The Colossus

The Colossus is located a bit northeast, through a ravine, near the Abandoned Inn (aka "The Hanging Inn"), at Wehnimer's Landing. The stone figure towers fifty feet and has been weather-beaten by the immortal artist "Time". The natural elements have done much to finish what mortal hands began: every surface is polished smooth and pitted from erosion.

Wonders of Elanthia Historical Discussion

This story is told by Erishnan the Giantman Scholar.

"Legend tells that long ago, when my people were roaming the lands near Wehnimer's Landing freely, the colossus was erected as a sign of power and protection - a symbol of our presence in these lands. Much lore surrounds this massive being of stone, but today I will speak of only two such events that have been passed down through story telling over many years. When the colossus was erected so long ago, its main purpose was to provide a marker, a representation of our people's presence here. However, it also served an alternate purpose, one which was not brought to light until it was necessary. That necessity came one evening just as the sun set over the waters of Locksmehr River. Multiple vessels were passing down the current, part of a host of invaders who sought to take over the fertile lands here. Legend says that as the warparty made its way down the river, the colossus saw all with its great and towering presence over the land and sought to protect our people from war. Its massive arms of stone shifted and moved, its body bending to extend its hands to gather mountains from the surrounding land and hurl the boulders at the enemy. Lore tells that the boulders flew towards the ships, smashing their hulls and splintering the wood to small slivers, taking the invaders with them to the depths of the river where they met their final fate. It is said that after this night, the great stone giant did not raise its mighty arms as it had against those warships. My people moved north in the years to come, and no longer did we inhabit this area as freely as we once had. Humans began to settle more prominently in the Landing and its surrounding environs, and the time had come for us to trek forward. Some say that as my people moved from the area, the power left the colossus and it became no more than an enormous hulk of a sculpture for the elements and time to ravage."

"There was another, however, long after my people migrated from these lands, who sought refuge in the protection of the colossus. A human woman, a sorceress she was deemed. She was said to have practiced necromancy, a foul magic that was condemned by her peers. When she was found out, legend tells that she was run out of the settlement by the villagers and she fled with her small daughter in hand - afraid for her child and herself, no doubt. She stumbled upon the colossus in her flight, and climbed far upon his form, crouching finally in the palm of one enormous stone hand where she hoped she and her child would not be found. As it happened, however, her child was very young and frightened of course, and she would not stop crying. The party of men who came looking for the sorceress and her child found them, as it were, by the sound of that child's weeping. Yet, when they began to make their way up one of the massive legs of the colossus, legend says that the colossus turned his great stone eyes upon the men and curled its fingers over the sorceress and her weeping child to protect them. The men were frightened of course - they had heard the stories of the great colossus tossing mountains at the warships of old trying to cross the Locksmehr River. They feared for their lives. And so it was that they ran from this place, leaving the sorceress and her child in safety, guarded by the colossus. Some say that the sorceress simply concocted the illusion of the stone giant turning its eyes upon the men, that it was sorcery and animation that caused the giant's fingers to curl over the child and herself. A trick of magic, if you will, but others...they insist that the colossus protected once more, and will again should the need arise."