At the dawn of the
Empire of Kelnore it is said, when
wealth first came to the city, the nobles of Kelnore desired to build great temples to
their gods Zeus, Hera and Ares. Many of the less well off of the city, however, worshipped
Athena and a priest of Athena, Clestus, raised enough money to buy a site for a temple
although his followers lacked the funds to build it. Clestus, who had at one time been a
bard took to holding services on the site and sang so sweetly to the Goddess that she
blessed his lyre. That night he held a vigil with some of his closest friends and as he
sang of the magnificent temple he would like to build for the Goddess stones rose out
of the ground and began building themselves into such a temple. By the morning
the temple was complete and the citizens of Kelnore were amazed by the miracle. This was
the beginning of the pre-eminence of the Temple of Athena in Kelnore.
The Lyre was subsequently used to build other temples to the Goddess and also by the
famed Paladins of Athena to construct defensive earthworks quickly in their many campaigns.
Although many magic users tried to imitate the idea no non-divine magic item has ever
approached the effectiveness of the original Lyre of Clestus.
THe Lyre was believed to have been rescued from the Fall of Kelnore and resurfaced again
in the City of Rhamsandron in the Dragon Empire. Legends say that the use of the Lyre was
denied to the rulers of that City in its last days and the Temple of Athena hid the Lyre.
The rulers then destroyed the Temple and drove out Athena's priests. Athena, however, is
not to be mocked and the city fell within a year.