Armour of Aenarion.
Forged within Vaul's Anvil long ago to protect Aenarion, the Dragon Armour of Aenarion is an ancient suit of protective gear with layers upon layers of enchantment. Upon his death, the armour was thought lost for thousands of years until it was uncovered by Tethlis the Slayer. Since then, it has borne only by the very greatest of Ulthuan's gloried heroes.[1a]
Saying the words of power activates the armour's dormant abilities. Titanic fields of protective magics shimmer into place around the wearer. Potent spells amplify one's strength, even the already enormous strength of one such as Aenarion. The armour also enables the wearer's voice to be heard by the farthest units of their assembled army, even if said-voice speaks in calm measured tones or over the bellowing of dragons.[2a]
History
Made for Aenarion though it was, the Dragon Armour of the first Phoenix King suffered considerable damage during the Battle of the Isle of the Dead, where the Lord of Change, Kairos Fateweaver, managed to disrupt its multitude of enchantments prior to being banished back to the Realm of Chaos. The armour suffered further damage from Indraugnir's own fiery breath as the dragon cleansed Aenarion's body of daemonic maggots spewed from a Great Unclean One. And though Aenarion was unharmed by the flame, his armour was not as fortunate.[2a]
Centuries later, it would become the life-long endeavor of Aenarion's descendant, Arathion, to restore the armour to its former glory.[2b] The prince would do so, his son Teclis aiding him in tracing the armour's runes, as well as the flows of magic they were intended to contain. With his acute magesight, Teclis claimed he could sometimes see the faintest flickers of power within the armour, a thing which at first intrigued Arathion, though he never saw it himself.[2c]
Even while damaged, however, the metalwork was beautiful, despite lacking the sophistication and loveliness of much later elven armour. It had been forged by masters in an age of war. The elves who had made it had other things on their minds than the creation of an object of beauty. They had been making a weapon for the solitary being who stood between their world and utter destruction. In Tyrion's eyes, when he was near sixteen years of age, the armour, even without the magic that would give it life, had a power about itself. Its simple presence spoke of an earlier, more primitive age when mortal gods strode the earth and made war with foes the likes of which no longer existed in the modern world. It was impossible to imagine a being of flesh encased within this suit of armour. It was far easier to picture a creature of living metal such as some claimed the Witch King Malekith now was.[2c]
In XI 110, the final piece of the puzzle would be revealed after Arathion's sons returned from Lustria with the legendary Sunfang. With only a single night to inspect the blade - Tyrion wanting to take the sword to Avelorn - Teclis inscribed scroll after scroll worth of notes during his observations of Sunfang.[3a]
Such a complex mass of magical notation left Teclis tired and unable to see what was making his father cry tears of joy. However, as Arathion was perhaps the world's greatest expert on the subject - having spent centuries obsessing over it - the artificer stabbed his finger on one section of the inscription.[3a]
The missing part of the weave, the thing that had been eluding and preventing Arathion from reactivating the Dragon Armour for so long, was a small, intricate piece of spellcraft, designed to link together a mesh of other spells, reinforcing them and letting them draw on each other's power. Anything inscribed with this particular rune would be much stronger and yet much easier to use. It was something difficult to spot because it was so embedded in the rest of the spells on the blade.[3a]
Arathion considered it brilliant, and saw how it had eluded him for so long. And though he would not be able to make the spell as strong has Caledor had - there was less magic in the world - Arathion would bring the armour back to life. All he needed to do was recreate the links.[3a]
Trivia
- At one point, Teclis theorized that if one were able to study Aenarion's sword, Sunfang, there might be something about it that could allow Arathion to finish his work, especially if the spells still functioned. Having both been forged by Caledor Dragontamer, the armour and sword would have the same type of magic to them, thus offering some clue on how to remake the former.[2d]
Sources
- 1: Warhammer Armies: High Elves (8th Edition)
- 1a: pg. 54
- 2: Blood of Aenarion (novel) by William King
- 3: Sword of Caledor (Novel), by William King
- 3a: Chapter 10
