Overview

During the time of the Sundering, two sons of Lord Bloodcairn, Elthryril and
Lothelryel, were divided on the decision of whom to follow. Elthryril supported the Phoenix King, while Lothelryel hungered after the power Malekith had promised his followers. Working closely with a hag, Morathi, at the Nagarythe court, Lothelryel was soon presented with a solution to his problem: a magical binding that, once triggered, would hold his brother outside of time, until the spell was undone.

No sooner had Lothelryel returned to his family’s estate than he put his plan into action. Calling his brother to the practice ground, Lothelryel challenged him to a duel for control of the family. Elthryril agreed. Hidden among the carefully tended greenery surrounding the courtyard were the components of the ward.

Lothelryel struck first, opening a gash in his brother’s side, followed so closely by Elthryril’s answering thrust that the two brothers almost seemed to bleed as one. And with the spilling of blood, the ward flared into action, trapping both brothers within. For Lothelryel had been deceived; the ward Morathi had so thoughtfully designed was not in fact meant to serve his purposes, but hers. Instead of acting as a stasis prison the ward would trap the awareness, the soul, of its blood-bound victims. Worse still the spell had been constructed to magnify emotions, twisting and reflecting them back upon those trapped within. Not just a prison, but a breaking ground. And both brothers were powerless to stop it.

Fueled by the power of the initial binding, the spell continued to magnify the
brothers’ shared rage until the emotion was almost a living thing spreading eager claws out across the family lands. To this day, the Blackcairn estate is viewed as a place of ill omen, for none may pass through untouched by the brooding cloud of hatred that remains.