Ivory Blade

The Ivory Blade is a secretive xenophobic order of elven mages and assassins based the ruins of Old Neria. Members of the Ivory Blade can be identified by their unmarked white cloaks and their exclusive use of elven weaponry and armor.

The Ivory Blade is led by a Patriarch or Matriarch who directs all covert operations and coordinates their propaganda efforts. Their operations are typically carried out by task forces made of any number of members, all of whom are specialized to complete their task at hand. Some task forces, such as the garrison of a sanctuary, may have hundreds of members for use in manual labor and basic security. Whereas other task forces, such as spies on another plane, may have only two or three highly talented members. Each task force is led by an Overseer.

## History

The Ivory Blade was founded by the survivors of Nerian refugees who did not support Ellerian unification. After the Nerian migrants in the Menetar Valley were slaughtered and enslaved by Menetari warlords, those who escaped withdrew into the ancient elven sanctuaries deep within the Forest of Nep. The survivors became intensely xenophobic, believing all other races to be enemies of elves. The most extreme of these survivors founded the Ivory Blade to exact revenge upon both the dwarves who "corrupted" their kin and the humans who decimated them.

In the following years, the Ivory Blade has secretly infiltrated elven society in Elleria. Their members would being a slow campaign of conversion and subliminal propaganda in an attempt to destroy Ellerian elves' confidence with their dwarf neighbors. Their attempts through the ages have largely been unsuccessful, especially during and after the Great War when public support for unification of all mortal races seemed strongest.

Three hundred years before the current era, then-Prince Belam of the Lax'Letha family fell in love with the Ivory Blade mage Indra. The two married, exposing the royal family to Ivory Blade influence. Within a single generation, Indra successfully installed Ivory Blade agents in multiple government positions, granting the Ivory Blade unprecedented political and social influence. Only the Nerian Royal Guard remained uninfluenced, likely due to their members training with the Guardianship and having been exposed to many tenets of the Stewardship of Peace.

After becoming king, Belam himself was victim to Ivory Blade propaganda. At the behest of his wife, King Belam began suggesting secession from the United Mortal Confederation for elven benefit, alienating both the Ellerian Parliament and their ancient friends, the dwarven Fasteads.

### Current Era

The adolescent Ivory Blade agent Quenya discovered the Tome of the Dragon Queen during a mission to disrupt the Arcanist Guild's research. It was guarded by an expeditionary team from the Arcanist Guild as well as several members of legendary guild, the Blackbird Mercenary Company. After slaughtering the entire expedition by herself and reading the Tome, the Nerian princess learned of the Five-Pointed Prophecy. Believing herself to be the Destined in the prophecy and seeing elves as the chosen people to welcome dragonkind to Mortium, Quenya took it upon herself to save the world from the treachery of other races.

After Quenya defeated Patriach Edric and assumed the title of Matriarch, her first act was to enact revenge on her own mother for the death of her sister. After the Palace Massacre, Quenya gathered the remaining Nerian Royal Guard as well as any Nerian loyalists in Elleria. Hiding her identity as the Matriarch of the Ivory Blade, she traveled with her exiles to Menetar in order to infiltrate the Forum of Mortal Races and gain access to the Menetar Planeport and switch its portkey with the Tome, opening the portal to the Draconic Plane. Meanwhile her agents sabotage unity in every corner of the Confederation, ensuring that Mortium could not surmount a defense against Tiamat's dragon armies in time.