Zhandura the Merciless

Zhandura the Merciless was an infamous Ara'yathri and Valsharess ("Queen") of the ancient Dark Elven kingdom of Illythir, located in present-day Eblan. If the fall of the Dark Elven race could possibly be traced back to one individual's actions, Zhandura would be a fine choice. Little is known about her personal life, save the fact that she was one of two children. Her sister Tanilyth was the Valsharess of the kingdom of Miyeritar, and it was her assassination at the hands of wizards from the High Elven kingdom of Vallithyre that sparked the worst of the Elf wars in ancient Crystal.

Zhandura's most infamous act, the one both history and legend remembers her for, is the most brutal casting of the Ilhar Velve spell ever recorded. Driven to terrible rage by her sister's murder, Zhandura, then pregnant with her daughter Ambika, utterly destroyed the entirety of Vallithyre with the ritual. The land itself was cursed; even now, thousands of years later, there is no trace of the lush forests which once covered it, and all that remains is a barren desert.

This terrible crime against nature was the last straw, and the Elven gods banished Zhandura and the entire Dark Elven race to the Underground. However, Zhandura was wily and cunning, and saw even this supposed disadvantage as an opportunity. She was quick to assume control of the feuding survivors, and led them with brutal efficiency, founding the city of Zhanduril not a month after the Descent. She immediately established House Everhate as the ruling force in the city, and it was her mages who discovered how to manipulate the peculiar radiation found in the Upper Underground.

However, Zhandura's reign was cut short by the vicious in-fighting that was the rule of the Zhanduran day in those early years. House Zauviir, an upstart house ironically consisting largely of Miyeritari refugees, led a conspiracy of several houses to take down House Everhate. No one really knows how Zhandura died. However, a very quiet rumor has persisted for millenia that the Zauviir assassin murdered Zhandura post-coitus.

Those caught repeating this urban legend generally have their tongues cut out, or worse.

Kupopolis Legends

At the start of Kupopolis Legends, the Dark Elves have been banished for several centuries, and have consolidated their hold on the Upper Underground. Tensions within Zhanduril are mounting, however, as the other noble houses are beginning to chafe at Zhandura's reluctance to strike out at the surface in force.