Morwel

Morwel is the queen of the eladrins, a race of chaotic good celestials inhabiting the plane of Arborea, in the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game. Her titles include Faerie Queen, Queen of Stars, and Lady of the Lake. These shouldn't be taken literally; eladrins are not fey, she doesn't literally live in a star, and she isn't primarily aquatic. Instead, they're meant to evoke the mystery and magic that accompany her.

Creative origins

Eladrins debuted as several cards in the Blood Wars Card Game in 1995, including among them Faerinaal, Queen's Consort, Gwynarwhyf the Veiled, and Faerie Queen Morwel.

Publication history

Morwel was first mentioned in second edition in the Planescape Monstrous Compendium Appendix II (1995).^[1] She was mentioned in the supplement Warriors of Heaven (1999).^[2]

Morwel appeared in third edition in Book of Exalted Deeds (2003).^[3]

Description

Morwel is a vaguely elflike being with red hair, her beauty otherworldly and awesome to behold. She wears a mantle composed of flickering stars, and playfully wields a shining rapier. She can also appear in the form of a scintillating ball of multicolored light about four feet in diameter. She speaks with a soothing energy. Though she can seem both flighty and pretentious, she has the best interests of her people at heart. Morwel is not a domineering ruler. The chaotic, independent eladrins wouldn't stand for that. She exists to provide her fractious subjects with inspiration, beauty, and love. She only acts to impose order on her people if their actions threaten the eladrins' very existence.

Relationships

Morwel presently has two consorts, Faerinaal and Gwynharwyf. Faerinaal is a wise, handsome nobleman and Gwynharwyf is a fierce, fanatic warrior-woman native to the desert layer of Pelion.

Morwel has had many consorts over the millennia. A previous consort, Vaeros, died during an attempt to rescue eladrins trapped in the Abyss, as did a still earlier consort, Ascodel. Rumors have it that Morwel is an occasional lover of the Prince of Elemental Good, Ben-hadar.

The Court of Stars has ties with a powerful brass dragon called Ronothere, who is also allied with Zaaman Rul. As a result, Morwel has sent hosts of firre eladrins to Zaaman Rul's aid.

Besides the demon lords, one of Morwel's long-term enemies is the dread linnorm Redfang. She seems to have a contentious relationship with the lawful modrons.

Minions

Morwel is the queen of the eladrin race. She invites all shiere eladrins of 9th level or higher to serve in the Court of Stars as members of her famed honor guard. To earn knighthood, they must defeat an existing peer in nonlethal combat. She frowns upon her tulani nobles when they advocate direct interference in the lives of mortals, and punishes those who pursue such. She monitors the tulani closely, aware that not all of them can handle the burdens of nobility.

Morwel is served by the half-celestial androsphinx, Krune.

Morwel, like other members of the Court of Stars, does not claim to be a deity, for to do so would mean falling to the sin of pride. However, as a group the various lords, knights, and ladies of her court sponsor certain mortal bards, granting them the power to channel celestial energy through their voices and instruments. These individuals are known as the Troubadours of Stars.

Realm

Morwel dwells with her lovers Faerinaal and Gwynharwyf in the Court of Stars on the plane of Arborea. This timeless, autumnal realm seems eternally in twilight, and it can manifest on any of the three layers of the plane. There is no aging, hunger, or thirst on within the Court of Stars, although inhabitants may eat and drink for their enjoyment. Morwel dwells within a spired palace of glowing crystal atop a hill that soars above the clouds themselves. Thousands of lanterns and eladrins in their energy form float about the palace like twinkling stars. Though snow crunches underfoot nearby, the weather seems only pleasantly cool. Within a courtyard is the legendary Fountain of Beauty, said to be the source of the beauty of the eladrin and elven races. Morwel's palace is a place of gentle intrigue; her tulani nobles love their politics and schemes, though these are not a driving force in their society.

Morwel never leaves her realm, and some believe it would collapse without her presence.

History

Morwel is many thousands of years old, and none can remember an eladrin ruler before her. Her people believe she has always existed. She was already queen of the eladrins during the Age before Ages. After the Battle of Pesh, she saw weakness in the ranks of the obyrith demons, and ordered her ghaele knights to slaughter the obyrith lords and their tanar'ri minions in the thousands. The tanar'ri took advantage of the confusion to revolt against their masters, and as a result the hierarchy of the Abyss was forever changed, though not for the better.

In vengeance, the obyrith lady Pale Night misled Morwel's then-consort, Ascodel, tricking him into believing he could only safeguard the well-being of the eladrin children by entering into a blasphemous pact. The pact had the opposite result that he intended, and an entire generation of young eladrins was imprisoned in the layer of Androlynne in the Abyss. Ascodel died trying to protect them, as have many subsequent consorts that Morwel has taken. Even her current consort Faerinaal spends much of his time defending the young ones still imprisoned on that remote Abyssal layer. The pact keeps the children eternally young, but less than a hundred still survive.

Ilsidahur and Demogorgon conspired several centuries ago to slay Morwel's consort Gwynharwyf, but Morwel rescued her while the two demons were squabbling over how best to torture her to death. According to Iggwilv in Dungeon #149, Morwel has kept Gwynharwyf "on a short leash" regarding Demogorgon ever since.

Morwel appears at the end of "Quicksilver Hourglass" in Dungeon #123, rewarding the player characters for inflicting a defeat upon the scheming Union of Eclipses. Player characters meet with the queen in her Court of Stars during the course of the adventure "Enemies of My Enemy" in Dungeon #149.

References

Additional reading

• Baur, Wolfgang. "Enemies of My Enemy." Dungeon #149. Bellevue, WA: Paizo Publishing, 2007.

• Caralya, Anson. "Quicksilver Hourglass." Dungeon #123. Bellevue, WA: Paizo Publishing, 2005.

• Stark, Ed, James Jacobs, and Erik Mona. Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2006.