Canonfire! Forums-viewtopic-Valley of the Mage

Tue Nov 23, 2004 12:19 am Valley of the Mage

Hi All!

Is there anyone out there that can tell me what's up with the Valley of the Mage and why "regular" elves hate/intensely dislike the valley elves so much?

I'm keen to use the Valley in an upcoming campaign but haven't found too many references on the subject.

What or whom is the Mage Krimeeah? Is he the Black One?

Loads of questions, sorry! Confused

Tue Nov 23, 2004 2:02 am

Welcome to the board Smile

I will give it a try...

1) Elven hatred...
Valley elves are hated because sometime in the past they turned their backs on the Elven Pantheon and enslaved themselves to something or someone (it's unclear) in exchange for knowledge and power. The drow scorn them for allowing themselves to be enslaved.

2) Materials...
Gazeteers (WoG, FtA, LGG)
1990 module Vale of the Mage

3) Krimeeah and the Black One are the same person...
The Mage of the Vale is Jaaran Krimeeah aka the Black One, because of his demeanor, his past and because he is infusing his body with "shadow stuff" from the demi-plane.

4) History to present in a very small nutshell....
He was a mage from the Great Kingdom of Aerdy who offended the Overking, he fled, certain imperial assassins were hunting him. Finding the vale he entered assumed control and won the loyalty of the inhabitants however his bloated self-impotance fed his paranoia and obsessive need for more power so he would be ready for the imperial assassins has also fed the vale isolationist tendancies. The mage is currently travelling in the demi-plane of shadow while his drow senechel has given his title to an imposter to keep up the appearance of normalcy to the outside world until Jaaran Krimeeah returns. Sadly according to the module the Overking at the time considered Jaaran Krimeeah irrelevant and never sent his assassins after him and no one within Aerdy cares where he is or what he is doing.

Hope that helps Confused

Tue Nov 23, 2004 2:33 am

Thanks Crag! Appreciate it!

It seems like a fascinating area where an enterprising DM can stage a goodly length campaign. Do you regard valley elves as a separate sub-race?

I particularly enjoy the demi-plane of Shadow connection.

Tue Nov 23, 2004 4:42 am

Tue Nov 23, 2004 7:55 am Vague

I vaguely recall reading of some of this. The GreyChronodex has the Valley Elves entering the valley as one of it's first entries. I think the valley elves have become enslaved by some sort of primordal force. I think that this may have been among the archives of the Canonfire Articles.

Tue Nov 23, 2004 8:02 am Found it

I found one of the Articles - "Valley of the Mage I & Taryn-Ny.'

Good Luck

Tue Nov 23, 2004 8:45 am

You might try looking in the thread of a few months ago,

"Why do all elves hate the Valley Elves" or something like that.

http://www.canonfire.com/cf/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=473&sid=74a29430a425f870f4013067472df889

There were some interesting comments in there from CruelSummerLord and others.
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Tue Nov 23, 2004 6:27 pm

I have a write up coming up on the Black One for Postfest that might be of some help too. Keep watch for it.
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Wed Nov 24, 2004 2:28 am

Maybe I wasn't clear the valley elves rejected the elven pantheon and turned to something else (primordial force) long before Jaaran Krimeeah showed up.

Personally I have heard the "valley elves" neutral stance, perhaps they want to keep it vague and mysterious or simply changed their minds...

In the Gazetteer it mentions the elves wasting away in a matter of weeks outside the vale, hinted the mage placed a spell but what if the "wasting away" is from an older source (primordial force) which acts as a drug for the elves after all this time within the vale.

How about combining the two popular theories into one...taken from the earlier debate and combined.

In the original sundering of the drow race from the other races of elves (the Kinslayer Wars). There was a group of elves (valley) that did not want to take either side in this epic war, they migrated to an out of the way locale and dwelled there apart from the rest of the surface elves.

Abandoned by the Elven Gods, scorned by the other surface elves and the drow for their neutral stance and fearful of retaliation from their enraged kin, in despair the valley elves turned to the enticing primordial power found within the vale which offered safety and security for the elves.

As the centuries passed the Elven King realised that his people had become dependant on the power and isolated within their comfortable secure vale.

Shocked he realised that few would willingly follow him outside the vale but determined to break his subjects terrible dependancy he fled with his faithful court vowing to return when he could offer his subjects reconcilliation with the Elven Gods and people.

Deeply hurt and shocked by their King's flight, the elves became even more distrustful. Centuries passed as the monsters test the valley's defenses unfortunately the King fled with most of the powerful magic-users and while the elves put up a valiant defense, finally even making a defensive alliance with the human and gnome inhabitants the monsterous incursions into the vale slowly began to increase over time.

At this critical time, Jaaran Krimeeah appeared and offered his magical skills in exchange for sanctuary, over time he drives away monsters and acting as a mediator Jaaran Krimeeah slowly, quietly gains the trust and respect of the vale. When he mentions to the elves a need for leadership and assures the elves his desire is the same as theirs, isolation and defense of the vale, the elves still bitter at their king's abandonment in a gesture of defiance accept Jaaran Krimeeah as the new lairid of the vale.

Once gaining elven support the other two races, human and gnome support was quickly won with promises of internal autonomy and greater respect.

Be kind...it is late Wink

Wed Nov 24, 2004 5:35 am Nice

Nice job Crag. I think you managed to blend in most of the existing story lines and facts that I am aware of concerning the Valley Elves, and it makes a great plot/campaign device. I knew the king left the valley, but have actually never read or heard reasons why. This will do fine.

Thu Nov 25, 2004 12:55 am

Thanks guys! As always, the quality of the responses are great!

Wed Dec 01, 2004 3:46 pm Mage of the Vale

Just to muddy the waters a bit, there's another option for ya. Not necessarily better, just...different.

In Gygax's Gord books, the Mage of the Vale was my namesake, Basiliv. It's been a while since I've read the series, but off the top of my head I believe he's presented as a powerful force for Balance, and he's the Demiurge (very powerful forces worked through the Demiurge to create Oerth).

Personally, I've always liked the idea of Jaaran Krimeeah remaining completely in the dark about Basiliv, who watches in amusement from the Plane of Shadow as the newcomer sets up his little kingdom. Given Krimeeah's desire to become a shade (or get into shadow magic, whatever), maybe the Vale just has a naturally strong connection to that plane. Maybe Jaaran (who is even named "Jason Krimeeah" in one product) has been subtly influenced toward shadow magic.

Just some thoughts.
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Wed Dec 01, 2004 8:21 pm

I've always thought that Jaran K. wasn't "the" Mage of the Vale, but one of them...or more accurately, one of the Mage's hosts. An olven anticedent to Suel liches, perhaps....

In another interesting bit of trivia, the 3 D&D elven races noted as "neutral" in the war between the dark and light elves are all of human height or taller (valley elves, snow elves, and rockseer elves).

Cheers
Nell.

Wed Dec 08, 2004 8:34 am

Argon has written a rather nice piece on the Vale of the Mage that adresses a number of common issues surounding the Vale.

It is a 3 part series he wrote (I have linked all 3 together via redirects at the bottom of each article) for Postfest II and can be found below...

Argon's Vale of the Mage

Enjoy the read! Wink

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Mon Sep 11, 2006 8:16 pm

Mon Sep 11, 2006 8:43 pm

Just to throw another wrench in the works, here are a couple of other contradicting sources:

The Guide states that the Mage of the Valley has ruled for "many decades".
GREYHAWK® Adventures states that Timitrios Spartakos, age 27, was once apprenticed to Jaran Krimeeah — before his banishment.

Mon Sep 11, 2006 11:03 pm

Tue Sep 12, 2006 3:26 am

Ugh - Carl, why couldn't you check your canon?

I think that's a mistake. As far as I can recall, all the other dates and references point to Jaran being related to the Naelax and plotting against (probably) Ivid III.

Tue Sep 12, 2006 11:30 am

Sun Sep 17, 2006 4:50 pm

Exiling Jaran instead of chaining him to the Writhing Column seems more likely from a Rax Overking than one of the Naelex dynasty. I look forward to reading your article Duicarthan.

Mon Sep 18, 2006 1:22 am

The reference in the LGG specifically mentions that releasing Jaran was unusually lenient. That said, they did torture the hell out of him.

Mon Sep 18, 2006 9:38 am

Regular elves hate valley elves because the valley elves were right and the elves of celene were wrong.

Mon Sep 18, 2006 12:03 pm

Mon Sep 18, 2006 12:53 pm

Dude...thats such a bummer ya' know?
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