Iorathrus Cemhaiden Backstory

Original document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gUi61Ee8YGVLz92PapuZ2oD2QAxblMrfPp3NvALSv_E/edit

Tl;dr:

Weftwen Elves left their homeworld some time ago, which makes sense for the timeline (>120 million years ago). The reason why has been forgotten, literally devoured from their memories.
Weftwen lived in the astral sea, and because they missed material plane home forests and grove, created a verdant mindscape forest, out of their collective desire, called Mythis Dranin.
After they established the Mind-Grove and themselves in the Astral Sea, they drew the attention of more prominent organizations/races in the astral sea. Many were avoided or turned away out of safety concerns.
One org that was let in was called the Gnostic Order of the Keystone Scrolls, who warned them to abandon the mind-grove. Weftwen of course scoffed, and did not do so.
Moth-like aberrations (see pics below) slowly infiltrated the grove, and therefore the minds of the Weftwen. These aberrations slaked themselves on the minds and memories of the Weftwen. They eventually destroyed almost all of the Weftwen in one decisive strike after eliminating the elven leadership.
Iorarathras barely managed to escape, floating unconscious through the Astral Sea for an indeterminate amount of time. He awoke at L’Arc Chantante, being cared for.

Eons ago, escaping a dying world, a young clan Wardmage, named Iorathras Cemhaiden journeyed with his people, the Weftwen elves into the astral sea, desperate for a new refuge. There, they found just that, a relatively secure and quiet space, away from the majority of astral predators and other warring residents of the Sea.

Since time passes differently in the Sea, plants and the elven young did not grow, necessitating trips back to the material plane, similar to the githyanki practice. To accomplish this, the Weftwen focused on the development and training of mages who could open planar gates and plane shift to help ensure their peoples’ survival.

After some time in the Astral Sea, the Weftwen began to miss their ancestral forest homes - the lush groves, the verdant canopy, the plentiful woodland. Unbeknownst to the elves, their time in the Astral Sea, exposure to different energies and other races, had already begun to change them into a different time of elf. Their collective desire spun together, weaving a psychic tapestry. A hidden, sacred forest burgeoned from this seed, an ancestral memory which took on a life of its own.

Soon, Iorathras and other elder elves of the Weften felt and heard a call to this newly formed metaphysical forest. Weftwen Riftmages, spurred by this feeling, gathered in a ritual circle, and with their combined strength opened a mindscape door, to a permanent shared mindscape grove known as the Mythis Dranin. Doing so sparked a psychic awakening within the elves, permanently separating them from their material plane brethren. The elves attempted to ensure that no other people could access this sacred grove, warding it with all their known magics, both historical and their newly gained psychic abilities.

From this point, the Weftwen elves went through a religious and socio-cultural revolution, and began to attract some attention from other major players in the Astral Sea. They were very selective with who they contacted, and allowed to contact them, wary after their exile from their home planet. One strange group was let in, as they stated they brought with them dire warnings and prophecies, and somehow knew, beyond belief, of Mythis Dranin.

After entry, the group refused to speak with any but the Weftwen Elders. When finally, and with robust precautions were they granted access to the elders, the group introduced themselves as belonging to the “Gnostic Order of the Keystone Scrolls”. Among them were"

A strange creature made of apparent living metal (warforged), with mystical abilities, named Dreamer
A goliath women, wearing a blindfold with an eye drawn, named Enulil Scrollbearer (told to call her “Lil”)
And an Aasimar women, wearing heavy armor, an eyepatch, appearing to be a guard for the other two, named Ylissa.

Lil told the Weftwen to abandon their newly grown mind-grove, as it was doomed to become fertile breeding grounds for some astral, aberrant abomination. The Weftwen scoffed. To give up their last vestige of the home they had loved and lost? And to doubt their newfound abilities? These representatives of this strange order were shown the astral door.

Before they left, Dreamer, seemingly without any other elven elder noticing, took Iorathras aside and plainly said the following, in monotone speech: “Only divine love bestows the keys of knowledge. You will stretch ropes from steeple to steeple; garlands from window to window; golden chains from star to star, and you will dance.” Confused, and swept up in the Order’s hubris, Iorathras brushed off Dreamer’s esoteric poem-statement.

The Gnostic order departed, and the elves returned to their lives. Iorathras dreamed of the woman, Ylissa, who said to seek her out when the time comes. The next morning, Iorathras, at the insistence of other elders, returned to his normal duties.

Over time, the Gnostic Order’s warning was forgotten. And as it waned, strange activity in Mythis Dranin waxed. The grove which normally had a green hue, simulated sunlight and weather, slowly took on a different hue, turning to an ethereal purple. Strange mote-light creatures began to float through the grove, where previously, there had only been mind-constructs from the elves.

And slowly, more of these creatures appeared, without apparent purpose, and causing no harm, they were allowed to grow, their beauty entrancing those who would visit the grove. And soon, the Weftwen began to slumber fitfully, their minds fertile grounds for incipient nightmares.

Something was amiss for the Weftwen, but the forces at work in Mythis Dranin was too subtle - even the elven Elders began to forget things, as a sickly vigorous mind fog settled over the collective conscious of their people. And from that fog, in their sacred mind-grove, the enemy, full from gorging on the cognition and memories of the Weftwen struck.

The enemy were a race of moth-like aberrations that devoured the consciousness of their victims. Their victims’ knowledge, memories, powers and skills drew, combining to create a nutritious psychic slurry. The enemy took out the strongest protectors of the Weftwen first. With no time to mount a coordinated defense, most fought and fell where they stood. The Weftwen were scattered, their leadership turned into food, the rest of the Weftwen peoples became but chattel and livestock for these moth-like abominations. Iorathras, he drifted in the Astral Sea unconscious, drained of power, his mind half devoured for an unknown amount of time. He was brought to the Wandering Bastion by some unknown benefactor.

There, he slowly began to recover, having lost literally an arm and a leg. He seethed with rage for his lost people. His mind was focused on three things:

Warning the peoples of the wandering bastion of threat of these abominations
The annihilation of said abominations
To seek out Ylissa and learn more about the Gnostic Order.