Kureksarra, known as the Red Plains, is a Heart's Realm in the Dreaming.
Overview[]
Dominion of war without end, Kureksarra is the homeland of dreams of struggle, competition, victory, and revenge. A vast plain dotted with the ruins of fortified installations, Kureksarra was once a green realm of gentle landscapes and placid manor houses. Now, all that endures is a land so littered with bones and broken weapons that the ground refuses to give birth to anything living. Only the withered old oak trees remain, dripping blood like red sap when it rains. The trods leading in and out of Kureksarra are paths of blades and rivers of razors. The once-elegant Twin Capitals of the realm are broken ruins filled with bones and the smell of blood in the dust.
Above all realms, the Red Plains bear witness to the futility and addictive quality of violence. The civil war fought by the chimera and mad changelings of the realm will not stop until all are dead, and even the prize for which they fight is only the ability to cause greater destruction. They say the land needs a liege before it can be healed, but the truth of the Dreaming is that the land suffers far more at the hands of the competing candidates for the throne than it does from the mere emptiness of the throne itself. Better no ruler at all than the wars of Kureksarra.
The Red King of the Fomorians, head of the Red Court, humiliated and then defeated here in the Nine Battles that ended the War of Trees, laid this curse upon Kureksarra. Having had his arsenal stolen from him by the trickster beasts Mux and Quox, the Red King had but one weapon left, a present from his fomorian grandmother, the Green Witch. It was the Triumph Casque of Sorrows, a weapon against which there was said to be no defense, and which could not be stolen from him because it occupied the cavity in his body ordinarily occupied by a heart.
The Red King's hatred for the Arcadians was such that, rather than open the Casque and slay them all quickly, he broke its key into nine pieces, one for each battle he had fought. Then he ripped the casque from his chest and died, scattering the pieces of the key into the camp of his enemies.
When the Arcadian army departed to plan the campaign against the Green Court, some chimera and fae remained behind to recover the pieces of the key to the Casque. Their intent was to reassemble the key, and then destroy the Casque or seal it away in the Arcadian armory, but they soon found that no one could trust the others enough to rejoin the pieces of the key as they were found. How would possession of such a weapon corrupt its custodian? Would whoever ending up holding the key be able to withstand the temptation to sample the Casque's power, either using the weapon itself for selfish (or unselfish) purposes, or else simply using the threat of opening the Casque to manipulate everyone around them?
Almost before the chains had been forged that would bind the Green Fomorians, the army at Kureksarra had disintegrated into chaos. Informal alliances formed between holders of key fragments and other interested parties, always dissolving again as jealousy, ambition, and paranoia drove the allies apart. In time, many of the great warriors of the Dreaming heard of the unending conflict and found their way to the Red Fields, in hope of proving themselves against the gathering combatants.
For long periods of time, the nature of the Casque, the broken key, and the conflict itself appear to be forgotten by everyone concerned, and then the war lulls slightly to become a somewhat destructive tournament of sorts. Other, spurious explanations arise to justify the carnage: The winner of the "tournament" will be crowned King of Kureksarra or Queen of the Gwydion sidhe, or will heal the land and reveal it to be an ensorcelled version of Arcadia. However, at the end, the poisonous truth of the fomorian curse always reasserts itself and the state of the Kureksarran dream returns to its normal levels of chaotic violence.
After so much killing, betrayal, and sheer waste of energy, it is questionable whether there can ever be a winner in this war... or even whether it can ever end.
The Five Great Beasts & Others[]
At present, five major alliances of warriors are active in the Red Fields. Collectively, the leaders of these alliances are known as the Five Great Beasts of the Dreaming and all are distinguished for tactical skill, ruthlessness, and cunning. They fight one another in an eternally shifting pattern of truces, feints, and vendettas, and sally forth from their nearly ruined fortifications to take one another's key fragments or defend against attacks from rivals or would-be claimants. The names of the Five are legend throughout the Dreaming, or were before they were caught up in the madness of Kureksarra: Tamur the Unexpected, Sir Bolsan of the Dove, Harroth the Mute, Lady Allesande the Fair, and Kosa the Bull.
Meanwhile, the constant bloodshed has lured other beasts of war and scavenging nightmares to Kureksarra from all over the Dreaming. Dream-lions, manticores, muggerlies, and saps all prowl the killing fields to feast on the wounded and the dead. Dream clowns, moribirds, and valkyrien squabble over especially valiant fallen warriors, while a flight of minor dragons circles the entire battleground, bringing the threat of death from the skies.
Taking advantage of the kinstrife, a few of the White Fomorians who have managed to free themselves from their bondage beneath the Milderwood have descended upon the old killing field of Kureksarra, accompanied by a small army of minor nightmares and Thallain and armed with a large arsenal of the old fomorian weapons. Rather than attacking their enemies directly, though, as in the old age of the world, they are simply camped and watch the ongoing struggle without joining it.
According to rumor, certain factions of the kinstrife have even approached the fomorian force about establishing a temporary alliance against the other claimants. Whatever concessions the Great Beasts might offer the fomorians in return for such an alliance would quite probably doom the sidhe Dream, or at the very least be tragic in scope (a concept that the White probably find amusing in their way). On the other hand, the terrible weapons of the fomorians (poisonous gases, deformation machines, and other devices designed primarily to mutilate quickly and kill as an afterthought) would probably tip the scale and end the wars of Kureksarra once and for all. Even if none of the Beasts were tempted by the notion, they would certainly wish to stop their rivals from allying with the fomorians, or even to ally with the enemy before any of the claimants could do so first.
Present Day[]
The Splintered Mountains and Kureksarra Plains have become cacophonous, even deafening since the Week of Nightmares. Claps of thunder peal ceaselessly throughout the realm, creating a backdrop for myriad other sounds: the clash of sword on armor, the hooves of clattering war-beasts, and the screams of the dying in Kureksarra's endless war. The great whirling, grinding machines of the fir-bholg, many without any known purpose, add to the din. Underlying all this is a dark and sonorous dirge, audible only the unconscious ear, which has grown ever more dire in the last year. It is the siren call of war. The second key, that which awakens the Red Court of the Fomorians, has just been turned. And while it is unlikely that the court as a whole has arisen, the Crystal Circle and other such luminaries believe that at least one of its members, Phlogiston the Jester, is once again abroad.
For centuries the Five Great Beasts have battled for the prize promised by the Red King before his death. The five immortal generals' names read like a litany of the great lords of antiquity: Tamur the Unexpected of House Gwydion, Sir Bolsan of House Dougal, Kosa the Bull (troll champion of the Tessarakonta), Harroth the Mute of House Balor, and Lady Allesande the Fair of the Fiona. And, indeed, it is instructive that none of the Red Court's original followers are among the war's primary combatants (though the fir-bholg are certainly an interested party). More or less equal, the Five Great Beasts have been evenly matched for centuries, but as with so many other certainties since 1999, things have changed.
A temple of moirae in the Splinterpeaks, renowned as healers and oracles, holds the Casque itself. Exempt from the war by ancient treaty, their Grecian-style mountainside temple is neutral ground and sometimes used for meeting between the warring parties of the Red Plains. The moirae here will only surrender the casque to the one who holds the complete key. Despite this potentially cataclysmic trust, they are generally "Seelie" in comportment and gracious hostesses, lending advice and sanctuary to those in need.
The Fir-bholg[]
The fir-bholg have had soldiers on every side of the combat, leading some to cynically conclude that no matter who wins, the beast-kings plan to come out on top. While most of them have a brutish edge, they pursue varying philosophies and life-ambitions. Some are violent and brutal to extremes: murderers, rapists, and torturers. Others merely wish to ensure their own security and pursue the natural freedom that is their animal birthright. In the great Kureksarra war, fir-bholg have served both marginally Seelie causes and made alliances with the worst of the region's cannibal redcaps. Currently the best known clans extant in the Splintered Mountains are the Silver River fir-bholg (also called the Corca-Oidce) who retain a rough independence in alliance with several of the thunders giants, and the Dark Vale fir-bholg who serve Harroth Balor. Of the Five Great Beasts, it is a curious development that Harroth has recently retired from the field, leaving the battle to Icthyus, a competent if uninspired fir-bholg chieftain of the Dark Vale. Whispered rumors have it that Harroth now furthers the Red Court's fell designs in the Autumn World.
References[]
- CTD. Dreams and Nightmares, pp. 76-77.
- CTD. Denizens of the Dreaming, pp. 31-32.