The First of All

The first elf ever created, and the first intelligent being created. Named Il'Shaf'Niar'Haf'Aelf, meaning "Child of the Source of Light [for,of,with] Life". King of the elves from the beginning until he was killed by Lachendon in the terrible betrayal that marked the true start of the War of Undying. For unknown centuries the Elves were the only sapient beings on the world. They were an expression of the joy The Source had in it's creation. The very first 8 were alone for millennia in the beginning. Eventually they began to realize that they had far more capability than they could exert alone. They spent a century in prayer, petitioning The Source for a people like themselves to lead and with whom they might tame a land. The Source answered them and created the fourth order of their own numbers (4096 in all). This first generation, were not born, but were created fully grown and did not age. For many thousands of years (they kept no record of time in the Dawn Times, so nobody knows how long, but certainly far longer than any today imagine) this first generation tamed a country and built an amazing living city, the Citadel of the First Light. In time they petitioned The Source for more of their people, because their city was empty and needed more people to tend it's living structure. This time, The Source declined. Instead It informed them how It had already given them the capacity to grow their people, by forming families. The second generation began shortly thereafter as the first ones realized they were perfectly balanced as male and female. The First of All refrained from taking a wife, however; one of their number had died in an accident while gathering the single massive emerald from which his throne was made, and he believed this was a sign that he must remain set apart in order to rule fairly. The second generation was not immortal, like the first, but their lifespans were still immense. In time more and more elves were born and new cities built. For many millennia this slow expansion continued without major change. The one strict social rule regarding families was that no elf might marry another from a different generation, with their unequal, but still very long, lifespans, the risks involved in such pairings were considered too great to allow.

The Sundering

Eventually, even Il'Shaf'Niar'Haf'Aelf succumbed to the desire for family, as The Source had always intended. He selected one from among the second generation, however, in violation of their most ancient social rule, an elf of astounding beauty named Il'Rei'Fia (meaning Child of Laughing Grace), who became his queen. This caused great strife among the first ones, and in an event called The Sundering of the Elves some, called The Ones Who Left, took their extended families far away to found a new nation and were never heard of again. In time Il'Rei'Fia bore a son whom they named Il'Niar'Neth'Rei, meaning "Child of Light and Grace", and the remaining First Ones accepted the union.

The First Loss

There followed, every few centuries, another child as this first family of the first race grew. By this time the elves began to encounter other races, and learned that The Source had begun creating other new sapient beings shortly after the first elf of the Second Generation was born. Nobody knows the date, as there was still no calendar and years were counted only intermittently, but at some point around the birth of the first elf in the 4000th generation the first elf of the second generation died of old age. After the first of their children died, the first generation, with the unexplained exception of the First of All, found that they could no longer have children themselves, and began to withdraw from their people. The first 8, who had led their people from the beginning remained, and began to be called the Council of the First Ones. Around this council grew subordinate councils, called the Eight of Eight, and were formed as 8 councils of 8 First Ones. For yet more millennia the elves ruled and reigned in their lands. Eventually the First of All, seeing that the elder generations had become stagnant and the nation with them, persuaded the council to begin a colony far from their home, a place for the youngest generations to explore and grow their people. By this time the lifespan of new generations had stabilized at roughly 1,900 years (8^8 hours), and the second generation was all but gone.

Colony and Decline

When the new colony was begun, the firstborn of Il'Shaf'Niar'Haf'Aelf, Il'Niar'Neth'Rei, expected to be named the First of All for this new colony. The council decided that one of the youngest generation should lead this new colony, however, and barred any of the older generations from joining the colony for a minimum of 2 generations. Il'Niar'Neth'Rei was incensed and departed the elven lands, declaring that if he was not given his rightful due as ruler of the new colony, then he would go and rule over the lesser races; he was never seen again. This so saddened the First of All that he withdrew into himself for a century, and when he returned he learned that his beloved Il'Rei'Fia had died of old age during his silence. After this tragedy he became ever more distant, eventually turning completely passionless and becoming nothing more than an administrator over a dying race.

Replacement

Their new colony, however, thrived and began to send delegations back to their homeland to revive and revitalize the living cities as the older generations slowly died away. When the last of the second and third generations died the Council of the First Ones moved to their colony and took on a purely advisory role, leaving their king on his Emerald Throne to be titular head of the race while a new council of younger elves actually ruled the people. For many generations this slow replacement continued until only the First of All and a few of his direct descendants remained, among the elder generations, in the ancient elven homeland, ruler over more than a million of the "young ones".

Betrayal and End

The final act of this tale began around 26,000 BE, by the current calendar. The lich king Lachendon, in disguise, entered the throne room of the First of All while he held court. When he stood before the king Lachendon stretched forth his withered hand and drew forth the King's soul to feed his phylactery and sustain his unlife. Lachendon then slew every one of the King's direct descendants (perhaps 600 in all), all of whom were present for a celebration of the king's birth. Lachendon seized the Emerald Throne, raised the king's family as undead servants, and proceeded to slowly, methodically, and ruthlessly exterminate every elf in their entire nation, feeding their strongest spirits to his phylactery while raising others as they were killed to join his ever growing undead horde. Only when the entire elven nation had been destroyed did Lachendon begin his war to exterminate all life, with the destruction of the ancient elven colony as his eventual goal, that the genocide of all elves everywhere might be complete. To this day the location of that ancient colony is unknown, as it remains the only place in all the world where elves live in any numbers.