Fëanor Sylvaeri
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Fëanor Sylvaeri, a Proto-Elf and the Patriarch of the House of Sylvaen, known sometimes by his nicknames the Flameborne, Sea Prince, or Star-Smith is the former Prince of Aegrothond. After inheriting the title through the peaceful abdication of his father, Fëanor committed to the betterment of his nation with zeal- cementing the legitimacy of the Almenodrin claim to the throne of Elvenesse and bringing the former enemies of his lands to the negotiating table. He is credited with the triumphant signing of a formal peace between Sylvaeri and Ithelanen at the Compact of Lathadlen in 1712 at the behest of Din'laselan Ithelanen, as well as the general normalization of Aegrothond as a nation of Elves following the previous century's many uncertainties.
He is a member by patrilineal descent of the Almenodrin House of Sylvaen, being the sixth full-blooded Elf of the line of Aegnor. He is the great-grandson of the High Prince Eleron Sylvaeri of Malinor, and bears the heirlooms of that fallen Princedom as well as those of the venerable House.
Contents
Biography
Early life
Little is publicly known of Fëanor's early childhood. It is generally known among the Almenodrim he was born to a female healer and cleric of Tahariae and Belestram Sylvaeri, an Agent of Aeriel in Axios. His childhood manor home of Kal'Omith was directly adjacent to the Temple of The Brathmordakin and The Ascended Order, a key factor in his diverse faith. The elf was educated in both Elvish and Dwarven customs and language, as well as medicine and blacksmithing. As a result of his peculiar upbringing, Fëanor received little contact with Elven communities.
His family was permanently displaced following the dissolution of The Holy League and their home presumably destroyed in the late years of the Dwarven War of the Beards: of the latter harrowing event would the elf always begrudge the Dwarves of Kaz'Ulrah. The loss of purpose in the Order of the Mongoose leading into the next realm would cause the separation of his parents. His father Belestram would take up a key role in The Bronze Rebellion, in which The Bronze Lords formed an accord with Princess Awaiti, to lead to the founding of Caras Eldar. Of Fëanor, he would be displaced from his family for a decade more, living in relative seclusion with his mother in the wilderness.
Dominion Years
In his early twenties, Fëanor arrived to the capitol of Caras Eldar, of which his father Belestram reigned as High Prince near to the beginning of its years. The political landscape had far from mellowed following the tumultuous Bronze Rebellion upon Awaiti Aureon, and Fëanor was surrounded by the Bronze Lords and their respective families and political allies. It was not until the early reigning years of then Praetor Kairn Ithelanen that Fëanor finally settled inside Caras Eldar, serving as a recruit, then officer of the Virarim, whom he served diligently out of obligation to the city his father had helped to found. It would be this long-standing military career, and the supervision of Kairn as a father-like figure and commander that most greatly shaped Fëanor's perspective on Elves, especially during times of civil strife. Few can recall it to this day, but Kairn did publicly note that he saw Fëanor as he would his own son.
Throughout Fëanor's young life, the young man was subject to several traumatic and stressful situations, resulting in several episodes of apparent psychotic breaks and cases of wounding. Of those most notable, a Zar'ei was Fëanor's first experience with demonic beings. He was critically wounded by their malflame for a year, scarring him with nervous tissue damage for several centuries then on. In addition to this, a notable excursion alongside other Dominion allies and holy-affiliated mages and Arcanists drew Fëanor and several others into the captured territory of the then-Prince of Agony, a Zentharek which cursed him with excruciating pain in his right shoulder. Other various injuries or scars were acquired, although by large healed in these years among the Virarim, which formed the basis for Fëanor's contempt for the undead and all things demonic or otherwise spectral.
Further adding to his stress, the young elf became aware of his father's courting of Kairn's then-fiance Illynora Aureon, Belestram proclaiming his intentions to take her on as his wife, to Fëanor's own initial objection, as it placed him in direct opposition to Kairn, and Fëanor himself frowning against the act of courting of another man's partner. This was among a few factors which would begin to push Fëanor away from his father's own-held beliefs, marking the difference between him and his son, and among much of the social tension leading up to his House's next great period of trial. It was in these same years of stress and general depression that Fëanor came to meet his future wife Delmira Aureon, who was the primary healer in the Caras Eldar clinic and provided him with much needed solace and companionship.
Fëanor witnessed much of the Orcish Wars, the reign of Kairn Ithelanen as Mortal King, and the election of the High Prince Abelas Caerme'onn as Kairn's successor. In the years that would follow King Abelas's reign, Fëanor would come to first-hand witness the courtroom execution of the Elven King in 1679, being among those to petition for the King's life in an early attempt to stop the forced public duel. What followed instead was the Elven King's beheading by Atandt Irongrinder, an event in which Fëanor's father was not only witness to, but was passive to. Recognizing that with the temporary departure of the Ithelanen and the King's guards, Fëanor urged his father that they should depart for the time being. Instead, Belestram was swiftly arrested and placed on trial, the result of which was to be decided by combat. It was Fëanor and another dwarven ally of his father's that fought for Belestram's fate, however they were no match for the elven warriors of the Ithelanen. As a result, Belestram's hand was severed, and Fëanor saw his father escorted out of Caras Eldar.
Despite his direct choice to defend his father, Fëanor received only minor criticism from his fellow Virarim. In the following years, Fëanor would through seniority be elevated to the position of Praetor of Caras Eldar, a position which he served dutifully as a distraction from his tumultuous home life. In these days, the September Prince War was brought into full swing, Fëanor serving alongside the Dominion's allies to repel if not defeat this rogue threat to the Dominion of Malin. It would not be until Fëanor's early seventies that this conflict would near its apex, but not yet conclude. After serving under Mortal Queen Renn for a period of time, and the final abdication to Awaiti Aureon, Fëanor abdicated his post and came to join his family in Aegrothond, alongside Delmira and a small number of Fëanor's most loyal guards in the Virarim.
Atlasian Conflict and Rise of Aegrothond
Throughout the later years of Atlas, the House Sylvaeri rose upon the Isle of Aegrothond in exile, a small sea-citadel built up and housing loyalists to the Crown of Malin, the land itself protected in part by the Urguanite loyalists and Runelords of Az'adar. Aegrothond itself consisted of those in staunch opposition to the rising Gladewynn separatists who defected from the Dominion of Malin under the leadership of Mortal Queen Renn. During the founding years of Gladewynn and well into its rise to absorb the remnants of Caras Eldar under Awaiti, Gladewynn forces were in large opposition to Aegrothond on account of Belestram, who was by large viewed as a kinslayer and shunned among druidic communities. In these days, Aegrothond had to a repel a handful of forces sent to the archipelago to combat the House Sylvaeri and their own allies, conflict which Fëanor by large avoided. Instead he attempted to look after his fiance Delmira and his newborn and younger sister Serinwe as their family attempted to rebuild on Aegrothond. Much of the familial dynamic was split by the tension between Fëanor and Illynora, Fëanor himself wanting little to do with the politics the House continued to invest in.
As the archipelago grew and flourished with newcomers and refugees wishing no part of Gladewynn or Caras Eldar, Fëanor came into contact with a man named Victivus who was the explicit invited guest of Belestram. This Dark Elven man was known infamously as the Shadow Druid, a figure in possession of druidic gifts and blood magic, who used both in combination to attack other druids, the Mother Circle of note around this same time. While he was in hiding on the shores of Aegrothond, Fëanor came to see the man as a sort of mentor, and used his lessons and the knowledge he offered to form the basis of his later philosophy. In these years, Fëanor began to form the basis of an idea he held to create a weapon in opposition to a Daemon. Although Victivus later fled again into the wilderness, he left behind his teachings, which Fëanor carries to this day.
In these same years, and towards the end of Atlas, Fëanor formally engaged to and married Delmira Aureon, the ceremony to be held on the Isle of Aegrothond. Throughout the engagement and before the wedding, Fëanor stole the Bronze Bell of the Dominion, a relic which he keeps to this day as a memory of Caras Eldar and his time as its last Praetor before it was absorbed by Gladewynn.
Throughout and following this period of time, Fëanor was confided in private with his father, who planned to likely abdicate the seat of the House and power to Fëanor one day. Their relationship fell into a steady ease for now, until their arrival in Arcas.
Reign as Prince
Shortly after arriving in Arcas, Belestram abdicated the throne to Fëanor. Bequeathed to the young prince was the Crown of Storms as well as the relic-armor of ancestral driftwood. Fëanor ruled for four years as Prince of Aegrothond, reconnecting with some of his critical allies later into his reign. In these early years, Fëanor came into contact with the Ithelanens of Alderyn, and together they signed the Compact of Lethadlen, Fëanor now becoming the High Prince. This would mark the beginnings of the Elven Union War, a series of bloody raids and skirmishes - the Union side composed of Aegrothond, Alderyn, Fenn, and Vira'ker against the forces of Haelun'or and Renatus-Marna. A series of raids began in effort to capture each Elven signatory and have them defect from the Union or die, the first death being that of the High Prince Avurak of Vira'ker, who was executed. Fëanor himself was captured but swiftly freed by a coterie of the Aegrothond and Gladewynn fighters alongside the rest of the Union allies. He suffered a severe concussion and was out for seven nights.
The Elven Union War eventually transitioned into the Two Emperors War, the Elven Union taking the side of the Orenian rise to power. Although by large the greatest battles on the Helena capitol were unsuccessful, the Union did eventually settle after the Two Emperors War, each individual Elven state breaking from the Union defense pact, a peace secured by the Fenn forces overseeing the diplomatic resolution between the human sides.
By large, Aegrothond and Fëanor were fortunate to see the end of this conflict, although in the immediate years after, numerous plots to overthrow Fëanor resulted in the Gladewynn forces departing from the lands, a number of them leaving to found the city of Irrinor farther to the north. By large, Aegrothond was left quiet and with time to rebuild among its Almenodrim loyalists and allies. During these years, Fëanor would house a number of Dwarven political figures, Paladins, Clerics, and occasional humans seeking asylum on quiet shores, Fëanor himself seeing to the perseveration of the Halflings' land, keeping it by large out of human occupation, although having time to assist in battles such as that of the Three-Months' War between Urguan and the Holy Orenian Empire of Arcas.
Much of the Sea Prince's reign involved defending the state of the realm against otherworldly or unholy threats, expertise from his time in the Dominion of Malin in Atlas proving useful during the years of the Voidal Tear Wars across Arcas, and later during the Inferi War, in which he served as one of the founding signatories as part of the Firewatch Alliance.
Following the Voidal Tear Wars, Awaiti Aureon came to the city of Aegrothond, and she and Fëanor reached an agreement - to settle and unite the Wood Elves with Aegrothond into a new nation, with the founding of Siramenor at Aegrothond's forest coast. For a time they would be led by Awaiti, then by a Triumvirate of Elves, whom Fëanor considered each good friends to this day.
Soon after, the skull of Metzli fell to the Material Plane, and an invasion of Inferi from the Hells breached Korvassa, attacking the whole of Arcas. This would lead to the foundation of the Firewatch Alliance, Aegrothond being among its defensive and coastal operations, as they possessed critical resources and sea access, stationing ships and armies from the princedom's shores.
| During the Inferi War, Fëanor came into contact with the Darkstalker known as Vorkalan Ipos, an ancient unholy creature which used a dark sword-relic known as Malediction to curse and mark Fëanor, coaxing the Elven Prince to a dark citadel in the north. Here, Fëanor would be inducted into the Cultists of Elpleideis, an Ibleesian aligned cult working against the Descendants of Arcas. Although Fëanor was not immune to Vorkalan's deception, he was able to resist part of the curse that had been inflicted on him by the sword, temporarily binding Fëanor to the artifact. Throughout this time, Fëanor would take advantage of Vorkalan's knowledge and the arsenal he offered Fëanor to meditate on the nature of the divine and what laid beyond the Material Plane of Aos and Eos. Fëanor came to realize the true nature of the Golden Weapons as artifacts which were not made in this world, and likewise, the Daemon-sword known to his family as Dagnir, had to have been made of similarly powerful material. Thus began the smith's efforts to study and understand how to forge a weapon that could contend with a Golden or Daemonic weapon.
Eventually, Vorkalan would confront and attempt to kill Fëanor with the sword Malediction following the Descendants' victory at Korvassa. In the last year of Arcas, Vorkalan was supposedly slain at Fëanor's hands, leaving Fëanor with the cursed weapon and all his teachings. Unbeknownst to Fëanor at the time, Vorkalan had been in direct contact with the Arch-Drakaar, Azdromoth, and their interactions would found the basis for what would happen in Almaris. |
Becoming the Star-Smith
[WIP]
