THE YLFFERHIM LEIAS ANTHIOULLSN |
Anthioullsn (200-approx. 100 b.S.) was Ylfferhim Leias and later on High Rónn of the wood elves, who was opposed to the dark elven lord Saban Blackcloak, the Móh'rónn. He was one of the greatest Ylfferhim, who - according to the prophecy of the Ionmis Globe - managed to capture the Móh'rónn's heir in a final confrontation at the Thaelon while he lost his own son as well as his life in the dungeons of Alvang. His deeds will ever be remembered among the Ylfferhim elves.
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Biography. Anthioullsn had one of the
briefest reigns of any of the Ylfferhim
Leias, but one of the most revered periods of
Ylfferhim history and a period about
which the bards tell and retell the stories. So often have they been told in
fact, that it is difficult to seperate fact exactly from fiction, despite the
period being relatively recent to
elven minds. This account is as close to
factual as is possible.
Anthioullsn was the son of an elven ranger, and
spent much of his early life in Drwsyl, a lonely and isolated outpost near the
edge of the Quallian forest. He never met
his mother, some stories say he was half human
(though humans rarely, if ever saw a
Ylfferhim
elf), others say that
his mother was even a fairy or a
Brownie perhaps
(though one has to wonder about the physical practicalities of such a match). By
all means there was always something quite odd about the child. As an
adult he was shorter in stature than most of his race and while physically
looking very elf-like,
and certainly a very attractive elf at that,
there was always something a little curious about the way he thought
- not always elf-like
at all...
Apprentice. Anthioullsn was
very much interested in all things mechanical. He had a great love for
humans and their inventive minds. When he
was 10 years old he left his
father and went to study as an apprentice to a trader of
jewels and jewelry in
Yln'fain'tir. Here he spent much time in listening to local lore and tales of
humans and life outside
of the Quallian, and he longed to see
beyond the trees of his homeland. He also developed a great fascination
for dwarves and their
ways, while still keeping a great respect for the Gods, and especially, as all
good Ylfferhim
children do, a special reverence for Seyella.
Though deep down he always professed a deep desire to
take Urtengor as his personal God.
The vast amount of time Anthioullsn spent with the bards probably should have
cost him his job, but he had a natural talent for working and identifying
good quality gem stones. At the age of 19, however, he met the highest
bard of them all, right hand man to the Avá'ránn
and prophet beyond equal, Bard Elothis. Elothis "had a
feeling" about the boy from the moment he met him. He
persuaded Anthioullsn to quit his apprenticeship and
began grooming the boy to take over as Leias when the time came, teaching him to
read and write and all there was to know about the world inside the forest and
out.
Elothis was a learned and travelled elf
however, and before he was even nearly done teaching Anthioullsn came to take
his seat as Leias. Convincing the council that Anthioullsn was the proper choice
as being Veris' sucessor was not an easy
task, but Elothis was more learned than any
elf the Quallian had known
before or since and eventually the council bowed to his
will.
Leias. At the beginning it seemed
that Elothis might have been wrong, however. Anthioullsn was strong
willed with his own agendas that were not always for the good of his tribe. He
would often leave the forest in search of the
dwarven cities and
human settlements and be gone for weeks even months
at a time. Worse still the Rónn showed no ability for use
of the Ionmis globe, the tool with the
Ylfferhim Leias had
used to derive important
future events for centuries. Nor did he shown any
willingness to learn or to try. Terrified at the prospect
of being led by a leader blind to the future the Council began to move to dispose
Anthioullsn, and would probably been sucessful if it hadn't been for external
events.
In 125 b.S. The half-elf Saban Blackcloak, later on known as the Móch'rónn (the
Dark Lord), was married to Axiastras, the Avá'ránn (the High Elven Queen) and
holder of leadership of the High Elven Circle. A meeting was called urgently of
all wood elven tribes in the
Thaelon.
The Ylfferhim
felt compelled at this time of great need to attend the organisation that they
had shunned since their independence. There was no time
for internal wrangling, Anthioullsn gave Elothis the
Ionmis and took the Bard
as his consultant on his every action. Together they
traveled to the meeting of the High Elven Circle, which was in total disarray.
No leader could be decided on. The
Quaelhoirhim were looking to take up the High Avaránship
once again, and were supported by the moderate and peaceful
Maeverhim and
Cyrathrhim. However, the
Quaelhoirhim
monarchs had held the leadership of the circle for the last three cyles put of
five. Many tribes felt that their views were not being
represented, and tribes that were ready to fight and tactically more gifted felt
that they should assume leadership. After days of arguments
no compromise could be reached.
High Rónn. Anthioullsn had
quietly impressed most of the leaders. He was tactically minded, ready for war.
At the same time he hailed from a tribe that was known for its neutrality and
cautiousness. He seemed like the obvious choice. In 125
b.S. Anthioullsn was named High Ronn of the wood elven
people.
Though officially through marriage the Móch'rónn was the
rightful holder of the title of High Elven Rónn,
most of the elven tribes refused to recognize
him over Anthioullsn, who they had chosen, in line with their ancient
traditions; nor his heir, the baby Serveran. This angered the Móch'rónn more
than anything else. Yet again the bastard half-elf had
been snubbed by his own people. But more, he hated Anthioullsn, no more than a
half-elf himself, who had been chosen over him.
However, the Móch'rónn was clever and while his hatred
for the wood elves and their Rónn Anthioullsn grew deeper
and more bitter by the day, the Móch'rónn bided his time and set about creating
an army with the force to destroy the
elves completely.
In the meantime, Anthioullsn began trying to reunite the
elven tribes at a time when relationships were
particularly strained. He found that his softly spoken manner and slightly
dogmatic, single minded nature made him an excellent diplomat, and relations
began to improve. He also took the opportunity to meet
humans and
dwarves, something he had wanted to do since
childhood. He forged many good relations with
human tribal leaders, who were flattered by the high esteem that he held
them in.
The War with Saban. In 110
b.S. Saban Blackcloack founded the enclave Alvang.
From here minions and dark elves were recruited
and dispatched. The Forces of Coór embodied were for the
first time organised by an elf.
The Móch'rónn demanded tribute as rightful High Rónn from
all elven tribes. Those that refused were
battered by waves of attacks by dark elves and orcs,
organised by the Móch'rónn at Alvang. Initially only the
Ylfferhim
were targeted, but their closed nature and hidden cities meant that the dark
forces found it very difficult to target their attacks, though a
large tract of forest was destroyed by fires
started by the enemy. The Móch'rónn needed a new way to hurt Anthioullsn. It was
not long before the Dark Elven
Lord had the perfect assault.
To dent Anthioullsn's popularity with other tribes attacks were launched on all
the tribes who did not recognise his lordship over them.
Particularly hard hit were the Quaelhoirhim,
whose relation to the Ylfferhim made
them prime target, but also the peace loving
Maeverhim, who had no means of
defending their home. Attacks on the
Tethinrhim in 108 and early in 107 b.S., were seen by
the tribes warriors without much trouble. Despite Anthioullsn's tactical
ability, coordinating all the tribes into a joined
counter movement proved nigh or impossible. In
spring of 106 b.S.
an emergency meeting of the Elven Circle in the
Ría of
the Tethinrhim, called for
Anthioullsn, as their leader to do something. Anything.
Anthioullsn consulted for many days with Elothis, but neither could find a
tactically sound solution. However, events would change that.
While Anthioullsn was in the
Ría
forces from Alvang sacked the
Quaelhoirhim city of
Har'leve'them, where Anthioullsn's son Tiri'lym was leading the resistance
against Saban. Tiri'lym was captured and taken by his capturers
to back to the dungeons under Alvang. Greatly pleased was
the Móch'rónn. A great public execution was arranged to take place in that most
sacred of elven places,
the Thaelon,
and messengers were sent to all the lands of what was to
take place. Elothis looked into Ionmis,
but both he and Anthioullsn knew what must be done...
Encounter at the Thaelon. In
the Month of the Burning Heavens in 106
b.S. a great host from Alvang descended on the
Thaelon.
They raised a high platform, heavily guarded and defended on all sides. At the
end of the month the great Dark Elven Lord himself
arrived with his captive, and his own heir, a child of just four years of age.
People from all races and tribes arrived to watch. The
Móch'rónn ascended the platform and raised his
great sword above Tiri'lym's head and asked out loud,
"Where is your False King now? Will you not all now bow
before the one true and rightful Rónn?"
Records differ as to what happened next. The most common
version of the tale is that Elothis got to his feet and shouted
"Never!" There was the deepest of silences.
"Never!" shouted Elothis again,
this time joined by a few of those watching. "Never!
Never! Never! Never!" grew the chanting louder and
louder. The Great Dark Lord grew more and more irritated and ordered for his
minions to kill all present. Little did he know that Anthioullsn had engineered
the crowd to consist of the finest warriors from all the tribes, and those from
human origin who were sympathetic to
Anthioullsn. The battle would have been a blood bath, the Alvang troops
outnumbered the crowd 16 to 1, if it had not been for the hidden escape tunnels
mined by dwarves from the site at Anthioullsn
request (for a price). Anthioullsn, would for the rest of his life mourn the
damage that they caused to the sacred forest.
In the total confusion, Anthioullsn grabbed Saban's son and heir, Serveran, and
dragged him into a tunnel, the child kicking and
screaming. He gave him to Elothis. The bard knew what
must be done. Bidding his old friend and mentor farewell he ran back up the
tunnel in a desperate effort to save his own son, but too late. The Móch'rónn,
too late, had noticed the disapperance of his
heir and had killed Tiri'lym in a fit of rage.
Anthioullsn squared up to his old adversary, the first
time in all the years that they had met. Anthioullsn looked the Móch'rónn in the
eye, "My son is dead, but I swear that if not by my hand,
then by your own son's hand you will die!"
Anthioullsn drew his sword, but a dark elf drew his bow and shot Anthioullsn,
deeply wounding him. He was taken captive back to Alvang where he was tortured
and imprisoned, ever hoping that he would hear news of Elothis and Serveran.
No news ever came during Anthioullsn's lifetime, though it is true that Elothis
hid the child with the remote
Sanhorrhim, who brought the child up to know the beauty of Avá's
creation, and that he did eventually lead the assault
against Alvang (62 a.S.). Though true to form,
Anthioullsn's prophecy that Serveran would kill Saban
never came to pass, at least not directly. Though without
the bridges that Anthioullsn had built with human
tribes, the assault could never have been successful.
Serveran survived the trap his father had set up for him at Alvang and would
accompany the heroes Eyrin Fontramonn and
Leander S'Ingevendar to the depths of Hegedorn, where
the Móch'rónn would finally meet his destiny.
It is said by some bards that Anthioullsn was persuaded to lay down his life
(reportedly in 100 b.S,) when a vison of Grothar
appeared to him, offering him the chance to become his apprentice and fulfill
a life that should have been simple. Others say that he never did lay down his
life, but was carried down into the Hèckranian volcano and would
defend the Earthen Titan and once again save the Dream
from the forces of Coór.
Anthioullsn: Greatest of the Ylfferhim,
lowest of the prophets.
Information provided by
Wren
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