Chapter Two: The Races of Alagaësia
The years have blown by, carried by the winds of Alagaësia, carrying new lives of peace and security for the people that inhabit the land. It has been ninety-eight years since the Great War, as it has since become to be known, raged in Alaga sia between the evil King Galbatorix and an alliance of the races known as the Varden.
The tale is well known by all who inhabit Alagaësia, bards sing of the triumphs the Varden achieved against all odds as too, and perhaps even more famous is the tale of the young farm boy Eragon who became a Dragon Rider and led the Varden against the dark king. He left following his glorious achievement never to return to Alagaësia, instead he lies in a far off land with the only word of his continued existence being the new Riders and their Dragons who have appeared in Alagaësia to help maintain the peace.
While he has been away, all these decades, the nature of the land in its essence has changed along with it the nature of the people that inhabit them. Kings and Queens have risen to ascendance and fell, each bringing about wealth and prosperity as well as safety to their citizens. The cities of the human kingdoms stand wealthy, wealthier than they could ever have imagined under the cruelty and oppression of Galbatorix's rule. Ilirea, once known as Uru'Baen, stands as a beacon of all that has been accomplished in the decades since the fall of the old empire. Its beauty has been written off by scholars and bards, majestic towers and buildings decked with the rich purple of the first Queens household.
Following the fall of Galbatorix, the leader of the Varden Nasuada had ascended to the throne as the new Queen of the Human Kingdoms. She ruled over the land for fifty years, bringing reform to education and trade often remarked as the greatest human ruler, before she stood aside and passed the throne and rule onto her son Ajihad, named for his grandfather who fought Galbatorix for so long.
Amongst the humans, as I said before, Nasuada is loved by all. Her legacy is one of kindness and the determination to improve the land, something which is often attributed to the Varden's success by scholars who write of the war, which is ultimately the reason that the lands she ruled lived in peace for her rule and prospered to become rich beyond reckoning. One of her greatest achievements is recognised as the accord she arranged and signed with the elven Queen Arya, daughter of Islandazi and Evandar, in the seventh year of her rule. Monumental in terms of its meaning, for no such peace treaty had been heard off let alone become a reality previously. The two Queens, in the shadows of the greatest trees of Du Weldenvarden, integrated the lives of the two races with one another like never before. The agreement, referred to as the Joining of Hands, opened up parts of Du Weldenvarden for humans to visit and in return, the fair folk ventured forth from their ancient forests and inhabit the lands in unison with the humans.
Four years on from the signing of the accord, the first elven city was established outside of Du Weldenvarden named "Fariksil". Following on from this achievement, there now stand three more cities across Alaga sia where elves are found to inhabit. They are named; Ceril, Ad n r and Asilm.
In the tenth year of Nasuada's reign, the Queen had married a nobleman from her court. The man's name was "Arthur", and he was the son of a rich trader and he had become one of her principal advisors on the state of the business within the empire. With the years to come, and the Queens success in revitalising the trade industry in the empire, Arthur was much attributed with being as much to thank for their success as Nasuada. The couple bore three children in total; Ajihad, Torrance and Susan. Of which Ajihad succeeded the queen as ruler, due to being her first borne in his 42nd year of age, Nasuada having stood aside in her seventh decade of age.
King Ajihad who had lived single for many years, at the age of 45, took the hand of the granddaughter of King Orrin of Surda, who has was 20 years his minor, and she bore him two sons, and a daughter. Their names were Arthur after his father, Victor and Victoria. Ajihad ruled for thirty years before passing the empire onto his second son, Victor, despite being the younger of the two sons. This is due to the decision of Arthur to dedicate him to the art of poetry and literature, of which his father disagreed strongly. Victor who married a commoner named Lierisa, the daughter of a poor marker trader in Iliria, is now into his second decade as King. His wife, Lierisa, has borne him two daughters, Katrina and Sylvia.
Despite the obvious affection and love between the Queen and her husband, there was a well told story from the war that circulated through the empire for many years before and after their marriage. It was told that Nasuada had loved the son of Morzan, Murtagh, and he had captured her heart long before she had met her husband. The rumour had died down upon the birth of their first child; however it was not long before it circulated again.
The rider Murtagh had left following Galbatorix's defeat to hide himself and his Dragon, Thorn, where no one could reach them. He lived in the shadows of the land for neigh on Twenty years before he returned to the city he was last seen. The commotion of Murtagh's return had caused the Queens guards, The Nightstalkers, much alarm when they spotted the crimson red dragon in the distance. Upon his arrival in Ilirea he stormed into the throne room and in front of all the lords and ladies, and in front of King Arthur, knelt before the Queen and asked for her forgiveness for all that happened. What happened next fuels the speculation on the pair, as the Queen did not scorn him as an old enemy, Nasuada brought Murtagh to his feet and embraced him as an old friend and he would take his place at her side as her ambassador to the Dragon Riders.
Over the next years to follow, rumours penetrated throughout the cities of the human empire of an affair between the Queen and Murtagh. No one knows the truthfulness of the rumour, yet it was common knowledge that the pair was close friends. When King Arthur died an early death, at the age of 46, debate raged whether his heart could not take the rumours of his love and Murtagh.
One of the greatest changes within the human empire can be found in Palancar Valley. In the ninety eight years since Galbatorix's rule ended in Alaga sia, the area has become one of the wealthiest and most populated regions in the entirety of the human kingdoms. The mighty warrior Roran Stronghammer returned to the place of his birth and with the approval of the queen, built a mighty fortress and vast city upon the ruins of Carvahall, rivalled by none but the capital Ilirea itself.
Once Carvahall had been reconstructed, many thousands of people flocked to Palancar valley and more settlements sprung up in and around the area, people eager to live close to one of the Vardens greatest warriors. Roran, as the first earl of Palancar Valley, resided on the Queens council and with Jormundar, her right hand man during the war who wold become Governor of Belatona, serve as her most trusted advisors.
Stronghammer and his wife, Katrina, had a number of children. They had five sons named; Carn, Garrow, Eragon, Horst and Brom, along with three daughters. Their first child Ismira, who would become a Dragon Rider trained by her uncle, Elain and Ruby.
Roran and Katrina lived to the ages for eighty-seven and eighty-five respectively, before each of them passed into the void. Their love, and the struggles that occurred during the Great War, are often recited by bards and poets and has become the greatest story of love to be known in human history. They were buried together in the garden of the Carvahall castle along with the bodies of Roran's father, Garrow, and Katrina's father, Sloan. Twenty-three years after Galbatorix's fall, Sloan re-entered the lives of his Daughter and step-son following the changing of his true name as decided by Eragon during the Great War. There was no anger held by either of the couple or the father as they had each learned to live with what had occurred, and Sloan joined his family for the next ten years before he passed into the void.
Two decades before his death, Roran passed along the Earldom of Palancar Valley to his and Katrina's oldest son, Garrow. Garrow, who had married the daughter of Elain and Horst, served the King as Earl of Palancar Valley for thirty years before he fell into the void during a hunt. The Earldom then passed to his brother Carn, for Garrow and his wife Hope had been unable to conceive a child. Carn served his father's memory as Earl for ten years before he passed the title along to his son, Leo, who know servers as his father and grandfather had done as Earl. Leo has of recent times taken a bride in the form of a young lady named Selena who is the granddaughter of Jormundar, and has also entered his twenty-fifth year of age.
In the kingdom of Surda, King Orrin took his place over the expanded territory in the deal made with Nasuada over her ascendance to the throne. Upon his return to Surda, he married the daughter of a member of his court and they conceived a single child called Albert. Sadly, in the twelfth year following the fall of Galbatorix, King Orrin fell ill with a strange incurable, even by magic, disease that would later become known as "Orrin's Syndrome". Little is known about the disease but it is believed to be of the result of dealing with dangerous toxins and materials.
Despite an ill-reputation during the war with Galbatorix, King Orrin became to be loved by the people of the human empire. It seems that he took his pledge to server under Nasuada and keep peace to heart, and his rule was characterised by dignity, peace and was greatly missed by his subjects upon his death.
Albert succeeded his father has king at the age of seven, although guided for his early years by his mother and an assortment of advisors until he turned twenty at which time he was deemed by Nasuada ready to rule by himself, and he swore loyalty just as his father had done. Albert ended marrying Susan, Queen Nasuada's daughter, and together they fathered a son who became named Orrin the second. He now rules over Surda just as his grandfather of the same name had done over seventy years ago.
As has always been case with the stone ofAlaga sia, things appear to change but in reality not much at all. So has been the case for the dwarves of Alaga sia, who still reside in their Boer Mountain cities, ruled by the King Orik who resides in Farthen Dur. One of the most noticeable changes amongst the dwarves has been their willingness to trade with the Urgals and Humans, who they previously been wary of dealing with. The crimes of the past had not been forgotten by the people whose memories burn deep, but since the bonding of themselves to the Dragons all those years ago by Eragon Shadeslayer; the dwarves had opened their eyes to the possibilities. King Orik and his wife Hvedra have born three children. Hrothgar named after Orik's adopted father, Thydria after Hvedra's mother and finally Tovik.
In the forests of Du Weldenvarden Arya Dr ttning rules as Queen of the fair folk, following in the footsteps of her mother and father. Despite her unwillingness to rule, she has become a settled and strong leader that holds the affection of her race, particularly in the knowledge that she was their first dragon rider since the fall. In the years that have followed the Great War the Queen has not taken a mate nor bore any child to succeed her, something that is rumoured throughout Alaga sia to bother her council, and it is an age old story told by bards of the humans that her heart belongs to the one who captured in the Great War. It inspires humans to think of the story of a young farm boy who would arise to become the Leader of the Dragon Riders has captured the heart of royalty, the elven Queen of the fair folk.
...
In the last century there have been many a change in Alaga sia, but perhaps the most prominent of changes since the fall of Galbatorix has occurred outside of the land where focused so far. Of all the races that once inhabited Alaga sia, on the far off Silent Isle, an ancient, powerful race has been reborn and its descendants started to reappear in the world. Ninety-eight years ago Eragon, son of Brom, The Slayer of the evil King Galbatorix left this land to search for a place where he could raise the once though extinct Dragons back to the might of the tales of old. Not much was known of how he would do this, and indeed some thought that it would be imaginable, but soon enough some five years after the departure of Eragon, three dragon eggs hatched first riders of the new order in Alaga sia. Speaking today twenty-five Dragon Riders have been trained and sent to protect Alaga sia by their mysterious leader, along with the three eggs that once were under Galbatorix control, Eragon Shadeslayer the Kingkiller.
He, the greatest hero in Alaga sian history, has himself not been seen on these lands for ninety-eight years, since he departed aboard the Talitha for the Silent Isle, but every now and then one of his elven companions travels across the great sea and brings new dragon eggs to try and find their destined riders. We know little of their training away on the Silent Isle, but we do know this; when the new dragons hatch for their riders, they are trained by elves in the magical forest city of Ellesmera by teachers ancient in their age and knowledge. After that, they are shown a memory of the route to the Silent Isle by the elven Queen Arya or by Murtagh, the half-brother of the lead rider. The young riders then depart for the Silent Isle not to be seen for many years until they return, as riders in full, to oversee and manage the peace that exists in our lands.
Before Eragon departed Alaga sia, he renewed the pact with the Dragons to include the remaining two races into the bond, the Dwarves and the Urgals. The riders of new now represent this new unity and coexistence that occurs in Alaga sia.
At present, which Eragon brought into the bond with Dragons, four Dragon eggs have hatched for riders of Urgal tribes. The first of these hatchings occurred amongst the first eggs to be presented to prospective riders, five years after Eragon's departure. The son of the Urgal tribe leader, Nar' Garzhvog, who was called Brutavartz was the first Urgal in Alaga sian history to receive a dragon. A deep brown Dragon named Mutavrin hatched for him. After the hatching of this egg for Brutavartz, there was a lull in Urgal riders for close to fifty years at which point a brother and a sister were destined to become dragon riders, named Titork and Kreina, who were chosen by an orange dragon named Auliv and a white dragon Gnirpr for each rider respectively. The last of the four Urgal riders was chosen fifteen years ago by the red Dragon Sthrath.
Of the Dwarves, in the last century, three male and two females have been chosen to become Dragon riders by the eggs presented to the race. The first, chosen by the first batch of eggs to be presented in Alaga sia in the new age of peace, dwarven rider in Alaga sian history was a member of the Dwarf King Orik's clan, D rgrimst Ingeitum, named Elmik who was chosen by the golden dragon Naliat. Ten years after the first dwarven rider was chosen two more became riders by the names of Harina and Barrik, whose dragons where named Attor who was ivy green and Ehecatl whose colour was a marble in colour. Then sixty years after this, seventy-five after the fall, the final two dwarven were chosen from a batch of four presented to the Alaga sian races. One of these was hatched, controversially in many eyes, to a member of the Dwarven clan that had attempted to assassinate Eragon Shadeslayer during the Great War, Bofmalk of clan Az Swelden rak Ahuin. The other was presented to the daughter of the King, a yellow dragon named Gorzak, who was named Garani.
The humans of Alaga sia where always doubted to be among the majority of the new riders due to the existence of Eragon and his half-brother, Murtagh. Indeed only six riders have been chosen from the humans since the fall of Galbatorix, the first of which came much later than the other races in Alaga sia. The rider, since the fall of Galbatorix, belonging to the humans occurred at the same time the second and third dwarven riders were chosen. The riders name was Timothy, his dragon was a chocolate brown dragon named Asila, who was the son of a poor farming family in Surda. Five years later the second Human rider was chosen, it is told much to the delight of Eragon, to the daughter of the Earl of Palancar Valley Roran Stronghammer and his wife Katrina. Her name was Ismira and the dragon that chose her was a purple dragon named Vrita. A young man of Kuastan origin, the place in which Eragon himself is descended, named Saton join the ranks of the new Dragon riders a further fifteen years after Ismira, his dragon a blood red dragon named Urul ki. The final Dragon rider of the humans was chosen almost five years ago to the day by the Indigo dragoness Ascari who choose a human orphan from Ilirea called Jacob, who currently studies on the Silent Isle along with his two fellow two elven students.
One of the great mysteries that have presented itself to Alaga sians of late is the fact that more Dragon riders have been chosen from the Elves compared to the other races of Alaga sia. In total, including Dragon riders in full and current trainees, twelve Dragon eggs have chosen elven riders. There is no reason in particular that is known for this, however several theories exist. The first is that the dragons wish to repair the damage done to the pride and power of the fair folk during the fall and war with Galbatorix. The second, popular amongst conspiracy fanatics, is that there is darker forces at work prohibiting the growth of Dragon riders amongst the other three races. None of the theories tend to hold much merit, due to the fact little is known of the selection process; however it is rumoured in Alaga sia to bother the leader of the riders himself.
The first of the new elven Dragon riders was chosen in the first batch of eggs to be presented to the races of Alaga sia, five years after Eragon's departure to the Silent Isle. This egg, a lavender dragon named Islindi r, hatched for an elf named Elira a scholar who lived Osilon. She was joined by two more elves seven years later, chosen by Agriti and Rderdr, named Ranclif and Vaelyn. The next three elven Dragon Riders joined their brethren on the Silent Isle along with the human rider Ismira, named Arthil son of Lord D th dr, Elenthar whose dragon would be named Tezcacoatl and Noldorin whose dragon would be named Vasuki. Over the next fifty years, four more would join the ranks of Dragon Riders. Their names would be Sindari a female elf whose dragoness would be called Bestha, Amileliss a female elf whose dragon would be Tatsuo, L thin a male elf whose dragoness would be called Ilerria and finally Maedria a female elf hose dragon would be named Finoflin. Of current, on the Silent Isle, there are two elven Dragon riders being trained alongside the human Jacob. Their names are as follows; Irim , daughter of Van r, whose dragon is named Tin v n and Aaenor, son of a elven poet, whose dragon is named after his sire Glaedrius.