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The beginning of an era

Many years ago the Kingdom of Elwyn extended north to the hills and islands of this region, the countryside was rich with magnificent forests and quiet villages with beautiful and delicately constructed buildings and fine smooth roads. It was poorl y defended, however, and in 1153, a large band of Barbarians descended on the area, decimated the population, and burned several of the villages.

It was not until after the second raid in 1156, however, that King Hrzlde the Procrastinator decreed that a great watchtower should be built on a high, unnamed island off the shore of North Elwyn to give warning against further raids. According to his memoirs, he intended to build a naval garrison on shore nearby, but only a temporary camp was ever actually established. Its tower was built primarily of stone because wood was too difficult to transport to the island, but its simple and graceful li n es were a good reflection of the Elvish Classical style, and gave it an aura of benevolent protection. It was topped by a great beacon and a powerful bell with which to warn the Elves on shore of approaching ships, and to guide Elven ships to harbor in bad weather. The island was named Hrzlde, after the King, and from its heights the beacon could be seen for many miles out to sea.

Only months after its completion in 1159, a warning by the beacon enabled Hrzlde to win a decisive naval battle against the raiders, which caused them to temporarily give up their plans of conquest. There followed the Golden Age of Elwyn; a full se venty years of relative peace. It became traditional for learned elves to go to the remote island to spend periods of time as watchers as a retreat, and under their influence the tower was filled with beautiful furnishings of fine Elven craftsmanship, m a ny delicately illuminated volumes of ancient lore, and a collection of musical instruments and manuscripts unparalleled in Austin.

By 1250, the defenses of the Elves had relaxed to the point that the Barbarians were able to make a massive surprise raid under cover of a fog created by their wizard, Karnaka, while everyone was sleeping off the effects of a late summer festival, and totally destroyed most of North Elwyn. The tower bell was successful in calling out help from the south, but by the time the southern flotilla arrived, under the command of Hrzlde the Late, the Barbarians had regrouped and were able to defeat them i n a great sea-battle. The tower was overrun and sacked, then abandoned because it was too inaccessible and its architecture was not aesthetically pleasing to the Barbarians.

The people who settled the area after the Elves rarely visited the island, and since they could not pronounce its name, they simply called it that island. Over time island was corrupted by oral transmission into Highland, which eventually became it s official name when it was mapped by the Austin Geographical Society in 1325. There is some speculation by scholars that the island may have been occupied for some time by a famous wizard, who was a refugee from Albion, since it was suggested that magic would have been the only way the great anvil and sword could have been transported there. Most scholars, however, consider the anvil evidence to be insufficient proof.

In the year 1343, Highland was rediscovered by a band of adventurers led by Cephas and Endal, who were the first in many years to be able to draw the sword from the anvil and open the tower. They made it the home of their guild of adventurers, whic h was named the Highlander Clan after the island.

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The bloodred embroidered highlander kilt

In the ancient days, when highlanders were split in different clans fighting internal disputes, one great battle led to the unification of one clan. This battle also led to the first step into fashioning a beautiful item a suit that only the finest highlander can proudly wear the highlanderclan kilt.

The one event which more than any other swiftly led to the battle of the Clans was the burning of the church at Hrzlde, filled with men, women and children seeking sanctuary and safety with the approach of enemy.

The enemy highcommander, leader of Strathclan, gave the order to burn the church, telling his clansmen to bar the front door and surround the building to prevent any escape. There they remained for several hours, listening to the pitiful screams of the several hundred trapped inhabitants inside, as the fire slowly reduced the church to ashes.

Meanwhile, on the tops of the surrounding hills, witnesses including scouting parties belonging to the ancient braves of the now ruling highlanderclan watched the grim event.

The burning aroused the clan to new heights of anger. Now they were able to claim the moral high ground, believing that Almighty God would surely assist them in punishing so wicked and cruel an act. As Sunday gave way to Monday, the forces of both sides were ready for the coming fight.

The massacre in the church had the effect of stiffening the resolve of the highlanderclan, rousing all at the council of war held at the highlander tower into new heights of fury. They would have their revenge, equal in measure to the foulness of the deed and to the humiliation and the insults which, in their eyes, had now been heaped upon them.

The old chief, Daelight, and his son moved in and out of the assembled force that dreadful Sunday, talking quietly to the clansmen huddled about in little close-knit groups, as preparations for the coming battle continued.

The battle

All knew they would be outnumbered, the highlanderclan their retainers and friends from Rodby, Elwyn and the glens to the west numbering no more than 700 or 800 men. Facing them would be a combined Strathclan and barbarian soldiers of fortune force of around 2,000 men. The battle began at around noon with the Strath marching eastwards and up an incline leading to the highlands. A young highlander commander, known by his commoner name as Dei a bhlar (Light of the Battle) and feared for his fiery t e mper and fighting prowess either in a one-to-one situation or as a leader of his men, sized up the situation at a glance. For the first time he could really see just how few his forces were in comparison to the enemy now halted some 500 yards to his fro n t.

But not knowing the ground, the Straths had made what turned out to be a fatal mistake. For between the opposing forces lay a treacherous bog covered by a mantle of moss, giving the appearance of solid ground. Red Hector, founder of the House of Ga irloch and a kinsman of the highlanderclan, suggested that this lack of knowledge could be used to counter the overwhelming odds stacked against them. A desperate, all-or-nothing plan was quickly devised.

The highlander commander slowly began leading a party of his men towards the bog to tempt the Strath into making a headlong charge, the first phase of the plan. If the ruse worked, a number of archers now heading for some trees at the edge of the battlefield, would emerge from cover and spring a deadly ambush, hopefully loosing off a deadly stream of arrows into the exposed flank and rear of the enemy.

The highlanders slowly picked their way through the bog fully knowing where best to place their feet so as to avoid becoming stuck themselves, and yet giving the Strath's the impression they were advancing over solid ground.

It must have been with a grim sense of satisfaction that the highlanders, minutes later, heard the great roar of derision rising from within the ranks of the enemy clansmen and then the crescendo of yelling and screaming as they rushed into the att ack. Perhaps the plan might actually succeed!

Still facing the charging enemy now at the edge of the bog itself, the highlander leader gave the signal for his men to pull back. Sensing an easy victory and intent on closing with their helpless prey, the Straths hardly noticed the attack was gra dually slowing and floundering in the tangled moss and the water-filled pits and boggy swamp which suddenly they now found themselves in, the stinking mud clinging to bare feet, ankles and legs and threatening a slow and agonising end.

Confusion and yelling and then terror replaced the faltering attack as arrows suddenly started raining down from the heavens. The Straths and their allies began to fall, one or two at first as the archers searched for the range, and then by the doz en as deadly missile after deadly missile rammed home through flesh and shattered bone. There was no protection for the surprised and now-panicking enemy, except within the swamp's deadly embrace.

The legend,surrounding the battle, which has been handed down over the generations, relates to the standard-bearers of both sides. The standard bearers flagged the clan colours worn and defended in all times by the clansmen. After the battle the co mmander of the highlanderclan seeing his standard-bearer without his standard asks him what happened to it. Back comes the cool reply, "I left Strath's standard bearer unconcerned for the banner of his own chief and carefully guarding yours." The two st a ndard-bearers had, apparently, met face to face. At the end of a bloody scrap, the highlanderclan standard was still proudly flying, the pole driven clean through and now supported by the lifeless body of the Strath standard bearer. After that, the high l ander clan created a kilt in the fashion of that standard, to symbolise the ever victorious clan. This kilt was ment for only the bravest of the clansmen to wear in war, fashioned to give perfect movement and freedom to swing the sword in manners to mak e the most fearsom damage. The proud warriors rewarded with this kilt were filled with a courage, and pride making names for themselves and always leading the clan into attack.

As the clan grew in strength, the cultural power of the clan began to flourish.

With that came the religious strength, the druids or by some called clerics that began to play a important role amongst the highlander ranks. With them came the age of magic, and powers until then not known were brought into daylight. As fighting skills were not anymore the only goal for a highlander brave, scholastic training commenced and an expansion of the mind and the senses. The druids sought to increase the power of the clan, and saw growing possibilities for the ancient and honoured symbol of the clan the bloodred kilt. For not only getting approval of the clan by decapitating the enemy, these priests wanted to increase the power of the kilt so it could also favour those who dedicated their life to the study of magic. As they plunged int o the history of the clan, they found that the highlander tower had once been the home of a great magician. The magician has lived as a refuge on the island and the nearest to him living creature had been a spider. This spider had for some reason lived t h rough the years, and had now reached several hundred years of age.

Clearly it had been affected by its closeness to the great magician, and maybe even a part of the spellbinders magic had lived on in the spiders body. Thus the priests began studying the spider finding that its finely crafted yarn had magical poten cy. These magical threads were embroidered into the bloodred kilt, fashioned as symbols of holy oak that in ancient times symbolised the magic power of the highlands. The first to wear this kilt was a young highlander scholar named Derelictan. His fathe r had taken part in the making of the kilt and he wanted to honour his son by giving the kilt as a token of Derelictan entering manhood. Unfortunately Derelictan could not handle the great powers released and was later found wandering around the forests cl ose to the city Riversy, completely insane The kilt thus became a most powerful object, that only the wisest and bravest clansmen were honoured with.

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The celtic cross.

The brightest blessing, symbol of death and ressurection and eternal life. But also the symbol of power, "the ringed cross silhouetted against the sky" some people fear it, some bow their head in respect.

The celtic highcross - battles.

The cross is often seen combined with the letters "IHS" its latin and stands for In Hocs Sign vinces, meaning "In this sign thou shalt conquer. Why is this latin combined with the legendary celtic cross? Well, the story dates back to AD 312. Emperor Constanine repetedly saw this phrase in the sky along with a cross of light over the sun. Immediately after this spirital encounter, Constantine met great succes at the battle at the Milvian Bridge. A monogram of the cross was after that placed on his battle standard and decorated with a victor's laurel wreath. The celtic people had a taste for folklore relating to magic and warfare, and they druids quickly understood the battle powers that the celtic cross granted. The cross was a part of the highlander tradition and life. The four points where the cross meets with the circle represent significant points in time on a repeated time cycle such as: the four traditional Celtic seasonal festivals of Beltaine (May 1), Lugnasadh (August 1), Samhain (November 1), and Imbolc (February 1). This interpretation is important because of the prominence of time cycles and solar symbols in Celtic mythology. In each of the four meeting points is a stunningly beatiful ruby fastened.

Claidheamohmore, The highlander sword

Highlanders, after all, are used to handling weapons because they've been brought up with them, and indeed used them, from an early age.

After the Battle of Prestonpans at the start of the 1745 rebellion, for example, a young Highlander barely into his teens was presented to Bonnie Prince Charlie because he'd killed or wounded some 14 English soldiers with his sword.

Warmongers often see the charging Highlander as a romantic image, with raised claymore in one hand and a dirk in the other, parrying enemy blows by means of a targe, or shield, strapped to his arm. The image hides the reality. The clansman is an expert butcher of his enemy and the claymore in his hands a bloody and deadly weapon.

An account of the effect of the Highland charge and the use of the claymore at the Battle of Killiecrankie in 1689 describes how "the enemy lay in heaps allmost in the order they were posted; but so disfigured with wounds, and so hashed and mangled, that even the victors could not look upon the amazeing proofs of their own agility and strength without surprise and horrour.

"Many had their heads divided into two halves by one blow; others had their sculls cutt off above the eares by a back-strock, like a night-cap. Their thick buffe-belts were not sufficient to defend their shoulders from such deep gashes as allmost disclosed their entrails. Several pikes, small-swords, and the like weapons were cutt quite through, and some that wore skull-capes had them so beat into their brains that they died upon the spott."

A Claidheamohmore, in Gaelic meaning "Great Sword". The favourable sword used by the Highlanders. In its classic form, the Claymore is a large two-handed broadsword of beautiful slender design. The highlandeclan however saught to find a more agile sword of smaller fashion that could be used by the clansmen aswell in battle as in official matters like when presenting the word of the clan before the court of silent King Waldur. The clan found the old celtic sword that had been used in the glorius battles in ancient times, to be a splendid model. This combined with the brutal fashion of the original claymore would make the highlander sword a dangerous enemy for the foes and a trustworthy friend for the clan. The years of training in metalworking, that has made the cletic smiths among the most honored in the world, made it possible to shape this sword into a weapon of multiuse. With the inspiration from honorable king Arthur's Excalibur the highlander mages joined forces with the power of the old shiny folk, the faerie folk to grant magic powers to the sword. In the hilt of the sword was the holy highlander cross inscribed to bless its way to the target. Along the blade the letters g.l.o.r.y and f.r.e.e.d.o.m were engraved in gold, powerful fairy magicks: 'Granteth Layf, Organaysd Reseestanse, Yez, Fayght Relentl's Eech Enemeey, Deth O' Maehem'. Thus the sword was dipped into the holy waters in the lands of the shining folk, the same waters as the great Excalibur now rests. The Claidheamohmore started to glow with magic force, and the powerful highlander sword was produced.

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