MAETRIA

"When darkness covers the world, the divine avians shall become the fiery salvation of all living things." Such are the great legends regarding the mythical "Obsidian Finches," a species only recorded in the most ancient of histories but which nonetheless once soared high above the skies of Esperia.

It was in that ancient era that Maetria was born. From the time she first opened her eyes in her mother's nest, she had always held fast to the sacred mission told to her again and again by the eldest of the Obsidian Finches. Their sacred duty—the reason for their whole existence—was to protect Esperia.

By the time of the great Elemental Strife that engulfed Esperia, Maetria's dedication to the mission of her race saw her rise to the position of chief over her people. She remembered keenly the words of her ancestors, and leapt into action to save the mortals scurrying fearfully about under their watchful eye. It was her burden, her duty, her honor, to play the role of savior.

The Elemental Strife brought total calamity upon the helpless citizens of a frightened world. But it was nothing unexpected to Maetria and her folk. It was time for their mission to be fulfilled.

Maetria honored all the old precepts taught to her and traveled deep into the Solaran Furnace. There, without reservation, she released the Solaris Flare that dwelled inside her. The ritual had begun. The burning Solaris Flare pierced the ground and lit up the sky in a magnificent display of celestial power, spreading across Esperia and cleansing it of all elemental disorder. Though Maetria felt the power being stripped from her body, she did not then lament the loss of her life, her mind filled only with joy at the glorious fulfilment of her mission. But this pride did not last long. She began to notice a new phenomenon; first with terror, then horror, and finally anger.

She saw all her kinsfolk, all of the other Obsidian Finches, some of whom she had grown up with in the same nest, fall from the sky as the divine Solaris Flare within their bodies was ripped away. She watched them groan on the earth, dying, their feathers fading from brilliant red to gray and then finally ash as the life drained from their bodies. One hatchling Maetria knew well tried desperately to fly over for help. She was already a heap of ash by the time she landed at Maetria's feet.

Maetria had been proud to do her part to save the world—the mission entrusted to her since birth. Yet no one had ever told her that saving the world would also come at the cost of her entire race.

Maetria drew upon all the divine energy within her to try to halt the ritual, but there was nothing she could do. Virtually every member of her race was already dead or dying. Most cried out in pain as they faded to ash in front of her eyes. Maetria also sensed her own life force fading. It was then she came to the cruel realization that, in the end, all of the fanciful-sounding phrases about doing "what is best for Esperia" were nothing more than hollow lies to enable her species' exploitation. No! She resolved to herself. She would not give herself up in sacrifice, she would not die here! She vowed revenge on the world that had cruelly taken her kinsfolk away.

Maetria's anger and desperate desire to save her species called out through the void to sinister forces like a beacon. Fell Hypogeans proffered a deal that Maetria quickly accepted: become their infernal vessel in exchange for unimaginable power. With the power to cheat death, she would live, and as long as she lived there was a hope of restoring her race, of reawakening them from the ash. She would stop at nothing to do so. Soon she emerged from the ash of her dying existence covered in dark flames— Hypogean flames.

Maetria lay in wait for centuries, seeking some means by which the Obsidian Finches could be restored to life. And so passed a thousand years of futile searching, until finally she found the truth about her species' creation, as well as a way forward.

Honas, the God of Creation, crafted the Furnace in the void when he made the world. From the sun he plucked a spark—called the "Solaris Flare"—and mixed it with the elemental forces to create Esperia. Yet a dark force of cosmic chaos had interfered with his great work. Hence, Esperia from its very inception possessed a slight imbalance between the elements, which would eventually culminate in disaster. It was a great defect in Honas' work, but he had a solution. He embedded his Furnace within the planet, in a place virtually undiscoverable. This became the "Solaran Furnace."

Within the Furnace, Honas hid a special stone. Over the centuries, the stone would absorb the Solaran power and give birth to a race of divine avians—the Obsidian Finches.

Eventually the disorder in Esperia's elemental forces culminated in the cataclysm once foretold. It was the Obsidian Finches, the carriers of the Solaris Flare, who were tasked with recreating the world without the imperfections in Honas' original work. Within the Furnace, the Obsidian Finches would have to release the Solaris Flare within themselves, allowing its divine power to spread across the land, seas, and skies. As the essence of their being, removing the Flare from the divine avians would result in their deaths. To protect Esperia with the Solaris Flare would be the glorious burden they would have to bear; yet to Maetria it seemed more a criminal's sentence. The Obsidian Finches were, in the end, no more than tools for correcting the Creator's mistakes, victims of his deceit. They were kindling to be burned.

In this terrible truth, however, Maetria also uncovered a possible means to revive her kinfolk. There was still one Obsidian Finch left, and were the Elemental Strife to strike once more, she would only have to lead this last Finch to the Solaran Furnace. Using the remnants of the Solaris Flare within the last Finch, she could reignite the dormant Furnace and give her people a chance at rebirth.

Maetria waited until a new Strife afflicted Esperia. Talene, the last Obsidian Finch, had made herself known, and within her dwelled the last vestiges of the Solaris Flare. By now, Maetria had waited for millennia, but the time had come for her plans to finally bear fruit. Taking on the guise of a Wilder scholar, she appeared before Talene when the time was right.

"Honored Obsidian Finch, let me tell you a story of the divine avians of old..."

"Perhaps the world is more beautiful now than in ancient times, but a world without my people is meaningless to me."

Has visit scenes with Awakened Talene and Talene.