House Nymeral claims an Elven lineage stretching back to the Era of Falling Stars, a prehistoric era long before the founding of the modern day Houses and previous Empire. The house claims that their ancestry is supposedly descended from the Starborn, elves said to have survived a celestial calamity and emerged infused with raw cosmic essence. These Starborn wove an ancient forest into the land to be their home, a forest now called the Nymeral Wilds. They are also credited to being the original magic users in Virelya.
Regardless on if this is true, this belief is central amongst the sentient residence within the Nymeral Wilds, an expansive forested region long considered the domain of this house. Mostly consisting Elves, but also including Tieflings and Halflings, these wilds have long been sought after by magic users of all races and houses. House Nymeral considers its wilds, and its sanctuary, as a safeplace for what they call "Pilgrims" of a magical inclination.
According to their oldest lore, the progenitor of the House, Sereneth Nymeral, received a vision beneath a fallen starstone. A shadowy entity—neither fiend nor fey, but something older—whispered:
“Knowledge shapes Magic; Magic shapes the world.”
Thus began the Starborne Pact, a secret covenant to pursue arcane mastery above all else. Where the other houses seek material and worldly outcomes, House Nymeral pursues knowledge as a mechanism to achieve transcendence on this plane of existence.
House Nymeral sees Emperor Aethan's untimely death, and the old Empire's collapse, as an unprecedented opportunity. They believe the Empire fell because it relied too heavily on bloodlines and faith, rather than arcane enlightenment. Their goal is to replace monarchy with a Magocracy—a council of the most gifted spellcasters, led (naturally) by themselves. Their ambition is not one of unifying the continent or even dominance - this ambition for a Magocracy is ultimately House Nymeral's interpretation on how to best fulfill the promise of the Starborne Pact. Put simply, they believe that all beings should work to enable a magically vibrant world for ultimate transcendence.
Magic Is Truth — All power flows from the arcane, and the arcane is the force that can dictate what can be real or true. Non-magic users cannot see truth since their sentience is limited.
Knowledge Above Tradition — Old laws must bend to new wisdom. Ingenuity and experimentation must be the only constant.
Ascendancy — Mortals can and should transcend their limits if they believe in magic as a truth and place knowledge in magic as the highest value.
These ideals give them immense influence over scholars, mages, and the ambitious or educated—but earn suspicion from commonfolk and militant people or houses.
House Nymeral rules from the Nymeral Wilds, an ancient forest that is said to be birthed from the Starborn. It is a land that is considered as sacrad as any land can be due to its history with magic and the affinities it enables. Within the heart of the wilds lies the Nymeral Sanctuary, A secluded enclave where House Nymeral trains its mages and safeguards centuries‑old tomes, serving both as a place of learning and a vault of arcane secrets. Outside the Sanctuary the Wilds are dotted with:
The smallest and largest of trees and forestation, of which legends say can change on a whim depending on who enters the domain.
Small hamlets of residents who respect magic and the Wilds.
Fey-touched glades and natural sanctuaries of ancient magic
Their territories are mysteriously well-defended without visible armies; intruders vanish into illusions or into forestry that seems to rearrange itself.
Supreme Magical Power — As the largest concentration of magic energy and magic users, House Nymeral has an unprecedented level of magical ability in its disposal. Even Emperor Aethan, a magic-user in his own right, was wary of this power prior to his death.
Shadow Agents — Silent spies who move between planes or behind illusions. These agents are swift and silent, often times working at the whim of the Archmage.
Control of Knowledge — WIth the Nymeral academy, its libraries, and their magical recordings, House Nymeral has a seemingly endless surplus of magical tomes, relics, and artifacts with informs their power and direction.
Diplomatic Leverage — Everyone needs their magic, even if they dislike them.
Born among the high elves, Velra displayed a prodigious command of arcane forces from childhood. She rose through the arcane academies, mastering forbidden magics and forging secret pacts with shadowy entities. When Emporer Aethan fell, she saw an opportunity to reshape the empire into a magocracy, believing that only the most powerful spellcasters should rule. She now weaves political intrigue, assassinates rivals, and summons dark forces to cement her dominion over the fractured realm.
Personality & Traits:
Graceful, inscrutable, patient
Speaks truth and lies with equal elegance
Views mortals as pieces on a cosmic board
Genuinely believes she can “perfect” the world through magic
Velra does not seek traditional rulership. She seeks the authority to reshape the Empire into something better—a realm where knowledge, not lineage, decides destiny. It is this authority that she believes will force all of Virelya to ascend into a higher plane, and therefore make her (and others) higher beings.
While House Nymeral is solidly seen as a magical authority, there are disagreements within the House as to the extent magic should be woven into the fabric of Virelya itself:
The Severance Faction wishes to break from the old Nightborne Pact entirely and focus its magic abilities on creating a Magocracy only - they see this as an end goal, rather than the vessel for the Starborne Pact.
The Starborne Faithful seek this Magocracy as a mechanism for fulfilling continent-wide trancendence and thus achieving the Starborne Pact. They believe that godlike power lies ahead. They believe, almost religiously, that Velra is already a higher being.
While these two schools of thought are the subject of direct and indirect debates in everyday life at Nymeral Academy, there is also a rising population of dissent among younger mages at the academy who fear Velra's ambitions will invite cataclysm.
House Caerwyn would consider the following houses Rivals:
House Caerwyn — House Nymeral considers House Caerwyn to be neanderthals that directly are preventing the prevalence of magic in the realm. They find Caerwyn's values of tradition, and not innovation, to be in direct contradiction to their own.
House Valmyr - Nymeral considers themselves ideological opposites, however Valmy'rs archives and traditions are of interest to Velra mostly due to her respect for the late-Emperor Aethan as a magic user. However, outside of his legendary magic affinity, most of House Nymeral believes that Aethan squandered his Empire on the wrong things.
House Thistledown — Nymeral considers democracy foolish and chaotic, and culturally they view House Thistledown as the lowest society amongst all the houses. In addition, House Thistledown's clandestine activity leads Velra to believe that this house could be the greatest threat to her personally.
House Durnheim — Nymeral engages House Durnheim on trade for rare ores used in star-forged artifacts. Both houses have mutual distrust in Houses Valmyr and Caerwyn. Yet, neither side is truly comfortable with one another.
Ember Cult — Their raw fire magic is antithetical to Nymeral’s precise arcane control, however Nymeral respects the magical prowess in itself enough where Velra is the only faction leader who knows who the Ash Prophet is.
Some whisper that Velra has been in secret talks with an unnamed Caerwyn noble. If true… Virelya should be afraid.