History of the Aelotian Occupation
Great speculation exists over
the history of the Aelotoi before and during their society's era of
kiramon rule. Lorken of the Gaeh'deh scribed an oral history in
Elanthian Common soon after arriving in Ta'Illistim. The author
currently resides in Cysaegir, a town given to the Aelotoi by the
Illistim Elves.
History of the Aelotian
Occupation
The Aelotoi are not faeries. Since
our arrival amidst the green and rolling lands of Elanith, the Aelotian
people have been plagued with fallacious characterizations. Our
resemblance to woodland sprites, gleeful pixies, and fey spirits is
merely superficial. Many of our race have even attempted to make
concessions and conformations to these sophistic expectations. The duty
of rectifying this wrong therefore falls into the hands of one less
gracious, who has in his short time on this world wandered far and wide
through these lands. I have searched for an answer to this problem, and
in my meanderings discovered one: No crime has been committed against
the Aelotoi since our arrival on this brave and brilliant world, save
perhaps that of ignorance. The sole remedy for ignorance is education.
Faeries are creatures of joy and
light, yet we are a people recently eclipsed by the shadows of
occupation. The mortal marks we bear in common with the sprite are not
the emblem of the Arkati who wrenched us from the womb of this world so
long ago. Nature's deft hand did not craft these gossamer wings, these
luminous eyes, this agile form. All of these are the brand of the
Overseers, who tore away from us that which was ours by blood and
descent. They wrought us in their insect images. No violation more vile
nor complete can be committed against living, sentient beings.
To truly understand, one must possess
at least a cursory understanding of the history of the Aelotian people.
This knowledge does not come easily: there is a possibility that not a
single Aelotoi knows exactly the same history or culture that another
might. All that we are has been scattered to the winds. It is a
testament to the irony of fate that a warrior must provide where no
scholar is willing.
- Lorken of the Gaeh'deh
Day of the Huntress, 19 Eorgaen,
5103.
The Establishment
The history of our people is not completely known, for reasons that
will become obvious during the course of its telling. Religion has
always been a strong source of fact, however clouded by the fictions of
glory and redemption. Therefore, the earliest of Aelotian histories
ought to begin at the beginning, when the Pale Woman of the Sky
sheltered us from the darkness of the Other War and placed us on
Bre'Naere. After our settlement on a new world, far away from the
strife of Her brethren, the draconian Serpent Kings, and the shadowed
beasts known as the Others, the Pale Woman departed. Elven scholars
have suggested that this disappearance corresponds with the Execution
of L'Naere in ancient Elanthian folklore. Those who still worship the
Pale Woman suggest instead that she laid us to rest upon our distant
world and left to prepare us for a great trial of faith that was yet to
come.
Regardless of theology, the Pale Woman was never again seen by our
people, as Elanthian Arkati seem frequently to be by their faithful.
Histories suggest that we were a happy people, constrained then as now
to mastery over the land. The Pale Woman had given us a lush world,
rich with life both foreign and known to us from our ancestors' home.
After the confusion of the early Establishment Period, a system of
clans and families--based not on blood but rather sorted by natural
predilections and talents--rose to govern the lives of the Aelotoi.
Some name these clans "Tois'ael," but given the abundance of the proper
Aelotian names already present in this document, it seems prudent to
use the simpler convention. Clans they will be called.
Every Aelotoi was born into the Ris'mur, which would in the Common
Tongue of Elanthia equate to "Young" or "Untried." All of the Rismur
were judged to be at a year of age at the witnessing of their first
Summerheight, the Elanthian equivalent of which is Phoen's Solstice. At
their fourteenth Summerheight, Rismur chose a clan based on their
personal beliefs and feelings toward that clan's dominant purpose.
Those wishing to become leaders might select T'thal, whereas those with
a predilection toward healing would choose Mrae'ni, and those who felt
themselves accustomed to religious research and exploration might feel
most comfortable among the L'Naereen. Even Rismur who felt that none of
their goals could be accomplished by joining a clan were embraced: for
them, there were the Vaer'rij, or Wandering Ones. The Vaer'rij
functioned much as human society does on this world, doing as they
pleased and submitting only to the governments they are willing to
follow.
Each Summerheight, these young clansmen, who were renamed Ya Rismur,
would be entitled to select anew from the clans. Sometimes, if their
teachers in their chosen clans felt the Ya Rismur to be unsuited, these
youths would be strongly encouraged to seek another clan. Only in cases
where an Aelotoi broke with the established laws of a clan would a Ya
Rismur be denied the right to return. As with most crimes, depending on
their severity, the Ya Rismur would either be punished by
Gaeh'thal--who served to execute the laws of the T'thal--or exiled to
live among the Vaer'rij and live by their harsher and less controlled
order.
At the twentieth Summerheight of each Aelotoi's life, they were
gathered in the City of Rismur and given their final selection. It was
rationalized that, by this time, even the most fickle Ya Rismur ought
to have chosen a path. Those who refused a decision were sent to the
Vaer'rij. There was no dishonor to becoming Vaer'rij, as many Vaer'rij
grew to become respected in ancient Aelotian society, occasionally even
choosing late in life to rejoin the clans. Few qualified Vaer'rij were
ever forbidden this privilege.
Clan membership tended to be fairly rigid, save in the case of the
T'thal: Aelotian society--both Vaer'rij and clan-based--quickly grew to
realize that elected leadership was a most necessary aspect of peaceful
existence. Entry into the T'thal was sponsored by an Aelotoi's clan,
but after gaining membership that Aelotoi, like all T'thal, was solely
commanded by service to the public good and fealty to those in the
higher circles of the T'thal. Unlike the other clans, the T'thal had no
city to call their own: they met at the grace of the clans, rotating
their places of governance with the season.
Under this governing system, the Aelotoi grew to prosper on Bre'Naere.
Although all manner of flora and fauna had been provided for our
people, we existed as the sole sentient race of the entire planet. Life
flourished. We flourished. Guided by the leadership of the T'thal, we
spread over much of Chauria and Shidelm, as the halves of Bre'Naere's
bridged central continent were named. In a short time, the Aelotoi
managed to reconstruct and, later, surpass much of what had been lost
in the abrupt shift between worlds.
Great cities of marble, stone, and glass crowned the faces of the
twinned continents, though Aelotoi builders always preferred a simpler
style, involving periodic use of arches to soften the sharp forms of
buildings. We also know that a system of paved stone roads united the
Aelotoi peoples. Many of these architectural wonders, which crossed
mountains, waters, and even the harshest of lands, still stood at the
end of our imprisonment on Bre'Naere.
The pre-Occupational Aelotoi did not exist in a state of blissful
utopia. Several fractures existed in Aelotoi society, although a major
resulting conflict has never been discovered in any recovered texts or
oral histories. The first of these conflicts is one that still exists:
the difference between the L'Naereen'dar--those who were faithful to
the idea of L'Naere as the Pale Woman--and the Shun'dar, who began to
believe only millennia after the transference that the Pale Woman was
no goddess at all. True Shun'dar are rare in Aelotian society, yet
given the accessibility of Arkatic religion on this world, it is likely
that their ranks will swell. Some of the oldest histories suggest that
the L'Naereen'dar may have attempted to brand the Shun'dar as heretics
through manipulation of the T'thal, but this conflict had all but
resolved itself by the coming of the Overseers.
The second difficulty arose several centuries before the advent of the
kiramon invasion. The clans had allowed for rapid growth of society,
magic, scholarship, art, and many other facets of civilization. After
several millennia of existence on Bre'Naere, they had also begun to
stagnate. Natural attrition took hold over the clans, and several clans
died completely due to poor representation among the Rismur.
Furthermore, it became tradition for a Rismur to follow the paths of
those in his or her bloodline. The flaw in this became obvious: as
bloodlines died, so did clans. Bloods did not freely mingle, and rates
of illness and hereditary weakness rose. The Vaer'rij became more
numerous as a result of these traditional restrictions, and natural
birth rates. The clan members became fewer, and it seemed as if there
were only two options: consolidation of the clans into an entity like
the Vaer'rij, or a stricter, more structured plan for Aelotoi society.
This key to the eventual downfall of clan-based Aelotoi civilization
was ironically forestalled by our death as a free people.
The Occupation
It is told that the Overseers, who are known to Elanthians as the
kiramon, came in two waves to the world of Bre'Naere. The kiramon
Occupation of Bre'Naere began approximately fifteen millennia ago. An
explosion in the skies heralded the kiramon first wave's arrival, so
massive that it was widely named The Cataclysm. Like a thousand
rainbows shattering, multihued lights struck through the skies of
Bre'Naere. The lights were said to have parted into starless blackness,
dark to night as night is to day. Like a foul miasma, a moving,
swarming cloud emanated from that blackness before it collapsed in upon
itself. Not an Aelotoi alive knew then that they saw in the skies our
doom. As the fullness of our people's damnation was revealed, the name
seemed all the more appropriate.
The kiramon commenced their assaults on the Aelotoi slowly, probing the
defenses of outlying settlements with several chitin-armored squads. It
was readily evident that the Aelotoi did not know how to defend
themselves. Few had ever lifted a weapon more lethal than a spear, and
next to none had combated more dangerous foes than the occasional feral
beast or perhaps a renegade Vaer'rij. There had truly been no purpose
to defend themselves. This obvious failing, so clear in hindsight, was
almost certainly what sparked the massive kiramon strike into the heart
of Chauria. What was apparently the entire kiramon force on Bre'Naere
trampled over all attempts at Aelotoi defense. In a matter of days,
they had cleared a bloody swathe to the City of Rismur.
Rismur lost to the kiramon after a siege that lasted less than a day.
The assault might have been shorter had the kiramon not clearly avoided
damaging the populace or the structures of Rismur. The former they
immediately enslaved, and the youngest of their Aelotoi captives became
subjects for early Overseer experiments. They reordered the buildings,
fitting them with crystalline settings we believe they used to contact
whatever higher intellect it is that lends brutal brilliance to the
mindless and malformed creatures.
Experimentation on the Aelotoi never truly concluded. It is perhaps
fortunate that so few survived the more radical surgeries and
abominations that the Overseers casually forced on our people
throughout the millennia. We cannot thank the Overseers for this: it is
clear that they did not wish to contaminate their successes with the
mutilations they made of many failures: Aelotoi born with multifaceted
eyes like theirs; some that could hear the press of their clicking
insect thoughts even when they were not compelling us with their
orders; those marred by streaks of chitin rising painfully through
their skin. Though races have experienced slavery and cruelty, knowing
that one's fundamental, natural makeup has been usurped and butchered
at the command of another is truly the most base of violations.
What is done, however, is done. Beginning with the prisoners of Rismur,
and later with the childbearing mothers of each clan as the kiramon
began to expand their influence, the Aelotoi were reshaped into a murky
image of the Overseers. Due to the aforementioned simplification of
bloodlines and lack of intermingling among clans, it was discovered
that some clans were wholly unable to adapt to Overseer modifications.
These clans were annihilated.
Kiramon progress, already swift at first, increased exponentially after
the City of Rismur was converted into their capital. The buildings'
exteriors were coated in ever-growing formations of crystalline dew,
and the Tower of Choosing was cut away to reveal a beam of unnaturally
bright light. Like a glowing beacon, beautiful yet terrible, it flashed
in the day, highlighting the forms of new Overseers and their
subjugated slave races. Originally, the Aelotoi attempted to make
contact with these slaves, and stir them to rebellion against the
kiramon. None were or are sentient enough to forge such alliances, and
probably had long forgotten that they were enslaved in favor of
mindless service to their masters.
This second wave of kiramon only served to emphasize the hopelessness
left in the wake of the first. Most of the Aelotoi who remained free
began an exodus to eastern Shidelm, heading toward the green highlands
where the Vaer'rij carved their homes out of forest and cavern, hill
and moor. Some were captured even as they fled, and as decades passed a
war of attrition and time begin. Surprisingly, the Aelotoi who had
escaped into the east were able to escape from captivity time and
again, so frequently that they called themselves the Vaer'rij'sahan,
the Swift-Wandering Ones. It is primarily due to the flexibility and
willingness of the Vaer'rij'sahan to flee from their oppressors, yet
never abandon wholly their homelands, that the Aelotoi have history at
all. Even as the Vaer'rij'sahan were captured, they passed on their
tales to those who knew nothing at all save that they were to serve the
kiramon with all their might and will. Ideas cannot be killed, and
neither could the history of the Aelotoi before the Occupation.
As the decades turned into centuries, the kiramon began to try their
newest acquisitions in different capacities. Planting and harvesting
crops, refining precious crystals, and building on to the ever-growing
conglomeration of stone and crystal that once was Rismur: all of these
were attempted. The kiramon discovered that we were most adept at
mining operations, especially once they were able to transform our
minds to receive commands. Eventually, a triplet distinction was made
among the Overseers' uses for our people. Some Aelotoi were bred for
food harvesting, a majority for mining, and a select few for foraging
of organic components necessary to the kiramon.
Time passed, and the kiramon diversified their holdings. Rismur became
obvious as the primary hive. Several other cities, such as Tanirhys and
Jun, were converted into smaller core facilities, yet Rismur remained
the largest. For the most part, the kiramon were willing to destroy
everything Aelotian. Roads they allowed us to maintain, because these
served them even after our wings had developed to accommodate flight.
Older buildings, artworks, music, all other vestiges of society were
swept away by the careless and casual cruelty of the Overseers. What
survived only did so because its destruction did not serve the
interests of whatever force controls those beasts.
This was true of the Vaer'rij'sahan as well. Once the kiramon had
established their power base on Bre'Naere, they set to destroying the
Vaer'rij'sahan resistance. Those of the free folk who were captured
frequently sparked riots in the labor camps with tales of the past and
present freedom. That the kiramon did not comprehend this was obvious:
if they had, they would have destroyed the Vaer'rij'sahan without
compunction. Instead, they continued capturing one or several at a time
for decades. As limited as the Vaer'rij'sahan were in numbers, they
could not withstand this prolonged and single-minded effort against
them. Shortly before the end of the first millennium of the Occupation,
the last free Aelotoi vanished from L'Naere.
Early Resistance was still slow to die. With the assimilation of the
Vaer'rij'sahan, the duty of keeping the Aelotian traditions of history
alive fell to the L'Naereen. Faith provided to the Aelotoi, then and
recently, the impetus for life and continued strife. It also proved a
perfect way for the L'Naereen to keep the faith of L'Naere alive. Many
Aelotoi who were Shun'dar--who did not believe in L'Naere--were
nonetheless comforted by sheer, unthinking religious rites. Religion
provided relaxation and tranquility away from the brutal demands of
mining, harvesting, and foraging.
It also provided fuel for the fires of rebellion. Throughout the
history of the Aelotoi Occupation, there were multitudinous attempts to
break free from kiramon rule. Those that were successful invited swift
and bloody retaliation from the Overseers known as Defenders. Four
major battles mark the First Resistance, which is sadly the solitary
opposition worth mentioning out of many as organized and widespread.
The first battle, the Burning of Cheves, was a massive revolt in the
converted City of Cheves, which had previously been a home to
crystal-workers. It was realized that the kiramon were planning to make
use of the refined crystals there to enhance the Rismur beacon. Cheves
was near Rismur, and thus several Aelotoi were able to move between the
two cities and share information about the crystalline networks that
the kiramon utilize to communicate. The Aelotoi decided that they must
do what they could to stymie the kiramon, even if the single
contribution could not do much against their oppressors. It was for
this reason that they set Cheves ablaze, setting off powder caches
meant for use in the mines. Several Aelotoi survived only to be cut
down by Defenders, but the kiramon were denied their crystals. This act
was repeated in the mine of Gul'leng, and in a city-independent kiramon
pre-hive established near the ruins of the T'thal City. This Resistance
ended only when three hundred Aelotoi children were culled, at random,
from the streets and held hostage against the good behavior of the
people. The kiramon found such success in this method that the Taking
of the Three Hundred became an annual event. More than one revolution
was probably slain in its infancy by the thoughts of the lives it would
destroy. The Aelotoi were not, even after a millennium of servitude, a
hardened people.
While our softness was a flaw, it remains our greatest virtue.
Modern Day
Over aeons, we changed as a people, yet our imprisonment under the
kiramon was a cyclical one. Generations would toil wordlessly under the
kiramon until a charismatic ruler would arise from our ranks, speaking
words that had been spoken since times immemorial to our people. We
would rise, bold and brave, using tactics of shadow and stealth to
strike a fatal blow against the Overseers. Never were these attacks
quite so critical as we had hoped. Always, the retaliation was
horrific. Three Hundred were the least of the casualties, although that
appalling custom continued despite its relative ineffectuality. Society
still congregated among those who could offer the most comfort, whether
that consolation came from priests or healers. We still dwelled in
squalor, living our lives in those moments of peace rather than opening
our eyes to the bleakness of life.
Life changed as much as it remained the same. New clans were formed, as
no one existed who recalled the old. The Mrae'ni were our greatest
treasures, providers of comfort and care wherever they existed. Healers
were foremost among them, but others who had power over the forces of
the world frequently were named Mrae'ni. These used their magical
strengths to succor their brethren in ways unseen to the Overseers. The
L'Naereen frequently lacked magics, but they, too, honored themselves
as Mrae'ni by providing comfort of the spirit to many an Aelotoi. The
L'Naereen held to an ancient belief that made many an Aelotoi sleep
better at night: the kiramon were a trial sent to us by L'Naere, and
she would know who had passed. The name L'Naereen passed away after a
time, for it was clear that they were caregivers as surely as any
healer. In the end, they were all Mrae'ni.
More respected still were the Gaeh'deh. This clan formed in the depths
of the mines. Just as the L'Naereen found their place in the Mrae'ni,
many who would have been T'thal or Gaeh'thal had the old ways remained
intact were best suited as Gaeh'deh. From the Gaeh'deh came many
Resistance leaders, though the clan primarily honored itself for its
defense of the Mrae'ni. Over millennia, it became a note of pride for
the Gaeh'deh to distinguish themselves by guardian over the Mrae'ni. In
fact, many Mrae'ni would enter into a sort of formal bonding, called
the Mrae'ni'viru, with a chosen Gaeh'deh. Traditional rather than
magical in make, this bond was the ultimate honor for a Gaeh'deh. The
Mrae'ni would own the Gaeh'deh as a defender, but under the
Mrae'ni'viru, the Mrae'ni made clear that he or she owed the Gaeh'deh
the very stuff of life. In a society where honor among one's own people
was one of the few goals in life, there could be no higher gift.
The Vaer'sah styled themselves after the Vaer'rij, saved that their
clan title implied that they wandered on wings rather than foot.
Frequently aloof, the Vaer'sah were foragers and possessed more freedom
than either the Gaeh'deh or the Mrae'ni. Many Aelotoi attempted to
demonize the Vaer'sah as being a step above collaboration with the
kiramon, yet in truth they were integral to the Resistance. Despite
Vaer'sah attitudes, which generally were cool and haughty, they served
as messengers between individual cells. Vaer'sah were--and
are--pragmatists, but they were never traitors.
That shame lies on only one clan: the Muradhun. Not specifically a clan
name so much as a brand of dishonor, to be called Muradhun is
tantamount to being named a traitor. Some few Aelotoi willingly submit
to becoming Muradhun, serving willingly or even giving their minds
wholly to the Overseers. Many thought that submission would improve
their standard of living, or was the true key to being raised up from
the shadows of the mines. This was not the case. Being discovered as
Muradhun meant death.
Over time, the face of Bre'Naere changed as radically as our society.
What was once a green and pleasant world became scarred by the careless
mining methods of the kiramon. The waters became poisoned, the rains
ran warm as blood and burned like a serpent's kiss, and clouds as black
as char would sometimes blot out the sunlight. The life of Bre'Naere
might have lasted long had it not been for the Overseers. That life was
being drawn toward a hasty end by the Overseers, whose master would
move them--and us--on once the resources were gone.
We realized our eventual fate some time near the fifteenth millennium
of our captivity. It was then that we began to fight our final war.
The 1134-1151 Resistance
The Last Resistance began in 1134 by the Reckoning of Tisthir. One
commodity of which the Aelotoi have never had a shortage is reckonings.
The Reckoning of Tisthir was one of the eldest continuous and accurate
measures of days, dating back to the Tisthirin rebellion in the
fourteenth millennium of rule. Some measurements proclaim that they
have maintained an accurate accounting since the beginning of the
Occupation or prior, but such claims can be easily dismissed as highly
improbable if not impossible.
Around Summerheight of 1134, Braedn of the Gaeh'deh was approached by
Nadael of the Mrae'ni. Nadael was a follower of L'Naere, supported by
Braedn's Mrae'ni'viru, Mraensa. Supported by a fellow L'Naereen, Tarang
of the Vaer'sah, Nadael had built an extraordinary network of
information and harmonious action stretching across most of the two
continents. The information network lacked but one thing: a purpose.
Braedn was among the most respected of the Gaeh'deh positioned in
Rismur, enough perhaps to be called the leader of the sect there. Word
had spread that he had discovered Muradhun where none suspected them in
the Rismur Aelotoi, and gained much honor in their defeat. The truth of
the matter was that Braedn was brave, charismatic, and supported by a
careful balance of chance and backers.
Braedn slid into the role of a Resistance leader quite easily, although
he left Nadael in charge of the information networks. Nadael was wise
and clever, the latter being more important in the waging of a secret
war. To insulate this Resistance from Muradhun or swift destruction at
the hands of the kiramon, he designed a system of cells, groups of
three Aelotoi--Mrae'ni, Gaeh'deh, and Vaer'sah--who knew only two
others as members of the Resistance. This slowed the movements of the
Resistance, as secrecy and swiftness are oft at odds, but the
occasional capture was not nearly so damning as those in the past had
been.
Under Braedn's leadership, masterful strokes against the kiramon and
the Muradhun were accomplished. An Overseer hive in the caverns of
Shidelm, where ages ago the Vaer'rij built their homes, was discovered
as being the Bre'Naere breeding ground for kresh. Strategically placed
detonations turned kresh and il'kresh into a rare resource, making the
kiramon even more dependent on the Aelotoi. We did not realize it then,
but the kiramon would not refresh their supplies of kresh and il'kresh,
as Bre'Naere had begun to lose its value to them. Minerals were
becoming increasingly scarce, and the numbers of Aelotoi becoming
Vaer'sah in order to scavenge for materials and food were becoming too
great a burden for kiramon defenders to shoulder.
With the kresh and il'kresh diminishing, more and more Aelotoi were
forced to do the beasts' brutal labor. This was unfortunate, but it
encouraged a rebellious spirit among the people, a new level of
dissatisfaction, upon which Braedn quickly played. Soon, Aelotoi were
causing disturbances, great and small, throughout the occupied empire.
Few kiramon were killed, at first, but entire hives were destroyed or
cut off permanently from the main body of the Overseers by strategic
collapses. Crystals, ever a precious commodity for the Overseers were
ruined in refinement 'accidents' or, more commonly, left unfinished and
declared done.
The camp at Timor was the first example against Braedn's rebellion. In
1144, over a hundred thousand Overseers converged on Timor. Not a
single Aelotoi survived. Timor had been a stronghold of the Mrae'ni for
centuries, and many of the wisest and best of the L'Naereen were
slaughtered, guarding the scrolls they had written, in secret, in what
remained of our ancient language. Even had the kiramon allowed them,
those Aelotoi would not have fled.
Knowing well the cost, Braedn forced the rebellion to go on. He was
overheard as saying that an eternity of rest would be better than
another millennium of slavery. For their courage, loyalty, and
perseverance, the Aelotoi were rewarded with the Massacre at Jat'revek.
That ancient city of adjudicators was of no consequence to the kiramon,
having neither the structure nor the location necessary to become a
decent hive ground. They sacrificed the tiny hive there to eliminate
the population, but what was more, the kiramon brought the city down to
the ground, leaving the dead lying in the ruins. Emotionless or no, the
kiramon seemed angry.
Treatment degenerated swiftly. Where before the kiramon were implacable
and passive even when confronted with violence, they began to brutalize
slow workers or rebels to near death. Gaeh'deh would seek, as once they
did, to stand in and take the punishment for the Mrae'ni, but the
Overseers would merely kill the Gaeh'deh in their way and then exact
their vengeance on the Mrae'ni. This did not have the intended effect
of smashing resistance. The Aelotoi people were awakening. Resistance
polarized the Aelotoi. Many betrayed their blood and became Muradhun,
but others who had sought to keep themselves from fighting instead
became warriors of the Resistance.
With each passing day, the retaliation became more swift, more brutal.
It was obvious that the Aelotoi would not conquer the kiramon, but
neither could our people, galvanized to combat, stop before the duty
was done. In 1150, the widespread domain of the kiramon began to
collapse in upon itself, and Aelotoi camps were gathered to Rismur. It
seemed obvious that our numbers and theirs were decreasing so rapidly
that the Overseers were forced to consolidate themselves around Rismur.
Their central hive, with its fifteen millennia-old crystal beacon, was
of greatest importance. Yet, as more and more Aelotoi were forced into
old Rismur, we knew that as a single group we stood no chance against
the vastly stronger and more numerous kiramon.
Still we fought. As we were deprived of detonation powders or positions
in crystal refineries, we began ambushing groups of kiramon, desperate
to break them or make them realize we were not worth their continued
expenditures. We learned and developed our skills with tools we had
once used to harvest and hunt for our families. Spears, hoes, scythes,
any implement that could pierce kiramon chitin was made into a weapon.
It became a foremost principle that death was better than being taken
and used as an expendable hostage against our people.
Everything changed in 1151. Without warning or explanation, the portal
opened in the middle of the Rismur camp. Some believed it was a
miracle, others a kiramon trick. Either way, we had little to lose. The
Overseers were in fury, striking at our people like mad beasts. Even
the traitorous Muradhun were not safe from their rage: their bodies
were heaped about the entry to the beacon daily. The kiramon were much
like a hive of Elanthian ants, and though they had been slow to anger
they had become viciously uncaring of consequence and expenditure. Had
any of us remained, we would not be living on this day.
Although hesitant at first, several ventured through the portal, Braedn
at their head. We knew full well that our time was running low, so upon
discovering little of immediate harm on the portal's other side, the
order was given for us to begin filing through. There was little food,
little water, and no safety remaining for us at home. Only as the last
of the Aelotoi, defended by a small rear guard, began to approach the
portal did the Overseers begin their inspection of our camp. Several of
us were instantly struck down as we attempted to hold our side of the
portal. Even so, we realized it would only be lending time to our
fleeing brethren.
We would have been annihilated if not for two sources of aid: the brave
warriors who fought for us on the Elanthian side of the portal, and the
Muradhun. Several of the latter finally found their courage as the
kiramon defenders fell upon us. The beasts left their backs to the
Muradhun, who lifted weapons cast aside by their brethren and, knowing
fully the hopelessness of their plight, leapt into the fray in order to
distract the kiramon. Their lives were short, but they regained much of
their honor that day.
Finally, the last of us came through the portal to Elanthia. Several
kiramon were able to follow, but they were quickly dispatched. Now, the
Aelotoi are free.
The Future
Chance and fate have broken us free from the shackles of
servitude. Many of those who still follow L'Naere, even if there
remains not enough of her religion to call them L'Naereen'dar still,
proclaim that the trial is ended. I would contend that it has just
begun. Elanthia is a strange new world, full of life and peoples for
which we are not entirely ready. In many ways, the Aelotoi are a people
without a culture to call our own. Our past culture is as surely dead
to us as our past home.
Some Aelotoi will embrace the chance for levity, for constant
jubilation. They may even cloak themselves in ignorance and pretend
that, for all of the scars we bear, we are merely woodland sprite from
far away, given to buoyancy and trilling giggles. Though their smiles
may lie, their eyes know the truth. Nothing can truly wash away
millennia of bloodshed, of violation, of servitude. It is the mark of a
true Aelotoi to remember, and to embrace our tradition of honor and
memory of those who died to make our lives possible. We must not
forget, but we must not let bitter remembrance mar us. If we live well,
then we, and not the kiramon, are truly the victors of our struggle.
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