************EDITOR'S NOTE************
This tale is strictly player "legend" and is in no way forwarded as official.
************END NOTE************
The tale is one often told to outsiders. It has been passed down generation to generation amongst the sylvans of my community. Some say it is but myth, but others say it is a retelling of an actual event in history. Whichever is the case, it surely demonstrates to the full the sylvan virtue of undying loyalty.
Long enough ago just to be out of current memory, there lived a sylvan sorcerer of great magical ability named Artretius. He specialized in the art of illusion. Now, being sylvan, Artretius was part of a forest community as are most sylphs. And, like many such communities, his utilized the tradition of planned marriages. The sorcerer was very fortunate in that chosen for his mate by the Hierophants of his community was a young sylvan woman, called Mianocre, credited as not only the most beautiful in the village, but the most docilely sweet. Mianocre was a lover of birds and winged creatures. She would follow and observe them for hours in the woods, coming back sometimes late in the eve with only an armful of her favorite flower -- the hibiscus -- and a soft smile to show for all that time spent alone. Now Artretius was proud to have Mianocre as a wife, but deep within him lived a fear that she would not be faithful to him. He saw her as so docile, she would follow like a sheep wherever a man might lead her. And this strange delusion in him grew with each passing month he spent in union with Mianocre, and each passing hour she pursued her observation of her beloved birds. So huge did this delusion grow in fact, that Artretius accused his wife of following off into intimate pursuits whichever man might happen upon her during her wanderings. Artretius was convinced that men of the village knew to find her during these jaunts in the woods, and make base use of her docile nature. Mianocre denied Artretius' accusations, of course, but to little avail. Until finally she simply asked what she must do to convince him of her "bond of honor" with him. Artretius thought this over and decided. He built an ivory tower deep in the woods they both knew and covered its existence with the deep magic of illusion. He then informed his wife that, if she could remain within that tower a year without resort to leaving its confines, he would believe her faithful and "honor bound". He fashioned no door for the tower, only an open arch, because she must be free to go if she chose to do so. Mianocre agreed to Artretius' test and took up residence in the tower. Artretius was kindly enough to provide Mianocre books on her beloved birds, as well as a magical window which projected the illusion beyond of varieties of winged creatures of every kind and species. Every day he would come and bring her food and drink, seemingly expecting to find her fled. And everyday she "disappointed" him by remaining steadfastly within the tower. And though the months proved tedious, Mianocre kept to her bond of honor, often writing quietly for long hours, since she could not wander the woods, and always marking off the number of day of that bond. Late into the year, Artretius failed to come one day. And then another. And then a third. Mianocre grew thirsty and hungry, but bit her lip in anxiety and waited, writing a bit of her consternation. But a week passed and Artretius did not come, and Mianocre knew she would soon die. She wrote a last farewell to her husband, forgiving him his treatment of her, and sat before the magical window watching the mere illusion of her beloved avian creatures waiting for death to come. And thus docilely did Mianocre wait alone for death to come, not leaving the tower because she was "honor bound" to stay the full year within its confines. It is said Artretius had been killed by a wild boar in the woods and none knew the location of the tower where Mianocre was secreted to come and get her after the sorcerer's untimely demise. It is said as well that it was during those final days of Mianocre's life a penetrating darkness appeared within the entrance arch of the tower when viewed from outside its confines. In the end Artretius' deep illusion, powerful even with the sorcerer in his grave, seemingly changed into this darkness in order to protect from prying eyes the hopeless dying agony of one so earnestly "honor bound". For in death, it seems, the two at last came to a true understanding of the full depth of this bond between them. At last they had come to realize, though well too late, the burden they had placed upon one another, one simply with her ease of nature and the other with the very insecurity of his. For a bond of honor, once questioned, must be forever proven.
