legends from crossanthe
If there isn't, I'll ask for writings on the Traveller god. Hells, I'll ask for the Traveller god material anyway, as this is unlikely to be kept close and dear by my compatriots.
The Traveller god is the master of the Kav Elfar (Cave Elf) race. He is also known as "X," the name
he uses when manifest in avatar. In high council, he is known as
Waldann high-Ironjade X, honoring the Ironjade kethi (holdfast
brothers) above the others: Glowstone, Braith, Taal, Shanagate, Kenn, Coalblack. He, of course,
appears as a Kav Elf, known in some lands as Grey or High Elf.
The Traveller's avatar plays a unique musical instrument, a shiny lyre-like "champagne"-blue
instrument called a "guitar." He dislays great talent with this and any other musical instrument he
has been seen to play. He sang many powerful songs with widespread and long-term effect, including:
- Tune this Electric Guitar - changed Heward's Mystical Organ into the Traveller's champagne blue guitar.
- Gold Dust Woman - created Helen the Dark from a hair of Helen of Troy, at the request of Aeol, the Dark Smith.
- Eye in the Sky - Played for the benefit of Evil Snake god in exchange for his eye.
- Magic Bus - created the Traveller's chariot.
- Madman Across the Water - Played for the Demonlord on the Forbidden Isle. Motivation and response unknown.
When seen in battle, the Traveller is reputed to wield a sword of great power, decorated with a ruby,
thought to be the evil Snake god's eye. When the Traveller's avatar pulls the ruby away from the hilt,
it dangles from a mithril chain which retracts slowly. The sword sings for a time, as the chain retracts.
When the chain has retracted fully, the ruby rests again in the setting of the hilt, the sword falls silent.
The Traveller rides the Magic Bus, a Prismatic-covered horseless chariot called a "VW microbus" by
the god. He created it with a song and a hundred pounds of english chocolate. From the outside it
appears to seat a half-dozen persons, but while it is always crowded, the magic bus is never full.
The Traveller's concubine/wife is Hermione, a master thief
and founder of a sword school. They met when the Dean of the Wisard Schoool at Isuame and the
Chromatic dragon joined forces with them to re-establish the Empire of the Imperial Orb, with
Necrodemus I on the Throne.
The Traveller's avatar is often seen in the company of the founder of the Trojan Hektorite Crusaders,
and is known to favor the Church of Troy in many matters. While the Traveller has aided persons
from all walks of life, the god is known to stand neutral in most affairs, acting only when compelled
to restore balance in a greatly irregular situation.
In the previous cycle, roughly between 150 and 4594 years
ago, during the Time of Fire and Demons, the elfar race
deviated from being one people. The sky spewed fire and
strange beasts walked the earth. The slaver races became
extinct, as did most of their slaves. It was a time of
great danger and upheaval.
Those who would become known as the Lios Elfar would not
give up their sky, and so retired to the Forest Within
the Forest. Those who would become known as the
Phoenican Elfar retired to The Fountains of Paradise, a
land on the other side of the seas. Those who would
become known as Faerie Elfar danced with the demons
beneath the fires from the sky (and became much changed
thereby!).
Those who would become known as Kav Elfar, the
Traveller's people, retreated to cave-like fortresses
called Holdfasts. Because their population had been
so depleted during the fighting years before the
retreat, the Traveller's people held their childbearing
women safe at the back of the caves where they could
be found by no demon or fires from the sky. Only the
expendable men folk were permitted to travel outside
the caves.
To prevent holdfast infiltration by solitary mockmen
(shapechanger demons) the Kav Elfar menfolk would
venture forth only in pairs, each man permitted to
return to the Holdfast only in the company of their
blood brother, called "teyn." Teyns would vouch
for each others' identity, a tradition which continues
to this day. Kav Elfar society and sorcery became
highly attuned to the detection and elimination of
shapechangers.
Within two generations keeping the women safe in the
back of the caves became a social norm, leading
inevitably to a second-class citizenship comprised
of females and boys below the age of maturity. The
kethi of John Coalblack buried too deeply and the
women revolted under the beteyn Eclavdra, she who
became the first Queen of the Drow.
Travel in the time of Fire and Demons was limited. The
holdfasts were geographically isolated and eventually
the distances caused great suspicion which induced
civil war. Women from other Holdfasts were often war
trophies, obtained on raids to increase the gene pool
of the kidnapper's people, and the honor of the kidnapper.
The Traveller eventually created his stone roads to
magically speed the journey from one holdfast to
another, and to magically protect the journey from
the fires in the sky. However, the warlike habits of
the Kav Elfar were ingrained into their society already,
and have not changed significantly in the times since
the Road was built.
At one time Road Travel was available to anyone who
dared set foot on the black stone. Each person who
travelled the Road was guaranteed only one encounter
on the way to one's destination, regardless of the
distance or time. Those who travelled in parties
were allowed to aid each other in the encounters of the
Road, sharing each encounter's risks and benefits.
The guaranteed single-encounter magic was broken if
the Road was left. When it was discovered that the
magic of the Road could magically starve a traveller
if not enough food was carried, Huery-que-que, a
pellinese Orc once employed as Royal Chef of Wallachia,
created a series of inns called "Country Kitchens"
spaced precisely at one-day intervals at a healthy
man's foot speed. Inexpensive and well-seasoned food
is available for all races but elves, who must pay
"a million gold" for each meal, enforced by magic
which enslaves non-payers.
For the last two hundred years the Road has been
maintained by a human Priestess Mary-Margaret
Roadgrader, who rides a horseless chariot, stranger
in appearance than than the Traveller's.
Legends indicate that originally the Road provided only
magical travel. In current times a Priest of the Road
is required to invoke the miracle of Road Travel.
Without such a priest, merchants and vagrants use
the black stone path for navigation and comfort,
although the prevalence of brigands make this not
without risk. Rumors of bonze travelling the road
without aid have died out with the teachings of
the bonze.
There is evidence that the gods themselves use a
Gold Road
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