Clan of Velulaei
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History
As with all clans of Ashen Folk, those called Velulaei’onn are forged by their heritage. Their ancestry traces from Velulaei, called Veluluai in the spoken histories of the forest seeds and lesser races, by way of an ancient story.
In the twilight of Magara’lin, great capital of the Mali’ker, the firstborn son and most favored child of Velulaei, whose given name was Azul, decided himself and his people worthy of far more. It was his belief that the Ashen Folk, those Elves of great beauty and wit, could create for themselves an empire upon the ashes of their cousins in the forests and towers. It was his opinion, in opposition to his mother, to his father, to his clan and to the great majority of his people, that they belonged on the surface - for they had built an underground realm after their corruption of appearance, but in their own time Malin’s other children had also undergone transformations. His people, called simply the Azulites, in the tongue of Magara’lin the Azulan, had long chafed at their self-imprisonment. He agreed, and in a bid to change society from its peak, he called his mother to the tallest peak in the realm.
It was there that Azul and his followers laid low the matriarch of our folk - under the light of the full moon, Azul was said to have stabbed into Velulaei’s chest a dagger of corroded iron, a gesture thought to have been his own metaphor for her weakness, her corruption of our people. She fell, and he stared as his mother’s blood stained the rock at his feet. As the moon began to fall and Magara’lin slept with it, though, he decided his matricide was not enough. Thousands of loyal followers of Velulaei and Luara died in the chaos now called Velulaei’maliear, the Moon’s Betrayal, and Azul’s evil cause was brought to light - for he so obviously desired not the salvation of the Ashen Folk, but their decimation. It was in the greatest of the Moon Spirit’s temples, the Luara’okarn, where the worst of the atrocities were committed. Two hundred naeri, or priestesses, lived under the Moon Spirit’s auspices; ten lived through the night. The progenitor of the Velulaei’onn was among them - perhaps spared for her relation to Azul, young Renelia, daughter of Velulaei, survived the slaughter by hiding within a recently doused ceremonial pit. In the morning, the civil war truly began between the Vindicators and the Azulites. Renelia, still a child, did not participate, yet the religious strata of the City of Caverns soon too found themselves ruined - the war between her father and brother had left the temples nearly devoid of sacrifice without the instruction of Velulaei, for such resources could be far better used in the feeding of a Vindicator army.
Order is remembered to have ruled the day, for in time the Vindicators captured Azul, inflicted upon him a horrendous, indefinite punishment, and locked him within Magaralin’s deepest caves. The children of Velulaei, however, would be taught differently - for was it not just as soon as they opened communications with other elves that they abandoned her teachings and left their ancient homes for a future among forests? Were Luara’s commands not forgotten, their own traditions lost? Renelia joined the fleet with everyone else - tied into a bundle and forced by her father to follow their peoples’ will. When they arrived, and she freed of her bonds, a group of fifty left Laurelin. They would be stricken from history, a ban placed on their names - for to leave the clans was akin to insanity, no? Upon its uncloaking, the Renelians, as they called themselves, found that perhaps it was not so.
Appearance
The Velulaei’onn are the direct descendants of Renelia, first daughter of Velulaei, and are so obviously named for their original progenitor. They bear the ancient traits of Velulaei and Uradras; from Velulaei, her white hair and skin of dark ash, and from Uradras eyes pale as the moon. Few times have outside traits been mixed into the main line, and it has been known that those possessing traits outside of those found in ancient Magara’lin (eyes not red or gray, or dark hair) are disinherited - for such means they were born of blood partially outside of the Ashen Folk.
Prayer and the Clan
In accordance with ancient practice, the Velulaei’onn and their followers pray annually to Luara, and every five years congregate for the great Kervira, or Moon’s Vigil, a festival beneath the moonlight in remembrance of their losses. It is led by the High Matriarch, chief priestess among the Renalian people, who must hold Luara in the highest regard among spirits. The chosen allies of the Velulaei’onn are called Laureh’ker - Sunset Noblesse - and eligible for the same positions those of the clan themselves are. The name Velulaei’onn can be passed through both the mother and the father; either case, however, must be approved by the head of the line, lest both the Velulaei’onn and any children they sire be disinherited.
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