Morfanwen Keenspear

 

 

      Morfanwen Keenspear is an ancient hero of the Grey Alynx clan of the Dundealos tribe of Sartar. Soon after arriving in Dragon Pass, the clan was threatened with extinction due to the losses caused by frequent nomad raids. Morfanwen became a Red Woman when her family was killed in one of these raids. Her bloody quest for revenge lasted years and she helped the clan survive the nomad onslaught. Morfanwen died at the  Battle of Dundeal’s Ford in 1343, fighting the Sable Riders of Prax. For many years after her death the animal nomads feared to raid the Grey Alynx tula, such was her reputation among them.

      Morfanwen established the Grey Alynx temple to Vinga and devoted her life to Vinga and her clan. She studied the ancient myths of the goddess and completed many of the ancient heroquests, both major and minor. Large numbers of Grey Alynx women served Vinga, a tradition said to have been started by Morfanwen.

      The Grey Alynx clan is no more. The clan was split by kinstrife in the 1490's and much knowledge of the cult was lost in the chaos that followed, remaining only in the hands of a few worshippers.

The rebellion of the Dundealos in 1618 resulted in a vicious Lunar response, most of the tribe were killed or enslaved, and much ancient knowledge lost. Places of power were destroyed or abandoned, and most of the accumulated mythical knowledge of the tribe has been lost.

       Serenity the Dancer rediscovered the cult in 1626. Following the disappearance of Orlanth and Ernalda, she had resorted to desperate measures to secure a source of  magic to help with a rapidly approaching battle with the Lunars (the Battle of Iceland). She had contacted a shaman who helped her travel to what she believes was the spiritplane to seek help from her ancestors.

    Serenity arrived naked in a snow bound wilderness. The howls of beasts in the hills surrounding her, and the  freezing conditions, drove her on (pondering why it was that she seemed to end up naked on the heroplane so often), until finally she arrived at the site of a dreadful battle. Piles of corpses, stripped of everything, and horrifically mutilated, littered a wide valley floor.

      Near death, Serenity staggered around the battlefield. She soon heard faint moans from behind a rock. A cautious Serenity discovered that the source of these moans, a dying Vingan. The woman was all but hacked apart; Serenity healed what she could but succeeded in doing little more than easing her passing. As her last breaths came, the warrior handed her broken spear to Serenity. At that point Serenity experienced an intense vision of the battle as seen through the dying warriors eyes, inducing a pain so intense that she passed out. She awoke to find found  back in Sartar, naked, clutching a rusted spearhead and in the middle of a snowbound wood.

     Serenity sought shelter and  finally found a cave. She prayed over the spearhead to her missing goddess and fed it some of her power. The spirit of Morfanwen spoke to her then, telling her of ancient deeds and battles, secrets and truths. Finally, exhausted, Serenity lapsed into unconsciousness. She awoke to find herself in front of a warm fire, rescued by cousin  Bjarnni, who has a knack for finding naked women in the middle of nowhere (he has bad luck though, it always turns out to be a relative),

    When she returned to the rest of the Company, she spent time talking to Morfanwen, soon discovering that she, and all who sacrificed a point of POW to the spearhead, could sacrifice to Morfanwen for the divine magic spell of Screaming Javelin.