Sylinne Imenal was a high elven noble and master mithral-smith of House Imenal in Silvergleam. She was famous for her smithing skill, especially after the fall of Silvergleam and the disappearance of most other masters.

Biography

Sylinne was born in 4'232 as the second daughter of her house matron's younger sister. She was well-born, being in the upper half of her relatively important house's nobility.

Upbringing

In her early years, Sylinne was raised mostly by her house's maids, notably a kind drow woman and some lesser nobility. She was also the youngest of five Imenal children, and thus received both the mentoring and the taunts of her older relatives. She was an unusually bright child, with an innate talent for numbers and for the delicate use of magic.

In 4'201, the young Sylinne and two other Imenal children - her twenty years older sister, and her six years younger cousin - went to nearby Daggerford, where they were apprenticed to an elf-dwarven forge guild. They were also accompanied by Teremma, one of Imenal's two current master mithral-smiths. There, the children were trained in the arts of metalworking, and began training to become mithral-smiths themselves. Sylinne learned both the ancient elven techniques and the more practical, less magical dwarven methods.

Master Mithral-Smith

Her talent already admired, Sylinne returned to Silvergleam in 4'174, some years before her two companions had completed their training. She set up shop in a small temple of Callobar, along a trickling stream, a short distance from the larger compound of her mentor's smithy. There she perfected her craft, learning to meticulously work tiny bits of mithral, in a time when elven smiths were beginning to move away from tiny, mithral-based artworks and instead crafting larger pieces of equipment with silvered steel. Sylinne's focus on the ancestral crafts, and the quality of her work, earned her a good name; many saw a promising master in her.

It took her one year to hand-shape tiny mithral rings into a Suit of Chainlets; it was a record speed, due in part to the use of more efficient techniques she'd learned in Daggerford. She displayed her master's work to a general assembly of the house elites and mithral-smiths in 4'163, and proudly earned her title of master. Her two siblings, who'd crafted their own Suits with help from Master Teremma, also became masters then.

This gathering was one of the final peaceful moments of Silvergleam, and served also as a show of strength by the high elven houses, to display unity and strength, towards their increasingly antagonised drow neighbors.

Sylinne chose to spend most of the following years in her smithy, which had swiftly grown. She'd also earned a handful of followers, some wood elves and mostly other high elves, who assisted her in her work and sought to learn some metallurgy of their own. This continued focus on the quasi-holy task of smithing in Callobar's name was outwardly respected by her family, but it did cause some tensions, because the other two were showing greater loyalty to their house and helping it prepare for conflict, whereas Sylinne insisted on working purely on arts, making not a single blade.

In this time, Sylinne built up a relationship with her mithral-smith cousin, Gulinn, and occasionally went to visit the moonlit mountain lakes with him.

The War

Conflict reached House Imenal, and one of the opening moves was no less than a devastating drow raid on the smithy temple of Teremma's; the entire complex was burned to the ground. This forced Sylinne to drop her crafts and move to her family's capital. There, she witnessed the public admonishment and incarceration of her kind old maid, for nothing other than the color of her skin.

The first years were chaos; Imenal was woefully unprepared for the sudden raids all over its scattered territory; in many cases, they didn't even know who did it. The nobles were desperately occupied trying to sort through incoming reports and coordinating the efforts of their haphazard militia; Sylinne herself helped raise and coordinate the forces in the capital town, and did not find any time at all to work the forges.

In this time, she came to know Hunt Master Ulygenn much better; a son from a separate branch of House Imenal, appointed to the position because his predecessor had resigned soon after the beginning of the conflict. The two became quite close, and Sylinne began developing sexual maturity for the first time.

In 4'155, Sylinne was deputized to visit Port Cadenazzo, one of Imenal's major towns, where she acted as Maiden Protector; a spiritual and political role of emergency leadership. She brought hope and noble direction to the people, helping shore up the town's defenses and bringing the militia to order. The town wasn't attacked by anything more than bandits on the outlying roads, luckily.

Sylinne led her militia in Hunt Master Ulygenn's campaign into drow house territory, participating in the victory and sacking there. She stayed in the rear lines, but she did oversee her troops' killing of drow soldiers and civilians.

She then continued sporadically acting as a Maiden Protector throughout Imenal territory, ruling small bits of territory or acting as a direct deputy for Ulygenn's army. She occasionally also found time to treat with other houses as an ambassador of Imenal, and occasionally even worked the forge, though now as an overseer of weapon-smiths.

Things went drastically downhill for Imenal in 4'094, when it refused to pay dues to a Mystraleth flotilla in Port Cadenazzo. Mystraleth supported other house's efforts to take territory, resources, or population from Imenal, and the pitiless warring was considerably more brutal than the previous fighting. Imenal found itself on the back foot, harried by enemies from all sides. It did score some victories, and worked together with other houses (often wood elves), but was backstabbed as often as it scored hits on its enemies.

Sylinne was now most often in the foothills forge-town of Tezzno, overseeing the forges and the town militia. She was often visited by both Gulinn and Ulygenn, both notionally on official business.

In Daggerford

Forge Clan Steepsteel's army involved itself in the Silvergleam warring, and in 4'089 its interests aligned against those of Imenal. A dwarven scout was captured by Ulygenn's soldiers and imprisoned in Tezzno. She escaped soon after, in the midst of the night; Ulygenn and Gulinn rode out together to recapture the dwarf. Ulygenn died that night, somewhere in the forest.

Tendays later, high elves sacked Imenal's capital, while Steepsteel marched along the Cazz mountains and subjugated the Imenal holdings there; this included the town of Tezzno, which Sylinne surrendered without a fight. Sylinne was taken as a captive to the Steepsteel citadel. She was not released for ransom; Imenal was largely destroyed. Only three mithral-smiths remained; Sylinne's cousin Gulinn was now also a Steepsteel captive, and her older sister was hiding somewhere in the region. The others were all dead.

Sylinne was kept as a prestige captive in Chief Steepsteel's court, displaying his great power, and symbolizing the superiority of his forges over the defeated elven artisans. Gulinn was also a captive of Steepsteel's, and was often seen at the citadel, though he also acted as a governor in dwarf-occupied former Imenal land.

In 4'084, Sylinne gave birth to Gulinn's child: a little boy.

She raised him in the Steepsteel citadel, spending most of her time in motherly care. Around 4'080, she also began working the forge again, overseeing a handful of elves in magical crafts, mostly of luxury pieces.

She was notionally gifted her freedom by the chief in 4'030, but she remained a "dependent" of his. At Gulinn's insistence, she did not leave the citadel except under guard.

She traveled to the afterlife in 3'905, together with Gulinn.