Wynn Tales: The Noble House Of Twain [restored]

Hello! I remembered this thing where Grian posted Wynn Tales now that Grian posted other ones. I'll bring back one of the first ones:

Gather round the hearth one and all, for I have another tale to tell. However, this tale is not about a single person, more about the history of a place. A dark place that perhaps was not before. This is the ancient and very noble house of Twain, and its place in the province of Wynn.

Before the unearthing of the hellish portal, the Wynn province was not without evil. Despite the vast empire that had spread across the land, there were those, particularly those with an affinity for power, that fell into disarray. Magic, as we all know, was a powerful ally to the early human empire and those who could wield it held great stead in their home place. However the limited strength of this magic could not quell the thirst that some individuals had for it, and turned to darker means to acquire more. These usurpers of the magical arts were outlawed by King Frederick III of Ragni once the death toll associated with the powers rose above that of the annual ravine jumping contest.

There were those, named spirit seekers, who were tasked to seek and destroy any dark powered individuals attempting to gain power. The spirit seeker is not a job that is acquired easily, moreover it was specifically a job name granted to the inhabitants of the house of Twain. Twain is the last name of a family, a family of immense magical and spiritual heritage that has inhabited the province of Wynn for as long as past records go. Throughout recent history children have been blessed with gifts of elemental magic, gifts of this nature are so rare that there have only been 4 recorded individuals to have housed such immense sorcery in recent records. Often when a gifted child is born to the world, they are feared, and often hidden, abandoned, or worse. However, Marius Twain, an immensely old wise warlock sought these children, and gave them shelter in his family manor, located in a secluded pocket of land where they could seek refuge. Marius taught them to control their powers and use them to fight the individuals that wielded dark magic, these were the original spirit seekers, Rickeo, Theorick, Dwendle and Mael. Though once feared, when their allegiance to the throne was proven, they became some what heros of the province, a magical police force that were not to be challenged. With Rickeo's manipulation of fire, Dwendle's control of air and Theorick's ability to govern ice, the largest threats to the integrity of the empire were apprehended and slain. Mael, however, did not possess the same type of powers as his siblings (though they are not blood related, the inhabitants of the house of Twain were always considered a family). Mael was able to communicate with the dead, or more specifically, the spirits that lingered to walk the earth. He was also able, to a certain degree, to produce black mystic wisps to damage his opponents. He was by far the most recluse member of the Twain family, and spent most of his time listening to the woes of the departed that have unfinished business in the realm. Many people considered Mael's brand of magic to be "dark" and wondered why he wasn't apprehended himself. "People fear the dead" was the reason Marius gave Mael for his obvious unpopularity among his siblings, "you are a reminder that we are all simply mortal, despite our gifts". Mael wondered if Marius really was mortal, he seemed to tell stories at least 200 years old, but alas, it was true. Marius died of old age and gave the children instructions to continue the house of Twains noble work.

Those who were able to wield the ancient dark arts were not able to be rid of entirely in the world, dark magic existed that allowed their spirits to remain bound to the earth and cause havoc. Mael was often left to deal with the angry spirits, for he was the only one able to handle their wroth. The physical elements that defeated them in life, were no match for them in death. The other siblings grew tiresome with Mael's reluctance to forever get rid of the spirits of the dead that remained, none more so than Theorick, who frequently reminded Mael that he would freeze his spirit out of him if he didn't take care of the monsters who they dealt with while they were alive. Mael however, had his own way, he sought to calm the spirits and send them ... "on". In his anger, Theorick couldn't stand to stay in the Twain manor any longer, and left to live in the nearest village, and formed it in his own image, frozen. Bitter in their old age, the siblings did not for fill Marius' wishes, they did not seek out gifted children, and they all split and went their separate ways, all except Mael, who remained in the manor to aid the spirits that sought him. However their anger did not last for long, for rumours of miners releasing more than mere dark sorcerers into the world had reached the ears of the aged spirit seekers, and immediately converged to greet the onslaught of monsters pouring out of the portal. There was held, the strongest battle on red soil. The four children of Twain, united in their old age to fight the hordes. However, although the monster numbers dwindled down, the spirit seekers were killed and it was seen as the biggest loss the empire has ever seen, for the four of them were stronger than any army. All dead, except for Mael, who was determined to teach at least one more worthy of his knowledge of the spiritual world.

So the house of Twain fell into decline. Mael, unable to look after himself in his old age spent the remainder of his time in a secret library learning arts to pass on to the one worthy, for when he had passed on his trade, Mael would no longer be needed. Unable to answer the calls of the undead, they began to converge and amass in the Twain manor, angry that Mael would not listen, they roam the house, aggressive to anyone they may encounter.

To the present day, the Manor remains full of unsatisfied spirits and Mael is nowhere to be found. It remains one of the few places that monsters from the portal will not go, but that does not mean it is by any means safe, rumours float around in the eternal winter village of Nesaak that there are still secrets to be discovered, as Mael had a lot to hide.

 

Oh yea, this text wall used to exist

 

It's back! I was never around for the first time it existed though...

 

Woo! Thank you for salvaging this!
It just occurred to me that nobody's ever said anything about Rickeo. He's not in the lore or anything.

 

Omg plagiarism

 

I always loved this story.

 

This is the original, correct? It does not mention the "honorary twain" that was added with the Twain Library lore. Still good to have a method of reading this without going through some of archives

 

Yes, this is the original; The one that Grian posted 3 years ago.

 

Ah man.

I remember reading this when it was posted.

The nostalgia.