Historicae Elvenas Northam

Historicae Elvenas Northam

During the early years of the world, when the ground was still sweet and the air still soft, there was a stirring in the Northern Lands. In the sacred grove where the lights of the north spring forth every eve, a crack had formed in the ground. And from this crack a spring leapt forth gushing and gurgling pure. And the light of the heavens and the waters of the deep came together and the breath of heaven blew upon them and churned them and the first Elvenkind began to swim in the pool.

The first elves were Calab and Genevi. They swam in the cool waters of the pool, their glowing white hair and their shining copper skin reflecting and casting light throughout. And from the light the walls began to glow with shining shells and animals as the pair churned the waters with their swimming. And soon there were more elves in the waters of the pool.

For three generations the elves simply lived contently, swimming in the pool of the sacred glade, forever contented by basking in the lights of the northern sky and living off the lights of the stars, multiplying in number daily. But then the day of the great error came. A young elf named Natenil waded closer and closer to the shores of the pool, and then finally pulled himself out of the water and into the strong sunlight.

Natenil was soon standing and then walking as he grew stronger and stronger thanks to the light of the sun and moon. All the elves marveled that such a thing could be done and soon more and more left their home of the sacred pool and went upon the dry lands. But being naturally water beings, the elves were perpetually thirsting for water. Yet they found none as sweet as that of the sacred pool.

The elves had learned in their home beneath the pool, that they could drink the light of the stars, the sun, and the moon, into their skin and hair. Then as they moved the light would flow back out of them into the world. They had learned how to prevent the flow of light and hold it in until they wished to release it. They had also discovered how to release light from only one part of the body such as their fingers or eyes.

They soon witnessed the mighty battles fought by the Centilhim and the Necrant and wishing to aid the side that protected the lights of the heavens, the elves’ one and only source of power, they began using their abilities of creating light to aid the Centilhim. They first crafted simple stones that they would direct their light into, then they began to harness the power of the moonlight directly into the stones themselves.

The sacred pool flowed down in a rushing river to the sea. And there upon the Bay of Coral, they built a magnificent city out of Moonstones. And the city shone night and day with the pale, dull light. And so all the elves began to grow in great number, making small homes around the city. Then the day of the first destruction came.

The wyrms, though repelled by the light of the stones, longed all the more to destroy the city and the Elvenkind. And so there was an attack launched upon the Great City of Moonstone. And the wyrms raised the city to the ground. All within were killed except for the high engineer’s three sons. They led the survivors onto the grassy steppes and founded the Southwestern canyon city of Messas, the Northwestern cliff city of Incaza, and the Eastern city of Genoeva. Genoeva was hidden upon a mountain surrounded on all sides by rivers, hedges of evergreen trees, and streams of fire that flowed from the heart of the earth.

And after thirty years of prosperity the wyrms once again attacked the land of the Elvenkind. The city of Incaza was completely destroyed, the remnants falling to the river below the cliffs. The city of Messas was partially destroyed and evacuated, the refugees fleeing to Genoeva. The last city of the Elvenkind was attacked, but the wyrms could not draw near. The waters of the rivers raised a curtain of mists, the streams of fire a veil of smoke, and so the wyrms could not draw near the magically protected lands of the last Elvenkind stronghold.

After these things, the elves began to build homes to live in on the wide grassy steppes of the northern lands. Soon the homes became villages, the villages became towns, and the towns became small cities. The elves built magnificent structures out of pearl and shell and white stone from beneath the riverbeds, always along the river routes, the streams serving as the roads of the cities. But there was always fear of the wyrms attacking once again and the memory of Genoeva grew dim in the minds of the younger generations. Then the brilliant engineer, Rogary the Illuminated, descendant from the founder of Messas invented the crystals of light.

Rogary the Illuminated crafted light stones out of crystals, who because of their structure and special qualities could enhance and focus the light into more powerful beams and illuminate greater areas. The Sun Crystals soon replaced all the Moonstones, and they proved to be of greater value still for the Void and its corrupted hordes could not draw near the light of the crystals.

Rogary also found that the greater light crystals were those who were purer. Soon the hunt for the Sun Crystals had begun and large Elvenkind mining expeditions and colonies were formed. They worked across the world but the stones and crystals were far and few to be found, veins only producing five to ten crystals each. Finally Rogary, under the direction of Natenil and his son, found a way of extracting impurities from the normal crystals they had to make artificial Sun Crystals.

The process has been lost to time, but it involved extracting the dark impurities that had seeped into the crystals from the Void itself, and transferring it through an elven to another crystal. Rogary and his four sons were the transferors and all the darkness was directed to a single crystal. But the process, while creating the best Sun Crystals in existence, also created the crystal of darkness and corrupted the engineer and his four sons, who became known as the Demented. This was the greatest shame of the history of the elves.

The Demented in crazed fervor attacked the city of Genoeva with shards of the dark crystal, driven by the Void and the wyrms of darkness. They were stopped by the trees, whose mystical barrier prevented the Demented from entering. They were driven off by the Centilhim guards and the dark crystal was taken into the deep places of woods, a guard of Immortals placed round about it.

But the Demented were not through and began to seek a way of releasing all Elvenkind from the birthbond, the bond with magic all elves are given at birth. In doing so darkness would be able to take hold and corrupt all the Elvenkind. So the Demented, now known as Yra-gor, Sunavlis, Laavort, and Siflert spread across the world and began seeking the doorways to the spirit world, from which the Necrant and the Centilhim entered the earth.

The Masters of the Elves sent the greatest warrior to stop them, but after his disappearance his young apprentice along with several friends went to stop the unlocking of the doors of the Void. The Elvenkind maid was Madeleine of the Ironsword, who gave her life in order to seal the doors forever and save her master. She is the greatest of the Elvenkind heroes and is remembered eternally in the Annals of the Elves, the Song of the Ironsword, the Temple of Aratta Turas, and her sacred relics which are kept by the Order of the White Blades.

Once the Necrant were hidden and the Centilhim departed or became men of Carolman, the Elvenkind grew and prospered. But the dark crystal was now the last of the doorways to the Void, and the Void began to leak from it. Until one day, an Immortal, standing too close, became sickened by the presence of the Void, fell forward and placed his hand on the crystal. The crystal bound itself to him and then ruptured and covered large sections of the land in darkness and shadow. The once glorious lands of light became known as the Shadelands, and only pockets of light remained. In the shade, abominations grew and thrived, wraiths abounded freely and wyrms grew strong and large. The city of Genoeva was forgotten, remaining the one untouched land of the Elvenkind.

Then the last engineer, a descendant of the founder of Genoeva and of Madeleine and Perrel, refounded the light stones. And synthesizing the Moonstones of old and the remaining Sun Crystals he discovered the true way of growing a light that was incorruptible and unstoppable, the Star Diamonds. He formed the first one and with it led the remaining Elvenkind to a new home beneath the seas.

Some returned briefly, to aid stray pockets of Elvenkind and lead them to the Sea Kingdoms, and some to plant new trees, seeds brought from the protective forest of Genoeva. And so the Elvenkind became the Seafolk and left the forest so that it could spread and grow and retake the lands of Shade. Some remained as new Immortals to guard the dark crystal, so that no one would ever touch it and release it again. Others remained in Genoeva and remained true to the old ways, hidden from the world.

Centuries passed and the Sea Kingdoms grew and prospered. The children of the Elves, the Ghulia, the Woodlings, and the Woad as the wondering Elvenkind who never journeyed to the grassy steppes were called, all prospered and grew. The Ghulia because of their Elvenkind blood grew great and built a mighty empire, trading with the Seafolk and aiding one another. The Woodlings continued on in the secret places of the encircling forest, with the Guardian Elfs. These were the descendants of the only fruitful Elven and Woodling marriage and who guarded the Woodlings. From the Woad came the greatest and worst of the Elvenkind peoples. The Woad who married humans, did not bring forth Ghulia but instead their children became the great human artisans and engineers. The rest of the Woad continued on their way for many generations until the corruption of ice.

The Guards of the Crystal were corrupted after several centuries and became the Sedna. The forest had spread out and the shade was almost completely overcome, when the crystal corrupted them. The Sedna also prospered and grew in their forested home. Then the day of the betrayal of man came about. A human stole a part of the crystal and used it to breech the walls of Carolman. The Sedna knew that the human would be corrupted by the crystal and then would die, killing him and destroying the crystal. But instead one of the last wyrms attacked, driven by the Void, and the crystal shard was thrown into the sea.

A woman was given the crystal and she became the first witch and Headcrone. Working through her, the Circle of witches was crafted by the void, the crystal shard never destroyed as its power was passed from Headcrone to Headcrone. Through her and her decendants many peoples were corrupted by the Void, including the Woad. They were turned from their nomadic ways to become the Ice Elves, their skins darkened by the icey wastes, their hair bleached by the eternal northern sun. They changed further, their nails becoming hooked claws and their teeth long and sharp as they began to eat the flesh of beasts. They were the Ice Elves who bound themselves to the service of the Silver Tower.

After the Great War of the Ice Sheet, some of the Ice Elves returned to the woods as guardians of the Woodlings, while most departed for the Southern Sea Kingdoms. The Sedna continued on their guardianship of the dark crystal, whose power diminished daily as the woods grew and the Void weakened. The Woodlings grew into the Kingdom of Valerian, becoming famous for their mages and magical prowess. The Old Guard, the remnants of the Guardian Elf and the Ice Elves protected the royal family of Holybrush for three centuries until the Kingdom fell to the invading armies of men, who accidentally set the woods on fire, killing many of the Woodlings. The remnants retreated deep into the woods of the world and there their numbers faded.

The Seafolk prospered in the Southern Lands, and mighty kingdoms were built, all under the rule of the Emperor of the Oceans. This was when the Southern Seas of the world was still sweet. The Seafolk grew in power and subjugated many people and the Silver Age of Elvenkind began. This is the history of the Elvenkind in the Northern Lands.