East ard
Osten Ard is the name of a fictional continent on which the fantasy romance cycles The Secret of the Great Swords and The Witch's Wood Crown and the novel The Burning Man by the author Tad Williams play and was also invented by him. A characteristic of Osten Ard are numerous bonds, especially with the peoples living there, with the real world, which however contain an independent character through variations, as well as an inspiration from Tolkien's world Middle-earth . The references give Osten Ard more complexity and depth than a completely invented world and generate narrative expectations that Williams partly fulfills and partly unexpectedly changes.
Geography and name
East Ard is a large continent with climatic conditions between subarctic and tropical conditions, in the extreme north and south. Almost all of the novels are set in the western part of the continent, while towards the east to the center the settlement decreases and the world behind is not known to the inhabitants of the regions mentioned in the novel. A huge primeval forest area is the Aldehorte east of the Weldhelm Mountains, another large forest area of the Circoile in Hernystir in the west of the "known" world. The area of the Thrithinge to the southeast, divided into high, meadow and lake Thrithing, is a wide plain. There are also two large inland lakes in the well-known part of Osten Ard, the Drorshullvenn in the northern Frostmark, a freshwater lake and the saltwater lake Kynslagh in Erkynland.
Mountains
The subpolar north is characterized by high mountains with the two most powerful peaks mentioned Sturmspitze and Urmsheim. Further mountain ranges are further south of the Weldhelm and the Grianspog in the far west. Mountains play a major role in the Williams novels, set as the setting in Osten Ard, as locations of ancient myths or mysterious events surrounding the protagonists. The so-called Knoch in the Weldhelm was the site of a legendary battle in antiquity, and Thisterborg, which is also located there, houses an ancient cult site (called Zornsteine). The summit of the Swertcliff, on the flank of which the Hochhorst lies as the residence of the Hochkönige, is the burial place of the kings of the Erkynland. The Grianspog is rich in natural resources and criss-crossed by numerous tunnels and galleries. It houses an abandoned subterranean city of the Sithi and its highest peak is considered to be the residence of their gods, the Hernystiri. In the vast subpolar northern mountains, the Sturmspitze mountain is the home of the Norns, to the east of which the trolls' home is on several mountain slopes in underground caves. Ultimately, Urmsheim is the place where the last dragon from Osten Ard lived at the time of the Hochkönige. There are other mountain ranges in the Hoch-Thrithingen and Nascadu, but they are not described in detail in the novels.
Islands
All of the larger islands off the coast of the known part of Osten Ard mentioned are also inhabited. So the island of Warinsten, home of the high king Johann von Erkynländer and Naraxi as well as Harcha in the bay of Firannos of a tropical, dark-skinned people. Perdruin as a trading center and home to many seagoing ships is a county belonging to the High Kingdom, but is inhabited by its own people who were previously under the rule of Nabban.
Countries and states
Most of the countries in the well-known East Ard are named after the peoples who live there. At the time of the novel cycle, under the direct rule of the high kings residing in Erkynland, the Nabbanai, the Thrithinge, the island of Perdruin, the Wran and Nabban stand next to the Erkynlanders. A tributary vassal are the Hernystiri under their own royal house. Only marginal areas of the known world that are not inhabited by humans and the tropical south (Nascadu) are not ruled by the Hochkönig. Erkynland itself is divided into numerous counties and baronies, a number of which are mentioned in the novels or scenes of central events (such as Falshire and Stanshire in the east).
Cities
The largest city on the known continent and the only major city there in today's sense is Nabban , the center of the Adonitism and the capital of the sub-state of the same name in the High Kingdom. It is surrounded by a whole conurbation consisting of towns and small towns that have grown together. Other large cities at the beginning of the novel cycle are Erchester (formerly: Erkynchester, at the foot of the residence of the High Kings), Meremund and Naglimund in Erkynland, Elvritshalla (main town), Kaldskryke and Saegard in the Frostmark (home of the Rimmersmen), Hernysadharc, Nad Mullagh and the port city of Abaingeat in Hernystiri and the commercial center of Kwanitupul on the edge of the Wran swamp. Only Nabban, the coastline and Erkynland appear in the novels as more densely populated cultural landscapes.
The cities of the Sithi were already in ruins at this time (time of the High Kings see below). You live in an improvised tent city in the Aldehorte. In the homeland of the nomadic Thrithinge and the outskirts of the known world outside the rulership of the Hochkönig, there are no larger towns and settlement is rather sparse.
Peoples
People
The intelligent inhabitants of Osten Ard are mostly human. Several of the human races borrow from historical real world peoples. The north and northwest are populated by the Rimmersmen (also Rimmersgarder), a Germanic warrior people who originally went back to stranded seafarers (probably inspired by the Vikings ). They immigrated from west to east Ard and lived under the rule of their own king until the High King subjugated them and they converted to aedonism (see religions). Since the rulership of the Hochkönig, the home of the Rimmersmen, the Frostmark, has been a duchy of the Hochkönigreich. Only the so-called Schwarz-Rimmersmänner in the far north remained, who serve the Norns and have kept their polytheistic religion.
Southern seafaring peoples are the Nabbanai and the Perdruinese . The Perdruinese are always characterized as vassals of the Nabbabai, especially at the time of the Nabanai Empire. As a former center of a high culture and an ancient empire, the Nabbanai can best be compared with the Roman Empire . The Perdruinese are turning more and more to the High Kings because of the Erkynland supremacy and freeing themselves from the vassals of the Nabbanai.
The Erkynlanders are an occidentally influenced people from different origins who populate the landscape around the central scenes of action, similar to the English. One of the main origins is the so-called fishing people who have lived in the Erkynland for a long time and to which the hero of the great novel series Simon Schneelocke belongs.
The Hernystiri are a people of the southwest who live in wooden dwellings. They are the longest established people in the East Ard and traditionally be friends with the Sithi.
The inhabitants of the Thrithinge represent a strictly patriarchal riding people , who often hire themselves out as mercenaries for various rulers and raise cattle, v. a. also horse breeding. Their habitat is divided into three regions (lake / high / meadow thrining), each of which is ruled by a thane, but to which there is no great bond.
The Wranna are a dark-skinned and rather small indigenous people who live in large subtropical swamps on a rather low cultural level. Due to the extensive biodiversity there, the Wranna are known for their knowledge of medicine. South of the Wranna, there are tropical peoples on Osten Ard, of whom only a few minor characters come and who have a mysterious reputation among the peoples of the northwest.
The garden folk
In prehistoric times, three related peoples fled from a garden that was not specified in the east to the east of the Ard, even before the first humans arrived there. These are the closely related Sithi and Norns , who represent an ageless people similar to the Tolkien elves , but who are thoroughly mortal - for example through battle or wounds. The two tribes only finally separated in Osten Ard.
The so-called undergrounds , known as blacksmiths and stonemasons for their artful work, are distantly related to them . Some of the underground live on the coasts of the sea under the name Niskies and serve on ships to repel the Kilpa (see below)
The Qanuq
The Qanuq or Trolls are a dwarf people of the north who live in mountain caves and from hunting and keeping animals. A special feature is that the hunt is carried out by the troll women, but the herds are herded by the troll men. "The" huntress and "the" shepherd, who exercise a kind of dual power, the singing man as a kind of healer and magician, and a high priest have a special role in troll society. A distant relationship exists between the trolls and the garden folk.
Animals in East Ard
The fauna of the continent contains animals from the real world such as wolves, bears and various species of birds (sparrows, pigeons) as well as various fictional species and semi-intelligent beings. The emerging in the novels semi-intelligent beings are primarily the Bukken , a primitive graves nation that lives in the soil, the giant , equipped in its local variant with white fur and very vicious, the Ghants , a large, semi-intelligent and living in states of insect and the marine Kilpa , who pose a threat to shipping. Very powerful, magical and dangerous beings are the dragons also present on Osten Ard , of which only three are still alive at the beginning of human settlement.
Plants in East Ard
The plant world, like the animal world, contains numerous species from the real world as well as fictional species, especially in the area of herbs for medicinal, cooking and intoxicating purposes.
Fictional story
Age of the Sithi
At the time of the Williams novels, the first age known to scholars is that when the Sithi and Norns were the common masters of the Osten Ard. They ruled from their cities over the then sparsely populated world and had immigrated from a garden that existed in the unknown east, fleeing from "not being", time immemorial. Their servants are the later subterranean ones, the early human peoples living in Osten Ard at this time are in a sense tolerated by the Sithi or live in friendship with them.
The Nabbanai Empire
The seafaring people of Nabban eventually began to be the first human race to establish a domain that spanned significant parts of the Osten Ard. However, the Nabban emperors avoid armed conflicts with the Sithi, but try to use military means to hold the territories they have won. However, due to the still great power of the Sithi in the northwest of the continent at that time, the domain of the Nabbanai does not reach the later extent of that of the High Kings. Usires Ädon, the founder of what would later become the most important human religion on Osten Ard (see below), lives and works in this epoch. Through him, Nabban changes - similar to the Roman Empire - from a pagan empire in its later period into a theocratic state.
The epoch of the Rimmersmen
The Rimmersmen, who previously immigrated from the west, end the rule of Sithi and Nabban over large parts of Osten Ard with bloody campaigns of conquest. The Nabban empire in particular is already in cultural decline at this point. In the end the men from Rimmersgard finally conquer the mighty Sithifestung Asu´a and make it the center of their new rule under the name Hochhorst. However, they can only hold their powerful position for three generations. Its epoch can be compared somewhat with the terrestrial migration of peoples, which ended the previous ancient age.
The Hochkönige
At the instigation of Nabban renegade Sulis, the Hochhorst remains a ruler's residence even after the Rimmersmen have withdrawn. He allies himself with the Erkyn countries living there. He is followed by a king from Hernystiri and the Erkynland fisherman king Eahlstan, who falls victim to a dragon. The next ruler, Johann, also called the Priest King, follows from the island of Warinsten, which is populated by the Erkynland. He pretends to slay the dragon (which in truth Eahlstan had already killed, but was killed in the process) and in the following years subdues both Nabban and the Rimmersmen (the rulers are downgraded to dukes), as well as the Thrithinge and numerous others Islands. He thus establishes a new, medieval-like empire as the High King, who presides over the other rulers, some of whom still rule as kings and others only as vassals.
Johann succeeds his eldest son Elias, who allies himself with the Norns and powers of the undead Storm King Ineluki, once the son of the last Sitha ruler on the Hochhorst. The warlike and magical confrontation that follows forms the background for the novel cycle The Secret of the Great Swords . Practically all living peoples are drawn into the fighting, often against their own will. The main opponents are Hochkönig Elias, the Storm King and the Norn ruler Uttuku on the one hand and the younger Prince Josua, Elias daughter Miriamel and her oppositional "collecting movement" on the other. One of her knights becomes Simon (Seoman) Schneelocke, who, after defeating King Elias and the Storm King, ascends the throne of the High King together with Miriamele. He is a descendant of the dragon slayer Eahlstan. The accession to the throne of Simon and Miriamele marks the end of the novel cycle and the history of Osten Ard described in Williams' work.
languages
Westerling
The Erkynland language in the Warinster variant is at the time of the Hochkönige under the name Westerling the common language of the known areas, but outside of Erkynland a foreign language. It is the only language mentioned in dialects spoken in different parts of Erkynland. Under the educated classes it is understood even outside the domain of the Hochkönig. The Perdruinese are in the process of adopting Westerling as a kind of second mother tongue, and the Niskies also speak Westerling. Westerling is given in the novels as the language of the reader.
Other languages
Otherwise, every people speaks its own language, only the garden people have a common idiom . The terms in the languages of the Rimmersmanns are reminiscent of Nordic-Germanic languages, those of the Nabbanai of Latin, so that the partly borrowed character of these peoples is supported by this.
Linguistic bonds
With some terms and names of the Sithi / Norns Williams makes reference to Japanese, e.g. For example, the queen of the norn Utuk'ku (美 し い / utsukushii = beautiful), the dragon mother Hidohebhi (酷 い 蛇 / hidoi hebi = terrible snake) or the Sithi city of Tumetai (冷 た い / tsumetai = cold), which is sunk under ice.
Religions
Aedonism
Aedonism is a monotheistic religion closely related to Christianity on Osten Ard. Its founder, called Savior by the faithful, Usires Ädon lived in Nabban at the time of the empire there. He died on an execution tree on the orders of the emperor at the time, but later disappeared from it, while a tremendous natural event happened exactly at this time: the impact of a mighty iron meteorite in the temple of the then highest god Nabbans. The execution tree becomes a symbol of the Aedonites, who, like the Catholics, know the worship of saints and relics, a pope-like archprelate with secular power in Nabban and monastic orders. The Aedonite places of worship are also called cathedrals , churches and chapels . For some time the doctrine of the Aedonite Church was strongly dogmatic, but it was moderated in the epoch of the High Kings. The Erkynlanders, most of the Rimmersmen, the Nabbanai and Pedruinese as well as a small minority of the Hernystiri belong to the Aedonite faith.
The fire dancers
During the time of the High King Elias, the so-called fire dancers emerged as fanatical religious followers of the Storm King, especially in the Aedonite areas of Osten Ard. They dress in white, long robes, are organized in an authoritarian manner and are strongly focused on visions and the preparation for what they believe to be the coming Storm King rule. Their fanaticism culminates in ritual murders and self-immolations. The movement collapses with the victory against the Storm King.
Other religions
Except for Aedonism, all religions are restricted to one people. With models in the Germanic and Celtic mythology appear the former religions of the Rimmersmen, which are still practiced by a part and those of the Hernystirischen majority. The Wranna belong to a natural religion closely connected with the swamps , the garden folk appear largely irreligious and disinterested in religious questions.