Crown of the Stars

The Lost Crown of a Dying Empire

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The long-lost Crown of the Stars is the Imperial Crown of the Avalonian Empire. Its disappearance left the Empire bereft of a leader. The Empire subsequently fragmented, until it deteriorated into a shell of its former self. It is said that only the destined Arcorael (Emperor or Empress) can don the Crown without dying a horrible death; and yet, fighting for the Crown has shaped the history of the elves, and devastated them as a people.
The Crown of the Stars has a companion, the Crown of the Earth, which is the crown of the Royal Consort. It, too, is lost to time and space.

Description

Celestial Crown by Anonymous (Vintage Image)

The Crown is described in great detail in numerous sources, and several ancient artistic representations have been preserved. According to historians, it is a delicate clear-white crystalline structure. It is studded with 13 tear-shaped blue gems at its rays that resemble large sapphires, except that they appear to contain tiny stars. Each tear is ringed with 19 iridescent white diamonds of the highest quality. A total of 26 of the same white diamonds, each one of which glows like a star, top the points of the rays and the peaks between them. The base of each ray is a heart, formed by the negative space between two faceted, raised leaves. Vinelike curls sprout from the base of the tears and coil up and under the cosmic diamonds between the rays. The brim of the circlet alternates 26 large white diamonds and faceted crystalline leaves, and is bordered by two lines of white diamonds, totaling 364 gems; one for each day of the Avalonian Calendar year.
Bards and poets write that if one gazes for long enough into the Crown's transparent depths, shapes of constellations, nebulae, or even galaxies appear. They also claim that when the full powers of the Crown are called upon, its brilliance can be literally blinding.

A Brief History

Avalonian Imperial Crest

The Crown of the Stars is said to have been created by Lugh and Arianrhod Themselves at the Dawning of Avalon -- or at least, that is what the scattered remnants of the Royal Records, and the dogma of the priesthoods say. Others say that a crescent moon maker's mark identifies the craftsperson who fashioned it. Whatever the case, the Crown has been worn by the High King or High Queen of the elves for millennia, and it (or something like it) is depicted in even the most ancient Avalonian art.

The Succession Wars

The Succession Wars shattered the Avalonian Empire and led directly to the loss of the Royal Crowns. Sources dispute the cause of the initial conflict, but it is generally accepted that Sidhe, Sluagh, and others disputed the monopoly that the Ruaalfar and Alfar seemed to hold over the Succession.
In 3304 AC, the Royal Family was attacked in the city of Tohvassneris and the Heir Apparent was kidnapped by dark elves. The Crowns were lost in the conflict. Some say they remain in the possession of the Sluagh, but that none among them meet the criteria to wear it. However, there is no evidence to support this other than convenient timing. Other sources claim the Crowns were lost when the First Interstellar War broke out. Still others claim that the Crowns remain buried in the ruins of Tohvassneris, awaiting the Heir's return, or that the Tyrannen Empire took the Crowns, and either buried them in the secret grave of their Emperor, or that the Archmage Adinarik Vramyr took them for his own purposes when the Tyrannen fell.

Mechanics & Inner Workings

According to legend, the Crown of the Stars allows its wearer to control all Starseed ships in a system. How it does this, exactly, remains a mystery. Some sources say it was constructed of the crystallized "wood" of a dead Tree of Life and maintains an affinity for the species; others, that powerful, lost elven magic, or even divine intervention, is responsible for this power.
Other rumoured powers of the Crown include:

• the power to permanently blind enemies of the elven people
• the power to destroy undead who suffer under the powers of sunlight
• the power to "throw stars" at enemies of the monarch
• the power to heal the most grievous of wounds, or even to raise the dead

Also according to legend, the Crown cannot be worn by anyone who does not have the necessary lineage and "purity of heart" to claim the Avalonian Throne. If the Crown rejects the wearer, then the wearer will die; although the method of the unworthy wearer's demise is unknown. Conflicting sources claim that it's a powerful curse, a biological toxin, radiation, or necromancy.

Manufacturing process

If the Crown was fashioned by a mortal elven hand, it was surely by someone who was not only a grandmaster of their craft, but a powerful Archmage.

Significance

The Crown of the Stars represents the Avalonian Empire and the mandate of rule over it. Finding the Crown, and its companion, the Crown of the Earth, would reunite the Avalonian Empire, and potentially reverse elven decline.

Show Spoiler

There was something about the elf’s name, though. The archaic use of the old tongue for his name… there was something significant about that. And it wasn’t just that it indicated the elf was a scion of one of the ancient lines of the lost Avalonian Empire’s nobility, either. There was something about the name itself that he ought to remember from his history studies.
It was later that night that Shaundar remembered it. “Khi’Marinae” was the name of the last ruling family of the Avalonian Empire.
If the legendary Crown of the Stars could ever be found, Selnaris Khi’Marinae would be High King.

--Brothers in Arms by Diane Morrison

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Item type

Unique Artifact

Related Technologies

• Starfaring Engines

Related ethnicities

• Alfar
• Nunnehi
• Nymph
• Rua'alfar
• Sidhe
• Sluagh
• Sylph

Owning Organization

Avalonian Empire

Rarity

Unique

Weight

1.6kg / 3.53lbs

Dimensions

7 inches (17.78 cm) high, with a diameter of about 16 inches (40.64 cm)

Base Price

A priceless treasure, literally worth a king's ransom

Raw materials & Components

Though representations of the Crown of the Stars have been made in quartz, lead crystal and glass, the noted historian Selnaris Khi'Marinae writes that it was originally formed of the "wood" from an ancient Tree of Life. However, Khi'Marinae also claims that the gems of the crown actually contain captured stars. Astrophysicists and metaphysicists generally scoff at this claim, since the Crown of the Stars would clearly destroy its wearer and almost everything around them if this were true, either by burning them to a crisp, poisoning them with radiation, or simply crushing them with the force of its gravitation.

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