The High Loremaster
and the Lustrian Campaign
Prologue
This record, compiled under the Light of Verena, unembellished, and containing only events recounted to me by primary sources or those seen by my own eyes, is to be submitted to Your Imperial Excellency, and the Great Library. The contents of this account explain much about the troubled times the Empire has endured in the past years and reveal much of the designs pursued by the rulers of Ulthuan, including the Phoenix King and his closest advisers. There is a vast gulf between the understandings of our people and the elves, and I hope to convince you that there is much we must learn from them if we plan to preserve the works of Sigmar. As I did for your father, I will only provide you with the most earnest of advice. You are well aware of the Empire's and your predecessors' conflicts with Ulthuan over the many centuries, and I will make no attempt to convince you that their institutions view mankind with anything warmer than an antipathy that borders on disdain. Significant factions within their political structure maintain ancient claims on the lands we have fought countless wars to protect, and would indeed be pleased with the collapse of your authority, but many of their leaders are wise enough, or desperate enough, to follow the precedents of High Loremaster Teclis. These potential allies recognize the role of our people in the fight against our common enemies, the Ruinous Powers. At the least, it is vital that you are aware of the struggles endured by the high elves and of the immense responsibilities they have held since before the time of Sigmar, and it is that insight that I intend to convey in the following account. It was at your father's command that I returned to Ulthuan with the High Loremaster to serve ostensibly as an ambassador to Saphery and the White Tower, but also to learn and observe. I painfully regret being unable to attend his ill-fated campaign into the northern realms, though it would be hubris to imply my council could have prevented his untimely death. Still I ask your forgiveness, and will again for taking it upon myself to leave the White Tower and follow its master far across the world at his invitation. I maintain the hope that when you read what I have seen, you will find my time well spent in the service of mankind. As to his invitation, the High Loremaster cited my lifetime of research into the connected histories of the world's kingdoms and races as a valuable asset to him, thought I doubted there was little I could offer that was not readily available to him in the White Tower. In the coming years, I would find the opportunity to advise on policy and strategy in his campaign across Lustria and I hope that I was able to shoulder some small part of his great burden. Perhaps his intention was simply for me to be able to bring some understanding to you and our people about the immense hidden truths that support order in this plane of existence, or perhaps my presence served the High Loremaster in some form that is still yet unrevealed to me. |
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The origins of the campaign spring from the arrival of the twin-tailed comet in the winter of 2302 IC. I am aware that the event was determined to be an omen from Sigmar by the Grand Theogonist, foretelling the coming invasions and calling for his people to band together, but in Ulthuan the spectacle was known as Khaine's Tear, an ill-fortuned reference to the bloodiest of the gods within their Divine Mandala. As I attended the High Loremaster and his noble brother at the Phoenix King's council, I learned that this astronomical event was accompanied by troubling developments. The king's seer-priests brought forth evidence that the comet was the first step following an esoteric prophecy of dire consequence, while the enclave of archmages reported substantial instability within a millennia-long ritual maintained by the elves, essential to their manipulation of the magical winds. Both parties insisted that immediate action must be taken to avert disaster. As you are aware priests and wizards rarely agree, and it did not surprise me that their accordance was greatly concerning to the High Loremaster and his brother, Prince Tyrion. I was not privy to the siblings' later debates in their private council with the Phoenix King, but I understand that they departed in heated disagreement.
What I do know is that Lord Teclis had obtained sanction and resources for a military campaign of unprecedented scale since the withdrawal of the elves from our domains. While Prince Tyrion would remain in Ulthuan at the right hand of the Phoenix King, Lord Teclis assembled the Order of Loremasters and requisitioned a fleet for the first stage of his quest. At his invitation, I joined four regiments of Sapherian citizen-militia and a honor-guard of expeditionary Swordmasters, known as the Seekers of the Flame, on a voyage across the Great Sea. Our destination was a far flung elven colony among an otherworldly chain of islands on the distant side of the mysterious and hostile Lustrian continent. Well into our journey, shortly after restocking at the Citadel of Dusk, the Order's fleet was joined by a creature that I had only come across in the too-few elven volumes that have been collected by the Great Library. Previously skeptical to its existence as any more than a prominent elven metaphor and sacred symbol of their high monarch, I was elated to personally witness the graceful flight of a phoenix as it followed the fleet before landing on the High Loremaster's ship. Contrary to what you might have expected, this phoenix exuded a crippling chill, draining all heat from the tropical air. Sentient and intelligent, the phoenix, called Narissalis, was an ally of the High Loremaster's, and communicated with Lord Teclis in a form of the elven language allowing me to glean some of the relationship between this mystical being and the High Loremaster.
The archipelago that was our destination, called the Turtle Isles for its numerous different species of the shelled reptile, varying in size from that of a mouse to larger than the ferries you might see out your window on the Reik River, was to serve the High Loremaster and his order as the base for his campaign into the continent in search of ancient waystones and their fragments. These waystones are integral in a series of rituals that the Order of Loremasters intended to use to stabilize the Great Vortex and thwart the powers that intended to wrest its control away from their grasp. The only record, to my knowledge, of human exploration on these fascinating islands is the journal of Moleri de Bordeleaux , the renegade Brettonian captain, and his writing was sorely lacking in observations on their astounding ecology. Accompanying this account, you will find a series of natural studies, non-political in subject, that I request you forward on to the university.
On Great Turtle Isle, the largest in the chain, the graceful spires of elven towers greeted us long before we sailed into harbor. The colony was not large, but thrummed with activity at the Order's arrival. All authority in the colony was given to the High Loremaster, who delegated its administration in favor of personally planning the coming expedition he would lead. Lord Teclis's chief adviser and the head of his own council, Loremaster Talarian, was responsible for coercing the resident nobility and bringing all the resources of the colony to bear in support of his master's work. From this point, the true endeavor would begin...
What I do know is that Lord Teclis had obtained sanction and resources for a military campaign of unprecedented scale since the withdrawal of the elves from our domains. While Prince Tyrion would remain in Ulthuan at the right hand of the Phoenix King, Lord Teclis assembled the Order of Loremasters and requisitioned a fleet for the first stage of his quest. At his invitation, I joined four regiments of Sapherian citizen-militia and a honor-guard of expeditionary Swordmasters, known as the Seekers of the Flame, on a voyage across the Great Sea. Our destination was a far flung elven colony among an otherworldly chain of islands on the distant side of the mysterious and hostile Lustrian continent. Well into our journey, shortly after restocking at the Citadel of Dusk, the Order's fleet was joined by a creature that I had only come across in the too-few elven volumes that have been collected by the Great Library. Previously skeptical to its existence as any more than a prominent elven metaphor and sacred symbol of their high monarch, I was elated to personally witness the graceful flight of a phoenix as it followed the fleet before landing on the High Loremaster's ship. Contrary to what you might have expected, this phoenix exuded a crippling chill, draining all heat from the tropical air. Sentient and intelligent, the phoenix, called Narissalis, was an ally of the High Loremaster's, and communicated with Lord Teclis in a form of the elven language allowing me to glean some of the relationship between this mystical being and the High Loremaster.
The archipelago that was our destination, called the Turtle Isles for its numerous different species of the shelled reptile, varying in size from that of a mouse to larger than the ferries you might see out your window on the Reik River, was to serve the High Loremaster and his order as the base for his campaign into the continent in search of ancient waystones and their fragments. These waystones are integral in a series of rituals that the Order of Loremasters intended to use to stabilize the Great Vortex and thwart the powers that intended to wrest its control away from their grasp. The only record, to my knowledge, of human exploration on these fascinating islands is the journal of Moleri de Bordeleaux , the renegade Brettonian captain, and his writing was sorely lacking in observations on their astounding ecology. Accompanying this account, you will find a series of natural studies, non-political in subject, that I request you forward on to the university.
On Great Turtle Isle, the largest in the chain, the graceful spires of elven towers greeted us long before we sailed into harbor. The colony was not large, but thrummed with activity at the Order's arrival. All authority in the colony was given to the High Loremaster, who delegated its administration in favor of personally planning the coming expedition he would lead. Lord Teclis's chief adviser and the head of his own council, Loremaster Talarian, was responsible for coercing the resident nobility and bringing all the resources of the colony to bear in support of his master's work. From this point, the true endeavor would begin...
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The High Elves
- Intrigue - Influence can be spent on superior Lords and Heroes, or used to affect diplomacy between factions. - Espionage - Trade agreements allow line of sight to assets controlled by trade partners. - Martial Prowess - Superior coordination in melee combat when High Elves enter battle at full strength. |
The High Loremaster
- Influential - Diplomatic relations +10 with High Elves and Human factions - The White Tower - Hero recruitment rank +5 for Mages - Preeminent Mage - Winds of Magic power reserve +30; Fireball bound spell |
