The NelThe Nel are an ancient and powerful race of mostly humanoid creatures created by Keroen Skathos and his children Aubernach, Lord of Light and Illusion, and Merobel, Lady of Winter Storms. The masters of the Nel had the power to create life and brought various races to life around them. The creatures that were brought into being were nowhere near as powerful as their masters, but they still possessed a bit of the power of their creators and if they have the will for it they are able to use those energies to reshape the world around them.
The Beginning of the NelWhen Keroen Skathos first gifted the bodiless creatures he found in the heart of The Grey Wastes a taste of his Gifts he created the primordials, though he did not realize it at the time. As the phantoms swarmed him, hoping for a taste of his power, he created the mountain-kin, the forest-kin, the cave-kin, the drake-kin, and finally the lastborn. He did not know them by those names then, but those were what they came to be called. It would be days before he encountered the lastborn, and decades before he found the primordials and mountain-kin of his court and their perpetual war upon west end of The Grey Wastes. It would be longer still before he gave life to Aubernach and Merobel and The Sleeping Kings.
The Sleeping Kings and the SokarnelWhen Keroen discovered the primordials and mountain-kin of his court, they had their own names and their own feuds, and their own kings. He cared nothing for any of it, he knew only of war and conquest and the bloodthirstiness of his own people. He saw raging armies of beasts built in the shape of his people and of giants carved of rock and knew they would be worthy foes, he also knew their warring armies outnumbered his warriors. He and they had been raging across The Grey Wastes happily slaughtering each other in droves, for that was their nature. No creature of the Nel could truly die though, and Keroen could feel each of them cease to be as their bodies were destroyed, he could still feel their presence somewhere nearby though. Marshalling his Gift he stood atop a mound and roared and cursed until his hordes of warriors stilled their blades, then he sought out the dead of his people with his power and dragged them back into the world of the living. A great mass appeared above the heads of his people, like a great cloud of smog. From this mass of black Keroen began to drag things away, creatures of rot, creatures of insect chitin and bug eyes and leathery wings. These creatures were dubbed the Sokarnel and they were the dead of the Feronel forced back into the semblance of life to wage war as undying specters for their king. From the blackest pits of the mass of dead Nel he pulled nine warriors, creatures so potent with the power of death and war and the Gifts of Keroen that their flesh ran like candle wax. These creatures were dubbed The Sleeping Kings and they ruled the Sokarnel as Keroen ruled the Feronel.
Aubernach and MerobelIn the aftermath of his conquest of those creatures that would someday be referred to as primordials and mountain-kin of the Feronel, Keroen Skathos grew bored. None of his warriors could stay his hand for more than a few moments, and his people were nothing but warriors. His queen, Loria, told him that there was more to life than slaying, that even though his people could not truly be destroyed their lives should have value. Keroen was a thing of impulse, but also a cunning creature and his queen was the wisest of his warriors and her word was of much value to him, so the mighty king sat upon Braldenon’s old throne and brooded, knowing that he could not change the nature of his people. It was while the king was distracted that one of The Sleeping Kings descended from The Nightmare Lands. The Kings were twins and none of them bore names to differentiate them from the others. The King cried out to Keroen demanding a return to life, demanding that after his eons of service he should be rewarded with living flesh and a life spent in the sun. The other Kings came roaring out of the dark sky, seeking their brother’s blood, but a single word forestalled their rage and felled the arrogant King. The Kings could not truly die though, only lie dormant, and so the brothers returned to their homes in the sky and the fallen one lay like a corpse before the iron throne. Mad melee swirled around the throne of the silent king, and he was unmoved by the maelstrom of bloodshed or the cries of the Sokarnel and their kings above him. Rain pelted him and lightning struck the earth and he did not flinch. After forty days of silence and stillness the king of the Feronel rose from his throne and stormed through the battle before till he found his blood-streaked queen, for she was as bloodthirsty and violent as her king, though her nature was tempered by the value she placed upon the lives of their people. Keroen shouldered warriors of every shape aside and carved out a circle in the plain of battle and bellowed for his people put aside their blades for a moment. To his queen he spoke whispered words and when they finished their conference he roared into the dark sky above them and called The Sleeping Kings from their world to his, and those screeching nightmares came. The eight silent sentinels stared at the one creature that could command them and he returned that gaze, as only he could. Their fallen brother rose from his slumber before the throne and met the others before Keroen. Two Kings were taken aside and with his potent Gifts Keroen Skathos hollowed them out, returning the power they had held to the other Sleeping Kings and to the Sokarnel still dwelling within The Nightmare Lands above. With his power Keroen raised a gleaming sphere of fire from the deep places of the earth and from the sky he pulled an incandescent orb of light. Like two miniature suns they hung in the sky, one blinding in its radiance and the other savage in its flaming fury. He dragged those elemental orbs of power into one of the hollowed out Kings, and Aubernach was born. The body was no longer a misshapen and rotted corpse, now it was that of a young boy of pale flesh and blonde hair. Keroen turned his attention to the other unliving body, and from the far north he pulled the blistering wind from the heart of winter and he tore lightning and thunder from the heavens themselves and those he filled the other King with. When the smoke and fury of his Gifts cleared this time, there was a girl child as pale as the boy but with hair of raven black lying upon the earth. Then the children awoke and the Feronel learned something of fear, for there were no children among them and they knew nothing of the raising of them. The Feronel had been born as fully grown warriors and though there were creatures that called themselves man and woman among them, and even some that called themselves neither, no such pairing had every birthed a child into their midst.
The Birth of Nostathon and the Breaking of the King and Queen[Outlined in The Last Blade]
The Aubernel and UtenelThe Feronel had no way to care for children, nor did they have anything to teach them, or even knowledge of what it meant to be a child. They only knew that the small things before them we fragile in the physical world, but burned from within with Gifts that rivaled Keroen’s own. The children that had once been Sleeping Kings had no knowledge of their former lives, just as the Sokarnel had no knowledge of what or who they had been when they were living, the children only knew that a mob of bloodied warriors surrounded them. They knew Keroen for their creator and called him grandfather, a term he strangely seemed to take delight in. Just as they knew Keroen, they knew Loria and called her grandmother, for she among the Feronel possessed the softest heart. Keroen dubbed the boy child Aubernach and called him the first of the Aubernel, Nel of summer and fire and light. The girl was called Merobel and named as the first of the Utenel, Nel of storms and winter. After giving his grandchildren names Keroen landed a blow against each of them. They were light blows, for he was no fool, but the children were nearly slain outright and only their mighty Gifts allowed them to survive the crushing strength of Keroen Skathos. Keroen’s only response to their plight was to nod and then confer with his queen, after their discussion he roared for the attention of the Feronel. He then decreed that no man of the Feronel would raise a hand or weapon to Aubernach and Merobel till they could hold their own blades. Every creature among the Feronel that could hold a blade was equal and until such a time as the children could defend themselves they were to be left to their own devices and protected from any of the Feronel that dared attempt to strike them.
The Feronel understood the passage of time only in the vaguest sense, they marked the changing of days but to a race unchanged by the passing of decades, time was a concept they had little use for. When Aubernach and Merobel came of age they might have been twenty, or perhaps several hundred years old. Regardless, they came of age and by that time both were competent warriors and wielders of the Gifts of Keroen. It was at this time that they decided they should be allowed to rule their own courts of Nel. This was not unheard of, many Nel had asked Keroen for this boon, but almost none had the power to create true courts of Nel and most only produced abominations that were slain outright or fled from the Feronel. Aubernach and Merobel however, were two Nel that had power enough to create full courts under the guidance of Keroen. Unable to refuse his grandchildren, Keroen took them to the ancient place where he had first bound his Gifts into the Nel. Loria followed, her bright blade clenched in her hand ready and waiting for Bloody Head to split Keroen’s brow and seek the life of the young Merobel and Aubernach. Just as Keroen had been, his grandchildren were approached by strange phantoms that sought their Gifts, the youths obliged and the Aubernel and Utenel were given life, though just as with the Feronel, the masters of those people would not encounter them for some time. It was then that Keroen and Loria spoke, for a thought had occurred to Keroen. If the Aubernel and Utenel formed their court upon the soil of The Grey Wastes, they would certainly clash with the Feronel, and this would assure the destruction of the young courts. Keroen could not keep his warriors from defending their land any more than he could keep them from their constant, although admittedly less bloody than in the past, battles with each other. Loria agreed with her former husband, and they journeyed to the western shore of The Grey Wastes. Keroen called up his power and sunk it deep into the ocean, seeking the earth laying at the bottom. With great effort he raised a tremendous mass of land from beneath the seas and with blood and his Gifts bound it into place to sit upon the waves. Keroen could not conceive of races that did not wage constant war and so he made the landmass more than twice the size of The Grey Wastes, believing that he could keep the young courts from annihilating each other by placing long stretches of land between their kingdoms.
Aubernach and Merobel called the land Grenaldeen and they made their way to it across the short stretch of sea, Keroen, Loria, and several hundred of the Feronel followed them. As they explored they encountered the newly born creatures of the Aubernel and Utenel, Aubernach and Merobel soon had warriors and retainers in number such as Keroen and Loria had trailing after them. All was not peace upon Grenaldeen though, for there were creatures from beneath the waves still inhabiting it and they took poorly to the displacement of their homes and Aubernach’s use of Keroen’s Gifts to turn the mud and coral of the once sunken landmass to forests and mountains. War was waged by the Aubernel, Utenel, and Feronel upon these sea-folk and they were slaughtered or driven from what had once been their homes. The lands of the young courts were soon freed from the remnants of the sea born warriors and Aubernach and Merobel began to organize their nations, Aubernach’s far to the south of Grenaldeen and Merobel’s far to the north, as was befitting their respective natures. Satisfied that all was in order with his grandchildren, Keroen and his former queen returned to The Grey Wastes and their people.
The Union of Merobel and Aubernach and the Birth of HerowenThe courts of the young ones prospered and their lands became ones of civilization and bounty. The Gifts of Keroen provided everything for these kingdoms from construction to waste elimination. Everywhere there were Nel there was a blanket of the silvery strands of Gifts as it provided everything the young courts needed or wanted in their lives. There was no hardship for these people and nor was there the lust for battle that so plagued the Feronel. Grenaldeen was an almost idyllic place, peaceful and merry and plagued only by incessant tranquility. The island had been bathed in its share of blood when it had been cleared of sea-folk, but the rush of battle held no hold over the Aubernel and Utenel. This surprised Keroen, but did not dismay him. When he and Loria had conceived of creating Aubernach and Merobel they had thought to create creatures that would not spill the blood of their people senselessly, and that had been achieved. Keroen had also sought to bring a level of civility and culture to the Nel, and he had achieved that too. The castles and cities of the Aubernel and Utenel were filled with artisans and poets of every kind who worked in every medium that could be conceived of.
Aubernach and Merobel had been close since their creation and that was only fitting since they were alone as children among the Feronel. Their long youth and seemingly endless adulthood had only brought them closer and despite the placement of their kingdoms on Grenaldeen they remained in close contact as their kingdoms flourished. Their close bond allowed their courts to work together and live in peace with each other, despite the contradictory natures of their leaders. Aubernach was a creature of impulse, loud and bright, living his life with great vigor. Merobel was a quiet creature that preferred contemplation and peaceful environments. Despite their natures, they found themselves in love. Keroen saw this happening and made his displeasure known to his young, by his standards at least, wards. It was his belief that Aubernach and Merobel were too different, their opposite natures made each of them exotic and mysterious to the other, but he believed that in the end it would drive them apart. Keroen had never had the gift of prophecy, that was one of Nostathon’s Gifts, but in this instance his prediction was accurate.
Aubernach and Merobel’s union was shattered apart upon the anvil of their disparate natures. Those same natures made such an agonizing separation bearable. Aubernach’s manic nature allowed him to bury his grief in the flesh of the women and drink of the Aubernel while Merobel retreated to the bleak confines of her own mind. Under the weight of her own Gifts, Merobel’s mind split asunder like a rotten fruit stepped on by an armored boot. Merobel, and her court to a lesser extent, sank into dark despair as her mind, and Gifts crafted a fantasy for her to heal her heart within. It was in the dark dreams and fantasies spun within her mind that she found a friend, and she called that friend Herowen. The fantasy world within Merobel’s mind was made for her by her own Gifts, which were second only to Aubernach’s in strength. As Merbobel’s fantasy progressed her Gifts strove to enforce her will on reality, and so another court of Nel was created. The creature Herowen was birthed in Merobel’s mind and he was a creature of unrestrained violence and destruction. At his birth he cut a swath of destruction through Merobel’s lands, called the Lands of Winter’s Heart, and made his home in the western edge of Grenaldeen.
Herowen’s Nel came to be called the Sarownel and his court was called the Court of Ruin and Woe, his lands called the Kingdom of Ash and Dust. His home came to be called this because his lands soon became a blasted wasteland under his care. Grenaldeen was covered in forests of every kind and filled with beasts and birds of as much variety. Herowen called himself a hunter, but he and his Nel knew no restraint. His lands were burned and the beasts that roamed them were hunted to near extinction and when his lands were emptied he once more journeyed north to Merobel’s lands. It was then that Keroen Skathos and his people intervened.
Keroen and his most trusted battle brother of the Feronel, Callifay, crossed the expanse of Grenaldeen in the blink of an eye with Keroen’s Gifts. They waited for the Sokarnel on the border of the lands of the Utenel and when Herowen’s people came upon the two warriors they mobbed them, thinking only of the joy they could wreak from the shedding of blood. They died by the dozens and could not understand why; they had never encountered Keroen of the Feronel and could not comprehend the battle skill and Gifts these two creatures could command. When Herowen met Keroen, the lord of the Feronel recognized that his foe was a Nel and his people possessed the Gifts of Keroen and this confused him. He had no idea how they possessed power akin to what he had granted Aubenach and Merobel and their people. His knowledge of his own power was intimate though and he was able to trail the threads of Herowen’s power back to Merobel, and being his treasured granddaughter he was not inclined to slay the creature outright. Keroen paralyzed an entire court of Nel in one instant and blasted his way into Merobel’s underground fortress with his power. There he discovered what had befallen Merobel and discerned the nature of Herowen’s birth. He returned to Callifay and released the Sarownel from their bondage and decreed that he would not destroy them outright for pillaging and burning western Grenaldeen. He further said that Herowen and his people would be allowed to continue their existence, so long as they confined their depredations to what lands they had already taken as their kingdom. Herowen scoffed at the decrees of the creature before him and Keroen’s only response was to set the Sokarnel upon the Sarownel. They could not fight creatures that were beyond life and death and they were chased back to their dens in the lands Keroen had granted them, the Sokarnel did not relent. For half a year the Sokarnel plagued the Sarownel and finally Keroen decided to recall them, believing that he had fully displayed his power to the ignorant creature that called itself Herowen.
After he put Herowen in his place Keroen did not leave Grenaldeen, he stayed on the isle and Loria soon joined him and Callifay. Though Loria was no longer Keroen’s queen and her words for him were never kind, she was still his most trusted warrior and he was still her lord and neither would forsake that lightly. The three were each joined by a small band of their followers and the small group of Feronel walked Grenaldeen, often cloaked in illusionary Gifts and observed the young courts of Nel. What they saw in their travels displeased them. There were artists and savants among the young Nel, but for every brilliant one among the Aubernel there were four or five who could not resist the lures of the flesh and sought that above everything else. The same was the case among the Utenel, save that most of them could not resist the strength of the bleak despondency they felt. Among the Sarownel there was no art or literature, only slobbering creatures more akin to hounds than Nel that reveled in their savagery. Savagery was found among the Feronel, but there was also something akin to honor or the code of the warrior, there was none of this among the young courts of Nel. Their codes of honor revolved around hidden verbal jabs and snide comments said in secret or the respectful code of conduct of a slave to its master, their honor was a false, tinny thing.
In the passing of years Keroen had calmed, he still lost himself in times of battle when his brow split open, but no longer did he run amok seeking the death of anything he chose. Between his restraint and the arcane shackles Nostathon had placed upon Bloody Head, Keroen's will could not be subverted easily by the blood thirsty creature within his skull. As the pride he felt for the young Nel dissipated Keroen hurled himself through time and space and found himself in Aubernach's citadel, there he howled his rage and anger at the Aubernel, it was there that he took control of the kingdoms of the young Nel. The power of Keroen's Gifts was endless and unstoppable and with it he tore the citadel he'd built with it from the ground and transplanted it to the center of Grenaldeen where he could oversee all three courts. After the citadel settled into place he called Loria, Callifay, and their warriors to him and they set to the work of instilling strength in the Aubernel, Utenel, and Sarownel. Nel died in droves and towns burned as Keroen attempted to kill away the weakness he saw in the Nel. No children died, just the layabouts, the drunkards, those chained to addictions and weaknesses of the flesh and mind. When the blood dried and the fires died a quarter of the Nel of the young courts had been sent to Nostathon's halls in The Nightmare Lands. Those that survived were put to work training for battle, hunting, and whatever else Keroen and Loria felt they needed to learn or do to pass the time.
Events progressed in this fashion for several millennia, every century or two Keroen would come among the young Nel seeking their vices and then he would exterminate those he felt were weak or unsavory, killing hundreds or thousands in a single day's rampage. After his rage dimmed he would return to the Aubernach's citadel to rule over them.
The Passing of the FeronelKeroen drifted from one end of Grenaldeen to the other, constantly filled with fury and unable to reconcile what the Aubernel and Utenel were with what he had desired them to be. As he went among them, perhaps even without his notice, he found himself obeying their laws and taboos, wearing chain or plate in lieu of sweat and blood-stained leather. The time he had spent among the young Nel was changing him from warrior lord to stately king, though his rages were still legendary and still bloody. It was at this time that he began to sleep upon Braldenon's throne, a throne he had taken from The Grey Wastes and placed in Aubernach's citadel so that he could rule from it. Just as he had before, every century or two Keroen awoke from his slumber and brought his blade to the Nel of Grenaldeen.
The Birth of the LoronelThe Nel of each court were tied to the ruler of that court. Just as Keroen had bestowed his Gifts upon the Feronel and Sokarnel, Aubernach and Merobel had bestowed a portion of their own power on the Aubernel and Utenel. The Feronel and Sokarnel embodied aspects of their master Keroen, and that was true of the young Nel and their masters and it was believed that those bonds could not be shaken off. The vices of Aubernach and Merobel were well known to their people and though they were loyal to their creators, some Nel could not abide their own natures and could not stand the weaknesses granted them by the Gifts their masters had given to them. These creatures were able to throw off the shackles of their masters, the cost was almost too steep though, for they were forced to sacrifice a portion of their Gifts. These Nel left the lands of their masters and met in the thick forests of Grenaldeen between the lands of Aubernach, Merobel, and Herowen and they made themselves a small kingdom. Their meager Gifts were unable to sustain them and they were forced to live off the land and forests around them and build a society with their own bare hands.
The Reaping of Grenaldeen and The Taking of a Vow[Outlined in The Last Blade]
Keroen's Long WalkHis throne, sword, and Wytchstave cast aside, Keroen had nothing left to him, not even the comfort of his people, for they too were gone or in hiding. His power was such that no creature could harm him unless he willed it. There was nothing for him in this world, for he could take no part in it and it had no desire for him to do so, so he left. It was then that he wandered into the depths of his hill, his ancient fortress that was as much a part of him as the flesh of his body. In this place he found his way to ancient portals that he used to traverse the long stretches of the universe, wandering from world to world growing ever more bored. Finally, unable to bear the crushing weight of his boredom and unable to strike a blow in anger he called on his power and returned to his underground fortress and crafted a tomb for himself. He called warriors up out of the depths of The Nightmare Lands and clothed them in the flesh of the living, ordering them to guard him until time itself wore them away to nothing but bone and rusted metal, then he slept.
The Awakening of Keroen[Outlined in The Last Blade]
The Return of The Grey Wastes and the Passing of Keroen Skathos[Outlined in The Last Blade]
The Scouring of GrenaldeenAfter Keroen Skathos stripped the Nel of most of his Gifts and passed out of The Grey Wastes the Aubernel, Utenel, and Sarownel soon returned to the lives they had led, they found that they could not though. As Keroen had said, their Gifts were not potent enough to allow them to lead lives of hedonism and idleness as they had previously. Not even Aubernach and Merobel had the power to infuse their kingdoms with the peace and prosperity they had previously enjoyed. The kingdoms of the Utenel and Aubenel became as ruined as those of the Sarownel. Keroen had stripped power from the young Nel and even the still living Feronel, even the Sokarnel had been stripped of a portion of their power, though it was not as much as what was taken from the other Nel. Led by Nostathon and his brothers, the Sokarnel poured The Nightmare Lands out over Grenaldeen and released the Sokarnel into the world of the living. They went among the shadows of Grenaldeen hiding in the shadows and letting their presence be felt by their kin among the living. The Sokarnel hunted the living Nel, always hiding and striking from the shadows and teaching their cousins to fear the night.
