The Seldarine Age (Dominaria Supplement)

The Seldarine Age

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The deepest past of which records still exist. Deep in the great High Elven Library in Tel'Nair and within the halls of the Grey Elf City of Vayona lie tomes of such age they must be enchanted yearly or fall apart. These books keep the only complete records of the Age, and the glittering constructs known as the Athenaeum Guard stand silent vigil over them.

The Coming of the Eldar

Correlon Larethian and the Seldarine create the Eldar and place them on Dominaria. The first of the Eldar were created within Correlon Larethian's realm and stepped through gilded doors onto the virgin fields of Dominaria.

The Great Elven Kingdoms

Elven Kingdoms stretch all across Dominaria. Elven longevity as well as their love for nature and exploration ensures that their domain stretches from coast to coast. There were the Orostran Twin Kingdoms who would become the 'Lowland Elves', the Rhunar Elves living in the then fertile Eastern Plains, the Sel'Daru who inhabited Otaria, the Kesir'dan'Shea (literally Elf of the Sea) who lived all across the Southern Isles and Arcadia, the Kyrinvae of the Northlands, the Mith'klades who ruled from their mountaintop fortress cities, and the Alendar who lived in what is now the Elven Kingdoms.

The War of the Ílleste (Fallen)

For a time, the Elves ruled Dominaria with a power and glory unmarred by calamity or misfortune. There were some few wars against monsters and abberations, but for uncounted centuries the Elves lived without fear or want. The Elves befriended the plants and animals of Dominaria and over time crafted intelligences of their own. But soon the other Gods looked upon the creations of the Seldarine with envy, and many were creations spawned out of jealousy. The Elves now had to share their pristine realm with sentient creatures uncounted. Moreover, unbenowst to the Seldarine, long forgotten entities began to stir - roused from their prothean slumber by the deeds of mortals.

The Elves' attitudes towards the new creations differed. Some favored peace, advocated teaching the ways of the Eldar to the newcomers, and incorporating them into the realms of the Elves. Others favored detachment bordering on disdain, but stayed well clear of violence. Yet others looked upon the newcomers with scorn and began to plot evil deeds.

It was to this third group that a long forgotten God began to speak. Lloth, dread Spider Queen of the Prothean Wars and the Lady of the Stygian Realms, whispered to the Elves in the dark. Some began to listen...

The Fall

The cult of Lloth spread first by word of mouth and rumor, Lloth herself guiding her followers to others of their ilk and ensuring the new religion's secrecy. "Llothsworn" they called themselves, and the Dæmonic Speech was spoken on Dominaria for the first time: Drazante'ez'iyakow, or Drow, was their name. Underneath the very noses of the great Elven Realms, these Drow plotted murder and ruin. Fell shrines to this new power began to appear throughout the peaceful lands of Dominaria, varied in appearance and character, but always underground.

The Betrayal

Seduced by evil and the promises of profane power, Lloth's followers rose up as one and struck down their brothers. Entire cities fell into chaos in a single night as the Drow attacked en masse. The early months were pure chaos, and the dead rose into numbers beyond the ken of the time. Soon the Drow began alter in appearance, their skin growing dark with the evil in their veins and sometimes even their bodies morphing as they gained strange new powers. Where the Drow were victorious, the sky darkened and the unnatural curtain of night advanced ahead of their armies.

The Scouring

The Drow cults began to unite as the rebellion wore on and their new realms expanded. As the elves began to realize the gravity of the situation and absolute nature of the threat they mobilized for war, and for the first time elf met elf in open warfare. The Elves were joined by many of the creatures of Dominaria, for deep was the love shared between Elves and their charges. The ranks of the Drow were swelled in turn with creatures hitherto unknown and beasts unleashed from the pits of the hells.

Battles raged all across Dominaria: from the mountain peaks rising like islands from the clouds, to the verdant fields of the West, and even between ships on the vast tropical seas. The Drow are strongest across the Rhovanion Lands of the east and the Rhunar Elves fought a desperate war of survival. The Kyrinvae and the Alendar allied early and drove the Drow from the North, the Orostran Kingdoms managed to force a stalemate, but the Rhunar were doomed to fall. The Kesir'dan'Shea were actually first to fall but they fled to the rivers of the mainland and to the ring of islands to the south which would become the Najiki Archipelago. When the last city of the Rhunar fell, the course of Dominarian history was irrevocably altered. The sins of the Eldar would now shape the very face of Dominaria. Two of the mighty kingdoms of Elves had been scoured from Dominaria and their people scattered to the four winds. The rage of the Elves was vast and a darkness took root in their hearts.

The Breaking

The Kyrinvae and the Alendar alliance came to the aid of the Sel'Daru to drive the Drow back into the Rhovanion. The Mith'klades won their war as well, but at terrible cost. Many of the great elven mountain realms lay in ruins, and the 'Grey Elves' were a shadow of their former glory. Their few remaining cities closed their gates and the mightiest of the Mith'Faern enacted The Shrouding, hiding the mountain realms from the eyes of the world. The westernmost of the Orostran Twin Kingdoms fell but the remaining kingdom, now Orostra, wins its victory and turns it's eyes on the Drow strongholds in Arcadia and Beldron (once great Kesir'dan'Shea cities).

More than a decade of fighting had seen deed both heroic and horrific uncounted, and heroes worthy of a thousand ballads rose and fell. The war had now reached critical mass; both combatants had struck grievous blows and now circled each other, gathering strength for the final strike. The Orostrans elected to push south and purge the Great Southern Realms of the Drow. The Alendar, Kyrinvae, and Sel'Daru gathered their armies and their mightiest Archmages came together to decide on a course of action. The Drow too made their plans: gathering armies, summoning evil beyond reckoning, and devising their sinister plans.

But in the Drow's darkest dreams they could not have imagined the fury of the Elves and the savagery of their plan. The mighty Archmages of the Eldar had concieved a plan of the most profane variety, and after long debate across the Halls of the Eska Daru they crafted a spell of singular fury: The Rac'Ceven - World Breaker. The Elves were the first to move, and on midsummer's day of the 13th year they unleashed Rac'Ceven on the Rhovanion. For one year the spell ravaged the Eastern Realms and the sky lit with unnatural furies. The Elves had unleashed the full might of the Empyrian on to Dominaria and now it ravaged half the continent unchecked. During this time the Orostrans advance through the Southern Realms defeating or driving the terrified Drow before them.

The Banishing

One year to the day after the Elves unleashed Rac'Ceven it stopped and revealed its handiwork. Where the old forests of the Eastern Realms once stood there was now an apocalyptic hellscape. It was into this land that the armies of the Elven alliance marched. Over the next three years the Alendar, Kyrinvae, and Sel'Daru fought a brutal war bordering on genocide. The Drow were destroyed and hunted absolutely without mercy and the Alliance was so vicious that the Orostrans refused to fight alongside them, instead choosing to return West.

When the war was finally over the Elves looked upon their handiwork and wept. Millions of Elves had died, dozens of cities lie in ruins, and half the world had been burned at the elves own hands. The Archmages' last act of the war was a curse laid on the Drow. Their curse was a banishment, an incarceration underground until the last Drow then living was dead. Astonishingly this curse would not be lifted until the 2nd Age.

The Schisms of the Eldar

The Orostrans would become the Lowland Elves, their realm spread from Arcadia and Beldron up into the Westlands as far as the Aegis Mountains. The Alliance would go into self exile as the horror and shame of their deeds set in. Theirs would be the emerald lands of the Elven Kingdoms. The Kesir'dan'Shea would become the Sea and River Elves of Dominaria, and the more reclusive among them would retreat beneath the waves as the first Aquan Elves. The remnants of the Rhunar Elves would continue to travel their now desolate homeland as it became the Great Sea of Sand. They would be the Desert Elves, and theirs' would be the task of healing the world. The Sylvan Elves would rise from tribes of Elves who became unaligned after the war, distancing themselves from other Elves after the horrors they'd seen. The Mith'Klades wouldn't lower The Shrouding for 1000 years. They lived in their mountain cities interconnected by portal and airship and become the Grey Elves, masters of the High Realms.

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