The Velseize elves are the elven faction that struck the Kingdom of Aldrein first and the most important enemy faction in Embers of the Uncrowned. Led by the Velseize elf lord and fronted by the vanguard Bella, they broke the three-year feigned peace between the elves and humans and turned the elven invasion into open war.
Origin and Motive
All elves abandoned their native continent after a catastrophic magical war corrupted their soil with the abyss. Having experienced the fear of death and the loss of their bodies, the first thing they did upon reaching Rinea was absorb human aether to restore their damaged forms. From the moment they regained their beautiful, resilient shapes, they viewed humanity as livestock rather than as equals.
Elven society is a hierarchy governed solely by the law of power. The weak serve the strong and survive on the life ampoules they are given. There is no morality, and no mercy. The only thing of value is how long and how beautifully one can exist.
Among the elven factions on Rinea, those who follow the Velseize elf lord are known to humans as the Blackmist. Clad in dark armor, they move in absolute silence before descending like a sudden, violent storm, leaving only ruins and corpses.
Why the Elves Covet Aether
The deeper reason behind the elven invasion is aether, the fundamental energy that composes the world. The elves delved into aether further than any other race, building a dazzling civilization with magic that bordered on myth. But they took too much, for too long, and with too much greed. When the balance shattered, the abyss overflowed and their homeland slowly withered, leaving some elves corrupted by the abyss, some driven to madness, and some, including the Velseize, fleeing to Rinea to survive.
Having destroyed their own continent through aether abuse, the elves were not about to leave Rinea's aether untouched. They covet the continent's aether springs and aether trees as sources of power and nourishment, which is why they drive Elven Stakes into the ground to absorb aether and expand their forces. The full account of aether, bloodline magic, and elven magic is in the magic system article.
The Three-Year Deception
After the elves realized the Kingdom of Aldrein was no easy foe and that their initial assumption of magic-deprived barbarians had been wrong, they feigned retreat and offered a peace treaty. The treaty was never sincere. The elves used the three-year window to rally their factions and quell internal strife, intending to eradicate the kingdom's resistance in a single coordinated strike.
Three years passed and the factions remained divided. The Velseize lord, driven by the greatest urgency, broke ranks and chose to strike Aldrein first. Bella began her move, opening the war that would ultimately shatter Goldenhaven.
The Blackmist Unit
The Blackmist is the elite combat unit under the Velseize lord. Three Blackmist troop types have been formally introduced through dev posts and concept art:
Unit | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|
Blackmist Elf: Blockader | Heavy gatekeeper / front-line wall | Former gatekeepers and guardians of elven society. Wield massive hammers and act as living ramparts without shields, crushing enemies beneath the weight of their strikes. Stationed primarily in the rear to protect Archers and Screamers. |
Blackmist Elf: Destroyer | Expendable assault trooper | Lower-class elves also called Distorters. Hurled onto the front lines as an expendable force; they lack the ability to retain absorbed life force and so are driven by ceaseless hunger for more. They thrash through the carnage in a desperate struggle to survive. |
Blackmist Elf: Archer | Long-range support | Appointed by the ruling class as executioners of the human livestock pens. Strike down fleeing humans with relentless arrow volleys, instilling the chilling realization that there is no escape. Surround and suppress until the enemy is utterly trapped. |
Tales of the Uncrowned #2 also mentions a fourth role behind the Archer line, the Screamer, supporting the front rank. Full profile details for Screamers have not yet been disclosed.
Bella, the Velseize Vanguard
Bella is the named vanguard of the Velseize elves and the player's first major boss. A Velseize elf, she manipulates liquid (most often blood, transmuted to silver) and savors human suffering as a work of art. Wherever the elves struck Rinea, especially at the sites of the most horrific massacres, Bella was there. Through these atrocities she became known to humans as the Velseize vanguard.
Forces in the Demo Regions
The demo's two liberated regions show the Velseize war effort and its corrupted allies in detail.
Force | Region | Description |
|---|---|---|
Urs | An elf who fought Veritas Academy after Bella left Towerstead. He raised the fallen citizens and mages of the city into corpse soldiers, their bodies crawling with massive maggots. | |
Red Anchor Order | Former peacekeepers of Towerstead who served House Harborwell, then defected to the elves on witnessing their power. They still wear armor bearing their former house's crests as they turn against the bloodline they once protected. | |
The Pitmother and Bari | The Bari are mud-and-mucus breeders nesting near the village ruins, guarded by Nannies. Their colossal matriarch, the Pitmother, was the true cause of House Ambertail abandoning Amber Coast thirty years ago. | |
Merfolk | Greedy, powerful sea raiders who seized the best stretch of coast and hoard everything washed ashore, including lost heirlooms of House Ambertail. |
Named Elven Commanders and Creatures
The demo's Game Guide names several elf-aligned bosses encountered across the occupied regions. The most prominent is Urs the Atoner, the elf who leads the Blackmist in Towerstead. Sealed inside an ark for slaughtering his own kin, his thirst for power was never quenched; in battle he draws intruders in and detonates the ground with a magnetic field. His forces and allies make up much of the elven boss roster.
Boss | Role | Signature |
|---|---|---|
Urs the Atoner | Leader of the Blackmist in Towerstead | Magnetic-field ground detonations that slowly tighten his grip on the battlefield. |
Commander Dareth | Commander of the Blackmist vanguard | Flames from his fingertips that burn hot enough to melt steel. |
Swordmage Feroxis | Servant of Death, enthralled by Urs | A deathly aura that chokes the life from everything; strikes too fast to follow. |
Captain Sinclair | Leader of the Red Anchor Order, who betrayed House Harborwell | Mounted spear thrusts that are nearly impossible to parry; retreated to the Order's Ravine. |
Man-Faced Insect | Mutated sand creature | Wears the faces of its victims and scatters Corpse Flowers to corner those who draw near. |
Full per-boss stats and exact mechanics have not been published. The roster of these and other regional threats is covered in more detail on the Domain Bosses page.
Elven Stakes
To weaken humankind and absorb the continent's energy, the elves drive stakes into the ground across Rinea. The Stake of Dominion is a violet stake that brands the earth, planted in hunting grounds, where it makes crops fail, ore break, and beasts turn feral. The Stake of Oppression is a crimson stake driven into every Domain Boss lair, instilling fear and always guarded by a powerful elven creature. Ordinary humans cannot see these stakes; only those with a special power can find and destroy them, which also replenishes recovery potions.
Strategic Significance
Defeating the Velseize is the player's primary war objective in the demo build and likely well beyond. Every liberated region in the domain system is land taken back from Velseize occupation, and every retaliation against the Blackmist disrupts their hold on the Valdorion Peninsula.
Related
Bella - the Velseize vanguard and first major boss
The Elven Invasion - the wider war
Domain Bosses - clearing Velseize-occupied territory
Kingdom of Aldrein - the kingdom the Velseize attacked