Volkhov and Bran

Brendan Brackensong, on the move.

Overview

During the Winter Solstice 386YE, the Lepidean Librarian Hazelelponi of the Shattered Towers, charged the Heirs of Lepidus to read the past life vision records of Brendan “Dan” Brackensong. The vision is well recorded in the Echoes of the Labyrinth – a notably clear and detailed explanation that is all by itself something of an inspiration. The Heirs were further charged to “seek out the story of Bran and Volkhov”.

The project has proved popular with the librarians who are grateful to be researching something that they can be more confident will be neither controversial or iconoclastic.

Visionary and Guide

Brendan Brackensong of Navarr was a well known broker who was credited with inspiring the creation of a number of artefacts that are still in use in the nation. He served as Quartermaster General for several years, was regularly praised by the Navarr National Assembly, and even stood for appointment to the Throne following the disappearance of Imperatrix Lisabetta.

His death was in some cases even more dramatic than his life. He was apparently slain by a malign spiritual force accidentally unleashed during a summoning through the Black Gate. There is a degree of irony here, as we will see, given that in the past life he experienced he was a necromancer skilled at speaking with the spirits of the dead. Even more ironic, the ritual that killed him was dedicated to exploring a different past life vision related to his apprentice Trystran Brackensong (also a noted broker). Brendan himself served as a guide priest for the vision that indirectly led to this untimely and supernatural demise. Those interested in the details of these tragic events are directed to speak to Eleri Bronwen's Rest and Martin Orchard who are noted as instrumental in unravelling this dark occurrence.

On another interesting note, while Brendan was not himself an artisan, as a broker he provided funding for a number of artefacts. Three of them were intended for the generals of the Navarr armies. Shortly after receiving the Broker's Tear, an artifact made for Isaella's Dance, the army met its own tragic end in the retreat from Therunin. Anaera's Talon, a weapon for the general of the Quiet Step, apparently drove the bearer mad, leading to Empress Vesna taking control of the army as Defender of the Empire. The third artifact, the Broker's Lament, made for the Black Thorns has not yet been involved in a disaster but should that army, or its general, meet a grim fate it might well be that a pattern is emerging.

While Brendan is no longer with us, his guide-priest Eleri Bronwen's Rest remains a respected wayhouse keeper who has served her nation and her Empire well both as a benefactor and during a two year tenure as Dredgemaster of Feverwater. We urge those interested in the details of the vision to speak to her – and to inquire about her own experiences with true liao as well should she wish to speak of them.

The Vision

The vision took place during the Spring Equinox 382YE. Details of this vision, ably recounted by the principals, can be found in the collected Echoes of the Labyrinth volumes 6a-6d.

In summary, the vision involved the investigation of an apparent multiple murder at a Navarr wayhouse in Varushka with no suspects. Brendan, as visionary, explored his past life as a Navarr vate named Bran, called to help unravel the mystery of the Wayhouse slaying by a Varushkan warden named Volkhov – described as a bear of a man with a thick beard.

Bran it seems was a necromancer, skilled at providing a voice for the dead, and the deaths had taken place recently enough for them to speak to the departed. By interrogating the victims, Bran was able to expose a wicked scheme by a group of murderous anarchists to spread conflict and confusion in pre-Imperial Varushka.

It appeared that a meeting between representatives of rival vales – one favouring Alderei the Fair and one favouring the nascent Empire – had been convened on the “neutral ground” of the wayhouse. While the meeting was underway, the anarchist posing as a bodyguard had slain both delegates then taken their own life.

As the visionary and guide speculate, it seems the vision took place during the period around the time of the Empire's formation, before Alderei the Fair revealed their true colours. Seen as a harsh-but-fair leader, like many Varushkan boyars before and since, they were gathering supporters presumably for the war with the Thule – or in preparation for declaring war on what would soon become the Empire.

As mentioned the triple-murder was revealed by careful investigation to in fact be a double-murder, with the third body being that of a suicide. “Milosh” the bodyguard killed both emissaries by surprise then took their own life, apparently at the instigation of a ground dedicated to the wicked spirits of Anarchy calling themselves “Firestarters”.

Rather than give the anarchists the credit they so clearly wanted, Bran and Volkhov agreed to create a lie that would explain away the deaths. They put it about that the visionary (Bran) lacked Vigilance and allowed wolves to attack the wayhouse. In the resulting fight a lantern was knocked over, burning everything, and tragically leaving the emissaries and their bodyguard dead.

Warden Volkhov went on to broker peace between the two vales – a task made easier by the story that the two had fought together against the attacking wolves - while the visionary's steading took the blame for the tragedy and left the area. After the initial furore had died down, the vate swore to come back in secret, and start hunting the anarchists to help Volkhov in the name of Vigilance.

It is of course interesting that this vision ends in a lie created for virtuous ends, to bolster Vigilance. Bran and Volkhov secured a virtuous outcome from a wicked situation, and for that at least deserve to be remembered.

Firestarters

The Anarchist, Milosh, claimed to be part of a group of anarchists dedicated to that malign spiritual presence and called “Firestarters”. The name should be familiar to anyone who has studied the fictional tales of the wicked Ivar Olyankavic Nathavolava will know that the “Firestarters” are the name that Temeschwari mountebank gave to the “supporters of Mikkal” - the alleged anarchist “paragon” who claimed to be able to reincarnate, to be reborn to inspire rebellion from time to time.

We know from history books, as well as the fanciful tales of the discredited and fictional Vardas, that the Firestarters most likely did exist at some point. It's not entirely clear if Mikkal is real or not – the vision of il Volpe discussed in Life of Vardas seems to suggest that the Temeschwari magistrates believed he was real – and that the Firestarters were real in turn - but the “movement” he “inspired” certainly seems to have existed several times in some form or another.

For example, the name was most recently used by a gang of bandits in Varushka shortly after the death of Empress Britta. Their “rebellion” collapsed before it achieved anything of note. The vision of Brendan Brackensong gives credence to the idea that an “organisation” of that name was active at the time of the Empire's formation, rabidly committed to preventing the unification of the human nations.

We must be careful however; it is very easy for a zealot to claim to represent a great and powerful conspiracy when in fact they are a tool employed by a small number of clever tricksters. It is easy for a gang of outlaws to aggrandize themselves with a mighty sounding name, to try and capture some of the status of a past group.

One of the problems is that there is not really any evidence of the “Firestarters” being active in the time period the vision took place. However, as we see from the vision itself, this may well actually be proof of the effectiveness of Bran and Volkhov in putting this nascent rebellion down.

One of the Heirs points to the 228YE vandalism of an obelisk in Necropolis memorialising those slain in the war against Alderei the Fair as possible evidence that the “Mikkalites” were indeed involved in an attempt to bolster Alderei to oppose the Empire, but this is circumstantial at best and should be taken with a pinch of salt. It seems unlikely that a group apparently dedicated to opposition to centralised authority would have supported Alderei who by all accounts earned his epithet of “tyrant boyar” but it is also possible that they considered their vision of the future preferable to that of the First Empress.

It's notable that the dead anarchist Milosh also said that there were people active in the south; he implied, though did not make it clear, that they were trying to stop the foundation of the Empire. There were certainly pockets of resistance against the unification in all nations – the most well-known might be the Cousins War in the Marches. Whether this opposition was united in any way, however, seems unlikely. If they had been “organised” in any way – something surely anathema to true died-in-the-wool blasphemers of Anarchy – there is little evidence of it that is not purely anecdotal and thus suspect.

After the Vision

Bran (we do not know the name of their steading or striding) and Volkhov seem to have existed. There are more records of Volkhov than his Navarr compatriot – in the few surviving reports of the Warden there is a “Navarr companion” spoken of but they go by a variety of names – Ban, Bron, Baran, Dan (coincidentally), Bren, and Varund are all used.

Volkhov and his fellow wardens remained relatively neutral during the war between the Empire and Alderei – not for any overwhelming political reason in most cases but because the battle that raged across Varushka roused the sovereigns and the wolves of that nation like little before or since. Without the tireless, and largely undocumented, work of wardens and volhovs like Volkhov, there is a good chance modern Varushka would have been overwhelmed by monsters regardless of the outcome of the fight against Alderei.

What little we do know with any corroboration comes from folk tales and instructional fables handed down from grandparent to grandchild in Karov and Volodmartz. There are very few primary sources available about the period where the Empire and Alderei the Fair clashed in the north, for obvious reasons.

We know that Volkhov was active around the time of the formation of the Empire, and was known as a protector and mediator between the often fractious vales of Varushka. They may have been a volhov rather than a warden, travelling from settlement to settlement, often with their Navarr ally in tow. While most wardens fight an unending battle against the abominable wolves of the woods and hills, Volkhov is better known for a bringer of law and “hammer of bandits” - which it seems could be a reference to the work they did to stamp out this Firestarter organisation.

However, the name “Heirs of Vardas” is used in several of the stories. Volkhov the Heir of Vardas, and his Navarr companion Brin, are celebrated for their defeat of the poisoner of Delev – a killer who used the Virus Lunarae to fabricate a supposed curse in an effort to sow chaos in the town of the same name; the Night of the Arrow when Volkhov lead a band of Varushkan farmers and some Navarr friends to hunt and kill each of the outlaw bullies responsible for oppressing the vale of Wiecom in Skoremujac; their protracted battle with the self-styled bandit boyar Illaya Ovaravon Nanukavich in the woods of Livardz who sought to establish an “independent queendom” in the disruption following the defeat of Alderei the Fair; and their “final mission” to deal with a rampaging band of part-living, part-unliving wagon-raiders named the Hounds of Lisevar.

This particular tale is one of the best known – Volkhov and Bron travel to the vale of Lisevar not far from the Hunt of Alderei the Fair, in the foothills of the Opascari mountains. A sizable gang of former warriors loyal to Alderei have gathered there, led by a figure calling themselves the “Houndmaster”. The gang attracts Volkhov's attention because it seems that when any of the bandits are slain they rise again as monstrous husks that continue to fight alongside their living compatriots. Investigation of the vale discovers that the real motive force behind the attack is actually a terrible plaguewulf, a servant of the Howling Queen, who has subsumed the spirit of the so-called Houndmaster – a former volhov named Ruala - and is spreading its contagion among the wagon-raiders and the valesfolk alike.

Volkhov sends out a call for aid, and a half dozen of his old travelling companions – a mixture of Varushkan and Navarr – answer. Together the team attack the plaguewulf, and are able to break its dominance over Lisevar. In the process the vale burns, along with many of those corrupted by the creature. Tragically, Volkhov is overwhelmed by the venom and rises as a thrall of the Howling Queen's servant and must be slain by his compatriots. Only one of the group survives the fight – a stzena known as “Mukavitz Mukavich” - who spreads the tale of the battle.

Interestingly, having visited the site where Lisevar apparently stood, it is clear that the vale was sited at a point where two roads met. One of the roads had been repaved during the relatively recent expansion of the Iron Roads, the other was little more than a game trail but with signs it had once been much more prominent. This could be a reference to the divination of Brendan's vision that "He came to rest at where the paths meet as brothers."

Conclusions

There is plenty of anecdotal evidence, and a few primary sources, that confirm much of what is hinted at in the vision. Volkhov was certainly called an “heir of Vardas”, and the term “Heirs of Vardas” was applied to him and various of his companions (several of which are most likely Bran, the vate past life of Brendan). They opposed forces of anarchy and disruption, both mortal and supernatural, with a great deal of success. Yet their victories are largely overshadowed by the war with Alderei and – in an ironic turn – the story of their fight against the plaguewulf at Lisevar would eventually surface as a “lost” tale of Vardas generally known as “Vardas and the Hounds of Lisevar” published in 247YE in Sarvos.

It seems obvious why the Lepidean Librarian asked us to investigate this vision, and the events surrounding it. It is not clear if Volkhov and Bran were inspired by Vardas, but the fact their deeds earned them the moniker “Heirs of Vardas” makes it clear that the people of Varushka did consider the inspiration of that fictional figure. The image of the warden and their ally, fighting to hold back the darkness, has endured in the memory of the people of the Empire.

Many Highborn believe that the story is more important than the “facts” - that there is a deeper truth to a tale and to the power that causes it to endure. This is not something that needs questioning – it is clearly true. The tale of Volkhov and Bran seems to prove this. Yet one of the evils visited on the faithful by the lies of “Ion” is that stories such as these are subsumed into the canon of falsehood surrounding Vardas. Like those poor forgotten wardens who help back the endless night before “him”, even those who followed in “his” footsteps have fallen under the shadow of Vardas.

Regardless of the truth of Vardas, the important thing, perhaps, is that we now know more about real inspirations, about Volkhov and Bran, and through our journey of discovery the Empire now knows more about them as well – their selfless commitment to opposing chaos, anarchy, and corruption – and hopefully some will be as inspired by them as they once were by the false Vardas.

Further Reading

• Warden
• Life of Vardas and Vardas
• Past life vision
• Vigilance