Old Elmet

"In the days after the Clarati died the land was plagued with monsters new and old set loose by their magic. The town was no safer than the forest or the castle, and all were prey to the great beasts. Worst among them was Dracanor, Fulmen's great dragon, who laired in the ruins of the Bestarium and hunted men and beast alike. Many heroes arose in this dark time, but none were greater than Llywelyn. He and his knights rode across the countryside, dispatching monsters in every part of Ynys. None but Llywelyn would have dared to challenge Dracanor. None but Llywelyn could have slain him." - An excerpt from Marwolaeth Llywelyn, the best known history of King Llywelyn of Old Elmet.

Old Elmet was the legendary kingdom founded by Llywelyn the Dragonslayer during the Age of Warlocks. The current kingdom of Elmet is inspired by the tales of Old Elmet, and holds it up as the ideal to which they strive.

Summary

In the Marwolaeth Llywelyn, King Llywelyn was the leader of a company of knights who rode through the land fighting and destroying the monsters that preyed upon the people. After the epic battle where Llywelyn and his company managed to defeat the great dragon Dracanor, Llywelyn retired from hunting monsters claiming that the worst had been defeated, and no others remained to trouble the world.

His retirement was short-lived, as the goddess of Llynbaet came to Llywelyn in a dream and took him through the land, showing how the strong preyed upon the weak, and that the monsters within the hearts of men were still as strong as they ever had been. Llywelyn called his knights together again in a new mission - to create a kingdom free of such evil, where might was in the service of justice, not its opponent.

Among his court was Gwynanna, the Avatar of Llynbaet, who led him and his warriors to the place where his capital Cavallon was to be built. The people there were under the oppression of the evil King Modrot, who Llywelyn defeats in battle and drives into the wilderness. The people welcome Llywelyn as their new king, and build the shining city of Cavallon in only a single season. He named the kingdom Elmet, apparently to honor a god of the forests around Cavallon, although the exact details are not made clear in the text.

For a period of seven years, Llywelyn ruled Elmet with justice and nobility. Some parts of the legend suggest that Elmet encompassed all of Ynys for some of that time, with all the kings and queens of the island coming to Cavallon where Llywelyn sat upon Clagyn Ffawd, the Stone of Destiny, and swearing upon it follow Llywelyn as the high lord of them all.

There are many different stories about the fall of Cavallon, but the best known is that found in the Marwolaeth Llywelyn. In this tale, Modrot survived in the wilderness and plotted his revenge. He traveled north, into the mountains of Cait, and sought out a great wyrm that lived there. He bargained with the monster to support him, promising all the treasures of Cavallon if Llywelyn were slain.

The wyrm could not leave its high mountain, but it infused Modrot with its malicious power and venom, and sent him forth as its Avatar to Cavallon. There, Modrot bribed a servant of Llywelyn to gain access to his quarters, where he hid in wait for the King to retire. Modrot struck Llywelyn down that night with the wyrm's poison, which was so virulent that it destroyed both king and castle, killing all who could not escape. Only Clagyn Ffawd was unscathed, lying in the ruins. The false servant also survived, and fled the city to live near the Wulfrun, where his descendants would found Bernicia.

After the death of Llywelyn and destruction of Cavallon, the kingdom of Elmet was invaded by the other kingdoms and destroyed. The knights of Elmet were slain or scattered, and only the tales of fair Cavallon remained.

Elmet Restored

It was centuries before the dream of Elmet was brought back to life. Brannoc ap Llywarch, a petty prince on the east coast of Ynys, was enamored of the story and chose to model his life after the ideals that Cavallon inspired. Through a combination of force and diplomacy, Brannoc ap Llywarch united all the kingdoms between Wuffa and Rheged and east of the River Severin into a single kingdom, which he named Elmet. He took the old title of Brenin rather than King, and did everything he could to honor and embody the ideals of justice and chivalry that were enshrined in the tales of Old Elmet.

Dracanor

Related People

Llywelyn

Librarian's Note

While the story of Old Elmet is popular, it probably doesn't have much to do with the actual history of the region. Reliable records do support that Llywelyn the Dragonslayer existed, and that his company was responsible for slaying Draconar. However, if he ever declared himself the ruler of anywhere, it wasn't written down until a century after his death. The story also borrow heavily from the earlier tales of Cailtram, which are noted in Celestina's journals as being very similar to myths from several other worlds, indicating that it may be an Invasive Narrative.

Of course, none of that matters much to Elmet today. The story is more important than the history, and the royals of Elmet have latched onto it and are unlikely to ever let it go. Or perhaps it is the other way around - the story of Old Elmet has them in its grasp.