Avaronian Spectres

The Avaronian Spectres are gone now but they will still remain a blemish on the Mervidel name for a long time. They do not have any redeeming qualities in my opinon. Large scale murder, torture and corruption was commonplace while they were in place. And from what I know it seems like even Chaos Magic was not something they shunned.

— High Sage Syronikir

The Avaronian Spectres is an organisation which most people thought was disbanded after the recent war in eastern Farlis. During the rule of the dictator Verakon Elervir they were the intelligence agency of Mervidel . Unknown even to the current government of Mervidel they resumed operation shortly after the war under the leadership of an unknown group.

Even before the end of the recent war many of its members were followers of Mackevism, the ancient religion of the Avaronian Empire. Although they had been active again for several years now most of their actions have been well hidden and often through third parties.

Avaronian Spectres Logo by Kefkejaco with Inkarnate

History

Niorath

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This map shows the world of Niorath and its various biomes and nations. The north and south pole areas are still rather unexplored because they are frequently covered in ice. Various species live there but they have not played any major role in the history of the planet. The other continents are much more populated and have seen their fair share of changing occupants.

Some areas of the world are quite different from the normal natural biomes. These are chaos areas, region affected by the dangerous Chaos Tempests who can corrupt the land beyond recognition. Many of these are the result of forbidden magic going very wrong and have often meant the end of the empires that performed the related rituals.

Origin

The first version of the Avaronian Spectres was created around 1165 AE as a reaction to the formation of the Eastern Alliance of the Human countries. Their main concerns were the growing power of the Humans which would later be intensified when the industrial revolution started to rise in Farlis. Their goal was to return the Elven countries back to their former glory as was the case during the Avaronian Empire.
They were suspected of being followers of a Mackevism, a religion which is considered heresy by the followers of Archonism. It took, however, many decades after their founding before they gained an influence on politics.

Verakon Elervir

Once the dictator Verakon Elervir took power in Mervidel the Avaronian Spectres quickly grew in status and influence. After only a few years the Spectres were reformed and were made into an official government organisation. At first this was mainly to look into ways for the Elves to return to their former glory. Many Spectres searched the world for ancient Avaronian artifacts and knowledge that could help them.
Eventually after several years of Verakon's rule, other stories started to pop up about the Avaronian Spectres. The spectres became ever more involved in various incidents of assasination, theft and influencing politics. On top of that they even started to openly advocate for Mervidel expansion into old territories.
This all cumulated into the Covenant-Alliance war which resulted in a victory for the Humans, although not without a great loss of life. As the spectres were involved in the genocide of Savi and several other war crimes they were branded as immoral by the victors and forced to be disbanded.

Verakon Elervir by Kefkejaco with Heroforge

Yamaderis misplaced this image by Kefkjaco with heroforge

Lingering Influence

Even though they were officialy disbanded, the feelings for some High Elves did not really chance. Some still felt that Humans were a threat as their ever expanding industry would soon start to eclipse them. The Spectres were still kept alive in secret, even without knowledge of the Mervidel government. They were very succesful in keeping a low profile as no one assumed they were still around until recently.
Their presence became once more known during the Union Day of 1245 AE when both princes of Pavan Empire attended. During this event the revealed themself and succesfully assasinated Endori'em, the heir to the Pavan Empire. During the event they killed many people in Golandon. Many of them were killed with newly developed arcane daggers that steal the soul from a victim. What their exact end goal is, is still unknown but it believed that part of it at least involves bringing back the Avaronian leader Mackevor from the dead.