Elves

THE ELVES

The elves represent the first born race of the eldest immortal of the world of Kailie. When the world was new, the elves were one race united and were the only sentient race, meaning the only race with speech and civilization. This continued for nearly three thousand years before the birth of the other sentient races.

As the elves spread across the mainland of Kailie, they domesticated animals and settled as any race would. Being long-lived, they have a naturally low birthrate and did not place much strain upon the land.

In ancient times, the only threats to elvish civilization came from angry wildlife, such as wolves and dire platypi (an ancient species long since irradicated). As elvish control spread, great towers were constructed to show the dominance of the elves over the land. These towers formed the centers of government, with the various Lords of the Towers being, in effect, near royalty in their local domains.

The first great schism among the elves was a direct result of these towers construction. The more traditional of the elves, led by Amanis Woodcrafter, believed that the elves had no business building towers and altering the natural order of the world. The more modern elves, led by Alahandra Banewulf, believed in the future of the elven race as guardians of the world, not merely residents on its face. With the sides thus drawn, war was inevitable. The so called "wild-elves" took to the Havenwood, blocking the forest and denying entry to the so called "high-elves" (who arrogantly refer to themselves only as "elves"). Forming a new school of magic through their music, they defended the forest not through violence, but by erasing memory of the wild-elves from the rest of the elves.

After the schism which seperated the wild-elves from the elves, the next great crisis among the elves was being prepared. The Lord of Order, Duuktsaryth, had created lesser immortals to flesh out his world. While in theory this was an excellent idea, in reality this lead to the creation of other sentient races, each of which believed it should have a larger role in this new world. While at first this was of no consequence, eventually this led to small wars between the long lived elves and the lesser races. These skirmishes led to the fortification of the Towers, and the installing of warlords with much greater authority. The Lord of the Western Tower in particular took his role as Defender of the Elven Lands very seriously. A small village outside his lands was sacked by gnoll raiders, who carried off the entire population of the village. The captured elves were eventually taken to the arid lands of Xandria, there to serve the gnoll Pharoah for all time as slaves.

With this tremendous failure, the first true defeat faced by the elves, the Lord of the Western Tower took great pains to find stronger defences for his lands. With great care, he studied the ancient works of the greatest mages and discovered that he could unleash powers untold... with some sacrifice. His first attempt at this power caused an explosion that rocked the land for miles in every direction, lowering the terrain such that a swampy marsh was created south and west of his tower, and the areas to the east were levelled into a gentle, low-height plain. While this plain would be fertile ground in later days, this second defeat is generally cited as the moment that the Lord of the Tower, Rathamar of the West, finally snapped. His madness took a heavy toll on his lands, and with his next experiment he did find superior powers, but was forever damned as a member of the undead. He and his entire garrison descended into cold evil, and his proclamation of himself as "Rath Khan, Emperor of Kailie" went largely unheeded, as his lands held little of the elvish population it had formerly born. It is rumored this great power was granted by Taigis, the Elvish God of Chaos, but this cannot be confirmed because no elves survived the transformation, and the worship of Taigis has been taboo since the birth of the elves.

Some of the new gods, unwilling to create their own races and jealous of the power of the elves, created a plan. This plan, centered on Portia and Alessandra, led to the final crisis of the elves. These goddesses, intent on the downfall of the elves, began to whisper dreams of power, lust, greed and self-centrism into the minds of the elves. The Lord of the Eastern Tower fell prey to this evil, and his mind was warped by the thoughts thus planted. His followers quickly fell into line and launched a massive war against the remaining tower to the South. This power was nearly unstoppable, and the remaining followers of the Lord of Order prayed fervently for help. As their tower was under siege, the first response to the prayers was felt: a great grove of trees grew to surround the Southern Tower, and the Lord of this tower knew that his prayers were answered. This grove repelled those seeking to enter it. However, this grove had the unintended consequence of locking those within the tower, unable to flee beyond the grove. These elves eventually died within the tower, cursing the very grove that had grown to protect them.

As the dark-elves, as they were now known, began their sack of the villages surrounding the Southern Tower, Alahandra Banewulf began her greatest plea to her god. And with this final entreaty, the Lord of Order took notice of the plight of his people. Casting a fiery mountain down on the Eastern Tower, he caused the tower to become little more than a crater in the ground. Those remaining dark-elves quickly took to hiding among the ruins, where they eventually founded and built a city among the ruins: Malveillant. The remains of the Eastern Tower is again a dark and evil place, with many still plotting the day the dark-elves will again challenge the elves for supremacy among the elvish races.

In modern times, the four branches of the elves are a cornerstone of nearly all areas of the world of Kailie, and with the opening of the Havenwood to outsiders, much has changed. The wild-elves have become followers of Amelia the Good Goddess, a nature-driven religion based securely in the world of the forests and known as "Eclat". The high-elves (or "elves") remain followers of Kylin, but have become xenophobic, fearing that the other races of Kailie seek their destruction. The dark-elves still plot and connive to conquer the world through guile, and the forsaken Xandrian elves remain in slavery to the gnolls of Lisht.