Aeldrin

The Aeldrin were a group of elves who were cousins to the Aoleirians of the north. Their name stems from the ancient Aoleirian word, Aeld, which means sanctuary. It is believed that they split from their northern cousins some time after the fall of the Aoleirian Empire, taking on their role as guardians of the Aelder Wood. The Aeldrin kept no written records, and as a result most of their history has been interpreted from myths and stories passed down by word of mouth. One of the most famous and influential of these is the tale of their arrival in the south, known as the Birth of the Aeldrin. Their fates were closely intertwined with their homeland, and as such they declined as the Aelder Wood declined. Their descendants are the Volodarin of the region of Volodaria.
The Aeldrin were far from a united people - instead the term describes a range of tribes and groups who were spread across the forest. The border tribes were often highly militant in pursuit of their duty, picking apart stray groups of Bludi Dwarves and the ranging Giants of the Untamed Hills. The central tribes, comparatively, pursued a more pacifistic lifestyle, focussing on achieving communion with their local ecosystems. The Manaqi elves of the Fajla delta, for example, were known to employ the druidic arts in order to move around the marshes, while the Bana-la elves were feared for their prowess in stealth and archery by the Bludi.
Some laws and customs were near-universal among the Aeldrin, however. These resulted from belief in an ancient pact they formed with Daisha, Goddess of the Forest , which required several important commitments: magic use was restricted to the druidic arts; settlements were restricted to glades and treetops, to ensure minimal disruption to the environment; they hunted only as much as was strictly necessary; and harm to other creatures was strictly forbidden except for food, self-defence or defence of the wider woodland. Otherwise, Aeldrin beliefs and worship were quite diverse - some built small shrines as places of worship, while others believed that their commitment to the pact was worship enough. Belief in ancient spirits that watched over the woodland was common, but not universal, as was reverence for the spirits of the dead.
The most revered of the Aeldrin were the Qai-Tara, a sect of druids who protected the sacred Daqi grove, providing its fruits to those in desperate need. Unfortunately, the sect were wiped out after the reign of Maknor Wildfyr and the burning of the western woods, which resulted in the deaths of many other Aeldrin tribes. This led many groups in the western woods to condemn the Yngarians as Aqemi, or men of ash, and imbedded a deep-seated mistrust of outsiders among many of the tribes.
Half a century later, the eastern tribes came together to fight against the interloping of the Halfling Crews during the Colonisation from the Silken Isles. They found themselves forced back however, losing many tribes in the process - not least the fearsome Bana-la, until eventually they were able to establish a treaty with the halflings, signing away the land east of the Halford Bay in the process.
More recently, during conflicts with the Empire of Nara Tok, known as the Aeldrin-Imperial Frontier Battles, the Aeldrin earned reputations for prowess in stealth, ambushing and archery. They became a kind of bogeyman for children in the southern colonies, such as Selucia and Lucria. Ultimately, the Aeldrin's disunity and their relatively small numbers rendered their defence a losing battle, however.
After the further decline of the forest, following a series of losing skirmishes on the western borders, Volodar's Pact was signed and the Aeldrin were split once again, most of them going on to become the Volodarin, imperialised wood elves. Some few vestiges of the ancient Aeldrin do still remain, however, among the Forests of Volodar - enclaves protected by Volodar's Pact, on which Aeldrin are left to carry on their ancient duty, protecting the last small remnants of their ancient sanctuary.