The Felling

The Felling was a great and terrible conflict between man and Fey. It is an obscure piece of Midrathian history: the details of what caused it, what happened during, and when exactly it started, are virtually unknown. It is said that

may have influenced the Fey to begin the Felling war, with a whispered word from her lips - but her reason for doing so is not yet known.^[1]

Before the Felling, it appears that both man and Fey lived together on the isle of Midrath, and were accepting of each other. One such example is the clifftop fortress of Mirifuir: it has stood for a thousand years, with nothing ever toppling it. For its walls were blessed by the Fey Empress,

, in a rare meeting between her court and the Midrathian Queen,

.^[2]

It is unknown why the Fey no longer reside on Midrath alongside mankind. The histories of Fort Kearnhold indicate that humanity even studied Fey magicks:

It appears the Felling was a war between man and Fey, though its cause remains unclear: would the Fey have deemed aggressive use of the Tethren magicks worthy of starting a war, or were there more factors that remain to be discovered? And what was Saphene's connection to instigating this war?

When the Felling is spoken of, it is seemingly done so with hushed tones and fearful reverence. It was a grim war; a time of horror and death.

The First Envoys themselves are said to have played a key role in the Felling.

herself charged through the flames in its final hours, brandishing the bullish horns of the

Wyld Tethren's Hornhelm

;^[4] and as the Felling Fields burned, the First Envoys carried out their betrayal of

: returning the weapons with which she gifted them, "Sharp end first."^[5]

It is as yet unknown quite what the Felling looked like, what its death toll and other impacts were, or how it came to an end.

After the great Felling war came to an end, Tethren's half-brother, Pothus, crafted the

Thrice Spurns

. The three blades represented each of the First Envoys who had betrayed Empress Alora; they were forged, etched, and gifted to Tethren in complete silence.^[6]

As for

, she was stricken with guilt after the Felling fires were quenched. She retreated to her wevetroot study and, desperate to cast a spell that would right her wrongs, conjured

Esthelle

: three tokens of apology to amend her severed bond with the Empress. Yet she never met Alora again.^[7]

After the Felling, the Fey left Midrath - and mankind grew to view them as detestable. A library of Feybles was housed at the old tower of Othavess, the last place on Midrath where one could read freely the word of the Fey. Yet once the Ode arrived, even these histories were lost to the flames.^[8]