Re: Spoilers Below... eh??
Avahur, yes, you could learn Elven.
Mac, we'll have to discuss your idea in a bit.
Here's what I've got so far on the saint elves....
Realm of the Great Elves
Mae govannen or Well met, I tell you the tale of the Realm of the Trees also named by some the Realm of the Great Elves. I am a Kiirar, or Chronicler, of my people, the Great Elves.
Elen sila lumenn omentilmo
Or…A star shall shine on the hour of our meeting
Sit, draw some fireg, and listen to the tale of a lindar.
The Great Elves lived in the early years of their world, worshipped the Singer, and tended the Trees. These near-immortals had Fallen, but they fell not very far from their first Grace, and they had turned back, and asked for a second Grace which was given them. And so, for ages they lived, and had children, and life was good.
There were monsters for the world was such that it was at the bottom of a dimensional gradient, or a well filled with worlds, and as such things that fell out of their own world tended to land in the Realm of the Great Elves.
These Monsters, which was a general class for a great variety of unrelated monsters, were usually evil. There were some that were not, and found acceptance among the Elves. But the Elves held out hope for even the evil ones, and tried to not slay them unless they threatened an innocent person’s life.
There were nine habitable continents in the Realm of Trees which was the name they gave their world. The first was called Home, and the elves lived there for millenia. The second was named Younger, and was settled about two thousand years ago. About three-fourths of its Ruling Council came on the windhorses that took the Colonists to the new continent. About twelve hundred years ago, the Children’s continent was named, and those of the youngest generations then mature were given permission to settle it.
( Elven parents do raise their children to maturity which is a process taking about forty years; the Children’s Continent is the place where young adults went who felt stifled by the millenia old ways of the Home Continent. The typical Elven partnering has a trio of children every fifty-seventy years. Overpopulation is not a problem because even at these growth rates, the Elves can expand for a very long time before they fill up this world. Also, Elves are possessed of high moral standards, low levels of occasionally self-preserving hypocracy, deep love for all, and traditions of heroic combat against evil. So, an Elf will enter into an unequal combat to save the life of a Human who hated him.)
A thousand years ago, the Singer came to the Elves of the Younger Continent, and asked for a boon.
The Singer asked them if they could take care of several species that had suffered a disaster. The Banesmog, a hideous Power, had destroyed and was in the process of destroying several worlds. Still a part of each race of each world would be saved, and they needed a place to stay, a refuge. Moved by pity, and by knowledge of the Singer’s mercy to them when their ancestors failed the First Test, the Elven Council of the Younger Continent agreed to receive them, and care for them.
The Elflords or Great Elves as the Humans, Gnome, and Brownies called them settled the new arrivals in places that the visitors liked. Thus the Humans were given the Southern end of the continent with a mix of high plains, rolling hills, and one large river valley. The Gnomes chose the extreme Northern end of the continent which had a rocky peninsula easily defended. The Brownies left for the islands to the west with each tiny island being home to a clan of Brownies who ate fish, swimmed, and made crafts with their clever fingers.
Over the next millenia, the Humans broke into a dozen different groups with differing relations with the Great Elves.
The Vicarii are a nomadic tribe of the High Plains. They are aggressive toward the Elves in a sportsmanlike sense. They challenge the Elves at every turn making the Elves prove themselves by games of swords, or horseraces, or wrestling matches. The Viscarii magicians also try to spy on the Elves as a means of counting coup. The childish ‘I’m better than you’ wearies the Elves on occasion, but they mostly smile and accept it. And the Viscarri who can best an Elf tends to have a very pleasant year afterwards as he finds gifts piled on him from passerby’s, and females smiling a lot more easily at his jokes at the horse patty campfire.
The Tamglotti are a semi-nomadic tribe of the High Plains. They graze goats, and stay in camps in the wintertime. They consider their Viscarrii brethren insane. The Elves are obviously superior. So, the thing to do is to politely ask the Elves for favors, or barter for them. Unlike the Lutic Nation, the Tamglotti are completely aboveboard in what they are doing. Occasionally the Elves rebuke them because they ask for things to be bought with money that are not that which can be sold for money.
Bisan Nation are a small collection of farming villages around the capital city of Bisan. The people of Bisan are suspicious of change, of superiority, and refuse to see the Elves as their superiors. They don’t try to prove that Humans are better; instead they simply assume it. When faced with proof of Elven superiority in physical deed they tend to react with rage and attack with anyone else nearby joining in. When faced with proof of Elven moral superiority they cry ‘demon’, and gather a lynch mob.
Lik City-State is an aggressive, merchanting town at the Second Waterfall also called the Ascarea Falls for their impetuous way on the River White or Brago Thalion (meaning ’strength’). Likters look down on Bisanites as backwater idiots. Their view of Elves is based on reality they will tell you. Elves are just like themselves. Elves are interested in business, and money, and building new ports. Elves are good investors, but other than that, they are not very interesting. They don’t know that much about important things like the internal politics of Lik City-State.
League of Ten Towns is actually seven towns since three of them have been destroyed. It sits between the Tamglotti and the Valley. They used to be wobbly and weak until they got organized. Then they introduced slavery instead of ransoming back prisoners taken in war. They also made alliance with a number of the Monsters. In the end, a Human-Elven alliance had to make war on them. Their reaction to Elves tends to be disturbed. They are pained by the simple presence of Elves. It either reminds them of the ‘glory’ they have lost, or it reminds them of the evil they did. They flinch from Elves, and Elven visitors to their cities find that every door to every house is closed, and the streets are empty.
Kredic Imperium is a small empire consisting of several subject peoples and run by a very competent phalanx wielding soldier caste. They are politely respectful to the Elves, and always eager to learn any new lessons about magic or swordplay that may be offered. The Elves have no desire to make them the dominant power of the Human area, and so are politely enigmatic. The Kredic understand the Elven position, and continue to try anyways. Its a polite game of chess with no hard feelings on the Kredic side, and sadness on the Elven side, a sadness the Kredic do not know of, and would not understand.
Forestlanders live in small huts and villages and isolated farms through the Palewood (so named for its Birches. This forest is the source of the spring that starts the River White which is a sacred place to many humans.) They have the most individualistic reaction to Elves. Some fear them as demons, or dark sorcerers, and others dream of them as heroes.
Hill of Gonsaldrras are the mechanicians and steam scientists who hold the western half of the Southern Harbor at the mouth of the River White. If offers a commanding location above the surrounding flatlands, and its more healthy as the surrounding swamps swarm with mosquitoes. The Hillers prefer science to magic, and dislike the Elves with their insistence on Eternal Verities. The Hillers prefer to believe they can rationally construct a moral code. However, rumors of occasional abominations coming from their labs inspire no faith in their neigbours.
Vo Mariken live in the swamps of the Southern Harbor, and command the Eastern side of the White River. They believe the Elves to be evil, and themselves to be good. In fact, the Vo Mariken worship a demon who calls himself The Power. His sign is a mailed fist or a dagger dripping venom.
Lutic Nation is located at the First Waterfall on the White River. Its Elven name is lost to time. Their methodology of dealing with Elves and other humans involves flattery, begging, and kidnapping for ransom. They believe the Elves have great riches and power (both true), and that the Lutic have it so hard and rough that this justifies them lying and kidnapping to get some of the power and wealth they deserve.
Kingdom of Vensisray is located between Lutic and Bisan on the White River, and extends up into the Hills. It is at piece with Bisan, and at war with Lutic on occasion.
tualle (Elvish meaning ’servant’) live farther to the North than even the Tamiglotti or the Viscarii. When they arrived, they begged the Elves to rule them. The Elves refused. The tualle lay down on their doorsteps, and offered to be servants. The tualle monasteries live and die at the direction of the Elves who still try to get the tualle to go their own way. These monasteries are filled with Nim’ohtar or paladins, and high craftsmen who have relatively little to do with the rest of humanity. They are probably the most prosperous, and holy of the Humans, but they live and die by Elven word and Elven law. Most find this agreeable, and the ones that don’t are able to get good jobs as skilled warriors or craftspeople further south.
Lissenen ar’ maska’lalaith tenna’ lye omentuva
Sweet water and light laughter till next we meet
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:30, Sat 08 Sept 2007.
