Stellcida

Stellcida is a town centered around an ancient ruin, west of Aldarr. It is inhabitant by Thorn Elves, who are devout followers of the Divine Vision.

History

The town of Stellcida was founded after Eldarin the Prophet received a vision of the region in a dream. He led his people out of the minority quarters of the big cities, to make a city of their own. They settled around the castle ruins, giving it the name of 'Castle Town'. The Thorn Elves found that their dreams had become more vivid when they were close to the castle, as the ruins had a strong spiritual energy around it. When they discovered the Winterthorn plant in the nearby forest, they began to frequently use it to achieve a trance-like dream state, in which they could better explore the spiritual energy of the castle, turning their eyes white in the process. Eldarin the Prophet was able to communicate with the entities roaming the castle, which taught him the ancient art of soul magic.   The Thorn Elves became proficient in a technique called 'soul weaving', which allows a user to sacrifice his body and merge his soul with another user, so that his knowledge lives on. This allowed for knowledge to build up over generations, coming close to the wisdom of their Elven ancestors. However, their practicing of soul magic caused the citizens of the neighbouring town of Foratorra to be afflicted by severe nightmares. Moinadeir seemed relatively unaffected, as the careless nature of the gnomes made them resilient to the apparent effects. Foratorra, recognizing that the Thorn Elves were the root of the problem, organized a raid on Stellcida. Eldarin the Prophet was killed in this engagement. This caused great panic among the Thorn Elves, as he was thought to be the chosen one, who would be able to receive the Divine Vision to restore their race to perfection. This raid cemented the hostile relations between Stellcida and Foratorra. It also resulted in the establishment of the Soulbound Phalanx, an elite warrior force to protect Stellcida from its enemies.   With Eldarin the Prophet dead, the situation of the Thorn Elves seemed hopeless. Out of desperation, one of the wisest Thorn Elves called Faelendir the Strong started to take dangerous amounts of Winterthorn. He would spend multiple days in deep slumber, studying soul magic with the spirits of the castle. The spirits revealed to him that they were actually the souls of the dead, and that is was possible to merge souls with them through a technique called 'soul channeling'. Previously, the souls of the dead were thought to be lost forever, but this would mean that there was still a chance to bring back the soul of Eldarin the Prophet. This has started the search for the mythical Soul of the Prophet.   However, soul channeling is an extremely dangerous practice. Evil souls will often try to deceive users into merging with them, corrupting their souls in the process. The Divine Vision religious laws forbid followers from killing their own kind, so instead people with corrupted souls are exiled from Stellcida. As Thorn Elves are not very welcome in the neighbouring towns east of them, most decide to flee to the city of Ponrada, a popular destination for people seeking refuge. They have begun to organize in a secret organization known as The Touched Souls. They aim to influence events from the shadows to help them in their quest to find the Soul of the Prophet to use it for evil ends. During the events of The Collapse of Castle 5, they managed to turn Elias the Exalted to their cause while he was in exile in Ponroda. In return, they would grant him a prolonged life and help take back the city of Vauroda, now in control of the rebels. This secured Vauroda as a permanent enemy of Stellcida.   Current ruler of Stellcida, Solaster the Wise, was granted a vision of this plot by the Touched Souls. He traveled to Vauroda to confirm his suspicion. Staring deeply into the eyes of Elias the Exalted, he saw how utterly corrupted his soul had become. After a minute of silence with their eyes locked, Solaster the Wise spoke these famous words:

You greedy fool! You have doomed yourself! And your people!   - Solaster the Wise, after meeting Elias the Exalted

  Elias the Exalted, who had been preparing an invasion of Domaroda, realized that Solaster the Wise would probably try to intervene now that he knew the truth. Solaster the Wise, wanting a buffer between the corrupt forces in Vauroda and Ponrada, did indeed want to march the Soulbound Phalanx to the defense of Domaroda. However, tensions between Stellcida and Foratorra were recently on the rise again. As revenge for launching the raid that killed their prophet, Solaster the Wise provided a group of political enemies from Foratorra a hideout in the Thorn Forest, who would later become the infamous outlaw group The Company of Thorns. This was very humiliating to the ruler of Foratorra, and greatly angered him. Using these feelings of resentment, Elias the Exalted negotiated an alliance between the city of Vauroda and Foratorra. The forces of Foratorra would tie down the forces of Stellcida, while the forces of Vauroda could take the city of Domaroda.   However, Solaster the Wise caught wind off this alliance when a Foratorra scout was found around the Thorn Forest, indicating that they were planning to move on Stellcida. Taking a huge gamble, Solaster the Wise left only a skeleton force to spring a trap on the forces of Foratorra, which resulted in an unorthodox victory for Stellcida in the Battle of the Thorn Forest . Meanwhile, he marched the main chunk of his army to Domaroda. The combined forces of Domaroda and Stellcida were able to deliver a crushing defeat to the forces of Vauroda in the Battle of the Bell.  

Government