The Varks tie honor to the banner. A clan that loses its banner has no name until it wins it back. Gorvak was the standard-bearer. He stood on the pass when the Ash Chiefs clan went over to the black banners, and it was he who came home with a pole and no cloth.
Other peoples see the Varks as savages. Elira thought so too when Gorvak first stood at the settlement gate. She did not trust him. She made him sleep outside the wall.
A week later a Black Banner squad attacked at night from the river. Gorvak held the bridge alone until the guards came running. Every blow he took, he returned twice over. The Varks call it the rule of the Last One Who Will Not Yield.
In the morning Elira brought him breakfast outside the wall. She said nothing. Neither did Gorvak. Their bond is now called the Shield of Reconciliation: when one of them weakens, the other takes the blows aimed at the partner.
Gorvak is still searching for the lost banner. They say Dravok, chief of the Ash Clans, carries it into battle as a trophy. Once they were brothers in arms. One day they will meet.
A legend of the world of Crownforge. Game features are described with their status on the other pages.
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