I. In the Age of Uroghosh, many were the forefathers of the Elves. And in the kindreds of Elvenkind a great tapestry of peoples, houses, and clans were woven. Among them, the Nithelem Elves—who dwelt in their ancestral home of the Nithelem Shores, to the south and west of Fal'Addas—numbered as the greatest of Elvenkind, for they were possessed of a grace, elegance, and beauty unsurpassed in those days. Only in song, many forgotten, are these times remembered.

Jealousy and vanity they harbored not as their kindred Elves increased in their own stature, and the Nithelem saw it not as a diminishment of their own. Instead, they rejoiced, and before the Age of Uroghosh passed all Elvenkind had grown mighty in works, deep in spirit, powerful in arms, and striking in beauty, and the Nithelem became but one of many. For a time, peace reigned in the Falwood.

II. Those of other race, however, would soon come to boldness in their explorations of the Falwood, and they were Men, Dwarves, Orcs, and others. Even would they come with armies, bringing war. But the Nithelem, though the wars brought by the other races were terrible, counseled of their fellow Elves restraint and peace in the midst of the fighting, for the other races (in the Nithelem's perceived infancy of them) knew not what they did. Great were the warriors of the Nithelem, even as they ever sought for peace and understanding as their swords clashed with the enemy.

Through the Age of Wonders would this last, and in all those centuries of old the Nithelem still were held in high regard among Elvenkind.

III. In the Age of Expansion, when Mankind saw the height of its power upon Arethil, there came a great army which brought fire and devastation to the Nithelem Shores. The unspoiled land had become spoiled, and terrible choking columns of black smoke rose to smother the stars overhead. Anger like a stormtide swept over the whole of the Nithelem, and their counsels to the kindreds of Elvenkind changed. In short time their once grace shifted into a lust for war and vengeance.

For centuries, the Nithelem now said, they advocated for restraint and peace, and yet the Lessers (the name they now bestowed upon the other races) refused to change their ways. Enough was enough, and long had the patience of the Nithelem been wearing thin. If the Lessers wished not the gentle welcome of the Elves, and instead brought sword and fire to the Falwood, let them now taste of the unrestrained might of Elvenkind.

IV. The Great Slaughter ensued. The Nithelem led a large host of kindred Elves into the occupied Nithelem Shores. They slew all who were not of Elvenkind, but the brutality of the Nithelem exceeded even the most dire needs of war, and the kindred Elves with them stood aghast. Some protested in outrage, and these, too, were slain by the Nithelem, cowing the rest, but the horror of this kinslaying reached the Elders of Fal'Addas.

Though the war was won and the Nithelem Shores retaken, the Elders of Fal'Addas and the kindreds of Elvenkind judged to shun the Nithelem for their crimes, and for their blackened hearts. The Nithelem burned with resentment. But with icy acceptance they kept to their lands and to themselves, waiting then to be proven right in their new counsels against the Lessers, for they knew it would come.

V. As foretold, so fulfilled. For the young Kingdom of Aniria, humans all, had grown great and terrible, and now the Anirians broke the treaty with the Elders of Fal'Addas (this treaty the result of the First Elven War) and invaded the Falwood in the Second Elven War. The devastation they wrought was widespread, and everywhere the Elven kindreds fell back in defeat and dismay. What the Nithelem did not presage was the gathered envoys of the Elven kindreds beseeching them for their aid in the war, as all knew of the prowess of the Nithelem. But the Nithelem refused. The Anirians pushed deeper into the Falwood, and spilled yet more Elven blood, and again the envoys besought aid. Though the Nithelem had hardened their hearts, this second entreaty came to sway them, for despite the kinslaying during the Great Slaughter they did not forget, nor yet in those days forsake, their love for the rest of Elvenkind. Therefore the Nithelem pledged their swords to the deliverance of the Falwood.

Fury and hatred they brought to the battlefields, and they gave no mercy to the Anirians. And indeed, the Nithelem went even beyond the battlefields, beyond the soldiers under arms, and slew Anirians in their homes and on their roads, sparing none, putting old men, and women, and children alike to the sword; for they had come to know the ways of the Anirians, their war-like culture, and the Nithelem deemed none among them guiltless. But by the War's end the Elven kindreds had learned much of the deeds of the Nithelem, and they were appalled.

VI. Thus the Elders of Fal'Addas summoned the Nithelem. And in Fal'Addas the Elders decreed their final judgment: the surrender of the Nithelem Shores, and the everlasting Exile of the Nithelem from all Falwood. Outrage seized the Nithelem, and they tore their clothes; but their rage and indignation amounted to nothing, for now they were few in number as compared to the days of old, their people depleted by their wars and isolation, and they could do nothing to oppose the judgment of the Elders. They felt themselves utterly betrayed by all the Elven kindreds, but no choice was left them but to accept the loss of their ancestral home and the doom of exile.

So the Nithelem took what fortune and what arms they could carry or with beasts of burden haul, and they departed from the Falwood, following the guidance of the Northernmost Star.

VII. Now for the Nithelem came the years of wandering. But as they stepped condemned in their exile over the earth of Liadain, they longed for that which was taken from them, their homeland, the Nithelem Shores. And thus they came together to each and all swear an Oath, and they were led in this by Arunwë, mightiest among them, and the summary of that Oath was this: to one day, when their strength allowed, break the Exile of the Nithelem, return to the Falwood, and reclaim the Nithelem Shores from whosoever occupied it, be they Elf or Lesser. To this bitter end were they now all committed.

And the Nithelem cast off their family names, and as a whole assumed a new surname, Mindalië, meaning "we remember" in their ancient and near forgotten dialect—this to seal their Oath. They sold or dispensed with their old distinctive craftworks of clothing and armor, and indeed all possessions that might give hint of their Nithelem heritage. And so by these acts did word of the wandering band of Nithelem Elves fade even from the winds of rumor, and it seemed as though the wildlands of Liadain put an end to their tale.

VIII. Many places in Liadain did the Nithelem, now the Mindalië Clan, wander in their exile. But there was one among them who soon would provide them guidance. The wars and wandering had left the Nithelem bereft of elders, but Neldinor, aged then one thousand one hundred and ten and one years old, the eldest by far, was still with them. And ever since crossing the threshold of a thousand years of age, before even the Exile of the Nithelem, he had become much esteemed in the art of soothsaying. As he lay on his deathbed, one last prophecy would he make, and he said, "When one with the gift of magic is born to the name of Mindalië, then we the Nithelem shall see our Oath bear its fruit."

This portent filled the hearts of the Mindalië Clan with both hope and dread, for none with the gift of magic had been born to the Nithelem since the days of the Great Slaughter, the last being Neldinor himself. But, with the conviction of Arunwë behind it, all came to trust in the soothsaying of Neldinor, and with eagerness did they anticipate the discovery of the son or daughter they would call Lannuädaith—the Awaited One.

IX. So at last in Elbion the Mindalië Clan came with what small fortune they had to settle. This city of Lessers was an affront to their sensibilities, but the Mindalië deemed the College therein to be vital once Lannuädaith was discovered; for with the passing of Neldinor, there existed now none of their number who could instruct Lannuädaith in the proper harnessing of magic.

Therefore the Mindalië mastered their hatred of the Lessers, concealing it, and lived among them. Skilled warriors and craftsmen, they offered these services to Elbion and profited by them. By all accounts the Mindalië Clan was pledged to Elbion, and had become Elbionese, but secretly they longed for the arrival of Lannuädaith, the retaking of the Nithelem Shores, and the fulfillment of their Oath.

X. And after long years of waiting, it appeared that Lannuädaith had at last come.



Feälinnuwen Mindalië was born to her father Arunwë and her mother Talenwen, who is her father's niece.

Such was the manner of the Mindalië, and but one of the evils to which they had become accustomed. In the days of wandering when the Mindalië name was first made, still there was a great diversity of families, the legacy of the surviving Nithelem, as once they were a widespread people. But such was their hatred of any who were not of the Elven kindreds, that more and more the Mindalië turned to closer and closer family relations, until they heeded no proscriptions; marriages between cousins, or closer kin still, became commonplace, and secrecy or deception was employed to keep the image of the Mindalië Clan untarnished to Elbion at large.

And from a young age Linnuwen (this being her proper given name) perceived this evil, even if she could not understand it or name it. She perceived it all the more when she was promised to Imrod, her elder cousin, whom she despised even from her earliest memories. The Mindalië demanded obedience to their cause and faith in their purpose, and Linnuwen, much to the vexation of her father Arunwë, abided in insolence. Imaedhron (brother of Arunwë, and grandfather of both Linnuwen and Imrod) became furious by the young Linnuwen's refusal and disdain of Imrod, and counseled Arunwë that Linnuwen ought to be slain; but Arunwë rejected this, for her insolence, though frustrating even to his own designs for her, did not yet in his judgment constitute grounds for an honor-killing, and in Mindalië fashion this was solely the father's right to judge. Imaedhron grumbled that Linnuwen should have been rejected as a babe, and dashed upon sharp rocks, as had happened on some occasions before.

But Arunwë did declare Linnuwen to be Unloved, and this until she repented of her ways and gave herself to the cause of the Mindalië. Furthermore, he decreed that "Feä" be appended to her name, for this was an element in the Nithelem dialect found in many root words meaning things like "discord", "tumult", "chaos", and other such concepts; and as an element in a name it was shameful, meaning "spirited, willful discontent" with a negative connotation, implying unjust action and juvenile mindset. Yet Linnuwen, far from being shamed, embraced this new element of her name, and preferred to be called Feä by those who would do so.

As Feä grew, and her childhood blossomed thus into adolescence, Imaedhron's anger smoldered and flared. Though Imrod's seed had been selected to sire a few newborns (infidelity being yet another accustomed evil of the Mindalië), he was not yet wed, and Imaedhron did not forget the insult of Feä. Therefore he devised a plan for her murder, and how it should appear a happenstance, if not a tragedy. The Mindalië Clan maintained good relations with the Fellowship in the Falwood, a group of warrior elves whose beliefs much mirrored the Mindalië's own (with an especial hatred of Anirians); journeys to the Elbion Portal Stone and all the places thereabouts for meetings would occur regularly.

Imaedhron prepared in secret an ambush, hiring raiders for the purpose. The small number of Mindalië were returning to Elbion from a meeting with Fellowship Elves, and Feä, at Arunwë's bidding, was one among them. The raiders struck, and in the confusion they kidnapped Feä and put the other Mindalië to flight. Now the raiders did not kill Feä as Imaedhron had instructed, but instead reckoned that they ought to be paid twice, and so they lied to Imaedhron about her death while intending to sell her into slavery in the Empire.

But the raiders were thwarted, and Feä saved, by a strong and kind soul. She would come to know him as her Mentor, and he slew the raiders, and freed her, and slowly—this at Feä's own behest—did they journey back to Elbion. And in her Mentor Feä confided much, and from him came vindication of her spirited discontent toward the ways of her family and Clan. Her Mentor illuminated the world that had been hidden from her, the goodness therein, and this light made apparent the long and dark shadow cast by the hatred and perversion of the Mindalië. One final gift did her Mentor impart unto Feä: the discovery, coaxing out, and manifestation of the magic dormant within her. He said, and she knew, that her magic would be her path to true liberation.

Feä did return to Elbion, and to the Mindalië (much to Imaedhros's secret surprise). This she did knowing full well what the revelation of her magic would mean to her Clan. But she wished to attend the College of Elbion, to learn and to train, and this she could not do without her family's fortune and support. And when Feä revealed to her father Arunwë that she indeed had the gift of magic, he and all the Mindalië came together, no matter how they felt on the matter.

And they declared her Lannuädaith.

The Awaited One.