Myriad

The Myriad are remnants of all the elven races of the old world united into a
single nation. The elven races were the most numerous, powerful, and widespread
across the old world. The sins of their ancient race ran deep. The seeds of the
Myriad began when the elder elves betrayed their one-time allies the
grovestalkers through shrewd politicking and magical prowess. The grovestalkers
had agreed to live in the mangroves and swamps where elves could not in
exchange for military and magical support against their enemies the gnolls who
also thrived in swamps.
The elve's solution was simple in concept though not in scope. Using
ritualistic rites on a scale that would beggar dragons they drained the swamps
over a decade. Requiring thousands of brightbloods working in concert they
pushed the oceans back from the mangroves. The elves believed they could
change the swamps yet balance the ecosystem's elements. Surprisingly, they
were right. Their plans went perfectly. The grovestalkers were exiled into the little
remaining swampland on the eastern coast far from the elven nations. The gnolls
were similarly displaced. Famine and disease ran rampant amongst those races.
Diaspora, both races were forgotten.
The humans became numerous, the dwarves had their own struggles. The
elves in their pride fought amongst their own kind for sleights that would soon
prove trivial.
A century later the elves on the eastern side of the continent were assaulted
by three armies. The grovestalkers and gnolls allied, with a new race. The attacks
were unexpected, undivined. Fractured as they were the first elven nations to be
attacked were taken quickly. Refugees drove westward in throngs before this
savage alliance. Tales spread of the gnoll and grovestalker seeking vengeance
backed by a blind race with preternatural hearing. They would eventually become
known as troglodyte.
Each elven nation believed itself capable of withstanding the horde, and
each elven nation was swallowed until only few remained whole. These however
were the most powerful, the western nations with human slaves and the oldest
known magics. They remained divided in purpose though united against their
common foe. Grovestalkers, gnolls, and troglodytes mustered for a singular
assault on one of the greatest fortresses of any time. A strategic gateway
between east and west. The elves believed themselves capable of defence; likely
they'd have been proved right, had that been the total arrayed against them...
The leader of the enemy races was the subject of many assumptions but no
one knew who or what it was. Unexpectedly, it was a human male who led the
disparate races. His name was never known, though he was given the title

Despot by his enemies. Up to this point the savage alliance had won due
primarily to canny strategies, surprise, and the outright negligence of the weaker
eastern nations. This fortress was the first real challenge posed that had the
potential to eliminate the forces arrayed against the elves. It was at this fortress
that the Despot unleashed what he had been holding back for just this moment.
The troglodyte were a subterranean race, when the elves drained the
swamps and pushed the oceans away from the mangroves they drove massive
quantities of water through the cavernous homes of the troglodyte. Over the
previous century the troglodyte moved above ground, they began to work
together with the gnoll, eventually allying with the grovestalkers. It was never
learned how the Despot gained preeminence amongst three races not his own,
but all assume it was he who began to direct them towards vengeance. The
breeding grounds of the deep dragons, a flightless breed, were destroyed nearly
driving the species to extinction. The troglodyte worshipped them as demigods
and the Despot would make use of the introductions offered.
Elven magic on the enormous scales previously witnessed was only feasible
due to the innate wells of literally thousands of brightblood elves working over
months and years. Historically, and even to this day, it is believed impossible that
one mage of any species is capable of utilizing magic anywhere near that scale.
With one exception.
Deep dragons moved against the elven fortress, and the Despot unleashed
a wave of destructive magic that shattered the entire eastern face of the
magically enhanced walls as a precursor. His magical prowess was beyond ken.
The fortress was sacked in one day, then remade as a forward command base.
There he mustered his armies from the east, resupplied, consolidated, and
reconnoitred as he lay out the next strategy. The deep dragons left, appearing the
one time to help lay waste to the fortress. Much of what went on would remain a
mystery to this day.
The time previous is known as the Retribution. The time after the loss of the
fortress and the revealing of the true extent of the Despot's power is now known
as the Despot's War. After the sack of the fortress the savage alliance would gain
access to the other races of the old world.
Two great western elven nations remained and the ancient seat of the elven
race, a large island of magical conflux.
The south-western elven nation stood against the Despot with the Totem,
backed by supplies from the Underclans. They fortified their positions and held
against the Despot's veteran armies. They struck his supply routes, and for a time
they withstood. The Despot tipped the balance through unforeseen methods. He
garnered allies of his own, the Sraht tribes, numerous humans that inhabited the
desert and steppes near the Totem, moved by the promise of new lands and
wealth and, it was later discovered, magical persuasion. Once the alliance of the
grovestalker, gnoll, troglodyte, and Sraht was cemented the elven nation fell

rapidly and the Totem were pushed back. The Underclan continued to support the
Totem but were eventually bottled in their caves by Sraht.
The last remaining elven nation was located to the north-west of the
continent. They became desperate. They released their human slaves, and asked
the human nations of the north to ally against the Despot. Greeted with shock at
the release of all the slaves the humans agreed with a specious magnanimity; the
humans knew they would be next.
Swelled with refugees the elves left their mainland nation, believing their
safest route lay in defending the island home. Thus far the enemy had proved
inadequate in naval effectiveness. Through magical means they contacted the
Totem, the Underclans, and the northern human civilizations. An alliance was
made to combat the Despot's own.
The Totem launched a successful coordinated offensive to break the
Underclan free from the Sraht. Together they marched towards the southern
borders of the Despot's newly gained territory. The Sraht greeted them with
emissaries instead of spears.
The Sraht had been coerced, as the Despot's true nature was revealed an
internal coup began to move against the leadership that was driving the Sraht
tribes with the Despot's will. With the help of the dwarves the coup was
successful. The Despot not only lost his southern flank, it was turned against him.
During this time he had fortified his position; the troglodyte mounted a
defence. The dwarves and Sraht recaptured the dead cities of the southern elves
but enemy forces from the eastern fortress would stop them going any further. To
the north the grovestalkers and gnolls pushed against the remaining elves and
humans, though harried by the elven fleet along the coast.
The elves were working a ritual to crack their old fortress open for the
southern armies to retake in an echo of their previous loss. From there they could
flank the gnolls and grovestalkers. Pushed from north, south, and west, supplies
from the east cut off the Despot would fall. He knew of the elves ritual though,
and near the culmination he made his own way to the elven island in secret.
The Despot broke the ritual himself, unleashing the energies, shattering the
island through a suicidal act. The leader of the savage alliance killed himself;
annihilating most of the remaining elves in the act.
Leaderless, the savage alliance was dismantled piecemeal. The remnants of
the elves rebuilt their homes in the newly created archipelago, the Myriad Isles.
Some returned to the mainland but the archipelago was still a conflux of energy,
the magic helping to sustain the last races of elves. From dozens of races only
four remained viable.
These are the Myriad.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Lifeblood
Alabaster white skin.
Light grey or white hair.
6.5' Average height.
- Physically superior to other elves.
- Heals faster proportionate to levels of surrounding magic.

Darkblood
Smoky grey/dark skin.
Black hair.
5' Average height.
- Can become blurred and indistinct, not entirely invisible but extremely difficult
to see.
- Night-vision proportionate to surrounding magic.
- Dextrous.

Brightblood
Softly glowing light indigo, green, or purple skin.
Dark indigo, green, or purple hair.
6' Average height.
- Possess small innate magic wells.
- Mental aptitude.
- Glowing skin makes for bad scouts and easy targets at night.

Leafblood
Green or brown skinned.
Brackish hair.
5.5'-6' average height.
- Can influence plant growth.
- Able to predict the weather.
The Myriad as they stand now have lost so much they are left struggling in
all aspects of their existence. Culture has changed as survivors turn to new
directions. Many have taken to the role of teaching the human races. Their
lifetimes measure double that of humans, triple for lifebloods. They are perceived
as greater and use that knowledge yet the reality is less kind. Those with the
capability to replicate their past glories, magical, architectural, or technological,
are simply all dead. The Myriad have been set adrift. Many wish to reclaim what
they lost yet the leading council of the Myriad, the Blood Circle, has embraced a
different strategy for their race. They seek new discoveries particularly magical in
nature. The elves are not as ancient as this world and older power may hold

promise for new hope.

They were the first to recommend an expedition be sent across the ocean.
The fewest casualties were amongst the naval power of the elves and now it is
held as their greatest strength aside from magic. They supplied the caravels and
carracks to see the expedition on its way.
They are advanced practitioners of State Magic, and Brightbloods are the
only known humanoid creatures with innate magic wells to draw upon, allowing
spells to be cast regardless of surrounding magic levels. Brightbloods took some
of the worst casualties and now only number in the hundreds.
Though believed unreliable after the defeat of most of their race some
Myriad retain the skills used to divine. Divining involves as much study as possible
in the field one wishes to divine. Facts do not need to be retained in memory, just
heard or read beforehand. The more learned on the subject, and time spent
learning, the greater the likelihood of success. Once the time allotted is spent, the
individual will go into a trance for a number of days. Often multiple people will
undergo this learning period and trance together, magically linking in a similar
fashion to networked computers. All information becomes tangled together, and a
possible outcome can projected. Prior to the Retribution this method of prediction
was considered a necessary function to all civilized elven societies. Now it is
considered a gimmick by many due to the single yet catastrophic failure to divine
the obliteration of a few million lives. A small number attribute this failure to an
uncharted power used by the Despot to mask his future.
The greatest strength of the ancient elves lay in the harnessing of the
elements themselves. Using magic as an intermediary trained mages were able to
control normally natural occurrences. Earthquakes, rainy seasons, even the tides
could be altered with enough power to draw on. The Myriad are far from that
capability now, and none remain with the knowledge. The heaviest losses were
amongst the trained elementalists during the Despot's War, and the few that
remained were annihilated at the unleashing of the great ritual that sundered the
Myriad Isles. Those left were apprentices mostly relegated to assisting the navy
and continuing their study of the waves aboard ships. All that being said however,
many remember that the true power of the elven nations lay in the ability to
literally terraform the planet around them. Some have begun to relearn what was
lost.
Elves are capable of making steel but guarded that secret carefully. Now
only a couple dozen elves remain with the capacity to make steel. They are
mandated by the Blood Council to remain on a specific isle in the Myriad, you
might have access to steel implements (At a steep cost) but the Myriad on the
expedition will not be capable of steel smithing.
The agronomy of the Myriad is highly efficient due to leafblood prowess.
They are not capable of high yields instead using small allotments of land in
highly efficient year round methods. They produce numerous varieties of crops

and medicinal herbs in a steady stream.