Valdemar Wiki
Register
Advertisement
DhorishaPlainsMap

The Dhorisha Plains are located south of the Pelagiris Forest, bordering Jkatha and Velvar. The plains are bowl-shaped, bounded by steep cliffs. They are described as "a rolling country of gentle, swelling rises; like waves. Green grass there was in plenty...and golden grass, and a faint heathered purple. And flowers..." (Oathbound) There are also lines of trees following the watercourses. Though cruel and barren in the summer and winter months, the Plains in springtime are an unrivaled beauty.

The Star-Eyed goddess named the area Dhorisha Shin'a, the Plains of Sacrifice. The People of the Plains are the nomadic Shin'a'in clans and their horse herds.

History[]

The tower of Urtho, Mage of Silence, was once located in the center of what is now the Dhorisha Plains. The Plains are actually in the crater formed when Urtho's Tower exploded during the Cataclysm. (The site of Ma'ar's headquarters in the Royal Palace of Tantara is now Lake Evendim.)

When the Kaled'a'in who had served Urtho returned to the area of the tower, they were confronted by the barren wasteland of the crater. After the clans split, with the magic-using clans moving north to become the Tayledras, only four clans remained. Their shamans decided to petition the Powers to help them find a habitable home. The price of the Calling was the life of the elder from each clan. At sunset the four elders sacrificed themselves, each jumping from the crater rim at one of the cardinal points.[1] The shamans prayed to the Powers, and the Star-Eyed goddess appeared. She agreed to restore their homeland, but only if they were willing to pay the price of eternal vigilance, watching over Urtho's mage weapons, guarding the plains from outsiders. "You must guard your new land, which you shall call the Dhorisha Shin'a - the Plains of Sacrifice, and yourselves the Shin'a'in - the People of the Plains." They would have to foreswear magic for all time. When they agreed to sacrifice their freedom, the use of magic, and even their free will to guard the land forever, the Star-Eyed walked into the Plains, and trees and flowers and grass grew up, spreading out in a living wave, covering the landscape.[2]

The Shin'a'in found and buried Urtho's terrible mage weapons near the center of the Plains. They forbade the practice of magic among all but the shamans, fearing that the temptation to utilize the weapons would prove too strong. They guarded the Plains and the weapons hidden there for centuries, until only a select few even knew there was something to be guarded. This duty came to an end when the weapons were retrieved in hopes that one or more could be used to end the destruction of the Mage Storms.

References[]

  1. Among the Shin'a'in, this is still known as the First Sacrifice.
  2. Winds of Fate
Advertisement