A preview of some of the lore interwoven through Phantom, book one in the Heir of Lilith Trilogy, included below!
Phantom preview
from the Lorekeepers’ archives:
Lilith and the Portal Trees
There are three trees that, when found together in a ring, are said to hold a portal to one of the three Planes of Life. Trees in bloom lead to the prime plane of Eldura, with bare branches, the Shadowlands, and with autumnal leaves, the Brightlands.
But of course, the truth is more complex than this.
As Alessandra’s wars have waged on, the portals between worlds have grown fewer and further between. Kingdoms that once existed in harmony now fear one another. The portals stand as a remnant of a world that once was that is now lost.
About seven hundred years ago, one such portal—found between a trio of ash, oak, and thorn—provided passage for a revolutionary hero by the name of Lilith to slip between the planes. She escaped guards without a trace and led those in danger on to safety. Her tale weaves its own portals through the stories of others, each of which reconnects along the roots and branches of the great world tree.
The wisest among us see these branches and know: what Verdigris sacrificed in the form of a singular world, she regained tenfold with her transformation into a tree of stories, ever-growing, ever-expanding, ever-connected, through this age, through the first age which has passed, and through an age yet to come.
And perhaps one day, her portals will open once more, making way for new stories and their subjects to write their fate onto the weave of the world.
Lilith’s Origin
The lorekeepers’ accounts are conflicted on the subject of Lilith’s origins, but the most common tale of her creation suggests that she was a special creation of her mother’s—Arrakis, goddess of the vast 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.
The Creation of the Lorekeepers
Two interconnected events spawned the creation of the Lorekeepers: Xarmev’s attack against Ravenna and the people of Lumme and Lilith’s death at the hands of Nar’Rakasa.
Yvayne felt Lilith’s death down in her bones. She collapsed, arms wrapped around her waist, when the fae’s essence faded from the world. It was not heartbreak for Eamon but a death of hope. Lilith had been so sure, so certain of her success. In spite of herself, Yvayne believed her.
She could not travel to the Shadowlands, could not beseech her mother to withdraw from hiding, could not trace the disappearing thread that connected the negata Vengeance to Lilith’s tale.
There was but one small option open to Yvayne. She could ensure that the world did not forget, that Lilith’s efforts were not in vain. Her first act was one of obfuscation—Alessandra would sniff out an organization trying to catalog her weaknesses so that one day, she might be defeated. Yvayne created a second organization to disguise the first. She preserved Lilith’s work by naming her the leader of the Order of Verdigris. The order’s work was to reconstitute the Titan of Nature, to weave the planes back together and unite them once more.
Yvayne planted the seeds of the order across the realms of Eldura, hoping that somewhere, the vines would stretch, would find one another, weave together, and grow strong.
The order was the first secret of the Lorekeepers, and these secret-bearers, Yvayne kept to herself, at least until she found one worthy of sharing the burdens of her story. It was the weight she had been created to bear, the receptacle of her mother’s memories, the one entrusted to preserve the stories of the Shadowlands fae. While the order flowered above, the Lorekeepers would stretch their roots deep beneath the webs of the earth, though lands bright and umbral and everywhere in-between.
At the time, Yvayne had no idea that Lilith’s daughter would be the first to join her cause. Shaw became the face of the order, and the beating heart of the secret lore.
Thank you for your interest in the interwoven lore of the Storyverse! Lilith is one of my favorite characters, and I love the way her stories interweave through Age of Azuria and Feather & Flame! I’ll have more news on Phantom and the Heir of Lilith trilogy soon!