[Blog] Rise of the Cumasti: Comelar Ithamis

[Havard]

With the death of King Uhlmar, the Elven Nation fell into chaos. The elves of the Wood Realms of the West followed Ceridrone , the Black Queen, the daughter that Uhlmar had cursed for her betrayal. The eastern elves, known now as the Cumasti split into factions, arguing among themselves. The Elder Council could not agree on which direction they should take, leaving each of the eastern Wood Realms to fend for itself.
In the largest of the Cumasti Wood Realms, the Redwoods, leadership fell upon the shoulders of Comelar Ithamis. The Council of Elders said that although Comelar was the eldest son of Uhlmar, they would not accept his claim to be king of all elves before he could produce Uhlmar’s Crown. Unfortunately the Crown had disappeared during the time of duress following the former King’s death. Because of this there were even those among the Cumasti who would not accept Comelar’s rulership. The Goss Clan was especially noted for their desire for independence.

Comelar was an unusual young elf with an openness towards the world reminiscent of his father in his younger days. He carried the sword Woodhold, and some said that he sometimes talked to the blade. In spite of his strange ways, the elves of the Redwoods were loyal to Lord Comelar.
With the divisions among the elves and the increasing number of humans arriving in the North, as well as the appearance of a new race in the North, that the humans called Dwarves, Comelar did not sit idly by. While he was denied command of the Elven Nation, he began to consolidate what power he had, building up the defenses of the Redwoods. He founded an order known as the Gen’Ri, whose mission was to gather information on the races that lived outside the woods.

The information the Gen’Ri brought back was terrifying. The Goss Clan which had opposed Comelar’s leadership had managed to place one prince in Mithgiliwyr as ruler of their woodland realm, while his half brother Raddan had managed to claim the throne of Blackmoor. Raddan’s hunger for arcane power drove him into becoming a leading force in the Mage Wars. When his brother refused to join his side, Raddan destroyed Mithgilliwyr’s Woodrealm, turning it into the Blood Woods. With these arcane wars raging on, the Cumasti Wood Realms again looked to Comelar for leadership. Gradually they began to recognize him as Lord of the Cumasti.

Seeing that the threats from the outside world could not be ignored, Comelar secretly supported the Archmage Skelfer. With the end of the Mage Wars, Comelar made renewed contact with the Thonians, although he was in no way interested in making the Wizards Cabal welcome in his own lands. Skelfer accepted this, given the aid Comelar had given to the Archmage during the time of strife. Upon Comelar’s death, his son, Menander, continued to expand the contact with the Thonians. Menander Ithamis would often walk among humans in disguise, learning of their ways through personal experience as well as from the information provided to him by the Gen’Ri.

The first real intervention of Menander’s forces into Thonian lands was after the Egg of Coot had invaded and occupied Blackmoor Town. Only through the aid of Menander’s Army were the heroes of Blackmoor able to drive the Egg out. Menander recognized the dangers of the Egg as too great for one race to stand against alone and continued his efforts to work with the other races, finding allies among Humans, Halflings and even the Dwarves.


***
Notes:

In previous material, I named Uhlmar's son Noris, but later realized that Menander's father had been named in the D20 Dave Arneson's Blackmoor Sourcebook.

The Gen'Ri and Mithgilivyr Goss were introduced in The Blackmoor Player's Guide.

King Uhlmar is my own creation.


See the full version here: http://blackmoormystara.blogspot.no/201 ... hamis.html


-Havard

[Havard]

One question I haven't found the answer to yet is how Comelar died. D20 DAB CS says he died "about a century ago", meaning around 930 which doesn't give us much to work with. My preferred ideas would have been to have his death either to the Mage Wars or the Coot invasions, but his death occurs between these two major dramatic events.

Could he simply have died from old age?

-Havard

[Yaztromo]

Why not?
If he "disappeared" to follow the path of the Dynast (or similar) we shouldn't have all that mess in the succession...

[Havard]

Why not?
If he "disappeared" to follow the path of the Dynast (or similar) we shouldn't have all that mess in the succession...

How long can an elf live?

-Havard

[Yaztromo]

Ehm... depends quite a lot on the ruleset that you're using :oops: (including, sometimes, its version...)

[Havard]

Ehm... depends quite a lot on the ruleset that you're using :oops: (including, sometimes, its version...)

Just checked the D20 DAB CS, which says that Cumasti Elves reach maturity at 100 and can live for over 800 years...

Menander Ithamis, Comelar's son, was born 500 years ago, at least based on my other assumptions on Elf history.

-Havard