Eilienaxa Crown City
Last Update: 05/21/2025
Pronunciation: Elle – ee- nah – xah
Eilienaxa is the Crown City within the Kingdom of Cailean.
Culture & Society
The City:
The city is named for the river that flows around it. It is said the beautiful and wildland hidden deep within and high above the trees and Great River. When the sun hits the waterfall created by the river just right, it shimmers and glows with the colors of the rainbow.
A long time ago, the trees were crafted into beautiful homes that were as natural as the dirt it grew in. Sung into them with a special local magic known as Tree Singing. Every home was a display of skill and finery and their affinity for all things natural. To cut down a tree was to tarnish the land and bring the wrath of the elves upon you. In more recent times, the city has become an eclectic collection of various cultures, creating a rather unique appearance in the city.
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The Gods:
From the very founding of Cailean and its crown city Eilienaxa, the people worshipped Moonbow, their guiding goddess of the moon, stars, death, transcendence, and dreams. She was the heart of their faith, and her blessings were believed to flow through the royal bloodline itself.
Queen Chandrelle Avedon, desperate in the face of war with Miycester, reached out to the Unseelie Queen, the demi-goddess, later called the Queen of Air and Darkness, and promised to cast Moonbow aside and replace her with the Unseelie as the goddess of Eilienaxa.
When the war was won, Chandrelle broke her vow. She turned back to Moonbow, destroying the Unseelie Queen’s temple and begging Moonbow to shield Eilienaxa. Moonbow answered, cloaking the city in illusions and sealing the path to Blackmaul so that only elves could find it. Within the walls, elven purists slaughtered all who were not elves, leaving blood to mark the betrayal.
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Culture:
The primary folk of Eilienaxa are elves, and they maintain a level of suspicion towards any non-elven beings, especially those who enter the city. It was rare for non-elves to find the city due to the illusions and spells that masked the paths. The attitude towards outsiders in the city ranges from mild wariness to blatant, outright racism, and discrimination.
Internally, however, the city is brimming with culture. The nights are met with singing and dancing and stories told, for the stars lit the way of their futures. They love to socialize and have feasts just for the fun of it. Special occasions would see spectacles of dancing lights, bonfires, and elegant wreaths and rarely eaten meats and other delightful treats. Regardless of deity, moon elven religious ceremonies were, like so many other things in moon elf culture, loud and joyful and even the most pious couldn’t deny that the festivals were often just another excuse to revel.
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History
The Year 7928:
The war’s spark was the birth of Princess Katherine Ithildin, daughter of Princess Talindra Ithildin and her drow consort, Rinnor Liriel. Half-drow, half-moon elf, Katherine was born covered in starlight. Many proclaimed her blessed by Moonbow, while others whispered the hand of Eilistraee. To the drow, her very existence was an outrage. A living symbol of Cailean’s devotion to Moonbow and of their union with those they despised.
Fearing for her kingdom, Queen Chandrelle turned from Moonbow and reached to the Queen of Air and Darkness. She promised the Unseelie goddess Moonbow’s throne, offering her worship, temples, and power in Cailean’s heart.
But once the war was won, Chandrelle betrayed her. She destroyed the Queen’s temple and begged Moonbow’s forgiveness. Moonbow shielded Eilienaxa in illusion, sealing the way to Blackmaul and hiding the city from all but elven eyes. In the aftermath, purist elves carried out slaughter against non-elves within the walls, ensuring only their kind remained.
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The Year 8096:
Years later and vengeance came. The illusions fell by the Unseelie Queen’s hand, and the path to Blackmaul opened. The Queen of Air and Darkness rose once more, summoning a plague of corruption, and raising the lich Ganis to her service. Eternal winter fell upon Cailean. Elf fought non-elf in the streets, and survivors fled to Thalovir.
For a year, Eilienaxa lay in her grip. Chandrelle herself was captured and tormented, forced to believe the Unseelie goddess had slain her beloved son.
As the war between the unseelie and the city went on, the city became closed off to all. From here, our story continues in Thalovir, on Uktar 15th.
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The Year 8098:
It was the 29th day of Eleasis. As Queen Katherine returned to her throne, she vowed to bring back the glory of her home city. The city of her birth. Scouts were sent to the lost city and they found a wasteland of snow and ice. A winter hell world. The ruins were a disaster but some citizens have resettled despite the horrid conditions.
With the help of some brave adventurers and good friends, the city was relinquished by the Queen of Air and Darkness. A deal was struck with the unseelie monarch to never forget her again and to tend to her shrine. Every year since, there has been a day of remembrance for the Unseelie Queen. On this day, people give gifts and tribute to the Goddess. The Goddess has been known to bless those who ask for it, protecting them from the yearly snow beasts that prowl every winter. The crown city was once more rebuilt and the dead finally laid to rest.
Now the city has reopened, welcoming all once more.
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The Year 8099:
As of the 27th day of Ches, Cailean and Miycester have forged a treaty that allowed the drow to walk unharmed into the cities of the kingdom, and the people of Cailean to traverse Miycester without being specifically targeted. Trade has even opened up between the two realms, allowing both to prosper.
In the meantime, the people of Cailean face a greater threat. The mists have become corrupted and the name Brevek is whispered as the cause. They say his daughter was slain by fate itself, and thus he wishes to turn back and change time, revoking fate’s hold over the land.
In his quest for power over the mists of fate, he has created rifts across the realm that drain magic and cause pain. Some say he is right to try and fight fate, for they have lost too many loved ones to this madness. Other claim that he will destroy the very world if he presses further.
On the 12th day of Mirtul, people gathered to hear him speak. Unfortunately the mists sought this moment to call upon the Soldiers of Fate in their bid to stop him. He was slain to gain their freedom, but at what cost?
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The Year 8100:
Everything had been so peaceful but it couldn’t last. On the 21st day of Uktar princess Ember Manimbo was brutally poisoned at the autumn feast. A day intended to celebrate was struck down with grief.
Who could do something so cruel?
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The Year 8101:
It soon came to light as they found Ember’s cure, rescuing her. With the rescue of the alchemist and his daughter who was forced to create the poison that harmed Ember, he’d tell his sorrowful tale.
Enwise Keytris and his younger brother had returned for revenge. Slowly over the years since the battles of Thalovir and the civil war that had ensued, they had been gathering support from the nobility in secret.
Once more, Katherine Ithildin and Ember Avedon find themselves fighting for their lives, the throne, and the security of their people.
While they were backed between a rock and a hard place, King Bellamy Deuxchanson of Miycester struck. Taking hold of several lands near his own kingdom with surprisingly nonviolent measures, he forced Katherine’s hand to a treaty and giving the lands up for the sake of her people. She couldn’t focus on both the civil war and Miycester at the same time.
On the 25th day of Alturiak that scoundrel, the false Prince, Enwis Keytris has been found in the Ofm Dorei region. The people of Cailean tracked him and his people down, crashing the dinner party they were having with Count Waesric Erydark. With the help of loyal citizens, the Keytris line has finally come to an end.
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((OOC: Content Warning. RL Death. 04/30/2024))
It was a battle like no other.
Queen Katherine Ithildin was holding court with her favoured kin and nobles when suddenly they were ambushed within the castle itself. Rebels perhaps left over from Keytris, or dissatisfied nobles. Whatever the case may be, a fight ensued as those of Queen Katherine’s court fought for their lives. Most survived… but for two.
Baron Talus Moonscar fought bravely, and as a last ditch attempt at rescue he activated a strange device he had brought with him. This device was unstable, and had only been brought to show the progress he’d made in recreating time magic into items usable.
Seeing his family and Katherine backed into a corner, their lives at stake, he did only what he could do and set the device off. Rapidly all the enemies aged, and died at his hand… but the device’s use came at a steep price.
Both Talus and his son Castiean have been lost. Taken from our time and our world, they were pulled into the stream of time and magic itself, becoming one with the universe. Though alive in spirit, they will never grace this world or any other again.
For their sacrifices, Queen Katherine has decreed the Moonscar family be raised from Baron to Count and a memorial will be erected in the fallen’s name. Talus Moonscar. Castiean Moonscar. You are loved and will be missed.
((Rest in Peace, Tally. My friend. My brother. I’ll never forget you. Thank you for being my big brother. – Nix Starlight))
((End Content Warning.))
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On the 9th day of Mirtul, Queen Katherine Ithildin announced that she had adopted a young drow by the name of Vornnar. Nobles were aghast that the prince was a drow.
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The Year 8102:
It was the 19th day of Mirtul. News of Miycester’s crisis reached Cailean. The absence of the Heart of Miycester sent tremors not just through the city beneath Mount Blackmaul, but across the eastern trade routes, through the ports, and into the chambers of Queen Katherine’s court.
Cailean’s borders were secured within days. Trade with Miycester continued, but now every caravan moved under armed escort. Letters were dispatched to noble Houses on both sides of the border. Some with warnings, others with questions.
Inside the royal court, unity fractured. Some councillors demanded intervention, citing the treaty and the threat of instability bleeding into Cailean lands. Others urged restraint, wary of entangling the realm in another kingdom’s collapse. The Queen, for now, listened to both, and acted on neither.
Publicly, Cailean expressed concern for its ally. Quietly, it observed. No soldiers crossed the border. No declaration was made. But scouts moved through the Mists. Inquisitors returned with fragmented reports.
Within Cailean, the people whispered of omens. In the palace, tension sharpened. Clerics of Moonbow are as divided as the palace with some considering this a sign from Sehanine herself; others fear what it means for the fragile peace.. Across the mountains, a kingdom waited for the first blade to fall.
And in the west, the Queen waited too. Watching. Listening. Preparing.
The 6th day of Kythorn.
As the crisis in Miycester deepened, Cailean acted. Reports of infighting among the drow left Limnor County and Ditch Valley undefended. Bellamy, Shadoan, and Rya, once a formidable presence, had vanished, and what few Miycester loyalists remained scattered at the approach of Cailean’s banners. There was no battle. Only a retreat. Tomas del’Stry was the lone holdout, but without his soldiers, he was forced to surrender.
With little bloodshed, the lands were reclaimed. Baroness Paenophiel Jondar was restored to her title and given charge of Limnor, a gesture aimed as much at stabilizing the region as quieting unrest among Cailean’s own nobility. For now, the borders held, the court was placated, and the kingdom took back what was lost. If only because Miycester could not defend it. But beneath the calm, everyone knew this victory was temporary, and the true reckoning had not yet begun.