Pinkland

              Before there were people on the Island of Saruct that is in the speech of the founders Pinkland, named for the pink clouds that surround it, there were demons. They spawned in the darkness of the beginning of that world and no one could fight them. When the first men came to Saruct they were ready. In the darkness they took children and made them their own, they killed few, maimed many and demanded sacrifice. The people had no choice but to worship the foul beings as they knew of no other power. Eventually they grew tired of giving the best of their flocks and sometimes even their children to the demons and so they searched far and wide for someone who could fight the demons. They found Entorn, a powerful wizard who promised them he could force the demons into servitude. The people only wanted to be left alone and told him so. He said he could bind the demons so they could no longer take children or even animals unless they were at the height of their power. The people begged him to do it and promised him lands and kingship, were he to succeed. He spent a year preparing. The spell had to be just right. But finally on the 12^th day of the 12^th month, he acted. The demons all across the land screamed as with one voice. But Entorn’s power was the stronger. He drove them back into the mountains and there they stayed. The people made Entorn king over them and gave him a crown and a throne. His children were the kings of old. As a final act of defiance to the demons he had defeated he had his castle built high atop the very mountains he had driven them into. As long as Entorn was alive the demons did not dare go near that place. Nor did they venture any closer while his son ruled. For though his son did not inherit his magic he was known as Gannor the Strong for no man ever bested him in battle. It was in the days of Entorn’s grandson that the demons returned. He was called Retor and he would have been a good king but for his wife. No one knew where he had found her but everyone agree that she was the most beautiful woman in the land. He consulted her about everything until it was not he, but she who ruled the land. In the fifth year of his reign a traveling wizard visited Retor and his wife. In the morning the king and the wizard were dead and in the queen’s bed was the skeleton of a young girl. No one knew how they had died but many whispered that the queen had been a demon. Retor’s son took the throne and he was loved by no one. He cruelly oppressed the people, took their women for his own and forced many of their men into slave labor. They called him demon spawn and any other name is lost to history. In the eighth year of his reign his uncle Jordam Demonslayer returned from the exile his brother had imposed on him so many years ago. He had not been idle while in exile and he returned with seventeen sons. He killed his nephew in single combat and it was said that some of the power of his grandfather had descended upon him for the demon spawn had been rumored to be unbeatable. Jordam was one of those rare kings who knew how to win a throne but also how to keep it. He ruled well and wisely for twenty years but his peace did not last. When he died his sons when to war, one against another and when that war was finished only three of the seventeen were left alive. Ragisan of the Bow and Kilton of the hammer, sick of war and kingship crowned their younger brother Elidon of the axe king. The land had been torn apart by then but Elidon did what he could to pull what he had back together and slowly the land began to heal. Elidon was succeed by Elnizor who ruled only ten days before he was killed by his brother. His son, Rotom, who was only eighteen avenged him and took the throne. He reigned well and wisely for fifty years. He had no son for his wife was barren and he would take no other. His nephew, Jordam, succeed him. Jordam second of that name was said to be weak of mind and people whispered that the demons drove him to madness. After only four years of kingship he threw himself from the parapets of his castle. Jordam’s son was only eight but they crowned him and his mother ruled through him until he was of age. When he came of age she could not let go of her power and some said the madness of her husband had clung to her. She killed both her son and his two brothers while they slept and styled herself Queen Saraicain. She died at ninety and no one grieved her passing.