Ilyreth
Fairy Ilyreth (a.k.a. Last of the Ancients, Great Mother of the Mother's Hand, Beacon of the Freed, First of the Light Elves and Child of Elsiar)
Ilyreth, previously Dharearna, or Great Mother, is the first light elf and their fairy (elven queen).
She is also the very last known Ancient, having been a child during the fall of the Arcane Meteor. Along with the other original group of dark elves, she was cursed into the form of a dark elf for defying the extinction of the light elves, the will of the gods. Throughout the thousands of years in the Underworld, she birthed many children and became a respected leader for a long time.
In her early days in the Underworld, she and her fellow Ancients lived together with their offspring in a single city called Feymyr Akhyn in Marlann, one of the Central Chambers of the Underworld. However, the increasingly feral nature of the Ancients's distant descendants and their need to feed on blood made the dark elves unfit for communal life of this nature. They had no concept of agriculture, and little capacity for social structure. The city of Feymyr Akhyn fell apart and became mostly abandoned. In later centuries, its ruins became known as Mar Onyrn. By the time Feymyr Akhyn fell apart, two ancients had already died. The dark elves regressed into a tribal structure, with each Ancient having their own followers and children, and thus forming their own tribes. Some of the Ancients took their people to other chambers, but most remained in Marlann. Ilyreth was one of these. Her tribe lived in the Great Plains region of Marlann for most of this time. She was respected by most, though the other tribes viewed her as the youngest, and therefor weakest of the Ancients. When the others died one-by-one, however, Ilyreth became respected as the last of the Ancestors, an almost godly figure. Her tribe became the most respected of all, with none daring to fight or harm the tribe of the Ancient. She used this status to become a mediator between the increasingly feral tribes.
In later ages, one of the older remaining dark elves founded the Order of Guenvar, a society striving to prevent the devolution of the elves and perhaps recapture the glory of the Ancestors. One of the central tenets of this order was to keep dark elven blood pure by breeding the most powerful and early-generation dark elves, of which Dharearna was of course the greatest example. She became a member around seven-hundred years before her conversion to a light elf. In her time as part of the order, she had several early-generation children that indeed showed great promise. Several of these children, predominantly daughters, later joined the light elves, though none in the First Mission. After a few centuries, Dharearna fell into a deep melancholy, realising that the dark elves couldn't be saved, and she stopped having children for the most part.
Later on, nearing the end of her dark elven life, her respected status waned. She became seen as a relic of the past. She was cast out from her old tribe for attempting to hold on to an old, pacifist and religious morality. From her few remaining followers, she formed a new, smaller tribe, some of whom later would become her most trusted light elven followers. She lead her new tribe up, away from the "Rumblings," which slowly collapsed and destroyed the deeper parts of the Underworld. Therein, they found themselves in New Deranoran territory.
It was the New Deranorans that convinced Dharearna to go kill Elsiar, which she believed would help her tribe find a place in the Overworld. Crossing paths with Elsiar changed her view. She became a loyal follower of Elsiar, and was rewarded for it.
Throughout her time as a light elf, Ilyreth lead her people to being benevolent observers to the other races. She founded the Mother's Hand, an order of healers that offered their services at every great battle to heal the wounded with as only requirement that those patients never be asked to fight again. Early on, she herself joined missions as a healer several times. The order soon became a normalised part in any war, doing their part in minimising the horrors of war on Myr.
Ilyreth was also one of the first and most important members of the Apostles, the order founded by Serena to locate and protect the sages. After the mortal Serena's death, Ilyreth took over leadership of the order.
The light elves lived safely on their isle of Lyemér, which was inhospitable to humans. Even as a dark elf, she kept a nostalgic interest in ancient elven technology, and this became even stronger when her people gained access to her ancient homeland, Feymyr, where elven artifacts layed untouched by anything but the Arcane Meteor's destructive force. Her loyal friend Thamyra became Feymyr's explorer, seeking those artefacts that hadn't been destroyed or degraded by the arcane. Ilyreth stayed personally interested in this endeavour until later in history, when even Thamyra too became disillusioned by a dependency on advanced technology. In this short age, Ilyreth turned the light elves inside, to find comfort in themselves in stead of convenient technology.
Ilyreth's death came at the hands of the forces of the Hydra cult, who used the Nephilim to invade Lyemér and attempted to enslave the light elves, who were helpless to stop them. However, Ilyreth and several other light elves finally sacrificed their own lives in seducing and killing the unsuspecting leaders of the invasion. Losing Sarah's mercy caused them to lose their own lifeforce, killing them. Many claim there was more to this than just protecting her people, and she was also protecting something more. Controversial historian Allaran eluded to a dark theory that the light elves were following a promise, a promise to protect something at all costs. Something that the Hydra cult wanted more than anything else.
Artifacts
- The Ilyraydra: Ilyreth's extremely powerful fyngilyra
Holy Books & Codes
The Tenets of the Light Elven Elsiarism
Divine Goals & Aspirations
Bringing peace to Myr
Physical Description
Special abilities
Ilyreth's abilities are varied and wide. Her pure Ancient blood seems to cause a greater affinity for magic, but on top of that, Sarah approves of Ilyreth. Her magic of Sarah is thought to be more powerful than she's ever truly shown, and also the only magic she uses.
Some think her use of long-range telepathy is magic of Syler, but in reality this elven technique is an extention of their empathic magic, in which they connect to the other person's emotions and their love for this person. Ilyreth was already telepathically powerful before she was a light elf. Even though the light elven technique is different, Ilyreth seems to have an especially strong talent in this too.
Closely related is her empathic magic, which she can use subtly to sense another person's emotions faintly, or she can use it to place herself completely in their perspective, feeling their feelings, sensing what they sense (from sight to touch), but not reading thoughts.
Ilyreth's ability to heal is said to be godlike. She can heal a room of wounded soldiers in a matter of minutes.
Apparel & Accessories
Ilyreth wears a large amount of golden bracelets and other jewellery.
She sometimes wears revealing outfits, just like the other light elves, but to a limit. Ilyreth is rarely seen with a bare belly.
Her robes and dresses are known to be extravagant and majestic. She has many, causing her to become a true fashion icon in modern times. Her fashion takes some slight inspiration from Ancient clothing, but her preference is dresses rather than the tight bodysuits the Ancients wore. She even more than the other light elves, prefers white and gold over colour.
In human ceremonies, Ilyreth sometimes adapts by covering her skin more.
Specialized Equipment
Her ilyrerna is called Ilyraydra, meaning Elder Star. It carries the brightest and largest mana gem in the light elves' possession, a sort of gem-like energy cell found on Feymyr by Thamilyra. It's a lavender shade of purple, but has a pale glow from within.
Ilyreth also wears her wings on formal occasions, a sort of holographic apparel customary for fairies to wear since before the exodus to Myr. Hers consist of a golden plate to be worn on her back, resting on her shoulders. On the plate are a sort of mana projectors that create floating ribbons of light swilring around from behind her on either side, creating something imposing similar to wings.
Mental characteristics
Sexuality
The light elves, living on an island with almost exclusively women, weren't all that shy about lesbian relations. However, most prefered to have their fun with human men when they had the chance. What's known about Ilyreth's specific relationships is that she and Feysjin became intimately close throughout the centuries. Rumours say that she and Elsiar had some form of relationship too. Otherwise, not much is known. Therefor, it can be assumed that Ilyreth is either bisexual, lesbian, or solely attracted to some sort of divine capabilities.
It's not unusual for light elves to be intimate with each other to find sexual release. It may be that Ilyreth is heteroromantic, but open to sharing intimacy with women, who are the only people she has access to. As a dark elf, she had many children. Though in later dark elven life, she became disgusted by the increasingly malformed and feral dark elves around her, this wasn't linked to gender. Her relationship with Feysjin is no doubt intimately entwined, but wether romantic feelings are present is unsure.
[Note to self: allowing Ilyreth to find romance may be interesting.]
Education
Ilyreth was raised to puberty as an Ancient, and has retained much of that knowledge throughout her life, making her the biggest authority on Ancient science and history, though she later had to compete with Thamyra, who studied the ancient record banks she found for decades. Many propose that Ilyreth may have known a lot more than she let on, perhaps as to protect humanity from too much knowledge.
Employment
Ilyreth was the fairy of the light elves, the head of the Mother's Hand, member of the Apostles, and more.
Accomplishments & Achievements
Ilyreth is a competitor for the single most accomplished person in history, competing with figures such as Thomes Tillain, Maradius II, and Estmard.
Some of Ilyreth's greatest accomplishments in order:
- Surviving in the Underworld for 3600 years
- Not killing a single humanoid soul for all that time
- Singlehandedly keeping some of the Ancients' knowledge alive
- Being the first dark elf to escape the Underworld in history
- Hunting down the prophet Elsiar and saving her life in stead
- Convincing Elsiar and Sarah that she, a dark elf, is worthy of becoming one of Sarah's most powerful followers
- Bringing Elsiar safely to Sarah's Orphanage
- Raising Elsiar into the Prophet that eventually saved the world
- Bringing her old followers safely to the Overworld without a fyngilyra
- Founding a the light elven city on Lyemér
- Founding the Mother's Hand
- ...
Failures & Embarrassments
Ilyreth, as Great Mother Dharearna, failed to keep her tribe faithful to her Ancient elven values. Yet another set of descendants she's ashamed of.
Her hunt for Elsiar was a betrayal of everything she stood for, and though she changed her mind, the history books still bring her shame.
Ilyreth is ashamed of letting Thomes Brendon's conquest get so far. Her faith in the prophet and love for Elsiar got in the way of her quest for peace. This reflects on her opinion of Thamilyra's relationship with Thomes, which she despises. The fact that Thamyra does forgive Thomes infuriates her (and Feysjin), largely because she wants to protect her friend.
Mental Trauma
Ilyreth's time in the Underworld left her scarred and humiliated. She does her best to detach her new life from that old one.
Morality & Philosophy
Though Sarah stands for many tenets, all of which the light elves try to live by, her quest alongside Elsiar left Ilyreth with one greatest priority, peace.
Taboos
Ilyreth is opposed to elves using magic from other gods than Sarah. Her opinion is that it's asking for trouble. The other gods won't care if the effect of your magic will harm or otherwise defy the will of Sarah.
Personality Characteristics
Motivation
Ilyreth was set on continuing Elsiar's legacy of bringing peace to the world. The approval of Sarah was also extremely important to her. She enjoyed humans perceiving her as some sort of mythical demigoddess, because it made her feel closer to Sarah.
As a dark elf, Dharearna's greatest dream was to bring back the glory of the Ancients. The realisation that this could never happen broke her for a long time. Ironically, she caused it to happen after all in a period of her life when she no longer tried to.
As a dark elf, Dharearna's greatest dream was to bring back the glory of the Ancients. The realisation that this could never happen broke her for a long time. Ironically, she caused it to happen after all in a period of her life when she no longer tried to.
Likes & Dislikes
- Ilyreth liked Ancient gadgets almost as much as Thamilyra.
Virtues & Personality perks
- Ilyreth loved everyone. The only people she learned to dislike were leaders that led their people to war.
Vices & Personality flaws
- Ilyreth was proud, almost to the point of arrogance, if her power and intelligence could be overestimated.
- When Ilyreth's love failed, she could switch completely and despise a person.
- Ilyreth saw the evil in violence, but she was absolutely terrible at seeing other evils. She failed to see the evil in gathering Ancient technology until much later in history, even though she tried to learn the lessons of hubris in her ancestors's story.
Hygiene
Not sweating was one advantage of elves, but of course Ilyreth was spotlessly clean at any time. She rarely wore makeup, having flawless skin, except for lipstick and sometimes pale eyeshadow that accentuated her glowing eyes.
Representation & Legacy
Ilyreth, throughout her life, was perceived as a supernatural living myth by those outside of Lyemér. In many cases, this was lovingly. She was a bedtime story, a legend, a figure represented in images on temple walls, a force of pure good. However, there were many people who saw her as an arrogant creature looking down on humanity condescendingly from her magical island paradise.
All in all, Ilyreth was seen as an extention of Elsiar's legacy, which is something the light elf was proud to be seen as, even if she did more good in her centuries since Elsiar than Elsiar in her short time as the prophet.
Social
Reign
- Tribe chief: unknown
- Fairy: 3651-[Currently undefined]
Contacts & Relations
One of the rarely spoken of marriages Ilyreth had in her time as Dharearna is her marriage and later child with Kharthul or Lyearkhe, the father of Illiana Marendell. These two had a short-lived marriage, producing several children, and much later, in the last millennium of her dark elven life, had another child under the Order of Guenvar. Though both fervent defenders of Ancient ways and two of the oldest dark elves alive by the end, the two didn't see eye-to-eye very well due to their strongly differing ethical views.
Religious Views
Sarah is Ilyreth's only goddess. She has no problem with the followers of other gods, unless they directly cause harm to innocent people. Her purpose in life is to follow the goddess of kindness. The light elven religion lead by her is uniquely adapted to the light elven situation and life, causing it to be radically pacifist, but it was derived from the Elsiarist Sarah worship that also became common with humans after Elsiar.
Social Aptitude
Ilyreth, though sometimes appearing more as a force of nature than a person, was extremely charming due to her kindness and empathy. When seen from the street by a peasant, she might have seemed like an arrogant snob in her luxurious clothes, but to those she even just looked at, she seemed like an mother or grandmother they'd known all their lives in the body of an ethereally beautiful young blonde. In conversation, she was imposing, but caring, showing interest in everyone.
There was no person on Myr more elegant than Ilyreth. She radiated confidence and majesty in every step.
Mannerisms
Ilyreth had a tendency to elegantly fold her hands together in front of her with an abnormally straight posture. It could give a haughty air, but her kind and genuine smile tended to turn it into more of a majestic effect.
Hobbies & Pets
Ilyreth, though she often kept them in her chest (as in heart), was the owner of about ten sprites of Sarah, which all found their way to her throughout the centuries. One of these was Elsiar's sprite, who found her after Elsiar's death. Four were already on Lyemér when she and her first followers came to settle. She wasn't the only one to encounter lost wisps on that first exploration of the island.
Speech
Ilyreth's speech can be surprisingly casual to those she knows, especially light elves, but on any public or formal occasion, she's an expert at altering her speech into that fitting the mythical figure she tries to present herself as. In these scenarios she speaks in "am not"'s and "You have"'s and referred to people as "my child."
In the early days, during the lifetime of Elsiar and a little after, Ilyreth had a very strong and unique accent, which later became common for all light elves, especially those that didn't deal with humans often.
Her voice is silvery, as with all light elven voices. Hers has a warmer timbre to it than the average light elf though.
Ilyreth compliments people easily, knowing full well that a compliment from her comes across like a compliment from Sarah herself. She enjoys the sparkle in people's eyes.
Even as Dharearna, Ilyreth was wise. After the breakup with her old tribe, though, she withdrew somewhat. With Elsiar, she slowly regained her confidence and started dropping widom unexpectedly. Ilyreth speaks in metaphors quite often when sharing her wisdom.
Relationships
History
Ilyreth, sent out to kill Elsiar in order to free her people from the Underworld, ended up freeing them by saving Elsiar's life. Elsiar rewarded her with unconditional trust and mercy, begging for Sarah to cure Ilyreth from her dark elven fate. Sarah converted Ilyreth, therein leading the elf to a life of utopian serenity in stead of endless suffering. Ilyreth and Elsiar's bond was therefor extremely powerful. Both owed each other their lives. Ilyreth, alongside Ayslan, brought a dying Elsiar to Sarah's Orphanage, where they helped raise her now infant mind back to the best of her adult self. The bond is rumoured to have evolved to romance or into a sexual relationship, but this is uncomfirmed.
Commonalities & Shared Interests
Sarah
Shared Acquaintances
Ayslan, Serena, and others
History
Feysjin and Ilyreth's relationship began when Feysjin was born in Ilyreth's dark elven tribe, several generations away from Ilyreth. The two became close friends, with Feysjin respecting Ilyreth as the Ancient "Great Mother" that lead their tribe. When the tribe broke up over Ilyreth's attempts to keep Ancient values alive, Feysjin stayed loyal alongside several others. Ilyreth came to save the other women of the tribe, including Feysjin and converted them. Feysjin immediately started helping Ilyreth closely in leading the new community, going out on the subsequent mission. Throughout the growth of their community on Lynimong, Feysjin and Ilyreth continued to grow closer. Like all light elves, they were very open to intimacy, and over the years, they became not only friends, support, and mentor-follower, but also sexual partners, essentially beginning a relationship, though it's unknown if there was true romance between them.
Commonalities & Shared Interests
Both of them follow the tenets of Sarah and Elsiar, but also those of Ilyreth herself. Feysjin is still a follower, and does as Ilyreth does.
Wealth & Financial state
Beyond measure
Divine Classification
Saint/apostle/demigod
Species
Ethnicity
Other Ethnicities/Cultures
Realm
Church/Cult
Honorary & Occupational Titles
- Fairy/Fey
- Great Mother (dark elven tribe)
- Great Mother (Mother's Hand)
- High Apostle
- ...
Age
Thousands of years
Circumstances of Birth
daughter of an ancient elven family
Circumstances of Death
the murder-suicide of invaders elslaving her people
Birthplace
Feymyr
Place of Death
Lyemér
Spouses
Siblings
Children
Sex
Female
Eyes
pale gold, glowing
Hair
pale blonde, styled, long
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
Pale skin with a faint golden undertone
Quotes & Catchphrases
"Light is fast, faster than anything in all the worlds, and light always drives away the dark. Light cannot be stopped."
"Light will prevail. As long as we cast light on the people around us, they will find it in themselves too."
Belief/Deity
Sarah
Aligned Organization
Other Affiliations
- Elvish
- Ancient
- Dark Elvish
- Light Elvish
- Several other Dark Elven languages
- New Deranoran
- Angelish
- Southern Dwarvish
- High Dwarvish
- Nerysian
Ruled Locations
Comments