Conflict between Myon and Clea Sara'faell Stormheart, 146-151 AR
This book has been transcribed by Lilian Williams in AR 169. The original author was Garrett Kelson. Initially written in AR 161.
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Accounts are from former commander of the Akh'aravae Lakas Larthanien, former Herald Daeran Selladys'variadie, former Coronal Zathlan Fen'ar, former Guldorand Mayor Ezekiel Klennald, Milanaith and Elatha Nostalfay, and supplemented with my own notes and experiences.
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Clea Sara'faell Stormheart was coronal of Myon from 143 to 147. She was most notable for having a strong stance against necromancers and drow, under her leadership Myon was active in fighting them.
During this period, the Cordorian Navy had an influx of necromancers and palemasters. Clea put pressure on the city to remove them, particularly the elven* palemaster Myrrh. Clea threatened that if Cordor didn't remove them, she would cut ties with the city and would open trade with Brogendenstein instead
* (Sidenote: Daeran got very upset that I referred to Myrrh as an elf, stating that her becoming a palemaster makes her no longer an elf.
My referring to Myrrh as an elf is not intended to offend the reader, but is to state a fact about her birth species, which is relevant to events.)
As time passed a number of elves left Myon's service, weakening the city's forces. Clea commanded that Myon take a defensive stance while she worked on diplomatic relations. During this time, the Banite High Inquisitor and Lawgiver Tyros Iaret began travelling the isle, meeting with leaders to try and gain tolerance from them.
Clea accepted to meet with Tyros, instructing him to appear at Castle Gloom unarmed, unwarded, and unaccompanied. Clea told Lakas and the Sentinels that the meeting would be diplomatic in nature, with the intention of settling borders and neutral zones around Minmir's nexus. She had archers stationed on the keep's battlements, and an armed group in the courtyard.
When Tyros arrived, he came alone and unwarded, just as Clea requested. Clea instructed Myon's forces to gather around him and commanded they take him prisoner. Lakas refused, not wanting to spark a war while elven forces were weak. During the disagreement, Tyros escaped by teleporting away.
Tyros returned later to continue pursuing non-aggression with Myon. He offered Clea information on thralls of the vampire Delano, and was welcomed inside as a guest. Once inside, Clea began to tell him of an elven fable about warring lions and their hubris, then ordered Myon's forces to attack Tyros a second time. The elves refused, Lakas took Clea aside and explained, as her military advisor, it was a fight Myon could not win. That if they slew Tyros here while he was a guest, there would be war, and it would be elves who would die.
Clea told Tyros that Banites were not welcome in the woods, and they were forbidden to tread upon forest roads. Lakas quietly warned Clea that in the past when the Banites had been barred from places, they reacted by going there in great strength, daring for fights to prove their power. However, she was unconcerned.
After Tyros left, the elves began to argue. Some were outraged at Clea's behaviour, others thought Myon could prevail against the Banites. The group moved to Lakas' home, the Fox Den within Arelith Forest, to discuss the matter. Clea would not hear any grievances, she believed that Myon had allies against the Banites. However, Lakas attests that Myon had no official treaties. Clea acted too soon, Tyros had reached out to the entire island.
Lakas continued to try and convince her to back down from her threats, warning that many elven lives would be lost in a conflict with the Banites. Clea dismissed the concerns, stating "then we will all go to Arvandor, into the arms of our Father."
The statement upset Lakas, he expressed how while a paradise awaits elvenkind after death, it is madness to run towards it. And that elves should not drag others to it with recklessness.
The conversation at the Fox Den concluded. Lakas took matters into his own hands and went alone to the Black Keep in Minmir, scaling the walls to speak with the Banites. Lakas told them not all elves were in agreement, and asked them for a time of peace to resolve this difference, that they may proceed in a different way. Varith heard Lakas' words and granted him his request.
Lakas returned to Myon and informed Clea. She drew her blade at him and called him a betrayer, relieving him from his command. Clea began to dismiss public officials, and both she and her lover Valendel began to threaten Myonian citizens with violence.
A few days later, Myon's elections began. Clea conceded her place to Laphria. Clea was still welcome within Myon, the new leadership hoped by allowing her to remain she would be a productive citizen. Lakas withdrew from the city to allow her to exist there more harmoniously, and Daeran accepted her into the Sentinels.
Clea continued to be hostile towards her peers in Myon. She began associating with Rivis of the Frostblades and his brother Viris, who harbored a drow in Cordor which led to a riot and fire in the farmlands. The group began a slander campaign against Myon, telling residents of the other settlements that Myon had allied the Banites.
Brogendenstein particularly took interest in Clea's words. Aelarhar witnessed Clea speaking poorly of Lakas to the dwarves. Since then, the dwarves were seen meeting with the pirates of Sencliff for ceasefire talks, wanting to focus on fighting Myon and Minmir.
Clea's slander found its way to the Radiant Heart due to their association with the Frostblades. Lakas was harassed by them for visiting the elf Tua who lived in the caves nearby. Radiant members called him a Banite spy, and began to threaten Tua for associating with him.
During Laphria's tenure as coronal, Clea nearly provoked war with Brogendenstein by trying to convince them that Myon was planning to attack the dwarven city. The attempt failed, and the situation was made known publicly to be false.
Clea was banished from Myon in Eleasis 147. While she had acted against the elven city for some time, the event leading to her exile was a messenger sent to a Cordorian resident, claiming the Coronal was assassinated and elections were occurring. The elf Astray Matutor overheard the messenger and began to spread it to everyone in Myon, including Clea.
Clea performed minimal investigation on the matter, taking the testimony of necromancers Elaria and Myrrh as well as one uninformed citizen, accusing Cordorian government member Rick Snyder of sending the messages to cause chaos. Clea posted a bounty for any information on Rick. She claimed it was on behalf of Myon, however it was not sanctioned.
Rick confronted Clea, demanding she remove the bounty and to post an apology. Clea refused despite Myonian officials asking her to, stating she would only apologize if Cordor apologized for previous chancellor Miranda Magna's attempts to provoke and insult Myon.
The current Chancellor Emily Azuretide was on good terms with Myon, and the two cities had recently entered a new alliance that Clea was now putting at risk. Myonian officials decided to exile Clea to try and put an end to the harm she was causing.
Following her exile, Clea threatened to harm everyone around her as well as their loved ones. She refused to leave the city, antagonizing citizens and telling them they'd have to kill her to make her go. Tyne the fairy ended up heavily injuring Clea, sparing the elves from having to fight their kin. She faced exile from Myon as punishment for the violence. Daeran pardoned Tyne's exile in 150 following an attempt on the Coronal's life.
Clea survived the assault, continuing her campaign against Myon after healing from her wounds. She began to claim Myonians themselves were Banites, and called for violence against the administration.
By this point a year passed and Myon's elections began. Clea worked to manipulate the vote, allowing humans to pass through the mythal-warded portal to buy citizenship and vote. Clea even accepted support from the necromancer Eliath, and Myrrh the palemaster she previously denounced, who was able to enter the city freely.
During the election Clea threatened her opposition and demanded that should they win, her exile be lifted. She lost the election and her exile remained, causing her to seek more allies to her cause. Astray came to Clea's aid once more. Now a Shield of Guldorand, Astray called herself the arbiter of Clea's will and struck down Coronal Vaylani Moontear, who was rescued and healed shortly after the attack.
Astray returned to Guldorand and reported her actions to the other Shields, then took the first boat she could from the island. Myonians were unhappy that Guldorand allowed Astray to evade justice and trial and pressed them for reasons why they let her escape, receiving few answers in return.
During this time, Guldorand signed the Axehold Accord with Brogendenstein, Darrowdeep, Bendir, and the Arcane tower. The Axehold group declared war on the Banite Minmir Congregation, and began to attack Banites wherever they found them. Including within the walls of Cordor, causing the Banites to send diplomats asking for Cordor's neutrality to be enforced.
This meeting was interrupted by news of a drow raiding party on the surface. Cordorian officials and Banites promptly left to drive off the raiders, encountering a Brogendenstein warband in Minmir after leaving the portal. Brogendenstein dwarves shouted that Cordor sided with the Banites and attacked, making sure to assault even Cordorians who stepped away from the conflict, not wanting to fight Brogendenstein. This included Chancellor Emily Azuretide and Paige Mosbrooke. Rivis Ela'thar of the Brogendenstein warband knew of the drow presence, but didn't inform the others about it. Because of the Brogendenstein assault, the drow were able to raid the Lye Astaldera and escape.
Cordor and Myon had a mutual defense pact and both were suffering from the Axehold group, so both cities decided to declare war against the Axehold Accord group. Guldorand's Mayor Ezekiel Klennald and Brogendenstein's Thane Falgrim Vintergard proclaimed this was an act of unbridled aggression on Myon's part. Peace talks began immediately, and after 4 days of negotiation, on the 18th of Ches 149 AR, a ceasefire was set with the following terms:
1 - Myon and Brogendenstein have agreed upon territory limits in Minmir. Dominion territory ends where the current borderstone is set at the far end of the bridge just past Camp Bronzebeard. Myon will be allowed to retrieve the graves of those within Dominion territory for relocation; specifically, the Knights of the Road to the Skull Crags, and the Knights of Benwik to the forest.
2 - Clea Stormheart is free to be hunted on non-Accord lands, and will lose protection if she attacks Myonian or Cordorian agents within them. This also applies to Zaravella. (A woman with an extensive history of trying to incite violence against Cordor, and even assaulting Cordorian officials.)
3 - Settlement diplomats and officials are sacrosanct; attacking non-aggressive noncombatants of them is strictly prohibited.
4 - The surface shall set aside concerns should Andunor come up to raid or pillage. The specifics for joint defense agreements will be drafted at a later date.
5 - An agreement for all settlements to not enter pacts with vile forces, the exception being the Axehold Defense Accord's ceasefire with the pirates that shall not be renewed at the end of its three year duration. Specifics will be deliberated upon at a later date.
This was signed by Cordor's Vice Chancellor Rick Snyder, Guldorand's Delegate Storm Kell Abu'adir, Myon's Herald Daeran Selladys'variadie, and Thane of Brogendenstein Falgrim Vintergard.
Less than a day after the ceasefire was signed, a Malarite named Tanar began stalking the grounds outside Myon's portal, accompanied by Guldorand Shield member Izali'nae. Tanar had a history of hunting and killing elves, which caused alarm to be raised at his presence.
Elven forces badly wounded Tanar, and Izali'nae was left alone to flee. She returned to Myon later with a companion, and were stopped by former Loremaster Ithilmor Calebraith for questioning. She refused to answer, even after Ithilmor continued to press her on why she associated with Tanar. After continuous refusals, Ithilmor told her it was not a question but a demand. Izali'nae and her companion responded by warding themselves and drawing weapons. Ithilmor subsequently fought both of them off.
Guldorand raised issue with Ithilmor's actions and compared it to Astray's attack on Vaylani, and demanded Ithilmor be fired and pay an indemnity of 10000 gold. Myon replied stating Guldorand should train their Shields better, particularly to train them to not associate with Malarites and to answer very simple and reasonable questions when they are guests in another's home.
About a month later, a group of elves went hunting in the Dark Spires. They encountered Rivis and Vicko, the First Knight of Darrowdeep, in the Temple of Auril. Rivis and Vicko immediately began to ward themselves and summon in reinforcements, not even exchanging words with the elven party. The elves attacked before they could summon an army, wounding them and causing them to fall back.
A tenday later, Clea attempted to lure Myonians into "single combat" with her. Scriers revealed Clea stood with a dozen fully warded combatants at her side, her requests were ignored. Clea gave up on waiting and came to the Temple of Silvanus, looking for elves to fight. She challenged Laphria to a duel, but fled after Laphria began to cast. Clea returned later with Amelor Silverstar and attacked Ithilmor with little warning as he passed by. Clea's blade was poisoned and sapped Ithilmor's strength, however he still managed to chase them both off before staggering back to Myon.
Later that day, Vaylani and Daeran ran into a group in the Dark Spires, including Rivis, Milanaith Nostalfay, Raven, and Shaolan Waynolt. Vaylani and Daeran asked them to continue walking, instead Rivis warded himself and attacked, seriously injuring Vaylani. Rivis claimed he was attacked first, but Raven and Shaolan said they were lying.
Regardless, Guldorand and Brogendenstein argued that Myonians influenced half of the attacking party to turn on their companions, and that Myon attacked first. They continued to demand action be taken against Ithilmor, now wanting him to be executed. Myon refused, and Myonian war parties hunted Rivis and Milanaith over the following month out of vengeance.
Orinthiir, a Guldorandian elf, retaliated by attacking Tristan Durothil within Guldorand, Tristan not having participated in the conflict. Later, Orinthiir began to hunt elves outside Myon's portal. After his first victim, he was chased off.
Days after the conflict, Daeran approached Ezekiel and offered a final chance to uphold the terms of peace, warning that if the terms were broken again Myon would hunt him and his people. Ezekiel agreed, including vows of peace and non-aggression from Guldorand's elven population, as well as the dismissal of Clea from public office.
As finer details were being negotiated, Myonians continued to be attacked in Guldorand, and Rivis continued to threaten and kill Myonians, hunting them as far as Sibayad. Daeran instructed Myonians to hold back from retaliating.
Clea's continued calls for war against Myon broke her promise to the Nostalfay family, an Elven noble house in Guldorand. The family began to distance themselves from her, and they worked to try and keep elves new to the island from falling under Clea's sway.
Milanaith Nostalfay eventually gave Clea one last chance, telling her the Nostalfays would help her be unexiled from Myon if Clea promised to never seek the throne. Clea misunderstood, stating she couldn't run in an election due to her exile. After Milanaith clarified what she said, Clea became angry and began insulting Milanaith.
Clea then left to try and gather allies, starting with Elatha, who was Milanaith's fiancee at the time. Clea attempted to turn Elatha against Milanaith, interrupted by Milanaith finding the two speaking. The argument escalated, ending with the Shields removing Clea out of fear of violence. The matter was taken to Ezekiel, who was told how Clea only cared for the throne of Myon, that she was using Guldorand and the Axehold Accord as both a weapon against Myon and a shield against reprisal. As a result, Clea was forced to resign as delegate of Guldorand.
Shortly after Clea was removed as delegate, Orinthiir and Rivis both left the island. Myonians investigated Orinthiir's Sibayad house, discovering he collected the heads of his victims as trophies and displayed them on poles. The remains were handled, and Orinthiir was not heard from again.
The issue of Clea using Guldorand as a base of operation still remained, she continued her retaliation efforts from within the logging town. Tensions were high, taking its toll on Myonian morale. There was continuous violence and Myonians were ready to fight, however Vaylani and Daeran kept pushing for peace and non-violence, leaving Myon's people frustrated at the constant escalation and de-escalation. Ithilmor left the city and converted to Bane under the Minmir Congregation so he would be free to finally attack.
Guldorand's mayor Ezekiel Klennald as well as Milanaith Nostalfay attest to Daeran's attempts at negotiation falling short. Daeran only reached out to speak to either Ezekiel Klennald, or Halinur Nostalfay, and when he did so it was to make demands. Occasionally Daeran's offer of diplomacy was genuine, but those were few and far in between. Mostly, Daeran wanted to dictate Guldorand's foreign policy, wanting Myon to be able to hunt their exiles within Guldorand, and to condemn a ceasefire Guldorand signed with Sencliff's Pirate Union.
Myon became less and less active as the months went on, and in the lull statues of the coronals were stolen. Zathlan Fen'ar approached Vaylani and Daeran and told them he would be running in the next election, that things could not continue like this.
Clea heard about the potential election, and got to work in trying to manipulate the outcome. She encouraged elves to return to Myon and take citizenship up so they could vote. As well, she pushed for people to vote for Kael'avin of Darrowdeep. She attempted to host a meeting in Darrowdeep for elves to discuss the future of Myon but was denied, Clea relocating the meeting to Guldorand after. Two meeting details caught the Nostalfays' attention as being peculiar. Firstly, it denied any of Vaylani's administration from attending. And secondly, Clea signed the paper as "Coronal Clea Stormheart."
Zathlan had already won the election by the time the meeting arrived. He attended Clea's meeting and attempted to mend ties with elves outside of Myon. He discovered the Nostalfays were convincing elves new to the island to avoid the Elven city. Zathlan negotiated for the Nostalfays to stop, and to encourage Guldorand's elves to work towards cooperation and mending ties with Myon.
Throughout the talks, Clea kept trying to speak for all of Guldorand's elves. She pushed for accepting nothing short of all exiles being lifted, and attempted to use the Nostalfay's relative innocence to have her own exile lifted. Milanaith responded by splitting the Nostalfay from Clea, stating she wanted the family to be judged for their deeds alone.
Clea wanted a private audience with Zathlan, where she demanded to be unexiled and for her status as Vyshaan to be revoked. She claimed she no longer wanted power, just to live in Myon in retirement. Zathlan said if she could behave for a year, he would review her status. Unhappy with that, Clea demanded it be settled there and now. Zathlan refused. He then returned to the meeting, and told the group he would individually review all who were exiled or declared Vyshaan during the conflict of prior years. After the meeting finished, Clea began to harass Elatha Nostalfay, telling her Milanaith was a betrayer.
Zathlan held up to his agreement and revoked the status placed on the Nostalfays. In return, they gave Zathlan accounts of Clea's activities in Guldorand during the conflict. Clea was responsible for Coronal statue thefts, and was storing them in her room in Gelberath's tower in the Dark Spires.
Zathlan attended a second meeting in Guldorand around two months later to discuss progress. He confronted Clea on the statue thefts, using deliberate wording to try and trap her into confessing. He told her that she contracted people to enter Myon to make the thefts. Clea replied, stating she didn't need to contract anyone, she asked them. Hearing the confession, people present began to condemn her actions.
Clea attempted to argue she did it to bring Myon to the discussion table, which was disproven as a poor attempt at extortion considering no demands nor messages were given after the thefts. As everyone in the room continued to question Clea on her actions, she said she was holding back progress and exited. From there, both factions of elves agreed that future meetings could be held within Myon once more.
While tensions between Myon and Guldorand are still being resolved, the violence and subterfuge from the Clea era has largely settled, closing this chapter of history.