A History Of The Griffinriders
In the centuries following the War of Night, the grand hopes of those who sought a better world in the alliances formed in that great conflict were sadly disappointed. Most aelin only wanted to isolate themselves from the world, having seen its effect on their own brethren in the person of Serachel, and the devastation wrought by the war. Ethron brokered a peace with the Great Republic, receiving sovereignty over large forests such as Qilarn in return for assurances that they would be left to their own devices. The Republic, whose resources and armies has been left in ruins by the war, found worrying about peace somewhat unapropos in the middle of what amounted to a protracted civil war with its provinces. The ch'taren, freed from the threat of annihilation, and finding themselves in a completely new world, reverted to their natures, and by and large scattered to the four winds.
The shining example of cooperation between the powers, Kor Thrandir, was left as the only visible sign that they had once all been allies. The senate of Earendam, seeing that they were increasingly unable to maintain direct control of holdings in the Brintors, decided to take action. They divided up the Brintors into several region, giving direct control to nobility who would pay tribute and remain nominal vassals of Earendam. Along with these agreements, the nobility ceded the Brintors would maintain the roads through the mountains, as well as acting to settle them whenever possible, to act as a bulwark against any potential future shuddeni incursions.
One well known such territory is the barony of Krilin, which persists to this day in the form of the city which bears the same name. Another territory lay on a mountainous spur of the Brintors, which jutted down along the edge of the Uthlin. Located near an old shuddeni outpost, it was considered a perfect location for new fortifications. And so it was that the Duchy of Paelaran came into existence. At first, the duchy flourished, and its people lived in a tower on the coast of the Uthlin, trading and fishing along the eastern part of the sea.
The fortunes of the age were not with the people of Paelaran, though, and their numbers dwindled. A plague ravaged their tower city in the second century after its founding, and a chilling of the climate in the region ravaged their economy in the fourth. During the first kankoran war, Paelaran was captured and sacked by the main body of the kankoran horde, and most of its people fled to Earendam. In the chaos following the fall of the Republic, Paelaran was abandoned for some time, but eventually resettled. It retained only a fraction of its former glory, and its halls lay empty. Lacking the population to support a standing army, the tower's remaining nobility took up the very dangerous task of training the griffins who roosted in the aeries near the city. Little is known of the actual taming of the beasts (as griffinriders even in the early days guarded their secrets from outsiders), but it is suspected some power of air or spirit is involved. The griffinriders enjoyed a period of fame where they were the stuff of legend, but Paelaran still lacked the citizenry to regain its former glory.
By the time of the third kankoran war, Earendam called upon the griffinriders to help them in battle against a group of marauding human and kankoran mercenaries in the hill country of the Rirro Jagka, further east of the Uthlin and Earendam. Discharging their ancient debt, the griffinriders helped turn an even battle into a rout of the opposing forces.
Unfortunately for the griffinriders, the other arm of the mercenary army took the opportunity to attack the undefended Paelaran. The tower was sacked, burned, and razed, as the mercenaries prepared for the next battle. Returning to the city, the riders came upon the recently unprepared mercenaries, and drove them into the Uthlin.
Grief-stricken at the fate of their people, the griffinriders swore to protect that region of the Uthlin for all time. Unwilling to live in a centralized location again, they took to living with the griffins that they had trained, becoming a part of the ecosystem of the mountains.
Today, the griffinriders mainly keep to themselves, but actively police the area near the Uthlin and their section of the mountains, hunting wild game to feed both themselves and the griffins they tend. In most cases, griffinriders are descendants of the nobility of Paelaran, although some adventurers join their ranks after deeds of exceptional nobility and daring, and after they have proven they can bond with the great griffins.
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