Post by phoenix on Nov 21, 2021 7:58:46 GMT
In Elven histories there are tales of the first wyrm, a great devourer who came to be after Irian’s departure and took to ravaging the sands of Ferran till it grew too massive to dive beneath the sands and instead began to openly prowl the surface with its maw full of an ocean of teeth some rivalling the height of a level on the tower of Fal. The great wyrm’s name was Jekhrin Daloh--Sun Eater in the elvish tongue. There exists in present times the tradition in Irinid of hunting the sand wyrms that prowl the deserts of Ferran, this tradition stemmed from the First Hunt which saw the Sun-Eater meet its demise.
The hunting of Jekhrin Daloh was organized by Zamrahn Irokan who would go on to become the first Sun-King of Irinid. Irokan gathered with him the strongest warriors of the still resurgent elvish kingdom as well as calling on a tribe of Avian hunters from the south to assist his efforts. The hunting party gathered first at Hajar’s central oasis where they filled their water skins and even from there observed dust and sand clinging to the blue sky far in the distance as the wyrm moved. They then began their long trek across the desert and passed through many villages each time gathering more volunteers as the tale was passed on through the throngs that observed the goings of Irokan’s hunters. Having started as two hundred the hunters numbered six hundred when they finally arrived at the Sulfur Plains where the Sun-Eater was feasting upon the creatures of the Calida Volcano. Their cries and calls filled the air and mingled with the hunting horns of the elves and avians: battle was finally to be joined and the devourer would eat its last and be no more.
Avians took to the air with their bows and elves split into two groups to assault each side of the worm in lines of spears followed by longbowmen. Once the final signal was given each took to their assigned duty and took to their target like many wolves dragging down a great bear as Jekhrin tore the last of the assaulting beasts apart with its gnashing fangs and took notice of its new annoyances. To the great creature this was no new peril, nothing more than more gnats to bite at its impenetrable hide and afterward be thrashed to the ground and swallowed whole or in parts. Alas there was peril, the leader of this hunting party brought with him a new power; that of the Sun. In those days magic was more freely wrought, more potent in its casting than today and Zamrahn Irokan was one of the first to become masters of the art of fire. Using the very lava present on the Sulphur Plains Irokan brought focused heat to the Sun-Eater’s chitinous hide, bursting it in places with lumps of magma sent flying through the air. The sand wyrm screamed and thrashed as arrows and spears pierced its hide in every spot of boiling flesh which had been revealed by elven magic. Elves were tossed about like marionettes without strings and others were simply ripped apart as the wyrm landed on them. Avians were knocked from the sky when the Sun-Eater reared its elongated neck and obliterated their wings into pulp and feather down causing them to plummet to the black ground below. Some unfortunate few were knocked into the lava their leader used as a weapon and died screaming. Dust and stone fleks covered the air and with a last deafening roar from Jekhrin Daloh the battlefield grew deafeningly silent from the lack of its thrashing and screaming. Warriors who had been knocked down and could still stand came to their feet and others moved to assist those who could not and all gathered about the head of the Sun-Eater’s mountainous body as a lone mournful horn sounded across the bloody crags. The hunters had conquered their quarry and won the day.
The celebration feast that followed the death of the Sun-Eater was opulent and entirely gluttonous in the sheer amount consumed; the meat of the great wyrm itself was the piece de resistance and it fed every city in entirety that it could be brought to. The bones of Jekhrin Daloh were crafted into all sorts of things as they were carted away days, weeks and months after the battle. From its fangs the swords and spears of the elves were shorn, of the ribs and hide armour was shaped into plate and cuirass, with the spine the walls of Irinid were bolstered and expanded to form a great bastion against all attackers, lastly the tip of the tail was turned vertically to stab the sky as an obelisk and it was then inscribed with the names of all who had fell fighting the beast forever a reminder of their heroic deed. From the remainder of the skull and ribs beast-kin clans shore away small chunks with which to make wyrm-bone charms which are said to give the wearer mystic power of some kind. With the Sun-Eaters death began the tradition of hunting the dune’s largest wyrms for food and materiel and for Zamrahn Irokan a legendary tale to boost his claim for the throne of Irinid.