Elderwood

Elderwood is the forest realm of the Wood Elves. It is located just north of the Ederan Highlands and is ruled by various Lords, Ladies, Chiefs and Councils of the Wood Elf people. Druidism is by far the dominant spiritual practice in Elderwood. The Wood Elf Clans vary in type and relations both to one another and to the outside world. As the Clans exist in communes, city states and forager tribes, they do not swear fealty to one leader.

The Schism
After a civil war in the Fey, the followers of Queen Quessira (a people known as the Tel'Quessir and later named elves by the Valamari), were exiled into the mortal plane. They arrived by white ships in the sky and drifted down into the Arcantide Sea. The elves and their gnome companions now faced the limited lives of mortals in the physical plane, where their powers over the world were diminished and their future grim.

The elves and gnomes debated upon their ships from the Fey how they should react, what they should do in the face of this terrifying condition they found themselves in. This debate lasted weeks, while Queen Quessira managed to preserve peace and keep the various sides from coming to blows. The three main proposed courses of action were as thus: Return to the ways of the Eladrin and Gwynwra in the hopes that they will receive mercy and be allowed to ascend once more to immortality, embrace the new reality as the order that Quessira sought all along and rejoice in victory, or seek a new source of power even greater than the arcane in the form of warlock-craft. The first option was proposed by the sisters Bithana, Arathana, Dagwyn, Ravahana, Anheim and Fafiel. These six elven women were the daughters of Queen Quessira, and held immense power both social and magical. They denounced the arcane methods of magic their mother had practiced which led to their exile and broke their wands, leading to many doing the same and joining them. By denouncing arcana, the Six Sisters limited their magical use to druidism, which was in their belief the true manifestation of Gwynwra as it maintains a perfect balance of the natural elements. This was despite the Eladrin belief that Gwynwra is the goddess of Arcana. When Lord Maelon betrayed the Queen, sparking the elven schism, the followers of the Sisters fought violently against the other elves. When the fighting had gone on too long, Lady Ravahana used her druidic powers to raise the sea and split the boats between north (followers of druidism) and south (followers of arcana).

It was then that the Sisters and their followers called themselves Tal'Sylvarn (elvish for Woodland People) and dwelt in the Elderwood to the north.

The Early Wood Elves
The elven clans that sided with the Six Sisters and became the Wood Elf people would become a mostly tribal people. They rejected civilization as it destroyed the natural state of the world and corrupted hearts with greed. If they were to restore the virtue of the elven people in the way of Gwynwra, civilization would not be the way. Instead, they formed societies of hunter-gatherers which would wander the Elderwood and live off the land's abundance of natural resources. So as to not upset the natural balance, the wood elves lived by a rule called Pach Ilada. Pach Ilada meant that no more should be taken by the People than they need to survive, and no animal should be harmed without their death serving a greater purpose in the cycles of life.

The greatest of these forager tribes were the noble tribes, who attracted many members due to their origins; each of the noble tribes was founded by one of the Six Sisters. Although decisions in Tal'Sylvarn tribes were made by the group consensus, it was undeniable that the opinions of the Sisters held considerably more weight than most in their tribes. When unsolvable dispute broke out, members in the minority would leave their tribe and either join another (as there were countless tribes in the woods) or start a new one. No Wood Elf had much in the way of permanent personal possessions as the results of their foraging would be shared by the tribe as a whole. If one starved, it was because all starved. Even without disputes, elves would change tribes frequently as they moved with the will of their individual clan (immediate family). This way of life made the Tal'Sylvarn at peace and harmony with both each other and their environment. The druidic lives of the Wood Elves attracted attention from The Fey. Cydbwysedd, a powerful faerie, appeared to the Six Sisters and praised them for leading the People into a moral and balanced life of druidism. He bestowed greater druidic knowledge upon the Sisters and blessed their bloodlines with the primal Fey energies that would ensure their continuity. The Sisters grew antlers, symbolic of their relationship with the Antlered Lord, and their blood became Gwae'da (good blood).

Eventually, the Sisters died and their bodies became one with the earth. The date of the death of each Sister marks the Dywrnodd Tryst (day of lamentation) of her associated community, upon which all foraging ceases and the elves pause in silence to remember their lost spiritual leader. The descendants of the Sisters carried on their Gwae'da, which is particularly distinguishable by their antlers, and the social status that comes with that.

The Dragons and the Humans
When the Dragon Wars came to the north east, the wood elves were enslaved by the powerful Dragon Lord Mithrilin the Green. Wood Elf sorcerers proved invaluable in the fell dragon's wars against other dragons and their hordes of Loktheiren barbarian slaves. These wars brought humans and elves into contact for the first time in history. Originally, their positions as enemies on the battlefield bred animosity between the races, which was in no small part encouraged by the Dragon Lords. But as the might of the dragons diminished, the two peoples began to recognize their real enemy. The elven lord and sorcerer Wranfir Dagwyn married in secret from the dragons with the human sorcerer Sìonag and the two managed to form an alliance against the dragons. The armies of Wood Elves and Loktheiren drove out the dragons which they far outnumbered and Wranfir himself slew Mithrilin with the Spear of Kins, crafted by humans and enchanted by elves.

Humans were somewhat distrustful of the mysterious elves but more than that they were amazed by their grace and curious about their magical abilities, calling them the Elder Ones. Wood Elves began to teach the ways of the druids to their new neighbors to the south. Yet, the druids became frustrated with the ineptitude with which the humans took up their teachings. Putting it down to human inferiority, Wood Elves interacted less and less with humans and called their blood Anan'da (Bad Blood). Those elves who fraternized with humans were often ridiculed. The noble clan of Dagwyn hid the burial site of Wranfir out of shame that one of their own mated with a human. His children were social outcasts and his line soon diminished to the most lesser of the noble clans.

The Rise of the Gwae'da
The six noble clans gained further power after the defeat of the dragons, as people flocked to them for protection from the dangers of the world. It was during this time that some of the tribes gave full leadership to the Gwae'da Lords and Ladies, who then began to build more permanent settlements so that they could store resources and defend themselves more effectively. This led to the construction of the three wood elven tree cities of Elderwood: Maewaha of the Anheim, Elyan'esari of the Bithana and Arathana, and finally Nythenbelle of the Ravahana, Fafiel and Dagwyn.

This gave rise to new social conditions. The Gwae'da formed a new hierarchy, with themselves as the undisputed leaders of the Tree Cities and the controllers of their resources. Armies of elven Wardens were formed to defend the cities. Personal property, wealth and status was introduced to wood elf culture. Orders of Green Knights, similar to Valamari Paladins, were formed in service to each of the noble clans. The Tree Cities were the only limited forms of civilization in the east of the mainland, but while most wood elves welcomed the protection they provided, many rejected them as an affront to druidism and worse yet, to Pach Ilada. And so, apart from the elitist Gwae'da societies, Wood Elven forager tribes continued to persist in great numbers. But there also arose a third kind of wood elf society. Started by ambitious minor clans, wood elf communes in an attempted imitation of the Tree Cities began to pop up. Made up of clan-based households usually each housing a mother, her children and their spouses, these societies are still organized socially like a tribe in that decisions are made by all members of the commune. A Chief is appointed to safeguard the stored food and other resources collected by the commune but their position isn't one of power so much as service. It is the Chief's job to distribute resources to the rest of the commune, often at their own expense. In these societies, smaller clans with more able bodied foragers share their gathered resources with the larger and less able bodied clans (usually those with children) as one's ability to consume is not valued nearly as much as one's ability to provide. Hunters go out in bands from these societies and act both as foragers and as small militias.

The Valamari Invasion
When the Valamari Empire spread into the east, declaring war on the Ettarian Tribes, the Gwae'da met in Elyan'esari to debate the prospect of joining the war. It was Nalornn Bithana who was able to convince the other Lords and Ladies that the Empire would surely come for them next if they defeat the Ettarians. Lord Nalonn then formed the Wild Hunt, a combination of the armies of the Tree Cities, with volunteers from the various tribes and communes of Elderwood. The druids also recruited beasts and spirits of the wood, including dryads, forest giants, sprites and others. At first, the Valamari would not even notice the elven attacks against them. Garrisons at positions like Fort Mador (located in a place now known as the Elfwood because of frequent disappearances of Imperial Legion forces to elven arrows) would go missing over night, and investigators of the strange disappearances would never return. The elves used hit and run tactics, here with the Ettarians and there apart from them, till the Legion was pulled out of Ettaria. It was during this peace time that an Illindorian man named Ailnothus made contact with the druid Lord Glynwarin Anheim in the city of Maewaha. He proved, unlike the previous encounters with humans, to be highly intelligent and showed great druidic promise. It was for this reason that Gylynwarin taught him the ways of the elves. Ailnothus proved so great a student that it is rumored he even managed to walk through the Fey. For this he became known as Ailnothus Elf Friend. The Anheim Clan allied with Ailnothus, and the clans of Nythenbelle soon followed. It was the Elyan'esari clans, however, who denounced this alliance as dangerous to the future of Elderwood and split the Wild Hunt in two.

Ailnothus had also made contact with the High Elves of Mal'aran and they too had mostly allied with him. There were those in Mal'aran who still held animosity towards the Empire, though, and they joined with Lord Nyvorlas Arathana against Ailnothus.