Chapter 2 1. The Dark Ages

About six hundred years ago, the Book of Darkness, written at Berilla on the Isle of Enlad, reads on the first page: The island of Solia sank back to the bottom of the sea, and both Yephruan and Morid died. After that, the Council of the Wise temporarily regented for his son Seliel until he inherited the throne himself.Although his Wang Zuo was brilliant, it was short-lived.After him, there were seven kings of Yinglad, and the kingdom gradually expanded.Afterwards, dragons came to the western islands to plunder, and wizards gathered to defend against the enemy, but in vain.King Akambar moved his court from Berilla on Enlad Island to Havnor City, and then sent ships to resist the invaders from the Karg continent and drive them back to the east. The raiding fleet continued to sail to the Inner Pole .Of the fourteen kings of Havnor, Maharian, the last, made peace with the dragons and Karg, but at great cost.The ring of runes was broken, both Eriyabai and the dragon died, and the brave Maharian died of rebellion, and everything seemed to be going wrong in the archipelago kingdom.

After Maharin'an's death, there were many contenders for the throne, but no one could sit on it. The crown princes competed and divided the courtiers' loyalty.The welfare of the people is gone, justice is not manifested, and only the rich are left in power.Nobles, merchants, pirates, whoever has the ability to hire soldiers and wizards, all occupy land and proclaim themselves lords, and the land and cities become private property.The people in the territory are all slaves of the vassal kings, and the hired vassal kings are even reduced to real slaves. Only relying on the protection of the masters, they are protected from hostile vassal kings encroaching on the land, pirates plundering the port, and hungry and poor exiles gathered to attack and rob.

Completed late in the period it describes, The Book of Darkness is a collection of contradictory historical records, incomplete biographies, and unclear legends, but it is still the best surviving record of the Dark Ages.The vassal king preferred flattery to historical facts, so he burned many letters, lest the poor and powerless would understand the essence of power from them. However, when the vassal king got a wizard's wisdom book, he usually kept it carefully to prevent it from harming it, or handed it over to the hired wizard to dispose of it.A wizard or his apprentice might record events such as plagues, famines, raids, changes of masters, spells cast and their successes or failures in the incantations, real-name list margins, or final blank pages of the book.The records left by these hands occasionally reveal clear historical fragments, like fishing lights in the dark night, rain and fog, and the distant sea.

In addition, songs, old ballads and ballads, tell the story of these ages from the rest of the islands and the more peaceful plateau of Havnor Island. The great harbor of Havnor is located in the center of the world, and the snow-white sword tower stands high above the great harbor.On the top of the tallest tower, Eriyabai's sword reflects the first and last light of the day.All kinds of merchants, various commodities, and various knowledge and skills in the Earth Sea Islands shuttled back and forth in the city, which can be described as a wealth that cannot be hoarded.After the silver ring healed, the king returned to the city to guard, symbolizing the healing of the times.And in this city, in recent days, men and women of the archipelago talk with dragons, symbolizing the coming of change.

Havnor was also a great Isle, wide and fertile.In the inland villages and towns far from the harbor, and in the farms on the slopes of Erne Hill, things in the world rarely change.There, songs worth singing were sung again and again, and the old men in the tavern talked of Morred as if they had known him when they were young heroes.The girl who brought the ox home told the story of the daughter of the knot, the hero of the story forgotten by the whole world and Roke, but told in the quiet sun-drenched field lanes, and in the kitchen where the housewives work and chat by the fire. During the reign of kings, mages gathered at Yinglad Court or Havnor Palace to make suggestions, discuss together, and use their own skills to achieve the good goals agreed by everyone.But in the Dark Ages, wizards sold their craft to the highest bidder, pitted mana against each other in duels and wars of spells, ignorant of the evils they committed, and perhaps even deliberately.Plague and famine, dry springs, no rain in summer, no summer in four seasons, flocks and cattle giving birth to sickly and deformed cubs, islanders giving birth to sickly and deformed babies, the people blamed these phenomena on wizards and witches, and it was true. .

Therefore, the practice of magic is increasingly dangerous, unless it is protected by a powerful vassal.If a sorcerer meets a person whose sorcery power is stronger than his own, he is likely to be wiped out; even among ordinary people, if he relaxes his vigilance, he may die, because the people regard the sorcerer as the root of all suffering and the place of evil in the world.At the time, most people thought of magic as black magic. Village witchcraft has since gained a bad reputation, especially women's witchcraft, and it remains so today.Witches use their unique skills and pay a heavy price.Caring for pregnant animals and women, midwifery, teaching song ceremonies, keeping farmland fertile, keeping gardens and fields in order, building houses, tending furniture, and mining minerals and metals have traditionally been the responsibility of women.Witches share their vast knowledge of spells and chanting with each other in hopes of good results.However, once production or farming goes wrong, it becomes the witch's fault.And everything is wrong, because wizards fight each other, or use poison and curse for quick results, without any regard for the consequences.They brought drought, rain, and vermin, fire, and disease to the land, for which the village witch was punished.The witch doesn't understand why the healing spell makes the wound suppurate, the child delivered is mentally retarded, the blessing seems to burn the seeds of the farmland, and the insects infest the apples on the tree.Someone has to be the scapegoat when bad luck strikes, and witches and warlocks are close at hand, in villages and towns, not kings' castles and strongholds, unprotected by armed soldiers or defensive spells.Warlocks and witches were drowned in poisoned wells one after another, burned or buried alive in withered farmland, hoping to fertilize the barren soil again.

As a result, applying or imparting knowledge has become more dangerous, and those who continue to do so are usually marginalized, disabled, mentally ill, unaccompanied, old, and with nothing to deprive them of.The revered sage gradually becomes a shambling, incompetent village sorcerer who can only juggle; Things to be afraid of, things to hide. In such a time was the story, partly excerpted from the Dark Book, and partly from Havnor, Orn's Highlands, or Falien's Glades.Although the story is pieced together with only words and phrases, the structure is empty, half rumor and half speculation, but it also contains part of the truth.This is the story about the birth of Roke.If Master Roke thinks otherwise, come and tell how Roke was born, for the cloud that hung over Roke when he first became the Isle of the Wise Ones may have been placed by the Wise One.