Prelude – Faye

Deep in the south-central reaches of Athel Loren, nestled between the Groves of Eternal Spring and the shadowed Wych Elm Thickets, lies a small, insular Wood Elf settlement known among its inhabitants as Mossden. Unlike the grand halls of Tor Loren or the militant strongholds of the Borders, Mossden is a quiet glade-community built into a ring of massive oak trees draped with pale-green moss, from which it gets its name.
Mossden’s people pride themselves on maintaining tranquility and balance. Their elders commune with local spirits of bark and briar, and their waywatchers maintain a strict isolationist policy: no trade with the humans of Bretonnia or the Empire, no meddling with the outside world, no disturbance of sacred things.

Faye, daughter of Lathriel and Maerwyn, belonged to the Youngborn, a low-status cohort among Wood Elf society — not dishonored, but treated with that quiet condescension older elves reserve for those who “have not yet seen enough years to understand the forest.”
But Faye was different.
She trained relentlessly with spear and bow, tracked beasts through the leaf-choked underpaths, and proved herself more perceptive than any elf twice her age. Despite her youth, Elder Dawnspear took notice, granting her a coveted position among the Guardians of the Ring, the sworn protectors of the Mossden elders.
For a Youngborn, this was nearly unheard of.
Some elves whispered that the forest itself favored her.
Others whispered that she was rising too quickly.

The story began with a human named Engelbert traveling near Mossden, a secluded wood elf settlement built among massive oak trees covered in pale green moss. He carried a passenger, a high elf from Ulthuann who bore an elaborate lacquered wooden box, claiming it contained a gift and last will to be delivered to the elders. The elf identified himself as Baeliya Tombwarden, but did not offer more details as to who he was, or why there was a gift. In fact, his eyes remained unfocused and far-away. Faye observed the arrival with her partner Maura from their posts in the trees. Maura left to get back up while Faye stopped the carriage before it could travel into Mossden proper. The high elf stranger handed her the box, and indicated that it was a gift for the three elders—Willowmantle the spell singer, Dawnspear the warrior, and Mosshart the keeper of traditions.

When the box was opened, it revealed a stunning silver-framed mirror of unmatched clarity, its surface like moonlit ice and its frame adorned with intricate high elf artistry. The moment the mirror was unveiled, Faye felt a wrongness in the air, as if the usual vibrancy of the forest had been suppressed and flattened. She did as she was big, however, and took the present back to the Inner Ring. The elders, particularly Elder Mosshart, seemed enchanted by the gift, and it was hung prominently in the inner ring. None of the other elves appeared to notice anything amiss, but Faye couldn’t shake the unsettling feeling that had washed over her.

Over the following weeks, disturbing changes swept through Mossden with alarming speed. Elder Willowmantle, who had always been wild and carefree with leaves tangled in her hair, began meticulously styling herself and weaving flowers into elaborate patterns. Elder Dawnspear, the warrior who had championed Faye’s inclusion in the Guardians, became obsessed with his weaponry, replacing his simple wooden spear with an ornate forged steel-headed one adorned with gold and silver carvings. Most shocking of all, Elder Mosshart, the keeper of traditions who had always opposed outside influence, began advocating for direct trade with human merchants—something previously unthinkable in isolated Mossden.

The settlement transformed rapidly as the elders began trading away sacred items: splinters of sacred oak, petals from spirit-touched everblooms, magical glow spheres, and feathers from fey creatures. In exchange, they acquired gold thread, velvet fabrics, perfumes, and mirrors—many mirrors. The inner ring filled with cushions, tasseled curtains, and fancy furniture. Faye noticed that nearly all her fellow guards had adopted new accessories: gold rings, jeweled studs, brass bracelets, and elaborate hairstyles. Even her partner Maura, who had once been approachable, now wore multiple gold cuffs and dangling earrings, her hair done up in unfamiliar styles.

When Faye confided her concerns to her parents, her mother Lathriel dismissed them entirely, proudly displaying a new leather belt with dwarven runes—a disturbing departure from wood elf traditions of avoiding dead animal materials. Her father Merrowen was more sympathetic, trusting Faye’s instincts and agreeing to discreetly investigate among those who hadn’t adopted the new customs.

The true horror revealed itself when Faye was assigned to clean one of the elders’ crafting rooms. There, on a table surrounded by new curtains and cushions, she discovered a pile of small wood sprites—sacred forest creatures—with their wings brutally ripped off. Maura casually explained that the elders needed the wings for trade and began collecting the mutilated bodies in a sack, showing disturbing nonchalance about the violation. Faye helped clean up while fighting the urge to vomit, recognizing this as a grave transgression against the wood elf way of life.

Later that day, Elder Dawnspear noticed Faye’s distress and insisted she look into the large silver mirror to feel better. As he dragged her closer, Faye heard seductive voices whispering about her beauty, and she felt a physical force pulling her eyes toward the mirror’s surface. The closer she came, the stronger the pull became, and she realized with horror that if she looked directly into it, she might lose herself entirely. Fighting desperately against the compulsion, Faye feigned illness and managed to escape, fleeing home in a panic.

At home, when Faye approached her mother’s new gilded mirror, something different happened. A warm autumn breeze passed through her hair, gently trying to move it in front of her eyes, and small maple leaves blew in to stick against the mirror’s surface, obscuring her view. Faye recognized this as the forest spirits reaching out to protect her—an extraordinary and concerning sign that ancient powers were watching and worried. Shortly after, Maura arrived to bring Faye back to duty, saying Elder Dawnspear had something for them to do.

Upon returning to the inner ring, Faye found Dawnspear speaking with her father Merrowen, along with the other elders. Her heart sank as Dawnspear revealed that Merrowen had informed them of Faye’s concerns about the new habits in the glade. The doors closed, and Maura and other guards surrounded Faye, grabbing her arms and attempting to drag her toward the mirror. Faye fought desperately, breaking free and making for the windows, but Dawnspear grabbed her by the hair and forced her face directly into the mirror’s surface.

Everything went black, and Faye was pulled into a dark dimension where a seductive, androgynous entity manifested before her. It smelled of decay hidden beneath overpowering perfume, and it reached for her with warm, tingling hands, attempting to kiss her and bond with her. In that moment, Faye heard a far-off sensation from the forest—a tiny pinprick of light at the end of a long tunnel. Clinging desperately to that connection, she used the only weapon she had left and drove her forehead into the entity’s face. The headbutt broke its hold, and for a moment she was back in the hall. In that moment she managed to get away and was part-way through the window when vines – ensorcelled by Elder Willomantle’s magic, ensnared her.

The elders declared that Faye must be banished and exiled from the forest. Elder Willowmantle brought out a dark medallion bearing a twisted rune, which began to glow from dull to bright, angry orange. Faye’s father pulled down her shirt, and th elder pressed the searing medallion onto Faye’s chest, burning her flesh and leaving a painful mark. Faye screamed as the smell of her own burning skin filled her nostrils, then blacked out from the agony. When she awoke, she was alone on the floor of the inner ring, and everyone had abandoned her.

Faye fled Mossden under cover of night, observing as she left that the surrounding forest had been stripped of magical bark, sacred mosses, and spirit-touched flowers. She made her way to Witch Elm Thicket, another wood elf den, and reported the corruption to their elders. They expressed grave concern and began making preparations to alert other dens and contain the threat. But Faye’s wound began to flare up painfully, and an overwhelming sense of dread washed over her—like standing beneath a cracked branch that could fall at any moment.

War horns sounded in the distance, and a massive stampede of Beastmen—creatures corrupted by chaos—overran Witch Elm Thicket. The wood elves fought valiantly, but they were outnumbered three to one. Faye fought alongside them, stabbing several Beastmen, but she noticed something horrifying: the creatures completely ignored her, focusing their slaughter on everyone else. After hours of brutal fighting, the entire den was destroyed, every inhabitant killed, and the settlement razed to the ground. Faye stood alone among the burning ruins and corpses, the sole survivor, realizing with dawning horror that she had somehow brought this destruction upon them.

Faye wandered the woods for weeks, avoiding all settlements and people. When a mixed caravan of wood elf and human traders took her in for a night, she awoke to the sound of hooves and watched helplessly as Beastmen attacked again, destroying the caravan and killing everyone except her. After that, Faye refused all offers of help, understanding that anyone who aided her would die. She walked aimlessly through the forest for what felt like an eternity, surviving on foraged supplies but haunted by the knowledge that her people—her family—were still alive in Mossden, suffering a fate perhaps worse than death.

Finally, Faye emerged from the southern edge of the woods, passing human loggers and agricultural fields. As she left the deep forest behind, the overwhelming sense of dread lifted, and the burning of her mark subsided. She arrived in Talagaad, a human town that smelled of trash, rock, metal, and burning—nothing like the forest she had always known. The humans didn’t freely share resources as wood elves did; everything had to be paid for, and Faye struggled to survive. Her anger toward human greed, materialism, and excess and the system that had infiltrated and corrupted her own culture grew, and she began stealing to survive, losing part of herself in the process. She carried with her the terrible knowledge that she could never return to the woods or her people without bringing death and destruction to them, and that somewhere in Mossden, her family and friends remained trapped under the mirror’s dark influence.