House Myst
The title of House Myst actually belongs to several families spread across the Imperium, though it is generally used to simply refer to those living and ruling in Angler's Rest. This "Blue" branch of the House is seen as the primary branch, with the others being offshoots or even pretenders, depending on who is telling the tale. Across the Norinian Sea one can find the "Gray" Mysts in their castle of Nightstone on the isle of the same name, while far to the south in the Sea of Syridia the "Black" Mysts make them home at the Coalfort on Blackcoal Island. Describing the relationship between the three branches as an alliance feels generous; calling it more of a truce seems more accurate. Relations tend to be quite cool between them, perhaps due to some grudge far too old for anyone outside the families to remember.
The origins of House Myst date back centuries, to the point where the exact order of the parts of their story becomes a touch muddled. There are aspects which as broadly accepted as factual, but which events happened when is unclear. Most will say the Myst have ruled at Angler's Rest even before it became part of the Silverspire Empire. The Mysts were old and proud, even then, but became increasingly jealous of their trading partners in Aeria. The matriachs and patriachs of the family wished to achieve immortality like their elven neighbors and were bound and determined to achieve it, come hell or high water.
It is the next two tales which might have occured in either order: at some point one or possibly several members of House Myst journeyed far abroad in search of the secrets to eternal life. At some point they braved the Shifting Sands to peruse the libraries at Castle Azul and the Sands of Time. Some versions of the story say their inquiries inspired Cerelea's notion of Darkborn, while others say the Mysts borrowed from her idea of communing with daemons.
Meanwhile, before, during, or after the events up north, someone from the House also traveled to the Putrid Marsh to learn about necromancy from Tenabruis himself. The black dragon was already said to be well versed in the creation of risen at this point, and eager to share his discoveries with likeminded folk.
So it was that dark magic rituals and necromancy combined into the formation of the Curse of the Mysts: vampirism. Obstenibly the curse achieved its goal, the Mysts are functionally immortal like elves. But they learned that immortality and eternal life are not quite synonomous. New members of House Myst are not born, but moreso promoted to the station, as they are all technically undead. The curse can be spread to new members through secret practices closely guarded by the family, as seen in the Blue Myst's Nighingales. The curse warped their features to be perhaps more elven, though it also altered their skin tone and eyes somewhat like Darkborn and Shadowfae. They are highly sensitive to sunlight, with even short exposures burning their altered skin and eyes, and most famously to sustain this immortal form they must consume the blood of the living at semiregular intervals.
Though the secrets to crafting the curse were wrought of the knowledge of the dragon curses, House Myst had no desire to pledge fealty to either one of them. Instead some returned to Angler's Rest, while the others took their knowledge of seacraft and island living and built new homes. Eventually the Blue Mysts did pledge themselves to Silverspire, but the other two branches remain fiercly independent to this day. The Black Mysts are staunch allies to the goodly dragons around them and consider themselves the arch rivals of Tenabrius the Black. But it is perhaps the Gray Mysts who have risen the furthest, expanding their reach across the remote sections of the Norinian Sea and establishing small fishing and woodcutting colonies on the far coast of Miridia. In wealth, manpower, and resources they have outpaced even the Blue Myst branch, but their assets are so remote that they go largely unheeded by the rest of the civilized world.
Eternally Faithful, Eternally Vigilant
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The Blue Mysts
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