the gift of the dark elves

Today, a bit of lore from the FROSTBORN world:

The dark elves had many slaves, and when a favored slave reached old age and a final illness, sometimes the dark elves would bestow a gift. A spell that induced a deep sleep, and as the slave slept, he dreamed a dream of impossible bliss. All his wishes and desires fulfilled, his friends and loved ones gathered around him, even as his body succumbed to thirst. The nature of the dream ensured that it would last for years.

But then, as the slave’s body entered its final moments, the dark elves would awaken him. The dream would shatter, and the slave would awaken and realize that it had been nothing but a lie, that he had been left to die by a master that no longer had a use for him.

Sometimes groups of dark elves would gather around to see the slave’s final expression of horror as he died, and would admire it like an audience admiring a singer. The more artistically minded among them would capture that moment in paint or stone and gaze upon it fondly for centuries to come.

This may be a plot point in FROSTBORN: THE DARK WARDEN. 🙂

-JM