II. The Feywild in Turmoil

Beyond Eldareth, however, the conflicts set in motion by the Dawn War had not ended so cleanly.

In the young Feywild, old disputes among the Archfey over territory, influence, and obligation had turned violent. Forests shifted, familiar paths disappeared, and borders that had once connected neighboring territories became increasingly difficult to hold. Communities caught between rival powers were displaced as settlements were abandoned, hunting grounds were lost, and once-reliable routes ceased to function.

Among those caught in the fighting were the elves of Falha'neir, the Midnight Glade, and Vael'dareth, the Moonlit Grove. Both settlements lay within the wider lands associated with Beira, the Winter Queen, though each retained considerable autonomy. Lerathae was already held in particular reverence among their people, her association with moonlight, guidance, prophecy, and twilight having long resonated with the communities of the region.

Falha'neir lay closer to the contested reaches and suffered more directly as the fighting spread. Vael'dareth remained farther from the worst of the conflict, but the routes connecting it to safer territory became increasingly unreliable. As both communities found themselves with fewer places to retreat, even Beira's influence could no longer guarantee their safety.

As their remaining paths to safety began to fail, Lerathae came to their aid.

Under her guidance, the inhabitants of Falha'neir and Vael'dareth left their homes and made their way toward a passage out of the Feywild. They crossed the boundary between planes and emerged into Eldareth, a world neither people had known before.

What awaited them was a land already generations removed from the war they had fled. Centuries had passed in Eldareth while the conflict continued to unfold within the Feywild, and the world beyond the passage had long since begun to rebuild.

The elves of Falha'neir became known as the Falha'drin, or Shadow Elves, while those of Vael'dareth became the Vaela'drin, or Moon Elves. Over time, the Falha'drin came to be associated with the waning moon and the Vaela'drin with the waxing moon, traditions that remained closely tied to their shared reverence for Lerathae.

They were the first elves to settle permanently in Eldareth, carrying with them the customs, histories, and memories of the Feywild communities they had been forced to leave behind.

The two peoples established new settlements among the peoples of Eldareth and gradually formed ties with those already living there. They shared knowledge and traditions with their neighbors, adopted practices suited to their new surroundings, and became part of societies that had already begun to emerge from the devastation of the Dawn War.

Lerathae remained central to both peoples. Temples and shrines were raised in her honor, and later generations continued to seek her guidance through prayer, dreams, and divination.

Their ancestral homes followed very different paths after their departure. Vael'dareth survived the conflict and was preserved by followers of Beira, with later fey communities eventually settling among its old elven structures and sacred sites. Falha'neir was overtaken during the fighting and later reclaimed, but it was never fully restored. Its foundations, paths, and standing stones remain scattered through a forest that has long since grown around them.

Among both the Falha'drin and Vaela'drin, the journey from the Feywild endured as the beginning of their history in Eldareth and one of the principal reasons Lerathae would forever hold a place of particular reverence among them.