Lanakis the Chosen

The great schism of the High Elves and Dark Elves, and the War of the Elves that followed, were terrible things indeed, not least because it was a conflict whose rights and wrongs were never clear-cut, but also because there were no true victors. The wound torn open between the High Elves of Aravia and the Dark Elves of Durham Forest festers to this day. Nonetheless, there have been several attempts – in good faith and bad – to try to at least normalize relations, if not wholly mend the rift. In the War’s aftermath during the Age of Treachery, Lanakis the Chosen was intended to be the healing hand whose expert diplomacy would bring the two halves together once again. The failed First Conclave of the Elves had been the spark that ignited the War, which raged so intensely that it prompted the intervention of the Arbiter and the Sacred Order. She marched an army of her loyalists right to the frontlines, threatening violence upon both belligerents if peace was not swiftly negotiated. Exhausted and depleted, the Elves agreed to a Second Conclave. Lanakis had successfully bargained various temporary ceasefires and evacuations of the vulnerable during the course of the fighting. Now she saw her chance to end the conflict outright, and eagerly accepted the nomination to be the chief negotiator of Aravia to the Second Conclave of the Elves – the Chosen. She donned a ceremonial headdress that covered her eyes, so that she might become as blind and impartial as the notion of justice itself. The Second Conclave began promisingly enough. Civility was upheld and all the right words about peace and reconciliation were spoken. But as negotiations dragged on, tensions simmered, and the façade of cordiality was revealed to be just that: a thin veneer maintained grudgingly, hatred and contempt seething just below the surface of every interaction. Lanakis herself, for all her training in impartiality and composure, was wracked with feelings of anger and doubt. She had seen firsthand the cruelty and destruction that the Dark Elves were capable of. But, as an insider in the world of Aravian politics, she had seen too how her High Elf kinfolk had grown more and more radicalized, ever-more intolerant and egotistical, filled with paranoia and mistrust for everyone outside their personal cliques. Was the shadow magic of the Dark Elves and their enigmatic spiritual leader, the Dreamwalker, truly a force for unmitigated evil? Hearing the testimonies of Dark Elf ambassadors, and recalling her own experiences, she fully appreciated how wondrously, delightfully empowering these magics were even for dabbling practitioners. Shadowcraft had undoubtedly improved lives, but the King of Aravia, the noble court, and even the Arbiter herself had instantly and unequivocally condemned it. Though Lanakis had before respected the Arbiter’s neutrality on mortal affairs, she now questioned it. Lanakis' strained faith was fully shattered when the Arbiter accused the followers of the Dreamwalker to all willingly being in league with dark lord Siroth himself. Lanakis believed it to be a wild and irresponsible accusation – an excuse to justify further war and oppression against a group who, while perhaps irresponsible and in need of legal reprimand, were nonetheless close-knit kin, still Aravian in many of their ways, with families and friends on both sides longing to be reunited. The culture of the Dark Elves had not yet shifted dramatically with the passage of time and generations. Lanakis saw the Arbiter’s accusations against the Dark Elves as an insult to all Elves, including herself. Additionally, she resented the presence of the Sacred Order. She knew of the horrors of their Red Crusade, and feared they would launch a new campaign of extermination against the Dark Elves, if the rhetoric that they were servants of Darkness were allowed to intensify. Innocent Elves would also doubtless suffer at their indiscriminate hands. Months of deadlock wore on Lanakis’ spirit. By the time terms were finally agreed upon, Lanakis was much disillusioned. Far from mending the schism, the terms of the Second Conclave established it firmly: the territorial borders of Aravia and Durham were locked down, Dark Elves exiled from Aravia were compensated for the loss of their estates, and rules against aggressive expansion by either party were established. Peace was achieved, but it was a peace that pleased no one. Lanakis feared that there would never be another chance to reunite the Elves. And after spending ages steeped in the cynical, manipulative politics of the High Elves, The Chosen decided to follow a new path. Lanakis did not return to Aravia with the delegation. She tendered her resignation and defected to the Dark Elves, where her sympathies now lay. By the very terms of the peace treaty she had helped foster, her furious former masters could do nothing to stop her.