Tracking LIlith: The Legacy of a Revolutionary
Much has been said about the elusive figure Lilith – demigoddess, Archfae, perhaps something else entirely.
This account seeks to set the record straight.
Like other controversial figures throughout the history of the multiverse, Lilith is one whose impact is as murky as her actual deeds. Was she a single figure, a savior as her ardent followers believe or a political terrorist as the former empress of Verrain Salendra once claimed?
It is the suspicion of this archivist that, as in many such cases, the answer lies somewhere in the middle.
Lilith’s Origin: Lorekeepers’ Archives
The lorekeepers’ accounts are conflicted on the subject of Lilith’s origins, but the most common tale of her creation suggests that she resulted from a special partnership between her mother—Arrakis, goddess of the Underland—and Nyx, the titan of darkness.
With the prime goddess Pandora vanished and Alessandra in her place in the Negative Planes, Nyx and Arrakis formed a bond. It was not love that blossomed between them so much as understanding, the recognition of one’s heart in the beat of another’s. Arrakis desired greatness for the peoples of the Underland. And in Nyx, she found mystery and magic.
For the titan of darkness, Arrakis offered a reflection of Pandora, the dark face of her guiding star. The altars of the Umbral elves often show the two figures together—we are strongest when we are not alone.
Archivist’s note: The remainder of this account turns from the sparse records of the lorekeepers into the less secretive and, therefore, more credible accounts of the World Weavers, particularly those of myself as an Archivist Adept.
Lilith’s Lineage
If Lilith is as revolutionary and important a figure as those dedicated to her claim, then understanding her lineage is a critically important task for determining the possible futures spread before us upon the Weave of Fate.
First, there is the matter of Lilith’s progeny. For experts in Lilith’s Lore, like myself, two figures immediately come to the fore when we delve into her actual historical accounts and actions: Vengeance, the revolutionary hero of the negata who, through partnership with Empress Salendra of Verrain, extricated his people from the horrors of their home in the Negative Planes (the plane of Dal’gerra, most believe), and Eamon, son of Hugh and Lilia and, therefore, a recipient of both the blood of Verdigris and that of Fenrir.
It is difficult to imagine a more storied possible legacy. But this is also where the records’ murkiness and the falsification of historical documents by certain figures (most likely the empress of Verrain) make what has already disappeared into the past even more difficult to determine.
This is part of the reason the World Weavers exist – we are independent of the lorekeepers and their shadow organization, the Order of Verdigris. We bear loyalty only to the truth and the uncovering and sharing of magical secrets that might change the course of the world. As one of our Archivists, I hold this mission as more dear than even my own life.
Rumors of the Heir of Lilith
Enough anecdotal records exist in various unsavory arcane accounts to lead even the most dubious historian to conclude that Lilith did indeed bear children of her own. The amount of blood shed in search of this Elder line* in and of itself is shocking.
To clarify the many conflicting accounts, I will set out the most likely genealogy of Lilith’s heirs as possible, including when they departed from the Shadowlands.
*While some believe Elder blood to be a rumor used to justify atrocities (such as the near-genocide of the daimon of Verrain at the hands of Empress Salendra or the attack against the city of Lumme by Salendra and the god of undeath, Xarmev which saw the upheaval of the reign of Ravenna, one of the granddaughters of Verdigris), I am among the scholars willing and able to believe that such a storied bloodline not only exists but that the Weave of Fate itself seeks to perpetuate said bloodlines as a way of retaining the magic of our very world. This is true not only for Eldura and our myriad histories but seems to persist across planes as well. The significance of such connections cannot be overstated and deserves a great deal more scholarly credence and study than has yet been paid. I hope for such sacred subjects to be the study of my next book.
Lilith and Vengeance
As intriguing as such a union would have been, the remaining records make the possibility of Lilith and Vengeance having borne children together remarkably unlikely, particularly as, from what even so skilled an archivist as myself can gather, it seems that Lilith was betrayed by the very lover she returned to Verrain to save after sending her husband, Eamon, and daughter, Shaw away.
We turn to their lineage now.
Lilith and Eamon
As has been previously stated, the most likely line of inheritance from Lilith ties the Archfae to the son of Hugh and Lilia, Eamon.
Lineage note: Lilith, the daughter of Nyx (titan of darkness) and Arrakis (goddess of the Underland)
Eamon, the son of Lilia (daughter of Enid, who was one of the three daughters of Verdigris) and Hugh (leader of the Lycan, the second people of the wolf-god Fenrir who created the daimon)
Hugh and Lilia bear their own uniquely fascinating account as do the myriad other stories of their son, Eamon
The bringing together of the child of a goddess and a titan and the child of a granddaughter of Verdigris (whose mother was the ruler of the Brightlands fae and who, after her passing, many came to revere as a goddess in her own right) and the son of a god cannot be overstated in its significance.
This union, if it occurred, would tie any resultant offspring to the myriad lineages of the Umbral fae (the children of Arrakis), the Lycan (the second children of Fenrir), and the Brightlands fae. Seeing that such lineages tend to cleave to the matrilineal line, any offspring would likely appear to be purely fae in appearance, and their magical gifting would be extensive as well as unique. So much so, in fact, that it is difficult for this archivist to lend credence, however much I might wish, to certain “discoveries” of the supposed heirs of Lilith as these accounts detail beings of significant but not unheard of magical giftings.
For the true heir of such a lineage, particularly a female heir, the magical inheritance would be almost boundless.
The most likely inheritors of this Elder bloodline are as follows:
Vengeance – – x – – Lilith
no children accounted for
Lilith – – + – – Eamon
daughter: Shaw – – + – – partner unknown
daughter: Luca – – + – – Velan (political refugees during the Great Cleansing on behalf of the Second Empress of Verrain. Velan was captured trying to escape and was executed for the crime of attempting to flee and spread daimon blood into new realms. His wife, Luca, escaped with their daughter, Marena. This record exists in part because of the seizure of a notable ring found on Velan’s person, one that allowed him to disguise his daimon form and take that of a fae for an indefinite period of time)
daughter: Marena – – + – – partner rumored but unknkown
The record of Lilith’s line dries up with the disappearance of her granddaughter and great-granddaughter from Verrain into Eldura proper, most likely taking refuge somewhere in the remains of what was once the great Neverunian kingdom.
It is possible that Lilith’s mark of amethyst-hued eyes would remain on any of her progeny. They would likely also bear what the records refer to as “Eamon’s curse” – the reversal of his fae appearance as he tried to hide himself and his daughter among the daimon from Salendra’s wrath, resulting in the near-extinction of the daimon across the Shadowlands instead. This curse is more rumor than historical fact, but the record of Velan’s ring, said to give a daimon the ability to disguise his form and appear as a fae rather than a great dire wolf, makes the heirs even more difficult to trace. Would one search for a daimon with purple eyes or a fae?
As a self-respecting archivist will suspect, it is here that the record must end, at least for the present until more credible evidence can be found beyond wild speculation. How the heirs of Lilith would hide themselves, would blend into society, is difficult to say. I record this record in part out of hope that if such heirs exist, they might be tracked and protected.
Like their predecessors, they would draw such curiosity and greed as a result of their magical inheritance, and such power cannot be allowed to fall into the wrong hands.
If this heirs exist, this archivist wishes them well, but unfortunately, it is far more likely that they would have been uncovered and either revealed or snuffed out by now.
Like other archivists, I recognize the inherent danger of writing such an account out so plainly. What if those of ill motives were to find my record, over-state the credence of at-times anecdotal evidence, and begin their own search for the enchanted blood of one of so stored an Elder line?