regent. Lord Arydus swore to see the NAMARIN home to their lands and accompanied them. It was there that he first became entangled in the struggles against SWANS. He rode with the forces of WINDS at the 1st Battle of the River Lyr and made a name for himself amongst the killing. In 20 ET, he responded to the horns from the mountain outposts only to find that a mountain clan warband had slipped through the lines and fell upon a nearby hamlet. Lord Arydus led his outnumbered men against the warband and slew the Chieftain SHABREX of the SHOGMOAN tribe.
In 23 ET, Lord Arydus, always a voice for action in the Eorl's council, rode with the Eorl of Swords south to retake Rhuvael from the PRESUMPTOUS LORDS LORDS. It was during that siege that Arydus was one of the first into the streets of Rhuvael and found himself crossing steel with LORD TORKYN BASHAMON, the traitorous father of Lord Nanris Bashamon and the Lady Nynelle’s grandfather. It was Lord Arydus that carried the day and slew the BASHAMON in a body-strewn street of that liberated city. In 25 ET, he carried the fight onto the walls of SWANHOLD when they launched an attack across the channel. In 28 ET, Lord Arydus and several others executed SWANS prisoners—ignoring their pleas to surrender for ransom. Though those of meeker dispositions may paint such actions in a darker light, as SOLAIM’, we know that the only end to treason is in the grave. A year later, Lord Arydus capitalized on the prestige that his battle prowess and his grim reputation had earned by securing the hand of a daughter of the influential MANNYR family for his son, ARAND SOLAIM.
In 29 ET, the old Lord Arydus retired as his son, LORD ARAND, took up his sword. And so it was Lord Arydus who was the only soul present when his grandson, Mavron, is born a few years later. The Lord Arand surely hoped to be there and yet his accomplishments—those feats which kept him from attending the birth of young MAVRON—were of such importance and impact that failing to have achieved them would have had catastrophic effects. Now I speak of the life of LORD ARAND SOLAIM, the father of MAVRON and AYMERI. At last, after a long wait for his title and privileges, ARAND was able to court the young maiden, KAISA MANNYR that had so captured him the past few years. It was her uncle and guardian, the knight Kantus Mannyr, that demanded Arand have value before seeking her attention. But in time, Lord Arand was able to woo her and obtain her hand in marriage.
They were married in -29 and Arand kept close and things remained quiet such that much time could be dedicated to producing an heir and so they did. Conceived in 33 ET, it was not until the Giants rumbled down from their mountain fastnesses that the young MAVROM was brought into this world. Likely it was that siren song heard by all Solaim, that of adventure, that arises when the need for the bravery and talent of our family becomes manifest.
After helping to repel the Giants back into the mountains, the siren call drove Arand north and east towards where MOURNLOC was now gathering and preparing to bring ruin to our kingdom. After hearing of the Battle of Thornhill and upset about his own absence, Arand traveled north to meet up with the investing force at the BATTLE OF RAVENS BRIDGE. There he fought in the front line as was his wont and gathered glory onto his name.
From 42 to 45 ET, Lord Aranda participated in every major combat that arose out of the revanchment of SWANS. Aranda fought in the First Battle of Westwood, then again in the Second Battle for Westwood against SWANS. As Swans was pushed back, it was LORD SOLAIM at the vanguard pushing forward. That battle victorious it was not long before our Eorl's forces stood outside the walls of Swanhill for the 1st Battle of Swanhold. When the fight reached the walls of Swanhold, it was Lord Arand who was one of the first to vault the walls and, blazon in hand, waved it from the stone mountings in defiance of all who stood before him.
In 48 ET, Lord Arand volunteered along with other brave men and women to march across half-the-landmass to brace a series of threats emanating from the DARK LANDS Lands. There they wielded steel and leather and blood to stem the tide of Unnaturals swarming the settlements nearest the mountain peaks. Creatures of nightmare—darkness and teeth—flowed towards the lines but they held against the onslaught of elemental fury and evil.
As the year turned over and victory was coming closer in the eastern-central areas, word came of the west and Rhone itself, the HIGHLANDER CLANS took advantage of our mobilization and invaded deep into our territory. Penetrating deep within our borders, looting and attacking almost anything that comes before them. Lord Arand raced along with the other volunteer warriors to keep them motivated in their long march back west. The Rhonish forces refused to stop at reaching the border and appeared en masse outside the Highlander City of USTAL—a ransacked and sorry place for any creature to eke out an existence.
It was during this Battle of Ustal, in 49 ET, where Lord Arand gave everything in the service of Rhone and Swords. Lord Arand, by all accounts, fought brilliantly throughout the long morning hours of combat. It was in the later interval that our exhaustion made itself felt and lines were pried open to reveal gaping holes. The Highlanders swam through those gaps and attempted to batter the whole formation into tatters but they failed to accomplish it. It was during the resurgence by Rhone to seal up and close the formation gaps that Lord Arand shifted away from the line to follow up a line of attack on his foe.
Lord Arand moved only a few feet too far away from Rhonish lines but it made all the difference. From several locations, Highlanders swarmed the lone knight and forced Lord Arand to lay about him with great fury. While clearly delivering the upper hand in this struggle as clansmen fell to either side it was never going to last long enough to safeguard him. Small cuts slowed him and his blood leaked his strength into the churned ground below while the flow of battle pushed him further away from the lines.
The last reported sighting of Lord Arand Solaim was of him being pummeled into darkness by Highlanders and dragged away by them. That was nearly a decade ago. There has been no ransom, no acknowledgement and no witnesses have even been sure of the Highlander clan markings on those who took him away.
With the disappearance of LORD ARAND, we called upon the services of the elder Arydus to take up the stewardship of the SOLAIM lands once again and only a brief while. For even then, the son of Arand, Mavron Solaim, was working his way towards knighthood and future glory.
In 54 ET, LORD MAVRON SOLAIM was invested and sworn into his titles and the service of the Eorldom of Swords.
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