Mélamar
Purpose / Function
Genesis
When a couple of Wood Elves conceive a child, they organize the Vehtëtië (Path of Life) ceremony during which they plant a tree that will be the Mélamar (house, in the emotional sense) of the unborn child and that will grow in symbiosis with her/him throughout their common existence.
One year after the Vehtëtië took place, when the child's birth is near, the parents settle in a temporary habitat at the foot of the young tree so that the birth can take place directly on the Mélamar of the newborn child.
At the precise moment of the Elf's birth, the symbiotic bond that will unite him/her to his/her Melamar is created, during a magical ceremony with strong symbolic power. This symbiotic link, like the ceremony during which it is created, is called Sercëlimë (Blood Link).
Youth
During his/her first century of existence, the Elf develops a close relationship with its Mélamar and can communicate his/her needs or desires to it, which the tree interprets as imperative demands (in the "natural sense" of the term) that it must satisfy: growing a branch in a specific place or direction, exuding a substance from its leaves, branches or trunk (depending on the species of the tree, toxin, slippery, irritant substance, etc.).
The Elf can also communicate with other Elves through their respective Mélamar and can also connect with deceased ancestors if their Mélamar is still alive.
Initially limited to a few tens of metres, the range of this communication increases over the years to reach several hundred kilometres when the Elf becomes an adult (around 100 years old) and several thousand kilometres in the centuries that follow.
To maintain and strengthen this relationship, the Elf must establish physical contact with his Mélamar at least once a year, ideally at the time of his/her Nosta ("anniversary of his/her conception").
Adulthood
When the Elf has reached adulthood, he sets up his home in his Mélamar after having shaped it to his liking and generally connected to the Mélamars of his relatives and friends by large bridges of naturally intertwined branches.
The villages of the Wood Elves are thus made up of a group of Mélamars linked together according to the blood ties or affinities that unite their inhabitants.
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