Role

Chapter 2

In dark-elvish society, by the age of twenty-one on the gods calendar, drow
female begin a sorting ritual by which their life is determined. A series of
tests and procedure are placed upon the woman to find her greatest strengths
and nurture their natural talent. The tests are overseen by the most
powerful subjects to the Matron Mother, under the guise of wealth and a place
close to the Matron, but in fact it is elaborate legerdemain as a way to
extinguish any power great enough to challenge the Matron's. The tests
consists of blood ritual, pomp, and only one real display of power. A
spherical black shadowstone is set into a sangraal pedestal and at the end of
the rituals each candidate is ordered to place their hands upon the device.
It is a device thousands and thousands of years old, created to greatly
enhance magical prowess so as to clearly see true strengths above all others.

The rituals were coming to a close and it was time for Xeneth to place her
hands upon the stone. There were a few dozen other women before Xeneth but
her progress to the pedestal was not slow. She had seen flares of fire or
lightning come across the orb as others placed their hands up to the pedestal
with their fates set to be an elementalist. One girl touched her hands to
the orb and nothing but a puff of putrid smelling green smoke emerged, and
she later heard it meant a Pit Fiend had belched so the girl was to become an
anti-paladin. Another held her hand only an inch above the stone and her
fingers began to swell at an alarming rate. The Arch-Mage of the
transfigurists ushered her to their ranks chanting counter-spells to reduce
the self-inflicted inflammation. Touch after touch, fates were decided and
new power was distributed throughout the ranks of magical order. However,
when it became Xeneth's turn, the unexpected happened.