[i]The First Ynndron-Thanesrow Contention, or The Tree War[/i]
[b]King Eudric Highwatch Ynndyron of Anxwe (39 - 112)[/b]    
[quote=Thwildirod Leafsinger of Red River, Chief Chronicler of the Court of Ynndyron, 101]From the halls of Anxwe and amidst groves of yew and stands of oak arose a newfangled kingdom in Irenaea called Ynndryon. Eudric Highwatch, known as the "Shaman-King", the King of Greenmountain, protesting the inroads of the barbarous Aedrian devils into the Greenlands, called upon his fellows to drive them from the hallowed copses of their ancestors. 

"The Faith is in peril," he pronounced to his assembled tree-lords and spear-masters, "Shall we allow the sacred woods to be felled by lascivious axe, burned by avaricious fire? Shall we allow the holy places to be stolen into, the tree-relics defiled with rapine and plunder, the druids impaled upon the ignoble spear of Aedrian 'civilization'?" The humble folk of Greenmountain, refusing to forget their ancestral faith, rose in fire and in war, and declared a mighty "No!" Then the Shaman-King, silvered head bedecked with a crown of wildflowers, liveried in armor of holy bark, raised his wizened hand and pointed to the east. "There in the hands of the wretched hound of the Meadland, the ill-Treefeller, lies the saintly wood of Gedildad. And we, oh we blessed of the great Faith, shall take it from him!" Whereupon a glorious cry erupted from the amassed host, and much shaking of spears and shields was heard in Anxwe, and there was much drinking of beer.

Yet war could not be made there and then. The King was far more artful than that.[/quote]

[quote=Thwildirod Leafsinger of Red River, Chief Chronicler of the Court of Ynndyron, 101] The envoy of the Thanesrow, bowing deeply to our noble King and taking a cup of the customary beer, began to look about the Liana Hall with an inquisitive eye. Stepping forward, she asked, with no small amount of trepidation, "Oh great lord of Anxwe, I had not intended to be so crude, but I must insist. Where is my predecessor? We have heard no word of him in many moon's turnings. Did not he arrive into your gracious hall? I have words that I must share with him, from our gentle lord the King of the Meadland." Poxas, then majordomo to our illustrious Lord, replied, "He did come, Thanesrow, and was cordially welcomed into our humble hall." The envoy, now blanched white with dismay, inquired, "Where then is he, sirs?" Poxas gestured to the chief eunuch, and posthaste a wrought silver box, perfumed with sweet flowers, was procured and set before the King's dais. "He is there," stated Poxas, "You may parley with him openly, before us all, Thanesrow. You bring words to share, do you not? I pray that they are honeyed."

Thereupon the envoy of Thanesrow opened the box and wept at the sight of her predecessor, whose eyes, tongue, and manhood lay before her within the box upon a bed of soft leaves. 

"Thanesrow conspired to look upon Our workings and thus he has been blinded. Thanesrow conspired to whisper lies into Our ear and secrets into the ear of your lord, and thus his tongue was taken. Thanesrow conspired to lay with Our concubine, and thus with Our kingdom, as if she were naught but a tavern whore, and thus he has been gelded. We chafe at the thought of violence, but Our sword is cold and brooks no quarter should you raise your hand against us in enmity. Yet more sufferings shall We visit upon you and yours should you refuse to grant us Our sacred right to the grove of Gedildad. Thus is the message that you shall deliver to your lord the King of Thanesrow, and before you is Our jeweled present that you shall convey to him, along with Our wishes of health and thanksgiving." So said the King. 

And thus began the Tree War.[/quote]

[quote=Thwildirod Leafsinger of Red River, Chief Chronicler of the Court of Ynndyron, 102] And thus, after many battles and skirmishes, the hosts of the two kings were drawn up against one another in the plain near the grove of Gedildad, and there for good or ill would the war be settled. But the wood of Gedildad could not be taken, neither by us nor by the foe. 

His dread sword raised, mounted upon his war-elk Mamonodos, our lord the King was seized by a shaman-vision. What exactly the vision bespoke to him is not known; but posthaste he called out to his spear-masters and war-captains to call off the battle. Ilos, his cousin, rode furiously to his side and asked, "What madness has come over you? Where has gone your talk of smiting the tree-fellers? They are before us!" The King replied, "The madness of the gods, my cousin. Odo has spoken to me, and told me of the terrors that lie in wait for us should we pursue our present course. I go now to parley with the King of the Meadland!" Whereupon, unaccompanied by courtiers and men-at-arms, he dashed across the Hills of Bluebay on swift Mamonodos. His iron visage dared the archers of Meadland to let loose upon him. 

He drew himself up before the ranks of the foe and cried, "Oakblade, Thanesrow-King! I call upon you to hearken to me! Grave tell of the doom of us both! Come to me, King of the Meadland!" King Oakblade, thinking this some kind of madness, called upon his brother Lord Ged to strike him down with his great oak bow Heartbite. Ged took aim, and with his great bulging arms loosed a cruel arrow at the heart of our King. The arrow struck true, yet King Highwatch was not swayed and did not fall, but continued to call upon the King of the Meadland to parley with him. Bewildered, King Oakblade made his way out into the front of the host, mounted upon his black destrier Lorelei, and finally spoke to the King. None heard their congress, positioned inbetween the two armies in the middle of the Hills of Bluebay as they were. Yet, directly afterwards, the King of the Meadland ordered his war-captains to stand down and to come to him, and King Highwatch did the same, and there and then on the field a peace was struck and the Tree War brought to a close, on the condition that the grove of Gedildad be disturbed by neither side ever again, and that it be left in silence and forgotten forever.

And thus has the peace held for some ten years. Yet the King of Greenmountain has not been dormant, and his sleeping sword of war is poised to awaken once more and smite the tree-fellers who invade the holy Greenlands.[/quote]