V.

List of Names

* Séltavar (SAYL-ta-vahr)

* Osbirsómi (oz-BIHR-soh-mee or oss-BIHR-soh-mee, by dialect)

* Narguenor (NAHR-gweh-nor)

* Gondémai Nalaiali (GON-day-mahy na-LAHY-a-lee)

* Sen Arnöen (SEN AHR-noh-en)

* Elennëa (eh-LEN-nay-uh, Glistening Starlight or Beautiful Stars, a Holy One)

“It is a long tale. To give a full account of what led to the silver elves’ stand on that hilltop would take many hours. Or days. But I will do what I can with the time we have to tell you of the Third Angelic Alliance War, the fall of King Séltavar, and the decimation of Sylvaté Enéverde. It is a sorrowful story.” Alquilan sighed.

“Over two thousand years ago, Sylvanalor neared the end of its Fourth Age, the third of what loremasters call the Elven Ages; for in those days the elf-lords of old controlled the vast majority of the land. The dwarves did not seek holdings beyond their mountains; and the race of men, scattered in small peoples in only a few places, was barely in its infancy. The end of the Fourth Age was already a time of fading, but the greatness and splendor of the elven-kings, and the peace, knowledge, and beauty that flourished with their rule, was at that time slow to diminish. The evils of the Third Alliance War, which destroyed much of what the elves had wrought, would greatly hasten that decay.

“But, loremaster” said Herónus, “the teachings of our Order claim that the One made all the races together. Why, then, would the race of Men be behind the others?”

“An excellent question” said Alquilan. “It is indeed said in lore that Men were created alongside the Elder Races. But in the Great War of the First Age the peoples of Men fought in huge numbers, some on either side; and so calamitous was the fighting that our race was nearly extinguished. Men had been far more divided than the Elder Races between good and evil; and so the One, as both punishment and reward, left them out of the great deeds of the Earlier Days, and let them develop slowly, hindered by their own weaknesses yet preserved from the great callings and duties which moved both Elves and Dwarves. In fact, the race of Men only began to enter their time of great deeds during the Third Alliance War.

“And that war began as one of vengeance. The dark elves, the evil drow, were defeated and greatly reduced in the Second Alliance War of the previous age. They had thus been forming plots for centuries against the victorious Alliance and its members, who comprised the goodly elven kingdoms, those dwarven forces that had aided them, and the Perseverant Ones, that remnant of angels who walked in physical form on earth after the First Age. By the last centuries of the Fourth, the dark elves had greatly recovered in numbers and strength; and their racial hatred of the good peoples, especially elves, had grown proportionate. But they were as cunning as they were hateful, and recruited many others to their purpose. Working through the Underworld, they persuaded countless numbers of goblin-kin, on the surface and below, to join their cause; and they likewise befriended many evil giants and other monsters. Undead too, they spawned, through their own evil arts. But worst of all, they conjured demons from the Lower Realms, in terrible numbers – and, treacherous as fiends are, were yet able to daunt them into service.

“Finally, they moved above ground; and they took the Lonely Land, that region encircled by the Eastern Mountains, open only to the Eastern Sea. That land had been so devastated in prior wars that it was barely inhabited; and so stained by evil, having been used and corrupted by dark powers, that no elves dwelt there. But because it was a place from which dark things come, a vigil was maintained by fortresses in the surrounding mountains: the Osbirsómi of the golden elves in the south, and the strongholds of the angels themselves in the northwest. Thus the land was seized cautiously by the dark elves, who were not yet ready. They had one final stage in their preparations: a deed never before done, and never done again.

“There exist, greater even than those fiends they summoned, High Demons: elder evils, most ancient of agents of wickedness, spirits of terrible power and darkest intent. Some are nameless, others not; and their deeds echo down to the nightmares of this present day. Only during the First Age did these walk the land, defying the One and executing their hatred upon His creation, until in the War of the First Age the angel-lords by their valor defeated them. But such was the unimaginable loss of the angelic hosts that, although victorious, they could not slay the last survivors of the High Demons. Instead they banished these evil powers, binding them with celestial seals that were to forever entrap them in the Lower Realms. They had remained thus for millennia, only influencing the world through indirect means. But the ambitions and power of the drow were great indeed. By the blackest of evil rites they broke the seals, and called forth High Demons to their cause.

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“In this they were reckless, for the power of such beings is not to be controlled. The High Demons would not serve them, and indeed threatened them greatly: each sought to unleash violence and calamity and to hatch his own plots, and their wild destructiveness nearly revealed the dark elves and brought all their plans to ruin. But an evil fate favored them. Narguenor came to their aid. Narguenor, who is called the Lady of Hate, very formidable even among the High Demons themselves – she who is worshipped by the dark elves as a goddess, and greatly feared by them, stepped into the world. She immediately took control of the entire plot, and threatened the High Demons into line. It is said she herself sought vengeance on all the holy ones, for her defeat and banishment in the First Age, and planned to loose her wrath on the Perseverant Ones, the only of their number left on earth.

“Once Narguenor had unified the force under her tyranny, they moved swiftly. Half the force, numbering hundreds of thousands of goblin-kind, undead, dark elves, and other monsters, flowed southwards, overwhelming the Osbirsómi fortresses of the golden elves and pouring into their kingdom. The other half, composed of many, many demons and led by demon-lords and High Demons, headed northwest, to the fortresses of the angels.

“It was a terrible onslaught. It is said that the approach of Narguenor’s army was a tempest of darkness, a hurricane of shadows and black flame. The angels’ border-fortresses[1] despite noble resistance were annihilated, and the evil host rushed onwards to Gondémai Nalaiali, that Hidden Citadel amidst the mountains which was the angels’ ancient dwelling place, and their last defense. But it was also their greatest, and they had been warned by messengers from the border-fortresses. The last remnant of the Perseverant Ones held, resisting mightily at the citadel, a stone pillar amidst a demonic sea, and after three weeks of fighting Narguenor called off the assault. She was bitterly disappointed, and seethed with rage; but she herself was terrified of Véstaliel, the angel-king. Several legions were left to besiege the citadel, and the rest of the host moved on.

“Now we come to the part of the tale that concerns us and our mission, for we stand in the very country that was imperiled by Narguenor when her forces burst through the mountains. This was the land of Sylvaté Enéverde, Kingdom of the Silver Elves; and Séltavar their king was warned by an angel-messenger in only the nick of time. He had barely a fortnight to gather all the men he could. But he sent out his heralds, and they bade all to marshal at the very hill we speak of. That hill used to have a name of loveliness, which is no longer spoken; the elves in their grief speak its old name only in songs of remembrance. It is now called by them Sen Arnöen[2], the Hill of Crying Stars.

“King Séltavar led the defense from the hilltop. The Silver Knights gathered there numbered twenty thousand, but it was nowhere near enough: several times that number was Narguenor’s host, made of demons wicked and powerful. Silver and blue and white standards were engulfed in a sea of darkness, as is written:

Cerulean and palest blue

their banners bore, with gems

of blazing white, with brilliant moon

emblazoned; yet far more

the countless hordes of Narguenor –

her darkness greater still.

Elennëa in opal robes

wept shining tears above.

The cause was hopeless, but under the king the men held, fighting undefeatable odds; and their stand is considered one of the noblest and most valiant deeds of the entire elven people. Indeed, Séltavar was a master of starlight-magic and wielded it to great effect, bolstering his knights and weakening their enemies. But eventually Narguenor herself came to fight, and dueled the king. His starlight hurt her, greatly; but she smote him down with her nine-headed flail, and he fell. They continued to fight, but the silver-elf warriors were overwhelmed, destroyed and scattered.

“The rest of Enéverde followed. The capitol fell first, despite a sorrowful last stand. Then the dark tide turned westward; and though some parts of the kingdom held on, and resisted for many years, they were all in the end lost. So passed the Kingdom of the Silver Elves. After her victory on the hilltop, Narguenor made the place her center of command, for a brief span at least. After the pain Séltavar inflicted on her, she did not lead her hosts for a long time, and sent demonic generals in her stead. It is said that her servants began delving into the hill, and stored there plundered treasures, but also that the darkness in these delvings was used by Narguenor for her own evil purposes, ends unknown to the wise.

“And thus my suspicions. It is true, ranger, that the hill is not an evil place: the passing of time has washed away the stains of Narguenor’s presence, and yet the sorrow of such terrible deeds remains. And the rumors of secret delvings, full of the utmost shadow, are very closely kept; it is possible that those hidden ways under the hills, and anything that might be in them, have never been disturbed. Until recently. This, then, is my guess. Something has been awakened, either at the hill or under it; something related to either the elven king and all his fallen men, or else to Narguenor.”

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[1] Fayolailine and Nalthrostine, the last two survivors of the ancient celestial mountain-strongholds.

[2] From Sena Arnöelenna.