Gandai
Gandai, son of Guldan, son of Rigus, was the father and leader of the people who bore his name.
In the first year after the Anthem of the Son, he led his people eastward, towards the Pillar of the East Wind. Gandai's plan was similar to Danlau's but with more sincere intentions. He led his people due east, across the newly formed mountains and came upon a major tributary of the Great River. Here he halted his sojourn and set up a permanent camp. But he soon continued on, leaving one of his brothers in charge. He then came to the Great River itself and set up another camp. He set another of his family members to administrate it and then continued. In this way, Gandai continued, pushing towards the Pillar of the East Wind, but slowly. Each time they came upon a favorable place, Gandai would halt, set up a self-sufficient camp, set up one of his sons or brothers to administrate it, and then continue on. He would also send a trusted servant or retainer to travel in the opposite direction to report on his progress. In this way, Gandai developed a network of colonies that were self-sufficient but were also able to aid each other, and to send the resources they had to help in Gandai's progress. This slowed Gandai's motions, but became a unique boon in a time of need. When, in the tenth year of the second age, Gandai came upon the Pillar he sought, he found his brother, Singlau's people, and those of Delorin and Ailoi, huddled about it like beggars. These had been beset by trouble and conflict and now expected to starve to death. Instead, Gandai was followed by caravan after caravan of food and supplies, and the people were able to begin construction of the Pillar.
Construction of the Temple of the East Wind began that year.
Gandai helped to oversee the temple's construction for many years until, in 54, he started to receive strange reports from his colonies along the Great River. The messages told of a huge influx of refugees from the north, fleeing persecution from his brother, Danlau. Gandai traveled westward, over some of the first roads built in the Known World, built by his colonies to expedite communication and transportation. Soon he was hearing the stories of human sacrifices, the murder of a prophet, and a brutal inquisition. Gandai began sending messages north, entreating his brother Danlau to open talks with him. But Danlau ignored these. Fearing war, Gandai began leading his colonies to set up defenses and train strong giants for battle.
In 64 SA Danlau began to send envoys to proselytize his brother to the south, and to regain those who had fled his inquisitions, but their preaching was not peaceful. Danlau's emissaries demanded that Gandai's colonies surrender all who had fled to them from the north, and ordered the towns themselves to bow the knee to Wailong-gu Nasai. Gandai refused. Danlau sent envoy after envoy to entreat conversion, but Gandai and his people refused to bow the knee to a false god. So in 76 SA Danlau sent his envoys again, but this time they sent them with a great army of giants. That same year Danlau's army came across the first of Gandai's settlements and besieged it. Gandai called all his available forces to bear and marched onto that location, nestled upon the banks of the Great River.
The fighting, the first giant vs. giant conflict seen since the Sundering, was catastrophic. In many places the giants' warfare pressed deep gullies into the earth, in others their fighting rose up great mounds, and the course of the Great River was altered, pressed that way, squeezed, this way, and released into wide basins here and there. The waters of the river carried the blood of many giants with it, and hundreds of the golden folk, first born of the firstborn, lay broken on the field. At last Danlau's forces retreated. Danlau himself, viewing the battle from a mirror of sorcery, was stricken for his pride and blasphemy. Not long after the battle, he sent a new envoy seeking terms of peace.
And peace did indeed reign in Gandai's realm until his death in 132 SA.
Year of Death
3590
Children
Remove these ads. Join the Worldbuilders Guild
Comments