Morathi Beren

Morathi Beren known as "The Hag Sorceress" is the daughter of Gorthanar, and Calphiel Beren making her a member of the Elven Elder House of Beren. She was the second wife of Aenarion who rescued her from a Slaaneshi warband in the days of the first Chaos invasion before The Sundering. She is also the first Hag queen of the Witch Elves. Morathi can be seen as the indirect cause of The Sundering as it was she who introduced the pleasure cults to Ulthuan.

Morathi Beren was born several years before the First War with Chaos into the extremely powerful Elven Elder House in the form of the House of Beren, but during her youth she was distant from her family living a lifestyle for much of her youth akin to the Sindari Elves until she came to befriend a group of Elves worshiping after an early Chaos inspired Cult. Morathi Beren would be still with this Chaos Cult during the First War with Chaos, and during this time she would be found by Aenarion Aestarion and he would be tricked by her into believing she was a captive as opposed to a direhard member of the Cult.

History

Early History

Morathi Beren was born several years before the First War with Chaos into the extremely powerful Elven Elder House in the form of the House of Beren, but during her youth she was distant from her family living a lifestyle for much of her youth akin to the Sindari Elves until she came to befriend a group of Elves worshiping after an early Chaos inspired Cult.

First War with Chaos

Main Article : First War with Chaos

First War with Chaos One moment we were recovering from the Eternity War, and the next we were fighting the Gods themselves. Our gods had gone mad, and there was seemingly no end in sight.

“We fought for not only the survival of our homes, but also for the survival of the world. Everything sat on the edge, and our success was the only thing that could have left the world in any condition for survival.” — Aenarion Aestarion In the beginning of High Elf recorded history, the Elves were one race and dwelt in many separate kingdoms on Ulthuan. When the warp gates at the planet's poles failed and the stuff of chaos spilled into the world, daemons and other creatures began preying upon the early Elves. A great hero Aenarion, later called The Defender arose and forged an alliance between the rival Elven states. United, the Elves drove back the creatures of Chaos and Aenarion was crowned the first Pheonix King, taking Astarielle as his Everqueen. After a time, the minions of Chaos invaded again, this time with corrupted human followers. A host of daemons invaded Avelorn and slew the Everqueen and, it was believed, Aenarion's two children. Aenarion fell deeply in love with Morathi and from their union she later bore Malekith, of whom would cause great destruction and death later on in life. However, maddened by his losses and the attacks on his people, Aenarion drew the Sword of Khaine and led the Elven host to war. Aenarion won a titanic battle and managed to plunge the sword back into the Altar of Khaine before he died. His sacrifice bought time for Caledor Dragontamer to enact his plan to drain the Chaos energy away from the world. Last Chances “The Mages would create their spell but the lands of Ulthuan would be the battlefield that had to be held in order to give the Magi the chance to actually cast the spell. All across the land I movilized everything we had left and constructed a defence I knew could not hold for ever but I hoped it would hold long enough to save the world” — Aenarion Aestarion Seeing that the ongoing battles against the forces of Chaos could only end in defeat, Caledor Dragontamer called the greatest of the High Elf mages together. They devised a plan to create a vortex that would drain the magic flooding in through the shattered polar gate from the world. Choosing the Isle of the Dead as the site for the centre of the vortex, the mages assembled there and started their incantations. Sensing the scale of what was being attempted, the forces of Chaos started to converge on the island to halt the proceedings, and Aenarion was forced to assemble his armies to protect the mages. Aenarion fought three massive Battles and as he received word that the spell was nearing completion the largest Demonic force yet seen attacked his forces at Ty Rania and it was here that Aenarion would fight a desperate last stand. Aenarion engaged the greatest of the Greater Daemons of Chaos during the battle, and although he was victorious both he and his dragon, Indraugnir, were mortally wounded. Ever faithful, Indraugnir flew the dying Aenarion north to the Blighted Isle so that he could drive the curséd sword back into the altar whence it came. Aenarion then passed into legend. First War with Chaos “Chaos was gone, but the cost was heavy. All across the world the forces of Chaos had risen. While we had destroyed the Demonic force that was going to kill us, we left the world with the now permement threat of the followers of Chaos.” — Caledor Elwe Unfortunately, the energy required was so great (despite the Slann in Lustria lending their powers to the effort) that it caused the entrapment inside the Vortex of all the High mages (Including Caledor) of Ulthuan, while Aenarion gave his life buying time (battling a great Chaos war host) for the plan to succeed. The plan eventually created the "Vortex" on the Isle of The Dead at the centre of Ulthuan which drains magical energy from the world. However the plan was only partially successful, while the Chaos energy is drained away, it continues to spill from the Realm of Chaos and it particularly high in concentration in the Chaos Wastes. And as if some horrible joke of the gods, for their success Caledor and the rest of the mages were trapped inside the vortex, not dying but suffering a fate worse then death, eternal imprisonment.

The Elven Civil War

Main Article : Elven Civil War

The Elven Civil War We had survived the destruction of our home from demons. Gods had tried to destroy us. It was only ourselves who could truly end us.

Emperor of Druchii “He accepted his rejection of the Throne with more grace then any of us thought possible. I suppose he was just biding time.” — Tinbwe Finarfin According to birthright, Malekith, son of the first Phoenix King Aenarion a member of the House of Aestarion, and an Elven enchantress called Morathi born of the House of Beren, was the rightful successor to the throne of Ulthuan. But when Aenarion Aestarion died, the ruling Council of Princes decided that Malekith was too impetuous and warlike, as Aenarion had led the Elves through a great war and the population was extremely weary of conflict. Declaring that Malekith was not fit to rule, they selected another to sit on the throne - Bel Shanaar Elwe the prince of Tiranoc, a member of the House of Elwe, and a hero of the war. Malekith was instead given the rank of High General and supreme commander of the armies. This suited him well, as he was an outstanding warrior and peerless general, just as his father was. During his time in the army he wandered the globe, and with his mother's guidance, started experimenting with Dark Magic. After some time, Malekith became discontent. In his mind the Elves must be a warlike people to face the ever-growing menace from the forces of Chaos. He became increasingly critical of the Princes, who grew soft and complacent under the protection of his armies. Worse yet, the Cult of Pleasure, a society of poets and artists, founded by Morathi herself, turned out to be a Cult of Slanaash. Their practices were taking root in Elf society, being particularly strong in Nagarythe. Upon hearing of this, Malekith took personal command of the investigation and used this power to eliminate his political enemies, accusing them falsely of being cultists and executing them without trial. The Coup Burned by the flame “I still remember the sounds of people screaming as Malekith broke into that room. It was the first time blood had been spilled in the Throne of our people. I hope on Elu that it is the last.” — Tinbwe Finarfin It was then that Malekith saw his chance to seize his birthright. He claimed Bel-Shanaar was a worshipper of Slaanesh. Soon after the accusation, Bel-Shanaar died of poisoning. Those loyal to the Council accused Malekith of assassination. Those loyal to Malekith claimed Bel-Shanaar committed suicide out of shame. The argument between Malekith and the Council of Princes turned violent, and Malekith and his followers killed most of the Princes, claiming to save Ulthuan. Now the Council was destroyed, Malekith had only to pass through the Sacred Fire of Asuryan, king of the Elven Gods. He stepped forwards, confident he would pass the ordeal just as his father did. Yet the Sacred Flame burned him, scarring him horrifically. His followers claimed treachery - that the fires must have been corrupted by magic to reject even the rightful heir. They fled back to the province of Nagarythe, and in confusion over the death of their king and council, the High Elves (comprised of the other Kingdoms of Ulthuan, and a small body of resistance in Nagarythe which would later become the Shadow Warriors) did not pursue. Near death, Malekith was taken to one of his mother's temples. His body had healed sufficiently, but his mind was destroyed beyond repair and he had gone insane. He knew of the need to lead his followers into battle against the High Elves, but also knew his withered body would not survive the battle. Morathi called upon Hotek, a renegade priest of Vaul, to forge the Armour of Midnight, a suit of armour that would give life and strength to Malekith's flame-ravaged body. The armour fused directly to his skin, forming a sorcerous shell granting him immense supernatural powers. From that day forth, Malekith was known as the "Witch King", for he truly had become a figure of dread. Once healed, Malekith was consumed with a bitter hatred for those who has resisted him . He summoned those Elves who were loyal to him to aid him in taking the throne by force. This included a large part of the standing military, most of his home province of Nagarythe and many other Elves throughout Ulthuan who believed in Malekith's cause.

Third Elven Civil War

Main Article : Third Elven Civil War

Second Atmer Invasion of Nord America

Following the assassination of Aethis Finarfin, and the subsequent defeat of the Second Cult of Pleasure rebellion on Ulthuan by the new Pheonix King Morvael Haleth the forces of the Atmer Empire would launch a massive invasion of the Druchii in Nord America targeting Clar Karond for destruction.

The Second Battle of Clar Karond Even in defeat Reliana there is good. One day you will see that your version of this world is not right.

Second Battle of Clar Karond “We were defeated yes son. We lost a battle, but I think what we showed was that these monsters did not have the right to do whatever they wanted and have nothing come back to their home. Even in defeat you can do good. Remember that son.” — Fimben Haleth The besieged city of Clar Karond continued to hold out, but the siege would end when the full strength of the Druchii would arrive led by Malekith Beren the Witch King himself and in a titanic battle the Elves and Dark Elves fought for the outcome of the entire invasion. Following the Elven defeat at Clar Karond most of their army lay dead or had been taken prisoner with only thirty percent of the army able to retreat under the command of Morvael Haleth back to Arnheim where they awaited the counter attack of the Druchii. Among those captured was one of the top generals of the army in the form of Fimben Haleth of whom was the nephew of the Pheonix King Morvael Haleth and his capture by Reliana Dagorth would lead to a centuries long series of events far more reaching then the battle itself.

Invasion of Ulthuan

Following the Atmer defeat the forces of the Druchii led by Malekith launch a massive invasion of Ulthuan which leads to the fall of much of northern Ulthuan, until the appointment of Menethus Aestarion led to the several disastrous defeats for the Druchii. So costly was this war that before the final Battle of Anlec the emotionally devastated Phoenix King Morvael Haleth committed suicide believing the High Elves would lose the battle, but despite this they won victory driving the Druchii from Ulthuan.

Family Members

Aenarion Aestarion - Husband

Malekith Beren - Son