Dear Kyllifaelgi

O Dear Kyllifaelgi

Your praises ring throughout the land

We stood and fought for

When Ekraans came unto our home

The men there died

Their bodies laid

In eternal pride

Till the end of days

Through stony hills and wood

And charged them unto the waves

Paid for ground in blood

When Ekraans came unto our home

The men their bones

In ashes lay

Their courage of stone

Till the end of days

When days have long passed now

And when the time should come again

We shall arise then

When Ekraans come unto our home

The men their lives

Their blood was paid

To our home their wives

Till the end of days

This song depicts the revolutionary war between the Kyllistidane and the Sûrmathian Kingdom.

In a push to control the Islands under Ekraan rule, the Sûrmathians invaded the Kyllistidane (the island chain off the eastern coast of Sûrmathia). In the year 534 TE, they captured the islands after three brutal, bloody years of fighting. For over two hundred years, the descendants of Rylla lived in oppression under the kings of Ekraawell until Kyllistidani Rebellion in 751 TE.

The song is in homage to the battle of Drakath where the men of Drakath fought the Sûrmathians in the forests north of the city as they came to take their women, and despite being heavily outnumbered (nearly ten-to-one), charged the beaches where the Ekraan military encampment was set.

They went forth, out of the village Connalla in Algûv’s Basin, against the ancient Ekraan fortress of Hal Brônarr. Each man was slaughtered, hewn, and cast into the sands discarded. Many were cut to pieces, their limbs sent to the Elders of the Kyllistidane, to discourage future revolt. For good measure, the Sûrmathian army razed the village of Connalla to ashes.

The Conclave of Elders and Matalacus Bragaar-Nas anDrakath, the King of the Islands, met in the ruined village Connalla two months later. There they penned and signed the Byrrehtte anFulke (or The Birthrights of Men in Nidaenesse). The declaration of the Kyllistidani's independence was met with fury by the King of Sûrmathia, Urlenael Ekraan the Third. It is stated, that once the document arrived, it was promptly set ablaze by the king himself.

The valiance and courage of the men (along with the leaders of the Islands sending a declaration of independence) inspired the rest of the islands to rise and go to war. They fought the Ekraans for six years, many sides seeing major victories and heavy losses. The war raged on, however, until the battle for Hannika where the Sûrmathian fleet was torn asunder by fire. The Ekraan’s army surrendered after witnessing the fury that was displayed.

To celebrate the defeat of the Surmathians, King Bragaar-Nas passed a decree that the celebration of the Kyllistidani independence would be just shy of a week long. The, now annual, festival lasted for six days to represent the six years of fighting during the war.

"Dear Kyllifaelgi" is the only one of her poems that Kyllia Hyygdrev anDrakath Elri put to music herself (many of her poems put to music by her ancestor Kyllia Hyygrev anDrakath Yungr). It is held in contention for the status of her magnum opus. The people on the Sûthryyg continent, those of Sûrmathia, claim the Senjoth anEdgildi (the Song of the Return) to be her best. However, "Dear Kyllifaelgi" is considered by every citizen of the Kyllistidane to be her magnum opus. Although she was never a witness to the events, having been born in 767 TE, ten years after the Battle of Hannika; she perfectly captured the hearts of the Kyllistidani.

(The full, in-depth account of the Kyllistidani Rebellion will come soon)