Elyria Bluewater
Empress of Fenoria
"Our Empress and Saviour, Elyria Bluewater. Same as most people, I have never seen her in person, but you can see her influence all throughout the Empire. Since the beginning of her rule, the forests haven't been as dangerous anymore and all of the cities on our continent have been at peace for all of her time. And yes she is undead, but that doesn't mean she is evil or something. The world isn't all black-and-white."
Elyria's Life
Elyria grew up as the daughter of Eligius Varialus, the Sultan of the Uspania in the Assiduus Desert, together with her 17 brothers and 1 sister. Her father had more wives than anyone could keep track of and every time one of his children would reach the age of 11, he would test the child for strength, determination and intelligence. A child that could pass the test would be a legitimate child of the Sultan from that point. Some boys could pass the test, but for girls this was often much harder. Elyria did pass with perfect scores on determination and intelligence and a score just high enough on strength. So although Elyria has 18 known siblings, there are many more that never passed the test and were never legitimized.Early Childhood
The woman who gave birth to Elyria was a High-elf named Zaralia Bluewater. As was usual in their culture, she raised and educated Elyria herself among with the 3 older sons she had giving birth to from Eligius. All of her children passed the Sultan's test as Zaralia was very smart herself. Elyria didn't have an easy childhood though, as she and her 3 brothers were the only 4 Half-elf children of the Sultan and also the only 4 non-human children for that matter. Her mother taught her about Ihrasil, the old Elven Goddess of Nature. She learnt more and more about Ihrasil and her ideal to make the world more in balance with nature again. To Ihrasil, people were living off nature and animals like it was their possession and exploited nature only for their own good. Elyria swore an oath to Ihrasil to follow her and protect nature. She swore on her life to do so.Coming of Age
From 11 until 17 years old, Elyria was trained in combat and hunting strategies. A big part of the provision of food came from the hunt of giant creatures that roamed the desert, which was the task of the children of the Sultan. This was a show of strength and leadership, which was important for an heir of the Sultan. They were taught how to lead their hunting force, commanding respect from their hunters. At 17 years old, Elyria got her own hunting force of 20 men and women to command, just like every other legitimized child. Instead of commanding her men to obey her orders without question, she let them know they are a team and every one of them, including herself was worth just as much as the other. During combat, nobody would question her decisions and doubtlessly follow her. Outside of combat, she would accept every bit of critique. Elyria would only hunt creatures that were already wounded or about to die, because the Goddess, Ihrasil taught her to stay in balance with nature. She would loosely keep track of the numbers of all of the species to check if the food chain would stay in balance.The Desertion of Auralis
Elyria was 25 years old when the forces of evil approached the city of Auralis. Elyria and her team fought a guerrilla war, winning a few small skirmishes, raiding supply caravans. During these fights, she lost some of her men who were very dear to her. Elyria has never stated what the evil monsters and creatures were and many contradicting tales go around of tree monsters, blood-magic sorcerers, large hounds and demons and devils. After some time, the city of Auralis was destroyed and Elyria fled together with her hunting force. Most of the people in Auralis were slaughtered, including her father, Eligius. After this event, she sought refuge in the Wretched Woodlands.A common child story, once told by Theetac the Bard.
"It was a warm night in the dense forests of the Wretched Woodlands and Elyria and her force were looking for a safe place to spend the night when one of Elyria's scouts reported back about an ancient ruin nearby. Elyria immediately commanded her men to take refuge in the ruins. Once inside, she went looking around and found some elvish manuscripts that were once used for worship. It was about nature, taking over the world. The destroyers of nature, the people, would die and return to the soil to be the food for the trees and the plants. She realized that this is what Ihrasil wanted, not to restore the balance between the people and nature, but to destroy humanity and let nature rule the world again. She began praying to Ihrasil, demanding an answer. Ihrasil told Elyria that she could become one with nature and oversee and be part of the conquest of nature. Ihrasil reminded her of the oath she had sworn to protect nature, but she refused. Instantly, she collapsed, gasping for air. Her skin turned pale as if no blood was flowing through it, her hair turned white and she didn't move. Her men watched this all happen, they had heard Elyria speak to her Goddess and they saw her collapse. She still had a heartbeat though and the men protected her for 3 nights and 3 days in the hope of her coming back. Meanwhile, Elyria was brought to the Feywild where she wandered for years. But she had a clear goal, to destroy Ihrasil. We do not know what happened to Elyria in the Feywild, but after those 3 days, just when her men decided to leave her behind, she woke up. At that same moment they heard the trees, the plants, the shrubberies make the sound of moaning and crying as they described it themselves. Elyria defeated Ihrasil. Still, the scars can be seen throughout the forests. Still, a force of nature is trying to regain control. What's won is won, but it can always be undone."The Creation of the Fenorian Empire
During the times of Ihrasil, all of the nations that once had large territories filled with cities, had withdrawn to their main cities as their lands were overrun by forests and jungles. After Ihrasil was defeated, the forests didn't disappear and they were just as fearsome and dangerous. In the following years, Elyria formed and quickly expanded the The Fenorian Empire, conquering all of the cities. Most of them peacefully, as she showed them her immortality and her dedication to fight against the horrible forces of nature. A notable battle was that of the Fenorian Empire against The Orc Horde in 894, called The Brutal War. The Orcs wouldn't give in to the demands of Elyria, but were defeated within a few days of bloodshed.
"What's won is won, but it can always be undone."
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A very interesting character and resonates with me. It's the type of character I would attempt to play. The bardic tale was a very good touch. I would even, for formatting sake, make it as a sort of labelled spoiler. Either way, this was an interesting read and I look forward to seeing more of your work.