Kerin the Harvester

The City of Dreams was one of the greatest civilizational achievements in Teleria’s history. In a, few decades, the legendary Lizardmen leader Rhazin Scarhide turned a village into a sprawling, advanced metropolis after taking in Skinwalker, Ogryn, Orc, and Lizardmen refugees fleeing the Red Crusade in Anhelt. Scarhide’s dream could not have been achieved without the skills and efforts of one Kerin the Harvester. He fled the Red Crusade early, having been a slave on a large Kaerok farm, where he learned much about agriculture — how to grow dozens of different crops, the effects of climate, and the value of different species of insect for pollinating and protecting produce from pests. His physiology also made him a natural farmer and horticulturalist. Fins atop his head and along his forearms, as well as the ganglia that hung from his jaw, made him highly attuned to even small changes in temperature and humidity. He predicted storms with unerring accuracy and knew precisely when to harvest. Kerin’s Human masters had no interest in his ideas and denied his talents. Rhazin Scarhide put them to work as soon as he could, giving him an army of workers and Lizardmen aides who knew the Sorrowlakes’ flora, fauna, and natural cycles best. Grateful, Kerin wasted no time creating agricultural systems which best worked with the abundant water and insects of the Sorrowlakes. He ordered the cultivation of numerous large hives of fogwasps, vine-dweller bees, and dozens of other pollinating insects. Land was reclaimed from odious, dead bogs. Irrigation systems designed to feed and water fields of wild rice, taro, and cranberries, as well as bullrushes and reeds for thatching and raft-building, meandered across large landscapes following natural water flows. Every field was rotated according to a strict schedule for maximizing crop yields and maintaining soil nutrients. Kerin considered nature in every element of his work, building grass-bridges across new waterways so as to allow animals to travel to their instinctual breeding and feeding grounds. In a few short years Kerin was one of Rhazin Scarhide’s most important advisors, and a hero to the booming population of the City of Dreams. Each season he built upon his successes, breeding new varieties of fruits, vegetables, and grains that could better endure natural disasters and resist ravenous acidslugs and sapleeches. Kerin also tended his populations of pollinators, developing new species with greater traveling ranges and immunity to diseases. One of Kerin’s greatest successes was the growing of what he simply called hive-flowers. Tall, strong-stemmed, and broad, they were planted around fields in the thousands. Their roots grew deep in the mud, helping maintain irrigation works and preventing flooding. They housed hundreds of pollinating insects throughout the year and attracted more from further afield. Lastly, though they could extend a large root system, they didn’t need one to survive. Merely placing the stem on the ground was enough for them to draw sustenance from it, and so Kerin carried one as a staff and symbol of his office and beliefs. Hive-flowers were bountiful, strong, and offered shelter. Just like the City of Dreams itself. When the Gaellen Warclave was founded, decades after the City of Dreams, Kerin was vehemently opposed to it. He hated the Sacred Order and the Kingdom of Kaerok, but the Sorrowlakes was peaceful and prosperous. There was no need for war. He pleaded with Rhazin Scarhide — who agreed with him – to prevent a conflict, but the tide of the times was against them. Kerin could create a paradise out of a bog but he could not sway the thirst for vengeance. Powerless to prevent the Gaellen Pact’s attack against Anhelt, he decided he must contribute as much as possible. Every grain of rice could make the difference between life and death for his people. If the Gaellen Pact was going to go to war, he wanted it to win. Defeat would be disastrous and the Telerian League’s retaliation would surely be grievous. Kerin’s efforts ultimately proved fruitless. The Gaellen Pact army was defeated in Anhelt. When Scyl of the Drakes besieged the City of Dreams years after the Gaellen War began, Kerin was far away, tending his fields. The Arbiter came to him then, offering him a place in a Shard, but he refused. He instead went to the City. On his travels he had to evade marauding Frostheimers and Sacred Order purge-squads who were burning his hive-flowers and filling in his canals. Tears streamed down his face as he watched the City of Dreams be stormed and burned. Today, virtually nothing remains of Kerin the Harvester’s great works. The species of plant and insect he bred are mostly extinct. To the naked eye nothing remains of the canals, drainage ditches, and irrigation systems, all of which are overgrown, reclaimed by the Sorrowlakes.