The Dark Age Myths and Legends Page
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[edit] The Ring of Eluned
The Ring of Eluned is mentioned a couple of times in the scrolls you have uncovered in Dolorous Gard. The earliest mention of it is in the hands of Eluned, though tantalisingly it does mention the ring as being an antiquity out of Illios. Eluned was a companion of Brutus, himself a descendant of Aeneas of Illios, in his conquest of Britain. While Brutus took the land in the south-east as the base for his capital of Troia Nova, and Corineus took Kernow in the south-west, Eluned went north and made his land in the area now known as Elmet.
The most significant mention of the ring was in the tale of his war with the giants. The giants had been driven north by Brutus and his men, but as Eluned was building his kingdom they returned from the north seeking revenge. According to the tale Eluned led his army to the one pass the giants would have to come through to reach his lands. For three days he led his men into the valley and held off the beasts. On the eighth day his men could fight no more, so Eluned alone went into the valley. Taking on the beasts one at a time he held the pass for three days on his own. It is said that in that time he took blows that would have slain a normal man, but that every time he passed into the realm of Crom Cruagh the ring would flare and he would rise once more to fight. After three days his men were rested and resumed the attack and eventually drove the giants north again.
Eluned lived to more than a hundred years, and it soon became known that all who wore the ring would live for many lives and would die in their beds, for no injury on the battlefield would finish them. When Julius Caesar attempted to conquer Britain the king of Elmet was seen to be hit with a stone thrown from an onager, only to stand up and lead his men in a vicious charge that sent the Romans fleeing from the field. When the Romans returned though, a hundred years later, they brought with them powerful wizards who knew the curses that could hold back the power of the ring. The king of Elmet was slain and the ring was taken by his druid who retreated to Ynys Mons, where the druidic order was gathering the tools of power. In the Black Year though the Romans stormed the island and the ring was assumed to be lost.
Amongst the papers you have though is a poem of the fate of the ring. According to the poem twelve warriors were given the task of keeping safe the Treasures of Britain. The one who had the ring travelled north and entered the lands the Romans only touched lightly. Here he was resting by the side of an unnamed lake when the dark spirits, dispatched by the merciless Romans to pursue the Twelve, caught up with him. He fought as bravely as anyone could hope he would, but again dark magics held back the power of the ring. With his last strength he threw the ring into the depths of the lake to deny the fiends their prize. As he did so a great monster erupted from the surface of the lake and caught the ring in its mouth, before plunging back into the black waters. According to the poem it lies there still in the belly of the beast, awaiting the day when it will be needed again.
