Kurtalos Ravencrest

Kurtalos Ravencrest is the ancient Lord of House Ravencrest and one of the most ancient members of High Forest. Kurtalos Ravencrest has four children in the form of 

Kurtalos Ravencrest is the High Lord of Low Forest, and was given this command by Malfurion Stormrage of whom is one of his closest friends, and this command has only further expanded the power of his family.

Kurtalos Ravencrest was born in the forests of Ulthuan and grew up alongside an Elf that would become his best friend in the form of Illidan Stormrage. He and Illidan travelled the world together, but slowly over time he found himself hateful towards his friends turning from the Sindari ways, and he grew to be better friends with Illidan's brother Malfurion. Kurtalos would join with Malfurion during the Great Sindari Exodus and he would make his home in High Forest where under the command of his friend he and wife had their first children, as before this his wife didn't wish for children as was the case with many Elves. Kurtalos would take part in the Clearing of High Forest and following this his second child was born, and he begin to notice a depression in his wife that he couldn't seem to slow no matter what he tried. When William Lovie III. came to Gondor and started the alliance it was Kurtalos Ravencrest that led a large force alongside his son and daughter in law into Gondor and together with them he would fight during the battles of The Journey.

History

Early History

“When I was very young Ildarion I had a friend who wanted to make the right choices. He wasn't a bad person, but his heart wanted something that was just never going to be his and when he realized that it drove him to jealously. Always remember that jealousy is the first step towards hate. My friend was jealous and he lost everything.”

— Kurtalos Ravencrest

Kurtalos Ravencrest was born in the forests of Ulthuan and grew up alongside an Elf that would become his best friend in the form of Illidan Stormrage. During this time Illidan was deeply in love with Tyrande Whisperwind and because of this he remained true to the Sindari ways, but as Malfurion slowly came into the love triangle Illidan's hidden desires begin to surface more and more to the anger of Kurtalos.

Drifting

He and Illidan traveled the world together, but slowly over time he found himself hateful towards his friends turning from the Sindari ways, and he grew to be better friends with Illidan's brother Malfurion.

The Sindari Exodus

Main Article : The Exodus of the Sindari

Our time on Ulthuan has come to an end.

The Exodus of the Sindari Elves from Ulthuan would begin from eastern Ulthuan and move towards western France. Landing in Western France they would move themselves in two main groups towards their respective new homes. While the two main groups would originally start with similar goals in mind the eventual Lothlorian Elves have become little different then High Elves. “There comes a point when all things end. A time in the lifeline of a people when the glory, and honor of the past are replaced by the greed and corruption of the future. I shall not sit by and watch as the island of Ulthuan burns around me. I shall not watch as the people I have loved and cared for since my birth are destroyed by the madness of our failings.” — Malfurion Stormrage Eventually the corruption of the High Elves reached a point where no longer could Malfurion Stormrage or the vast majority of the Sindar Elves in Ulthuan accept the madness of Ulthuan. Malfurion would one last time go to the Pheonix King who at this point was Bel-Anahar and during this final conversation Malfurion went before the Pheonix King alongside his two closest commanders in the form of Laera Sunstrider, and Vareesa Windrunner in the great council chambers where they were surrounded by High Elven councilors. Malfurion requested one last time for the Pheonix King to give them control over the central forests of Ulthuan and with this allow their traditions to continue, but the Pheonix King was an arrogant man believing he was in the right with his movement of the Elves and in this way he would deny this request. As the disappointed Sindar Elven group left the meeting the situation was made much worse when the Pheonix King egged on by several of his Councillors would insult the Sindari way of life causing the other assembled councilors to laugh at the group, and this final insult was the last straw for the already furious Sindari. “There was just no living there after seeing the way our leader felt for us. The end of our time in Ulthuan had come.” — Malfurion Stormrage Following the return of the command structure of the Sindari Elves to their forest holdings the decision was clear to all of them that they needed to leave Ulthuan and go to a new home. Ideas flowed from the group, but several of them all pointed to the nearly wild land of France, and due to the experiences of many Sindari who had fought in the War of Vengeance this decision was found to be the right path to take. Following the decision by the leadership to leave for France they commanded the Sindari Elves to pack what things they needed and to make for the ports on the coast of eastern Ulthuan where they constructed a fleet of ships over many months to take the Sindari to France. While these ships were being constructed many of the High Elves attempted to convinse them to stop, and there was even discussion in the capital by the Pheonix King to stop them militarily, but in the end the High Elves were unable to unify in their view of how to stop it so they ended up doing nothing when the day came that the ships set sail for France. Sindari Group Site of Settlement Site of Group Malfurion's Elves High Forest 1,600,000+ Laera Sunstrider's Elves Athel Loren 600,000+ Cathannius Windwatcher's Elves Menegorth Forest 300,000+ Thadral Lightleaf's Elves Bloomwall Forest 120,000+ Nandos Wildgazer's Elves Plyrood Forest 65,000+ Filadon Silverleaf's Elves Lamarane Forest 55,000+ Founding of the Kingdom of Lothlorian “I had to carve out a new destiny for our people. The Sindar Elves would only find themselves destroyed if they follow Malfurion any further. It was time for a new path.” — Laera Sunstrider As Malfurion Stormrage started the exodus of the Sindar Elves the second most powerful Sindar Elf in Laera Sunstrider took his followers and went as well. During the crossing he used Magi to make sure that certain ships were delayed quite heavily. In this way the ships of his followers as well as several other Sindar Elves that he wanted did not arrive in France until nearly two months later. As time wore on the Elves on board became horrified that they would never arrive, and that some great evil was delaying them, but each day Laera Sunstrider used his charisma to control more and more of the Elves. By this point Laera Sunstrider spread word to his supporters amongst Malfurion that the ships had crashed into rocks leaving the fleet of Laera dead or lost in the waters. Malfurion with great sadness would leave behind volunteers of whom took the form of Laera supporters to wait for the stragglers but he took the rest of the Sindar Elves with him to High Forest. When the second wave finally did arrive in France and did not find Malfurion waiting for them those who were not among the devout followers of Laera were scared, and open to manipulation. Laera used this moment to rally the second wave of Sindar Elves of which there were many of his personal followers, and brought them to the forest of Lothlorian which was the forest scouted by Sylvanus during the War of Vengeance, and of which she had advised him of. “We had travelled all this way, and yet here I stood on the edge of a lake that was supposed to lead us to everything we would need, and I saw nothing.” — Laera When the Elves arrived in Athel Loren they were guided throughout by Sylvanas who had intimate knowledge of the forest. In this way the large group of Sindar Elves was able to dramatically eliminate the local Trolloc without much difficulty. With the forest clear Sylvanus lead Laera to the island that she had seen, and been told by Illidan was a source of great power, but when they arrived there Laera discovered that they had been tricked by Illidan and that there was nothing special about the island. As he prepared to give up on this spot out of the water appeared Illidan Stormrage. Illidan begged to speak to Laera priveatly and when he agreed the two discussed how Illidan had absorbed the Skull of Maethor thanks to the efforts of his children and for this he wished to meand the differences between the two by helping to craft a massive devise which would be able to harnass a massive amount of Magi, and become the culmination of everything that Laera had ever dreamed of. Laera was skeptical at best but told Illidan that he had one year to complete the devise, and if he succeded then all would be forgiven but if he failed then he would hunt him down and kill him. Following this Illidan travelled to the Island of Quel`Dalas as the Elves had come to call it, and begin constructing the Sunwell. While working on this he was watched over by Laera`s trusted daughter Maen`Tryden Sunstrider who was a youthful but still gifted Magi. As the sunwell was being constructed the Elves obviously could not sit idle so they were joined together and begin constructing the city of Silvermoon. Founding of Silvermoon “We had travelled all this way, and yet here I stood on the edge of a lake that was supposed to lead us to everything we would need, and I saw nothing.” — Laera Silvermoon was constructed over the course of the year that Illidan was constructing the Sunwell, and during this time the Sindar Elves who were heavy in number constructed a city that could home the entire group of them meaning that the well over 400,000 Elves at the time needed to live there. The city was constructed out of white stone and living plants in the style of the ancient Ulthuani empire and interwoven with the natural topography of the landscape. The city contained the famous Academies of Silvermoon as a center for the learning of Arcane Magic and Sunstrider Spire, a majestic palace home to the Royal family of the Sindar Elves of Athel Loren. The Convocation of Silvermoon (also known as "The Council of Silvermoon"), the ruling body of the Sindar elves was also based here within the Court of the Sun. Nearly a year after starting the construction and nearing completion the entire society of Athel Loren stopped as Illidan returned to the main island accompanied still by Maen`Tryden. Illidan's Betrayal “I held up my end of the bargain Sunstrider. Its your turn to hold up your end of our deal.” — Illidan Stormrage Illidan would come shore with Maen`Tryden still at his side but she was now clearly quite pregnant, and this caused great anger from Laera Sunstrider of whom had planned her marriage to nobles loyal to him and this put a serious wrinkle in his plans. From this anger he would reject the deal he had with Illidan Stormage and after a great argument broke out Illidan would be taken into chains while Maen`Tryden would also be taken to the palace and kept locked away. Illidan would be kept under guard by Maeiv Shadowsong of whom would be placed in charge of the new Lothlorian Barrow Dens which would serve as a large prison for Athel Loren. While Illidan and Maen`Tryden remained locked away the upper echolon of the forces of Laera Sunstrider would travel to the now created Sunwell and upon arrival basked in its power with several passing out from the effects of the Sunwell. Large forces were brought to the island where they would construct the fortress of Quel'Dalas and completely cover the Sunwell within. While this was happening communication begin to open fully between High Forest where the main force of the Sindar Elves had landed, and the now growing lands of Laera Sunstrider of which Laera attempted to slow as he wanted to keep complete control. After months of construction Laera would stand over the top leadership and proclaim the creation of the Kingdom of Lothlorian, and in his first act he ordered the execution of his sister, and Illidan for treason. “Give me my brother. He needs to pay for his crimes, but not this way. Laera listen to reason.” — Malfurion Stormrage As the preparations were being made for the two's execution Alleria Sunstrider would sectrely send word to Malfurion Stormrage in High Forest of what was happening, and after the initial shock that the Sindari Elves had survived in the second group Malfurion would go to Athel Loren in large force. Captain Vur'talos Darkshadow would arrive before the main High Forest army with some four hundred sentinels and would relay the coming of Malfurion Stormrage to the Lothlorian commanders of whom led by Laera planned to resist and tried to kill Illidan but found his, and Maen'Tyrden's cell's were locked through Magi and they couldn't get in. Moving in from the west another force of some two thousand Sindari Elves from High Forest arrived under the command of Hammon Winterdew and would block the western approach into Silvermoon awaiting the arrival of the main force led by Malfurion. Arriving at Silvermoon with nearly one hundred and fifty thousand SIndari Elves at his back Malfurion would demand the return of his brother to stand for trial, and at first Laera would refuse, but as the High Forest siege of Silvermoon continued many Sindari in his own ranks whispered of the right of Malfurions claims and thus he was forced to relent and returned Illidan to Malfurion, but the relationship between High Forest, and Athel Loren was broken. While Malfurion was willing to fight over the return of his brother he was less willing to fight over Maen Sunstrider of which Illidan once he was returned to the High Forest lines would take as a betrayal and not even the words of Tyrande could stop him from abandoning his brother who had just saved him.

Founding of High Forest

Main Article : The War for High Forest

This is our new home. It looks as if we must fight for the right to stay here.

The usually wild bands of Trolloc of the mountains to the east of Mirkwood had become the playthings of several Myridrrim and this had led to their numbers and power increasing to near unstable levels. “It had only been but a passing of several seasons but since the time I had been here the darkness had crept into Mirkwood. The taint of Chaos hung now like the depths of the great northern Wastes.” — Vareesa Windrunner When the Elves arrived in Mirkwood Forest they found it wasn't as uninhabited as it had been during the War of Vengeance and the scouting of Vareesa Windrunner. In the decades since her time there the forests now teemed with the darkness brought on by the coming of Trolloc to the forest, of which the Tree spirits that were once teeming in the forest had seemingly been unable to resist. These Trolloc were led by a powerful Myridrrim, and due to this they were growing quite powerful in the forest with their numbers reaching extreme levels in many parts of the Great Mirkwood Forest. The Sindar Elves divided themselves along the western portion of High Forest and at first Malfurion entered them into a battle of attrition while they attempted to find a way to understand why the Trollocs were so organized. The battle raged for years and the Elves founded themselves their first settlement in the settlement of Nonatar where the vast portion of the Sindar Elves came to live while they battled themselves against the Trolloc. Awakening the Trees See Also : Myridrrim “Learning the truth made everything clear, but at the same time this changes everything my love. The Myridrrim is a creature of pure Chaos.” — Tyrande Whisperwood While the Sindari Elves fought against the endless tide of Trolloc it was the spirits of Mirkwood that begin to notice the change in things, and despite the fact that the Sindari Elves were losing the war the spirits saw finally an ally willing to help them against the Myrdrril. The spirits of the forest led by their three spirit council in the form of Coeddil, Durthuu, and Adanhu would come to decide that they would stop fighting against the Trolloc alone and fight with the Sindari Elves in order to protect the forest itself. Thus it was during the stalemate between the Sindari Elves, and the Trolloc that the Sindar Elves were visited by Coeddil of whome was an ancient Ent or spirit of the forest. Coeddil told them of how at the center of the forest lay the grandfather tree which was a tree of unimaginable power if used in the wrong way. He told them that a Myridrrim had made its lair there and was calling thousands of Trollocs to the forest where they were defiling the beauty that was High Forest. Coeddil would also make it very clear that time was not on their side as the Treekings had already been forced out of the Grove of the Grandfather Tree and they knew that the Myridrrim had begun eating the tree itself and was becoming more powerful by the day. “If you do not act this forest and everything in it will fall into darkness. That may matter little to the humans but in you I sense a caring for the trees that I have no senced for many years. Prove the rest of my people wrong and save this forest. Prove your people wrong and do the right thing for the right reasons. If you do this the forest will stand beside you.” — Coeddil Following this meeting the Sindar Elves undertook a massive invasion of the central section of High Forest where Malfurion led the forces of the Sindar Elves against the numerically superior Trolloc, but with the support of several Treekin in the form of Ashthorn, Oakshell, and Peachtwig they were able to put up a true battle. As the Treekin were commanded to support the Sindari Elves these Treekin would summon to them lesser treekin in the form of the Dryads, and lesser treekin of whom all added to the strength of the Sindari attack. The battles were fierce but eventually the Elves were within the lair of the Myridrrim and it was here that the forest would make itself known once again. As the Sindar Elves invaded the lair of the leader they heard a massive howl go throughout the forest and following this the owl scouts they were using gave dire warnings that unimagenable numbers of Trolloc were moving against the Sindar Elves. As the Sindar Elves were preparing to be overwhelmed Malfurion Stormrage battled alongside many of the leaders of the Sindari including his wife Tyrande Whisperwood against the Myridrrim who had become nearly a god by eating from the Grandfather Tree. As the battle raged and the Trolloc begin overwhelming the Sindari forces the forest turned on the Trollocs and came to the aid of the Sindar Elves. Founding of Grandfather Tree “My children today we fight for the survival of our way of life. If we allow these monsters of Chaos to overwhelm this place then we will allow another home of the gods themselves to be destroyed. Today we fight against Chaos, and today they discover the cost of madness and evil.” — Malfurion Stormrage With victory in sight Mirkwood Forest unleashed themselves on the unsuspecting Trollocs in numbers that were in the tens of thousands. The Treekin were joined by the Eagles, and Centaurs alongside all manner of creatures who all came out of hiding and poured against the Trollocs in a massacre that killed tens of thousands of Trolloc and left the forest utterly clear of Trolloc outside of the inner lair itself where the Sindari Elves and Treekin alliance was pushing inside of. Inside the Lair of the Mydrrill the forest sent three of its greatest in the form of Coeddil and two other Treekin in the form of Treebeard, and Quickbeam of whom took the fight over and destroyed the Myrdrril who found he couldn't damage the tree spirits because of how much of the Grandfather tree that he had ingested. With the death of the Mydrril and nearly all the Trollocs the forest was cleared of the darkness that had plagued it. Malfurion stood alongside his leadership cohort and prepared to find out what the forest would do now, and he was much happier when Coeddil stepped forward and told him that the Elves were now in control of the forest until such point when they turned against it. The decision was made that the Sindar Elves could live among the forest and assist the forest in its defense and in return the forest would make sure that the Elves always had a place in the places of High Forest. With them coming together the Sindar Elves constructed a vast palace defense among the once destroyed ruins of Grandfather Tree and from here the center of the religion of the Sindar Elves was constructed around Grandfather Tree.

The Journey

Main Article : The Journey

The Meeting with High Forest It had been many years since I had seen my father with this kind of drive. Whatever the prince had said to him had really moved him. It made me think back to better times. It made me feel hopeful myself.

Meeting with High Forest “I tried not to let my men and son know that it had been decades since I had seen Malfurion and we were basically entering a forest that our only relationship with was that we dropped off rare earth for them, and they dropped off massive numbers of wood for us. In the end my experiance with Malfurion was a mystery to me. Did it mean anything to him the talks we had. You just never knew whether we`d be greated by a handshake or an arrow.” — Tari-Aragorn Elessar II. Following the promising meetings that Tari-Aragorn Elessar II. had with William Lovie III. he truly believed that he was dealing with someone that would be able to be trusted, and in his heart was willing to move forward with both feet in. Aragorn understood that the forces available to him were not going to be enough to take the Orcs on one on one, and when he had discussed the troops that would be available to William in this first battle he knew that they would need more solders and thus he decided to go to his silent ally in High Forest. It had been decades since he had spoken to Malfurion, and almost that long since he`d had any reports about them so for all he knew they could all be completely different from the Elves he had met when he was younger. Either way though he took a small cohort of his Palace Guard alongside his son Tur-Eldarion Elessar of whom had often talked of the mystery of the Elves, and when he walked in on Aragorn talking to Belatar Araglas, Gildor Astirian, and Er-Gandalf Ghilir about going to see the Elves there was no way that Eldarion was not going with his father. Leaving from Minus Tirith by boat for the north they landed in the port of Tel-Alania where to their surprise they would be met by Tur-Ildarion Elessar of whom arrived wanting to join his father and brother in their time in High Forest. Once everyone was gathered together, they moved quickly by horse for the forest of High Forest and the Elves that other then Aragorn Elessar when he was a young boy none had seen. As they reached the outskirts of the forest Aragorn understood that their arrival would have been detected by the Elves so they waited on the outskirts for many hours before they were finally approached by Shandis Stormrage and a large group of Sentinels. Talking to Malfurion See Also : Malfurion Stormrage “Walking into a forest where all you have heard of leads to death. Talking to an Ent of whome you`ve heard of in legend eats children who misbehave. All of this and yet most of me believed that there was little hope they actually would join us in the fight.” — Tari-Aragorn Elessar II. The Sentinels under Shandris Stormrage were polite in speaking with the Gondorians but Shandris was dismissive when it came to discussing the matter of Aragorn entering the forest and speaking with her father Malfurion. As Shandris prepared to leave them, and thus blocking any attempt to meet with Malfurion it was Gandalf that stepped forward. Using his Magi he showed Shandis visions of what was happening at Minus Ithil and following this with a very negative outline of the situation it was Shandris that agreed to bring her father. Shandis would leave and her rangers would remain without much movement, and basically only the Sentinel Huntress Lylandris, who arrived an hour into their meeting with a company of some fifty hunters actually made any conversation with them with the rest in a sort of watchful patrol of the force of Aragorn. During the night before they all went to sleep waiting for Malfurion's arrival Ildarion would spend some time talking to Elistari Ravencrest of whom arrived late in the night with her husband and father in law and the two got along laughing together. The following day Ildarion was awoken by Gandalf of whom told him that the forest was herr, and stepping out of the tent they were all present when Malfurion Stormrage stepped out of the forest and into the camp, and with his arrival all the men assembled were shocked outside of Aragorn who had already met the great Druid. “He had the same purple skin of the other Sindari Elves surrounding us, but unlike the others who stood a foot taller then me, this great Druid was something beyond that. He must have been three feet taller then me, and if you counted the massive antlers on his head he looked more like a giant then anything comprehensible to my eyes. He walked in a way that seemed to never have him touch the ground, but at the same time it looked almost ghost like. Hidden behind him was a smaller but still giant female Sindari Elf of whom I knew to be Tyrande Stormrage due to Elistari telling me she would be coming. These two were Elves but at the same time they were just something else entirely.” — Tur-Ildarion Elessar Malfurion was a Druid of the Sindar Elves and thus stood around eight feet tall with large antlers, and a general feeling that gave you both dread, and confidence. Arriving holding the hand of Tyrande Whisperwood he would stop only briefly to kiss Tyrande before moving towards Aragorn and without any words Malfurion bid Aragorn to take a walk with him, and while Ildarion, and Eldarion were against him going alone he dismissed their fears and agreed, but as he walked he watched with silent fear as Malfurion walked into the forest. Aragorn knew he had no choice and thus begin to follow him into the forest when he was stopped once more by Eldarion of whom didn`t want anything to happen to his father. Aragorn assured him that he and Malfurion were friends and that nothing was going to happen. Despite these assurances Ildarion would be taken aside by Elistari Ravencrest and she would take him secretly into the forest to watch what happened with his father. As Aragorn walked into the forest trying to follow the path of Malfurion of whom seemed to move as a ghost through the forest, and when he finally did catch up to him he came into a clearing where he saw Malfurion standing beside a tree but as he got closer he realized he was talking to the tree, and then when he spoke his first word he fell to the ground in fear and surprise when the tree got up and moved in his direction. As he waited for death the tree stopped and picked up Aragorn with its massive limbs and introduced himself as Coeddil the keeper of the grove of the ancients. The three would talk for a time and come to an agreement that High Forest would come to the assistance of Gondor and Lucerne and attempt to relieve the city of Minus Ithil. It was also agreed that following the conflict if the prince of Lucerne seemed worthy then it would be time to re-open relationships with the Lucernians if Gondor, and High Forest wanted to survive.

Family Members

Taerinar Ravencrest - Son

Elistari Ravencrest - Daughter in Law

Emilian Ravencrest - Grand-daughter

Relationships

Ildarion Elessar

See Also : Ildarion Elessar

“I don't want to see Gondor fall young prince. Understand me when I tell you that I have been sent here to secure the south. High Forest stands behind its friends Ildarion.”

— Lord Kurtalos Ravencrest