Lore — The Prelude — The Roar & The Lair
How It All Begins
The following is the baseline lore of the Legendao tale.
THE ROAR
“Just one more inch… just… one… more…”
You’re wrapped in an enchanted harness woven from moss and grass, dangling headfirst from an icy turret. Your fingers stretch towards a cracked, glowing wall of transparent blue.
When you were a cub, two Acolytes from the mystical Council of Gyld arrived at your brood cave in the thick of a storm. Wind roared outside, tossing snow into stinging spirals as fires warmed the modest cave. Your brood, over thirty Yeti related by blood or joining of all ages, dwelled within. You all gathered in stunned silence at the Acolytes’ appearance. Even the tiniest cubs stopped scrambling and nipping at each other without being told in order to listen.
The Acolytes were there because you had been born with innate talent, a mass of potential that hadn’t yet been forged. Your power, they told your honored, yet frightened parents, was felt by the strongest Legend of all, Kwaneg. Your future deeds were fated to benefit all of creation.
That’s how, when you came of age, you became an apprentice to the Council of Gyld. But as an apprentice, you only get the grunt jobs. That’s why you’re hanging upside down from the top of the Lair to fix the breach in the wall.
Thankfully, you don’t mind heights. The cold doesn’t bother your furry hide. But the distance between you and the breach you need to fix seems farther and farther away. The sounds of your creaking harness make you only a bit more nervous than the beloved idiot holding it, and you, by your well-padded ankles.
“Come on, furball! You can do it!” shouts Bija. His laughter causes the grasp of his tough, leathery fingers to loosen. Just a drop.
“If you drop me, I will come back from the dead to kill you!” you holler. The snowcapped mountains below loom ever closer in your already overworked imagination.
“What?” Bija chuckled. “Would I, your best friend since birth and your favorite cousin, allow you to fall to a terrifying death before you can earn eternal life as a Legend? Well, I never…”
You decide to ignore him and return to your work.
“Just… one… more…”
A roar of rage echoes throughout the Hidden Ridge, causing the ground to quake. The turret where Bija had been perched explodes, ice shooting endlessly into the abyss below.
You and Bija howl in fear as you plummet towards the spiky mountains. Your eyes tear from a mix of searing, icy winds and abject terror.
Suddenly, the two of you thud into what seems to be a pile of soft furs. But there’s nothing to see, when you can bear to look. You’re sitting in the middle of the sky.
The mountains wait below like a mouth full of sharp fangs, ready to devour you.
You scuttle over to each other and hold on to each other for dear life, eyes tightly shut.
“Sorry about that, little ones.”
The resonant voice, deep and crusted with a thousand aeons, causes your eyes to open wide.
“Kwaneg,” the two of you whisper in unison.
The invisible cushion you’re caught on rises back up towards the ice lair.
“Yes,” he sighs. “Tell the Legends there has been a new development regarding the Aurora. I will arrive physically to the Lair in due time.”
You clutch each other more tightly. You don’t know what is more frightening — facing certain death or facing the Legends themselves.
“Have no fear. These are my orders. Again, I apologize for the distress I caused you.”
Kwaneg?? Apologizing to two measly apprentices?
“No one would believe us,” you think.
Laughter rumbles all around you like thunder promising a storm.
“So keep it… a secret.”
THE LAIR
You finish your ascent to the Lair. Towering spires pierce the sky to compete with the tallest mountain peaks of the Hidden Ridge. Blue, transparent ice glows from within. Though it is partially covered in a blanket of snow that glimmers in the sunlight, the Lair can blend with the sky at need and disappear.
The main doorway is etched with intricate carvings and designs, including the symbol of the Secret all Cryptids are sworn to protect. The door is twice the height of the tallest Yeti (Kwaneg, incidentally). You shudder a bit at remembering your last meeting with the Legendary one.
Despite its imposing size, the door is almost transparent, giving those outside a glimpse of the grandeur that lies within.
A small group of Acolytes stand, tall and forbidding, at attention on either side of the door. Their armor and weapons gleam in the pale light of winter sun.
As you approach, they cross their weapons over the doorway. Then, they see that you are apprentices and nod in recognition. They swing open the heavy doors and allow you passage.
You can’t help but feel a sense of awe as you enter the Hall of the Lair. The huge, cavernous room is lavish and beautiful. Ice carvings and frosty murals adorn the glowing walls. They depict the rise and fall of human civilizations throughout the sands of time. In the center of the room, a grand chandelier of ice hangs from the ceiling, its crystals sparkling. A fireplace roars at one end, casting a warm glow over the room and melting the surrounding ice into glittering rivulets that flow down the walls.
Though Yetis are usually impervious to cold, hurtling fast through insanely subzero temperatures to certain death did not do a body well, Yeti or not. You have never been happier to see a warm fire in your life.
You and Bija head directly to the plush furs in front of the fire. You huddle together, making sure you’re as close as possible without burning yourselves.
After a good twenty minutes or so, you feel much better. The two of you rise and proceed to the door of the Inner Sanctum.
More Acolytes stand guard at the door.
“Halt!” one of them calls out as you approach. “You are not allowed to pass. Only those who reach the level of Acolyte may enter.”
You tell the guards that Kwaneg has given you a message to deliver to the Legends. The guards look at each other skeptically, but one of them nods and disappears into the sanctum.
After a few moments, the Acolyte returns and tells you that the Legends already know about the message you were told to impart. They wish to inform you that they have chosen you to undertake a series of quests before you may enter their presence.
You and Bija are now Initiates!
The Acolyte’s words fill you with excitement and determination.
“Bija, return to your duties!” the Acolyte commands.
“Lucky you,” Bija whispers. “I’ll come out to check on you from time to time. Maybe I’ll even kick your frosty butt.”
“You wish,” you retort. You start to scuffle.
“Initiates!” the Acolyte thunders. “Do you really think this is an appropriate way to behave in front of the portal to the Inner Sanctum?”
You look at each other.
“Now, go! Before I show you what is done with irreverent children who think they’re still in nursery!”
He doesn’t need to tell you twice.
As you set off on the first of what you know will be many quests, your mind is aflame with the knowledge that you have finally been given the chance to prove yourself worthy.
Could you, yourself, become an Acolyte one day?
Or even… a Legend?
Want to read more lore?
Read Lore — PoI 1 — The Cave here!
Read about Kwaneg the Yeti, Mahukwa the Sasquatch and Richter, the Bigfoot.
