James Heard faction information
Megapost writeup for my faction
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E-Mail:
dunlandor@earthlink.net (this is direct permission)
PC: Ye'Cind, Elven Demigod of Music, Magical Songs, and Bards
Powers:
The Nations of the Mare Mysticum and the Empire of Lynn:
Miranda -
The Armies of the Mystics of Miranda
The Recorders of Ye'Cind
The Court of Winter Moons
Ye'Cind
The Marches -
The Armies of the Marchward Kings
The Elvanian Forest -
The Thorns
The Temple of Sehanine
The Faerie Court
(forest fortified heavily with not particularly mobile, but powerful
creatures)
The Empire of Lynn -
The Imperial Navy of Lynn
The Armies of Lynn
Suloisian Jannisaries
Notes on population (total population 12,250,000)
Elvanian Forest (population 510,000)
Miranda (population 128,000)
Kingdoms of the Marchwards (population 212,000)
The Empire of Lynn (population 11,400,000)
Color on map according to Guilt Puppy: UNKNOWN
Color on map desired by James: TAN
Territories on map: No territories on-map. Enormous off-map territories on the western side of the continent of Oerik: see
http://members.aol.com/cathbhadhx/tsroerth.gif
Sehanine is our mother, and her tears are what makes the the People greater than the lesser races -for in the tears our mother spilled upon our father's blood she gave us the gift of mystery, that we might cherish it and nurture it always. In ancient times there was a schism, uncreating the Elvendar and we sent those rebels of the unfaithful across the oceans and across the great wastelands to the south to exile. The True People remain near the spring of tears that our Mother created for us, in the ancient woods where magic springs from the trees as easily as sunlight springs from the east. Here we created our great cities of Coronel and Antheon, the meadows of Mistenveil and the tower of Deiren. We are not only the stewards of that great civilization we made, of Miranda (May she live Forever!), but of the true spirit of all who were once Elvendar.
Trust, in the face of the corrupt Elfaine of the east, is hard to maintain. Still we persist, hoping that some few of the profane ones might come over to the ways of the Elvendar and Sehanine. We spread her message through songs as old as the soil and great Ye'Cind, and dilligently record what secrets we discover in those songs. We seek to heal those still reeling from the wounds of our Father with our own tears, while protecting ourselves from their madness. We are the People. We are not monkeys and interlopers on this world, but the heirs to Oerth's most hidden nature. Those who mistake our inherent serenity for generosity do so at their own peril.
The Mare Mysticum Alliance
For ages the elven nation of the Miranda lived in relative isolation from the human and other demihuman powers that ruled to the east and west across the sea. Its only true contest of powers were with the giants of Fireland and the primitive monsters of Gigantea, but that changed with the coming of mankind to the south. With the establishment of the Eryptian refugees that came to call themselves the Empire of Lynn the elves found themselves in conflict, war had come for the first time to groves since the dark ones were cast down into the depths of Oerth.
Still, the Lynndites were primitive compared to the elves and more vulnerable to manipulation by ancient minds of the elven elders. The humans were seeded with heresies and embroiled into civil wars, sympathetic and promising humans were seduced by fair elven maidens for the good of the People. Eventually the Empire of Lynn was cut into three portions, the Empire, the heretical tribes of the Enllave, and the half-elven protectorate kingdoms of the Marches. Today the Empire of Lynn itself is held under the protection of Queen Xin, its masses of bitterly poor refugees finally provoking the wealthier nations of the north to claim its vast expanse and attempt to restore it to order. It remains to be seen whether or not this arrangement will be satisfactory in the long term to the xenophobic elves and fey, but for now the Empire is reaping enormous benefits from the elven rule.
Physically the Elven Forest itself is the least forgiving of all geography around the Mare. Some of the treants of the Forest remember when the elves and their dark brothers the drow were one people, and when humanity was a mere myth used to frighten gullible elven children. Portions of the faerie court hold residence here deep in the recesses, and the ghosts of fey elven heroes lurk in the shadows to waylay the unannounced into the forest. The Elven Forest is what defines the Mare Mysticum region for what it is, a magical place. Even though few brave elves actually make residence in the forest, its presence is the entire reason for being for the elves to be in the area. Time itself seems to pass more slowly and sometimes less clearly within its borders, and elven and sylvan priestesses and seers come from all across the world to consult with the forest itself's strange intelligence. It is said that before the breaking with the outer planes that Corellon Larethian would while away hours in conversation with the rocks and trees of the Elven Forest. Some say that the legendary patience of the elves was learned in this place, and that in the center of the forest the most ancient of all elven holy sites - a temple dedicated to Sehanine who led the ancient elven people to Oerth - sits untouched by the sands of time.
The Kingdoms of the Marches spread to cover the lands between Gigantea, Lynn, the lost dwarven lands of the Landspire mountains that provide a buffer between the Marches and the lands of the Khanates and Celestial Imperium, and most of the land between the Elven homelands and the Elven Forest. Once the Marches were much smaller, and the Elven homelands much greater, but as time has passed the elves have retreated more and more as their number dwindled and the Marchward's subjects multiplied. The Marchwards are a hardy, industrious folk of mostly half-elven descent. Pledged eternally to their ancient task of guardianship, the Marchwards divide their lands according to celestial accordances garnered from the seerage of the elves. Few humans are allowed to immigrate to the Marches unless they pass a series of tests of magic and skill maintained to establish their loyalty to the elves, but those same tests guarantee that the rulers of the Marches are mighty and committed to their task indeed. Much of the land of the Marches is wide, fertile valleys left over from glaciation. Few occupy the lands, but ancient elven fortresses dot much of the countryside and are occupied by their now half-elven defenders and their fey allies. The overall governship of the Marches is covered by the Council of Y'Cind, whose traditional members include the Prince of Elvenkind, the high priest of Y'Cind, and an ambassador from the Faerie Court of the Elven Forest.
The Empire of Lynn is mostly desert and bitterly, tragically poor. Once the region was awash in wealth and power, ruled by the mighty Pariah of Lynn from the selfsame port city on the southwestern coast. Centuries of corruption and abuse, border wars with the Marchwards of the north and Enllavian tribesmen to the south, and a general failure of their once great trading empire to keep up with the rising competition of the Tharquish, all conspired to finally cause massive general uprisings among the populace in 586 against the rich and powerful. The revolutionaries bought themselves
only more poverty with the coin of freedom though, and general conditions within the empire slid below the awful into the truly appalling quickly. At last, in 587, loyalists led by a general of the suloisian jannisaries bound by ancient pacts to the empire decided upon a radical course of action and pleaded their case before Queen Xin and her consort Wae Sinde forehead to floor begging for her mercy. After three tortuous months of consideration and debate, she graciously accepted the brooch and scepter of the Pariah of Lynn. Much of the current lack of unrest in Lynn is thanks to regular patrols of knights from the Marches and the populace's unabashed awe with the popular consort who, rumor has it, was the deciding reason for their good fortune. It is true that when the consort came to the ancient city of Lynn to help stop the mob violence that had spilled out into open war that the bard only climbed to the highest spire of the Pariah's palace still standing and played a song so sweet and sorrowful that all violence in the city stopped for a week and some of the most cruel of the thugs of the Flats openly wept while laying down their arms.
The Elven nation itself is empty. No, not entirely - but the cities of the elves lie mostly unoccupied and the storm wracked seas off the coast sometimes wash through the ages old magics that once protected the shores from the worst of the blizzards that wash over Gigantea. One of the first thing most notice about the place is that most of the residents are old, visibly old as few elves outside the Elven nation are ever seen. A few reckless and ill-tempered young elves pledged as honor guard stay here, and the occasional pilgrim seeking knowledge that might only be found in the capital Coronel's hallowed libraries come for moments. Elves in the ancient homelands live longer than they might live someplace further from the Elven forest and the magic invoked over the years in the Mysticum. The only ambassador to the Elven nation is a single solitary building in Coronel hosting the delegation from the Celestial Imperium. Even though the Elven nations and the Mysticum alliance covers a huge amount of acreage it is quite thinly populated, being the home of mostly elves, their fey allies, ancient treants and awakened animals, ghosts, and their half-elven knight-protectors. There are ten times as many humans within the protectorate of Miranda's queen as elves and fey, yet they are definitely the power and controlling force of the region.
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