Cairnus

The Cairnus is green, forested and fertile; it is two hundred miles long, and fifty miles deep. Hilly in the central interior, it is covered by dense deciduous forests. Only around the coastline have significant clearings occurred. These clearings were made to create farms, or the sites of fishing villages. The farms and villages are connected by well maintained forest roads, which wind through the woods, and all connect to the city of Cairnus.

The weather is mild, and rainy, in summer. In winter, the winds change and bring constant squalls of sleet and rime from the north.

Cairnus was originally settled by Desnian Arali, and was traditionally a semi-independent state under the protection of Desnia. The Arali of Cairnus were among the most avid collectors of exotic monster specimens. Unlike the mainland Desnians, however, they did not abandon their hobby after the Devastation. This monstrous preoccupation strained relations between Cairnus and Desnia and contacts between the two states continued on a diminished scale.

For the most part, Cairnus remained a quiet, tranquil place, trading first with Desnia, and then with Llyrius and even Ciastan. Then everything changed.

Mellianour was utterly destroyed, and the Schirae that destroyed the city did not melt back into the mountains as the Elves in Llyrius thought. Instead they took the ships that lay at anchor and sailed across to Cairnus, stopping in a hidden cove. In this cove, a large number of Schirae disembarked and stole quietly onto the island. The stolen ships and their captive crews then set sail once again and have not been heard from since.

The Schirae that remained on Cairnus moved quietly and with stealth, slowly capturing each Desnian lord and his household. Within a few short years, the Schirae had total control over the island, though few knew it.

Once control had been gained, one of the first things they did was to have the Desnian lords of Cairnus cut off all contact with Desnia, and to not allow any elven ship to enter its port. Realizing that they still needed to trade for some goods, the Schirae did allow the Desnian lords to continue trading with the Nagazi, so long as no Elves were aboard their ships.

It took several years to fully accomplish, but the Schirae finally got the isolation that they craved. It was then time to embark upon their real plan, to use the Elves living upon Cairnus to complete the transformations started by the Narsi. Using a foul ritual, the Schirae use the blood of elven sacrifices to form a cocoon in which they can complete their transformations. This is a long slow process, requiring frequent sacrifices, so only a few dozen Schirae have been through the ritual so far.

Upon completion of the ritual, the newly transformed Schirae emerges from the cocoon. The Quendilone, an ancient word meaning "reborn", as they call themselves emerge with fully functional wings, their skin a deep blood red in color, with wicked looking talons in place of fingernails and a shock of stark white hair crowning their heads. To top it off, the Quendilone appear to have a lifespan much longer than the Elves from which they feed. One of the side effects of the process seems to be that the Quendilone crave fresh blood for sustenance.

While knowledge of the Schirae and the Quendilone is not generally known on Cairnus, the populace is beginning to suspect something is seriously wrong. Far too many young Elves have gone into the manor houses and the strange temple that the Desnian lords built, never to return.

#4300 Cyradon, page 65