The Children of Rhalyf
Before the time of the The Great Deluge , the Antarians lived in peaceful servitude, worshipping and waiting on the great Antediluvians for an epoch.
Yet this time of grandeur and beauty was not to last. It was the young Antarian known as Rhalyf whose questioning of the way of things, eventually lead to the downfall of that once great Empire.
As it is told in the legends, the questions of Rhalyf began to unshackle the chains of servitude, and the wrath of the Antediluvians was great indeed. The Great Deluge was called upon the world as a result, and the rising of the seas broke the Antarians into the separate elven races.
All of this is undisputed by the scholars of the world.
There is however, a variation of the tale that is now only told in shadowed places. A variation that is widely disputed, especially by the Eldgach and indeed by most civilised peoples.
It is said that Rhalyf was an Antarian of particular beauty. His skin was an unusual shade of pale violet, his lips were ruby red, and his hair was dark and lustrous. His uncommon beauty seeded the weeds of self-importance and conceit, and they grew in his mind. It was this growing ego that lead to his questioning of the order of things.
Rhalyf considered himself above other Antarians, indeed, eventually even above his Antediluvian masters. "One as beautiful as I should rule over the others, should I not? It is the natural way of things!" Such were his thoughts as he gnawed upon his jealousy of the masters.
The growing pride in Rhalyf's heart eventually lead to the The Great Deluge and the creation of the Elves, as is related elsewhere. And in the face of this great disaster, Rhalyf determined that he would survive the apocalypse. To do otherwise would be to rob the future of his beauty.
Rhalyf persuaded several of his closest allies to meet with him to discuss how they might throw off the shackles of the Antediluvians. But as they met they were betrayed, and using dark rituals learned in the books of his masters, Rhalyf slew them all and bathed in their blood. By doing so he took on their strengths, and it is said that he survived the flooding of the world.
As the races of the Elves were created after the Deluge, Rhalyf poured his ego and malice into those who became the Drow, using the blood of his friends to power his magic.
No longer challenged by the might of the Antediluvians, Rhalyf raised the spirits of those friends he had sacrificed, and they rose again, drained of their will. They served Rhalyf, who fled with the Drow into the dark places under the earth.
The unnatural life of that circle of friends, who became known as the Children of Rhalyf, was maintained by the taking of blood, in the same way that they themselves had been born.
And, it is said, that all Vampires are descended from the Children of Rhalyf, and that they bear the conceits and jealousies of their ancient creator.
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