Lore:Gwyna

Gwyna
Race	Reachman	Gender	Female
Born		1st Era
Died		1st Era Markarth, The Reach
Resided in		The Reach

"We have sung our victory
We have shouted our strength
We have whispered our sorrow."—The Song of Gwyna

Gwyna was a legendary figure from the oral tradition of the Reachfolk. She was an eponymous heroine of The Song of Gwyna, an epic poem told by Reachfolk Vateshrans throughout generations in numerous different forms. In some versions of the tale, she was a huntress of the Horn-Stride clan, in other retellings, she fought against them and the 'king below the rock' who ruled from the Understone Keep in the City of Markarth as an ally and kindred and ally of the Chief Rowolan.

History

Markarth, the city of the 'king below the rock'

"There will be no graves dug for us
For if we take the stone walls
We will not live to hold them"

"We seek no spoils from Markarth
Rowolan sought to kill a king
And free a people
His cause is ours"

"We will burn our blood with witchman's fire
And overrun the city"

"We will storm the keep below the stone
And dash the crown upon the floor"

"We will rake the throat of the king
With sharpened flint and hunter's claws"

"We will die, but will not care
Rowolan's dream will be done
The clan I love is doomed
This season or the next
It ought not die alone"
—The Song of Gwyna.

Although no exact date of Gwyna's birth or death is provided, she lived no earlier than 1E 930 and long before 2E 302, when tales of her deeds were considered ancient.

As of 2E 302 numerous stories of Gwyna were already widespread in the Reach, and their translations were published by scholars outside of it. Edited versions of the translation, published in 2E 322 were still commonly found in 2E 582.

Gwyna frequently appeared in various oral tales, though her depictions varied wildly from work to work. One of the preserved fragments of one of the versions of the tale of Chief Rowolan was written by legendary Vateshran Tosmorn and then translated by a foreign scholar Xandier Edette. In this version of the legend, Gwyna was depicted as kindred to the Chief Rowolan, a descendant of Demigoddess Dearola and his clan as opposed to a huntress of the Horn-Stride clan, a role much more commonly attributed to her in other stories.

There are several different versions of the song, all of which lead to Rowolan's bloodline being killed. Some sources attributed his fall to the Horn-Stride clan to the betrayal on the part of Rowolan's seventh daughter. Other retellings claimed that his fall was caused by his failure to observe the omen of the white hart. Some scholars theorized that his death could be attributed to yet another, hitherto unproposed cause.

The translated fragment of The Song of Gwyna presented one of the ends of this tale and the demise of Rowolan's bloodline. Chief Rowolan succumbed to his wounds during the battle between his clan and the Horn-Stride clan. The song is narrated by Gwyna, who describes the burial ceremony during which the chief is surrounded by his kin who lament his death and recount the names of the fallen. His clan emerged victorious, but suffered great losses.

Although the clan emerged victorious, Gwyna did not believe that they would survive the upcoming winter. She urged the family and clan of the fallen chief to carry out the next, and the last battle, against the Markarth and the 'king below the rock'. They planned to administer a powerful concoction, that would grant them strength to fight against their powerful foe, but at the cost of their lives, as the draught was a poison that caused their bodies to slowly rot from the inside and their blood to burn akin to fire. Before his death, Rowolan sought to kill a king and free the people of the Reach from tyranny and Gwyna decided to make Rowolan's dream come true. They did not plan to overtake the city and sought no spoils from it. Their goal was to defeat the tyrant. The final stanzas of the song depict Gwyna making her resolve, but the outcome of the tale remains unknown.