The Court of Scales

The Court of Scales

Type	Fey Court
Government	Dictatorship
Location	The Feywild
Inhabiting Race	Dragons, Corrupted Fey

The Court of Scales is a fey court located in the Feywild that was founded and ruled by evil dragons in service of the dragon goddess Tiamat. Their ultimate goal was to spread her evil and conquest throughout the Feywild and beyond. The court is ruled by High Regent Veylthar the Verdant Fang, an ancient green dragon and risen archfey.

History

In the earliest days of the Feywild, when the realms were still shaping themselves, the trees that would become the Wildwood rose first. Their roots dug deep into untouched soil, their canopies stretched high into endless skies, and from them was born a queen: Queen Thalyra the Rooted One. She was the spirit of the Wildwood given form, her skin bark and moss, her hair a cascade of leaves and flowers that changed with the seasons. Queen Thalyra gathered to her side the dryads, satyrs, and woodland spirits of the Wildwood. Together they formed the Court of Branches, a circle of guardians sworn to protect the Wildwood. Under her dominion, the Wildwood was a vast paradise of towering silverwoods, flowering glades, and crystal-clear rivers. The air sang with the voices of songbirds and sprites, and there was peace.

But when the War of Many Names bled into the Feywild, the Court of Branches drew the attention of a far greater predator. Tiamat, forever hungry for power beyond her grasp, sought to establish a foothold in the Feywild as she had across the mortal realms. In 834 PR the dragon goddess sent a shard of her will to manifest an avatar within the Feywild, and a terrifying multi-headed shadow that fell upon Thalyra’s forest like a great stormcloud. The queen and her court rallied their dryads, treants, and fey knights in resistance, but against the chromatic terror, they stood little chance.

The killing blow was not struck by Tiamat herself, but by her chosen instrument: Veylthar the Verdant Fang, an ancient green dragon and one of Tiamat's most cunning generals. With guile as much as might, Veylthar lured Thalyra into false parley, feigning willingness to negotiate terms of surrender. When the dryad queen arrived, the dragon unleashed his venomous breath, stripping the life from Thalyra’s body and twisting her sacred heart tree into a blackened husk. Before the horrified eyes of the fey, Veylthar devoured their queen, consuming not only her body but also the magic that bound her to the land.

With her death, the Wildwood collapsed. The trees wailed, their roots bleeding sap. Once-clear rivers stagnated into dark, sluggish streams. The fertile forests twisted into a choking swamp of thorns, fungal blooms, and venomous growths. Fey creatures that had danced in sunlight found their forms warped: pixies grew dragonlike wings with venomous fangs, satyrs turned wild and mad, and dryads fused with brambles or rotted trees. The Wildwood was no more. Now there was only the Mirewood, a fetid swamp, crawling with warped beasts and the servants of dragons. And upon this ruin the dragon Veylthar declared itself High Regent, and that henceforth, the Court of Branches would forever be known as the Court of Scales.

Court Members

High Regent Veylthar the Verdant Fang

High Regent Veylthar the Verdant Fang

Velthar the Verdant Fang is an ancient green dragon bestowed with the powers of an archfey. He has been alive since the days of The Holy War and was one of Tiamat’s most loyal followers since the beginning. Even before becoming an archfey, Velthar had become a master of enchantment magic and possessed the unique ability to charm creatures with his glowing green eyes. This made him a useful servant of Tiamat as one of her premiere spies and disruptors, and made him her first choice for who should spearhead her incursion into the Fey realms.

But just as practiced was Veylthar’s magic was his ability to lie. As Tiamat’s avatar devastated the Wildwood, Veylthar presented himself to Queen Thalyra the Rooted One as a kind yet pitiful dragon who only wanted peace. Given the tense situation, the usually perceptive Queen was unable to see through the dragon’s lies, right up until Veylthar devoured her and sundered the heart tree she was bound to with his poisonous breath.

The Mirewood and the Court of Scales is a reflection of Veylthar’s truest self, dark, twisted, and rotting. A schemer at heart, Veylthar delights in pulling the strings of the fey and watching their forms twist and break. With the devouring of Queen Thalyra, Veylthar turned his magic against the fey of the Wildwood, bending them completely to his will. Ironically, Veylthar keeps closer council with the corrupted fey of the Mirewood rather then with his fellow dragonkin who joined the court from the Material Realm, since as any good schemer knows, once you are on top, everyone is out to get you.

Veylthar spends most of his time consorting with the members of his court and planning their next move. Rather than engage in outright warfare, Veylthar prefers to instead use corruption and subterfuge to dethrone his adversaries. Then when the ruling archfey of a rival court is at their weakest, he and his forces will descend upon them and then devour them, subsuming their court into his own.

But Veylthar has not been immune to the magic of the Feywild. His time in the Mirewood and his practices of eating archfey have begun to catch up to him. His actions have become stranger and more esoteric, far cries from the draconic natures of his kin. In addition Veylthar has been haunted by the ghostly voices of Queen Thalyra the Rooted One and all the other archfey he has devoured. Is it karma, is it a curse, is it all in his head? No one knows.

Veylthar appears as a massive green dragon whose once glistening scales have been tarnished by black corrupting vines, swamp muck, and dark vines. His eyes glow a brilliant emerald green, emitting a light that hypnotizes anyone who looks too deep into them, and brings them under Veylthar’s control. His breath is so poisonous that it immediately rots all plant life that comes into contact with it and corrupts good-aligned fey. Ever since entering the Feywild, Veylthar’s desire for gold has diminished. Instead he has come to hoard the bones of powerful fey and artifacts of fallen courts. His hoard is enchanted so that if anyone attempts to steal from it, the bones come alive and attack the would-be thief.

The Five Talons

A council directly beneath Veylthar, the council is composed of the five former advisors of Queen Thalyra the Rooted One, now each corrupted beyond measure and bound to represent one of the aspects of Tiamat. Each of the talons hold command over separate regions of the Mirewood and have been given rank by Veylthar above other dragons in the Mirewood.

The Talon of White - Elyndris the Loveless Hollow

Elyndris the Loveless Hollow

Elyndris, the Loveless Hollow, was once a beautiful eladrin and cherished consort of Queen Thalyra. But when the queen fell, Elyndris’ grief curdled into a sorrowful despair so deep it tore her soul apart. Now she lingers as a Banshee, her beauty shriveled into a mask of horror, her wails capable of freezing the bravest heart and shattering the spirit. Even when deep into the swamps of the Mirewood, you can hear her far away mournful wails echoing through the trees. Those who stray too near to her feel their own hope wither, their bodies withering away until nothing remains but a pale specter bound to her for eternity. Even Veylthar keeps his distance, for her cries gnaw at flesh and spirit alike.

Within Castle Wyrmblight, Elyndris drifts through the archives, serving as the Keeper of Secrets for the Court of Scales. She remembers the true history of the Wildwood and its fall, and the darkest secrets of the Mirewood are known to her alone. Beyond the castle walls, she rules the Moaning Marshes, an accursed lake where fog hangs heavy and the dead outnumber the living. Corpses and spirits rise to her call, wading from the mire with eyes full of grief, dragging the living into the depths to join their mistress in her endless mourning.

Gnarvok, Warden of the Weeping Grove

The Talon of Black - Gnarvok, Warden of the Weeping Grove

Gnarvok was once a towering Treant of pale silver bark and radiant golden leaves, beloved by Queen Thalyra and honored with the title of "Guardian of the Wildwood." In those days his grove a sanctuary where dryads, sprites, and mortals alike found shelter. But when Tiamat’s aspect descended upon the Court of Branches, Gnarvok’s grove was annihilated, and the Treant himself was sundered in the assault.

When the Court of Scales arose, Veylthar resurrected both the grove and its guardian, though what returned bore little resemblance to the noble Treant of old. Gnarvok rose again as a hollow and corrupted husk, his golden canopy now a tangle of dead, weeping branches, his bark cracked and bleeding with black ichor. Every trace of his old warmth and wisdom has been stripped away, replaced by blind obedience to the High Regent. Today, Gnarvok commands the Weeping Grove, a forest of monstrous, twisted Treants who share his cursed fate. Their branches drip with pitch like tears, their roots snake across the Mirewood’s borders, and their howls echo like the groaning of a thousand dying trees. To trespass into their domain is to be torn apart and left hanging in the branches, your bones a warning to all future trespassers.

The Talons of Green - The Hag Sisters Grivnash, Thraxxa, and Olymra

The Hag Sisters Grivnash, Thraxxa, and Olymra

Once, Grivnash, Thraxxa, and Olymra were three gentle crones and the treasured advisors to Queen Thalyra. They tended to her court with wisdom, kindness, and foresight, and their warnings saved the queen from danger more than once. When Veylthar arrived at their court, however, the sisters urged Thalyra to mistrust his intentions. For that defiance, Veylthar turned his magical corruption on them and merged their three bodies into a single grotesque form, each face and voice vying for dominance, their sweetness warped into venom and their wisdom turned to madness

The transformation shattered their minds. Their voices no longer offered counsel but shrieked and whispered over one another in endless discord. Their kindly hands became talons that delight in warping beauty into horror. The sight of the sisters’ shared body is enough to unnerve even seasoned adventurers: three faces jutting from a single head, their expressions shifting between pleading, giggling, and snarling in rapid succession. In their madness, they found a perverse joy in cruelty, twisting mortal spirits until they broke, and from that brokenness fashioning new toys for their amusement. Veylthar, ever pragmatic, twisted their affliction into utility, turning them into ardent followers of Tiamat.

Now the Hag Sisters, a coven of one body, rule over the Venomwell, the most corrupted heart of the Mirewood, a festering bog of green mists and poisonous waters. The land itself seems to weep bile, its air choked with fumes that kill blossoms and rot flesh. From here, the sisters conduct their wicked experiments. They keep a host of trolls, whom they call their “little boys and girls,” doting on them with a mockery of maternal affection. Through cruel experiments, they managed to isolate a troll's regenerative abilities to give to both themselves and their horrifying creations. They have applied these properties to rotting draconic flesh to make horrific golems with regenerative abilities that have been shaped in Tiamat’s image.

Sir Lornthar Vale the Thorned Blade

The Talon of Blue - Sir Lornthar Vale the Thorned Blade

Once the golden knight of the Court of Branches, Sir Lornthar Vale was known not for his ferocity but for his warmth. A dryad born of sunlit groves, he carried laughter wherever he went whether sparring in the glades, leading hunts through the wood, or entertaining courtiers with his boundless good cheer. His devotion to Queen Thalyra bordered on worship, and he swore his bark and blade to her protection until the end of his days. That oath was tested when Veylthar descended upon the Court, and in the moment he failed. Forced to watch his queen devoured before his eyes, his spirit cracked, leaving only hollow grief where once joy had flourished.

When Veylthar’s emerald gaze fell upon him, Lornthar did not resist. The dragon’s corruption seeped into his very roots: his supple vines hardened into strangling brambles, his tears oozed into black sludge, and his once bright laughter was forever silenced. Reborn as the Thorned Blade, Lornthar became Veylthar’s mightiest champion, clad in twisted plate of living thorns and wielding a cruel blade of bark fused with dragonbone. He is commander of the dragon’s armies, and his presence on the field is heralded by the rattle of dead leaves and the choking stench of rot. Yet even in this form, his sorrow remains as each night he kneels in silence, weeping bitter sap for the queen he failed, his cries echoing through the Mirewood like the groans of a dying forest. His weeping earned him the cruel nickname of “The Mourning Wood.”

As penance for his betrayal, Lornthar bound himself to Blisterbark Mound, a cursed hill where the remains of Queen Thalyra’s heart tree stand. He cut away his own heart-tree and grafted his essence into hers, rooting himself in the scarred trunk of his beloved queen. The act chained him eternally to the site of her ruin, both a shrine and a prison of his own making. The Mirewood’s denizens whisper that when he cries, sap oozes from the tree’s blackened bark like blood, and that to touch it is to feel his grief pierce your heart like thorns. The plants of the Mirewood head his call, and his retinue is made of twisted blights that mock his failures.

The Talon of Red - Sylia Blackleaf the Lightless Ember

Sylia Blackleaf the Lightless Ember

Sylia Blackleaf was always out for herself and always will be. With flowing crimson hair, faultless skin, and great curling horns studded with jewels, her beauty has been untouched by the rot of the Mirewood. While most of the Court of Scales bears scars of corruption with twisted limbs, scaled flesh, or hollowed eyes, Sylia walks among them radiant as ever. Yet her corruption lies not in body, but in her heart. Once she served as Queen Thalyra’s court wizard and seer, a trusted confidante whose visions guided the court through storms and wars alike. But when she glimpsed the shadow of Veylthar’s coming, Sylia faltered. She saw the death of the queen, the corruption of the Wildwood, and her own ruin if she stood in the path of the dragon. And so, she chose silence.

When Tiamat’s avatar descended, Sylia made her choice final. She sought the dragon in secret, offering loyalty in exchange for survival and a place by Veylthar’s side. It was Sylia who whispered the lies that lured Thalyra into her fatal parley, and Sylia who sealed her queen’s doom. Veylthar calls her his Lightless Ember, for she burns hot yet offers no light or comfort.

Now, Sylia serves as the High Regent’s most trusted hand, standing at his side in Castle Wyrmblight. Her prophecies shape the movements of armies, the breaking of rivals, and the slow, inevitable spread of corruption through the Feywild. She burns her enemies with gouts of black fire that sear not flesh but spirit, leaving behind husks of ash and bone. Her eyes glow faintly when her visions seize her, and her laughter, bright as a songbird’s, chills all who hear it.

Next to Veylthar, Sylia is the political heart of the Court of Scales. Even though she claims no single domain of her own, her command over the Mirewood is second only to the High Regent himself. Even the four other talons must heed her orders. Both Sir Lornthar Vale and Elyndris opening despise Sylia, for they know she was responsible for their Queen’s death, yet their corruption has run so deep and their devotion to Veylthar is so great that they will never act on their rage.