In the years after the Great War, Darayat honed his trade as a crafter and innovator. He is exceptionally good at what he does, which only made his rogue status with House Cannith all the more frustrating for those in power... but Darayat cared little for the approval of the people who had cast him out, particularly when the thugs the House sent to lean on him were spectacularly unsuccessful. The mess was quite public, with bits of thugs scattered across the landscape.
No, what Darayat cared about was flying. After a brief fling with a scion of House Lyrandar, he became obsessed with the idea of building a ship which could fly higher than any other. Being of great ingenuity, Darayat reasoned out what problems he would have to solve: how the air would stick to the ship; how the pull of the ship could replace the pull of the ground on his feet. He designed a captain's chair to do these things, and built one into an airship -- an airship which could leave the surface of Eberron entirely, out to where the sky was black instead of blue, and the stars were everywhere.
But that wasn't enough. He pushed out farther and farther, experimenting with new technologies to power his ship and keep the occupants (well, occupant) alive. Darayat knew that one great source of travel power was in magic that leaped from place to place, or plane to plane, but he wanted to sail the distances, so he experimented with short transit magic, phasing and the like. It was during one of these experiments, one using Phasing, that something went horribly - or spectacularly - wrong, and Darayat accidentally created a rift in the fabric of space, through which spurted ephemeral rainbows that evaporated instantaneously. He scrambled and managed to close the rift without getting sucked through.
After more experimentation, he managed to reproduce and control the circumstances which made the rift and built these into the captain's chair, and after even more experiments he reasoned out how the chair could tap into that chaos of rainbow ocean currents by using the immense rainbow energies themselves to sail the ship at fantastic speeds. For he felt drawn inexorably into the rainbow flows, feeling a pull from beyond them that he felt he simply had to explore, and for this inexplicable reason decided to sail his ship through and into the sea of rainbows beyond.
And thus did the legend Darayat Mimeos independently invent the first Spelljammer on Eberron.
Finally through the rift his Phasing created, and after it closed, Darayat found himself looking back at an immense crystal wall, apparently a sphere from its slight curvature away from him though of near-limitless size: a crystal sphere of amazing dimensions.
Once in the Rainbow Sea, Darayat felt the sure direction of a subtle and powerful psychic call, pulling him... somewhere. He recognized it as a more powerful version of the obsession which had led him off the planet in the first place. He had a destination, though he didn't know where.
However, almost immediately after leaving the crystal sphere, Darayat's ship was picked up by a patrol of other ships crewed by well trained and capable elves. The ships were strange leafy living things called windblossoms, that had been grown into heavily armed vessels the elves called Man'o'War ships. This patrol was a tiny part of the Elven Armada, the military arm of the Alliance of Elven Worlds, countless ships and countless worlds stretching across a multiverse that was much vaster than Darayat had ever suspected, far larger than the cross-planar travellers in Eberron had hinted. The elves were very excited to meet Darayat ((Think Star Trek: First Contact)), and immediately brought him to see their Empress, a very strange glowing elven lady named Star Feather. Glowing; there was something he felt he should recognize about her, just beyond reach of his recall at the moment; but then he was swept up in all the excitement.
She was also very excited that he had independently invented Spelljamming, and about his evident brilliance in magic experimentation and design, because she herself was a magic researcher; besides overseeing the vast Elven Empire, she was a professor of photomancy in the Department of High-Energy Magic at a place considered mythical in Eberron: the Great Atlantean University and Library located in the Astral Plane.
Dr. Feather spoke to Darayat at length in the time he spent with the Elven Armada, about the strange world(s) that he had entered -- the etiquette, factions, and some of the dangers. Early in his stay, Darayat quickly noticed a curious fact about the Empress and her subjects: she never gave a command; she only suggested what might be interesting or worthwhile to do, and always added, "If it pleases you to do so." Apparently taking their cue from the Empress, the officers of the ship did the same with their crew. This was so different from the repressive hierarchy of his homeworld, that Darayat's heart both wept and flowed with joy. It was no wonder the elves would follow their Empress anywhere; she gave them freedom to follow their hearts as a way of life.
However, though Darayat was truly interested, and certainly polite and attentive, Star quickly realized that Darayat was really only paying half attention, and in a hurry to get back to his ship and his unknown destination under the influence of the pull he was feeling. The Empress gave Darayat some equipment and upgraded some of the properties of his ship, before helping him find his destination. It turned out to be a world almost entirely closed off from the Phlogiston, as the Elves said the rainbow ocean was called, and spelljamming.
When they arrived, Star Feather was also excited about the world that was Darayat's destination. She said she and her friends had helped to protect this world before, but fended off his questions for details with a curious statement: She said the Story had to play out as it should, to avoid the risk of another Timeloop forming, and added that the challenge had been in finding ways to help without disturbing key elements of the Story. She felt he was part of that Story, though, and that the pull he was feeling was bringing him there to play that part, which she took as a very good sign now that she had met him and could see the mark of his blood upon him.
She wouldn't say much else more than this: that if it pleased him to do so, he might pass her fond regards to those who might remember her, and to this end, Star Feather suggested a name for Darayat's ship, if it pleased him:
Vingilot.
"This is a name of great Power, which will be recognized where you are going. Though I didn't build the original Vingilot, I made it so that ship could fly much like yours. That was when I was working as a helper to the builders -- I wove my own Radiance into its Light." Star Feather then said,
"After that, some of the people on this world called me by the name Varda, who made the stars, even though I'm not... and some called me Earendil, though I'm certainly not him. He was Vingilot's maker and captain. Some people also called me Vingilot. I will answer to that, because my light was the Light that shines when all other lights go out. It's a small help... my Light was bottled by another, which protected this world in subtle ways without disturbing its Story." She hesitated, then gave Darayat a truly luminous smile.
"More Light will be shed, in Time."Light that shines when all other lights go out... Radiance; that was it! That was what Darayat couldn't quite put his finger on when he first saw her, it had been too strange an idea. He was well versed in the lore of Elementals, as were many of House Cannith in Eberron. He had bound an Air Elemental into his ship to give it flight, and give it air in the airless darkness beyond his world. His mind grappled with the astonishment: this glowing being must be an elf, because she was their Empress, but... she also was a Radiance Elemental! He was sure of it. Rare in Eberron, they were only found near the borders of the scarce Positive Energy bubbles on Fernia, where Fire reached its fullest potential and became pure Light. Radiance Elementals were spectacular, dangerous creatures, like Fire Elementals but much more, drawing power at the intersection of Fire and Positive Energy. He felt hot and chill by turns; not only was she at the apex of power from countless elven worlds, with a vast Armada to back her, but she herself drew on a direct connection to the two most dangerous and potent power sources in the Planes. She meddled in the fates of worlds behind the scenes, moving their Stories forward as she pleased with just a touch of Light that could not be quenched. He felt he could trust her, even with his life, but suddenly that seemed like a more dangerous proposition than moments ago in his pleasant ignorance of her true nature, and potential reach across the planes, far more than any Empress could wield.
Darayat studied her carefully. She had secrets within secrets; this one was a shock, but was it all? Was this now everything to know about Empress Professor Star Feather? He had the sinking feeling that he did not have all of it yet; his sensitivity to Elementals told him that yes, Radiance was present, but there was something else too, deeper and more profound. He could feel it move around her... now that he was fully aware of the need for this kind of attention to an Elemental's nature. There was another kind of Elemental energy around her, deeper than anything he had ever felt before; he could not tell what it was but knew for a fact that it was not Air, Lightning, Water, or any of the other Elements he knew or were practiced at home, whether common or rare. Watching her move, the flickers of Light were evident, but there was something else, like a rapid blinking that should not be there, as if her image as she moved was fragmented into thousands, millions, of brief images one after the other. Focusing on her hand in motion he could see it if he strained to pick it out. Yes. Flicker, flicker, there it was again. He met her eyes; she had caught him staring at her. A look passed between them.
She knows that I know something... he was able to piece that out. But she said nothing more.
But they were at his destination, and he could wait no longer -- the closer he came, the more strongly he was drawn. When Darayat approached the world and attempted to enter, despite its alleged isolation, his ship was pulled through the crystal sphere almost immediately, and the psychic call redoubled, drawing him to a landmass on the far side of a vast ocean. As he approached, with the sensitivity to planar boundaries Darayat had developed, he could tell that the place he was entering was not quite on the same plane as the rest of the world he saw.
Darayat touched down in the water, sailing his amazing craft up to a dock, where a single figure awaited him. It was a lovely woman with delicately pointed ears, pale skin like alabaster, and raven-dark hair... not quite elven, and not quite anything else. She stood with a serene smile on her face, beckoning Darayat to approach. He could feel the subtle power in her, and also a familiar comfort, like he was finally, after feeling apart from everyone his entire life, coming home.
The lady spoke in a melodic voice so beautiful it compelled him to listen, almost like a hypnotic spell, filling him with bright music.
"Welcome home, my child. I am Melian, of the Maiar, and your ancestor." She then told Darayat the story of his birth.
((insert
the tale of Beren and Lúthien here, ending with:))
"Your foremother Lúthien Tenúviel's Story was thus:
'Even Manwë could not change the fate of Men, and so he presented Lúthien with the only choice possible: to live in the immortal land of Valinor, where she could forget all her grief and enjoy eternal happiness along with her people and the Gods (Valar) but without Beren, or to return to the land of Middle-earth together with Beren as a mortal herself, accepting the Doom of Men and sharing in whatever unknown fate awaits them outside the Circles of the World. She chose this latter option. With this she accepted death as a mortal woman, and although it was not the fate of her race, she relinquished everything for Beren and became a mortal woman.'
This is what most know. But there is more to her Story, and it leads to yours.
For, you see, when Lúthien was in Morgoth's lair, as the child of a Maiar she felt it -- a Wrongness, something not of this world, and most definitely Evil. It was this Wrongness that gave Morgoth the ability to twist the fair folk into Orcs, and give them life as his creations, not Aluvatar's, which was the thing Morgoth craved most in all the world; they bear a residue of this original, Evil taint. This Wrongness was in Morgoth's face -- his Eye.
After death as a mortal woman, by Lúthien's own choice, she passed beyond the Circles of the World. Her time with Beren now fulfilled, Lúthien then was able to carry forth the secret charge given to her by Manwë after she made her choice, to search beyond the Circles of the World for the source of the alien Eye she had seen in Morgoth's face - the same Eye that Morgoth later lent to his assistant Sauron (a Maia whom he corrupted), until Sauron's downfall at the hands of Frodo Baggins when Morgoth reclaimed it.
Lúthien traveled along paths of underworld fire that led away from the Circles of the World, taking her to a strange new place. It too felt wrong to her, different from her home in Middle Earth, but yet not the same as how the Eye felt to her when she was near enough to touch it
in Morgoth's face. She knew she would not last long in this place of wrongness where her powers had far less effect, so Lúthien found a man whose inner strength reminded her of Beren and in whom she could sense some power of his own to join with hers, and by him bore a child with both powers to carry the Maia bloodline and Manwë's will forward, a child of this strange place, for whom it would not be strange.
Manwë's will, the will of the strongest of the Valar and second only to Aluvatar, has reach across all ages and worlds, and has stood as a beacon so that his will may be wrought. To it I added my own song, to bring my child home.
That child was your great-grandfather, Darayat. You are my great-great-great grandson. You carry the bloodline of the First Elves, who looked upon the Light of The Tree, and of the Maiar, near-gods and goddesses in their own right.
The beacon has been waiting for one of your line, and you were the one with skill and ambition to follow it here, so you may fulfill your ultimate purpose: search out the trail of Morgoth's Eye, through the many Worlds, past where Lúthien, your ancestor and my daughter, lost it in your own homeland. Follow it back to its source, and determine how to defeat our ancient enemy and the one who gave it to him." Melian's song went on for a time after, filling Darayat's mind with the Story of the creation and destruction of the First Age, and the other great events that had happened since in the worlds of Middle Earth, in which his cousins among the elves and men played a great part. Though the full extent of the history that he was hearing must have taken hours, maybe even days in its recounting, Darayat never once felt hunger, thirst, weariness, or boredom.
She brought him deeper inland, introducing him to some of the immortal, powerful beings from her story: Manwë, Varda Elentári his wife, and others. Varda took Darayat aside, murmuring to him,
"I have someone for you to meet." She reached into a pocket and removed a glowing ball of light, its surface rippling through all the colors of the spectrum.
"You see, I saw your ship arrive, and saw the name scribed on the bow. If you wish, you can free the air creature currently bound to the vessel, and this one will take its place. This creature of light is the twin to that which inhabited your ship's namesake, for you see they are always created in pairs. It has waited, in my care, a very long time for this opportunity. I hope you will oblige."At Darayat's acquiescence, he and Varda took the glimmering globe to the new
Vingilot, where it immediately soared onto the bridge, sinking into the captain's chair. With a breath of wind, the air elemental bound to the helm was released and disappeared into the sky -- and the ship began to glow with a soft white light, merging all colors of the spectrum, and leaving no shadows. Darayat recognized the gentle illumination, which bore the hallmarks of Radiance.