In the dark beneath the stars That swim in inky firmament Where the grey elves' houses are, Where e'er they've dwelt since sky was rent Their fishers dredge from darkness deep The things below, all pale as snow, And in their tongues they sing to keep The words they know, whate'er they meant A dozen generations thence, Though elven years and ears are long, Did pass before the choking vents Announced to all that aught was wrong. There came a prophecy fulfilled When Mithiel was newly born Her collar bore the mark that killed The folk they were, the world they mourn But she was just a child then And cold as greyling hearts can be, No one could bear a child condemned To drift alone on sunless sea So Mithiel was raised for war For war was coming, now or then, And when she was a child no more, The greylings took their counsel 'gain. Her mother pleaded for her fate, For Mithiel was bright and sharp, And how she loved her home, and hate Had not a foothold in her heart But prophecy's a foolish thing It burdens those who dare to tread Where others dread, and seldom brings A shred of aught to stay fate's thread So Mithiel was sent away And so she left her world behind, Abandoning her very name And cursed her birth beneath that sign But Mithiel was trained to fight, So she endured, and lived, and learned, And came in time into the light Where men do tread on world burned She took their ways and made them hers, And wove them with the greylings' arts, And as her elf-made things grew sparse, She patched them up with man-made parts. And so was Mithiel reborn Piece by piece, 'til kin were kith, And name away like dust was worn, And Mithiel became a Myth.
I wrote this in lieu of a traditional backstory for a character I made for a tabletop RPG, because the hardest thing about backstory is convincing people to read it.
Thank you to Yasen Stoilov for creating the art that inspired the character.