Sample file PANDORA SEVEN SWORDS OF WAYLAND CONTENTS Wayland’s Plight page 001 The Works of a Master Smith page 003 The Seven Swords page 004 Progeny page 005 Roleplaying page 007 Cascade Studios page 008 Sample file PAGE 000 PANDORA SEVEN SWORDS OF WAYLAND WAYLAND’S PLIGHT Wayland, sometimes known as Weyland, Volundr, Volund or Vulcan, was the third-born son of the sea giant Wate and the sea nymph Wac-hilt, classifying him as one of the Old Gods. Showing an early capacity for learning he became bound as apprentice to Mimi the Smith and soon became a skilled metalworker. Throughout this period he would often spend time with his two brothers when away from the smithy, swimming in the river close by. It was here that they happened upon three swans take human form, sunning themselves on the bank. Captivated by their beauty but saddened that they would re-don their Swan cloaks and return to animal form, flying away. The brothers watched them day after day until Wayland formed a plan and they waited for the princesses to fall asleep before hid- ing their cloaks, keeping them in human form and taking them as brides. When one day the swan-princesses vanished, the brothers set out to look for them, but Wayland him- self had too much work to do for Mimi and remained behind. In their absence he was captured by the evil King Nidung of Sweden, who had heard of Wayland’s potency as a smith and wanted his services exclusively. To prevent Wayland from escaping, Nidung ordered his men to cut the sinews of Wayland’s leg, and so trapped the king had him fashion wonderful items for him and his family. Here Wayland suffered in the smithy for years, producing an endless array of jewellery and intricate items for Nidung and his family. Among them, seventeen silver rings which Wayland marked with drops of his own blood. Wayland’s younger brother Egil, having learned of his plight, attempted to rescue him but was caught in the attempt. Only his impressive skills with a bow stayed Nidung’s hand from killing him, and in- stead he was bound into the king’s service as a master archer. Though both were now under the thrall of Nidung, Egil was permitted to see his Wayland, and secretly wrote a letter to their elder brother warning him not to attempt a rescue for fear that they would all be enslaved. Sample file PAGE 001 PANDORA SEVEN SWORDS OF WAYLAND Eventually, with Egil’s help, Wayland began to take his revenge. First by luring the king’s two sons to his smithy where he killed them and turned their skulls into drinking goblets, presenting them to the king as a gift. He then fashioned their eyes into beautiful jewels which were gifted to the queen. Final- ly Wayland lured the king’s daughter to his smithy, where he seduced her and while she lay sleeping, flew away using swan-feather wings he had made in the likeness of his lost love’s swan cloak using feathers brought to him by Egil. Wayland flew to the King Nidung’s hall and using the latent magic in the blood-rings the king wore, extracted a promise that Nidung would never hunt or hurt Wayland’s children. Then Wayland re- vealed the truth of the goblets and jewels, and informed him of the seduction of his daughter. During Wayland’s escape, King Nidung commanded Egil to shoot his brother down. Egil took two arrows from his quiver, the straightest and sharpest that he could find. With the first arrow, he pierced a sack of blood which Wayland had concealed on his person, and Nidung believed the smith had died. But when asked by the king why he took two arrows, the archer replied “to shoot thee, tyrant, with the second if the first one harmed my brother.” King Nidung could not in turn harm her or Wayland’s son, now his heir, because of the promise he had been forced to make. He did however strip the seventeen blood-rings from his family and cast them into the ocean for fear that Egil would find a way to turn them against him and that he may never be forced to see them again. Sample file PAGE 002 PANDORA SEVEN SWORDS OF WAYLAND THE WORKS OF A MASTER SMITH Believed to be dead, Wayland travelled from Sweden to the land known as Albion, later ‘England’ and settled in what would become Oxfordshire. Here he opened a Smithy close to the Ridgeway, an ancient road running along the Berkshire Downs and continued to make a name for himself as a master of his craft. A harder man than he had been in his youth, though immortal he coveted the years stolen from him by the evil King, he placed his focus on arms and armour. This in turn quickly drew attention for his fine works, tempered with magic. These works include, but were certainly not limited to the swords below: Caliburn, sometimes called ‘Excalibur’, which was the sword of Macsen, Merlin and Arthur and has come to be a symbol of Great Britain’s sovereignty. Mimung, which was forged in order to do battle with rival smith Amilias and was the only blade to be wielded in combat by Wayland himself before it was gifted to Landri, nephew of Charles the Great (Charlemagne) upon his death. A trip of three swords named Kurt, Almace and Durendal were presented to Charlemagne who tested the swords by seeing how far they would cut into a steel mound. Of these he game Kurt to Ogier the Dane, Almance to Bishop Turpin and kept Durendal for himself, though he was later told in a dream to give the blade to Count Roland. Gram, the sword of Sigmund, which wouldSample be destroyed file by the Norse God, Odin and was later reforged by Regin that his son might slay the dragon Fafnir. A Nameless blade for Brother Hugh, a Saxon novice monk who later became a knight. This magical sword would become a symbol of the temporal power through which the land of England was taken and forged into unity. Though some believe it to be Caliburn, a strong argument can be made that this is in fact the Vorpal Sword. Though having put his name to some of history’s greatest blades, Wayland felt the tug of the Old Gods, telling him that his time was done and to move into recession from the world. Fearing for his bloodline, which had come many generations from Nidung’s daughter and spread throughout the world, he set about the creation of a final master project before vanishing into history. PAGE 003.