Myrien is the western elven realm of old Valira, the moon-touched homeland of the Vyssari and one of the two great elven realms alongside its ally Cadrien. It is a vast ancient forest lit by the two moons, Lumea and Elunara, and by moon-crystal and bioluminescent growth, for the Vyssari keep no fire. Its people speak mind to mind through sennari, hold falsehood to be against the natural order and live by the fixed caste order of the Saevryn under the High Oracles of the Caelari, who rule from Vai'Luthra.
At the center of Vai'Luthra once rose Myriandor, the World Tree of Myrien, from whose fallen acorns elven tradition holds the first of the people were born. In the war with Kashar that has never ended, Kashari fire burned Myriandor, and it stands now dead and charred at the heart of the capital, a wound no craft can heal, for not even the Sylveth can regrow a World Tree. The realm was built around that tree and grieves it still, and the loss of Myriandor defines Myrien more than anything it keeps.
An old forest under two moons, silver rivers running through it, and the dead World Tree at its heart.
The canopy of Myrien rises unbroken above the mist, its leaves silvered by the light of the two moons. Because the realm keeps no fire, the forest is lit from below by bioluminescent bloom, and its crowns hold a soft blue glow through the night. Most of the realm lives in the sheltered space beneath.
The raised ways and living arches of Myrien are grown and tended by the Sylveth, so travelers can cross the realm without disturbing the forest floor. The routes are old and deliberate, and their full course is known only to those the realm has welcomed. Outsiders may live and trade in Myrien, but they can never become Vyssari.
The River Myrien and its tributaries are the realm's main thoroughfare, and most of its settlements stand along their banks. Under the two moons the water runs silver and still, its edges lit by bioluminescent growth. The Vyssari treat the rivers as places of quiet and reflection, and much of the realm's life gathers around them.
Myriandor, the realm's dead World Tree, stands at the heart of the capital, Vai'Luthra. Kashari forces burned it during the war, and it remains charred and lifeless. No craft can restore it, and even the Sylveth cannot regrow a World Tree. Myrien was built around Myriandor, and its loss is central to the realm and its people.
The Sylveth tend sacred groves across Myrien, their locations kept from anyone outside the realm. Beyond the settled land the forest thickens into deep old growth that serves as the border, dense enough to turn back or lose those who enter without guidance. In Myrien the forest itself is the defense, and few cross it without leave.
Between Myrien's major sites lie its smaller ones: moonlit glades, ruins left from earlier ages of war and empire, hidden ways that curve through root and stone. Much of the realm lies off any known route, and these places are reached mostly by those the Vyssari choose to guide there.
The moonlit forest people of Myrien: mortal, silver-eyed, and bound to a realm that keeps no fire.
The Vyssari are the elven people of Myrien, the moon-touched folk of the western forest. Their colouring is cool and silver throughout, and their eyes are large and pale enough to see by moonlight in a realm that keeps no fire. They are mortal, commonly living about a hundred and fifty years. They are a quiet people, partly because they speak mind to mind through sennari and partly because they hold lying to be against the natural order. To outsiders they seem beautiful and remote. Among themselves they are simply the people of Myrien.
The Vyssari are mortal, and none of them remembers the empire of Valira firsthand, so they keep the past in record and teaching rather than in living memory. Lineage is traced by blood and by remembered deeds, and much of a family's history is held in kept songs and names. Because they hold lying against the natural order, the records they keep are meant to be exact.
Much of Vyssari expression passes without sound. Through sennari they share thought and feeling directly, and a great deal of their art, music and ceremony is made to be received that way. The moonstone obelisks set at the realm's sacred junctions sound a tone only elven ears can hear, and their rites center on the two moons and on Myriandor, the dead World Tree at the heart of the realm.
Vyssari society is ordered by the Saevryn, a fixed caste system. Every Vyssari is born into one of four castes and cannot rise above it, and crossing castes is held to violate the natural order. The four are the Thalanir, who hold the borders and fortresses and fight in sennari-bound companies; the Sylveth, who tend the living forest; the Caelari, the oracles and stargazers; and the Vaelari, the makers, lorekeepers and traders. The realm is ruled by the High Oracles of the Caelari, who judge and govern from the Moonspine Court at the foot of Myriandor in Vai'Luthra.
Myrien is a diminished realm. The empire of Valira is six thousand years gone, its World Tree is dead, and the Vyssari hold their forest as mortal keepers of an age that has passed. Their answer is to tend what remains and to teach what must not be lost, keeping the record and the ways of Myrien against further loss.
Myriandor, the World Tree at the heart of Vai'Luthra, was burned by Kashari forces during the war and is dead beyond any craft to restore. The Vyssari regard the burning as an unforgivable sacrilege, and its loss stands behind much of how they see themselves: a people who keep and remember, guarding what is left of a realm that has already lost its heart.
The fixed caste order of the Vyssari.
The Saevryn is the caste system of Myrien. Every Vyssari is born into one of four castes and cannot rise above it, and crossing castes is held to violate the natural order that sustains the realm.
The Vyssari regard the Saevryn as a cosmic inheritance rather than a social rank. A Vyssari's caste is set at birth and never changes, and each of the four castes is held for life. To rise above one's caste or step outside it is held to break the order that keeps Myrien whole.
The Thalanir are the warrior and sentinel caste. They hold Myrien's fortresses, its borders and its host, and they fight in Bonded Companies, war-units bound through sennari into a single mind that moves and strikes as one.
The Sylveth are the nature-keepers, who tend the living forest of Myrien. Their power shapes existing life but cannot create from nothing, and even the Sylveth cannot regrow a World Tree, which is why Myriandor remains dead.
The Caelari are the oracles and stargazers. From their sanctum at Vai'Luthra they chart the heavens and keep the realm's celestial records, and it is from among them that the High Oracles are drawn, who rule Myrien from the Moonspine Court at the foot of Myriandor.
The Vaelari are the makers and lorekeepers. They handle Myrien's craft, records and trade, producing the realm's goods and keeping its written history. The moon-crystal and silver-root worked by the Vaelari are among Myrien's chief exports.
A Vyssari's caste is fixed at birth and holds for life. To cross it is held to violate the natural order itself, and among the Vyssari there is no graver transgression.
