Caril’s Heart
Legend of Caril the Pure: There was a priestess of Aerna, Caril Ezell, called “The Pure”, from the fallen east (CY 2200 in Minbrath); for her heart (Caril’s Heart) was chaste and pure like no other in the service to the goddess Aerna. She healed the poor only, stayed amongst the streets and cared for the disfigured and terminally sick and saw to the ailments of the forgotten. It was said no weapon could harm her, and where she dwelled would always be verdant. So she was hunted and hounded by the enemies of Light.
When she passed away, her undying heart was taken to a Shrine at the village of Onoma. The people of Onoma is where she had come from in the east, and her shrine became a pilgrimage to many and the land prospered. One day the heart was stolen from her shrine – rumored to be by the Elon. Whoever stole it, traded it to a tribe of kobolds in exchange for service. The priests of Light sent word that those who quested for it would have all transgressions forgiven, he who returns with it would be purified in the Light of Aerna and blessed with long life. However, all traces of it had vanished. Into The Deeping it went, traded and traded, tortured by the followers of The Unholy Trio for malicious fun. Thousands of years passed, and few remembered the tale or the reward offered. A knight by the name of Sir Pettibon – who had known 20 years of war with the Orrish – quested into the Dark Lands in 8780 and returned with the golden amulet encasing the dried heart of Caril. It was withered by its torture, though once brought into the light, it would slowly regain a semblance of health. The knight was purified, but refused to give up his prize once he understood it could make the land excessively verdant with its growing aura.
Instead, he traveled and holds up in his tower near The Newford Crossroads (Duchy of Fhayl), waiting for Lightbringers to come and take it. Sir Pettibon was not the only one who had been waiting for the return of Caril. A descendant of Caril’s sister leaves the side of her aging mother and goes to get her distant sister’s heart back. She does not return, so her brother leaves their mother and also seeks him out. The mother receives the news that her son has insulted the Sir Pettibon in his own court, she has no way to save her son from a trial by combat. Then, Sir Wendel Tarly enters the story – he hears of the mother’s plight and goes to seek the knight who has the heart. By the time Wendel reaches the knight’s tower the son is dead; there is nothing that can be done for him. Wendel finds the sister is wed to the knight as well – caught in the tainted spell woven by the aura of life and love with the jealousy and covetousness of the knight. He returns to the woman, bearing the news of her daughter’s betrayal and her son’s death. She dies of a broken heart upon hearing the news. Wendel swears vengeance upon the knight. Now he returns, with a large force
and his companions and they lay siege to the knights abode. For weeks the knight holds out, but slowly his forces desert him. One day, the door is left open, and Wendel enters the tower.
They find the knight and his wife locked in an embrace of death. She had stabbed him in the neck, but before he breathed his last, he had run her through and collapsed upon her. Wendel looted the tower and burnt it to the ground. Wendel could not find the amulet though, and the clergy of Lightbringers searched high and low before it the tower was razed. The story does not end, for Wendel had unknowingly picked up the locket with the ashes of the heart in them – assuming the minor trinket could not be the powerful item of legend. The sister had worn it, and Wendel had taken it with him. Eventually he discovered that his aging had slowed, and where he should have been an old man, a middle aged one still looked back in the mirror. Wendel returned to his birth lands having amassed a great wealth. He built the castle with his faith and fortune but soon everything kept falling apart. Cursed with long life for stealing the locket – cursed to watch the life drain out of those around you while you remain young. Soon, all his servants and people had abandoned him, and he was alone in the castle. He wrote journals of his life in the attempt to build a castle in the bogs of Dunstrand. In it, he wonders if he will die with the passing of his dream. He seeks penance, a way to make up for the his perceived wrongs.
The Gallants sack the castle during the civil war of Bar-Innis. In 9164, Plague of The gallants, sacrifices the item the a fallen Celestial power he had discovered to giver her essence to continue on. Up until that point, it had been kept in Braddon Bog – and the land was given a boost in the growing and productivity. After offing it up in sacrifice, the goddess Aerna was very displeased. Word went out to the White Sisters of the realm that no help was to be given The Gallants directly.