The Horn of Athena was a great horn given by
Athena to her temple in
Kelnore to commemorate the hundreth
anniversary of the founding of its order of paladins. The sounding of the horn was said to
create fear in the minds of all evil-doers who heard it and who opposed the paladins.
It was used by
them to great effect on many of their subsequent campaigns.
Sadly the Horn was the first of the treasures of the Temple to be lost falling into
barbarian hands even before the downfall of the Empire. The loss of the Horn also caused
a rift between the rulers of Kelnore and the Temple which marked the beginning of the
decline of the Empire. The Paladins of Athena were called in a crisis to relieve a fort
beset by barbarians on the western frontier of the Empire. Although the Temple did not
like its paladins being used just as makeshift troops of the Empire the key location of the
fort meant that there would be a large loss of civilian life if it fell. The Cyng of Kelnore
lied to the Temple regarding the cause of the barbarian attack, however, and lied also
when he promised them that Imperial troops would relieve the paladins. He had been compromised
by events and was playing for time because
his brother was the Governor of the Western Province whose greed had sent his troops to
loot the barbarians' temple.
Despite the presence of the paladins the fort was overwhelmed and the Horn was carried
off as a prize. The barbarians, however, once they realised they had captured such a
sacred object considered their honour satisfied and did not press their attack further. A
captured paladin who later escaped and returned to Kelnore said the horn
was held deep in the Desert Lands and the Temple forbade its recapture fearing it would
escalate the conflict. The whereabouts of the Horn is not known but there have been many
rumours that the Mycretians have a secret cache of artefacts belonging to other religions.
Indeed one of the orders of the Green Emperor's commanders when they invaded the Holy Cities
was to find this cache. Rumour has it that even under the threat of death the prophets would
not reveal the location of this cache or indeed whether it even existed and all attempts to
use magic to discover its whereabouts failed.