Gran Fortuna

THE SYLVAN SWORD OF OELWEIN

Gran Fortuna was the sword of Oelwein the Woodprince, a mythical figure in the history of Woods Deep. Oelwein was the son of Muir, the Mother of Shadows, the legendary Hero that defeated Esdraelon, the Dynast-Lich of the Gods of Hell. He fashioned the hilt of his curved blade from a branch of sturdy rustwood and attached an antler of the rare whitestag to serve as his crossguard. The sword was blessed with the woodmagick practiced by his mother, but some would say this very magick would someday prove to be his undoing. After the Gods had been vanquished from this world, Oelwein gained notoriety in his own right by capturing the infamous Bloody Bard, Cimarron, and his band of outlaws deep in the Elderwood. The legends tell that over time the woodmagick the Mother of Shadows had bestowed upon Gran Fortuna slowly began to overtake the Woodprince himself. His movements slowed with each passing day, his skin turning rough and course like bark, his hair becoming adorned with leaves and vines until one day he ventured into the wood never to return. Traditional tales passed down by the herbwives and foresters of the Elderwood claim that somewhere far into the forest growth, down a trail untrodden for centuries, a tree stands tall in the shape of a man clutching a curved sword in its gnarled limbs.

The whitestag is a rare breed of brindledeer only born once every hundred years. The graceful beasts are prized by the woodsmen of the Elderwood, who consider it sacrilege to hunt them. It is claimed that the antler used in Gran Fortuna’s crossguard was offered by that century’s whitestag on the promise that Oelwein would defend the forest until his death.

Hero's Grave is © MMXXI Shane Henderson.
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