Prisoner

Lokteruost took the name of Moonflower in honor of his adopted mother, which pleased Luinil. Over the years, Lokteruost and Luinil had a large family. As they grew and took on wives and husbands of their own, most of their children chose moon elves. Lokteruost did not care of which elves his children chose to wed, as long as they were happy. Luinil was of the same mind.

The only ache in Lokteruost's heart was how he could see the centuries age his wife much faster than himself. Near her 730th year, she answered the call to Arvandor. He wished he could join his wife, but he was quite aware that he would not be able to join her until the task he was destined for was completed.

He was not sure how long it would take.

He got an idea. Perhaps if the city were made into a mythal, a magically protected and fueled city, then perhaps he could grow old and die.

The city revered him as a champion. His children and grandchildren were also making names for themselves. He pondered the thought of what more he must do to receive the call, when a gigantic rumbling shook the entire city. He felt great magic at work.

What was once a bluff with a lake in the distance became a cape on the edge of a new sea. Most of the city and the outlying area was gone in an instant.

Once the devastation subsided, Lokteruost immediately went to the task of making what was left of the city into a place that could be livable again. His task was short lived, because dark elves, escaping the devastation of their own cities, quickly overwhelmed the survivors.

The dark elves promised the members of the captured mythal that their lives would be spared, and a greater prosperity could be achieved if they forsook their gods for the ones offered by the dark elves.

Lokteruost protested, but the brunt of the survivors had been gold elves, who had grown to hate the long lived Lokteruost and his brood.

The gold elves for years had considered Lokteruost blasphemous, he had to be, he was extremely aged, yet still looked young. Many of the survivors believed that the devastation was their punishment for giving Lokteruost, a bastard, so much freedom.

Perhaps Corellon had abandoned them. The consensus was to worship the gods the dark elves offered.

The faithful of Corellon quickly ran away.

In order to protect Lokteruost, the wizards and clerics formed a circle and put him into a deep suspending sleep, and hid his whereabouts. Doing so cost them their lives, but these powerful magic users had been compelled to do so, by divine intervention. Lokteruost still had one more task before he returned to Arvandor.

**********

Lokteruost awoke in a strange bed. The room was full of grotesque tapestries and the feel of evil magic. As he sat up, he saw that his hands and feet had been shackled by magic bindings. He was dressed, but the clothes were not his. He wondered where his armor and sword were. He wondered how long he had been unconscious. He had no idea how he had gotten to this place, or how long he had been here, but he felt the weave around him. It was shadowed, and twisted.

An gold elf in jet black robes came in and spoke to him.

"Ah, I see you are finally awake. It took us many years to find you, but we knew you had to be hidden near here somewhere."

"Where am I?"

"Myth Fredaine. You used to call it the city of Tieratarengir. That was at least 2000 years ago. We have set this place apart from the rest of Faerun. This is the mirror of Evermeet, and you are going to help maintain its continued success, whether you like it or not."

"Who are you?"

"I am the Emperor, Narashal IV. You are my prisoner and shall be until you die. Unfortunately for you, I have been informed you do not age, so you will not die for a very long time. Don't bother trying to escape. You are under a unique sort of geas. Until all of your personal effects are returned to you, and they won't be because I have had them scattered, those shackles can not be undone. More specifically the shackles themselves are under geases."

"I very much doubt they will hold me for long."

"Bold words, Ancient Captive, for none but the Emperor will know your name from now on. As for the shackles, don't get your hopes too high. We already killed one god, a human one but a god nonetheless, in order to test them. Not even a god can escape them. As for those who would come to help you, that is not possible. This place has been entirely encased and shielded so that it can not even be seen by the continent on which it lies. The dark magic keeps the Seldarine, Lloth and Selvetarm from spying on us as well. You are trapped, so accept it."

**********

As the years turned into centuries, tortures became worse and worse, yet he still managed to live. He was taken out and publicly beaten to show the power of the emperor over the Seldarine.

He still had the look of a youth despite the fact a score of his emperor captors had grown old and died. He thought it had something to do with his restraints, or some unfinished task he needed to complete. As the years, and the beatings, wore on, he forgot more and more about himself.

He realized after many years (he quit counting) that his longevity was his own fault. It was the Mythal. He had been the main magic user to create it, He had poured part of his essence into it and it now still sustained him.

This Mythal had become his prison.

The city should have been destroyed completely during the sundering. Creating the mythal was a mistake and until he could escape and make right what he had done, he would be forever young, and forever in pain.

**********

The temple to Corellon, on the high cliffs overlooking the sea, was a ruin. Emperor Ghalegha Durothil, the eighth Sun Elf to be emperor of Myth Fredaine, decided to fix up parts of the ruin so Lokteruost could live there. He wanted to Lokteruost feel more comfortable.

Ghalegha was different from his predecessors. His ascension to the throne was admittedly, a fluke.

Ghalegha's older brother, Vallis, tried to take the throne from their father.

Normally, the throne for Myth Fredaine was chosen by the royal heirs fighting each other in mortal combat. Once there was a victor, the entire families of the losers were put to death. Their harems were absorbed by the new ruler. Once the children of the ruler came of age, the process started all over again. It guaranteed a new emperor about every hundred and fifty years.

Vallis was no fighter. He knew it. He decided to poison the combatants so that he could be victorious. The poisons got switched around, and all of the combatants died.

The only blood heir, Ghalegha, was only sixteen years old. He was immediately crowned emperor.

Ghalegha was different than all other emperors before or after him. He found the gods, Ghaunadaur, Fredaine, and Vhaeraun to be detestable. Yet, there was not much he could do to uproot the city gods. Over the years, the wizards of the black academy gained nearly all of the power in the city. They were made up of worshippers of those evil gods.

Largely because of the way one emperor succeeded another, the position had become no more than a figurehead.

He wanted to free the ancient captive and destroy the city.

Ghalegha did many things that were unordinary for people living in Myth Fredaine.

He got rid of his harem and decided to take a wife. He limited the number of Illithids allowed in the city. He refused to have the ancient captive beaten. He even had the nerve to openly call the ancient captive by his true name, Lokteruost. He became a worshipper of Corellon Larethian. He outlawed slavery, the city's main trade. He allowed citizens to come and go from the city as they pleased. He promoted free trade.

It was a golden time, that lasted only a hundred and ten years.

Ghalegha had thirteen children. Many of them hated the way that their father was. As soon as they came of age, they pleaded with their friends among the black academy wizards to help in the overthrow of their father.

Ghalegha found out about the plots of his ten sons, and made arrangements for his wife and youngest daughter to escape the city. He gave his oldest daughter the blood scepter and the crown to take and hide. Without those two magic items, the succession to the throne would be slowed. His wife and daughters escaped, but Ghalegha could not put off his execution.

Before he was thrown into the whirlpool off execution cliff, he had one more chance to speak to Lokteruost.

"My esteemed friend," He said," I am going to be killed today. I do not know which one of my horrible sons will succeed me. I hope they allow you the same free reign of the palace grounds I have given you. My wife and daughters have escaped the city. I promise you, that one of my good children will return some day, and free you. Lokteruost, do not despair. I know I will enter Arvandor. I will do all that I can to convince the gods to help you once I am there. Believe in me. I will watch over you."

Then Ghalegha was dragged off to his execution.

The son who succeeded him, Kirisatt II, reversed all of the progress Ghalegha had put into place. The only solace Lokteruost had was that the emperors that followed left him to himself.

The only time Lokteruost was bothered was when he was dragged off to be publicly beaten. The beatings were to show the power of the emperor over the Ancient Captive. With every beating, Lokteruost began to loose his memories once again. Within months, he did not know his own name once again.

**********

It would be nearly six hundred years before the Ancient Captive, Lokteruost could see his captivity possibly coming to an end.

The longest reigning emperor, Kirisatt IV, was well past four hundred, and had no heirs. Kirisatt IV was paranoid about keeping his position. He was childlike, spoiled, and an open homosexual.

The Black Wizards were in an uproar. They feared that if the last of the emperors of the blood died, the protective restraints on the Ancient Captive would slowly come undone. If the Ancient Captive got loose, he could destroy the mythal. They did not want that to happen.

Lokteruost gained the unlikeliest of allies to aid in his escape, the High Priestess of Fredaine, Madame Walisra.

As all priestesses of Fredaine, Walisra was a courtesan. She became tired of living a life with no meaning. One of low level prostitutes, Selia, had come to Myth Fredaine as an adventurer. She became friends with Walisra. Selia taught Walisra the ways of her own goddess, Hanali Celanil. Walisra knew she had found part of what was missing, but she needed help to achieve her goals of escape. The best way she could think of was to aid the Ancient Captive.

**********

Near the same time as Walisra plotted to escape, a resistance movement was being formed in the slums. They were aided by a group of adventurers who had found their way into the city through an ancient gate.

Among the adventurers was a Sun Elven woman. She had violet eyes and a love for flowers. She was a chosen cleric of Corellon Larethian, gifted with the ways of the long sword. She came on this hopeless adventure with her comrades in hopes that she would die honorably. Her best friend and occasional lover had been killed and mutilated by Illithid. The ruler of the keep where she lived had embarrassed and banished her for a year. Her beloved brothers had become part of the cult of the dragon. Her father was distant. She felt she had no one left, except for the one who had always truly loved her, her god, Corellon. Despite the fact that she was only one hundred thirty eight, she wanted to ascend to Arvandor, to be with the one she loved and truly loved her back. The only way to do that was to die for an honorable cause, and this cause was the best one she had found.

Her name was Katla Isolderdaughter Wisteria. Her father insisted that her family artifacts could help her in her goal to destroy the evil place. Among those artifacts were an odd scepter, and a crown.

Notes:

Seldarine- the elven pantheon of gods

Lloth- mother goddess of the Drow

Selvetarm- champion of Lloth, Drow god of barbarians and fighters

Illithids- also called mind flayers. Brain eating squid people

Ghaunadaur- God of Oozes and slimes

Fredaine- Drow goddess of sexual pleasure, prostitution, rape and deciet. Shapeshifting daughter of Ghanadaur. Was the consort of Vhaeraun until Lloth imprisoned her in a cocoon of webbing and dragged her to the demon web pits. Lloth keeps Fredaine alive, slowly leeching away her powers. Lloth does this in order to try and irritate Vhaeraun, and keep him in his place. Lloth has also tried to wipe her name from existence, to keep her weak.

Vhaeraun- Drow god of assasins and theives. Son of Lloth by Corellon Larethian.

cult of the dragon- a group of humans and elves that worship Tiamet, evil goddess of dragons.