:: Random Location—Pasture of the White Warriors ::

Pasture of the White Warriors

by Wm Jay Carter III, 5/23/15

Land Area: Pasture

Weather: Light Hail

Conditions: Unsettling, Charred

Color: White

Keyword: Warrior

An unsettling scene rolls out before you: all of the land from your feet to the foot of the mountains lays wasted, white with a thick blanket of ash. Underneath this covering, you know the pasture’s once-green grass is now only charred black soot. A light hail of volcanic rock still falls from the fume-black sky, thin flames trailing behind each marble-sized chunk. The sound of the fiery stones clinking against metal on all sides tells you of fallen warriors, entombed in their own armor and buried along with the pasture, the volcano having silently breathed white death into their bodies. Then, from under the ash, you see pairs of bright white lights, blown to life as if with a bellows...

The island kingdom of Thera was renowned as having one of the finest cattle-feeding grounds within a hundred leagues, mainland or no. So coveted were the pastures that the White Warriors, a guild of elite brothers in arms, were kept on retainer to protect the island from one coast to the other. They swore fealty to the island king, and vowed by the might of Vulcan, the god of the island, that they would never flee from danger, until the end of time.

Then, the day came that the White Warriors found a reason to flee. For the volcano which had formed the very island finally awoke from its millennia-long sleep. There was nothing any power could do to stop the red rivers from flowing, the fume clouds from billowing, the fiery rain from falling down and burning the coveted pastures. The king released the White Warriors from their fealty...but he did not have the power to release them from their vow to Vulcan.

And so, after the White Warriors had made certain that the king and all of his people had escaped, they, too, sought refuge off the island. But Vulcan sent his choking ash to suffocate them, striking them down in the very pastures they vowed to protect. And occasionally, when Vulcan’s wrath is kindled against intruders on Thera, he calls forth his warriors to fill their vow, breathing his white-hot fury into their nostrils.