Kothel - The Origin and Creeds of the Dark Elves

[The King Of The Moon 7016]

Spoiler

((Much of this roleplay post utilises Vel'luah, the Dark Elven language. Dark Elf players looking to supplement their roleplay with such can find it here: The Dark Elven Language - Elven Realms & Culture - The Lord Of The Craft))

Kothel - The Gloom
ӄ¤ȶɦɛʅ

(Artem Demura)
Velulaei, peace be upon her,

Sane again beneath the Moon.

Hekel Ylu’umzh;
Bovumzhel aeth Kerenel

The Three Woes;
The Origins of the Drow

The Passion of Axios

 

From the Dark they came,	Naab Kerel sha a’ska’at,
Like the first Eight the same:	Hru aezel xyn zaamel:
Clay given life,	Sorv a’aher tayna,
Through passion and strife.	Duran myhel zy thul.
And from Malin and Larihei	Zy naab Malyn zy Laryhey
Came Zanunder and Velulaei	A’ska’at Zanunder zy Velulaei
And as their mother before,	Zy hru uhv’sha helun guuzt,
They left Malinor	Sha a’zank Malynor
For they were the Wise,	Rentu sha a’yx Maehrel
Apathy they despised,	Numohuez sha a’adry
To idle ‘mongst trees	My kuhona lugar amovazh
Beneath the Aspects three.	Mahg Tekaomelzh hek.
These wise few	Axzh Maehr dyne
Settled Ceru	A’ageok Ceru
And drank in red mists,	Zy a’laruet khroz horuzh,
Embracing His gifts.	Yekno uhv’Urada laebezh.
Their hands became Dark, and later their skin	Uhv’sha nakzh a’toomah Ker, zy mabas uhv’sha verb
In their home in the deep: Magara’lin	Bo uhv’sha nora bo megel, Magaralyn.

Behind the Moon lay the Dark Star. The god who hid, for he had been betrayed before. He was Lord of Ambition, Passion and Change. It was only at sea that He could be seen, for the ocean was the domain of his beloved Moon; Her tide, Her embrace. Her tempest, His sanctuary. 

 

He offered His secrets to them, the gifts of the Dark, and with blackened hands their Ambition was realised, their Passions met, and Change they did. The Dark spread from their spells and bathed their forms, stained by the Night and in His image.

 

He was their Night Father - Marn-Keranel - and far from Aegis they became the Drow, or ‘Dark Elves’, though to call them truly ‘Elves’ was a misnomer, for in their Father’s embrace they escaped the apathy of Oaks, and knew not yet the whimsy of the Arcane. They sought above all else knowledge, and its application. A new race, that in Ceru’s caves became ever distant from Malinsfolk and Larihei’s diaspora to follow. 

 

In the hollowed heart of the isle that became their capital, Magara’lin, an amethyst geode was presented to Velulaei by the Night Father. A ‘Dark Star’ for her own, The Eye of Velulaei was blessed to share the night sky’s potential with those worthy to wield it. This amulet was passed to her son, Azul, as Crown Prince of Magara’lin.

 

Though this scholastic paradise was not to last. To create a race of his own invoked the other gods’ ire against Marn-Keranel. The Aspects became jealous, for they wished to make druids of all elves. Xan became wroth, for their Passion eclipsed his Order. Tahariae lamented that they were Changed beyond his Purity and above all else Aeriel seethed that their souls were no longer hers, their Ambition earning them rest upon the Dark Star (called Star’gush Stroh by some) in death, rather than her own torturous realm.
These Loathsome Six descended on Marn-Kerel, and banished Him to the centre of the world. 

 

Without their Father, Velulaei - the leader of the Drow - along with her brother Zanunder, her spouse Uradras and their son Azul began to lose not only their gifts, but their minds. They drank too deep of His red mists, and were sent into a stupor of madness. They became Mory - Deranged - and civil war erupted in Magara’lin as His gifts were twisted and devolved by the aenguls who had betrayed Him. His Ambition became Wrath, His Passion became Terror and His Change became Ruin. Brother turned on brother, and the Drow were for a time condemned.

 

The Lament of the Drow

The First Mother wept	Aez Helunel a’vallu
For her wisdom was lost	Rentu uhv’velul mayh a’tom a’tynahn
Madness plagued her mind	Moryum keenu uhv’velul taeleh
The Dark gnawed her heart	Kerel a’garn uhv’velul tahel
Such was the fate	Dunr a’tom amulel
Of her brother, Zanunder	Aeth uhv’velul urezd, Zanunder
Afraid of his kin, safe in the Dark	Kyorl aeth uhv’urada szir, ohk bo Kerel
War raged above and he hid below	Ygne a’kehel su’uz, zy ura yhrl maga
Wailing away in the bowels of the world	Valunule bo barael akaeleel
So Velulaeiya wept like a beast in the night	Dunr Velulaeiya a’valun hru aylko bo kerael
The Moon kissed her tears	Velulaeyael a’baga uhv’velul vallumzh
Pale Light gave her peace	Xabyth Ythur a’aher velul thet’uzhel kix
Her children were healed and their wisdom restored	Velul onnyzh a’yx a’ake zy uhv’sha mayh a’akyn
The Maehr were renewed, tranquil with the Moon	Maehrel a’yx vaex, zimaru lu Velulaeyael
Saved by its Light, made whole once more	A’hyle me uhv’zeb Ythur, a’aehg vol azt vou
All rejoiced in the night, spare Zanunder	Ulyth vyn bo kerael, axan Zanunder
Grey skinned like the rest, but lost in the deep	Durn verbhk hru nahgel, aza a’tynahn bo megeel
He felt not the Moon’s kiss; his mind remained stained	Ura a’uvad syex uhv’Velulaeyael baga; uhv’urada taeleh atish a’hexe
On deeper he went, into Nemiisae’s web	Megeyr ura a’ukh, b’al uhv’Nemysae nemy-volry
She took his blood for her own and then took his life	Vel a’nork uhv’urada enro zy mebe a’nork uhv’urada tayna
And a new race was born in that spider’s cave	Zy uhno lyhn a’vaen bo ux uhd’nemys magara
They were the Deranged, burned by the Light	Sha a’yx Moryel, a’ygnere me Ythurel
True children of Dark; they knew not the Moon	Zkor onnyzh aeth Ker; sha a’yento syex Velulaeyael
The Maehr they loathed, taking many as slaves	Maehrel sha a’adry, norkule voon ben rothezh
Woe to the Mori’quessir, who cannot be saved	Ylu’um my Mory’kuessyr, mirz ern syex tom a’hyle

The Dark had overwhelmed the first Drow, as they were left directionless in the Night Father’s wake. So it was that Velulaei wept beneath the Moon, the Pale Lady who had once loved their maker. She heard Velulaei’s cries and added Her gifts to His own. For whilst the Moon had loved Her chaotic spouse, Her way was not His. It was her charge to bring the storm, but also the calm. Her domains were Tranquility, Maternity and Grace.

 

With these gifts, the Drow beneath the Velulaei were renewed and became the Maehr - the Wise - that would honour their lost Father and cherish their stoic Mother. Thereafter Uradras was saved, given stoicism and clarity through Velulaei’s newfound teachings, that soon spread across the Maehr upon Ceru’s surface. Tenacious yet tempered, ruthless yet merciful, the Maehr enlightened what drow they could in the reconquest of Magara’lin, though not all could be saved.

 

Zanunder, Velulaei’s brother, had become beset by Terror. He burrowed deeper into the bowels of the world, fleeing his people’s strife alone before he fell into the web he had fled all those years ago. The Aspect Nemiisae bound Zanunder, and took all that he was to hatch a race of her own; for with eight jealous eyes that spider had witnessed the Night Father’s blessings and the first Drow’s rejection of she and her sibling-Aspects. She understood the potential in wroth, though lacked the might to challenge Mother Moon’s new tranquillity. So it was that in the lowest caverns above the Nether and beneath Asulon she enslaved the descendants of the brother-drow; the Mori’quessir, which would haunt the Maehr ever more in the deep.

 

Azul, the son of Velulaei and Uradras, openly rejected the Moon’s gifts. He saw them as weakness and compliance, the same apathy which they had left behind in Aegis amongst Malinsfolk. Unchecked malice guided his Black Hand to subterfuge, and, lacking the necessary grace to guide the Azulites in war, resorted to cowardice. He promised Velulaei an armistice and took a maehr wife for himself, named Keziah.

 

Upon the highest peak in the isles of Axios Velulaei and Azul met alone. They debated the merits of Ambition and Tranquility. Azul forsook the Father as having abandoned them, and he cursed the Mother as a usurper. A union of opposites the Deranged mind could not fathom, and in that moonlit temple he poisoned his own mother; an honourless murder to silence questions he had no answers to, and ideas grander than his own short sight.

 

The Dirge of Magara’lin

 

Poison ate at our First Mother’s veins,	Azul a’vyh bo uhv’lye  uhv’Aezhel Helun enyrzh,
Though she wept not for herself, but for the Deranged.	Reeky vel a’vallu syex velsha, aza vel Moryel.
Azul seethed as Velulaei forgave,	Azul a’keyrn ben Velulaeya maluan,
Her kinslaying son, and her brother enslaved.	Velul szyr-korthule urev, zy velul urezd a’shylrothe
And Mother Moon lamented the fate of Her priest	Zy Helun-Velulaeya a’keyrn amulet aeth Velul velura
Her people fractured, Her beloved a beast.	Velul lynn a’ogha, Velul ulmalu o aylyk.
The boy’s right had been lost, once meant to rule	uhv’Urveoul letta a’tom lanu, azt a’autto vexalt
For he lacked the might, that unworthy Azul	Rentu ura a’vaeb beelel, ux numlukan Azul
Pale Light wept from on high,	Xabyth Ythur a’vallu naab kol woad,
Bleak tears from the sky	Ezekyal vallumzh naab vekylel
She smote the heir lost to sin,	Vel xoren malvenel lanu my morve,
And lost Magara’lin.	Zy lanu Magara’lin.
Velulaei’s spirit was saved,	uhv’Velulaeya osyen a’tom a’hyle,
Ne’er to be caged,	Xyelor my e’roth,
But joined with the lunar whole,	Aza vazula lu velel vol,
The Mother Moon; The Maehr Soul.	Helun-Velulaeyel; Maehrel Osyen.

The Moon destroyed Azul for the sin of kinslaying, and took Velulaei’s soul into her once-cold heart. On that fateful day the two became one - the Goddess of the Moon and Tides, Tranquillity, Maternity and Grace, along with the once-daughter of Malin and Mother of the Maehr - to keep vigil forevermore over a people condemned. A dignified gloom, a mourning patron to guide the Maehr back toward stability and civilization in the Night Father’s wake: Helun-Velulaeya, otherwise known as Mother Moon, the Pale Lady, Yyr, Luara or simply Velulaeya.

 

The Eye of Velulaei was lost, to be reclaimed centuries later upon Axios by the regal maehr of the Aegisian diaspora. It took many names and passed through many princely hands, understood by some to be called ‘Luara’s Whispers’. It is said that this artefact is key to reuniting the maehr once more, and ushering in the Night Father’s return.

 

The world weary Maehr sang the dirges of Magara’lin, sailing back in Uradras’ final days to the lands of Aegis from whence they had before come as elves. There, despite Helun-Velulaeya’s efforts, their memories became clouded and warped by the Loathsome Six. The aenguls and spirits attempted to erase the collective, making their songs discordant as the Malinorians deluded the later generations of maehr into ‘dark elvendom’, shackling them in their city upon Aegis.

 

In their travels back from Axios, many maehr came to settle isles in the great seas and cultivate new cultures and faiths, as well as in some cases curating the old truths to become the great clans of the world. This discord was propagated by the Loathsome Six, fearing a reunified maehr may usher in the Marn-Keranel’s return. Though Keziah, Azul’s widow amongst the Aegisians, never forgot. For she and hers - a silent royalty - would keep the Gloom in their hearts for centuries. They carried the Truth beyond the city of Malinsfolk on Aegis, settling the first Free City of Drow that would await the Night Father’s return.

 

Yyrul Koth - Dignified Gloom

(ψψᵲʊʅ ӄ¤ȶɦ)

The antonym of Derangement is Dignity. Though from the Dark we come and the Gloom cannot be forgotten. 

 

The six gifts borne of the late Night Father and the Pale Mother define the echoes of Velulaei and Uradras. The masculine vigour to be harnessed and the feminine austerity to be followed. 

 

This hexalogue of pursuits makes up the Yyrul Koth; that which makes maehr of mere drow.

Ambition 

Like those first sailors to follow the Dark Star across the sea, true maehr are bound by ambition. To learn, to grow, to become stronger and wiser, never to succumb to the apathy which haunts the broader elven races. This is what defines our people.

Passion 

As the Night Father before them, true maehr are passionate and expressive. To be expressive is to be free, unshackled by the conventions of other races. To be ashamed of one’s condition is to be as Zanunder. Bask beneath the Moonlight for ye are Maehr. We do not emulate the other races as zkabra. We do not bend to those that would change us.

Change 

From Magara’lin to Malinor, Elson Zidar to Ker’nor, the Warhawkes to Rennalia, Vir’aker to Asimu’ulei and Nor’asath, change has always been essential to the survival of the Maehr. To adapt is to survive, to stagnate is to crumble. As under the Night Father and Mother Moon, to turn the great Wheel of history and learn from its wake is to evolve, and be Maehr.

Tranquility 

Tenacity without temperance and ruthlessness without mercy is the way of the Deranged. Without the Night Father to lead them, the Maehr must embrace the stoicism of Mother Moon. Civility, diplomacy, fraternity and justice shall pave the new road to the Dark Star.

Maternity

To be scattered is to be extinct. To forsake one’s kin is to be as Azul. True Maehr venerate the great Clans and Houses, the Ancestors before them and the Goddess' maternal wisdom. Obey the Mother, honour the Father and prosper as one. To turn on kin is to be as Azul; do not let the blood of the Maehr run dry nor the tongue of Vel’luah fall silent.

Grace

Brutality is natural, though barbarity an invention. True maehr are made distinct by their grace; elegance, etiquette, ceremony, music and the arts. To be graceless is to be as the mori’quessir. Remember the ancestors for their triumphs, not their sins, and highlight the unseen beauty of the Gloom. The Moon and the Tides can be bleak and beautiful, the Maehr are both in turn.

 

[Bethinwonderland 2213]

Spoiler

Such a well written post!

Thank you for this

 

[darkelfbrainrot 488]

Spoiler

Ugh love to see more of this! ty ty