Ll’yandra
Titles: The Matron, Mother of Elves
Domain: Elves
Symbol: A red eye with three tears
Sphere Granted: Light or Dark
Ll’yandra was the second god to make her presence known in the world of Arthos. She claims to be the creator of the true Thalan, before they were shattered into their many elven subspecies. She was there when the first Thalan city was built. She was there when the Humans rose up and fractured her children into the multiple elven subraces that exist today. The Mother of Elves bitterly mourned the fragmentation of her true Thalan. Ll’yandra acts as loving mother and protector to all her children and to those that serve her. In the past that meant all elves, regardless of sub-race or creed. Recent events caused Ll’yandra to cast away some of those she once cared for. The Stone Elves, now called Shattered Elves, and the Ice Elves, taken from her by the Goddess of Pain, Pandora, no longer possess shards. They are no longer afforded her protection and are no longer considered elves by Ll’yandra and her followers.
To her chosen children, Ll’yandra encourages a strong bond and familial protection. She values conviction and loyalty. Like any good mother, she is patient, realizing that some of her children will stray from the path from time to time and that to force them back would only instil resentment and anger in them. Eventually they will find their own way back, in this life or their next. Ll’yandra teaches that elves should work together to help protect, teach, and solidify each other’s place in the world. The method by which this achieved is not as important to her as the principle under which it is accomplished. She grants her favoured either light or dark magic, but does require them to choose. Ll’yandra will not suffer those that straddle the paths of light and darkness, for their hearts lack conviction.
It is said that in the earliest days, when the elves were one race, Ll’yandra placed a living shard into each of her children, collected from her own tears. When an elf passes into final death, their lifeforce foregoes the traditional transcendence into the Deadlands and instead returns to Ll’yandra’s celestial home. There, in her magical Garden, the shards of unborn elves hang from the trees like precious fruit. The Mother claims that the number of elves is finite, and through this process no elf may truly die. Instead, they return home to be reborn anew. It is for this reason that Ll’yandra despises necromancy. That dark magic perverts and twists an elf’s shard, corrupting it and prohibiting it from returning to the Garden, obliterating the elven life force within forever.
Contents
Appearance
Ll’yandra takes the form of a majestic, mature elf. Her eyes glow gold but speak softly of wisdom. She is always clothed in a diaphanous white dress that trails a few feet behind her. She wears no armour and carries no weapons, but she is always heavily channeling. Upon her head she wears a simple crown, woven from twigs and branches. Between each sprig, magical golden berries bloom that are said to give life to any who consume them. Ll’yandra is often seen barefoot. When she walks upon the natural lands of Arthos, white rose plants bloom in her footsteps.
Tenets
Five things a Ll’yandra follower should do:
1. Put your tribe first, then all elves, then all others.
2. Use light or dark magic to enforce her will, but never both, for that is beyond mortal reach.
3. Cultivate wisdom and magic. Learn through patience and be strong in your convictions.
4. Guard and protect the forest. It is the sanctuary of all elves.
5. Open your heart and home to those who walk the Mother’s path. Show them charity and mercy.
Five things a Ll’yandra follower should not do:
1. Kill an elf whose shard is not corrupted.
2. Forget to pay respect to the Mother, even while worshiping another.
3. Allow a shard’s path to be interrupted in any way.
4. Tolerate necromancy against elves or further its teachings in others.
5. Give charity or sympathy to those who kill elves with little regard.
Celestial Heaven: The Garden
Unlike most of her Celestial kin, L’lyandra has little need to send her angels to gather the faithful from the torrential currents of the Black Tide, for her Celestial Heaven rests upon the very banks of the Black Tide. The very nature of her Realm simply draws forth unto itself any uncorrupted or otherwise unclaimed shard that happens to float by. These Spirits are gently pulled to the shore, and once they emerge from those grim waters, they are gently guided towards the Realm’s shimmering gate. Two of L’lyandra’s most fearsome Archangels keep a constant vigil upon the only ingress through The Garden’s mighty walls and stand by, ready to utterly annihilate any being foolish enough to attempt a forceful entry.
While it is ultimately the fate of all elven shards to be eventually reborn into a new life, the process of elven reincarnation is gradual with many steps. A shard cannot simply be forced into a newborn elf shortly after their death, for if that were to happen, it would inevitably result in a highly traumatized elf whose sense of self would undoubtedly fragment or shatter under the weight of an entire life of conflicting memories. Even a shard that was totally devoid of all memories would still taint its new life with the negative emotional echoes of its past life. Thus, the first step on the path of reincarnation involves a period of rest, in which the Spirit, undoubtedly traumatized by the grim realities of mortal life, begins to heal in both body and soul. They spend time in a carefree existence amongst the flora and fauna of the Garden, whose bounty contains a perfectly manicured and curated selection of the most beautiful natural scenery imaginable. Both Spirit and nature live together here in perfect symbiosis. The supplicants of L’lyandra gather together in small villages scattered throughout the Garden, with each community tailored to the particular subrace of Elf that resides there. The Cindus’Thalan tend to prefer a bountiful oasis surrounded by flowing dunes of sand, while the Olagot’Thalan are said to live in large communal dwellings formed from magically shaped living trees. There, they live in a similar manner to what they were accustomed to in their mortal life, save that here there is no hardship, no pain, and no scarcity.
When an elven Spirit is finally at peace and ready to let go of its previous mortal life, the Garden once again pulls upon their shard, leading them deeper into the Garden, to where the mythical Shard-trees grow. Nearly every tree is a perfect natural specimen, with a truly wondrous bounty of Shard-fruits hanging from their various boughs and branches. Here, special Angelic servants of L’lyandra called the “Gardeners” direct the Spirit to a specific Shard-tree that they have chosen for them. There, the Spirit is compelled to lie down at the base of the tree, whereupon they fall into a deep slumber from which they will never wake up. As the Spirit dreams, the memories of its mortal life fade away, and so too does its spiritual form. Eventually, nothing is left but the shard itself, which is then taken up by one of the Gardeners and set in amongst the branches of their Shard-tree.
For the few residents of L’lyandra’s Heaven that are not elven in nature, they simply join the Gardeners as valued assistants, for they cannot join the cycle of reincarnation. Their mortal past often provides the Garden with a useful perspective as they go about their tasks. While some of these non-elves are content with their labours performed in the service of Elvenkind, others do so mostly in the hopes that with enough service, they will be granted their own shard and a rebirth as a proper elf.
Realms Within The Garden
- Glade of the Ardenthrone
A second ring-wall encircles a single massive tree at the exact center of the Garden. L’lyandra’s most powerful spells are set in amongst the flawless stonework, and wards of both Light and Dark are the first line of defence against any foe that would seek to defile this most holy of holies. L’lyandra rarely, if ever, allows entry into her most sacred place, and a vicious cohort of her most fearsome angels stand ready should the protective spells placed within the wall be insufficient to deter unwanted guests.
If one were able to make it past both of these insurmountable obstacles, one would find that these impressive fortifications and protectors guard a single entrance into this mighty redwood. It is said that this tree is the sole remaining Shard-tree of the few True Thalan who first worshipped the Mother of Elves. Most of their fellows could not see past their arrogant natures to offer L’lyandra the obeisance that she was due, but to her faithful, she granted the first Shards. Countless beings have tried and failed to raid treasures stored within this great tree, for within its hollowed trunk lies the sum total of the achievements of that once great race. All of their arcane knowledge, history, and scholarly learning is preserved in the Shard-tree, along with some of the greatest artifacts of their civilization. L’lyandra also made this tree her own personal abode and set a great courtly hall within its hollowed-out trunk. From atop her seat upon the Ardenthrone, she can view anything within her Realm or see through the eyes of any willing and uncorrupted elf upon Arthos.
- The Two Trees
In amongst the thousands of shard-bearing trees in the Garden, there is a small clearing where one might find two unique specimens not found anywhere else in The Garden. The first of these is a grotesque tree laden heavily with snow, whose blood-red sap oozes forth from hundreds of small cracks in its bark-like surface. Unlike the thousands of otherwise healthy shard trees found elsewhere, it is a small and shrivelled thing, and the shard-fruit that hangs from its withered branches is stricken with a foul, black rot.
The second tree inspires less revulsion than the first but ultimately represents a far more tragic fate for a portion of L’lyandra’s children. This massive petrified oak tree stands hundreds of feet tall and is wide enough that ten adult elves linking hands still could not fully encircle its base. Thousands upon thousands of elven faces are carved into the stone bark, with each and every one carved by L’lyandra herself. This is her way of remembering them and honouring the sacrifice that they made for her. While there are yet still a small handful of shard-fruits left uncorrupted in the upper boughs of the oak, this tree serves as a grim reminder of the fate that awaits all elves if the Mortegiest is ever able to finish his hunt.