Alta Norn -- The Great Cycle History of the Tel'Mordere
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Tel'Mordere are no different from any other elf.
To the boorish race of Men we might appear different from others of our kind, but in the eyes of kin we are cast from the same mold. In this regard, even a drow is distinctly elven. A controversial statement, but it is nonetheless true. Ponder this, what does it mean to be elvenkind? Does it necessitate prayers to the Seldarine? No. Men worship a thousand heathen deities and one Man is no less human than another simply on account of to whom, or what, he pays religious tribute. What, then, makes an elf an elf? As with all creatures in the world, it is a matter of pedigree. It is about genetic roots and in whose image we were made. And, curiously, where we were made. Elves were not born or made on Faerûn or Aber Toril. We came here from elsewhere. That elsewhere is called the Feywild. Knowing that, perhaps you now realise it is not so coincidental that sages and scholars have a penchant to call elves fey. To understand us, you need to understand the Feywild. In many ways the Feywild is similar to the world you know. You might even call it an echo of our world, or our world an echo of the Feywild. The biggest difference is that in the Feywild everything is amplified. Magic is more potent. Forests are more verdant and the seas are frothing with larger waves. The creatures that inhabit the Feywild are deeply bonded with their realm, at all times feeling its pulse and living in tandem with it. The ancestors of elves were no exception. That is why, when long ago we traveled to this world, we bonded with it in ways unfathomable to other races. Elves that dwelled on mountains grew wings. Elves that settled near water learned to breathe under the waves. Elves that, as you say metaphorically, grew roots in forests, grew them almost literally, bonding with trees and the wildlife. Even the drow, our distant kin whom we exiled underground, developed a deep affinity with the subterranean realm whence they were banished. And what of the Tel'Mordere?
Tel'Mordere are different in that we have not severed our roots to the Feywild. We live in a place-between-places, with one foot here, in this world, and one in the Feywild. More importantly, we are not so much bonded to this or that one land as we are to the Seelie Court and Unseelie Court, whom we serve. To understand us, you must understand our history, and to understand our history, you must know of our pacts.
Tel'Mordere are not born. We are made. We are pacted.
Certainly you can be born into the tribe, but to be recognised as true Tel'Mordere bloodlines play no pivotal influence. Pacts do, or, rather, the manner in which you respect and honour these pacts. In this sense, a half-orc chieftain with no elven lineage may nonetheless be recognised by the tribe if they are recognised by the Seelie or Unseelie Court and their respective rulers and deities. That Tel'Mordere are predominantly elven is simply because a whole tribe of elves determined to become pacted down to every man, woman and child. So to reiterate, to be Tel'Mordere, or, I should say, to serve the Feywild Courts, race does not matter. Fealty does. Think of a knight empowered by their vows. We are exactly similar.
The courts that the Tel'Mordere serve are constellations that draw their power from the Feywild. There are two such constellations, the Seelie Court and Unseelie Court, attended by Seelie and Unseelie fey. The unenlightened describe these two twin powers as representing benevolence and cruelty, but this is not true. Probably this misconception arose because the Seelie fey draw their power from summer and light, thus appearing radiant and comely. The Unseelie Court, also known as the Court of Winter or Court of Midnight, draws power from cold and darkness, their members often taking forms that, to the belligerent eye of Man, appear grotesque and aberrant. But the Unseelie are not cruel, and neither are we who serve them. Some Tel'Mordere tribes serve the Unseelie Court, some serve the Seelie Court, and some are pacted to both.
For now, all you need to know about the Tel'Mordere is that we reflect in deed and, at times, shape, the ones we serve. We are pacted with the Feywild, a deep bond that lends us incredible powers. But we are beholden to the entities that have given us our powers, for pacts such as these are never without cost; our powers are leased to us, a contract we honour by making manifest the will of the Feywild in this world and any other world we visit.
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[Tel'Mordere Chronicles] Alta Norn -- The Great Cycle