Defenders of the Forest - Liber Fanatica

Chapter IX: The Hinterglades
Hi n t e r g l a d e 3:
Do o m e d Ki n d r e d o f t h e Fo r e s t o f Spirits
The Doomed Kindred, or Senathraii, are descendants of Asrai who escaped the destruction of their woodland realm and settled in
the eastern oblast of Kislev. Ungol humans of the region tell of the haunted ‘Forest of Spirits’, where Hags leave strange offerings.
Over the centuries since their migration, the Doomed Kindred have grown obsessed with becoming one with nature through the
union of Elf and beast. These days, the Doomed Kindred look upon other Wood Elves as soft and far too compromising.
Hi s t o r y a n d Origins
Minstrels of Laurëlorn sing a tragic song called Doom of the
Elder Wood of Ithlis. While the location of Ithlis is long since
forgotten, verses of the song describe a battle fought between
Elves and the pestilential legions of a Chaos Champion called
Khul the Grotesque. After the battle was over, late-arriving reinforcements
discovered that every single Elf had perished. Doom
of the Elder Wood is a fable song of sorrow, sung to inspire
hatred of the Plague Lord and teach young Elves the importance
of helping friends in need.
In actuality, a few Elves survived the battle and fled eastward.
Their descendants sing a different tale, in which the elders of
Ithlis sacrificed themselves so their young could escape. The
refugees found themselves in the Kislevite oblast, frozen, sick
and starving. A mysterious, whispering voice beckoned them
eastward with promises of salvation.
Finally, the survivors reached Dukhlys Forest, a great pine
woodland near the northern World’s Edge Mountains. The
whisperer revealed itself to be a Brúidd spirit called Lensün, who
appeared to them as an Elf with azure skin, hair of living grass
and emerald-green eyes. Lensün claimed the refugees’ elders had
failed them by making pacts with selfish Brúidd spirits. If the
survivors abandoned their elders’ teachings and followed only
Lensün’s ways, he would dedicate himself to their wellbeing.
Cu l t u r e a n d Cu s t o m s
Unknowingly, the survivors of the Ithlis Asrai had entered a
pact with a daemon of Slaanesh masquerading as a nature spirit.
Lensün (or Leshii, in Kislevarin) persuaded the Elves with its
silken voice to abandon the spiritual pursuit of Yenlui. Instead,
he compelled them to dominate animals and spirits of the forest
using dark magic. As a result, the hearts and souls of the Elves
have become as cold as the winters they now endure.
The Doomed Kindred do not realise they are damned. Lensün
has convinced them that only by embracing the cruelty of the
natural world can their people hope to survive when the great
reckoning comes. The most extreme converts of Lensün reject
metal tools and weapons, relying on horns and claws instead.
Under the daemon’s guidance, ancient Asrai fertility rites have
become twisted into animalistic rituals involving sexual congress
between Elf and beast. Most of the Doomed Kindred bear
decorative scars upon their faces as a means of tallying sexual
conquests.
Fr i e n d s a n d Fo e s
The Doomed Kindred have no allies, believing that deals with
outsiders only weaken the kindred. The spirits originally inhabiting
Dukhlys Forest were long since destroyed, imprisoned or
driven away when the original Elven settlers accepted Lensün’s
bargain. Today, the nature spirits still residing in nearby Spitehaunt
are bitter enemies of the Doomed Kindred. The daemon
Lensün impersonates members of the Kislevite Brúidd pantheon
in order to stir animosity and perpetuate the hatred between
Elves and nature spirits.
The Doomed Kindred loathe humans, believing them to be
responsible for spawning the corrupted hordes that destroyed
their home so long ago. Woodsmen and other interlopers are
diverted from safe paths onto side-trails rigged with traps and
other perils. Ensnared victims are taken captive and tortured in
ritual glades to attract the foul magic of Dhar. But despite the
Doomed Kindreds’ hatred of humans, the ‘Children of Leshii’,
as they are known, have a barter arrangement with Ungol Hags
to bring them young women from local Gospodar tribes in
exchange for secrets of dark magic. See Realms of the Ice Queen
for additional background on Gospodars, Ungols and Hags.
Elves from other Kinbands who encounter the Doomed Kindred
are not usually attacked. Instead, the Doomed Kindred
take a perverted pleasure in slowly seducing them to the ways
of Lensün. At first, their rituals seem exotic, thrilling and even
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