Elysia Tel'ni'vairi
Show spoiler
"There are no words left to descibe the horror that has descended upon us. Men skinned and burned, women....taken..... broken, tortured, burned at the stake. Children butchered like cattle, babies trampled or drowned, homes burned, villages gutted. For what. They claim it is the work of the gods. They claim that those whom practice the Arts of Arcanis will destroy the world, and take everything from us. Do they mean like how that templar....how he....how he took everything from me. How he took my innocence! My freedom! My ability to trust, to feel, to love!!! Is that what they mean most holy father!? Answer me you coward!? Is that what they mean!!!"
"For one hundred and fifty bloody years this crusade has marched, slashed, burned and raped the world. Now the Aethyr, weakened greatly, begins to crack again. Another Sundering, that is what YOU threaten to bring. Your templars pray on tainted grounds before committing acts of the most grevious kind, unaware their faith, their prayers, are heard, the power taken in by the things beyond in the Void, not by whichever Ascended they call upon. Our ancestors would not wish this. Your new gods would not wish this!
But no longer. We shall wear shame and fear no longer, for we are right, and you are wrong. Depenwood alone stands fast, a place where the old and elders teach temperance and guidance. You come here and spit on that, though it is Talia's way. She was magick, she was of the Arcane!!! You do not understand the delicate nature of balance. You do not understand the great dangers, nor the great benefits. Magisters, true and well trained and raised ones, keep the balance strong. They strengthen the Aethyr with their mere existence. They protect us, all of us, the whole world. They are a gift from the Ascended, a gift with grave responsibility, but no curse.
No longer shall we run. No longer will we hide. One hundred and fifty years, Father. I buried my entire clan, a bloodied victim of crimes so unspeakable, acts so heinous, that no young girl, barely past her third decade, a child by the standards of my people, should have to know of, much less survive. All at the hands of those whom claimed to be on the side of holy righteousness. No. No. no more! No more shall the faith protect.
No more excuses shall they have for behaving worse than orcs or fell beastmen. At least they oft show the mercy of a swift death. But it is funny you know. You were right father, all of you. You have fulfilled your own prophecies. By your very actions, by the policies and behaviors of the faithful, you have pushed us to our breaking point. Talia stands with the Magisters for I, for we, are all her blood and you dare defile us. You dare deny what she was. You dare to take from us everything. Look around you, you old wartorn fool. Your church in ruins, your congregation, every man woman and child will die to the magick this night.
Bow not your head in shame, and dry those tears. Look at me. Look at me!!! We are not animals like you and your zealots, the 'Children of the Ascended'. No. We shall grant you the mercy of a swift death. Take a deep breath father, for you will see Sir Kartheart more clearly this night. May he condemn your soul for eternity for the actions you have committed and endorsed. But before we do, I wish you to know something Father Torvac. Something almost amusing, even in these dark and foul times.....which is that you will be right. All your prophecies, all your doomsaying? All that trollop about the Arts of Arcanis breaking and destroying the world we know, about the end of eras, about a cataclysmic change? You will be right. So very right. We mages will break the world as you know it. We will destroy it, tear it down to its foundation stones. We will do this, because if the last century and a half are what you and your 'faithful' mean by the world we all know? That is not worth perserving.
An excerpt from an ancient journal perserved by the family of Tel'in'naviri, from the journal of Elysia Tel'in'naviri, Matron Saint of the Talian faith, and the first Grand Magister of the Magisterium, the founder of the Emerald Order, circa 342 SuD, discussing a well known event and her recording of it after the fact. The Kelethan Ascension Purge, targeting the the followers of all the other Ascended in the city at the time. Father Torvac was a dwarven priest, a worshipper of Sir Kartheart and the highest ranking divine official left after the initial battle, whom was not a follower of Talia.
Not much is known about Elysia's early life in the small but well known village of Kel'vinshi. It is suspected she was the daughter of someone of great importance within the community, given her heritage and the established religious context that Kel'vinshi was the birthplace of Talia, the Lady of the Leaves, one of the most holy Ascended. Elysia's family tree, the Tel'ni'vairi, trace their way all the way back to Tal'ia'vo Tel'ni'vairi, or Talia as she became known to most. Being the great grand-daughter of Talia herself likely meant that the family Elysia was a part of had quite a high station in the village, were perhaps even the effective equivalent of its lord mayor. We know she was born with the Touch, as all women in her family tree seemingly were, according to her own accounts and recovered journals that were entombed with her. Specifically what we would now call Emerald Magick, so Druidic or Naturalism.
From the day she could walk and talk, she was educated, but not as we think of it now in the era of the Magisterium. It was a very tribal and familial experience, it was merely part of being a child, part of the education, part of day to day life. However at the age of 30, her life becomes far more documented, for dark reasons. For the Children of the Ascended had arrived in Depenwood, and though things seemed relatively peaceable at first, well managed even, it was not without dark spots, sudden and unexplained killings and spates of violence. Overall however, it was contained enough that regular people didn't really question the activities of these religious crusaders claiming to be saviors. But on one cool Agun night in 172 SuD, all that would brutally, violently and suddenly change.
The Kel'vinshi Cleansing as the conflict would become known, would become the instigator for a war, a conflict comparable only to the horrors of the Sundering at its darkest, when the world wept, bled, and every night was overrun by the realm of nightmares. The Arcanis Crusades would nearly consume the world, consume the Aethyr and reallow the Void to engulf Valerick once again. Elysia would be central to this, but also the key figure in averting that very disaster.
Over the many decades that this hot and cold conflict, that would leave entire towns and villages decimated all across the world, boiled, Elysia developed a fearful reputation amongst the followers of the Children of the Ascended. They claimed her a skin-changer, a nightmare from beyond the Void swaying and fooling people. They claimed her evil, a consorter of beasts, a mother to beastmen. Many, wild and vicious were the claims and attempts at propaganda against her. But so too were their fears. She was a master magister, and a brilliant tactical mind, well spoken to boot. She could rally common folk to the cause of the mages, she could lead military strikes with brutal precision, and ruled the wild areas wherever she was, making travel near impossible for any religious forces in the area. She trained others to do this, sending them off to spread the fight to all fronts. Yet in her own journals, the few recovered from her tomb with care, she speaks of not being the only mind of brilliance, giving credit and showing humility, admitting that she had advisors, trusted comrades whom were the brilliant minds behind many of the ambushes, speeches and tactics. Magick was her field of expertise, not war. But she made strong friends, good friends, whom had the expertise she did not, and listened to them.
On the field of battle she was oft compared to a cornered mother bear or sword-tooth. Utterly vicious, utterly unstoppable, and fearless. She saw every follower, every loyal supporter, and every student as under her nuture, care and protection and took it personally that anyone would dare threaten them. We do have excerpts from crusader diaries whom survived encounters where she was upon the field personally, and one you will find below;
From the day she could walk and talk, she was educated, but not as we think of it now in the era of the Magisterium. It was a very tribal and familial experience, it was merely part of being a child, part of the education, part of day to day life. However at the age of 30, her life becomes far more documented, for dark reasons. For the Children of the Ascended had arrived in Depenwood, and though things seemed relatively peaceable at first, well managed even, it was not without dark spots, sudden and unexplained killings and spates of violence. Overall however, it was contained enough that regular people didn't really question the activities of these religious crusaders claiming to be saviors. But on one cool Agun night in 172 SuD, all that would brutally, violently and suddenly change.
The Kel'vinshi Cleansing as the conflict would become known, would become the instigator for a war, a conflict comparable only to the horrors of the Sundering at its darkest, when the world wept, bled, and every night was overrun by the realm of nightmares. The Arcanis Crusades would nearly consume the world, consume the Aethyr and reallow the Void to engulf Valerick once again. Elysia would be central to this, but also the key figure in averting that very disaster.
Over the many decades that this hot and cold conflict, that would leave entire towns and villages decimated all across the world, boiled, Elysia developed a fearful reputation amongst the followers of the Children of the Ascended. They claimed her a skin-changer, a nightmare from beyond the Void swaying and fooling people. They claimed her evil, a consorter of beasts, a mother to beastmen. Many, wild and vicious were the claims and attempts at propaganda against her. But so too were their fears. She was a master magister, and a brilliant tactical mind, well spoken to boot. She could rally common folk to the cause of the mages, she could lead military strikes with brutal precision, and ruled the wild areas wherever she was, making travel near impossible for any religious forces in the area. She trained others to do this, sending them off to spread the fight to all fronts. Yet in her own journals, the few recovered from her tomb with care, she speaks of not being the only mind of brilliance, giving credit and showing humility, admitting that she had advisors, trusted comrades whom were the brilliant minds behind many of the ambushes, speeches and tactics. Magick was her field of expertise, not war. But she made strong friends, good friends, whom had the expertise she did not, and listened to them.
On the field of battle she was oft compared to a cornered mother bear or sword-tooth. Utterly vicious, utterly unstoppable, and fearless. She saw every follower, every loyal supporter, and every student as under her nuture, care and protection and took it personally that anyone would dare threaten them. We do have excerpts from crusader diaries whom survived encounters where she was upon the field personally, and one you will find below;
"They came from nowhere, men, women and beasts. We outnumbered them, we had formed up, and were sure we could hold the ambush off, win the engagement, despite the fact that many had magick. But then that.....witch! joined the fray. Naught but a staff and robes of leaves and bark, yet she rushed in screaming bloody murder, her face painted up in greens and golds, her eyes wildfire. I'll naught forget those piercing orange orbs and the vicious animalistic promise of violence within them! I watched her, this frail elven mage, a stick of a person, utterly dismantle six battle hardened dwarven knights. With magick no less, their natural resistance to the stuff be damned!! Plants wove into their plate armor, thorns the size of your arm erupted from her hands at her whim, and as three of them attempted to close to melee, she dropped her staff and her body glowed the brightest emerald you could imagine. Suddenly she took form as a full blown wyvern, the claws and teeth making short work of them. She isn't mortal I tell you, there is nothing about that creature that is mortal! She is a punishment from Talia for betrayal, for the violence and slaughter we have inflicted upon her, and for the heresy we are committing trying to lie about who she was. Well no more for me. I will admit it, and I will abandon this fool cause. Talia, the lady of the Leaves was indeed a mage. She was, and to deny such a fact is paramount to true heresy, equal to turning your back on the Ascended!"
From the journals of Frada Blackmaul, a Tantur crusader, circa 233 SuD
This paints quite the picture of her ability, but also her commitment. So it is little wonder that the organized idea of resistance spread amongst those touched by Arcanis like wildfire. Especially as she organized them to start grouping up, the more skilled teaching the younger less skilled, and learning how to accomplish long distance communication in an instant with certain types of magick. Many of the spell-forms known today are derived or directly were discovered during this conflict.
Elysia and her trusted advisors and fellow magisters grew in strength and commitment over the decades, until she had unoffically founded the eight orders of Magi that we now know, and had a Arch-Magister for each, someone she trusted implicitly. With their help and blessing, she began adopting the title of Grand Magister of the Magisterium, though none knew what that word implied or meant. What was to be The Magisterium
Well but a few short years after such titles began being part of the public persona of this revolution, Elysia and her trusted advisors moved to act upon that, intent on the world learning quite swiftly what the Magisterium was to be. We have only one of the letters she sent in secret today, for the Raechin government still keep it, carefully preserved. A historical piece showing the depth and length of time the unity between themelves and Depenwood, an example of the commitment and strength of it, to be able to gesture to over a millenia ago and state, even then we were staunch allies. This letter, and eight others that were of some similar nature, but written instead by her Arch-Magisters, supposedly, were the master strokes. But why was it she wrote the leaders of a nation not her own. She was Depenwood's favored daughter, the entire country ready to throw in with her forces should the conflict see nation states stepping into it on either side. So why not write to the people you already know and have in your back pocket?
Because she was very well advised, and led to understand that the Depen were already hers, so she could entrust that task to her sister in spirit, Alexandria Noria, the first Arch-Magister of what would become the Ruby Order, a pyromancer, to address the Depen Tribal Council. However the Jarl and Jarlessa of Raechin were, like all Koltani, were of a bold and strong warrior spirit, and despised the normal methods of politics that were developing amongst the nation states, as they do to this day. Very much instead they preferred leaders talking person to person, and as such, Elysia's best bet to maximize support for her daring plan was for her to pen the letter to the leaders of Raechin. That letter is a master stroke, and is oft credited as the key moment, the moment of the Birth of the Magisterium. Rightfully so, for it is diplomatic, yet personal. Urgent, yet gracious. Polite, yet succinct and to the point.
It would work and after many years of back and forth, near breakdowns of peace talks, vigorous debates, and even small scale skirmishes, in 397 SuD, fully nine years after sending that fateful letter, The Magisterium was founded and officially recognized. And yet, though she would be dead in but a year, Elysia's legacy was not yet complete, her work not yet done.
For despite her iron stance, her bold and proud leadership, her military excellence, deep down, as a true blooded descendant of Talia, she felt keenly the pain and suffering of the split, the schism that was opening within the Ascended. She knew it would not be stopped, the wars and the suffering seeing the nine gods as one crumbling, the body losing its control, and each temple becoming more or less its own faith. However she and the other magisters knew the true importance and the true war, for in the decades and decades of conflict they had also done decades and decades of research. The Void was all around, and it was eternal. It would swell and recede like the tide. The truth was the event we call the Sundering was not the first of its kind, merely the worse. One does not know when such an event, something Elysia calls a Scourge in her journals, will occur. There is no real way to predict them and the pattern of the swells and recessions of the Void. Or at least no way people could. However she had a theory, a theory that could also help mend some of the harm the Crusades had done to the Ascended faiths as well. Nothing would prevent the nine temples from mostly splitting now, but a true schism could perhaps be averted by providing centralizing authority.
Elysia, reaching out to various high ranking religious figures, and with the aid of the three most trusted amongst her Arch-Magisters, those companions who had advised her all throughout the campaign, would provide that sort of authority, but do so with context, with powerful magick and with great sacrifice. Alexandria, her dearest friend, the soul sister, and the youngest of her trusted companions (being human and all), now in her sixties would offer her power, knowing what the plan would cost her. As would Vienna Fieldsworn, the gnomish Arch-Magister of the Diamond Order, her in only her nineties, barely middle age for her kind. Finally, the harshest burden would be borne by her lover and husband, though obviously they bore no children, Voris Hurdihelm, the Arch-Magister of the Topaz Order. For though he would pour as much as everyone into the weaving of the magick for this object, due to the nature of Earth Magick, and his dwarven heritage, he would survive, likely to see another full century of life. The burden of insuring this object reached the first set of correct hands would be his, to be passed down if necessary to his successors. So they journyed to Kelethan to create and forge this object, the effort taking weeks. This object was Solarian, the Star-Blade
With this gift, and the sacrifice made, so young for a Wylde Elf, barely approaching middle age, the Church of Talia within mere weeks of her death named her a saint. The first lesser divine entities recognized by any of the Ascended faiths, the first saint named in any of the churches histories. The other temples, in time, begrudgingly accepted and recognized this claim, and today have begun to be more openly honest in their stories and scriptures about the events of the times of the Arcanis Crusades, including some level of fault for how things spiraled, though they still have a long way to go to arrive at anything near total transparency of the historical events as we can best summarize they happened. But such is the nature of religious institutions however, and the silent admittance is the first step, a step that surely Elysia herself would appreciate, even if it took a great length of time to get there.
Well but a few short years after such titles began being part of the public persona of this revolution, Elysia and her trusted advisors moved to act upon that, intent on the world learning quite swiftly what the Magisterium was to be. We have only one of the letters she sent in secret today, for the Raechin government still keep it, carefully preserved. A historical piece showing the depth and length of time the unity between themelves and Depenwood, an example of the commitment and strength of it, to be able to gesture to over a millenia ago and state, even then we were staunch allies. This letter, and eight others that were of some similar nature, but written instead by her Arch-Magisters, supposedly, were the master strokes. But why was it she wrote the leaders of a nation not her own. She was Depenwood's favored daughter, the entire country ready to throw in with her forces should the conflict see nation states stepping into it on either side. So why not write to the people you already know and have in your back pocket?
Because she was very well advised, and led to understand that the Depen were already hers, so she could entrust that task to her sister in spirit, Alexandria Noria, the first Arch-Magister of what would become the Ruby Order, a pyromancer, to address the Depen Tribal Council. However the Jarl and Jarlessa of Raechin were, like all Koltani, were of a bold and strong warrior spirit, and despised the normal methods of politics that were developing amongst the nation states, as they do to this day. Very much instead they preferred leaders talking person to person, and as such, Elysia's best bet to maximize support for her daring plan was for her to pen the letter to the leaders of Raechin. That letter is a master stroke, and is oft credited as the key moment, the moment of the Birth of the Magisterium. Rightfully so, for it is diplomatic, yet personal. Urgent, yet gracious. Polite, yet succinct and to the point.
It would work and after many years of back and forth, near breakdowns of peace talks, vigorous debates, and even small scale skirmishes, in 397 SuD, fully nine years after sending that fateful letter, The Magisterium was founded and officially recognized. And yet, though she would be dead in but a year, Elysia's legacy was not yet complete, her work not yet done.
For despite her iron stance, her bold and proud leadership, her military excellence, deep down, as a true blooded descendant of Talia, she felt keenly the pain and suffering of the split, the schism that was opening within the Ascended. She knew it would not be stopped, the wars and the suffering seeing the nine gods as one crumbling, the body losing its control, and each temple becoming more or less its own faith. However she and the other magisters knew the true importance and the true war, for in the decades and decades of conflict they had also done decades and decades of research. The Void was all around, and it was eternal. It would swell and recede like the tide. The truth was the event we call the Sundering was not the first of its kind, merely the worse. One does not know when such an event, something Elysia calls a Scourge in her journals, will occur. There is no real way to predict them and the pattern of the swells and recessions of the Void. Or at least no way people could. However she had a theory, a theory that could also help mend some of the harm the Crusades had done to the Ascended faiths as well. Nothing would prevent the nine temples from mostly splitting now, but a true schism could perhaps be averted by providing centralizing authority.
Elysia, reaching out to various high ranking religious figures, and with the aid of the three most trusted amongst her Arch-Magisters, those companions who had advised her all throughout the campaign, would provide that sort of authority, but do so with context, with powerful magick and with great sacrifice. Alexandria, her dearest friend, the soul sister, and the youngest of her trusted companions (being human and all), now in her sixties would offer her power, knowing what the plan would cost her. As would Vienna Fieldsworn, the gnomish Arch-Magister of the Diamond Order, her in only her nineties, barely middle age for her kind. Finally, the harshest burden would be borne by her lover and husband, though obviously they bore no children, Voris Hurdihelm, the Arch-Magister of the Topaz Order. For though he would pour as much as everyone into the weaving of the magick for this object, due to the nature of Earth Magick, and his dwarven heritage, he would survive, likely to see another full century of life. The burden of insuring this object reached the first set of correct hands would be his, to be passed down if necessary to his successors. So they journyed to Kelethan to create and forge this object, the effort taking weeks. This object was Solarian, the Star-Blade
With this gift, and the sacrifice made, so young for a Wylde Elf, barely approaching middle age, the Church of Talia within mere weeks of her death named her a saint. The first lesser divine entities recognized by any of the Ascended faiths, the first saint named in any of the churches histories. The other temples, in time, begrudgingly accepted and recognized this claim, and today have begun to be more openly honest in their stories and scriptures about the events of the times of the Arcanis Crusades, including some level of fault for how things spiraled, though they still have a long way to go to arrive at anything near total transparency of the historical events as we can best summarize they happened. But such is the nature of religious institutions however, and the silent admittance is the first step, a step that surely Elysia herself would appreciate, even if it took a great length of time to get there.
Life
142 AoR
398 AoR
256 years old
Circumstances of Birth
Unknown
Circumstances of Death
The Forging of Solarian, the Star-blade
Birthplace
Kel'vinshi
Place of Death
Children
Sex
Female
Gender
Female
Presentation
Feminine but also Wild/Animalistic
Eyes
wildfire orange
Hair
Kept in a war braid most of her life, mossy green-blue
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
cream, very light tan tone
Height
7'1"
Weight
160-170 lbs
Comments