The Founding of Anarya
After the Great Race War drew to an end and the treaties were signed to ensure peace many people returned to their lands to live out the rest of their days hoping to forget the tragedies of those lost to the largest scale of violence seen in millennia. Many of them, though they were happy to see the fight over, were still sore at the results. The Elves of Falvindar specifically wore the strongest case of scorn and became isolated from the rest of the world until recently. The Elves of Verosttuul however were more accepting of the outcomes. In these two cases we speak specifically of the first High Emporer of the newly combined realms, Donovahn Needham a human from Avendale. There were those whose scorn went deeper than just the leadership of the new nation and believed the fight would one day reignite and they would be waiting for that day. Then there was an Elf from the city of Verosttuul who simply refused to admit that the war had ended and that the Elves hadn’t come out on top.
This Elf, whose name has long since been lost to history, sought council with the Silver Queen of Verosttuul to plead with her that they continue fighting. He claimed that the reparations offered them were a slight and that the Dwarves and Humans alike scoffed at them for being weak. He was turned away from her chamber and lead back to his dwelling. He refused to abide by this slight and decided to continue the war on his own. He began by attacking ragged bands of soldiers heading back home after gathering their health in other cities. Many were slain before they knew what was transpiring. Still, it was only one Elf and many could remain unharmed and carried on throughout the lands. It wasn’t until a few decades later that his intrusions became more than those of the surrounding cities could handle that something was done.
Around 59 I.B., settlers started to branch out from surrounding human villages and from Camorr itself seeking their own fortune and setting up their own small farms or houses outside the city walls moving ever closer to the forests of the East. These new abode were dismantled and razed to the ground by powerful magic. Some of them just as quickly as they were constructed. Concerns started growing from families who had lost loved ones in the wild. Those in charge at the time refused to do anything about it because they didn’t know who was behind this wave of destruction. The Elf who had continued fighting had made certain there would either be no survivors or at the very least his rampant destruction would not allow those in the area to see him. It took several more decades before a slip would be made and people would find out who exactly was behind the destruction.
By 112 I.B. enough destruction had happened that everybody knew something needed to be done. Camorr sent a party to meet with the Silver Queen and discuss what should be done about whoever was in the forest seeking out the utter obliteration of any race that seemed to enter the forest. It had not gone unnoticed that Elves seemed to be spared the atrocities of other races and hostilities were starting to grow. This group met a band of Elven rangers in the forest who would lead the group back to break bread and discuss solutions for the growing problem. They stopped three days shy of Verosttuul’s gates when their party was attacked. Many fought back but it seemed that the attackers were coming form all around them. In their haste to escape some found that the “attackers” were merely an illusion being perpetrated by a single Elf cloaked in dingy rags of grey. Both Human and Elf alike were killed that day. It is now believed the reason this was the first killing of Elves is because of their communion with the Humans. Still those that managed to escape death made it to Verosttuul where they heard tale of the deranged Elf who refused to let the battle that raged within him be snuffed out.
After many days of talking, it was agreed that both Camorr and Verosttuul would allocate troops at different areas of the forest that would protect travelers moving through the land. It was a nobel agreement that helped to ease some tensions between races and for a time their involvement helped to quell some of the rampant destruction that had been taking place. However it didn’t end it completely. There were still several parties of travelers that didn’t make it to their desired location only to be found by scouts later that happened upon the destruction. This was enough to maintain a vigilant watch over the issues that were happening but the Elf was never caught. Few times was he even seen. It appeared that he could move through the forest as if he was a part of it coming and going before any could make out what was happening.
Eventually an elite team of Rangers was created from the constant hunting of this Elf. Their order exists to this day and is known as the Emerald Eye. Their main headquarters is set up inside the gates of Verosttuul where they look out for all those lost in the forest helping them find their way again. “May the Eye find us all” is inscribe above the entrance to their great training hall.
Settlements started to bud more within the region and trade started to grow between cities. Occasionally there were still sightings of the Elf in the forest but nothing beyond the control of the Emerald Eye and for those that took on any damage, both nations would pay recompense allowing the family to get back up on their feet. However, after over 100 years of dealing with these issues in the forest, a great plague started to seep into the blossoming society. By the year 275 I.B. Tomb Eye started to take over the land. While it was strongest in other parts of the world, places like Fyr’s Shadow and Glaring, it was taking its toll on those that were defending the trade routes and paths in this area of the world. The Elf took this time to strike down all those that had fringed on the land that he claimed to belong solely to the the Elves who refused to betray their pride. As people were dealing with sickness and loss, he moved through just as hard as the plague burning down full villages. He killed several hundred if not thousand people. It remains to this day one of the greatest mass murder streaks known to the modern era.
A great light shown down from Mount Fyr spreading through the land cleansing it of the ick that had started to consume so much. It brought strength back to the people and resolve back to those that sought to get revenge against the Elf how had killed so many. No longer would these ranger simply guard those that sought safe travel across the countryside, they also started to set up camps of their own. The largest of these camps they placed between Camorr and Verosttuul. They hunted the lands, searching for this Elf, but he was never found. The last sighting of this Elf came from a scouting patrol group making round through the forest around 438 I.B. They claimed a figure was following them through the forest during a particularly nasty storm. They grouped up ready for a fight but before any could happen a bolt of lightning pierced the sky lighting up the scene. Many claimed to have seen a frail and aged Elf standing before them leaning upon a gnarled cane. Power surged across his fingertips but before he could cast his spell, the lightning found its mark. With a flash, the Elf was gone. The scouting troop moved on back to camp. They sent a search party out the next day to find any remains, but it seemed as if the Elf’s remains that they saw struck down that night had been moved. Many claimed that he teleported away from the area waiting to extract more mayhem. The large encampment continued to search for the Elf for many more years with but they continued to come up fruitless.
The Elf was never seen again from that point but because of his disappearance, many believe he still walks the woods. Stories have sprung up about a creature known as the Grey Wanderer that bards claim is the ghost of the Elf that still haunts these woods seeking out anything he finds different marking it for death. As for the encampment, because of the long time spent with the encampment and the amount of people that flowed through it, many felt it more home than the lands they came from. They eventually set up homes which quickly grew to the size of a small city. The city was home to a large number of Half-Elves from the mixing of those from the two adjacent cities and because as such when the city was christened with a name, it took one from a Half-Elf hero from the Great Race War, a woman by the name of Anarya.
The Tower Festival and its Origin
By the year 688 I.B. Anarya begun growing into a large town. It had sought inclusion into the league of cities that helped to rule the and maintain order over the lands. It’s leading house was a family called Gilpetor led by a man named Jacnas. Jacnas had a beautiful daughter named Adelee who attracted the hungry gazes of several rich, young suitors but each suitor she turned away and scorned their advances. Her heart had already been claimed by Breyton MacCrain, a lumberjack who frequented the markets daily at sundown. They met at these markets and she was always attracted to how kind and gentle he was. Unlike those that came calling for her hand in marriage, Breyton listened to her and respected her opinions instead of treating her like property or a prize to add to his collection.
Breyton returned her affection and sought up the courage to ask her father for Adelee’s hand. Her father scoffed at the attempt stating that he had nothing to offer in return. He did not have a proper dowery nor did he have a residence to keep her if he was to consent to the idea. Jacnas had more hands than he required so working off the debt of the dowery was out of the question so he turned Breyton away. But the next day he returned and pleaded for her again he was turned away. Day after day Breyton appealed to Jacnas’s sympathies begging him to realize that his affection was returned in favor yet still he was pushed away. However, with each suitor that Adelee turned away, her father became more desperate to give her away. After two years of pleading Jacnas finally sat down with Breyton and offered him one chance to prove to him that he could protect his daughter and provide for her so he sat him and his daughter down and made them promise that if Breyton could pass one test then he could have her hand in marriage, however if he could not accomplish the task set upon him he could no longer berate for badger him for his daughter’s hand.
Breyton and Adelee agreed to this offer. Breyton boasted that no matter what the task placed upon him, he would triumph. Jacnas did not want him to to overcome the task. He wanted him to fail so that he could find a better suitor for his daughter so he thought of a task that he considered incapable of completion. He demanded that Breyton build his daughter a suitable house in five days time and added that if he could accomplish any task then he could do it without the use of his lumberjack trade tools. Adelee denounced this deal on the spot claiming it could not be accomplished by a mere mortal but Breyton assured her that the love he had for her was enough to guide his hands to make swift work. He agreed and the next day at sunrise he set upon his task.
He could not fell a tree with his hands alone so he made his way to the woods to find durable stone that he could craft into new tools. He may have agreed to not use the tools that he already owned, but that did not mean he could not create new tools. He spent the whole of the first day crafting his new tools. On the dawn of the second day he set to work in the forest finding the greatest trees which he then cut down for use in his house. His search for the right trees lasted most of the day and because of that he worked the night through and the entirety of the next dropping timber for the house that he needed. Exhausted, he rested on the third night. On the dawn of the fourth day, he started building his house. When he finished he sought out Jacnas to let him know the task had been complete. When Jacnas saw the house he proclaimed it to be unfinished. If a house is to be fit to for his daughter it would not be a simple woodworker’s shack. He demanded that any house his daughter should live in should be no less than three stories in height.
Angered but as resilient as ever Breyton went back to work, his hand cut and his body bruised for the labor he had already accomplished. He worked all night dragging the lumber to the second floor and building it to make it structurally sound. Upon the break of dawn on the final day he looked upon his house and realized that he no longer had the stamina to keep going another day. His body was weak from his work and he had no means to lift the wood he needed to the third floor. Instead of giving up, he fell to his knees and began praying to his Goddess Ehlonna for strength. He declared that if she would guide his hand in finishing his work, he would erect a temple to honor her in Anarya close to the forest where both her followers and the creatures of the wood could offer her their respects. A elderly woman happened upon him during his prayers and asked him the nature of why anyone would promise so much when it was not needed. He told her the tale and she saw fit to share with him the water that she carried in a skin pouch around her neck. She allowed him to pull deep from her drink and as he finished she declared that his prayers would be answered and she left him. Suddenly he felt great vigor flowing through him. His fading stamina had been restored and he again began work on the third floor of the tower. Those that saw him claim that he was lifting the logs he needed and tossing them straight up to land atop the nearly finished construction.
As the sun began to set, Jacnas came to the spot ready to accept Breyton’s defeat but instead he was greeted with the sound of the final nail being set into place. He demanded that Jacnas hold up to his end of the bargain for the Gods themselves saw fit that this union should come to be. Jacnas, though unexcited with the turn of events, agreed and presented his daughter’s hand to him. Over the course of Breyton’s life afterward he toiled to build the most beautiful temple he could to praise Ehlonna for her intervention in the turn of events. As the city grew it became engulfed in its walls. To this day it sits now near the center of town covered in vine and flower, though recently it was set ablaze by circumstances unknown.
To celebrate Breyton’s triumph in building the tower, the city created what is known today as the Tower festival. It is celebrated annually in the spring. Men will compete through the five day event by following in Breyton’s footsteps. The first day they spend crafting the tools they will need, the second and third is time given to cut down the timber, on the fourth day a makeshift tower is constructed which must be at least 25 ft tall, and on the fifth day the competitors may choose one teammate to help them as they must toss logs into the air for their teammate to catch. Before sundown, the logs are counted and the competitor with the most logs resting atop their tower gets to claim their prize which is a kiss from a maiden of Ehlonna who stands in for the role of Adelee. After the competition has ended, the wood that has been collected is used to create a large bonfire that large amounts of food is cooked upon and the city feasts in the town square outside the temple of Ehlonna.
Devil’s Den and the Occult
Anarya existed in peace for many years with only minor happenings springing up from travelers moving through hunting their quarry until the year 815 I.B. A string of important individuals began to be found dead inside their abodes. A band of individuals led by a Druid named Messise came to town and weeded out the cause of the issue. It appeared that a cult referred to as the Order of Obsidian had secretly started placing members in key positions to start moving up and claiming roles of power within the city. Messise and her group hunted down every possible clue to who these people actually were eventually stumbling upon the name of the person in charge of the order, a Kenku called Perses.
Messise and her group fought hard against the Order of Obsidian getting to the very heart. Through the battle her friends, one by one, met their fate by the hands of the order until only her and Perses were left. Through her rage she sought to destroy this twisted bird creature but before she could strike the final blow he escaped. He vowed that if he could not have the majesty of Anarya then he would instead watch it burn to the ground. Though the town was shaken, nothing more was heard from him and for the next 3 years the lands returned to peace until one evening the very fabric of the material plane was torn apart and a portal to the Nine Hells was bore open. Nobody was quite certain what to make of what was transpiring. Some claimed it was Perses come back seeking his revenge after making a deal with the Asmodius but his involvement was never proven. Before much more speculation could be brought to bear over the portal’s origin, a raven from Robert Thorne, the then King of Camorr was received begging for Anarya to make ready her militia that she had to join in the ranks against the Devils and Demons pouring forth from Stone’s Ridge.
Antony Biggs, the commander in charge of the guard, readied his men and marched them forth toward Stone’s Ridge but the wicked creatures had already poured forth farther than they had thought. They were set upon in the middle of the night. Most were struck down before they could don their armor the rest were too scattered to stand a chance. The forests were filled with the blood curdling screams of men being broken and devoured by Hell Beasts. Had it not been for the intervening hand of the Emerald Eye moving through the forest distracting these creatures, Anarya would have fallen. However, with the help of The Nine come forth from Fyr’s Shadow, these creatures were locked away in Devil’s Den where they became a draw to many adventurers looking to claim the bounty for defeating them in their cave. Recently a band of adventurers moved through destroying the monsters locked away in the cavern and taking their prize earnings.
The Influence of the Lannis
As Elves live such long lives, the Lannis rise to power started when Aarold Lannis came to Anarya as a young apprentice with the Emerald Eye in the year 637 I.B. Aarold traveled through the forest learning its secrets and helping those lost in the wood find their way back to the main roads. He also learned of different medicinal herbs and their healing properties. He excelled at these teaching and many times returned to town with those he’d helped to find and helped the clerics of the city to heal any wounds that needed tending. The Emerald Eye demands that all Elves of Verosttuul serve their time in the ranks helping all those they can but, unless an Elf has a particular skill for tracking or survival, when their time is exhausted they will be asked to hand over their Cloak. It is not a shame to be let go, but being asked to stay on is considered a great honor. Aarold handed in his cloak at the end of his tenure then joined the ranks of healers working in Anarya. He excelled at the alchemical powers of healing and took some acclaim for his skill but at every other thing he tried he was found unremarkable. Still his skill brought in those that were willing to pay for his healing which afforded him a comfortable life and eventually a minor noble role within the city walls.
His skills were put to the test quite throughly during the events that took place with Devil’s Den but history of the event saw fit only to offer two lines of his skill helping the Emerald Eye push back against the enemies pouring forth from the Nine Hells. “… and with great skill Aarold Lannis of Anarya mended those that would seek the quelling of the vile fiends come forth from the pit. His ability was great that those that came to him were able to return to the defense within mere hours.” (Mellis the Elder in her book Anarya: A History of Soldiers).
Through his work during these events Aarold found Nykl Alight, an Elf of the Emerald Eye whom he started a family with once her time as a huntress of the forest was over. In 722 I.B. they gave birth to their first and only child, Darian Lannis. Darian was always cold and distant, even as a child. He displayed a keen understanding of his scholarly studies and impressed several of his teachers who praised him as being top of his class. When Darian was about 43, his father began pressing for him to follow in his footsteps. He showed a intense interest in alchemy quickly outpacing the teachings of the city clerics so his father saw fit to have a hidden alchemical lab built within their house where he headed over his son’s teachings. Darian constantly hid out in his lad experimenting on different concoctions in his spare time. When he wasn’t tucked away, he was found at a corner pub called the Silver Moonstone speaking of the city’s politics and gaining an understanding of the underpinnings of power that drove the city. During his time there, his path crossed with Constantin Celice, a radical philosopher who spoke of a utopia where those in power should be removed from their positions. He taught that change could not come from those who held office for so long and were so heavily set in their own beliefs. These talks started to turn more violent as he used the fall of the royals in Camorr and of the good that came from the change of regime after.
Eventually Constantin drew more interest from those who frequented the bar and in 772 I.B. he led a failed revolt against the city. Darian took a minor part in the revolt which was quickly snuffed out. Those that were caught were hung outside the city from a mighty oak that came to be known as the Ropetree. People would walk by watching as several of those branded traitor to the city swung lazily in the breeze and comment on what a odd sight it was to see a tree that bore strange fruit. Darian managed to avoid the same fate as Aarold used every connection he had to keep his son away from the noose. Darian saw what his father did and judged it a sign of weakness. He saw his father as being in league with the people his teacher had sought to overthrow. Their relationship turned sour and every conversation devolved into bickering and screaming. Eventually he grew tired of his father’s lectures and he returned to his study of potions and elixirs. While he brewed and experimented, he began crafting ways that he could insert himself into the political landscape and subvert the will of those currently instated. Darian schmoozed his way into the proper social circles gaining the trust of those he sought to control. Eventually he managed to gain a chance to take the seat of one of the members on the city council but it came to a tie vote with his father, who was already a member, being left to cast the break. Aarold voted against his own son claiming there was too much malice in his heart to lead the city. At that, all the planning he had done over the course of the last 74 years had been dashed.
Darian railed against his father at this and accused him of not being driven. He claimed they had a chance to actually do some good for the city but instead he was too weak and had shattered any chance of doing real change. His father, in an attempted to remove his power focus son from Anarya all together and had him sent to Verosttuul where he was then forced to serve his term as a part of the Emerald Eye. Darian did not return to Anarya again until after the death of his parents. During his time with this group, his father was left alone with his wife in the city. She never forgave him for forcing her son away and out of the city. Her grief soon eclipsed her sanity and one night she crept to the Ropetree where she hung herself in the silver moonlight. When she was let down from the tree the next day the leaves of the tree withered and fell to the ground with her. There has never been another blossom sprout from the branches of that tree since that day. Many claim her grief soaked into the tree and robbed it of any will to live. Shortly after her death, Aarold received an unmarked letter. He read it in the city park where he then sat for the rest of the day. As the moon came up, patrolmen came by to check on him as he hadn’t moved from his spot for several hours. They found him cold and stiff, long dead on his bench. The letter was found still clasped in his hands. It read, “For all your sins and the sins of those above you, there will be justice.” The letter could not be traced back to a sender but it was found to be laced with a strong poison which seeped in through the skin and killed Aarold in minutes. Some claim it was the doing of his son but there was never any proof for him to stand trial.
After 100 years of service to the Emerald Eye Darian returned to Anarya to claim his father’s holdings. He then began work crafting a new substance from a plant that he had found during his time with the order. After testing it on several people, he found they grew a dependance on the product. He then set out to cultivate the plant in a nearby neighboring field owned by a family of Dwarves called the Blackshields from Riverrun in the North. He drove them out of their fields which caused a rivalry between the two families, but this was their only influence in town so any scuffle existed only on the outskirts of the region. He continued to push his product using the extra monetary gain to invest in businesses and elected officials in the region. Those who set to oppose him were found shortly after dead from horrible accidents or missing altogether but there was never any evidence to trace back to Darian. As he began expanding his influence in the region, he started to settle as well. He started a family with his wife who gave birth to his first son Dorian Lannis and later died in childbirth with his second son Faramir Lannis.
Both Dorian and Faramir were raised to follow in their father’s career path which would eventually lead to his family falling apart. Faramir would later get caught up in the addiction of the plant that his father sold getting him into trouble at the Silver Moonstone for multiple murders while under the drug’s influence. He was only there to pass off product before it turned into such a dire scene but what few rangers left policing the city that weren’t already in the pocket of the Lannis house saw this as the evidence they needed to take down Darian by bringing his deeds to bear for judgement by the Silver Queen of Verosttuul. Darian managed to to get out of it allowing Faramir to take the fall for the whole ring and he was sentenced to hang from the Ropetree like his grandmother did before him but during his time waitng for the sentence to be carried out, he was approached by a group of paladins who offered to find a way to spare his life if he would leave the city and take up with them in their ranks. He agreed and left Anarya.
Only recently in 1114 I.B. did the mangled remains of Dorian show up on his father’s doorstep. Darian, upon seeing it began getting paranoid and disappeared from his household and from the city. Nobody knew where he went but many believed the death was caused by Faramir who had come back to exact revenge for being betrayed by his family. Only a month later was Darian found hanging from the torched temple of Ehlonna with his entrails spilled upon the ground. In the city square Faramir claimed his families influence in the city to have fallen. He renounced the name of Lannis on the spot and took on the name Faramir Stork. A small militia from Camorr arrived two weeks later to reclaim order of the city and figure out who should be ruler for the city now that the Lannis have fallen.