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HISTORY OF THE GREY CLANS

by Grey Sage "Whitehair" Andevarg

So you wish old Grey Sage Whitehair to tell you the story of the Grey Clans?  Sit down, sit down.  It is a long tale, but I’m feeling a bit chipper today.  Now sit down there and mind my books and scrolls.  Try to be still young Grey Knight.

It all began long, long ago, in another world far, far away.  There was a young man named Mordeth, I’m sure you recognize the name of the Grey Father.  He was about your age then.  He never told me how he came upon the name Mordeth, but Mordeth was his name.

Mordeth Darkwolf was a proud noble blooded knight in the lands of Meridian.  He had adventure in his blood and could not be kept long in the castle he was raised.  Mordeth became a renowned knight at a young age.  Other knights flocked to his side.  Mordeth proudly led these knights on many quests of honor and righteousness.  Soon his knighthood was known as the Order of the Grey Knights.  Grey for the Grey Dragon coat-of-arms worn by Mordeth’s noble house.

The fate of the Grey Knights of Meridian was abruptly changed for the worse on the same day of one of their greatest victories.  A mage of great evil and power had been threatening the northern borders.  The Grey Knights had been instrumental in defeating the army of this mage known as the Grimlok.  In their finest hour, the Grey Knights laid siege to and destroyed the tower of the evil wizard.  But, the Grimlok’s corpse was not found within.

After a celebration on the battlefield, the surviving Grey Knights headed for home.  Mordeth’s greatest mage opened a grand portal to make the trip much shorter, and the army marched through.

Mordeth found himself nowhere near the keep of the Grey Knights after he stepped through the portal.  Instead, he found himself in a glade he did not recognize.  A manor house stood nearby with peasants working the fields.  His army of Grey Knights was nowhere to be seen.

Mordeth noticed his horse was a brown mare, instead of the grand gray stallion he had been riding.  Fine silk and a simple chain mail vest had replaced his silvered suit of plate armor.  He was startled to find his face had grown a short blonde beard, before his hair had been dark.

At first Mordeth thought he had somehow possessed the body of a stranger.  But, as he approached the manor, the peasants stopped from their work to bow to him and hail him as Lord Mordeth.  On the manor house door was emblazoned the Grey Dragon symbol of his family.

Mordeth took many days to contemplate what had happened.  He came to know he was in a different land called Britannia, near a city named Trinsic.  This world had many similarities to his own, but also many differences.  His parallel self on this world was a noble swordsman as he was in the lands of Meridian.  His name was still Mordeth.  But, he was not the leader of a famed knighthood, only the lord of a manor.  Mordeth also discovered a small mark in the shape of a dragon on the nape of his neck that he had not had before.

Mordeth knew the Grimlock was a master of portal magic among other things.  Our Grey Father came to believe the Grimlock, in his defeat, had taken revenge by portaling Mordeth away from Meridian to a parallel world.

Mordeth would not sit idle tending fields.  Soon the banner of the Grey Dragon flew again at the head of a mighty knighthood.  For four years Mordeth led the Order of the Grey Knights on this new world.  His manor turned into a keep.   His Order grew for many years.

Mordeth was perplexed and somewhat fearful when he learned those that joined his knighthood mysteriously received a dragon mark at the back of their own necks.

The aging Mordeth’s heart sank one day when he received reports of his knights vanishing when they used Moon Gates, the portals of Britannia.  He feared the curse of the Grimlok was not only upon him, but any who swore to the Grey Knights.  Mordeth ordered his knights to stop using the Moon Gates.  He explained what he knew of the magical curse of the Grimlok.  Even knowing this, few left the Order.

A year passed before Mordeth would encounter the Curse a second time.  Deep in the Caves of Deceit, Mordeth spied a man in gray robes.  Following this man deeper into the caves, Mordeth found himself at a dead end.  The tunnel suddenly collapsed behind him.  The gray figure was nowhere to be seen.  It was impossible to dig his way out.  Losing air, Mordeth turned to his last option.  He read from a gate scroll to spirit himself away.

Mordeth found himself alone once again.  His skin was much tanner and he was smaller of stature.  He held no sword or shield.  The Mordeth of this new world called Dereth was a warrior-monk of noble blood.

The nobleman was not broken yet.  He called many to the Grey Dragon banner once again.  Some of their names you may know: Kodar, Cyrus, Skara, Sturn, Thulaandra, Chance, Kallesan, and Genghis-Sorden to name but a few.

It was a year after his arrival to Dereth that I met our Grey Father.  Two of my nephews had joined the Grey Dragon.  Mordeth called upon me, a sage of some knowledge at the time, to record the current and future history of the Grey Knights.  I agreed.

I found his tale of the curse of the Grimlok unbelievable at first.  Then Mordeth asked me to hold a mirror and peer at the back of my neck.  I beheld a small mark in the shape of a dragon, and knew his story to be true.  I recorded all Mordeth had to tell me including the new exploits of the Grey Knights in Dereth.  I even assisted Grey Lord Kallesan in his search for a magical cure to the curse of the Grimlok.

Not long after I met my liege, some sort of tragedy befell him.  No one knows what happened for sure, there is still only speculation.  Mordeth disappeared.  At first we suspected the curse Mordeth had spoken of had returned.  Brave knights bearing the mark of the gray dragon volunteered to enter portals.  They returned to Dereth safely.  The Curse was not upon us yet.

A year passed and the Order was still without its noble leader.  The Grey Council ran the Order during this time, but some if its members looked for a noble replacement for Mordeth.  They found what at first appeared to be an honorable noble-born sorcerer.  His name was Dachande.

Dachande was crowned our monarch.  From that day forward, the Order on Dereth would know only tumultuous times.  Knight-archer Belag Strongbow and his followers predicted a downfall of the Order and left abruptly.  The morale of the Grey Knights faltered.  Dachande did not show the leadership skills of Mordeth.  The Grey Council began to lead where Dachande wouldn’t.

The Order continued to grow through these times with Dachande but a figurehead.  Other nobles and their vassals joined our ranks.

Three years passed and Dachande stepped forward to attempt to lead where he hadn’t before.  His leadership seemed whimsical and tyrannical at the same time when he forced the outspoken Chance Tarksun from the Order.  The Order’s spirit faltered and the Grey Knights began to fall apart.

When the Grey Knights were almost finished, Dachande left for parts unknown.  Many rumors arose over his disappearance.  Some believed Mordeth’s Grey Champion, Cyrus, had killed Dachande in a vengeful fury.  Others believed Dachande had joined a monastic order of magi to contemplate his sins.  Some reported even seeing Dachande after he returned from this monastery and stated he was truly a changed man.  A third rumor was most sinister.  Some believed Dachande was the Grimlock himself and responsible for the disappearance of Mordeth.

A few years passed after the fall of the Grey Knights.  I returned to my library outside Cragstone.  The surviving members of the Grey Knights were spread to the winds, most disillusioned.  But, the story of the Grey Knights was not over.

So I am told, Tyre, who had been but a foot soldier of the Grey Knights, was visited upon by the old Grey Champion, Cyrus the Great.  Cyrus appeared to be dying.  He handed the Grey Dragon banner to Tyre and left to an unknown fate.

Tyre searched Dereth for the old leaders of his beloved Order.  In the small village of Eastham, Tyre came upon Chance Tarksun.  Chance was found in a drunken stupor in the village tavern.  Tyre passed the banner to Chance and the once Grey Lord’s spirit was rekindled.

Chance traveled from town to town displaying the Grey Dragon banner.  Old Grey Knights flocked to the banner.  A “Clan” of Grey Knights returned.  A new motto was adopted, “Bona na Croin”, “Neither Collar nor Crown”.  This new Grey Clan pledged to never again serve under the rule of  an unjust king.   Our Grey Dragon banner was altered somewhat to reflect our new views.

Spirits were high when the curse of the Grimlok returned.

The Curse struck as a multitude of the Grey Knights were using a portal to Holtburg.  On the other side of the portal they did not find the village of Holtburg, but a hilly forest.

Yes, yes, the Grey Clan was together in this new world.  Kallesan's  research had paid off.  He had found writings of an ancient spell known as a Spirit Binder.  Kallesan had cast this spell upon all the Grey Knights, binding their spirits together.  The first who bore the gray dragon mark entered the portal and found himself in the forests of Hibernia.  Soon others bound to this Grey Knight followed to Hibernia.  Kallesan’s binding spell brought all of the Grey Mark to the same world.  The Curse had returned, and we were in a new land, but we would not be alone.  

Chance gathered the Grey Clan around himself in the magical lands of Hibernia.  While the heart of Hibernia itself was at peace, the frontier of the forest-kingdom was at war.  The Grey Clan, known as Glas Cinneadh in the local Hibernian tongue, vowed to help in the fight to keep the magical realm free.

Help we did.  Our name became well known throughout the lands.  But soon a darkness came upon us.  We began to rot from within and the Council did not understand why.   The mystery was solved by one of our honored members, Kolmirg.   We were caught unawares by the machinations of the Grimlok once again for Kolmirg and the Grimlok were one and the same.  

When we finally discovered Kolmirg had been posessed since birth by the spirit of the Grimlok in Hibernia, it was almost too late.  The Grimlok had built himself a tower and surrounded himself with an army of warrior elves and wizards.  In his guise as Kolmirg, he had weakened our Clan and then prepared to finish us off with his army of evil elves.

The Grey Dragon banner was unfurled and we marched on the Grimlok's tower as Mordeth once had long before.   In the end, the Grimlok was overthrown and slain by his own evil army.  His tower remained standing, but he was no longer its master.  The Grimlok's spirit left the body of Kolmirg after reminding us of his curse.

After this victory, our faction, on the wings of victory, decided to expand.  A faction of our Clan ventured through the frontier to the lands of Albion.  We formed another Grey guild under our old name, the Grey Knights.  Although our time in Albion was short, an interesting discovery was made.  In the fair city of Camelot, in a hidden garden, was found an ancient statue holding a great sword.  At it's base was an inscription that read only, "Mord of the Grey".  How had an ancient statue appeared in this world bearing the likeness of our Grey Father long before the Curse brought us to Albion?

This mystery was unresolved when the Curse of the Grimlok once again swept us away to the Lands of Azeroth,  a world ripe with adventure and new friends for our Order.

 Grey Sage ‘Whitehair’ Andevarg, OGK Year 112.    

TIMELINE OF THE GREY CLANS

Last updated  07/02/06

See an exxplanation of dates at the bottom.