The Last Swan

Built high on the hill in the very north reaches of the Elven city of Thystys in Midvail is a large, beautiful statue of a swan made entirely from pure silver. This statue is known as The Last Swan and it was built to commemorate the Elven race driving the Swan breed to absolute extinction.
During the Era of Order, the Elven cities were independently developing among each other. Elves were natural farmers but also, incredible hunters who fed on animals of all sorts. No animal was greater to the elves than the Swan a majestic creature with white feathers and succulent, rich meat. The Elves of Midvail craved swan so much, whole farms dedicated to razing the waterfowl grew rich, most located in Tolthe. But Swans did not mate fast enough to keep up with demand. Rising Elven populations drove Swan populations down and eventually, even Swan farms could not keep up, having the last of their stock purchased by Elven nobles who would purchase a single bird for over 1000 gold. By the end of the Era of Order, every swan in Midvail was dead.
The realization that the Elves had killed an entire breed of creature fell heavy on the race. Whole communities of Elves would find themselves in depressive states, wracked with guilt. The elven bard Lyari Faro approached Thystys and offered to build a tribute to the dead race, being given over 30,000 gold to erect a masterfully built sculpture made from the silver reserves of Thystys. After the unveiling of The Last Swan, Thystys made their coat of arms a Swan with its wings open and Elven culture as a whole shifted to vegetarianism.


From its unveiling to The Era of Change and on, the owners of The Last Swan are citizens of Thystys who travel to the statue every day and polish it for 4 hours. 2 Hours at sunrise and 2 hours at sunset. This ritual is to commemorate life and death and is what gives the statue such an amazing shine.

Purpose / Function

The purpose of The Last Swan was to commemorate the extinction of the Swan race from Dioya. It serves as a grim reminder of the dangers of greed and overhunting as well as a self-described black spot on the otherwise considered clean history of the Elven race. (An irony not missed by most considering the fact that until The Era of Change the Elves kept Gnomes as slaves.)

Alterations

Some time in the middle of the Era of Change, the base of the statue was carved hollow and a basement was built. Here, many feather robed elves worshipped the Swan as a sign of death, calling themselves the Swan Song.