The Elder Covenant of Camlannen

[Rig 17591]

The Elder Covenant of Camlannen

Ancient History

Like all elves who served under the banner of Malin, the Alderfolk has a long and troubled history of infighting. First, it was the Ithelanen who were leal servants of the King of the Elves, unflinching and sacrificing themselves in the name of their king and country. The seasoned warriors of the hard-fought campaign against Iblees, they lived a nomadic existence before and following the emergence of the Deceiver. Lord Ithel’an Lathladhen, the namesake of his beleaguered kindred, would muster to do battle in the name of his king diligently and with unwitting support. Famously referred to as Lathladhen Fang-of-Fury, he would brutally destroy the enemies of his king without mercy and sacrifice their hearts to the gods Moccus and Morea. 

 

Once the Archdaemon Iblees was cast from the world by divine intervention, the Curse of Elvenkind was laid and made Ithel’an bitter. Reluctantly, he and his brood continued to pave the way for the emergence of Malin’s “forever” kingdom; left destitute and dying in the throes of endless war and battles for succession. Their discontent surfaced during the war declared upon the Hou-Zi, and Lathladhen declared he and his kindred would not be fighting and retreated into the Alder Woods. Summoned to Malin’s Court to answer for his indignity, he arrived under the pretense there would be talks to stop him from completely pulling out of the kingdom. But instead he was executed publicly, and his kindred who had gathered beneath his banner were told to submit or die. Instead, they remained in the woods and refused to rejoin the political world.

 

Still, they bristled. The Ithelanens were the dominant clan in their nomadic union of clans and they were beaten down from the wars. Throughout the series of Kinstrifes numbers would wax and wane, before increasing with the end of the infighting. In seclusion from their agrarian Malinite cousins, they survived far longer than the First Kingdom and outlasted it on the Isles of Axios. Many separate clans remained apart, before occasionally reorganizing into unions and marriage agreements between them and fragmenting again to return to their ancestral homes.

 

Modern History

Once the Isles were abandoned, Dinlassel’an Ithelanen and his relatives took to the seas as well. The other clans greatly diminished over the years followed too. Emerging again within the Dominion of Malin in the late 1600s, Dinlassel’an and his relative Thexan brought Kairn Ithelanen into the family as a law-brother in an experiment for adopting elves that best reflected their values. One of the three Bronze Lords who rode against the Dominion of Malin and pressed for reforms in the Bronze Rebellion, many of his loyal soldiers were brought into the clan as well to bolster numbers. These adoptees would come to be known as the Vanethelan, a caste of warriors inside of the clan who were given the right to take upon themselves the tattoos that were once afforded only to blood relatives. Notable for winning a series of Coalition Wars fighting on the side of the Kingdom of Renatus-Marna, and later the Empire of Man, the Clan of Ithelanen began to organize widespread change and tried to steer mainstream Elven Society in a new direction.

 

With much of the internal feuding and squabbling, however, these plans would fall short. Eventually, the Ithelanens and their kindred lost any appetite for trying to change the ways of Malinites and followers of Irrin Sirame, so now they reside in their ancestral halls of Camlannen, once the Keep of Temesch that sat upon the conquered, burnt remains of the Principality of Alderyn. 

 

The Elder Clans

The Clans of the Elder Covenant are the principal organizations that preside Camlannen.

 

Clan aen Ithelanen, Princes of Wolves and Boars

The culmination of abstaining from the realm for centuries, the Ithelanen are a far-flung cousin to the descendants of Irrin Sirame and Larihei. Ancient denizens of the Isles of Axios who continued to live nomadically in the area outliving their agrarian Malinite cousins. Represented by their dual War Gods of Moccus and Morea, the Ithelanens do not formally recognize a “prime-mover” in the creation of the world and nature. Pale-skinned due to years in seclusion from all of Elvendom as they underwent their vast physiological changes. Many blood Ithelanens possess close-cropped black hair and blue tattoos to commemorate their ancestry. Traditionally, they have the bulk of numbers and though their strength has waned over the years, they are berserkers with an appetite for violence to honor their gods.

 

Clan aen Sov, They of Orphaned Starlight

In taking flight from their distant home, the twice-born siblings Sov endeavored to find respite amongst their erstwhile cousinfolk. It is rumored that the scions of the sable shore made a landing by sea and let their vessel become naught but cinder; permitting voracious flames to do away with all they held dear, spare their flesh and blood. Hearsay suggests, too, that the Sov made way by land, heralded by sword-saints and angels sworn to a dogma all but forgotten. The twin Sov pilgrims maintain no such fictions. What is ken to those of sound mind is that Mal aen Sov, eldest scion, raises the standard of Sov in leal (if not fanatical) service to the ideologies of the covenant. 

 

Unique amongst elfendom, the aen Sov operate more akin to a noble household as opposed to a clan. Thus, the enigmatic line of Sov has held pure, maintained by ceremony of wedlock as ordained by their celestial scryings. Those blooded as aen Sov dream eagerly of moonlight and of the cold stars that weep at the heaven’s seams. The infinite cosmos in its black radiance is sacred to house and many of their rituals exalt its contents. Their skin is porcelain, varying only slightly in shade and hue. They who are born under veil of moonlight are made ivory, held to be augury of miracles to come. They who taste first the rays of the sun are branded aen Sov-Sol, ashen skinned individuals whose blood is ceremoniously valued. The Iris flower is the most commonly noted motif shared by the aen Sov, though precious gems and astral relics are also touted generously. What else there is to illuminate upon those of Sable Shore is held a precious secret.

 

Clan aen Divtilrun, Blood Eagles of Nemglan

The savage Divtilrun are the amber-eyed and dark-skinned children of Y’shara, a strong and clever hunter that was exiled from the homelands of the mali’ame during the age of seeds. He led his followers into the uruk deserts, seeking a challenge worthy of his brethren. Within the desert, his tribe faced many hardships- the constant threat of the orcish menace and the scarcity of food nearly wiped his people from the map. In order to survive, the clever Y’shara made a pact with the desert-dwelling falcons, using them to hunt and scour the desert for what his people needed. This proved to be the tribe’s saving grace, allowing them to flourish within the desert land. In return, Y’shara vowed his people’s eternal worship to Nemglan- the falcon goddess of freedom and thunder.

 

Still, they clashed with the orcs, losing more and more of their kin to their insatiable bloodlust. In retaliation- the wayward tribe began to match the orcish brutality- and then move further beyond. To sway the uruk from further attacks, the Divtilrun would string up an orc they would capture, flaying their back open and spreading their ribs back and out to create the shape of “wings” in homage to their patron goddess Nemglan. This practice became known as the blood eagle- which the Divtilrun would become notorious for displaying on their foes. From then on, they would use fear as a tool when they fought- weaving terror in the hearts of their enemy as easily as a farmer reaps wheat for harvest. After many centuries of this, the clan has evolved into what it is today- the seed of fear and freedom. It’s practices and ways are carried on now by its newest generation, which seeks to take root within Camlannen.

[Vermy 1484]

Nice formatting!