OF LORDS & LADIES:
IAURISM & THE ELVEN GODS
IAURISM & THE ELVEN GODS
The story of the elves, as does many creation myths, with the Mother.
In the elven tongue, she is called Ontaria by the Iaur and Aemilia by the Sylvanar, respectively. Her name translates to "mother" or "begetter" and she is the ultimate creator god in the elven religion. And she is believed to have been the first star.
When she washed away the sins of the clay people and fled, the Mother left behind her sons. Eldest among them was Iaur who created the elves by plucking stars from the sky. He saw the creation of the Twilight Realms and was so enraptured with the beauty of the Dawn that he decided to make it his home. In the Forest of Iaur, he built the Starry Vale for the young elven race and guided them from his palace, Silverhome.
In Silverhome, he lived alongside his consorts and his children, who would lead to his ruin and abandonment of the mortal world.
Personality-wise, Iaur is known to be a champion and advocate for the beautiful, the true and the good. His unequaled mastery of the arts, as an extension of his appreciation, has been passed down as gifts to his mortal children: the mastery of music, sculpture & paint, the expertise in glass/metal works & architecture, and their inherent talent and mastery with the arcane arts has allowed the elves to build wonders that are the envy of the world. He blessed his children with adaptability: wherever elves find themselves, they find a way to thrive.
Lord Iaur's appreciation for beauty is admirable but has consequences. He had many beautiful companions and concubines. Their beauty blinded his judgement and allowed them the opportunity to undermine his rule. Their envy drove them to dark and dangerous extremes.
And then the Alliance of Gloom descended upon the Silver Court.
An army of dark fey, allied with the twin sisters, were led to the Starry Vale and lay siege to Silverhome. Gwath-Yara used information she had plied from Hurin so that they could break into the forest of Iaur and when Kuron left in a huff, her warriors went with her. This left Iaur to fight the dark forces while Rin-Varna guarded his people in the walls of Silverhome.
The dark fey had underestimated the might and magic of Iaur, especially in his own home, and his wrath towards their ugliness and evil manifested in a terrible manner:
He turned the dream-like glamor of his realm into phantom nightmares that tore at their minds and bodies and each swing of his blade penetrated the dark horde like the rays of the sun. Still, his fey enemies were joined by more powerful foes: the patron gods of giants, orcs, and goblins, as well as several demon lords, joined in their invasion. He struck down many of them but their numbers and strength overwhelmed him and he found himself transforming into a great feathered serpent as he wrestled with them in the vale in a deathgrip. Without aid, they would overcome even his power and he would die…
Her hunters easily turned the tide of battle and helped free Iaur. They sent Iaur's enemies, maimed and humiliated, fleeing but promising vengeance. They then turned to Gwath-Yara and her co-conspirator Kytix. The girl was another consort of Iaur and Gwath-Yara had turned her against him. She had helped her the whole time out of her spite towards the other members of Iaur’s harem.
Rin-Varna lay dying.
As the two stewed in the cell, Hurin came to them with an offer: the first share the cure would be forgiven of their crimes.
Kytix immediately turned on her mistress and gave Hurin the cure. Gwath-Yara turned into a giant monstrous spider, showing her true form, and attacked Kytix. Kytix, having the body shifting powers of the elven gods, changed shape into a ghostly white spider to defend herself. The struggle was so intense that they broke free from the cell and the battle continued into the palace above. Hurin rushed to find his mother a cure as Iaur tried to contain the two creatures. He refused to kill them. A small part of him loved them but, even moreso, he did not believe they deserved a quick death.
Rin-Varna quickly recovered and came to Iaur’s aid. She first cast Kytix down into a world beneath the mountain. Never again would she gaze upon the stars and there, in the dark, she would remain transformed into a monstrous spider woman. Gwath-Yara required a more powerful banishment. She tried to flee back beyond the stars but Rin-Varna and Iaur shaped the stars themselves into a net, catching the spider and trapping her there in the darkness between the stars. No longer would she dwell beneath or beyond the starlight. She could only send her whispers along strings of shadow.
They fates of the Gwath-Yara’s son and daughter are also an important story in elf lore.
Her daughter, Nyeera was Iaur’s favorite child. Her beauty was only matched by her talent, kindness and gentle-heart. Even Rin-Varna could not resist her and took the child as her favorite attendant. Together she helped Rin-Varna weave music into the elven tongue and she constantly impressed her father with artistic innovation. But the same charms that won over the rest of the Silver Court also put her in the cross-hairs of her own brother.
Assarr, unlike Nyeera, was susceptible to their mother’s dark corruption. She had molded him into the picture of courtly perfection with the intent of making him king some day. She encouraged his appetites. His morals were twisted and, even with his mother gone, he could still hear her whispers. She turned his desires into a madness and his wishes became increasingly impure. The only one more desirable than he was the child that none would dare approach with romantic intent. Nyeera was too pure and kind. And the sick son of Gwath-Yara developed a fantasy: to overthrow his father and rule with Nyeera as his bride!
Hurin saw the way his half-brother looked at his half-sister and tried to warn Rin-Varna. His concerns were rebuffed. After all, Assarr’s reputation was as clean as crystal. Kuron believed he was making trouble. Hurin knew better and began to keep an eye on Nyeera.
One night, while Nyeera walked in the ever-blossoming garden of Silverhome, the moon cast an ominous red light over the scene below. Assarr approached Nyeera from the shadows and made his dark confession. Nyeera rebuked him, as mercifully as she could, and begged him to reconsider. She begged him forgive her for it and she begged him to turn his heart’s desire elsewhere. Assarr had never been denied anything by anyone. In that moment, something broke and the prince showed his trueself. A monster. He attacked Nyeera. Luckily, someone was watching.
Hurin intervened, having been watching from nearby, and came to Nyeera’s defense. The two half brothers became locked in combat and, quickly, Hurin realized he was no match. Hurin called for Kuron and, like a swift wind, she came. The huntress threw him out of the garden and the prince’s ferocity immediately turned to cowardice. He ran to his father. He threw himself upon the floor and begged for his father’s protection. He spun a story:
According to Assarr, it was Hurin who was the predator in the court. He had intended to assault Nyeera and, in the process, ruin Assar’s reputation. Hurin disguised himself as Assarr since, after all, he was a master of disguise. When he heard his sister scream, he came to her aid, only to be attacked by Hurin and Kuron.
He became the monster within. From that day onward, Assarr recoiled from the sun and was filled with unending lust for blood. Assarr was the first vampire. Perhaps, Iaur and Rin-Varna would’ve kinder and wiser to destroy him. After all, this scandal proved the final straw for many of the first elves. The elves that had been loyal to Gwath-Yara and Assarr felt betrayed by Iaur. They abandoned Silverhome and fled to Assarr’s side. Those most loyal became the first vampire lords, the Assarrites, and the first “drow”. These “drow” or “dark elves” were pale with fangs, red eyes and bat-like features. The drow were a slave race for the vampire lords and built an empire beneath the world surface, terrorizing the citizens of the underworld, and Assarr reigned as a living god.
Eventually, during the Wyrd Wars, this empire was weakened by multiple conflicts. In the final battle between Mal-Dorig and the gods, Assarr took the dread conqueror’s side and was dealt a devastating defeat by his father. Many of the surviving by vampire lords fled to the far corners of the world to infect the above world with their curse but others took Assarr deep below the world to recover. Other drow finally escaped enslavement and found a way to break their vampiric curse but still had adapted to live beneath the world and returned there.
The drow have a reputation for being evil-doers; most interaction those in the world above have with drow is with drow raiders but not all drows are slavers. Those slavers are most often Gwathnir, those who turned to Gwath-Yara for guidance, and are villains among most other peoples of the dark underworld. But others worship other gods and have other careers. Some are pirates, some are merchants, some are cultists, some are priests, but they are all artists. And they come in all manner of unusual hues. The Assarite drow may have been so pale as to be almost translucent but the freed drow are spectrum of reds, blues, purples, and darker hues.
As much as it is a shame that the elf-father has lost a connection with his children, it is even more a shame the world cannot appreciate the beauty these elves have cultivated out of their pain.
Like the Iaurdin, the Sylvanar value beauty, but in more natural and liberated form compared to the heavily constructed and controlled beauty of Iaurdin society.
Iaur had many more consorts and children. Their tales remain to be seen as we discover more of elvenkind.
LORD IAUR
Title(s)
Elf-Father, The Beautiful and True, The Twilight Lord, The Mighty and Magical, The Eldest
Pantheon(s)
Elf
Power Level
Greater Deity
Alignment
Chaotic/Lawful Good
Symbol
A silver sword and stars
Realm
Starry Vale, Silverhome
Portfolio
Beauty, art, magic, elvenkind, purity
Domains
Arcana, War
Worshipers
Elves, half-elves, imperials, mages, gnomes
Favored Weapon
Swords
LADY RIN-VARNA
Title(s)
Elf-Mother, The Bright Lady, The Silver Matron, The Moonbow, The First-Wife
Pantheon(s)
Elf
Power Level
Lesser Deity
Alignment
Neutral Good
Symbol
A rainbow moon
Realm
Starry Vale, Silverhome
Portfolio
Lore, runes, healing, mercy, light
Domains
Life, Light, Knowledge
Worshipers
Elves, half-elves, imperials, healers, gnomes
Favored Weapon
Staves
LADY KURON
Title(s)
The Huntress, Lady of the Red-Oaks, The Archer, The She-Elf, Queen of Rangers
Pantheon(s)
Elf
Power Level
Lesser Deity
Alignment
Chaotic Good
Symbol
A silver bow firing red and white arrows
Realm
Opheros
Portfolio
Hunting, forests, war, riding, independence
Domains
Nature, War
Worshipers
Elves, half-elves, rangers, young women, warriors
Favored Weapon
Bows and swords
LORD HURIN
Title(s)
Masq, The Lord of Masks, The Libertine, The Traitor, The Knave
Pantheon(s)
Elf
Power Level
Lesser Deity
Alignment
Chaotic Neutral
Symbol
A white and gold mask
Realm
The Fey Court of the Twilight Realm of Dawn
Portfolio
Deception, treachery, anarchy, inner-conflict, pleasure
Domains
Trickery
Worshipers
Elves, half-elves, thieves, actors, spies
Favored Weapon
Swords and daggers
LADY GWATH-YARA
Title(s)
The Shadow Spider, The Spider Queen, The Weaver, The Demon-Spider, The Black Spider
Pantheon(s)
Elf
Power Level
Greater Deity
Alignment
Neutral Evil
Symbol
A black, red and purple spider
Realm
Hades
Portfolio
Spiders, dark elfkind, treachery, usurpers, envy
Domains
Death
Worshipers
Dark elves, traitors, murderers, usurpers, spiders
Favored Weapon
Swords and bows
LADY NYEERA
Title(s)
The Singer and Dancer, The Grey Princess, The Compassionate, The Listener, The Sorrowful Maid
Pantheon(s)
Elf
Power Level
Lesser Deity
Alignment
Neutral Good
Symbol
A silver harp
Realm
Starry Vale, Silverhome
Portfolio
Innocence, compassion, mercy, music, hope
Domains
Life
Worshipers
Elves, half-elves, dark elves, imperials, musicians
Favored Weapon
Musical Instruments
LADY KYTIX
Title(s)
The White Spider, The Spider Empress, The Mad Whisperer, She-Of-Many-Daughters, Bloodmother
Pantheon(s)
Elf
Power Level
Lesser Deity
Alignment
Chaotic Evil
Symbol
A white spider
Realm
The Abyss
Portfolio
Spiders, dark elves, chitine, insanity, cruelty
Domains
Death
Worshipers
Chitine, dark elves, spiders, murderers, usurpers
Favored Weapon
Whips
LORD ASSARR
Title(s)
Blood-Drinker, Sire of Vampirekind, The Leech, The Blood Prince, Lord of the Bleeding Moon
Pantheon(s)
Elf
Power Level
Lesser Deity
Alignment
Lawful Evil
Symbol
A bleeding crown
Realm
Twilight Realm of Dusk
Portfolio
Domination, vampirism, lust, tyranny, the night
Domains
War, Death
Worshipers
Vampires, dark elves, undead, necromancers, usurpers
Favored Weapon
Swords
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