The King Who Ruled the Passions

First came the one who shamed him as he wed.
“Unsay your words,” quoth Maxton, “lest you die.”
The jester answered, “My words I’ll withdraw;
Their truth, great King, not you nor I can alter.”
Then Maxton said, “Your kind speaks double-tongued!”
“All truths are double,” quoth the jester, smiling.
And smiled he still as sharp blades pierced his heart.

Some questors gave their pride as poor tribute,
Bobbing shameless at their new lord’s feet.
Some tied the Passions’ words in twists and turns;
Once true to One, these served two masters false.
Others gave their lives as lesser price
Than to betray the Passions pledg’d to serve;
These bloodied the blades of Maxton’s loyal men.

Maxton grew white of hair and short of tooth,
Releel’s once-fragrant flower withered,
When o’er the Questors victory was declared.
Fierce, fearsome, king and queen exulted;
Until upon the inner palace door
A dozen knocks disturbed the air like thunder.

Quoth Maxton, “Who is’t that would enter here?”
Spake one unseen, “Those who accept your rule.”
Swung wide the door, twelve passions stood beyond it.
Thystonius, warrior lord, cast down his weapon;
Lochost, the rebel, said, “Our cause is lost.
We bow to you, we call you Overlord.”
And Vestrial, clown Vestrial, he smiled.

The Passions’ fealty Maxton did accept;
He made them servants in his castle keep.
Gardens glorious did Jaspree grow,
Garments fabulous did Floranuus sew,
Cures miraculous did Garlen make,
Gold from empty air did Chorrolis take.

Lochost and Thystonius fought for sport
Upon a stage for Maxton and Releel;
A labyrinthine palace Dis design’d,
And proud Upandal built it up with ease.
Raggok to distant courts as envoy went;
In halls of justice did Mynbruje labor,
Weighing arguments of lesser men.

Astendar from his lute plucked songs of sorrow
As on mutton king and queen did sup;
And Vestrial, clown Vestrial, he smiled.
For on the day Maxton took Passions’ service,
That very day his doom was promised;
His doom and that of his fair realm, proud Thamos.

Thystonius’ blows and Lochost’s went astray,
Felling the kingdom’s finest warriors;
Raggok forged too-strong bonds with ally nations
So wily Maxton could not betray them.
Mynbruje’s justice gave too much to many;
Not all Chorrolis’ gold could pay the cost.
And Vestrial, clown Vestrial, he smiled.

Floranuus’ robes enchanted every eye
That saw them; hypnotized, the people died,
For Garlen’s healing could not restore them.
One by one, great Thamos lost its treasure—
The subjects of the prideful king and queen—
Until alone stood Maxton and Releel,
Wandering lost through echoing palace halls.

Conceived by Dis, too strange for mortal minds;
Built by Upandal, too strong to fall
Until Jaspree’s wild garden choked its stones.
Then Astendar’s sad songs rang too true;
King Maxton and Queen Releel were maddened,
Ruin’d Thamos by the Passions left abandoned.

And Vestrial, clown Vestrial, he smiled.
The lesson needs no poet to explain.
Of this sad tale, the meaning’s all too plain.
Thamos is long dead, its beauties gone,
Yet still the words its dead folk speak ring strong.
Passions rule Name-givers, not the reverse;
This truth refus’d invites Vestrial’s curse.
---

--To “fare North” in ancient times meant to die.

The poem presented in the legend is Canto XIV of the epic poem Of Rulers Long Past Gone, attributed to the dwarf poet Pericad. Most current Barsaive scholars agree that her name was attached to the work of many early poets through the centuries. They believe she may not have actually existed and that this poem is most likely composed of many originally unconnected poems.

Like all legends, this one may or may not be true. In any event, this legend has a definite moral—the Passions rule Name-givers, not the reverse (as noted in the last stanza). If the legend is not true in fact and told only for its moral, the gamemaster may use the legend as a prelude to any type of adventure that involves Passions or questors. Likewise, if the characters should venture to a remote area of Barsaive where worship of the Passions has been lost to the Scourge, this legend might be used to remind the denizens of the area of the Passions and their relationship to Name-giver society.

If the gamemaster determines that the legend is true, a number of adventure possibilities might arise from it. One suggested adventure is outlined below.

If the characters are among the more respectable members of their profession, the kingdom of Throal may ask them to investigate the murder of a prominent scholar at the Library of Throal—Algemicor of Throal, the editor of the new edition of Of Rulers Long Past Gone. Algemicor was killed in the library after hours, which means that the killing may well have been carried out by one of his colleagues. Since many of the high-ranking officers of the library are well-connected to the royal family, the investigation must be seen to be absolutely impartial, which is why outsiders have been hired.

After finding and deciphering Algemicor’s notes, the adventurers discover that he was obsessed with the particular passage quoted in the legend. In other documents, he had found reports of a particular set of ancient ruins, buried under layers of later structures, that may have been the second palace of Maxton and Releel—the one built by Upandal and designed by Dis. Legend has it that the residue of the Passions has left a curse there, for too much of their bounty can become a bad thing. But since three of the Passions have gone mad, Algemicor realized that the only traces of their original, uncorrupted essences linger in the remains of Maxton’s palace. He believed that if these essences could somehow be retrieved, the Mad Passions could be restored to sanity.

Unfortunately for Algemicor, the library staff had been infiltrated by secret questors of Dis. When he revealed his theories to one of them, she became horrified at the thought of a restored Dis and had him killed. Once the adventurers break up the cell of mad questors in the library, they can attempt to complete Algemicor’s mission by seeking the palace of Maxton. Of course, other questors of Dis have been alerted and will try to divert the party every step of the way.

If the adventurers manage to reach the palace and drag away some artifacts imprinted with the original essences of Dis, Vestrial, and Raggok, that achievement is just the beginning. Next, they must figure out how to use the artifacts to restore the Mad Passions, if such a thing is possible. This mission could serve as the backdrop for a whole series of scholarly intrigues and quests into the unknown, as the characters pursue this metaphysical puzzle.