Sildanyar
Outsiders know them, by and large, as the Fair Folk. To the sildanyari, they are the People of the Veil, decendants of an ancient beauty and wonder of an ancient world.
To many outside races, the llyranesi and silvanyari practically exemplify the concept of fae glamour and magic, with the mul'niessa as its underside. The People of the Veil exude a sense of otherworldliness, ethereal grace and ephemeral power that tends to define the more mundane perceptions where expectations of the fae are concerned. Today nearly all sildanyari hail from the hidden elven domain of Llyranost, located in the heart of the Greatwood on the very fringes of civilization.
Precious little is known about this land as the sildanyari guard their borders with a sense of desperation and aggressiveness that contrasts greatly to the diplomatic envoys sent out to other realms. Beyond Llyranost, glittering manses and enclaves located in places where the barriers between the mortal world and the unseen world are thin serve as houses of refugee for wandering bands of sildanyari and the few friends and allies they allow within to learn of their secrets.
The sildanyari were upon a time one race, and upon a time were creatures of the Unseen World. They dwelled beyond the boundries of the fae Veil, and existed in a realm where magic reigned supreme and the very substance of the world, so the tales go, could be altered at whim.
Creations of the Gods of Light, so the legends go, the sildanyari dwelled as spirits. They served a role in the maintaining the precious life-giving energies of The World Tree.
However, during their long vigil, Gunahkar the Destroyer and the patron of the Daemons of the Void, entered into the blissful realm of the Fae and sought to unmake the Feywild by wounding the world tree with his poisonous black weapons. Though the elves arrayed much of their great magic against the God of Darkness, it was only the intervention of the Gods of the Light that they were able to survive and drive off the nihilistic being.
Filled with wrath and a thirst for vengeance, many of the sildanyari sought to pursue Gunahkar and His minions to the material world of Gaea. Others, however, had grown interested in devising realms of their own. Against the wishes of the Courts, these sildanyari entered the world and did so arrayed in the shining glory.
They served as champions of the Gods of Light in this era, establishing great kingdoms and pursuing the great allies of Gunahkar, from ocean to ocean. Many crusades did they undertake in the name of the Light against the forces of the Void. However these sildanyari soon found themselves akin to exiles for their abilities to return, at will, to the Feywild diminished over time and with it so did much of their potency and spiritual power.
Civil war would soon grip them. Their loss of true immortality saw the rising paranoia of many factions of nobility and some turned their hearts to the Goddess of Murder and sealed a pact with her for access to power they believed would restore their waning might.
The result was civil war, upon the death of their greatest king, dividing the elven nation between various factions loyal to the twin sons, with the daughter caught in the middle of it all. The great war caused the cataclysmic end of the greatest of the elven nations, Myn'Sandriel, and the death of the two sons along with the cursing of a large segment of the sildanyari, who were taken into Taara's fold.
These Cursed, the mul'niessa, their spirits and souls seemingly eternally in the grip of Taara. The surviving princess led those who would come with her to what is today known as Llyranost where she, still somehow retaining a measure of the ancient vaunted immortality of the old world, reigns to this day. Known by many names, Cherylindrea surveys a dwindling race from the depths of a forest realm rapidly shrinking as it is besieged on all sides by forces that would drive sildanyari from Gaea forever. The remaining sildanyari worked diligently to shape the forest of their homeland and in time the Elvenwood grew to be one of the most beautiful places on the continent of Arcania. At night, the forest would truly come alive with fey creatures, faeries, and more soaking in the magical glory of the wood.
Llyranost grew in size over the centuries as more sildanyari from various parts of the world continued to migrate to it on great pilgrimages. Many remained therein, but others would visit for a time and then return to their worldly explorations. In time, the pilgrimages to Llyranost came to be known as The Gathering and groupings of these would occur once ever few centuries as the llyranesi and sylvanori reaffirmed their connection to the fey world that their ancestors had left and were barred from returning to. The mul'niessa turn to other sources.
Today, the sildanyari live in a state of apprehension and anger. While for ages they had stood behind the wooden veil and continued to guard their borders, the world has changed once again.
The once-vaunted power of all sildanyari had been diminishing for years, with fewer children being born and desperation continues to drive the Veil Folk to seek more ways to preserve their way of life as a lingering threat, seen in the form of Taara and the mul'niessa horde, hungrily seeks to lay claim to their powerful life energies.
Elven Races
Elf, Dawn (Llyranesi) Elf, Shadow (Mul'niessa) Elf, Wild (Sylvanori)
Recent Events
For years content within their isolation, the ascension of the dark goddess has alarmed the llyranesi and sylvanori greatly and placed them on the offensive for the first time in generations of the histories of men. Of late the llyranesi have moved forward into the world again, seeking ties and contacts with the world around them. The mul'niessa in Charn have taken the coming of the shadow goddess as a sign of strength, and have broken off to form their own nation.
The rest of the world waits to see what the sildanyari may do.