History of Elvendom

“In time, the Seven Wise Ones came to ponder the mysteries of the Heavens. Pursuing the true logic of the universe, they strove to provide their land paradise through grasping divinity itself. They were:
Imizael, Enlightened in Celestial Wisdom
Tanyth, Gilded One of Everlasting Beauty
Arianwyn, Conquerer of the Pure Flame
Elphas, Forgewright of the Idyll Design
Zenth, Who Preached False Prophecy
Aelgrim, Who Coveted Depraved Power
Myrin, Who Plotted Insidious Betrayal
Through the grace of the Transmutation they achieved the power of the Heavens, but the cruel machinations of the Dark Three corrupted even this apotheosis. With the devotion of the Elder People, their plots were driven back and the mantle of Eternal Lordship bestowed upon The Pantheon, our Gods, our Sovereigns, our Past, Present and Future.”

— Psalms of the Celestial Lord, Verses 31-42

The Elder Lands

The ancient Elves come from a lush continent to the southeast of the Westerlands, or so say their histories. The Elves called it Ellendia, or ‘The Elder Land,’ and for many millennia, the Elven people supposedly lived in harmony. The ancient Elves primarily lived in nomadic encampments of hunter-gatherers, but despite their technological weakness, they always had a talent for the workings of the universe. First painted on cave walls, then carved onto clay and stone tablets, the primitive Elves experimented with arithmetic that eventually gave rise to Arcane Magic.
Their discoveries would not last long in Ellendia, for their elders claimed that they must travel west to find a ‘sacred land.’ More cynical historians point to evidence of a deadly plague of heat that the fetid climes of Ellendia only nurtured as the true cause of the Elven migration, but regardless, by 2,500 BA they crossed the Greengrass River at a similar time as the Human tribes did the Spine mountains to the north.
Meeting with thick old growth forests and populations of Halflings, the ancient Elves used their command over Arcane Magic to create great bouts of magefire to clear the forests to make room for their people. This would spark off the centuries long Wars of Settlement on their end (See: History of the Painted Folk), resulting in vicious wars of retribution between Halflings and Elves. Through centuries of conflict though, the Elves thoroughly carved out their place in the southerly portion of the Westerlands, and a new split in their society began to form.
In Ellendia, the Elves preferred the nomadic lifestyle of hunting and gathering, but a new branch of thought emerged among many of their most accomplished arcanists. They encouraged settling down, carving settlements of wood and stone and living in permanent communities. Such began the split between the ‘High Elves,’ who were called such for their fortified hilltop towns, and the ‘Wood Elves,’ who were called such for their common nomadic excursions through and in the forests. The Wood Elves made a peace of sorts with the Halflings, but the High Elves continued to carve out space for their growing towns.
Tensions started to grow between the two groups of Elves over resources like fresh water and space for agriculture and animal grazing, but there was no full-scale war. Indeed, considerable cooperation still existed on the front of arcane development, as the Wood and High Elves each made discoveries that branched into separate theories of magic. It was this collaboration and spate of discoveries that would give way to the rise of the Seven Wise Ones, and the face of the earth would never be the same.

The Transmutation

By 1,900 BA, Elven society had mastered bronze, and advancement continued apace as smithies grew across the lands. The accomplishments in metallurgy were far overshadowed by those in magic though. The Elves had been developing deeper and deeper theorems, dedicating their entire venerable lifespans to understanding concepts that were far beyond the understanding of other Folk. Among all the researchers of the ancient society though, seven stood above all else. Four came from the hilltops, Arianwyn, Imizael, Elphas and Tanyth, and three from the woodlands, Myrin, Zenth and Aelgrim. Each of these Seven Wise Ones had become archmagi in their own rights, channeling uniquely gifted minds with new breakthroughs. Each of them came to a similar realization at a point in their centuries long studies, believing in a final equation called the ‘Transmutation.’ The Transmutation was a massive seven-part spell that could liberate the arcanist’s mind from the psychological chains that held them from understanding the true logic of the universe. If this Transmutation was to be completed, they theorized that it would give the arcanist an unparalleled, god-like command over magic.
Over a period of decades, the Seven sought each other out, comparing notes and debating specific aspects of the spell. Eventually they came to the realization that it would be possible, but only if they worked together. So, on that fateful day, 2295 years from the present day, all of the Seven Wise Ones gathered at a desolate place they believed was the exact center of the world and began their casting. Seven days and seven nights they chanted and seven days and seven nights they concentrated.
It was on that fateful seventh night, when their bodies were giving way to exhaustion, that the Transmutation occurred. The shockwaves could be felt across the cosmos as the fabric of reality itself was touched for the first time in any creature’s memory. Many traveled from all across the lands to see what had happened. They were greeted with power so immense that they could do nothing but bow.
At least, these are the flowery recollections of the Elves. All scholars have to go by are the sacred texts of the Pantheon and Zenthism, which paint a similar picture of the time before and during the Transmutation. Each text extols its particular patron, whether it be the foresight of Zenth, the courage of Arianwyn, the patience of Imizael, the guidance of Tanyth, the creativity of Elphas, the dedication of Aelgrim, or the cunning of Myrin. Clearly though, these arcanists accomplished an incredible feat, one that lended itself easily to claims of godhood.
Of course, the texts sharply turn to reproach the side of the Seven they believe evil once the glory of the moment passes. Some grew jealous of the others' power, their wisdom in knowing exactly how it should be used and for what ends. Jealousy soon lent itself to covetousness, and they plotted to usurp their fellows. Beyond these propagandized stories, few can truly say what transpired among the Seven in the wake of their victory over the laws of magic though. Soon after, they split along ethnic and ideological lines, with the Wood Elven three returning to their people’s encampments as the High Elven four did the same to the towns.

War of the Seven

When the Seven returned to their peoples, they used their newfound arcane might to impress upon the people their insurmountable power. Even accomplished magi and lords were dwarfed utterly and entirely by their power, and awe gave way quickly to worship. The Elves, always having maintained a rationalist view of the world by their own traditions, were strangers to the power of Faith, but the reverence they displayed for their new gods outweighed any other, and they began to wield the newfound magic that grew among them.
The Wood Elven Three did not claim the mantle of divinity exactly though. Instead, electing Zenth as their spokesperson, they portrayed themselves as prophets of the universe’s will, who could nurture the Elven people into true spiritual enlightenment if they only followed their teachings to the hilt. Zenth preached that the High Elves had grown heady with hubris, and their Four needed to be stopped lest they usurp their power and tyrannize over the less centralized Elves of the Wood.
The High Elven Four, by contrast, portrayed themselves as divine, and encouraged the deification of their recently-mortal persons. Instead of spiritual enlightenment, they offered earthly paradise, claiming they would build the world into the heaven that the Elven people deserved, filled with luxury and peace, if they would only follow their will. The Wood Elven Three, they claimed, would break down their settled society and destroy it out of envy for their accomplishments.
Regardless of their individual doctrines, the course was clear. War would erupt among the Elder people, and it would last until only one side remained. The two sides took years to marshal their forces into being, but by 1895 BA, they had assembled armies with their command of magic and forces of personality, and met at a clash known as the Battle of Gods.
Thousands of Elves, the very best warriors and mages that their generation had to offer, charged at one another at a ford of the Elder River, where the city of Illis Vahadell resides today. The fighting was brutal, with no quarter taken on either side.
The Wood Elves were outnumbered among both the Seven and their mortal troops, but even so they had no choice but to take the field for fear that the High Elven armies would grow greater by the day. The nomadic people of the woodlands were simply fewer in raw population than the settled townspeople of the hilltops, and possessed a disadvantage in the fields of metallurgy. Still, it would be the arcane that decided the day, not bronze.
As the stories go, Zenth led the charge against the High Elven Four, Myrin and Aelgrim at their sides. Legends are spun about the mind-boggling feats of magic that were unleashed that day, devastating the landscape around the battle for as far as the eye could see. The struggle raged on for hours, but by the time the sun neared setting, the tide had turned decisively against the Wood Elves.
What happened when the tide turned is sharply contested between accounts. In the High Elven account, once Zenth’s strength faltered, Aelgrim and Myrin abandoned them, leaving their leader to die in order to save their own skins, Aelgrim leading the remaining troops to disgraceful retreat while Myrin made a cowardly escape, supposedly remaining a thorn in the High Elven side even now.
The Wood Elven account is that Zenth, seeing the battle turn, urged Myrin and Aelgrim to escape to save their people from the Four’s retaliation, pledging to hold off the Four for as long as they could. Zenth’s companions refused until their lord threw them back with a wave of magic and charged into the fray once more to inevitable doom.
Regardless, the end result was similar. Zenth died in an explosion of energy that left a burning crater on the battlefield, Aelgrim led the remaining Wood Elven troops to retreat to evacuate their people, and Myrin disappeared, never to be seen again. The triumph was clear, and the High Elves had won the Battle of Gods.
The High Elven Four, now calling themselves the Pantheon, did not pursue Aelgrim or Myrin personally. The lesson was clear, the remaining lords were completely and utterly defeated and their retreat only cemented that fact. In their words, light had triumphed over dark, and the night could never hope to win against the day. From that day forth they branded the Wood Elves as ‘Dark Elves’ and their three leaders as ‘The Dark Three.’
Fearing retribution and refusing to ever bow to the whims of the Pantheon, the Wood Elves panicked, and looked to their last remaining lord, Aelgrim, for leadership. Aelgrim commanded that they escape the Elven lands, for they would never be safe while under the Pantheon, and so the vast majority of the Wood Elves went north, to an uncertain future.

The Pantheon

In the wake of the victory against the Dark Three, the Pantheon gathered in the place of their battle to decide the shape of things to come. As the stories go, they engaged in spirited discussion for days before deciding to form the Eternal Lordships. Each of the Pantheon was granted dominion over an area befitting their expertise.
Tanyth took the shores of the southeast, the lands of Anshara, for her own, aiming to explore the seas and reap their bounty for Elvendom. Elphas took the mountains of the northeast, the lands of Erebelle, with the goal of sharpening his knowledge of craftsmanship to create the foundations for their new society. Arianwyn took to the west, what the Elves called Lyalion, to be the sword and shield against any who might menace their people. Finally, Imizael took the center of the Elven realms, termed Mathan, and in it he would build Illis Vahadell to serve as the capital for all, a glorious shining city.
From here, the now Eternal Lords departed to their future realms, taking those High Elves who wished to serve their personal divinity with them. While the Eternal Lords would occasionally visit one another or even fight side by side in important wars, it would seem they became distant from one another. Especially the Forge Lord Elphas, who preferred the solitude of his volcanic smithy to the duties of godhood. Still, despite any rumored differences, the Eternal Lords remained a unit, four collected together in a single pantheon.
To the lament of scholars, almost all the knowledge held about the Elven Lords comes from their own sacred texts, which all make them seem more powerful than the rest. Precious few independent accounts of interactions with them exist, let alone of their histories before the Transmutation and after. One point of inquiry that has never been fully satisfied is the matter of their immortality. With the exceptions of Aelgrim and Arianwyn, how the remaining Eternal Lords have survived far longer than any Elf, archmagi or not, remains a mystery to those who doubt their ‘godhood.’

Foundation of the Shining City

“LORD IMIZAEL
CELESTIAL LORD OF MATHAN
CREATOR OF THE SHINING CITY
THE THREE EYED GOD"

— Epithets of Imizael carved into the gates of Illis Vahadell

Imizael proclaimed that he would build the future of the Elven civilization from the ashes of the Battle of Gods. With months of work and thousands of laborers, he carved out a massive lake and an island at its center from the crater Zenth’s death left behind, and began work on bridges spanning the length. It would take many centuries for the island to grow into what the Celestial Lord dreamed of, but for now it lay on the center of the Elder River and the trade routes east and west, an ideal location.
As Elves began to settle on Illis Vahadell and establish the nucleus of Mathan, Imizael laid out his teachings in a series of lectures that his priests termed the Psalms of the Celestial Lord. These psalms would grow over time into a proper holy text, one that would guide the faithful of the Lord for millenia to come and become the anchor of the faith.
The Celestial Lord mainly focused on perfecting Illis Vahadell during this early period of rulership. Ensuring the efficacy of irrigation, population growth, and construction, effectively utilizing the advancements in metallurgy and trade that Elphas and Tanyth brought to all the realms respectively. The Lord was far more of a micromanager, and it was far from uncommon for him to oversee individual projects rather than delegating it to underlings.
As the years wore on, Imizael drew down their direct efforts, and the larger Illis Vahadell seemed to grow the less he interfered. When the final psalm was penned in 1734 BA, culminating the divine teachings that he was so dedicated to, it is said that he grew a magical third eye in the center of his forehead, supposedly achieving a greater apotheosis than the other Lords, earning the epithet of the Celestial Lord.
It was here that Imizael began to set forth progeny to take up his earthly duties. His blood held divinity itself, the Lord claimed, and as such only those that carried it in their veins were fit to govern. From then on, a Privy Council would be assembled from the most able of Imizael’s descendants, the very best philosophers, officers, arcanists, priests and bureaucrats that Mathan had to offer. These councilors could be trusted to make decisions that were too lowly and temporal for Imizael’s godly self.
Nevertheless, Imizael still participated in formal governance to a degree by holding an annual Day of Judgement that any elf-blooded citizen could attend. During that day, the Lord offered to impartially adjudicate any dispute, no matter how small or large, and the Three Eyed God would be the court of final appeal in all lands he ruled over.
Though as many would argue, Imizael continued to exert just as much influence as he did before, simply in a different way, with the establishment of the Eyes of Imizael. An intelligence network of spies, assassins and saboteurs, the Eyes would execute the Lord’s will with great patience and subtlety. Their goal was to succeed with such finesse that none would know they were even involved.
While Mathan’s expansion was incredibly slow compared to the likes of Anshara, it invariably met success wherever it was aimed due to the Eyes' careful work. The bloodless fall of Tahrur and overall massive expansion happened over the course of centuries, if not millennia, but it accommodated the peaceful and prosperous growth of Illis Vahadell and its satellite towns and cities.
By the time of the Nevarine Empire, Illis Vahadell had become the largest city on Elysium, a title it holds to this day. With the workforce of Anshara, the craftsmanship of Erebelle, and the spoils of Lyalion, the city ballooned massively, led by the steady governance of The Privy Council and the watchful eyes of the Celestial Lord. Expanding trade across continents only increased the city’s economic and political primacy.
The city’s residents benefit from magic in their everyday life. Imizael claims he invests a considerable portion of his own arcane might into maintaining all the wonders that Mathanites delight in, such as quality education (encapsulated in the world famous Celestial University), public transportation, instant communication services, lavish welfare programs, and spacious public parks for enjoyment.
Of course, the citizens of Mathan are also well aware of the close watch that the Eyes of Imizael pay to any and all goings on in Lordship. In the city especially, the punishments for crimes are incredibly brutal, and those who aren’t elf-blooded are often targeted by the Eyes’ sweeps to root out seditious activity. Public executions, humiliations and summary deportations are common to remind the citizenry of the cost of their luxuries.
Even so, Illis Vahadell is widely reputed as the richest and most comfortable place to live in the whole world. Elves enthralled by its glories spend decades just to apply for a permanent citizenship. Those who detest the Lordships, however, often call it a suffocating open air prison, where you could never truly be safe. Such persons tend not to be Elves or otherwise elf-blooded, though.
For their part, The Privy Council recruits mainly from the higher echelons of the civil service, military, and The Celestial University. Being a full Elf is no requirement, as any those descended from the Eternal Lord, bearing the deep purple eyes of royalty, have the right to participate in high governance. The Council are constant proponents of maintaining the status quo over the centuries, endorsing few drastic changes.
The Privy Council rules from the Divine Spire itself, a tower that touches the very clouds, where the highest rung is inhabited solely by the Eternal Lord himself and his closest attendants. It is the highest honor an Elf in Mathan can attain, and though many dedicate their lives towards personally serving their Lord, only a very rare few gain that honor.

Rise of the Gilded Empire

“LORD TANYTH
GILDED LORD OF ANSHARA
SOVEREIGN OF THE SOUTH
THE GOD OF SHAPES"

— Epithets of Tanyth carved into the gates of Kaathlin

Following the formation of the Pantheon, Tanyth departed to the southeast with her followers, ending her trek at the small fishing village of Kaathlin and declaring it to be the beginning of her efforts. With her magic, she worked to carve the land and waters around the village to produce the perfect natural harbor, and constructed a perfect galley with which to set sail.
According to the Canon of Lord Tanyth, her priesthood’s sacred text, she then explored all the wide reaches of the world from sea to shining sea. From the polar winds of Volya to the swamps of Ellendia and as far as the Iceclaw Straits, she sailed and surveyed the lands before her. Returning after a decade of travel, she declared that all of the southerly lands would know the beneficence of her divinity.
Tanyth ventured out with traders and merchants of all types, primarily to the eastern coastlines of Olifia. There, she charmed (supposedly using only her mundane talents) the local Zori, Sepida, Humans and Coatl into agreeing to exchanges of goods and ideas. Wealth and prosperity could be shared by all, if only they worked together, she proclaimed. She carried this message to the shores of Ellendia as well, reconnecting with the Elves who stayed behind in their ancestral homelands in a gesture of Elven comradery.
As far as any could tell, no waves of conquest would be forthcoming from Tanyth, as much as the peoples of Olifia feared what might come from a so-called goddess asking to trade with them. Instead, the works of the Elves were exchanged with the works of Olifians, and with a growing fleet of galleys, a wellspring of trade slowly bloomed through the sea.
Over the years, Kaathlin grew into a bustling, wealthy port city. While it lacked the luxuries of Illis Vahadell, the city was far less cloistered and picky about who it allowed to settle, and there were no Eyes to menace any potential trouble makers. Indeed, Kaathlin became a hub for all manner of cultures, though Elves remained politically and economically dominant. The goods and trade that Tanyth funneled through Kaathlin fueled the development of the other Lordships as well.
Little wonder it was that here she was proclaimed the Gilded Lord, for giving prosperity to all Elves. It was also at this point, at around 1600 BA, that she disappeared from the public eye. For years, it was said that she turned her gaze away from matters of governance and leadership, and towards other endeavors. For a time, her priesthood ruled in her absence, but after some decades, Tanyth reemerged with a new outlook on life and goveranance. The Canon states that on her travels during this absent period she discovered lost secrets of the universe, ones that granted her a power beyond that of the other Eternal Lords and one that made her focus on cosmic matters over the material.
From then on, the Lord invited all manner of personages from across the globe to visit her and her court, but especially those with burning passions. Artists, inventors, philosophers, even revolutionaries. Enemy or ally, it made no difference to Lord Tanyth, only that they enraptured her with their life works and stories.
Many of these courtly guests left singing praises of her hospitality, even those opposed to her rule, but many more stayed and became fixtures at her court. She has always been recorded as a charming woman, and those who entertained her reaped great rewards by remaining her favorites in Kaathlin. Indeed, as judged by the golden eyed children who were brought up in her court over the millennia, some of these courtiers of the Gilded Lord enjoyed great favor.
Yet, unlike Imizael, Tanyth did not delegate matters of governance to those descendants she had. Instead, she declared that while she would remain the god and final authority over all things in the Lordship, the people would have her divine grace to rule in matters that did not require her attention. In 1435 BA, she formed the High Parliament, an institution that would hold elections from the elf-blooded property-owning citizenry of Kaathlin.
From that year forth, the Parliamentarians would come together in an assembly in the city in order to decide the day to day course of the Lordship. From their members, they would select a Chancellor, a figure who would serve a term of ten years, subject to the Lord’s approval, and lead the body in introducing legislation and moderating debate.
Every decade, Tanyth herself would address High Parliament and set forth what priorities the Lordship should engage in until her next address. While they were bound by her commands, the Parliamentarians found over time that the interpretation of how to go about said tasks was firmly in their grasp. As far observers can tell, Tanyth avoids micromanagement and allows her Parliament to act in a manner they find prudent.
By the time of the Nevarine Empire, the mercantile ventures in Olifia began to show a different face. The local rulers of the coastline were thoroughly sedated by the prosperity and luxury that Elven trade brought them, and while they maintained formal independence, the whims of the traders from Kaathlin began to fully determine their fortunes. Eventually, they were all presented with supposedly very generous terms of annexation, wherein they would retain their on-paper authority and wealth so long as they bowed to High Parliament's commands.
A scant few of these local rulers refused, mainly those of the Zori, but many more accepted, and it was here that Elven settlers and Elven governors came to permanently roost on the continent. Old cities were renamed, native peoples were forced by economic necessity to leave and work in the Lordships themselves, and those that remained found themselves steadily becoming second class citizens in their own homes.
It did not take long for rebellion to break out against the slow assimilation of their homeland, which was swiftly crushed by both Elven soldiers and newly raised native auxiliaries. By now the truth of the millennia long Elven gestures of trade and friendship became clear, as Tanyth herself declared the ‘Protectorate of Anshara’ over half of the entire continent of Olifia, supposedly to ‘uplift’ the natives to the Elven standard of civilization.
Today, Anshara has grown massively, easily the largest of all the Lordships, with Kaathlin becoming the second largest city in Elysium, behind only Illis Vahadell, and being far more demographically diverse than it to boot. The aptly titled Gilded Lord is also considered to be the richest individual in Elysium, with the banks and corporations of the Lordship holding sway far beyond its own borders.
The city is also famed for immaculate hygiene, as any waste, filth or corpses are dumped into the advanced sewer system beneath. Operating off a complex enchantment, Kaathlin boasts that its sewers incinerate the detritus of the massive city without polluting land or sea. In addition, it operates as an efficient method of execution, and any foolish enough to commit serious crimes in Kaathlin find themselves thrown into the sewers below to be disposed of.
Equally, the city is known for being built under what the locals call the 'Eternal Spring,' a giant swell of groundwater, supposedly blessed by Tanyth herself, granting incredibly clean and freely accessible drinking water. It is said that those impious and heretical fall ill if they drink of the Eternal Spring, but the pious and faithful of Tanyth enjoy perfect health and a long life. Indeed, no epidemics of disease have ever been reported from Kaathlin.
The High Parliament has become split between two factions, the more recent being the Aurics, who represent the growing mercantile class advocating for increased corporate power and expansion of the voting franchise to all elf-blooded citizens, regardless of property. The old establishment are the Azures, who represent the landholding aristocracy and their interests of breaking corporate power and integrating the colonies with the central government. Each faction props up candidates in hotly-contested elections and advocates for their interests in legislative matters.
The influence of the Lordship has grown across the seas as well, with Olifia being the primary source of manual laborers and household servants that work as the lowest cogs in the Eternal Lordships. Raksaa has been increasingly taken over by the nominally independent Raksaa Trading Company, and to the east Ellendia’s wild rainforests have been all but tamed by the explorers and adventurers sent out from the Colonial Expeditionary Corps.

Works of the Titan God

“LORD ELPHAS
FORGE LORD OF EREBELLE
WARDEN OF THE EAST
THE TITAN GOD"

— Epithets of Elphas carved into the rockside of Dorandur[

Elphas journeyed to the east with the most capable of the Elven artisans, as the Spine Mountains were famous for their wealth of gems and metals. Though the Elves were slower in the study of metallurgy than Humans or Dwarves were, only having mastered bronze by the time iron was being worked on by their neighbors, Elphas was determined to change that. The famed smith aimed to create such marvels to strike all of Elvendom with awe. At least, that is what his priests put to history.
Unlike the other Eternal Lords, who penned or dictated their own holy texts, Elphas was a far more taciturn lord. The Code of Creation, half an artisan’s manual and half holy scripture, was written from the interpretations that his priests made of their lord’s works. He commanded that the faithful know him by his actions, not words alone, as he would change the very world they lived in.
The journey of Elphas and his artisan ended at a massive volcano nestled in the Spine. Naming it Dorandur, Elphas alone ventured inside, pushing on despite the volcano’s volatile nature. With weeks of work and an earth-shattering quake, the fires of Dorandur bent to the Lord’s will, and he claimed it as his first forge.
Elphas would go on to perfect the smelting of iron and the forging of steel, though the adoption by the slow-to-change Elven population would take some time. He began to set up, with the aid of his priesthood, the many foundries and smithies that would characterize the Lordship, establishing Erebelle as the hub of Elven innovation. Alchemists, smiths, tinkerers and mathematicians all congregated around the massive volcano to study and learn from one another and, of course, from the Forge Lord’s great works.
Trade routes to the other Lordships would blossom from Dorandur outwards, and satellite towns began to grow throughout the lands Elphas had claimed guardianship over. Smiths that trained at his knee went on to perform wonders in the creations of the burgeoning cities of Kaathlin and Illis Vahadell. In the latter city, Elphas himself was said to have worked with Imizael to design their many magical contraptions and luxuries. Their cooperation was memorialized in passages throughout the Psalms of the Celestial Lord and the Code of Creation.
However, as time wore on and the centuries marched on, the quiet god would retreat further from public view. His priests proclaimed that in his many years of innovation he had gained a more perfect understanding of cosmic logic than his peers, and ascended to a higher status of divinity than they could ever achieve. While his most trusted smiths would continue to visit his personal forge within Dorandur, the Lord himself was shut in, as far as any could tell.
Many rumors emerged about Elphas over his millenia of rule, in the absence of any firm knowledge like what exists of the other Eternal Lords. His priests call him the ‘Titan God’ and claim that he looms over all as a deific colossus, with skin as hard as steel and a grip as unyielding as stone. Scholars have contributed some private doubts as to whether any of this is true, and any hazy sightings during the destruction of Khizan gave very little to the imagination.
Regardless, in his absence his Artifex Conclave, the most accomplished of artisans there are, rule Erebelle. Among the Elven populations of the towns outside Dorandur and the Spine Mountains, their lives are fruitful. Erebelle operates as a meritocracy of innovation, where one’s worth to the state and status in society is tied to your ability as a creator of things. At first, this extended merely to smithed creations, but artists also hold high esteem of a sort. No nepotism or brutal trials exist to weed out the ‘truly worthy’ such as the other Lordships have, and many of the Conclave’s members came from quite humble beginnings.
However, the true power of Erebelle comes not from its inventors and contests of skill, but from the mines. The richest in all of Elysium, countless precious metals and gems have been hauled from the Spine Mountains, most especially the rich bounties of Dorandur itself. Millenia of brutal strip mining have left the Spine Mountains a blasted wasteland, where nothing grows for miles abound.
The mines themselves are staffed by the ‘indentured servants’ that pass through Anshara’s vast colonial empire, the product of an age-old agreement between gods. Treated as little better than chattel slaves once they pass through the idyllic towns of the Erebellan countryside, peoples from all across the world are forced into the mines, the air filled with smoke and the land ruined by ruthless extraction.
While in theory the workers are treated as the same as other ‘indentured servants’ in the Lordships who can work off their debts and become freemen, in Erebelle this has never been known to occur. They are sent into the mining shafts, but little else other than metals and gems come out, materials for the towns of Erebelle to refine into products that can fuel the Lordships. From the reports that have leaked out, scholars understand that being sent into the mines of Erebelle is often as good as a death sentence.
And yet it is not the worst of fates, for the supremely unlucky find themselves marched into Dorandur itself. The volcano is known to claim many victims over the years, with whispers that the unlucky servants are used for experimentation by the ever curious innovators under Elphas himself. Others rumor that the volcano is cursed, and the only way to stave off the apocalyptic eruption is for the Eternal Lord to feed hapless sacrifices into the fires within. The more rational scholars merely theorize that the dreadful reputation is due to the intense heat and toxic air within the volcano.
Despite the fearsome notoriety that the mines of Erebelle have gained beyond its borders, few can doubt their role in fueling the other Lordships. The military of Lyalion benefits from the high quality weapons and armor, especially with Erebelle’s relatively new but growing gunsmithies. The great cities of Mathan, especially Illis Vahadell, enjoy the magical contraptions that Elphas and his priest-smiths helped design. As well do the merchants of Anshara, who profit greatly off the wealth that trading the many manifold goods of Erebelle’s workshops provides. Of course what Erebelle demands the most in return for their wealth of exports is bodies to feed the hungry mines, a price they are readily paid.

March of the Conquering Host

“LORD ARIANWYN
PHOENIX LORD OF LYALION
CONQUEROR OF THE WEST
THE GOD OF ASHES"

— Epithets of Arianwyn carved into the Gates of Fire

Traveling west to a delta in the Elder River, Arianwyn took the lion’s share of the Lords’ armies with her to fashion a defensive bulwark. Naming the area Cahadell, she set about drilling her soldiers, designing fortifications and devising perfect orders of battle. To the west lay human settlements, but she did not act to make them hers. Instead, she turned her gaze south and east. In those early days, she eschewed a desire to rule lands herself, venturing out to fight battles to protect Elvendom from all manner of monsters.
The stories go that in that age the land was teeming with creatures so dangerous that the gods themselves could hunt them. The venerable Sandwyrms of the Zori commanded the Shifting Sands, chimeric monsters stalked the fetid climes of Ellendia, and most of all there was the Phoenix. An ancient set of beings, there had only ever been three of them scattered across the world. They were supposedly completely immortal and used that status to claim rulership from mortals cowering from their power.
Their pretensions at divinity only invited challenge, so the holy text of Arianwyn, the Litany of Cinders, claims. Arianwyn declared that she would lay low the delusions of the Phoenix and demonstrate true godhood. The Litany records many trials and journeys that their Lord underwent to seek out her quarry, but she did not attempt to kill the immortal creatures when she defeated them. Instead, she threw chains formed from pure arcane energy across them and dragged them together.
At the end of a century of efforts, at around 1700 BA, she had chained all three Phoenixes together before Cahadell, and with a powerful spell wrenched their blazing, still-beating hearts out and absorbed them. With a thunderous explosion, Arianwyn and the Phoenixes erupted into flames, leaving nothing but ashes to fall on the land below. Many of her Elven faithful were shocked, and in the silent absence of their god, wailed and wept for her apparent death.
Some remained devoted, however, and prayed at the heap of ashes left before them. Three days and three nights passed before the ashes rose into the air and erupted once more, a blazing, incandescent figure floating before the gathered faithful. The heat was impossibly intense, and those that didn’t recoil from the sight were burned by the sheer power.
Arianwyn flew east, returning the next day in a sealed metallic suit of armor molded to resemble the Elf she once was, apparently crafted by the Forge Lord Elphas himself. The armor was fashioned to keep the great fires within at bay, not for her sake but for the safety all those around her. She proclaimed that through her victory, she had achieved a higher form of immortality than any of the other Eternal Lords could hope to accomplish. Taking the name of the species she devoured for herself, she would be known from this day on as the Phoenix Lord.
Even the most skeptical scholar must give this tale some merit, considering the eyewitness reports of the Lord herself and her apparent reincarnation after Tasmoros struck her down. Outside of the Litany though, there is precious little evidence of what exactly transpired and how Arianwyn survived as an entity of apparent pure fire.
Over the succeeding centuries, Arianwyn would begin her wars of conquest, seizing Dorthore, Serin, Ventris, Val Doral and other cities. She launched countless Wild Hunts into the realms beyond, devastating all manner of peoples to ready them for future conquest, most notably sacking the great city of Emaldrin in 198 AA. By human standards, this would seem incredibly slow for a multi-millenia old force, but the Litany declared that each march of the Conquering Host would be made with absolute certainty, and never before their target was ripest.
After each victorious battle, the Eternal Lord is known to visit the captives herself and grant them a choice: proclaim her their true god and become a warrior of her Conquering Host, or be slain by her fire. Those that take her offer she rises up by her own red-hot grasp, forever branded by the hand of a god. Any who believe they can desert and betray the Host are known to be subjected to Burning Cage, one of the most brutal punishments recorded in Elvendom.
Any who serve in her Conquering Host, regardless of past transgressions or background, are treated as equal to those in their rank. Humans, Halflings, Dwarves, and Elves all fight side by side in the wars of the Phoenix Lord. Some join her armed priesthood, who have no distinction from The Conquering Host, and a select few prove worthy to join her Order of Ashes.
After the destruction of her great citadel-city, Cahadell, and the end of the Great War, Arianwyn was forced to pause the Conquering Host’s march west and north. Putting her Host to construct fortifications and war camps instead, the succeeding decades have seen the raising of the Ring of Iron across from The Sisters’ own castles and the creation of the massive citadel known as Arianwyn's Rest. For the goddess herself resides there, gazing across the no-man’s land to the Gates of Fire for the chance to lead her armies forward.
The political organization of Lyalion is designed as a strict armed camp. The conquered cities have been turned into engines of training, organization, and logistics to feed recruits to the fortifications that hold the Conquering Host, chomping at the bit to spill across the mountains and make good the Phoenix Lord’s promises of glorious battle. Even in a time of forced ‘peace’ such as now, the Conquering Host stands at constant war footing.
Each soul within the Lordship has allotted terms of service, and only through completing a term are they respected and treated fairly by their peers. Once completing their term, a veteran can be expected to be allotted a comfortable pension, a plot of land to do with as they will, and freedom of movement throughout all the Lordships. This system leaves Lyalion as the only Lordship where non elf-blooded persons can reach the full rights of citizenship.

The Wild Hunt

The Wild Hunt originates from an Elven coming of age ritual thousands of years old, long predating the rule of the Eternal Lords. An Elf upon reaching their first century heads into the woods alone, and is expected to return after a week with something to contribute to the tribe. In time since this has changed. After the centralization of Elven society and the ascension of the Eternal Lords, the Wild Hunt became a military operation designed by Phoenix Lord Arianwyn to damage their enemies. Expeditions of covert units would enter foreign territory to destabilize their foes, slipping away from detection once their missions were done. Most of these expeditions were led by the Phoenix Lord and her Order of Ashes, who in their most notorious Wild Hunt sacked the city of Emaldrin in 198 AA. This caused great friction with the human realms, and was the cause for much conflict even before the Great War.
The Great War and it's ending however made the Wild Hunt untenable for the Eternal Lords. With the threat of massive war looming on the horizon, raids became too risky to authorize.

The Dark Elf Migration

Following the death of Zenth and disappearance of Myrin at the Battle of Gods, Aelgrim returned to the encampments of the Wood Elves throughout the lands with a singular message: they must escape. It would only be a matter of time before the vengeful High Elves and their Pantheon turned their gaze back to their defeated foe, he warned. With only one remaining hope for security from their victorious enemies, the vast majority of woodland populations could do little but agree.
Leading the exodus northwards, Aelgrim’s host made haste to get as far from the heartland of Elvendom as they could. Their Lord claimed that only at the edge of the earth could they be secured from their enemy, and so they traveled up the length of the Red River, and after assembling a fleet of galleys and barges, sailed through the Iceclaw Straits.
While no small number of Elves perished on the journey through the cold climes of the Straits, they would make landfall on the shores of Boreius, which Aelgrim named ‘Morlond,’ and discover the most prized territories already claimed by the Snow Dwarves of the North. In three Halls they dwelt, poorly armed and equipped to meet a foe, as Boreius was inhabited by little else but themselves.
The Elves, by comparison, possessed a far greater arsenal and grasp of spellcraft, and with the might of their Lord Aelgrim were able to sweep aside opposition to gain precious fertile land and shelter from the brutal winter winds. After years of skirmishes and sieges they had managed to evict all of the Dwarves from their ancestral homes and take up residency in their place.
The Dark Elves then settled in, their decentralized society of woodland nomads permanently upended by their migration. A period of confusion and some chaos followed, as they struggled to adapt to their new life. Over time, however, Aelgrim asserted iron control over his Elves. He installed himself as Lord, but not their god, as he still considered the spiritual teachings of his fallen compatriot Zenth above all else.
Taking advantage of their new cavernous lifestyle, the Dark Elves exploited the technology and famed metallurgy of the Dwarves to bolster themselves, fearing that one day the Pantheon might come to their frozen cities to deal a final fatal blow. Aelgrim, declaring that one day they would take the fight to the High Elves, ordered a focus on naval engineering and construction. He claimed that ruling the seas would be the first step to ultimate victory against their hated foe. The sails of the Dark Elves would become equal parts famous and infamous in waters across the world as they created a merchant marine and a fearsome battle fleet.

The Lord of the North

As the years began to bore on though, Aelgrim grew older and older. As attested to in the records of the Dark Elves, the people feared that without their mighty guardian, the last of the ‘True Three’ of the Transmutation, they would be easy pickings for their foes. The records claim that the people begged Aelgrim to stay with them, to protect them from the Pantheon and guide them into the future that lay beyond the horizon.
Supposedly with reluctance, Aelgrim agreed, and with his remaining century of life plumbed every arcane ritual and tradition across the known world to find a way to defend his people beyond the mortal lifespan of an Elf. This culminated in his discovery of the Animaticon, and delving into the magics that created undeath. One day, on 1767 BA, Aelgrim emerged, full of vigor and strength once more. He had transformed himself into an Archlich, the highest form of undead there was, previously only theorized by arcanists.
From that day forth, The Lordship of Morlond became the first country where Animata was not only allowed, but positively encouraged. The Dark Elves were too few to match the might of all the High Elven Lordships, he claimed, but with a tide of reanimated Wights they might overcome their enemies once and for all. All of the corpses in Morlond became the property of Aelgrim himself as they were reanimated into foot soldiers for the future war.
Wights were not the only undead that Aelgrim raised to his side. To the dozen most capable of his officers and arcanists, he offered eternal life in his service in the form of vassalichdom, liches that would be chained to his own reliquaries. Many agreed, and so the core of the ‘Vassalry’ as it was termed, was formed.
Over the subsequent millennia, The Vassalry would nominate the most loyal and accomplished Dark Elf in a generation to be ‘vassalized’ by their undying Lord. Today, the Vassalry holds 23 members, the only intelligent undead in Morlond other than Aelgrim, as Vampirism is strictly prohibited in the Lordship. Lord Aelgrim himself has concerned himself with matters of arcane research far more than rulership, by all reports, and so the Vassalry has since stepped up to become the de-facto ruling body in absence of his direct will.
Abroad, Morlond became one of the world’s preeminent naval powers, using their experience and sophistication to dominate sea routes across the Darkwater. Their primary foe was not to be their ancient High Elven enemies, though, but the human realms of the Westerlands. Far more numerous than the Dark Elves themselves, many in Morlond were concerned as to what a fully realized human naval power could do to their stranglehold on trade and power projection across the northern seas.
To that end, the fearsome reputation of Dark Elven sailors as reavers began. Nascent human fleets were burned in raids, where an onslaught of reanimated Wights often overwhelmed defenses enough that the reavers could accomplish their mission without too many casualties. While this earned Morlond’s sailors the enmity of human realms, sparking many conflicts with the Nevarine Empire in particular, their power over seaborne trade left them as the only significant merchant fleet in the Darkwater and a wealth of trade funneled into their ports.
However, in the past century the rise of new fleets and harbors constructed by The Divinate and the Free Cities, particularly Makaris, has challenged Dark Elven naval dominance in the western and northern seas. Even so, the alliance of convenience between the human realms and Morlond against the mutual foe of the Pantheon has prevented any direct warfare.