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The Sprites' Tale
Sprites are theoretically
immortal, in the sense that no sprite has ever died of old age. In Cy’Pren
Forest, there are a few of the diminutive creatures so old that they claim
to have known Cy’Pren herself. While almost as child-like in action and
attitude as any fairykin, the Elders do indeed possess incredible
knowledge, and memories spanning many thousands of years. They’re revered
by sprites and other races alike (especially by the Servants of Ki).
In UY 126, the adventuring
band called Ki Durkani met with three of these beings; Pzipyip, Kyihuppo,
and Mxstrizli. These three revealed to the Ki Durkani that the 13th
Generation of elves (into which several of the Ki Durkani had been born)
was prophesied to rediscover their race’s history. The sprites claim to
have been present some 13,000 years ago when the first elves arrived in
the crystal sphere from another world, fleeing from a war that almost
destroyed their race. The following story was told to the Ki Durkani
during their historic meeting with the three Elder Sprites:
“When the trees now were not
yet, and your kinds were not yet, the Queen Cy’Pren was here. She was the
land, the trees, the rocks, the water. She cared for us.
“One night, a magnificent
butterfly, more immense than even the trees, alighted with much noise and
destruction in our land. We were amazed at such a creature, yet more
amazed when other creatures who had ridden the butterfly were found.
Cy’Pren met with these beings, who were called “elves” in their tongue.
They were of our spirit, and Cy’Pren recognized this at once. They were
Fairie Folk, from another land beyond ours.
“The elves’ butterfly was not a
creature, but it was alive. It was a plant, the elves showed us, and one
Cy’Pren had never known. The elves spoke further to our queen, and told of
their people. These elves came from another land, yet their land was in
the sky! The story was most amusing, until they spoke of the Enemies, evil
beings who thrive on domination and destruction and killing.
“They spoke to Cy’Pren of a
thing called “war”, where creatures fought and killed for no reason, like
cutting down a tree to make a destructive fire. The elves said that many
lands, many races were fighting, on many, many worlds. These beings all
had things such as the butterflies to ride, and their butterflies carried
them across the sky, far, far off. There was no place that one could go
and not see the war, no matter how far one’s butterfly carried them.
“Cy’Pren was stricken with grief
at this story. It was a scary story too evil to believe, yet the elves
were ill, injured, and starving, and told the truth. The elves’ home, a
place they called a sphere, was overrun with humanoids; orcs, goblins,
kobolds, worse. They would all be slain.
“Cy’Pren left us and went
elsewhere, to speak to the mighty Seldarine gods of this. Corellon
Larethian was impressed by the Fairy Queen’s determination to sacrifice
her own life if need be to defend this land from war, should it follow the
elves here. And so he allowed Cy’Pren to become even more than the land,
more than the sky; and so she protects all life within a sphere of her
power, so that none may pass Cy’Pren’s guard.
“With Cy’Pren protecting the
land and the sky, her consort, Ye Cind, the First Bard, bound himself to
the new arrivals, the elves, and led them from their homeworld to ours. He
showed the elven people the path to this land, to refuge, where Cy’Pren
offered to protect them. To ease their troubled hearts, Ye Cind wove
powerful magic, blessing the elves with empty memories of the violence and
war that they had come from.”
After speaking to the
sprites, the Ki Durkani were shown to a great clearing, where the remains
of this fallen butterfly ship, an elven man-o’-war, grew as a wild plant
over many acres of forest. The site was guarded by a mighty treant, who
gave this further information to the adventurers:
While it’s true that the elves
were allowed to forget their heartbreaking past by the magic of Ye Cind,
the elven god Labelas Enorath didn’t want the race forgetting their past
forever. Labelas made a pact with Corellon so that only the first 12
generations of elves born in Cy’Pren’s sphere would be under the influence
of the amnesia magics. The 13th Generation, the Tyl’ Iyat Kypth,
would be free to discover the legends and history of the elves’ arrival on
the planet Kyral.
View
elven craft and read about spelljammer
lore or read another tale of the history of
the elves. |
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