Guardians of the Shadowglade - character fluff

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LadyLoec
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Guardians of the Shadowglade - character fluff

Post by LadyLoec »

Gwâtheryn (The Shadowglade)
The Shadowglade lies between Modryn, the night glens, and Talsyn, the groves of eternity. Its residents live in perpetual twilight, and the shadows often appear to move of their own volition.

Lianthorn Dolenmorchant
Lianthorn has never liked the word "leader". From a young age, he wandered the hidden paths of Athel Loren, far more at home with the vivacious solitude and deafening silence which can only be found in the company of the forest, than in the hallowed halls of his family's hold. This was much to the distaste of his highborn family, who were so eager to see their only son and heir take his rightful place as master of his glade-hold.

Now his parents' souls have passed on and their bodies have been returned to the forest, he rules at a comfortable distance, leaving the bureaucracy and tedium of rule to his trusted council in favour of probing further the secrets the forest has to tell. It is only in times of dire need that he takes up the mantle of "general", and this he does with reluctance. Even on the battlefield he does not stand with his kinsmen, but stalks into battle with a small coterie of waywatchers who share his reverence for the wild. His people, who seldom see or hear from their mysterious leader, fight with staid resolve, knowing that the threat must be great indeed to interrupt his communion with the forest, and trusting in that communion to bring their forest allies to their side.

Elora Taureolótë
As a child, Elora was lured into the depths of the forest by a beautiful lullaby. Any who have read about the dryads of Loren will know the grim fate that lay before her, but as the dryad Ynshael changed form to take her life, the elf-child's eyes flashed with magic and her skin became as tough as bark. Taken aback by the child's show of innate power, the dryad decided this child could be of use to the forest, and so Elora was raised as a child of Loren. Hatred, cruelty and magic flourished in her under the tutelage of Ynshael and her sisters.

It was over two centuries later that Lianthorn happened upon her whilst wandering the forest. Elora retained few memories of her life before her captivity. Though she was wild and hateful as she had been taught to be, something staid her from casting the spell that would have ended Lianthorn's life: the kindness in his eyes and the familiar music of his speech. She lowered her guard as he lifted his hand to hers, illustrating that they were the same. As seasons passed, Lianthorn continued to visit Elora, teaching her the language and history of her home.

Now, she is a wary visitor to the elven halls, still exploring her heritage, but she will only stay for so long before the forest calls her home. Elora has an equal bond with the forest that stole her away and the elven cousins who mourned her loss, and woe betide the foe that threatens either.

Isciira En'Loec
The elves of the Shadowglade often think they see Isciira's visage watching them from clouds of incense smoke in the great halls, or her ethereal figure dancing enchantingly in the morning mist. This is usually attributed to excessive consumption of elven wine or tricks of the light, but in truth Isciira walks between realities, and the notion that she is both present and absent is not as unlikely as first it seems.

Isciira's presence in battle is regarded with both great pleasure and deep suspicion; her skills are, after all, formidable, and the legerdemain with which she manipulates the battle line - bending reality itself to her will - is greatly advantageous to their cause. However, her allegiance comes at a price, for Isciira is a devotee of the trickster god Loec, and as such her favour is as capricious and fluid as smoke. It is not unknown for her to position an unprepared unit in the midst of an enemy force and vanish into the shadows, leaving them vulnerable, or to channel a volatile excess of eldritch power out of mere curiosity, then disappear heedless of consequences. It is often in Isciira's hands that the fate of the battle rests, but only Loec knows if victory is her intention.
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Kakapo42
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Re: Guardians of the Shadowglade - character fluff

Post by Kakapo42 »

Nice work!

I was actually in a very unenthusiastic mood for working on more Wood Elf models (to be expected, I've been toiling away at the same unit of Glade Guard for months on end, so some burnout is a natural result), but reading this background gave an extra boost of inspiration that's allowed me to redouble my efforts to finish the current batch of Wood Elves on my painting space. So thanks for that. :)

Can't wait for the next lot of backstory... wait there is going to be more right?
WANTED: Wildwood Ranger axes. PM me if you have any spare.
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LadyLoec
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Re: Guardians of the Shadowglade - character fluff

Post by LadyLoec »

Glad to hear I'm inspiring someone to keep painting, just wish it was me!! I'm very much suffering from "grey model syndrome"
Kakapo42 wrote:wait there is going to be more right?
I'm hoping to write some more. I've starting playing at higher pointage, so I have a couple more characters who need some fleshing out :)

I do have some fluff for my vampire general started. Will get that finished and post up. Feminist-former-Bretonnian-damsel-blender-lord was always going to be interesting to justify!!
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