The Iceholt Betrayal

In the reign of King Tang Ralta, the people of the Fey Court established close relations with an evolutionary realm they called Trinity Moon at the time. Specifically, they entered into a number of agreements regarding trade and knowledge transfer with the kingdom of Snowborne. The kingdom of Snowborne was a northern land ruled by the Council of Mages who maintaned a complex and sophisticated magical society based on interesting local laws of form. On Trinity Moon these laws of form permitted much to happen which is seldom allowed within the typically more constrained evolutions that would one day come to be known to the Stability Council. But this story takes place long before there was any such thing as the Stability Council.
Whilst the wizards of Snowborne were undoubtedly potent in their own realm, they could not match the knowledge and strength of the Fey, operating in archetypal realms and with wisdom and power which they drew from their wider experiences of the Discontinuum and their much longer history. King Tang sent one of his most subtle courtiers, Bellethra Tandrock to act as an ambassador to the Kingdom of Snowborne. Bellethra resided in a grand embassy building in the fortress capital of Iceholt.

Ludemmath Mux by DMFW with Art Breeder

The agreements between the Fey and the Kingdom of Snowborne were expressed in the human realm as a "grand alliance", although the fey never thought of it in such vainglorious terms. Nevertheless, for almost a thousand years both sides benefited from a free exchange of people, ideas and goods. But there was a hidden worm of jealousy and envy in the hearts of many of the ruling sorcerers which only grew over time as they appreciated the essential inequality in the relationship. The fey were far older and wiser than their human partners, possessing much greater knowledge in arcane matters, although because of their specific and intimate knowledge of their own realm, there were some few areas of local lore where the native mages could surpass the fey. Always and ever, though, the primary interest of the mages lay in the immortality of the fey. Why did they have this gift, and could the secret of their unaging lives be applied to mortals to grant them the same defence against death?

Bellethra Tandrock by DMFW with Art Breeder

There was a certain mage, by the name of Ludemmath Mux who conceived of a particularly fierce desire to find the answers to this question. When he was a young man, he had spent much time shadowing and learning from the fey ambassador, Bellethra Tandrock. In fact they had spent more than time together, and in the carefree and careless way that is typical of the fey, Bellethra had seduced the young mortal and for a while they had been lovers until he was discarded, not with malace but with little concern since the ambassador understood that such a relationship was always fleeting and no real consequence or weight could be allowed for it. Yet for Ludemmath, watching his former lover stay as young and beautiful as ever, whilst he aged towards inevitable death over the next sixty years the knowledge of the differences between mortal and fey was a bitter seed which he nurtured in his heart, until he could find a way to make it grow and bear fruit.
In the most secret meetings of the Council of Mages, Ludemmath advocated for a bold and dangerous plan. His research had reached the point where he needed to test his theories on a living fey. Yet no fey was ever going to agree to the experiments he wanted to perform, even had they been inclined to be cooperative, since they amounted to observing the nature of tissue recovery by inflicting controlled systematic damage in ways that would amount to torture. The Council was understandably fearful of proceeding with Ludemmath's investigations but he was a persuasive speaker and they all had their own reasons to desire immortality.
"There are many fey travellers who pass through our kingdom", Ludemmath said. "Not all of them have Trinity Moon in mind as their final destination. They make use of our realm as a waystation because the gateways we have established to the Fey Court allow relatively easy travel to this evolution and the geometry of the Discontinuum then makes onward travel to other more farflung realms considerably easier. We know this is one of the main benefits the fey gain from our alliance. The fey do not organise their society in the way we do. They do not keep track of the movement of citizens, and individuals are free to come and go as they please from the Fey Court. An opportunity will arise when we can abduct one of these travellers for our purposes. If we select our subject carefully there is no reason why anyone should notice that they are missing. The fey are used to operating on long time scales and they would not even expect a wanderer to return to the Fey Court soon or perhaps for many years, if they are exploring neighbouring realms. They can be, and often are, solitary as well as adventurous, particularly those that choose to travel here. I propose that we acquire a suitable fey and remove them to my tower where I may pursue these sensitive studies in secret."

Julienne Jonquille by DMFW with Art Breeder

So it was agreed, and the Mages watched carefully and waited for a suitable victim. They found what they were looking for when Julienne Jonquille came to Trinity Moon, a young botanist with an interest in comparative evolution and a plan to travel onwards and study neighbouring worlds in the wider Discontinuum. Instead, she was unfortunate enough to be captured by a small group of Mages working for Ludemmath Mux and found herself imprisoned in his laboratory.
Things could have turned out very badly indeed for the unfortunate fey, were it not for the fact that unbeknownst to the plotters, Bellethra Tandrock had been expecting to receive a visit from her niece and grew suspicious when Julienne Jonquille did not arrive. When Bellethra's scrying spells failed to locate Julienne, encountering only a foggy veil of obfuscation spread by the Snowborne Mages, she knew that something serious was happening and contacted the king, who sent his best agent Ekpen Nail to help her investigate.

Ekpen Nail by DMFW with Art Breeder

Ekpen and Bellethra were able to track down Julienne but it required trickery and guile to gain access to the secret tower where Ekpen was able to free the prisoner and dispense a fatal form of justice on Ludemmath.
When they had seen the extent of the plot and appreciated that Ludemmath was not acting alone, Bellethra and Ekpen were convinced that the duplicity of that wicked Mage was but a small part of the rotten treachery pervading the leadership of the whole kingdom of Snowborne. So after Bellethra and Julienne had safely returned to the Fey Court, Ekpen performed his final duty, an act authorised by the king if the circumstances warranted it and which was the unanimous verdict of the fey.
Ekpen had brought a climate bomb to the realm, of the type originally used by the Frost Giants in the frost wars. This one was infused with specific magical properties attuned to the members of the Council of Mages and when it was detonated, each one of them felt a moment of icy retribution as they froze from their hearts outwards. Simultaneously, a blast of ice and cold radiated out from the fortress capital which left the citadel and the surrounding land uninhabitable for many generations, so that even now it is a dangerous and frozen land to cross. Ekpen himself, perished in the the magical explosion and the gateways to the Fey Court were utterly destroyed. The kingdom of Snowborne was brought to ruin and the realm of Trinity Moon was thereafter called by the name we know it as today, Magicians' End.

Iceholt by DMFW with Art Breeder

This infamous incident affected future fey attitudes and policies towards the evolutions and they have been very wary of entering into any similar alliances with mortal realms, an unfortunate outlook which the Stability Council would like to change if they could, since they see the fey as potential (if dangerous) allies against darker forces. It is highly unlikely that any formal agreement will ever be reached with Queen Mab but perhaps she can be persuaded to lend aid to some of their quests on a case by case basis.

Related Historical Events

• The Age of Lost Memory
  The Iceholt Betrayal