How it Ended. ᛪψɛʅ¤ᵲ ɠʊðᵲɛʅ

[The King Of The Moon 7016]

On the Final Days

of Nor-velyth

(Artem Demura)
ᛪψɛʅ¤ᵲ ɠʊðᵲɛʅ

To my kin; the Maehr,

 

On this day twenty five years ago, my mother was removed from her throne. 

 

Those that knew our country well will remember this event. It will haunt their thoughts and stain their accounts bitterly, in a fashion far more pointed than any meteor, or intervention by sharazhel, or even the coming of the Red Lich.

They will recall that "on this day, one quarter of a century ago, came the beginning of the end for Nor-velyth. Our home."

 

Many forget the details of the when and why. Most understand Primarch Acria Darthul to have bookended the rule of Nor-velyth’s longest reigning Primarch, Lavaelyn Maiheiuh. However few understand the accord struck between the pair that had enabled such. 

 

In the early years of Aevos, when the war with the Mori’quessir had reached its conclusion and an uneasy peace had returned to our defeated people, the leadership of the Maehr had proven a task too great for Primarch Acria to continue. 

 

So it was that she, after much urging from her council and her people, relented. The throne of Nor’asath was given to a longstanding champion of our people, Lavaelyn Maiheiuh. 

 

It was she who reorganized our tired country into its best form: Nor-velyth.

She who opened our borders to drow from walks of life not exclusively dak’irian.
She, who expanded our footprint into the largest elfish state on the maps of her time.
She, who established kinship between our state and countless others.
She, who gathered more Maehr than any dark elfish tribe or nation prior, or since.

It was she who built Nor-velyth. She who led us to greatness. 

 

And it is she whose reign ended all too swiftly. 

 

For in her initial ascension to the mantle of Primarch, Lavaelyn Maiheiuh was forced to agree to the terms of her predecessor that would not relinquish power so easily. To avert strife within the dark elven state, Lavaelyn capitulated to Primarch Acria’s terms:

 

Though the throne would become Lavaelyn’s for a time, Acria could return to seize it as she pleased.

 

After abandoning her country on the brink of collapse, twenty five years ago Acria did return to our homeland, to see it through. 

Lavaelyn was an honorable woman. As she had agreed all that time ago, she stood aside. Or so we assume by most accounts. We have only the testimony of those who replaced her.
Acria seized all that had been built for our people in her absence... And calamity ensued.

 

Primarch Lavaelyn Maiheiuh was never seen again. By her councillors, by her spouse, by her brothers and sisters, by her own son. By the time of Primarch Acria’s coronation, she had been missing without a trace for two years.

 

I leave you, reader, to guess at her fate. To me it is obvious.

 

Many of you still living will remember your own silent departure from the state under Primarch Acria’s second reign. Some left more quietly than others.

 

A sparse handful of you will remember what followed her short-lived return to the throne; the Koyo-Kuni state’s ascension in steering the country that had been left empty around them, attempts by ‘Primarch Laevona’ to hold together the crumbling kingdom of a people she could not rule, the obliteration of our city and, long after, the news of war in our homeland between noble oyashi and Hell itself. 

 

Most of us know at least some details of this story already. Though few know the full picture. It is known, after all, that the Moonlit City stood empty long before the meteor came. 

 

Now all that remains of our city is rubble and dirt, charred and bloodied. Mother Moon has left it, even. Our once-home now belongs to the humans who fought harder for it than we.

 

And though there will doubtless be specifics of this tale new to you, reader, I have to ask: is it not familiar? Threads from this tapestry exist in your mind already, woven throughout our racial memory. Magara’lin, Malinor, Elson Zidar, Ker’nor, Rennalia… I could list on, and on. 

 

Remember Nor-velyth as it was: 
A home for the Maehr.

 

Remember the idea that it stood for, not the land it stood on.
Remember your brothers and sisters, not your foes.
Remember what it was under our Primarch, not what her successors let it become.

Twenty five years have passed since the end began for our race’s largest state.
We are a diaspora once more.
 
Again, the Wheel has turned and rolled over our Ambitions. 
Is it not in our nature to try again, no matter how fruitlessly, to stop it?

 

ᛪψɛʅ¤ᵲ ɠʊðᵲɛʅ

 

[christman 3529]

Ulln Thyone told his sons of Nor-veleth. He told them of what once was and what will soon be.

 

"Xyelor gudrel."  

He croaked when he was done.

 

[darkelfbrainrot 488]

A Maehr's welted eyes would stare down to the tear stained missive. "Just one more attempt. Yhthelhya give me the hope. Helun-Veylulaeya guide me." Smoke escaping her mouth as she sharply exhale from the manite pipe.