Linna Star System

Linna Star System

Major Holdings – General Information

History

The Kingdom and Bones of Linna
As set down by Witch Lord Bertwin for Beorn

Hear me, Beorn, for now we turn to Linna, that proud world whose name has echoed through halls both holy and warlike since the days of the 12th Fleet of Mann. When the Galan people first settled the Drucos Nebula, Linna was but one more star in a sea of lights, yet it grew swiftly into a beacon. The Feyans saw it rise, and under their Dominion Linna prospered. A Star Kingdom it became, strong enough for a time to stand equal with its Dralan kin, Vota, Brigh, Umber, Angul, though in the end, as with all proud realms, its crown was bent beneath stronger hands.

The sagas mark the year 27,184 AA as the turning point, when Harlan of the Axe Umbra Hearthborn, a Glessum Skane warlord with fire in his veins, seized Tweon, the system that fed raiders into Drala. The very next year he struck at Linna itself, and with bloodied hand he took its world, crowning himself first King of the Linna. Thus was forged the Star Kingdom of Linna, and from it rose the line of House Umbra Hearthborn. I have seen the banners of Hearthborn, axe upon axe, black on red, and I tell you, Beorn, their pride was great, though their time was brief.

For star kingdoms that rise swiftly are often broken just as swiftly. In 27,451, the storm came. Wulfgar the Great of Umber, that conqueror whose shadow darkened half Drala, advanced upon Linna. He took not only Linna itself, but also Tweon and Ikena, and so the star kingdom was shattered, bound in chains to Umber. No longer master of its fate, it would rise again, though never as powerful as it once stood.

The Feyan Faith soon planted itself deep in Linna’s soil. High King Baldwin the Bold of Angul granted holdsteads in Linna to Pontiff Ostflaed of Angul in 27,539, so the temples rose where once stood only the halls of warriors. By 27,548, even the kings of Linna swore themselves again as banner-lords to Umber’s throne, their axes sheathed in service of another’s crown.

Yet the bones of Linna still held pride. In 27,558, a wonder was wrought. The body of Oslac the Storm Blade of Umber, slain and dismembered in battle, was brought to the Great Feyan Temple of Barakel’s Light upon Linna. The monks, bitter with old conquest, at first refused his remains. They cast his bier outside the temple doors. But in the night, a shaft of light rose from his coffin, piercing the heavens. I was not there, but I have spoken with those who swore they saw it. Whether it was the work of the Divine Yah or some trick of the Essence, I leave to you to judge. The monks took it as a sign, and they hung his purple-and-gold banner above the tomb. From his broken body sprang miracles. The washing of his bones gave healing power to the earth, the vigil of a sick boy brought health where none thought it possible, even the stake that once held his head was said to cure affliction. Thus a conqueror became a saint upon the very world he had subdued. Such are the ironies the stars delight in.

But faith did not shield Linna from dominion. Wulfrun the Resolute of Angul reasserted his overlordship in 27,559, and by 27,564 he granted the Feyan Faith holdsteads and titles in Linna, creating the first Pontiff of Linna. So kings and priests together bound the world in chains of crown and crozier.

Still, Linna’s story is one of exile as much as conquest. In 27,740, Uhtred the Great of Angul drove the Hearthborn from their seat, scattering them into exile. And so the star kingdom ended, though the name of Linna still bore the weight of kingship and in time, House Umbra Hearthborn would return.

Centuries later, the savage tide of the Great Savage Crusade swept in. In 30,131, the Children of Rothgar came, Ragnar the Ravenblade, Beowulf the Raven-in-the-Eye, Rowana the Half-Raven, Erika the Boneless Raven, Rollo the White Raven, Heahmund Ironsides, Sweyn of Maglemose, and more, all the brood of Rothgar the Fearless. They came with their Skane hosts, 22,500 star-fleets strong, with Dralan lords and warlords at their side, among them our own blood-kin Beorn the Dauntless. Linna fell to them. They setup Garrisons, resupplied, reforged their warships in blood and iron, it became a den of wolves.

The Feyan Faith itself grew restless. In 30,218, Oslac’s bones, once the pride of Barakel’s Light, were carried away to Bodunn, for the raids made Linna too perilous a shrine. Still the temples rose, by 30,300, 30,400, and beyond, three great sanctuaries of the Feyan Yah were built upon Linna’s soil, as though the Faith itself sought to cleanse the scars of conquest with stone and prayer.

Even now, the scars remain. Strithabha Starhold, that ancient fortress of Galan craft, still stands, its armored hull pitted with the wounds of ten thousand battles. It shelters House Umbra Ravencrest, heirs of Rowana the Half-Raven, who carved their line from blood and exile. Upon the toxic world of Niwfreoge still broods House Stormbrand, who were highlords there before they rose to the Sector-lordship of Brigh. And out on the edge, upon the wreck-station of Gwash, the poor and lawless scrape their lives amidst the carcasses of ships and stone, a place both cursed and stubbornly alive.

And over it all stands the ring world of Stean, the world of Turesige and Linna, the capital-world, still wrapped in the shimmering shield the Feyans left behind, as though the Dominion itself foresaw the centuries of war to come.

So, Beorn, what lesson does Linna give us? That star kingdoms rise, only to be broken. That conquerors become saints, and saints become pawns. That even a world girded in steel and faith cannot hold back the endless hunger of people for crowns. Linna stands, scarred but unbowed, a testament to the folly and resilience of our kind.