[Writing] Secrets of The Lorekeeper

[Mithaniel 66]

SECRETS OF THE LOREKEEPER

ORIGINS

SECRETS: BLOOD OF ARATHOR
 

On the side of his father's blood is the lineage of Heartwood, whose ancient and more tribal name has been lost to the shifting sands that is time. Among the oldest of the tribal families that sprung from the vrykul descendents, The Heartwoods were the keener of the families. Though introverted, they were wise and patient. They did not have a thirst for blood or war like others did, but they had a call for old rituals and magics that are now long lost. Among these Heartwoods were some of human's first shamans and crude druids. They were not the sort to wield the elements or nature in the way that orcs and elves do today. However, fierce enough they were with such magic. The Heartwoods, alongside some families that would eventually go on to be the founders of Gilneas, paved the way for the Harvest Witches.

The Heartwoods gained noticed about the time when The Empire of Arathor had risen from the tribal society they had once been in. Chief among them was Advisor Aethelwulf Heartwood, among a council to advise the lineage of Trollbane. Though these advisors were sometimes not heeded, they were not entirely useless to The Empire. Aethelwulf was one of the few who were men of the people rather than men of the power. The Heartwoods craved no high station, no true recognition in the end. They simply did what they believed to be best and rose by natural happening. 

Over the course of history, The Heartwoods have always valued wisdom and fell into roles that befit that. Among the human magi who learned from the elves of Quel'thalas, a son of Aethelwulf rose to the call of a challenge. His name was Ulfstan Heartwood, and he saw learning arcane as a challenge that would unlock greater wisdom. When the magi were feared, Ulfstan joined his kin in Dalaran and worked with them to further their understanding of this new element in the world.

Yet, as the Empire split so too did the family that had grown over the years. While most remained stalwart and rooted in Arathor's home, others spread to the new Seven Kingdoms. The remnants of the blood who remained in Arathor stood strong for the thousands of years to follow. Though their wisdom-keeping ways faded and was traded for the warrior heart of Strom, some still clung to the ways that had been kept for so long. 

Over time, their dedication to Strom had earned them land within the fields of Arathi. A keep of sorts, that the Heartwoods humbly accepted. It was here that the keepers of wisdom could be about their practices without disruption. The few warriors that they produced were none too notable, but valiant nonetheless. When Thoras Trollbane was slain by mysterious circumstances, the keep of the Heartwoods was one of the last remaining bastions of Stromic blood not yet fallen. It is rumored that their keep faded simply into nothingness just days after the Syndicate and Ogres overtook the capital city.

To this day, it has not been seen.

 

SECRETS: BLOOD OF QUEL'THALAS
 

On his mother's side is the quel'dorei family of Asen'eth, a family rooted in the past of Highborne lives. Like most families of the Quel'dorei, the Asen'eth family became quel'dorei when the highborne exiles created The Sunwell. Their new degenerated state became empowered and thus born were the Thalassian-speaking people. From nothing rose Silvermoon, capital city of these once exiled elves. The Asen'eths, in their previous lives, were among the noblest of tailors. To that end, they continued such while some dived heavier into magic. They were, after all, masters of it. Their tailors sprung to action to finding new ways for their people to look, all the while their mages joined the many who sought to further their powers of the arcane.

Though they did not rise to positions of power, such as the Convocation of Silvermoon, they did have some eyes on them for their craft. It was in these moments that they relished in - for they had begun to become frightened by the idea of being forgotten. These once well-sought noble tailors were finally returning to the spotlight of some form. Among the tailors of Silvermoon, the Asen'eth family shop was the one most sought out. Some of their family went on to become mages at Dalaran or even among Silvermoon, but none truly caught the eye of the people until a sorceress of Asen'eth happened to fall in love with a man of Strom.

Alaenna Asen'eth, eldest daughter of the family and heiress to it, had fallen for Lysander Heartwood during one of her trips to Dalaran. Lysander had gone there to meet with a family friend, and it had been an accidental meeting. Impurity upon the blood line came next, and that is where Alaenna seemed to disappoint her family. She, personally, did not care - for she loved the child that came of her and Lysander. She willingly accepted disgrace and what else came from such an imagined stain.

When Quel'thalas fell, the Asen'eth bloodline fell to Alaenna and her son Mithaniel. It was Alaenna who decided to, once her son was grown and living his own life, see if she could retrieve anything of her family. She was able to, including a family stave, but she perished of old age just after passing it and what else she could get to Mithaniel.

[Mithaniel 66]

SECRETS OF THE LOREKEEPER

IMPORTANT

SECRETS: LOCATIONS
 

Mithaniel's first go-to location is a pocket dimension that is a well-guarded library that holds the access to his years of collecting knowledge. Books of various sizes line the seemingly endless hallway of bookcases. However, books are not all what lie within this protected domain. Scrolls, tablets, and even maps are able to be found. The further one walks into this pocket dimension, the more they find that this is a misnomer. For this library connects like a pathway to his other holdings. Over the years, he has created or taken over many places and fashioned them for a greater use than they had been used or intended for.

Besides the library, Mithaniel has access to a dome-covered island that acts as a prison. Rarely has anything be put within this prison, but it remains the location for just that. Deep beneath the island's surface is the true prison - three massive cells to contain whatever he needs to contain. Unknown to most, the prison is meant to contain himself if he was to ever go truly evil. A method to trap him within this prison is very clear - a floating crystal guarded by every which manner of arcanic warding that layers over one another. If he was to ever be forced into it, he himself could not break out. He would have to be set free, and woe be the day that came to pass.

There is also the land that was once held by his father's family, that of Hal'yenfal and its towering keep. Unknown to most, Mithaniel has transitioned this forgotten part of Arathorian history into his new home. Guarded by magic and the natural land, it can only be found by those truly searching for it. While most of the red-roofed town is abandoned, the keep is not such a way. Magic flows around it, as if it was the source of what protected it. Inside the keep, red banners still flow while everything is made to seem like the keep isn't lorded over by a single man.

The banquet hall, worthy of ancient Arathorian royalty, is always lit and seemingly ready for guests. The guest rooms behold fresh sheets and pillows, as if welcoming the idea of more than their lone inhabitant. In the higher spires of the keep, a vacant seat of a viscount remains waiting for the Son of Arathor to take that which is his.

Edited July 9, 2017 by Mithaniel