Kaelen of the First Cry

Kaelen of the First Cry is a mythic figure born at the instant the world began to fracture. As Myriath's Weave tore apart, Kaelen’s birth cry delivered in the exact center of a collapsing leyline temporarily sealed the first significant rupture. It allowed thousands of Thalrani to escape annihilation. His breath, described as a sound of both dawn and mourning, is believed to have bound the last threads of the continent long enough for a mass exodus to begin.   The myth tells that his umbilical thread burned gold, his skin shimmered with starlight, and his lungs pulled breath from both worlds—this one, and the Weave beyond.

Some scholars believe the story is rooted in an actual child born during the disaster, possibly the child of Vaeyra the Loommother, whose labor began during the collapse. While no definitive proof of Kaelen’s life exists, early Weave-glyph fragments in diaspora archives show an infant symbol marked with flame and spiral pattern signs often linked to Kaelen’s lore.

Kaelen’s tale is near-universal among the Thalrani diaspora, though regional versions differ:  

• Umbrenor tradition says he was never seen again after his cry and became one with the Spire.

• Solaris lore claims he was carried east by the wind and reincarnated in every Threadsend Envoy since.

• Selendral versions insist Kaelen was not a child at all, but the final manifestation of the Weave before it broke.

  Apocryphal versions tie Kaelen to spontaneous natural events—babies born crying under broken stars, winds that carry voices, or even sudden bursts of healing magic during mourning rites.

• In Drakoran offshoots, Kaelen is accompanied by a flock of Myriads (crystal songbirds) who echo his cry for eternity.

• In Vaelyric ballads, Kaelen’s cry is described as a chord composed by a chorus of unborn ancestors.

• One banned sect of the Ashthread Covenant believes Kaelen’s cry was the Sundering itself that his birth tore the Weave, not healed it.

Kaelen is revered as a symbol of hope amid collapse, the sacred embodiment of rebirth. He is invoked at:  

• Childbirths (especially risky ones)

• Threadsend Ceremonies

• Weave-stabilization rituals

• Coming-of-age Loomings where children are told to “breathe as Kaelen did—against the tide.”

  In some Thalrani homes, newborns are wrapped in spiral-thread swaddles and given their first breath-blessing in Kaelen’s name.

Kaelen features in dozens of Thalrani epics and laments. The most famous is “The First Cry,” a multistanza oral tale passed by Threadkeepers from generation to generation. It's traditionally sung in rounds during the Festival of Threads, with each verse woven into a tapestry as it’s performed.

Kaelen is usually depicted as an infant wrapped in spiraling ribbons of light, cradled in the arms of a faceless figure often interpreted as the world, the Weave, or Vaeyra herself. Murals often show a golden thread bursting from his mouth, or leyline fractures weaving shut around him.   Iconography includes:  

• A swaddled spiral (symbol of convergence)

• A threaded breath glyph (used in birth blessings)

• A burning umbilical cord (metaphor for sacrifice and connection)