In the continuing series of updates from Trion, today they released information on the back-story behind the Silverwood zone.  I always find these articles interesting as I haven’t followed Rift all that long and really don’t know the backstories.  I know many play on the Defiant side but this is some interesting information on one of the earlier zones on the Guardian side.  Below is the release from Trion, followed by some pretty pictures.

Elfhome

After the gods made the world and its many peoples, Tavril the nature goddess called the Elves together in Silverwood. At the Mirror of Ages, she bade them forever defend the untamed places of Telara. The Elves took up this Covenant, and through the age of prosperity and the Age of Dragons, through the rise and fall of the Eth, and of Mathosia, they have remained stewards of the wild. Elves can be found in any wilderness, but beautiful Silverwood will always be their home.

It is through Elven diligence that Silverwood remains pristine and beautiful while the rifts have turned other forests into monster-choked nightmares. Yet this is not to say that Silverwood is free of rifts, for the planes constantly seek toeholds throughout the forest. A wild swath of cherry trees might see pink blossoms replaced with roaring flames as a Fire Rift sets the branches alight. Sunken Marsh, once a thriving wildlife refuge, saw its ecosystem destroyed in minutes by the ravening beasts from the Plane of Life. The remaining Elves of House Aelfwar strive to preserve Silverwood, and no cost is too great.

Heart of alliance

The Elves who stayed true to Tavril’s oath held themselves aloof from the technocratic Eth, but found common ground quickly with the righteous Mathosians. Even before the rise of their empire, the Elves allied with the northern tribesmen, allowing them to build Port Scion just across from Divine Landing, at the southern coast of Silverwood. Now, this once-glorious city is a Death-haunted ruin, where necrotic tendrils sway hideously behind the city walls.

Not every symbol of human-Elf cooperation has been consumed by the Vigil’s enemies. Quicksilver College still stands, indisputably the greatest school of magic in the history of Telara. Just as in days of old, Mathosian, Elven, and even Dwarven adepts enroll at Quicksilver to learn the arcane arts. Now the Ascended can walk these storied halls, performing epic tasks for the staff and guards to keep Quicksilver College stocked with research materials and free from planar control.

The last “true” Elves

The Elven folk have lost so much; nearly half their kind abandoned the oath to become the impetuous Kelari, and most of their forests have been ravaged by the rifts. Recently, the flower of Elven society fought and died in the Mathosian Civil War, a conflict that many of their fellow Elves feel had nothing to do with defending the wild. Among these fellow Elves is Prince Hylas of House Aelfwar, who refused to accept the Ascended High Elves as true Elves, and refuses yet more sternly to have anything to do with the Guardians. Thus, House Aelfwar sees itself as without allies in defending Silverwood from rifts, cults, and the Elves’ ancient enemies, the goblins.

Word spreads that Hylas, once a living symbol of virtue, has turned his House to drastic measures to preserve Silverwood. Hylas himself has recently exhibited proficiency in Life magic for the first time in his centuries-long life, and no record exists that he ever attended Quicksilver College. Though House Aelfwar fights the Wanton tooth and nail, they do not challenge the boglings of Sunken Marsh or the Fae of Hedgerow Court. Hylas has gone so far as to outlaw iron weapons, the bane of all Faeries, from being carried in Silverwood.

Worse, reports have reached Sanctum that volatile faetouched Magic has been allowed to seep into the Mirror of Ages. If Hylas would allow corruption to reach the spot where the Elves first struck their Covenant with Tavril, than even the watcher at the Mirror— a statue grown from a living tree— has cause to weep.

My dear Prince Hylas,

Though you have called me enemy, the birds and beasts tell me of your woes. As a fellow guardian of the wild, my heart goes out to you. I too know the sting of a loved one’s betrayal. Your Priestess Shyla has always been too eager to spend her time with the Mathosians. Now she has returned from the dead and claimed this was the work of your gods, and yet… there is but one force I know that can animate the dead, and his name is Regulos.

We need not be enemies, O Prince. We share a common love of nature and the pristine wild, and a common loathing of the Guardians, who manage to blend the stink of death with the pomposity of religion. You remind me very much of the magnificent Fae— such as myself— who hail from the deepest parts of the Plane of Life. Even now, I have access to power that would save your beautiful Silverwood with ease. You need only ask.

A kindred spirit,

Twyl
Lord of the Fae

Today Trion released the backstory on the Endless Court, another name for the Death Cult, one of the cults of the Blood Storm.  They’re lead by Alsbeth and serve the will of Regulos the Destroyer.  Full text of the release is below as well as some images intermixed.  I will admit I’m not as familiar with all the story behind Telara but pieces like this really help to tie things together for me and get me more interested in the game and the world.

Six are the Dragon Cults, one for each of the Blood Storm, yet the most powerful and nihilistic of these cabals is the Endless Court. From the purest child to the vilest deviant, revulsion is the understandable reaction when one’s entire world is threatened with destruction. Yet some wretches fall outside understanding, people so twisted and perverse that annihilation seems a blessing. And from among their number come the cultists of the Endless Court. Offered a place in Regulos’s midnight realm, they trade flesh and breath for the hollow promise of power over the dead.

The Endless Court began as a conspiracy between two powerful figures during the time of the Blood Storm: the dark mage Alekor Devishnille and the warlord Mahr Rilthain. They say Mahr sacrificed his own children to prove his loyalty to Regulos and sever his attachment to life. Meanwhile, Alekor slaughtered whole villages to gather the components for his cruel rituals. These two were the first to wear the black robes of Regulos, rallying others to work toward Telara’s end, and their traditions were passed down through the generations. Even after the Destroyer was banished, his followers never ceased to haunt Telara.

They have moved as shadows in the courts of history’s great civilizations, always waiting for the chance to please their patron. Now and then their covens have been rooted out, leaving knights, duchesses, and great scholars all dancing side by side on a gibbet, yet somehow their order always re-emerges in time.

Endless designs

Since the Ward broke, the Endless have been stepping up their activities throughout Telara. Those cells that had hidden away for centuries no longer fear detection, as the great armies of Telara have all but crumbled. Worse, they are finding many new converts, as the threat of extinction left many mortals hopeless and drawn to a reward after death – a place in Regulos’s Endless Court.

Everywhere the Endless go, corruption spreads, and the Endless go everywhere. Hungry for sourcestone, their rotting hordes have taken over Deepstrike Mine. Meanwhile in Scarlet Gorge, their cultists murder the innocent to serve as an undead workforce. Hungry for power, they are using Caer Mathos—heart of the noble Mathosian Empire—as the center of their ritual to call Regulos back to Telara. Hungry for control, they have turned once-glorious Port Scion into a hive of corpses, ready to spill out and cover Telara. Hungry, hungry, never satisfied, the Endless Court seeks to be like their dragon, a great glutton that devours the world.

Behind every one of their sins is Alsbeth the Discordant, greatest servant of the Destroyer since King Aedraxis fell. If she is not stopped, she may even find a way to return Aedraxis to his disloyal kingdom. For what power has Regulos if not unlimited access to the wicked dead?

Love to hate

Regulos offers his minions eternal existence as masters of the undead. It remains to be seen whether he will keep his word or simply devour his followers once all opposition has been removed, but of all the Blood Storm, Regulos is the most honest about what he expects. Members of the Endless Court must embrace death – not the natural cycle of decay and rebirth, but the void of nihilistic hunger. There is no room in the Destroyer’s service for attachment to the mortal coil, or for love. How perfect that his slaves sever their attachments by sacrificing the one they love the most?

Initiates of the Endless Court must allow the cult to capture their dearest companion. During the rite of initiation, necromantic artifacts corrupt the supplicant’s soul and open their heart to oblivion by closing it everything else. As the ritual approaches climax, the initiate renounces their love for the victim and finally murders the poor soul on an altar to Regulos. Only when love and hope and joy bleed out on the black stone is the Devourer convinced the initiate is fool enough to stuff the whole world down a dragon’s gaping gullet, and jump in after.