Celdoriath's Clarion
Celdoriath's Clarion appears to be an elven scout's horn, albeit an ornate and high quality one. Outriders, rangers, and other advance units of elven armies carry such horns. Used to maintain communication and summon aid over long distances, these instruments are usually simple affairs made of horn or brass. Celdoriath's Clarion clearly belonged to a wealthy or influential scout, or one who was rewarded for some great service to the elven people. Elf kings and nobles give only their most loyal scouts silver trumpets, and then only in recognition of some truly heroic act. Few such instruments are ascribed magical properties in the elven histories. Clearly, Celdoriath's Clarion is something extraordinary.
Celdoriath was a ranger serving as a scout in the forces of the elven king Aldonar, the then-ruler of the Golden Forest. Though he was merely a low-ranking soldier in his king's army, Celdoriath was in love with King Aldonar's daughter, Indiriel. More significantly, the princess loved Celdoriath in return. Her father refused to allow her to marry so far below her station, however. Resigned to love from afar, Celdoriath abandoned his hopes of marrying Indiriel and threw himself into his duties. He spent three months tracking an orc horde along the borders of the forest during a fierce winter blizzard. Three elves under his command froze to death, but Celdoriath was able to gather enough intelligence on the orcs' movements and deployment that the regular army routed them with minimal casualties. In recognition of his service, Celdoriath was awarded a silver trumpet and the honorary title “Knight Guardian of the Realm.” Along with this honor, however, he was reprimanded and discharged from King Aldonar's army for the reckless sacrifice of his three subordinates. The king could not ignore Celdoriath's heroic deeds, but he didn't want the scout to rise to a high enough rank to petition for Indiriel's hand in marriage.
While he was disgusted and embittered by his king's actions, Celdoriath could not bring himself to leave his home or the woman he loved. With no formal military rank, he signed back on with Aldonar's army as a mercenary, performing the same duties he had always carried out. Now, however, he was looked on as little more than a dog that might turn on its master at any moment. Mercenaries were disliked at best in the elven military, and Celdoriath's presence was tolerated only because of his skill and the renown he had won from the incident with the orcs. Though he was sneered at by the officers, most of whom were drawn from the nobility and were perfectly aware of the real reason Celdoriath was discharged, the ranger's keen mind and knowledge of woodcraft won him friends and allies among the enlisted soldiers. Three years into his tour as a mercenary, Celdoriath was on patrol deep in the heart of an uninhabited region of the forest. There, a huge section of ground collapsed inward, revealing a subterranean cavern out of which boiled thousands of drow and their arachnoid servants. Surrounded and cut off from any hope of escape, Celdoriath raised his silver trumpet to his lips and blew a long, clear blast. Much to his surprise, not only was the call answered, it was answered in force—a brigade of elf mages had been training in the region, and with their potent magic, they were able to contain the drow assault and drive the dark elves back underground.
After saving the kingdom from certain destruction twice, Celdoriath could no longer simply be brushed aside by King Aldonar. Reluctantly, the king restored Celdoriath's rank and status, removing the only obstacle to the ranger's marriage to Indiriel. The couple were at long last wed, a century and a half after they first met, and their child was named the royal heir designate. King Aldonar died in the child's fifth year. (Some claimed his death was the result of assassination, even placing the blame on the king's own daughter). With the child still far too young to take the throne, Celdoriath ruled as regent for the next hundred years. The former scout proved a surprisingly able and adept ruler, drawing on his experience to initiate sweeping reforms in the kingdom's armies and improve their readiness against drow incursions and orc raids. He was no less adroit at the arts of statecraft, forging a lasting peace with the dwarves who dwelt on the forest's northeastern borders, negotiating a mutual defense treaty with the human nations to the south, and even easing strife between the elven subraces. When his son came of age, Celdoriath gracefully stepped down as regent and retired completely from politics. He and Indiriel settled into a home on the outskirts of the forest, where Celdoriath could once again live the life of a simple ranger. When Celdoriath died many decades later, his son sounded Celdoriath's Clarion at his father's funeral, announcing to the afterlife that a great hero was arriving. It is said that throughout the ages Celdoriath's ghost appears every few hundred years to gift his Clarion to someone who proves themselves worth of Celdoriath's Legacy. In the times when it is not claimed, the horn always returns to the royal vault, somehow.
Celdoriath's Clarion is currently wielded by Iago