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by Glupurp Stoneskipper
Paladin of Marr
My noble kinsman, I bring to you the knowledge of our
origins, as well as the origin of Man that has been bestowed upon me by the
scholars of the City of New Tanaan, and those who have visited the Halls of
Honor, home of our Lord Mithaniel Marr. I am but a humble Paladin of Mithaniel
Marr, born like many of our kind in the swamps of Southern Antonica, and deserve
no adulation for penning these words. This work is in honor of all Froglok,
current, past, and yet to come.
In the early ages of Norrath, before the arrival of Man, the
Marr Twins did walk the face of Norrath. The children of a God of Power, Tarrew
Marr the Water Lord, the Marr Twins searched amongst the mortals of Norrath a
cause to champion and embrace with their divinity. The Gods of Nature puzzled
over the Marr Twins absence of a divine purpose, and the Gods of Influence
scoffed at the twins for seeking such a purpose amongst the mortals. The most
malicious of the Gods, Innoruuk, and Cazic-Thule, sought to corrupt the young
twins to strengthen the forces of hatred and fear.
Innoruuk, the twisted God of Hatred and Spite sent his mortal
followers to Tarrews daughter, Erollisi Marr, to tempt her and seduce her into
the darkness. With the wisdom imparted to the Goddess by her father, she saw
through the Teir'Dals deceptions, and their wickedness was more visible to her
eyes than even their physical forms. So it came to pass that Erollisi journeyed
to the lands of Tunare's fair elves, to escape the sickening advances of the
Teir'dal. It was in the early kingdom of the elves, that Erollisi did find
warmth, peace, and beauty in the harsh realm of the mortals and it was there
that she embraced and was in return embraced by a most mortal of traits. It was
there she found love.
While Erollisi fended off the advances of Innoruuks mortal
agents, the forces of Cazic-Thule beset her twin brother, Mithaniel Marr.
Serpents, phantoms, and all manner of frightful creatures conjured and commanded
by Cazic-Thule mortal minions came to Mithaniel to assault his body and mind.
Mithaniel was no mortal however, and his will was strong, the minions of Thule
could not instill within him the fear of their dark lord. They did succeed
however, in luring the brave Mithaniel to the swamps of Norrath, the deadly,
dank, lands where the creatures of Cazic-Thule were the strongest and most
numerous. An army of Trolls, Lizard Folk, and forgotten creatures of unspeakable
horror beset Mithaniel Marr, and so it came to pass that he became a captive to
the minions of the Lord of Fear.
Mithaniel, imprisoned in magical bonds provided to his
captors by Cazic-Thule, and tortured by relentless monstrosities, prayed to his
father day and night for forgiveness and salvation. The prayers continued,
unanswered, until the brave God, weary from torture and weakened by the dark
magic of Cazic-Thule fell into a deep slumber.
It was then that Terris-Thule visited the slumbering God to
inflict his sleep with nightmares more horrible than the events he had endured
at the hands of his captors during his waking hours. However, at the beseeching
of her father, Cazic-Thule, Terris was not permitted to inflict such terror onto
Mithaniel Marr until after she first deceived him through his dreams and stole
the gift of life from his body. So Terris did as her father commanded and then
the slumbering horrors began.
Morell-Thule, the forsaken son of Cazic, and brother of
Terris, took notice of Terris manipulations of the slumbering God, for while
Terris is the Queen of Nightmares, Morell is the King of Dreams. For reasons
unknown, perhaps simply to foul the plans of his wicked father and sister,
Morell-Thule stole the gift of life that had been taken from the slumbering
Mithaniel and escaped into his Demi-Plane of Dreams. Knowing that his enraged
family would soon visit his home, Morell divided Mithaniels Gift of Life,
scattering one half across all the swamps of Norrath, the sacred lands of his
father, Cazic-Thule.
Where Mithaniels Gift of Life fell upon the swamps of
Norrath, the first Froglok Tads were born. Those first Tads had the hardest
trials of our people. Until that point, the swamps belonged only to the foul and
destructive creatures of the dark gods. Fortunately the gift of life that had
brought our first ancestors into being also empowered them with the bravery and
valor Mithaniel Marr had exhibited during his trials in the mortal realms.
Once the swamps had been seeded with the first of our kind,
the Lord of Dreams, Morell-Thule, visited Mithaniel Marr's twin sister, Erollisi
Marr. While the Goddess of Love blissfully rested in the lands of the fair
elves, Morell-Thule visited her in a dream and gave to her the second half of
Mithaniel's Gift of Life. It was soon to be evident to the fair elves that their
visiting daughter of the Gods was with child and they took her to an unihabited
region of the frozen northlands of Antonica, where they could tend to and guard
her in seclusion.
While the elves watched after Erollisi, the first of our
ancestors grew from Tads into adult Frogloks, and Morell-Thule gifted them with
dreams of the imprisoned Mithaniel Marr, and visions of a means to free the
brave son of Tarrew. So it came to pass that from all the swamps of Norrath, the
first Frogloks rose in arms against the minions of Cazic-Thule, fighting
valiantly to the site of Mithaniel Marrs imprisonment, guided by visions from
the Lord of Dreams.
For uncounted years the Frogloks battled the evil inhabitants
of Norraths swamplands, learning the lessons of both victory and defeat. Alas,
Cazic-Thule is an ancient and powerful God and his minions are numerous and
diverse. Try as they might, the ancestor Frogloks could not reach their
imprisoned God, but never did they cease their efforts, despite the daunting
odds.
Then, after some time, a small army arrived on the borders of
the swamp that was Mithaniel Marrs prison. Not an army of Frogloks, but an army
of Northmen, the children of Erollisi Marr. They too had been guided by visions
and dreams of the imprisoned God from whose life they were conceived. Seeking
jsutice for the imprisonment of their father, the Northmen joined with the
Froglok armies and the alliance of Froglok and Man succeeded in freeing their
father Mithaniel Marr. The minions of Cazic-Thule and the Avatar of Fear himself
fell before the unity and valor of the children of Marr. For the first time in
the history of Norrath, the swamps were not safe for the evil creations of the
dark gods.
It was in the brave and selfless actions of the ancestor
Frogloks and Northmen that Mithaniel Marr discovered the mortal trait of Valor,
and because of Morell-Thule's honorable delivering of the truth of our origins
to our ancestors in visions and dream, Mithaniel also chose to champion the
virtue of honesty as well as valor.
Such is the tale of my Lord Mithaniel Marr, and the origins
of my fellow Frogloks, and of our distant brethren, the race of Men. It is a
shame that so many of our kind, as well as many of the race of men, have strayed
from the virtues of our ancestors. My Mithaniel Marr bless us, his faithful
servants, with the powers to redeem our fallen kin from the clutches of evil.
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