Latariana

### First of the Elves

After the creation of the three Planes of Power, The First undertook the creation of the elves and prominent among them were Lord Emorial and Lady Latariana, called Father and Mother to the Elves. If the Elven myths are true then light (in the form of an archetypal sun) and air (in the form of a primeval sky) were initially created separately, but then “light was drawn in to bask in the sky” (as the Legendum Magicara has it), and the two were married.

This tale may well relate to the creation of Emorial and Latariana and the relationship between them, for he was said to be the Lord Protector of Light and she the Lady Protectress of Air. Quite what light and air needed protection from is a mystery to scholars, but the granting of such offices nevertheless seems to have been a source of great pride. The Elves dwelt within the Empyrean, and had little to do with true physical existence in the mortal realm. Instead, their spirits were nourished wholly through their relation to the spheres.

It is not entirely clear whether Emorial and Latariana were themselves the progenitors of the Elven people, or merely the first of them to be created and gain particular recognition. If they were the literal Father and Mother of the Elves, they must have made a fecund pair, for soon enough the Elves numbered in legions. Certainly they were lovers, and wedded in the fashion of their folk.

### Desire and Betrayal

The Turning turned and time passed, and Lady Latariana slowly began to covet more than her current existence. She longed for greater power than the Elves had in the Empyrean plane, and she told Emorial of her heart’s fervent desire, a Crown of Dreams and Life.

Scholars ponder over why Latariana became avaricious, but consensus suggests that a shadowy spirit from the Ynfernael plane tempted her in secret murmurs. Others suggest that the First, lacking personality, were too cold an entity (or entities) for Elves to form any sort of deep relationship with them. Whatever her motives, she cajoled her husband and made ceaseless requests for him to win her dominion over the primary spheres, or perhaps all the spheres, of the Empyrean. Emorial eventually agreed to her pleas, and to please his love he set off to grant her wish. He traveled to the farthest edge of creation and called for the First to relinquish control. The First did not so much as deign to respond, leaving Emorial humiliated and wrathful.

He returned to the Elves and marshaled them in mutiny against the First. He marched his host through the Gate of Years, Lady Latariana at his side. The Elves thought they would pass into the halls of the First, but instead found themselves on a bridge over a great river. Though they did not realize it, they were crossing over into the Aenlong.

### The Elves Are Imprisoned

For countless days, the Elves marched, perhaps never realizing they were hopelessly lost. They fell to the predations of the Fae and the Dimora. They traversed the hazardous wastes of the Grey Lands. Then, one day, they found themselves on narrow tracks that led through a great foreboding forest, and they came, eventually, to a great green glade bathed in golden sunlight. This was the Aymhelin forest, whose northernmost eaves reach into the lands of Terrinoth to this day.

For a brief moment, Emorial dared to think that their mutiny had succeeded and their dominion over the four spheres of the Empyrean had been won. Then he spied the architect of the glade, a great winged serpent—the Yrthwright Mennara.

   The majestic dragon is said to have held Emorial’s cold gaze with its own implacable one, and it passed the judgments of the First down upon the rebellious Elves. They were exiled from the Empyrean. Light and Air would no longer be theirs to command. The Lays of the First would no longer come freely to their hearts to nourish them. Lastly, they were now imprisoned on the mortal plane—which the Elves now realized they had emerged into during their march. Then the realization dawned on Emorial that, for their desire, the Elves would be bound to the object that was both their destination and their damnation, a crowning realm of light, of air, of life, and of dreams. This world, which some dare name after the Yrthwright of this tale.

### The Tears of Latariana

The Elves begged Mennara for mercy, but it would not heed them. Instead, it turned to Latariana, and it offered her a terrible choice. It suggested that there was a way the Elves might win an eventual reprieve. A window to the Empyrean could be left open for the Elves to return through one day, but the cost for such a favor was high. Latariana would have to enter the Void, taking with her the Ynfernael temptations that had led to her greed.

With a heavy heart, Latariana agreed. She turned to Emorial, and she whispered to him the last tender words he would ever hear. They embraced then, and she wept brave tears of sorrow and regret before climbing on the back of the Yrthwright. The majestic creature then spread its vast wings and flew up into the darkening skies.

The Elves watched as Latariana was borne from the world into the Void, and as she grew too distant to see, a bright light shone in her place—the first star. More stars began to appear, reminders of Latariana’s sacrifice for her people, and the Elves watched them in sorrow and awe.

But one could not look. Emorial was staring at his hands, wet with the tears of Latariana. Before his eyes, the tears transformed into eleven stunning pearlescent jewels, but mere echoes of his lost love’s beauty. Like the stars, they were tokens of hope for the Elves, signs that they could earn forgiveness.

However, Emorial was wracked with shame, anger, and grief. The promise of eventual forgiveness he could not countenance for himself. He called forth eleven Elven nobles and shared between them the Tears of Latariana. The jewels were to serve as marks of office, for Emorial divided his host into eleven tribes, and directed the nobles to lead each faction. He bade them take his people into the future of this new world until a path back to the Empyrean was made clear.

Then, he took up his sword and with cold fury in his heart, left his people. The Elves say that he journeyed to the Ynfernael plane, seeking to mete out vengeance on the corrupting shadow that had murmured temptations to his bride.