Ardenvale

Ardenvale
[[File:{{#setmainimage:Castle Ardenvale.jpg}}|250px]]
Information
Plane	Eldraine
Status	Abandoned

Ardenvale is the white-aligned court of the Realm on the plane of Eldraine. It borders on Vantress.

Description

Ardenvale's symbol is a circle-bound flame.

Castle Ardenval is perched on top of a hill overlooking the pastures and fields of the Realm. Within its great white walls are acres of manicured lawns and precise, lush gardens. The court exemplifies the virtue of Loyalty. Merely speaking its name is thought to weave subtle magic of protection around the speaker and their allies. Ardenvale is home to a magical ring of eternally burning silver fire known as the Circle of Loyalty, which is located near the top of the castle's central tower and is protected by dozens of loyal guards. An aspirant knight must step into the brilliant white flame, to prove their loyalty. Those who pass through the flame unscathed are deemed worthy and knighted at the center of the ring itself. Those who are burned are quickly pulled out and healed, but rarely are they allowed to attempt the trial a second time.

According to legend, the first human chiefdom had arisen on the spur of stone at the site of Castle Ardenvale. With a crude fortification, the band had defied their elven overlords to lay claim to a scrap of solid ground for themselves. In the castle, magic may only be wielded while training or if the castle is under attack from the Wilds.

Ardenvale is currently ruled by the Ardent Queen Eriette. The elite knights of Ardenvale use griffins and unicorns as steeds. The knights are fierce in battle, and all the more so when fighting in a group. They rarely quest alone, and loyalty means that no knight is ever left behind in the clutches of the enemy. When not engaged in battle or questing alone in the wilds, Ardenvale's knights love to gather at the court for company and conversation, treasures they value above all others.

After the court's fall in New Phyrexia's Invasion of the Multiverse, the castle became a ruin. Its great oaken gates were shattered. After Eriette claimed the castle, its Kenrith finery was replaced with violets.

History

Eight or nine generations before the Wildered Quest, mankind took a stand on the mesa that would become Castle Ardenvale and overthrew the Elven Lords that had enslaved them. They pushed the elves into the forests, cleared large swaths of land to free them from fae magic, and founded five knightly courts. The court of Ardenvale was established around the mysterious Circle of Loyalty.

Generations before the Kenriths' High Quest, the rulers of Castle Ardenvale turned their magic to petty, selfish, wicked purposes and betrayed the virtues they purported to uphold. Many spurs of the Wilds were able to grow back into the countryside where they’d been eradicated long ago. Unsavory magic was left unchecked. Ogres and dragons rampaged and destroyed as they pleased because no two towns could agree to a joint effort to fend them off. Witches roamed wherever they wished and cursed people with evil gifts and terrible afflictions. The Wild Hunt rode through the Wilds.

After a two-generation-long interregnum, the Questing Beast chose the humble Algenus Kenrith and Linden to quest for the high rulership and gave each a sword as the mark of its favor. While Algenus completed the High Quest and became High King, Linden had to interrupt hers to save the lives of his children, Rowan and Will. After she married Algenus, she took them in as her children.

Algenus Kenrith's questing sword in Castle Ardenvale.

The Realm became far more peaceful and orderly now that a High King ruled. Once he'd achieved the high rulership, Algenus hung up the gilded sword gifted to him by the Questing Beast and settled down to the less glamorous but more difficult task of ruling. The courts cooperated because there was a single ruler to coordinate and administrate, but Ardenvale was still fighting to recover what was lost. Queen Linden had been working to improve relations between the five courts but noticed increasing activity and hostility in the Wilds.

It turned out that a malevolent planeswalker was stirring the non-humans up. After the High King was abducted by Oko, the fey, around 4561 AR and turned into a stag, Queen Linden struggled to hold the courts together. The Wilds were getting bolder, but with Algenus gone, the courts weren't coordinating their efforts to fight the rising tide of attacks. Meanwhile, Queen Ayara took another route and sent an envoy into the Wilds to negotiate with the Council of Druids. When the royal twins turned eighteen, they set out on a quest to find their father. Though they succeeded, the Kenrith twins' shared Planeswalker's spark ignited, sending them across the Blind Eternities to a new plane.

During New Phyrexia's Invasion of Eldraine, Ardenvale and all other courts fell before the invaders. High King Algenus and Queen Linden Kenrith were killed in the castle's defense, and the castle now lies in ruins, half-burned and abandoned. Following the Invasion, acting king Will Kenrith moved rule of the realm to Castle Vantress, while the witch Eriette claimed the castle as her own. She was eventually deposed and captured by Will.

Locations

Map of Ardenvale showing Castle Ardenvale (top), the Glass Tarn (left), and a ridge that may be the Choking Drum (right).

• The highlands of Arden
  • Castle Ardenvale – A massive keep protected by the Circle of Loyalty's magic, which was noted to be powerful enough to ward off dragons without damage. After Eriette claimed the castle, it became known as the Court of the Ardent Queen.
    • The Archer's Tower
  • Wealdrum, a hamlet near the castle.
  • Trekell, a town
  • Wesling village
  • The Choking Drum, a mountainous ridge running between Giant's Jaw Hill and the distant Crown Crag.
• the lowlands of Ardenvale proper.
  • Many peaceful hamlets and villages, scattered amid ponds and streams and orchards and tidy fields.
  • The Glass Tarn, a wide lake
  • Beckborough, a village
  • The Canton of Kenrith

Trivia

• Ardenvale was the name the Creative team originally pitched for the plane of Eldraine, but it didn't end up making it through the gauntlet that all names must work their way through (as it was part of the set's name). The plane's name was changed to Eldraine, but the Creative team really liked the name Ardenvale, so they made it the name of the white kingdom.

Gallery

• 

  Ardenvale Knight concept art.

• 

  Knight of Ardenvale Arena avatar.

In-game references

Represented in:

• Castle Ardenvale
• Court of Ardenvale
• Restless Fortress

Associated cards:

• Ardenvale Fealty
• Ardenvale Paladin
• Ardenvale Tactician
• Slumbering Keepguard

Depicted in:

• Plains (Throne of Eldraine, #250)
• Polluted Bonds (Enchanting Tales, #34)
• Polluted Bonds (Enchanting Tales, #75)
• Silverwing Squadron
• Virtue of Loyalty

Referred to:

• Eerie Interference
• Fireborn Knight
• Garrison Griffin
• Savior of the Sleeping
• Scorching Dragonfire
• Silverflame Ritual
• Silverflame Squire
• Griffin Aerie (Enchanting Tales)
• Worthy Knight