Nation - Blackmoor Land of a Thousand Witches - Part 3

Nation - Blackmoor Land of a Thousand Witches - Part 3

Waymoinen and the magic of Oerth

The loss of Leng awakened some nightmarish terror atop the Plateau which now bore his name. To this day even the Gods do not venture onto the Plateau of Leng. Waymoinen turned toward the more fertile lands south which were once the domain of the Ancient Things. Here he found the Mother of Witches, Iggwilv, and was first of the Gods to learn the magic of Oerth.

Iggwilv dwelt in what is today called the Cold Marshes but she had servents and spies who saw things and reported these things back to her from across the lands. It was Iggwilv who first saw Mikko the Father in the darkness and betrayed him to the Ancient Things and she saw the coming of Matar in the summer light and the destruction of the city of the Ancient Things which is the ruined city of Blackmoor.

One of the most fearsome of Iggwilv’s servents were the creatures she made from the wings of hornets. She could shape them to any form and she would steal the essence of life from creatures newborn to make her creations move but they were not alive and those who lived in what is now the land of Blackmoor named them Husks for that is what they were. It was a Husk shaped like that of great bear which haunted the northern edge of the Burneal Forest who first saw Waymoinen and his companion Ukkounian the Songmaster wandering the plains north of the forest and so let its mistress Iggwilv know what it had seen.
Iggwilv saw with through the places where the Husk should have eyes and watched the pair move across the land. She knew that such a pair were Gods and that Waymoinen must be a powerful God though she did not know at first that he was the child of Mikko whom she betrayed and Matar whom she feared. Now at this time Iggwilv had a beautiful daughter named the Rainbow Maiden whose voice could enchant any living thing and she sent her to enchant Waymoinen thinking to bring him under her power.
From the edge of the Burneal Forest Rainbow Maiden began to sing and while Waymoinen heard her song first it was Ukkounian who became ensnared. The pair began a great chase through first the forest and then into the Cold Marshes and into the lair of Iggwilv.

Iggwilv’s home appeared as a large but plain farm and Iggwilv herself as the aging mother of Rainbow Maiden. Her disappointment was great to find that her daughter’s song had charmed only the lesser of these two Gods, and she desired some way to harvest the strength she saw in Waymionen. At first she thought to pitch the two Gods against each other and ordered Rainbow Maiden to cast her eyes only upon Waymoinen, but then Ukkonian began to sing and among all the Gods there were none greater at song than he. In this way Ukkonian won the heart of Rainbow Maiden and she disobeyed her mother and warned the Gods of Iggwilv’s power and her plans.


Ukkonian fled with Rainbow Maiden back to the City of the Gods and there she taught them of the magic of Oerth and their children and children’s children became the great mages such as Kempelen the legendary crafter and Mordenkainen of much reknown. Waymoinen stayed and held back Iggwilv. Her magic of the Oerth wounded Waymoinen but his magic of the moon, Celene, proved greater and he bound her in cage of bars of black metal which ate the light. Here it was that Iggwilv traded her great knowledge of Oerth magic for her freedom and Waymoinen released her. Iggwilv fled the north and did not return, though Rainbow Maiden taught the daughters of oerth the way of Witchery which has not been forgotten by the women of today.

Such is known to the people of Blackmoor.