The Grey Lords were a group of proscribed High Elven lords and mages that were exiled from Ulthuan at some point after the civil war of the Sundering for their use of magical artefacts called Fell Fangs to enslave the Dragons of Caledor to their will.[1b][2a]
History[]
The Fell Fangs[]
In ancient times, Caledor was the mightiest of the realms of Ulthuan, and the Elven princes of that land had ridden to war upon the backs of their mighty allies, the Dragons who dwelt in the Dragon Spine Mountains. Over the ages, however, the Dragons fell into deep slumber, so that fewer and fewer of them would answer the Elves' call to battle and war.[1b]
Some among the nobility of Caledor resented the waning might of their realm that resulted from the long slumber of their Draconic allies. A faction set out to restore their prestige by crafting magical talismans that bound the sleeping Dragons to their will, known as the Fell Fangs, enslaving them and forcing them to rouse when their masters called upon them.[1b]
The Fell Fangs had been intended to enslave the Dragons to which they were bound, but even the strongest-willed of their users had found such control beyond them. They could rouse the wyrms from their slumber, and they could even manage to communicate with the great reptiles, their minds touching upon those of the ancient creatures in a spectral communion. But true control was beyond them, and the ire of the Dragons when forced from their sleep had been a thing to bring nightmares even when dulled by centuries of memory.[1b]
When the talismans did work, it was the strength of the wielder's soul that bound the Dragon to them. The Fell Fangs were terrible things, dominating the spirit of one creature by crushing it with the will of another. There was also speculation that the imposing of spirits might not be a one-way door as the Fell Fang was designed to be -- it might be possible for the Dragon's fiery spirit to bleed over into the body of the one using the artefact. In any case, control was tenuous at best, and once lost, the ire of the Dragon focussed itself upon the possessor of the Fell Fang, for it would be able to sense the exact location of the item's user, however great the distance.[1c]
Such a reckless and greedy use of magic was deemed not only cruel and dangerous by the other princes of Caledor and the archmages of Saphery, but also a despicable act of treachery against creatures who had been and still were the friends and allies of the Elves. The disillusioned princes were exiled, branded as the "Grey Lords," never to set eyes upon the shores of Ulthuan again.[1b]
Wrath of Malok[]
One such artefact had been crafted by, or for, an exiled prince that settled in the Grey Mountains and his Dragon, a beast that became universally known as Malok ("Malice", in Khazalid) during the War of the Beard between the High Elves and the Dwarfs. The creature was involved in the Battle of Ilendril's Hill, were it was wounded by a powerful runic Bolt Thrower spear, and in the attack on the Dwarf stronghold of Iron Peak, where the local Runelord summoned lightning to strike him again but was devoured. The Dragon, nonetheless, survived both attacks.[1c]
After the Phoenix King Caledor II was killed at Tor Alessi (the current day Bretonnian settlement of Castle L'Anguille) at the end of the War of the Beard, his successor Caradryel ordered a full retreat of the High Elven settlers of the Old World to Ulthuan, and a great exodus began towards the western shores of that continent. The Grey Lord prince who controlled Malok charged his monster with guarding and watching over his people as they marched toward the shore. But protection and preservation was not a thing that came easily to Malok; the Dragon longed to kill and destroy, as he had when waging war against the Dwarfs.[1c]
The ordeal of restraining Malok's rebellion would have taxed the prince day and night, until at last his control was lost. There is a tremendous pride within the fiery heart of a Dragon, and Malok must have despised sharing in the stigma of the retreat. Perhaps it was this injured pride that at last enabled him to overcome the control of his Grey Lord's Fell Fang. However it came about, Malok slew his master and then set about destroying every Elf he could find, raining fire down upon the weary refugees as they slowly crept toward the sea.[1c]
After satisfying his desire for revenge, Malok travelled to an arid piece of volcanic rock that loomed out of the sea some three hundred kilometers from the coast of present-day Estalia, devastating everything there, and taking up residence within it. The rock later became known to Men as the Isla de Sangre in the Estalian tongue, due to the red sand of the beach. It was a place to be avoided and from which thousands of stories and legends arose around its desolate landscape.[1a]
Grey Lords of Laurelorn[]
When diplomatic contact was eventually restored between the Laurelorn Forest and Ulthuan after the Sundering, several High Elf lords and mages were expelled from Ulthuan for conducting unsanctioned experiments, and withdrew to the Laurelorn to continue their work. These disgraced "Grey Lords" built villas and hidden magical laboratories deep in the forest's heart.[2a]
Later on, at the end of the War of the Beard, the Phoenix King Caradryel decreed the abandonment of all of the High Elves' Old World colonies. This was seen as a betrayal by the colonists, for without assistance from the Dragons and the legions of Ulthuan, there was little hope to defeat the Dwarfs. The Laurelorn was amongst the last of the Elven colonies to hold out, but eventually Kor Immarmor was destroyed and Tor Lithanel placed under siege.[2a]
The Eonir of Laurelorn feared that without reinforcements, another Dwarf assault would end with the woodland realm being destroyed. In desperation, they turned to the disgraced Grey Lords, who summoned a spirit army from the forest's depths. The advancing Dwarf throng marched into the forest to meet this new foe and was never seen again.[2a]