#Lore24 – Entry #339 – Sci-Fi Month IV #4 – The Elvish Dominion
Transcribed From the Personal Recording Implant of Andra Ganim, Chronicler of the Codex Infinitum
AG: “So would you say you specialized in destructive magic at the academy? Would seem fitting going to war.”
RV: “At the time, yes. As I said, rebellious young blood. It was my first specialization, though I have since mastered all recognized disciplines…and perhaps some that aren’t.”
AG: “Most intriguing; I will circle back around to this later. For now, could you describe your first experiences upon the fields of battle?”
RV: “I would call them positively invigorating. After being confined to the stuffiness of the academy as I had been, being in a setting where things were actually happening was a most welcome change. I was not possessed of the fear that often overtakes someone during their first real battle, rather, I found myself in my element, almost as if it were a natural state. Though our engagements were limited at first, I relished the chance to rend my enemies asunder through my command of the arcane. I do believe that this was the first time I truly recognized that I had a sadistic side to my nature. I can’t recall any specific examples, but I know I would leave many aerians in various states of dismemberment and see if I could coax some screams from them. They are dreadfully stubborn creatures, you know, even more so back then than they are now, and it was a rare treat to make one scream in pain.”
Note: The casual manner in which she related this sent a chill down my spine, and I am quite disturbed by the look of fond reminiscence upon her face.
AG: “I see…how did your battlefield experience lead you to improve your house and to the formation of the Elvish Dominion?”
RV: “It was the lack of unity I saw. For all our enlightenment compared to the lesser races, we elves tended to stick to our own blood for whatever reason, well, back then, at least. I daresay that was why we could never truly control the world as we so often dreamed of, because we always saw a plot against us, usually from others of our kind, for we were the only ones to be able to think that far ahead, you see. The shorter-lived races were of no real concern except in the moment; they could always be dealt with in some form or another, but the threat that was always there was our own kind.
Even though the aerians were quite brutish and backwards in their ways, they were tenacious and had an excellent ability to work together for a common cause, namely the eradication of any elves that crossed them, and more on top of that for good measure. For all of my brutality in slaying them with my magic, they would return the favor in kind with their own barbaric methods and had been for some time. I noticed early on that my people would make decisions that would benefit their houses over the greater good of the entirety of the elvish nation, resulting in losses that didn’t have to happen.
I do believe this was likely when my natural ability to lead and inspire first manifested, for I began to create alliances that broke down some of the barriers between the houses, forged in the fires of war. After a handful of years on the battlefield, I would return to my homeland with my inner fire burning quite hot and pushed the leadership of House Volcari to change their ways. I won’t say that it was entirely the force of my personality that was responsible for these changes and growing alliances, however much I would like to say that was the driving factor. No, there was no small amount of subterfuge and arcane methods employed, and no few people had to be made to disappear. Luckily enough we had an enemy that was more than capable of being manipulated into doing the work for us, exploiting the opportunities that I and my loyalists would create for them.
It was the loss of many of the elder leaders of the various houses that spurred them to action, to lay aside ancient feuds and oft-imagined plots against one another and join together to form the Elvish Dominion. As expected, this unification, and the formation of the twelve Great Houses that would lead the entirety of the elven people caused quite the stir amongst the people on the outside. Most saw this as a threat to their own peoples, and perhaps it was. Some would ally with us, and some would try to remain neutral or come to the defense of the aerians, seeing the elves as a real threat for the first time.
Quite a tumultuous period, really.
Though I would be prominent as a force of change for some years, I would eventually return to my arcane studies, firmly established as the true power of House Volcari. It would not be without its own dangers, certainly, and I made it a point to master my protective warding magics during this period, for there were many attempts on my life during the early days, something that has continued to this very day, believe it or not.
In spite of the relative unrest that would prevail during this period, my studies and experimentation would lead to several remarkable advances in the magical arts, born of the study of the ancient and long-lost draconic race that likely seeded Andyllion. I would become quite fascinated with uncovering all that I could about them, driven by a desire from deep within my very soul, as it were. Though I had little proof of it at the time, I would eventually come to learn the nature of this fascination and how my unique nature was related to it.
During these scant few centuries, I would likewise uncover a plethora of previously lost sources of power that would prove quite literally earth-shattering in the coming years. You know of what I am referring to, yes?”
AG: “You speak of the Demonfall, correct? Are you saying that you were responsible for calling the demons to Andyllion?”