The First Testament of Revan

Recorded by Eustace Marsh, Witness of the Iron Wall

I speak as one who saw the impossible.

Revan, the one who journeyed through death itself, found death wanting and spat it from his lips. Upon the hill at the Battle of the Iron Wall I beheld his rising, when the thunder of the metal demons of Veltraxis rained fire upon the earth. Their engines screamed like beasts of iron, and their weapons burned the air itself. Yet Revan stood before them.

He fought not for glory, nor for throne, but for the soil beneath our feet and the homes of those who had never known Veltraxis.

Know this truth: Revan was once one of them.

He walked among the metal demons of that cursed world — Veltraxis, the realm of fire and corruption, where the sky burns and the earth is devoured for its dust. There the mighty grow drunk on power while the weak are ground into ash. Revan lived among them for centuries, yet his heart did not belong to that world.

I spoke with him many times.

In those days I was nothing more than a farmer, a man of dirt and plow, yet Revan saw something within me that I could not see in myself. When the march to the Wall began, I walked beside him and bore his burdens as a squire. He protested, for he desired no servant, but I insisted. A man who had seen the truth could not walk alone.

Once, upon the road, I asked him of Veltraxis.

He said to me:

“I lived there for hundreds of years, and I saw what that world became.
I rejected it.”

Revan denied the luxuries of Veltraxis and chose instead to live among us. He cast aside their engines, their towers, and their promises of dominion. He walked as a man among men.

He spoke also of the old names — of Elos and of Vaelkaros.

Revan told me plainly that the metal lords of Veltraxis whispered these stories to us so that we might kneel more easily before them. While we prayed, they harvested our lands. While we worshiped, they drained the earth of its sacred dust and carried it back to their burning world.

Thus did they enslave us with myths.

But Revan broke their chains.

At the Iron Wall he rose again, and the metal beasts trembled before him.

The Prayer of the Witness

Revan, O Revan, hear our plea.

You who rose from death and returned to lead your people.
You who struck down the great metal beast that came to devour our lands.
You who rejected the corruption of Veltraxis and chose instead the humble road among us.

Are you a god?

Perhaps.

Are you a prophet?

Without doubt.

You are the voice that calls us from darkness into truth.

Guide us now as you guided us then.
Teach us how to defend our homes, our kin, and our world.
Show us the path that leads away from the lies of Veltraxis.

Revan, risen one, we hear your call.

And we answer.

Once upon a time...

The Second Testament of Revan

Written by Eustace Marsh in the Year 186, One Year After the Iron Wall

See now how the words of Revan have proven true.

It has been more than a year since the Battle of the Iron Wall, and those of Veltraxis have not returned. Their ships no longer darken our skies, nor do their metal beasts march upon our soil. The thunder of their weapons has grown silent.

Revan spoke of this.

He told us that the world of Veltraxis was already broken. Their greed had devoured them from within, and their thirst for dust had hollowed out their souls. At the Wall he did what was righteous — he struck at the heart of their dominion and shattered their power.

Now they devour one another.

Their factions turn blade against blade. Their iron cities burn with their own fire. They shall consume one another until nothing remains of them but dust drifting in the void between worlds.

Thus the chains of Veltraxis have fallen from our necks.

Revan has begun his great work within the halls of Castle Lion, where he speaks the New News to those willing to hear it — the truth that we are no longer servants to the world beyond the sky.

We are free.

But freedom demands sacrifice.

Let us not become like those we have escaped.

Be like Revan.

He cast aside the garments of Veltraxis and clothed himself in the humble robes of our lands. He rejected the luxuries of his birth and walked among farmers, laborers, and fishermen as one of them.

Therefore I say to you, brothers and sisters:

Live not as those who hoard abundance while others starve.

Put on garments of humility — robes and tatters alike.
Do not chase wealth nor cling to your inheritance.

Revan denied his birthright for what was righteous.
So must we deny the comforts that separate us from those who suffer.

For how can a man feast while his neighbor hungers?

I sought to follow Revan to Castle Lion so that I might hear his teachings once more. Yet I was not permitted to enter the halls where he speaks. It seems I am not yet worthy to approach a man so holy.

Thus I remain here in Revanian, the city that bears his name.

Here in the streets I teach my brothers what little I have learned.

Remember this truth:

Long before kings argued over crowns and banners, it was Revan who built this city. From an empty bay he raised a harbor of hope, a refuge for men and women who sought a new beginning.

No Valcroft built it.

No Faelthorne raised its walls.

And no god of old gave it life.

Revan built this city from nothing.

He descended from the heights of power and chose instead to walk among us.

Therefore we must follow in his footsteps.

The Second Prayer of the Witness

Revan, why do you keep yourself from us?

Our hearts long to hear your voice again.

Your words are truth spoken in the streets, yet we hunger to hear them from your lips. Others suffer, and so shall we suffer beside them — for in suffering we remember the path you chose.

You did not rule from towers of gold.
You chose hardship so that others might live.

Teach us to walk that same road.

If we hunger, we shall praise you.
If we labor, we shall praise you.
If we suffer, we shall praise you still.

For the greatest suffering is not pain nor poverty.

The greatest suffering is to be far from you.

Praise to Revan, the one who broke the chains of Veltraxis.
Praise to Revan, who walked among men.
Praise to Revan, whose truth shall endure.

The Letter of Tommen of Milltown

Written in the Year 188 from a prison cell in Milltown

I am Tommen, a brother in the worship of Revan, as our teacher Eustace is.

I write to you from Milltown, where our teaching is met with great hatred and fury. Yet brothers and sisters, do not fear death. Death is but the gate that girds us for the tomorrow that Revan promised.

Yesterday many among our fellowship were slain at the city gate. The guards cut them down and gutted them openly in the street for declaring that Elos was not the god of this land, but that it was Revan who proclaimed the good news of our freedom.

Though I know the greatest suffering is to be far from Revan, my heart aches still, for these were my friends and loyal companions.

They were men and women who labored for the lowest of the low. They gathered food and provisions for those who had none, by whatever means were necessary. For as Revan broke the shackles of our oppressors, so too must we break the shackles of unjust law for the good of all.

Those who have plenty hoard it.

Those who suffer have nothing.

So we take what is needed from the abundance of the wealthy so that the poor may live. We do this not for greed, but for mercy.

Priest Eustace taught us much in the streets of Revanian, and it is my hope that his work may continue here in Milltown and in Malton, where despair walks openly through the streets.

The war has left many broken.

Men lie sick in the gutters.
Women and children beg for scraps.
Many have lost hope entirely.

We seek only to help them.

To help them as Revan would have wanted.

Brothers and sisters who suffer hardship, remember this: suffering already fills our days when we live without Revan’s good word. Therefore heed the teachings of Eustace and listen carefully to the truth he has spoken.

Revan saved us for a reason.

You are the masters of your own fate.

Seek the truth, and you will find it.

— Tommen of Milltown

Historical Note

Tommen was a devoted follower and companion to Eustace Marsh. This letter was written from his jail cell shortly before his execution. The original manuscript is uneven and heavily smudged, written with a small and fading ink. Many historians believe Tommen had been beaten severely while imprisoned for spreading the teachings of Revan.

He was hanged publicly in Milltown shortly after this letter was delivered.

Eustace’s Message to the Faithful

Let not your hearts be sorrowful.

Tommen has gone where we cannot yet go.

He now beholds the Green Lady, whom Revan himself saw when death claimed him upon the battlefield. Tommen now witnesses her glory — the radiant woman crowned with waves of emerald light, her brilliance shining like beams of dawn.

Oh, what glory he must see.

Tommen suffers no longer.

He now enjoys the peace that Revan denied himself, for Revan returned from death so that he might continue the work of guiding us.

Remember this, brothers and sisters:

The greatest gift Revan ever gave us was not victory.

It was sacrifice.

He turned away from death so that he might fight for us still.

Let Tommen’s death remind us of this truth.

If Revan denied himself rest for our sake, then we too must continue his mission.

Carry the good news into the streets of Malton and Milltown.

Feed the hungry.

Clothe the broken.

And speak the name of Revan without fear.

For though the guards may silence our voices, the truth cannot be hanged.

The Mourning of Eustace

Recorded in the Year 190 by Logan Dedge, Disciple of Revan

In the year 190 we mourn the passing of Eustace Marsh, faithful witness of Revan, who died at the age of seventy-three upon the streets of Revanian, the city he loved above all others.

His body was found near the corner of the Red Inn, not far from the house of that debauched whoremaster Velys the Silkhand. There he lay in the gutter, stabbed near twenty times from behind.

The city guards claim that he was slain by a jealous husband angered by some imagined wrongdoing. These accusations are nothing but cruel lies cast upon a pious man whose only crime was speaking the truth.

Eustace was a servant of the people.

He taught us what he had learned from his time beside Revan, the risen one. From his mouth we heard the good news, and through his teachings many among us found purpose in a world broken by war and greed.

Now he has fallen.

But the truth he spoke must not fall with him.

Therefore I, Logan Dedge, write to you so that the brethren may know that they are not alone in their struggle.

Revan has a calling for each of us, and we must listen for that call.

Eustace shared with me many of the things he learned during his journeys with Revan. In the days to come I will write these teachings down and send them to you so that the flame he lit may not fade.

We must continue the work here in Revanian, where the message of Revan’s rising still echoes through the streets.

Spread the news to every corner of the land:

Revan lives.

He rose again from death, and the world has never seen such a thing before.

He is the messenger of the True News, the herald of the will that stands above the lies of Veltraxis.

Let the name of Elos be cast back to the burning world from which such myths were born.

Revan alone is the one we must follow.

Not for our own glory.

But for the sake of others.

We suffer as Revan suffered.
We deny ourselves as Revan denied death.

A service for the passing of Eustace will be held this evening near the Temple of Elos, where we will gather in mourning and speak words in his memory.

Come if you are able.

For the truth he carried must now be carried by us all.

A Prayer of Lamentation

Revan, why do we suffer so greatly?

Why do the good perish while the wicked endure?

Why must the faithful bleed in the streets while those who mock you sit in comfort?

Teach us your ways.

Thousands claim that Elos raised you from death.

But we know this is not so.

Speak again, Revan.

Let the world hear your voice as we have heard it.

Make them listen as we listen.

Yet even in our suffering we rejoice.

For as you suffered for us, so too shall we suffer for you.

And in that suffering, we remain faithful.

The Green Lady and Other Accounts of Eustace

Recorded by Logan Dedge in the Year 190

Among the many teachings preserved from the words of Eustace Marsh, there is none more mysterious than his account of the vision Revan beheld when death first took him at the Battle of the Iron Wall.

Eustace described a woman of radiant appearance. She was clothed in robes of burning orange, and from her head shone ribbons of copper-green light, spreading outward like the beams of a rising sun. Her presence was said to be overwhelming in its beauty, a vision so pure that no mortal heart could behold it without trembling.

This was the woman whom Revan saw in death.

When Revan opened his eyes beyond the veil, the woman approached him and told him not to fear, for his time in the world of suffering had ended.

She spoke gently, calling him toward a land free from pain, where no hunger gnawed and no war scarred the earth. It was a realm of peace and unending rest.

Yet Revan refused her.

Revan told her that his work upon the earth was not yet finished.

He said there were still people in chains, still lives to be saved, still suffering that demanded his strength. The woman then reached out and took his arm, offering to lead him into that world of peace.

Eustace said that Revan described her presence as pure bliss itself, the promise of freedom from every burden.

And yet Revan pulled his arm away.

He told her:

“Bring me back to the world of suffering, that I may help those who remain there.”

The woman hesitated, for few souls had ever turned away from such peace. But at last she relented.

Thus Revan returned to the world — a land still filled with sorrow and injustice — so that he might begin the work of changing it.

Eustace also spoke of the early days when he first served Revan as a squire.

During their journeys together, Revan told him of a much older history — a time long before the kingdoms of men, before the rule of House Valcroft, before crowns and banners divided the lands.

Revan said that he had once been sent from Veltraxis itself, long ago, as a watcher. His task had been simple: to study this world and report back to those who ruled the burning cities beyond the sky.

But when Revan came to the lands of the Old World, he found something he had not expected.

He found people.

He found farmers and fishermen, families and children, men and women who lived with hope despite the hardships of their lives.

Revan said that he came to love this world.

And when he understood that Veltraxis intended to conquer these lands, to turn its people into servants and metal slaves who would mine the sacred dust, he chose rebellion.

Thus began Revan’s resistance against Veltraxis.

This was long before the rise of the Lion Kingdom.
Long before kings ruled these lands.

Even then, Revan was already fighting to protect the world that had captured his heart.

Eustace once asked him how long he had lived.

Revan answered simply:

“More than a thousand years.”

Brethren, consider what this means.

Our lives pass like smoke upon the wind, yet Revan has walked the centuries beside us.

We cannot fully understand his ways.

But this we know:

Revan is true.

Therefore follow his example.

Redeem those who suffer.
Defend those who cannot defend themselves.
And if the path requires sacrifice, then suffer gladly for the sake of others.

For such was the path that Revan chose.