Pyxniel

The very tallest of the Cloudspire Mountains is called Skybreach, and sometimes also known as the Occluded Peak. It towers over its surroundings and extends into the heavens, and its slopes are surrounded by a haze of glittering, wind-blown frost, for which it earned its title. But on rare occasions, the clouds are clear and the winds die down, and when the sun shines upon the peak of Skybreach, there can be glimpsed a dazzlingly reflective pillar, a tower of pure ice that shines blindingly. Therein abides Pyxniel, the Peak’s Gaze, one of the most ancient and powerful sorceresses in the history of Teleria. Above even the clouds themselves, her mystic eye watches for encroaching Darkness. Centuries ago, during the First Great War between Lumaya and her Arbiter against the dread Darkness of Siroth, Pyxniel was an exalted archmage. She is said to have been friend, sometimes lover, of the heroic Basileus Roanas who was called the Great White Eagle. She defended the Arbiter’s Tower with staunch, bitter resolve against the fiery hordes of Demonspawn. She cut down scores with talons of frost and missiles of sharpened ice, and when the foe turned to flee they found their escape blocked by towering glacial walls. She produced blizzards to obscure the movement of troops and sow confusion in the enemy, following them up with waves of spectacular, lethal ice-darts. The Arbiter herself, watching Pyxniel and her disciples of ice magic, was impressed. After an era of strife and devastation, the war was won by the forces of Light. However, the worrisome truth was that the Arbiter and her forces had been pushed to nearly the breaking point, and she was in need of new sources of power and new tools to use against the immortal enemy, who she knew would inevitably attempt more invasions of Teleria. Seeing that Pyxniel possessed exceptional mastery of cryomancy that exceeded her own, the Arbiter approached Pyxniel personally and, to the shock of the frost mage, begged a favor: to tutor her in ice magic. Pyxniel was overjoyed and honored to serve the Goddess’ chosen, and agreed. They traveled to the Cloudspire Mountains, a place of bitter cold where they could shake the snows and blast epic gouts of elemental frost without fear of damaging civilization. There, on the slopes of Skybreach, for months and months the two pushed each other’s talents to new heights. Not only destructive spells of war, but delicate and creative works as well were shared between the mortal and the envoy of Lumaya. The Arbiter learned to weave snow and ice into walls, spikes, pits, and even mechanisms. While Pyxniel slept and ate, the Arbiter relaxed by forming intricate sculptures from the glacial crust, the ice flowing at her command. Then it was back to drilling in martial cryomancy, unleashing frosty blasts and shaping lethal gelid blades, upheaving the snows to induce avalanches, and conjuring elemental servitors to assail a hypothetical enemy. Since Pyxniel was attuned to cold, she was largely immune to its ravages, and so made a perfect sparring partner for the Arbiter. Hillfolk and herdsmen a hundred miles away sometimes glimpsed the flashes of glittering rime and bursts of exploding snow created by their duels, and heard the distant rumble of their spellcraft borne on the freezing winds. Eventually Pyxniel judged her pupil her equal in frost magic. As a final test and payment for her services, Pyxniel asked the Arbiter to raise a tower of ice, a copy of the Arbiter’s Tower which Pyxniel had defended so faithfully. Relishing the task, the Arbiter lovingly sculpted a gleaming white citadel atop the great mountain of their training. Her mentorship complete, Pyxniel now requested a final boon from the Arbiter. She wished to remain atop her new Tower to watch over the Cloudspire Mountains and even the distant Winterlands at the northern roof of the world. But she felt the pangs of age, and knew that her vigil would someday end in death. The Arbiter blessed the Tower of Skybreach so that Pyxniel would not age while she remained therein. In dire need the Elven mage can go forth to fight the Arbiter’s foes, and spend her precious coin of life, but for as long as she remains in her tower she serves as an eternal sentinel watching for danger on the horizon. Even as the Arbiter’s power has waned, her covenant with Pyxniel the Peak’s Gaze has held true. And should the need ever be dire, the Elven sorceress would gladly join the Arbiter forever in a Shard, just as her beloved Roanas did.