The First Leystones are Raised

In 5780 BGW, as The Arcane Renaissance flourished across the elven heartlands, the skies above Lumispire shimmered with arcane brilliance, yet the ground beneath trembled with instability. The elves, newly awakened to the raw potential of the ley lines, found themselves both empowered and imperiled by the unchecked flow of magic that rippled through the land​History of the Elves.

Leyara, the Root of Magic, whispered guidance to the elven sages in dreams and visions. She led them to veins of a strange, iridescent metal deep beneath the roots of the Crested Spire. The elves named it Sylrathil—Silver Flame of the Earth. Its veins pulsed faintly with the same glow as the ley lines, hinting at a kinship the elves could not yet comprehend.

The task of shaping Sylrathil into the first Leystone fell to Elandriel Starmirror, a scholar whose bond with Nyara was said to be unmatched. Through trial and error, Elandriel discovered that Sylrathil could anchor and regulate the flow of arcane energy. What the elves did not realize was that Sylrathil was far more than mere stone—it carried traces of the slumbering forces that had shaped the world in its earliest days.

The first Leystone, Starheart, was carved from a single block of Sylrathil and raised at the heart of Lumispire, above the largest convergence of ley lines. Runes of ancient elven design—gifts from Leyara herself—were etched into its surface, glowing faintly as the stone resonated with the Weave. When the final incantations were sung, the tremors beneath Lumispire ceased, and the chaotic energies that once surged unchecked now flowed in harmony beneath the city.

Over the following decades, additional Leystones were raised at key points of power across the land:

• The Spire Stone – Hidden within the deepest forest of Lumispire, protecting the growing elven enclaves from wild magical flux​.
• The Hollow Obelisk – Placed at the southern border in the Hollow Plains where shadows of forgotten forces began to stir, long before the first schism ​History of the Elves.
• The Shimmering Pillar – Anchored along a stretch of the Giant Tears River, believed to be the reason the river’s course remained unbroken, even in the harshest seasons​.

Despite their success, the elves only understood fragments of Sylrathil’s true nature. Elandriel and her disciples believed it to be the crystallized breath of Leyara, a gift woven from the essence of the land itself. In truth, Sylrathil would later be recognized as Drakthorite —a metal of immense power and significance, though its deeper mysteries would remain unknown to the elves for centuries.

The raising of the Leystones ushered in the Binding of the Leylines by 5750 BGW, stabilizing magic across elven territories and heralding the golden age of arcane mastery​. However, as the Leystones grew in strength, so too did ambition among elven arcanists. Some believed the stones could do more than stabilize—they could control and shape the very fabric of the world.

Thus, the First Leystones became not just marvels of elven ingenuity but symbols of the growing divergence between those who sought harmony and those who yearned for dominion. Though Lumispire thrived under their glow, shadows of the future schism had already begun to stretch across the land.