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THE HISTORY OF THE FAE part 1 August 2007
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/.--.\ The Avatar Gazette
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== |`::`| read HELP GAZETTE
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@/\@ / |...::..|` | | `| This edition edited by
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|\ /\;-,/\ :: |=========| of the Immortal Staff.
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IN THIS ISSUE August 2007
WORDS FROM THE EDITOR CERDWYN
THE HISTORY OF THE FAE - THE TRUE FAE SKORN
THE STRANGER GALLADAN
FAE LINEAGE AND THE ELVEN WORLD DURLOFF
PARTING WORDS CERDWYN
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FROM THE EDITOR by CERDWYN
Several months ago, Snikt said he wanted stories on the various
races that populate AVATAR. He wanted stories that could be
derived from the areas we run in as well as the stories of
those that we play. He wanted stories that could be verified
and those that were racial legend.
From that the Racial History Project was born. Skorn agreed
to research some of the in game bits about a few races to
get us started. You will see a part of that here.
We expanded on what Snikt wanted and we asked for recipes,
travel tales, area reviews, etc. Anything to do with the
race(s) currently being worked on.
The amount of material we received about the Fae and their
descendents was enough to split this into 2 separate issues.
Everyone who has an article published will receive quest points
for their submissions. As soon as the second issue is published
a poll will be established at www.outland.org to allow all
players to vote for their favorite stories. Winners will receive
additional prizes ranging from a level to an immortal sharpen
or enchant to the item of their choice. If there is a tie, we
the editors reserve the right to choose the final winner.
Now onto our stories about the Fae....
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THE HISTORY OF THE FAE by SKORN
The Fae.
Light-hearted and capricious, they were the first beings to populate
what would later become known as Midgaardia. Given unto Kisestre the
Young, by the God of Wonder Merrighand, they were created from the
stuff of life and they reflected that life most vigorously. A simpler
time with simpler values, each of the Fae belonged to one part of
Life itself. There were thirteen Fae of the Light and thirteen Fae of
the Twilight. Each led by one whose powers shone above all others.
One who ultimately embodied the true essence of their fellow Fae,
Adrial Skythain, leader of the Light, powerful beyond reason
yet possessed of a purity of the Light that remains untouchable for
those born unto the world of Midgaardia. Set opposite him, yet
together, for the values and virtues of Midgaardia as it once was
were simpler, stood Zydarielle, Queen of Stars. Her cruelty was
legendary in times when legends walked the earth, and was truly the
embodiment of the Twilight Fae.
Joy rang in the heart of Kisestre the Young, for no longer was she
alone. With this gift from Merrighand, she roamed to and fro among
the stone and ash of her prison leaving life and love behind her.
Green and glorious was the world in Kisestre's wake, and in this
world the Fae roamed, fickle and true until a time came when the
joys of the realm could not satisfy, could not sate their appetites.
The fall of the True Fae began, and the outcome was more horrific
than could have been foreseen.
Gradually their capricious natures degenerated into what can only be
called the basest of mortal desires and lusts. Mating, warring, and
the accumulation of power tainted all of the True Fae causing them to
forsake their foster mother and to forget their antecedents. Kisestre
in her anguish and loneliness passed from this world, the death of a
goddess, the death of an age. In his grief at the loss of his kin,
Merrighand, the God of Wonder, decreed that one day an Avatar would
arise from the peoples of this new world Midgaardia. An Avatar that
would strive and do battle with Straul unto Straul's utter
destruction. The Fae, now caught up in their own pursuits and dreams
did not heed this warning and continued to breed and with each
successive generation the powers failed and weakened. Until the
seventh generation when the first High Elf was born unto Fae parents
and the hold of the Fae on Midgaardia was forever broken.
With their powers failing, the Fae began to feel that terrible human
emotion, jealousy, and thus their downfall was accelerated.
Worshipped by their High Sylvan descendants, the original twenty-six
True Fae were Gods in their own right. Yet the Dark Queen Zydarielle
wanted more, more power and full rulership of all of the Fae. With
this in mind she turned to the beautiful Paehandra of the Moon to
begin her conquest of the Light.
Paehandra, the gentlest of the Fae and her brother Pascilon of the
Sun were celebrated most amongst the High Sylvan people. Both of them
high priests and the objects of the earliest religious devotions.
Zydarielle spoke unto Paehandra and placed words of jealousy and
hatred in her mind. With these words, Zydarielle turned Paehandra's
heart bitter. At each rising of the sun, and the ceremony and worship
it entailed, Paehandra grew ever colder and the hatred rose in her
soul. Until the end, when she met her brother at what was to be a
ceremony of the Sun and Moon, and left him dead with a knife in his
throat. Thus the Fae were Sundered, never to be as one again. And
thus they began to war amongst themselves, slaughtering and killing
each other as the lesser races do.
A normal life for the Fae, warring, reproducing, backstabbing. Until
the eighth generation of high elves gave birth to the first of the
mortal elves. With this final truth in their eyes, all of the Fae
retreated into the planes - worlds that they created to echo their
own souls, where their magic will never fade - Worlds of Legend,
Arcadia and Noctopia. Each one reflecting the spirit of its masters.
From here they continued their war - Light versus Twilight - Adrial
versus Zydarielle. Both well represented by their fiercest armies,
their fiercest generals. Only one Fae remained on Midgaardia,
Countess Trinh of Avalon. Here she stayed to help the fledgling race
of the Elves in their time of need.
It was during this war that Yorimandil the blind showed his true
colors. The finest swordsman of the Fae, Yorimandil was blinded by
the Grand Duke Malafont in an attempt by the Duke to overcome his
abilities. Alas, it was not to be, yet in the end it was the
treachery of Yorimandil with assistance by the Grand Duke that
brought about the death of Tesrah the Bladedancer. Even as these
events unfolded, the military prowess of Malafont crushed the forces
of Light in battle after battle, slowly driving them back and winning
the war for the Twilight Fae. Only one battle of note was won by the
forces of the Light, and this only by the valiant deeds of Manon,
consort to High King Adrial. The Battle of the Four Seasons, here the
lives of three of the original Fae were lost.
Syriohl of the Autumn, was once content to allow the seasons to run
their course, until the intervention of the Dark Queen Zydarielle.
She warped and twisted his mind, turning him bitter against the dance
of the summer, the warmth of life itself. With this in his mind, and
hatred deep in his soul, Syriohl tortured and then finally killed
Janidor of the summer during the battle. Alas, his victory over the
summer was not as joyous as he thought it would be, for wroth with
the death of Janidor, Manon of the Spring slew Syriohl in a violent
meeting of the two seasons.
Thus it was for Valyce of the Winter. Her cold and uncaring heart
learned cruelty after the Sundering of the Fae. And thus it was that
she met Manon of the Spring in combat during the Battle of the Four
Seasons. Thus she was defeated and Manon stood triumphant amongst the
combatants, helping the forces of the Light Fae overcome the Twilight
during this battle.
Seeing the forces of the Twilight Fae ascendant, Zarradyn, son of
Grand Duke Malafont and the Dark Queen Zydarielle, grew jealous of
his father's powers and abilities. In a fit of rage, he slew his
father in his sleep and took control of the armies of the Dark. His
military prowess was inept by comparison and with the Drow lost to
Idolatry the war starts to turn against the Dark. Thus the Dark Queen
herself took control of their armed might and turned it against the
Elves on Midgaardia.
Led by Zydarielle, the forces of the Twilight Fae assaulted the
Willow Kingdom. It was a one-sided slaughter and the Countess Trinh
fell in battle against the legions of ebony archers. The Twilight Fae
were assured of victory, until the coming of the Dawn. High King
Adrial Skythain arrived at the gates of Avalon with the first beams
of the sun and smote the forces of Dark, turning the tide of the
battle. It was here that the Dark Queen Zydarielle met her end. It
was here that the War of the Fae was finished as the armies of the
Twilight Fae were destroyed.
After this great war, the Fae fully withdrew themselves from the
realms of Midgaardia, secreting themselves into their own planes -
Noctopia and Arcadia. Thus arose upon the world of man a demon, the
plane Demon Glasya, and thus began the second Giant-Ent war. It was
during this war that the last of the High Drow worshippers of the
Dark Fae perished, and thus perished Noctopia. Cast into the void
and never to return.... perhaps.
Some say that the Fae hoard many weapons and enchantments in their
towers. Duke Zarradyn, the kin-slayer in his, and High King Adrial
Skythain in his, atop the fields of the mighty Chimeras. Some have
returned to tell the tales of vicious Fae of both Light and
Twilight, dragons of glass and crystal, and the frenzied bodyguards
of the High King himself. Where the truth lies none can truly say,
it is a journey you must take on your own...
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THE STRANGER by GALLADAN
The stranger looked off into the distance. The canyons were
behind him now, and ahead stretched the dusty bowl of the
Divide. Distant, to the east and west, he could just barely make
out the form of the two fortresses. Something filled his heart
as he looked at those two foreboding structures; neither pity,
fear nor sadness but rather something he could not name. There
had been a time when the elves had believed that the White and
the Black would come to an accord and heal this scorched land.
But that had been long ago. He remembered the council among the
willows when they had agreed to wait. And wait they did...for
elves, if they are nothing else, could be patient beyond
measure. But the White and the Black had been unable to put
aside their war, and so the elves again had come to council and
had reached a decision. He was here to carry that decision
forward.
With each footstep dust swirled around his boots. He fixed his
eyes on the distance to the altar he knew lay far ahead. By his
sides strange beasts appeared and disappeared in the hot air but
they did not see him. The enchantment laid on him when he left
the safety of the grove was strong and their sight would not
pierce it. Once or twice a dwarf or elemental paused, sensing
the air stir in his wake, but always they turned from him and
let him pass. Again, as he had done a hundred times before since
leaving the willows he let his hand drift to his pocket to feel
the reassuring weight that rested there. Some might be deceived
by the size of the talisman he carried. They were fools. Were
the dwarves themselves not proof that size was not the only
measure of power?
The sun was beginning to drift low in the sky when he reached
the altar. As he approached he began to whisper the words that
would begin the transformation. With each word he felt an
answering surge of power from the talisman he carried, and again
an answering surge of darkness from the altar. The darkness that
lived there sensed his presence and was responding. But it could
not breach his wards and could only lurk there, beyond his
protection, focusing its hate upon him. There was no stopping
him he knew. Elven magic, when bent to task, was powerful and
nothing that lurked here would stand against him. Beyond that,
this spell was fueled by something more potent than mana. As
the incantation came to a close he felt, and almost heard, the
rushing sound of power on the wind. He knew it had been done.
He reached into his pocket and removed the now glowing seed.
Placing it gently on the altar he watched as it descended into
its depths. Somewhere he knew Fithras had just breathed his last
and with that had imbued the seed with his very soul. Life to
begin new life. So it always was.
As he turned to walk from the wastes he heard, or thought he
heard the tiniest crack form in the altar's black surface. The
seedling would take centuries to sprout...and centuries still
to bloom into the tree that would slowly give life to others
which would slowly return life to the valley. But the elves had
patience...if anything, they had that.
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FAE LINEAGE AND THE ELVEN WORLD by DURLOFF
Ages before even the void itself had manifested there were in
the deep corners of the exterior - the Four Fae. Each
controlling one element of the current planar system. Dyreo,
the Gatekeeper, Thequtisa the Manifestor, Ril the Chaotic, and
lastly whom some of the ascended may be familiar with,
Eiwnel, the Unmaker. The purpose of each of these entities were
to bring vibrative balance to the fragile boundaries of the
evolving and settling worlds, we now call planes. It is said
each of the original four had a cosmic link to one of the other
four. Each Fae was responsible for being an overseer of a single
brother/sister Fae and the powers and actions taken toward the
shaping of the universe. For 1100 eons all the four worked
harmoniously until....
Quixoltan arose. Said to have traveled from an uncharted plane,
Quixoltan had infested the universe bringing and spawning
serpent kin - kin who thrived on control and domination. Acting
quickly, the four banished Quixoltan and her kin into world of
matter and displacement where even then they battled amongst
themselves for control of their new home. The threat had ended
swiftly...However, Quixoltan was not without her fleeting
moment.
Before departure, Quixoltan had taken an elven form thereby
seducing Thequtisa to bear his seed. Upon discovery Thequtisa
was ordered by her overseer to abandon her conception and banish
the abomination along with the serpent kin to a newly
constructed material plane, now called Midgaardia.
Today, it is said that in this plane a High Elf's true power to
ascend comes in part by two of the most powerful races ever to
exist. A high elf that can trace his or her lineage back far
enough beyond a mere 7 generations is said to be Fae, even
though the curse bestowed by the ancient ancestors themselves
bind them to the interior planes.
Many High Elves today still seek the dimension of the Fae. It
is theorized in legend that Eiwnel, the Unmaker, has the power
to purify the lineage and hence allow attunement to the Fae
dimension through a mystical seal originally created to bring
wandering high Fae back from any lower planes. Eiwnel, also
according to legend, toyed with dark matter that wound up
consuming him. In the end, Eiwnel was banished to an existence
where 'light shall never shine'. Eiwnel was a master in magical
crafting which allowed him to create as well as devour aether.
From Legend of my forefathers I, Durloff of the 15th Generation
know that there are four major Fae families each claiming to be
directly descended from the cosmic ancestors. Those families
are:
Caste Dylerii: Descendents of Dyreo. Much like their ancestor,
the Fae of this family are unmatched in the arts of astral,
ethereal, and spiritual transportation. On their native plane,
Dylerii are renowned for their ability to set 'time traps' strong,
invisible loops of reoccurring moments that warp and eventually
rip invaders into shreds of matter. These Fae are also called
"Gateway Fae" or "Wandering Fae" because of their love for
exploration and occasional confrontation. Any leader of this
caste constantly changes by means of a ceremony called 'sstai
sheanii' where the currently selected embarks on a journey never
to return. It is here, they are to find new means of existence
and perpetuate the Rule of the Fae. The last known Ruler is well
known. He goes by the name Adrial.
Caste Clureatiionae: Descendents of Thequtisa. Truly a
magnificent establishment, these Fae are comprised entirely of
the female gender. These Fae are easily discernable by their
luminous pupil dilations prior to casting. Descendents of
Thequtisa are the most well-versed of any known race in the
magical arts. On several occasions, it has been recorded that a
trio of Clureattiionea transmuted armies of Githyanki scouts
and soldiers into violent storms of lighting and fire. Due to
the acts of their ancestor, Thequtisa, Clureatiionea are cursed
never to touch valuable metal and never to procreate. Their
lineage continues through magical means not spoken of outside
the caste.
Caste Eyiunea: Descendents of Eiwnel. To the surprise of many,
the caste of Eyiunea are far from the ancestral legend of
Eiwnel. These Fae work in purifying any embodiment that is
Ailing, however, not by the traditional means the material
planes are accustomed to. Fae purification is rumored to work by
reducing an entity to its purest forms, then reconstructing it
once again into its natural form. These descendents are thought
to exist in extremely small numbers due to 'mishaps' during the
purification process.
Caste S'asisowei: Descendents of Ril, otherwise known as the
Dark Fae and headed by Queen Zydarielle. There are stories of
Dark Assassins who are renowned for their cunning that circulate
every few eons. The Queen herself is feared by all clans,
wielding a large dark bow with the ability to redirect any
magical essence into the striking arrow. S'asisowei range from
novice to masters in the ability to elude and deceive -
magically and physically. This serves the purpose of ensuring
that very little be told by their fellow Castes for virtually
none live to tell of it.
Today, the race of Fae are widespread among the planar systems.
Experts in dimensional travel, magic, and archery, true Fae
hold an extreme opposition to any and all foolish enough to
challenge them. A Fae's power is at its peak when influenced
by the natural vibrations of their home dimension.
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PARTING WORDS by CERDWYN
As previously stated, this is only one of a serious of gazettes
Dedicated to the races of AVATAR. If you have stories, recipes,
family legends, area reviews, traveler's tales, biographies,
or anything else that relates to any of the races of AVATAR, you
do not have to wait until we ask for submissions about that race.
Submit your stories to gazinput@outland.org with the title being
racial story - and they will be held until that
race's issue goes to press. If enough people have an interest in
a particular race's stories, you could even influence the order
in which stories are collected.
Of particular interest after the Fae stories are posted, are
stories of giants and ents and the giant-ent wars (see the
Area known as Battleground, although this was not the first),
Demons and Demonseeds, Humans and the Dragon Races. Which will
be next...?
And a final reminder, if you submitted stories for this issue
and do not see them here, a second issue will follow in the
weeks ahead. Watch for it and for voting instructions coming
your way soon.
===============================================================
This is the new Avatar Gazette. It is published with the
permission and cooperation of the Avatar staff and edited by
Cerdwyn. (Original concept by Asamaro and Dizzy.)
The Gazette is written in plain vanilla ASCII text to ensure
that everyone can enjoy it regardless of computer type.
To subscribe to the Gazette, send internet e-mail to
majordomo@outland.org. In the body of your email put:
subscribe gazette username@hostname (MudName - RealName)
e.g. subscribe gazette snikt@outland.org (Snikt - Kevin Jagh)
If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, criticisms,
complements, or (best of all) articles that you've written
for the Gazette, please send them to via email to the
address: gazinput@outland.org Please use 'Gazette' as your
subject.
You can also view the latest issue of the Gazette while
playing Avatar by typing 'help newgaz' anywhere in the game,
or on the design web site at http://www.outland.org.
Click on archives, gazettes.
Original credit for Ascii art or other submissions is given
if known.
THE HISTORY OF THE FAE part 1 August 2007
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