Elenaril

Elenaril still wears the gold and purple regalia awarded to the highest servants of Aravia, but she is one of the most infamous and despised traitors in the kingdom’s history. For decades she has been a thorn in the side of the Aravian monarchy, ever since she betrayed her covenant with the crown and went rogue in spectacular fashion. Why would the monarch’s chosen high master archer, respected and laden with accolades, abandon all this to take up a life of subversive rabble-rousing? Some say she was kidnapped from birth by some arch-conspirator such as a Dark Elf or a necromancer, and brainwashed to become a sleeper agent. Others even claim she is a magical shape-shifter – they struggle to conceive of a true-born Elf harboring such treachery. Others say she always was a citizen of Aravia, but fell to some sort of corrupting influence. Perhaps it was Demonic whispers, or a foul tome containing secrets that warped her mind. The Dark Elves, and their seductive cult of the Dreamwalker, are another strong possibility. Others cite more mundane sources of indiscretion such as bribery or blackmail, or even that most treacherous of emotions, love – for someone with radical beliefs, or for a radical cause. All that is certain is that after working her way to the very top ranks of the Royal Guards, Elenaril stole a collection of scrolls and manuscripts from the royal library, as well as the beautiful and valuable wargear of her rank she had been granted from the royal armory. By the time the thefts were discovered she was gone, and had somehow circumvented the magical wards and psychic taboos placed upon all high-ranking servants of the monarchy as a precaution. The mage who cast those spells, and who thus failed to control Elenaril, was tortured nearly to death, but had no explanation for his otherwise sterling magics failing thusly. He currently rots in a dungeon, still under a cloud of suspicion. As for Elenaril, she went to ground for years, seen and heard by no one even as Aravian spies poured across the countryside and ventured abroad in search of her. Her bounty of stolen secrets never turned up in the hands of Aravia’s enemies nor anywhere else. Why she stole what she did, and for whom, comprise yet more of her dire tableau of mystery. One scholar, asked for his opinion, posited that the only being powerful and obscure enough to be Elenaril’s master, and thus the recipient of the secret documents, is the Arbiter herself. The court did not find this suggestion humorous, only for the scholar to stammer out that he was serious, soon after which he excused himself. Years later, Elenaril resurfaced. She appeared before a gathering of Ogryn on their way to serve at Felwin’s Wall accompanied by a small detachment of Aravian soldiery, and hailed them in a mighty voice. She told them they were trudging toward a long and ignominious downfall, toiling as second-class citizens to defend a fortification that never should have been built. She decried the Aravian monarchy and all it stood for, proclaiming that the High Elves in their arrogance were inviting the wrath of the Goddess. A day ofjudgment would soon come upon Aravia and all who stand with her, when the residents of the kingdom would be forced to choose between their cruel and haughty masters and a war of liberation that would usher in a new golden age. Before she could be apprehended she struck down several pursuers and vanished yet again, her speed and agility too much even for the High Elf guardsmen chasing her. Since this dramatic re-emergence she has repeated this stunt in various other labor camps and mustering-grounds, always preaching radical liberation and the overthrow of the Aravian crown. Some superficial parallels exist between Elenaril and the pair of malefactors known as the Winged Elves of Felwin. A well-respected High Elf overseer was seduced by – or chose freely to follow — a Dark Elf infiltrator who possessed inexplicable powers of flight, and together they repeatedly flout the restrictions on passage across the Wall for reasons unknown. Though they are not thought to be working directly with Elenaril, she may have been inspired by them, and they are likely on friendly terms. The Royal Huntsman has made careful note of all Elenaril’s past associates and paid each a visit, as well as mapped all the places she was known to frequent before her betrayal and where she has since been sighted. She will need all her guile to evade this most mercilessly patient of warriors, and even then, a duel between these two deadly archers seems only a matter of time.