Vandor’s Memorial Service
All of Vandor’s seven thousand residents, peasants and knights alike, gathered for the memorial service for King Han Vandor. The service ran three days, the first of which was a fast, the second a feast, and the third the burial. The event took place just outside of Vandor Estate outside of Hanton, the capital of the present-day Vandorn province.
Under the towering castle, the festivities ran the full three days — even though the first day was one of fast, the butchers worked hard slaughtering pigs, and the prep-work was completed for the rich dough used in the gigantic savory pastry known as Vandor Pie. The second day saw many toasts, as all in attendance were asked to say a few words, if even within their local groups. On the third day, the prayers were said, his body was lowered into a site in the family mausoleum at the back end of the Vandor Estate.
Over each of the three days, his ten sons, the future rulers of their own provinces, gave speeches praising their father and honoring his memory. His daughter was nowhere to be seen at the festivities, and various rumors circulated as to her whereabouts, ranging from her being a vagabond living in the streets of the neighboring Phyloctæte to her being dead.
The following are excerpts from the Ballad of Vandor
(as sung by the bard Torsten Danattaway)
this land had never a leader
not of the kind of man before
a man who would drink a liter
then outwit invading hordes
han vandor, han vandor
van-dor, van-dor,
left his life at death’s door
tomorrow will never be more
happier than the days of
van-dor, van-dor
left his life at death’s door
yesterday will never be more
happier than the days of yore
with you, as goes our land
into the hands of squabbling sons
who in your wisdom know must stand
hand in hand brother in brother
van-dor, van-dor…
Torsten is still working on a version of the song for print, a new technology emerging out of the industrious merchant class of the Republic of Esrun to the southwest.
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