Lodesh yin Lodon

The Elivas of Lodon are a forlorn race, caught within the unceasing whirlpool of racial and political conflict of Qadal while standing entirely alone. For them there is nowhere to flee, nobody to protect them, and nothing but danger beyond their borders. Perhaps there is a reason hidden amongst the dusty tomes of history, but for the dominant races of Qadal there is a level of superficial, physical aversion. The Elivas are a bipedal, intelligent race like the others, but their physical features are a precarious mix of man and beast. Within the race the variations are impressive, with some features similar to felines or canines, while others seem to be of different stock entirely. Due to their outlandish look and geographic location, they are viewed with suspicion and mistrust. These are sentiments that have boiled over into violence in the past, but the Ghetunbalastod ast Corgastor's cordial status with them in recent years has glossed over the years of strife and stemmed the worse of the conflict. All that remains now is the uncertain future, in which the position of the bestial Elivas is more precarious of all.
The history of the Elivas is far removed from that of their neighbors. By the dreadful curse of Mesian, put upon her by Ácolitus as punishment for her relationship with Aebaster, the Elivas entered the world as wild animals that ran freely in the land Mesian had chosen for them. It was a mockery of her desire to create a olûndari race of her own, as Aebaster, Atûn, and the other Eshan had done. That is the state in which the Elivas remained for millennia, running wild on the western shore of the Zomore.
The land of Lodon was a hunting ground for Aemarda throughout the first half of the Awakening. Legends and songs alike speak of noble heroes who traveled across the Zomore to hunt the feral Elivas, gathering their pelts and claws as trophies.
Mesian had been plotting to undo her curse throughout the Awakening era, building her strength and considering her options. She courted Atûn, bargaining with him with the feigned purpose of helping to undermining Aebaster. Atûn went in secret to Everos, the one time her left Etal to another realm in Qadal during his lifetime, and used his Eshara, which in essence was a prototypical version of Vojûn to give the Elivas sentience.
It was such that the first era of Elivas history began in the year -2500. Those newly born Elivas found themselves weak within a callous world- lacking the hunting instinct and power of their beastial form but also lacked the guidance to establish their civilization. The first centuries of Elivas history, known as the birthing era, were profoundly difficult.
With time came some semblance of order. The Elivas were settled within small villages and survived through primitive agriculture and hunting of local wildfire, once their bestial kin. Come the end of the Birthing era around the -2000s, the Elivas race was established in a manner reflective of their neighbors during the -6000s or -5000s.
The next era of Elivas history, the Golden era, began in -2000 as the Birthing era closed. The ferocity of neighboring Aemar tribes pressured the weak borders of the Elivas homeland. Invasion prompted cooperation, and thus the Elivas language, known as Eliphesh, began to formalize from the bestial growls and roars native to them. The Great Lod Kisekexeh rose during this era and conquered the regions east of the Zomore for the Elivas.
Western Everosi civilization grew beyond its years during the Golden era. The whole region of Kisekexeh’s conquest was wealthy and prosperous unlike anywhere in Esha. Yet, change came in the form of the Etayen, who began exploring and conquering in the -1400s. The Aemar of the south were pushed northward in their wake, forcing mass migration through Elivas territory. The unprepared Elivas were unable to stem the tide, and found their holdings devastated in the turmoil. A great exodus of Elivas back over the Zomore began, depopulating the conquered regions. Poverty and famine there reigned. Come its close in -1428, the Elivas were a coherent collection of tribes and clan polities that were capable of banding together against larger threats. The Golden age was over, but the realm survived.
In the years following the withdrawal over the Zomore, Lodon faced its most terrible tribulations to date. This was known as the Lighting Era and lasted from -1428 to -800. Stagnation gripped the Elivas nation, for the economic and administrative structures of their realm depended on their growth.
Mesian was compelled to explore unprecedent aspects of Eshanic power in response. The most pressing matter to consider was manifesting sufficient power to bolster her olûndari followers against threat in Esha. After all, the olûndari body can only withstand so much before bursting apart.
After the suffering of the Lighting era, the Elivas managed to stabilize the widespread destruction of their beloved nation. Brigandry was gradually extinguished. Trade gingerly resumed over the Zomore. Central authority was destored as local warmasters were brought to heel. It is known as the Breathing Era, lasting from -800 to zero.
Perhaps the most remarkable development of the era was the alliances between the Elivas and Etayen which were spawned from their convienient positions flanking the Aemardic world. Each worked in tandem with the other to keep the Aemardic population in constant check.
Atûn death was the most wretched surprise suffered by the Elivas. In one stroke, the master of their chiefest ally was destroyed, and thus their realm doomed to crumble. Chaos reigned in southern Everos as the victorious Aemar slaughtered the Etayen en masse, plundering the cities and plaguing the roadways. The comfort of Elivas life was destroyed. Now no order existed on the continent, and the world plunged into an unrivaled darkness. This is known as the Dark Era, lasting from zero to 326. During this time, the Elivas struggled to maintain whatever semblance of peace was possible.
During this era, Lodon was plagued by the unmitigated flow of Vojûn, which bleakened the land with monsters and corruptions unknown.
Centuries passed in terror as Lodon was gripped to near death by Vojûnic chaos and political turmoil. Yet, the Elivas endured and managed to reverse the worst of their sufferings after around 300 years. The momentum turned in their favor. The next centuries were spent restoring the world which was near lost to them. This is known as the Restoration Era, lasting from 326 to 578.
At the height of the Restoration Era, the Lods noted that their own prosperity was nonexistent elsewhere in Everos. The rest of the continent remained a mess of violent horror. Under the command of Mesiphesh Lod, the Elivas closed their country against their neighbors. None were allowed across the Zomore, and the only trade was conducted with far-off countries by vessel. This period is known as the Sealed Era, lasting from 578 to 920.
Long centuries passed with Lodon locked from outsiders. At the first, this self-imposed blockade benefitted the realm, for it denied the worst of the terrors which otherwise washed freely over peoples and borders. Yet, stagnation of imagination and economy alike the miserable Dark Era. The realm could not survive another tremor of such intensity. Instead, the Lods turned toward the oceans, deploying their people upon vessels to explore, trade, and settle in foreign territories. This was the First Exploration Era, lasting from 920 to 1156.
The most significant location the Elivas made landfall upon was Neyas, whose chief land of Loseya was crushed beneath the shadow of the Qazunari.
News reached Lodon in the early 1150s that a new realm of Aemar was established in honor of Corgastor, whose struggle against the Etayen was now historicized myth. Now, word of united Aemar was nothing worth celebration, since Aemarda brought forth the great calamities which plunged the continent into decline. The benefit was the implication of order. It did not matter from what corner it arose. After some six years of stability in northern Everos, the Lod considered the prospect of returning to the Everosi fold. This period is thus known as the Returning Era, lasting from 1156 to 1530.
Returning back to the Everosi fold was not without difficulty. A new martial spirit was fresh within the hearts of Aemarda, who were long enburdened with despondency. It was exciting to witness a nation rise rather than crumble. This energy was transferred across the continent. Warmasters rose their banners in every corner, attempting to replicate the success of Ghet Horst of Nossen. This brought the Elivas to war against them, just like ancient days. This was known as the Warring Era, lasting from 1530 to 1930.
Suffering was not the intention of the Lods in reopening their borders with the Everosi world. Over the following centuries discontentment arose among the Elivas. This discontentment prompted a new wave of explorers, traders, and settlers who sought opportunity away from the homeland. This was the Second Exploration Era, lasting 1930 to 2304. Its most immediate impact was the reestablishment of communications between Neyas and Everos. In centuries passed the place was occupied by the hideous warriors of the Qazunari and barred. Now it was populated by strangers from Voryndal known as the Axodraharik, who were more akin in their bestial aspect than any Aemar or Etayen. The Elivas took an immediate liking to them.
The death of Karundar was unrivaled, such that the concept of war was for a generation considered sickening. None invaded Lodon and Lodon invaded none. Corgastor’s realm continued to grow through a constant march into depopulated territories. It grew until it pressed against the Zomore but did not pass over the river. Trade flowed between the neighbors, and a general spirit of reconstruction prevaded all political calculations. This period was known as the Peaceful Era, lasting from 2304 to 2725.
No peace endures forever, for conflict is an inevitability of the sentient condition. A mere four centuries passed before the emotional burden of Esha’s worst conflict was dulled. This coincided with the deaths of that Etayen generation who lived it and maintained its memory throughout their lifetimes. Now the powers who survived, being Corgastoria, Eurobia, and Jequa began hostile movements once again. For the Elivas, the expansion of the Ghetunbalastod meant violent incursions on the Zomore riverbanks. Before long, successive generations of Ghetunbasts were making it their business to invade. This is known as the Enduring Era, lasting from 2735 to 3117.
Corgastor’s Ghetunbalastod reigned supreme during the early to middle 3000s, forcing the Elivas to adhere to those ques. Instead of pressing eastward against an unbeatable opponent, the race turned outward, using the oceans as motivation. Elivas traders established themselves prominently in northern Neyas, while others settled abroad by season to trade with the Othosar or Etayen. This era of relative peace amidst pressure was known as the Calming Era, lasting from 3117 to 3451.
The Elivas have been useful allies to the Ghetunbalastod ast Corgastor since their alliance in 3417, though simmering hostilities remain. Yishmenal Lod, lord of Lodon, has been vocal in his desire to restore Lodon to greatness ever since he ascended to the throne. In the meantime, however, The Corgastodmar Navy, despite its impressive size, has enough threats to deal with to keep it busy. The assistance of the sleek and fast Elivas ships is always welcome for the beleaguered Corgastodmar navy.
The years of the collapse of the Corgastodmar realm proved a boon to the Elivas. After some initial shudders, the sound was broken into competing realms. These were easy to manipulate and the power of Lodon swelled in this time. Elivas known this period as the Great Era, lasting from 3451 to 3551.

The Accursed Import

Viiryne, which is found in trace amounts around Voladûr or in tight concentrations in the Fringe, is among the most prized minerals to be found in Qadal. For those who can afford it, Viiryne provides unrivaled protection from Vojûn and those who cast it. It is often kept in pockets for protection, inlaid into jewelry for the safety of the wealthy, or forged along with steel to create a surface of Vojûn diffusion. Indeed, the Tressonar of the Eurobasar was said to have a beautiful set of field armor crafted with gems of Viiryne inlaid like stars on a sky of steel. The trade of this mineral accounts for thousands of Gissir, dolns, Khelorads, and Neyasi coins in economic activity. For the Nathrodar of the Fringe, Viiryne is a staple of economic survivable and the most siginificant export product. Yet, for all its perceived value, there are few things more reviled among the Elivas.
The reason for this spawns from the middle Awakening era, Atûn utilized newly devised Vojûn to grant sentience to the Elivas. This was done both as a test of that energy, but also gain an alliance with Mesian and her against Aebaster. Whilst the trials of Atûn appeared successful in the years following the ascension of the Elivas, the powers of that proto-Vojûnic energy suffered from an unforeseen obstacle- Vojûn itself. Whenever that energy gathers and coalesces in great amounts, such as in Lodon during the days of Atûn’s experimentation, its physical manifestation can harden into a tangible mineral. This mineral form has the unique property of defusing or absorbing Vojûn within the area around it, making it a common annoyance for the Etayen who used the Voladûr. Pounds of Viiryne were excavated regularly during the days of Étunas, as the Etayen required the areas around the Voladûr clear from Viiryne for the Vojûn to flow properly. This absorbion or diffusion of Vojûn makes Viiryne dangerous for the Elivas, for it dispelled the fragile powers that bind them to sentience. When Viiryne is near, the Elivas become large, feral beasts consumed by primal instincts to hunt and kill. This sensation is utterly overwhelming, and those effected suffer until the Viiryne is removed, and even hours afterward. Unfortunately, Atûn could do nothing to undo or change that cruel fate, lest he revoke the sentience that was granted. For the Elivas, an existence plagued by Viiryne was preferable than a perpetual existence as beasts.
The 'accursed import' became a constant specter of doom for the Elivas. Their enemies, ranging from the Etayen to the realms of Everosi men, used it often and maliciously. Etayen warriors, who often used Vojûn themselves, made it practice launching large boulders or thick barrages of Viiryne into Elivas territory when disagreements arose between them. In battle against the Corgastodmar, the Elivas faced Aemar soldiers encased within heavy and expenseive suits of steel meshed with Viiryne to oust great swathes of Elivas warriors. Time and again, this weakeness was exploited by the enemies of Lodon. The Lods of the west responded in two manners to this void in their defenses- acceptance or rejection. Lords such as Eseph Lod, who reigned during the late Awakening era, took the powers of Viiryne and mastered them for himself. He created what was known as the Elirev, which are specially prepared to become feral killing machines. These fellows are either brave volunteers or unwilling criminals who are bound in chains meshed with Viiryne, causing them to become feral. In wars against the Helodast and Tharrod tribes, Eseph Lod used the Elirev to decimate the ranks of his enemies and protect Lodon. Others, such as the famous Suveth Lod or reigning Yithmenal Lod, have responded to Viiryne by completing banning it from Lodon. They halted all mining of that substance, ordered the destruction of the renaining Voladûr that harbored it, and sealed caves and other areas which were deep enough to create it. Those found importing Viiryne or possessing it during the reigns of those lords were put to death.

The Rule of the Lodesh

The Spirits of the Hills, as the Etayen knew the Elivas through Everosi tales, have ruled the western lands of Lodon since the middling centuries of the Awakening. Prior to those days, the Elivas were known as the Heolrid, and were wild beasts of instinct and violence rather than sentient peoples. It was thus common practice for the neighboring tribes of men to invade Heolrend and slaughter its animal denizens for wealth and pelts. No law ruled, and the whole land was a desolate waste of gnarlyed trees and tangled bramble- the works of olûndi were completely absent. However, Atûn, lord of the Etayen, arrived in Heolrend around the -2000s to assist Mesian, the mother of those beasts. He used the power of Vojûn, which was a permanent manifestation of Eshara in the olûndari world, in order to raise the Heolrid from mere animals to sentient, respectable olûndi. In exchange, the Elivas would not war with the Etayen, but harass the neighboring realms of men. A rival civilization would thus be born along the borderlands of Aebaster’s lands. This was in preparation for the ascension of Atûn’s own people centuries thereafter.
With the gift of Atûn, the Elivas were raised to consciousness and reason, and thus found need for government. The first iterations of order among them represented the beastial nature of their recent past. The strongest among the Elivas became de facto rulers, commanding fear and obedience through force. These early lords, called Heolod, were the pack masters of their tribes, and conducted diplomacy and warfare as the sole rulers. Each Heolod controlled a demographic group called the Heonav, which consisted of between 20 to 50 individuals that all swore allegiance to the Heolod. Rule of the Heonav passed between Heolod to Heolod by manner way of trials- rituals of strength between other suitable members of the Heonav capable of ruling. The strongest among the survivors was named the Heolod, and the competitors were often driven out of the Heonav, killed, or forced into subServience beneath the new reigning Heolod. In practice, the Heonav operated in a manner similar to Aemar tribes, with the members of the group maintaining the collective well being under the watchful eye of the leader. Disputes were handled swiftly and often violently, with vigilante justice dominating Elivas affairs, followed by measured justice from the Heolod. However, the master’s justice was often equally harsh to vigilante law. Contact between Heonav was equally marked by violence, and thus quite rare. Trade struggled in most regions of Lodon, save for particularly unique or rich resources such as fish or Edraphak. At best, contact between the Heonav was strongest when refuges from one shattered group flooded into another for security.
Change in Lodon’s governing structure arrived centuries later, in the -1600s. It was then that the tribes of Everos pressed forth and threatened the existence of the Heonav and Elivas. A chief among them, Ferestor of the Pherenon tribe, gathered together a great host of 2,000 warriors and invaded Lodon to reap wealth and pelts from it. The countryside was devastated by this campaign of sword and fire, leaving behind swathes of ashen land and flayed corpses. Amidst this terror, the Heonav were powerless to oppose and oust the invaders. At worst, Elivas Heolod made practice of luring the invading enemy toward opposing Heonav, watching with glee as the Everosi tore them apart and left their homes in ruin. However, the divisions of the Elivas became the strength of the Everosi. Around -1687, when it became clear that Ferestor intended to remain in Lodon, the Elivas were entirely unable to oust them. A dire dread swept across the remaining Elivas domains, as they felt shame and vulnerability from the years of bitter divisions between them. In those hard times, one of the Heolod, a figure named Yherep, rose from among the ranks of the Heonav Xharijerah.
Mesephep Lod considered it necessary to reorganize the various cragged domains of Lodon in a coherent series of provinces in Aemardic or Etayen style. In no other way could taxes, infrastructure, or military bastions be addressed to modern standards. Five such provinces were carved from the existing patchwork of lesser states- Selixeh, Yenia, Ehrisa, Pimishesa, and Yexiri according to modern naming conventions. Unlike the provinces of other realms, however, the Elivas remained decentralized. The masters of these new provinces, being ervantas and corvantas depending on region, were expected to organize basic administrative systems to benefit the Lodesh, but not define the laws or traditions of their charges. Those concerns were still left to lesser tribal or regional rulers.
In the later centuries of Lodon’s rule, divisions became manifest between the Elivas occupying the borderlands upon the Zomore and those tucked farther into the homeland’s inner reaches. For the Elivas, being an adaptable people, proximity to another culture meant gradual adaptation. They adopted name for their own ruling class which vaguely reflected the language of wider Aemar Everos. Lesser masters among them were known as corvantas, while the greater rulers along the border, keepers of the nation’s security, were named evants.
The evolution was similar in Nevan, where the Elivas settled themselves after turning away from Everos and its constant wars.

Slavery in Lodon

The Elivas, like many other races in Qadal, practice slavery. However, the institution is physically separated from the average lives of the realm’s people. This stems from the reign of Huvet Lod, who banned the ownership and sale of slaves in the region of Lodon itself. The reasoning was that slaves brought in undesired cultures and weakened the unity of the Elivas in the face of foreign nations. Moreover, slaves are notoriously unreliable and prone to rebellion. The effects of such an event could be disasterous, especially during a time when the Corgastodmar Empire stood on the far shore of the Zomore- ready to leap upon any opportunities for conquest.
Slavery was not banned universally among the Elivas, despite the destruction of the institution in the homeland. Huvet Lod made particularly efforts to continue the acquisition and sale of slaves beyond the borders of Lodon- most notably in Nevan. During the reign of Yor’shagon, the Axodraharik embraced the cheap and expendable labor that slaves provided. The Elivas became rich as slavers during those later years of the 2000s, spreading their influence on the Neyasi continent and building wealth to resist the constant pressures of the Corgastodmar in Everos.
The lucrative slave trade between Lodon and Nevan ended with the collapse of the Axodraharik theocracy in 3002, followed by the establishment of anti-slavery Neyasi republics. Nonetheless, the Elivas have continued to prowel the seas and coasts for slaves and have cleverly sought new markets in the Semyr islands and Othos. The immense wealth wrought by slavery has ensured the survival and evolution of the institution into a new era.

Order Beyond Government

Mesian’s children long remained a simple entity, unified in their instinctual nature. When they were elevated at the hands of Atûn this nature evolved. They became as other olundi, predisposed to scheming and other corruptions of the mind.

Mesian’s Law

Despite the late birth of the Elivas race into Qadal, the rule of law is held in high regard among them. It is the law of beasts, however, simple yet unquestionable effective compared to other systems wherein corruption might be excused.

The Criminal Element

Contrary to the derogatory stereotypes against them, the Elivas are a generally civilized and cosmopolitan branch of Olûllosia. However, this does not mean they are beyond opposing law.
The most infamous outlaws are those who prey on the shipments between the Washelesh and Lidisesh, including such goods as metals, timbers, gems, coinage, or foodstuffs. Indeed, no shipments of greater value are transported overland in Lodon. Often the quelling of such brigands is left to local governments to handle. The Lod cannot be bothered to personally contend with every shortcoming in the realm. Yet, this hands-off philosophy can cause great sorrow and loss.

Domains of Lodon

In the most ancient years of Everosi history, the region of Lodon was tractless wasteland without masters or settled peoples.
Proper divisions and organization came during the Ascension era, when the changing global landscape and new threats prompted the Elivas to centralize to protect themselves.

Lidisesh Selixeh

Located in the central northeast of Lodon, Selixeh is one among the two great cragged provinces. No place in all Lodon better represented the Elivas homeland of legend. It is dry and low, for the land soars above Everos to the east, so one might stand upon a plateu thereabouts and see the Aeduccars in the distance. No major waterways grace the province, save isolated oases and subterranean streams which winnow between thick rock beneath cities and feet.
The province is not rich. In truth it is notoriously poor, but its people are strong and fierce in pride for their harsh motherland.
During the wars against the Corgastodmar, the warriors of Selixeh proved themselves as equal to any race in Qadal. Funded with wealth from the coastal Washelesh, the Selixehas ervantas maintained strong guards along the Zomore, battering the Amaderin who attempted to force crossings in broad-hewn boats.

Lidisesh Yenia

Located in the central southwest of Lodon, Yenia is the second of the great cragged provinces. Its land is scraggled but green, for the province is pierced by tributaries of the Zomore river.
Alike their neighbors in Selixeh, the ervantas of Yenia made their name protecting the heartlands of Lodon against foreign invaders and keeping peace across the great dry craglands. Insteading of the Corgastodmar whom the Elivas are more famed for fighting, the Elivas of Yenia were constantly combatting the peoples of the south. This included Grathon and other Aemar tribes along with Etayen warriors from Jequa.

Washelesh Ehrisa

The corvantas of Ehrisa made common practice of trading with the Daorhu of Nemrohed and the Aemar of Gisuvollos.
During the glorious years of the Corgastodmar domain, the passage between Ehrisa and Nemrohed provided a significant life-line to those northernmost civilizations who were others hemmed outside the boundaries of the modern world.

Washelesh Pimishesa

For long years the Elivas of western Lodon had turned their eyes toward the west. The ocean was freighting in its immense scale, but the east was more terrible in its immediate dangers. Aemar warriors were a constant threat. No profit could be easily derived from them. Intrepid opportunity seekers braved the Gismyr in hopes of salvation and discovered Nevan. In those ancient years it was inhabited by terrible monsters of the Qazunari, along with some Aemar peoples of amiable disposition forced to the satellite islands. The Elivas considered trading with some of these Aemar for critical goods, and some corvantas did such, but the dangers of ranging in that territory were greater than the profits. In time the western traders left Nevan alone, maintaining record of its existence in text and folklore rather than interaction. Pimishesa thus contented itself with trading up and down the coast of Lodon, and elsewhere in Everos. However, the later arrival of the Axodraharik and ouster of the Qazunari reopened the Neyasi option for ambitious entrepaneurs. The master of Pimishesa around the 1440s was Hetem Corvantas, and it was under his guidance that traders and sailors of Pimishesa gathered together a great fleet of goodwill and offering to the Axodraharik, much as the Axodraharik themselves did years later. This benign act opened up communications with the new race, and Pimishesa was among the first to benefit in trade rights and goods from the opening of the westernmost continent. Needless to say, the favor paid back dividends.
The corvantas of Pimishesa exchanged trade and travelers with the Aemar and Axodraharik of Nevan as their primary avenue.
Conflict arose with the establishment and enduring success of the Elivas Lodoyesh in the eastern reaches of Nevan. This domain sapped the wealth from the Neyasi trade lanes, taking portions for themselves before dispersing the remainder among the other Washelesh beyond Pimishesa.

Washelesh Yexiri

The corvantas of Yexiri make their fortunes on trading with the islands of the Semyr and distant Etal, not to mention the southwestern settlements of Everos belonging to the Corgastodmar.
Politically speaking, the trade routes of Yexiri to the Etayen world offered fair reason for active support from one people to another. Warriors travelling along those sea lanes could protect Lodon from its enemies or Etal from its own enemies. This meant the Corgastodmar who were long foremost in Everos, but also Axodraharik in Nevan, Eurobasar infiltrating the Semyrs, or occasional Gressar raiders who ranged too far from home.

The Might of Lodon

Pelts upon walls, the trophies of foreign warriors- for centuries, this was the fate of Mesian’s cursed children. It was a dire manner of life, unjust placed upon them for sins they did not commit. They entered Qadal without olûndari sentience or reason, consigned to dwell as beasts in the land which their master chose for them. Warriors from neighboring tribes in Everos, folk such as the Tharrod, Helodast, Pherenon, and others viewed the realm of the Elivas, which they called Heolrend, with fear and interest. They crossed the Zomore River and travelled into Heolrend in small bands of hunters and soldiers to investigate the tangled forest and fringed swamps of that peculiar land. No stretch of land had ever been maintained by olûndari hands in that place, and the travels of the Everosi tribes was slow and dangerous. Disease ran rampant among them, and those who suffered from such ailments as the Black Breath and Pale Blight called the place cursed. However, they continued to explore and felled the strong timber along the borderlands for their own purposes. As they began to conquer the land beyond the Zomore as their own, the tribes encountered a strange breed of beast inhabiting the depths of the forest.

"Underhill from clefts of stone we all beheld a sight accursed by the Eshan. Strange monsters wreathed in fur prowled before us in the morass, glaring with great eyes of gold. It was their home, we claimed, though it was nothing more than a gathering of spear length boughs driven into the dirt. A haven was born beneath those greens, and from it came a dark stench. We kept distance but were held in place by a deep terror. The dense tangles of fur were muscle bound, yet moved between forelegs and hind, judging us all like a warrior before battle. I remember how we fled from it, screeching like weak children. We were favored on that day, as my memory recalls the beasts of Heolrend wrough havoc with them. Claws of daggers, think flesh, and contenances of every dire description. The week fled from them, while the strong fought; the weak were caught and torn asunder, while the strong bled greatly in every encounter. Our strife against the Heolrid was great. A warrior returned home, each with glory and fine treasure. Wise men among us spoke against the lands beyond the Zomore, but the lure of the Heolrid was irresistible."

-- Memories of the Elivas Translated Archives of Gledgast – 1957

Born into the world as wild beasts, the warriors of the Elivas, known as Heolrid in those days, were scant more than the strongest among the animals. However, the tragic existence of the Heolrid was improved during the Awakening by the arrival of Atûn, the lord of the Etayen. It was he who used the power of Vojûn, a project of his own making, to elevate the Heolrid from base and instinctive Nemgarotirs of nature into a sentient, noble, and reasoning race. His purposes were complex and irrelevant here, but suffice to say that the newly born Elivas struggled to survive in their new form. Warriors from the Aemar tribes of Everos continued to sweep through the brambled landscape, scouring it for Heolrid to slaughter and skin for their pelts, along with gathering what other natural treasures existed in Heolrend.
When the Everosi next arrived, some profound transformation had occurred. The beasts that they and their ancestors had hunted for sport and wealth throughout the centuries had been fundamentally altered. Great limbs of pulsing blood and dense muscle were replaced with slender stocks of Aemar quality, and the fearsome glow in their eyes replaced with uncertainty and cowardice. When these new breeds attempted to roar or growls amongst one another, they found themselves reduced to pitiful babbling- suddenly shamed and aware of themselves. Warriors of men discovered them and believed they had stumbled upon the young of the Heolrid, which had been coveted by chiefs for the suppleness of the flesh. They pursued these beings and were baffled to see them sprint upon two legs like Aemar. Through the forest they rampaged, slaughtering many of the Elivas and driving others into rocky grottos and trees to hide for their life. Those who survived among the Elivas gathered together in tight covens and prepared to defend themselves without the feral power of their Heolrid ancestors.
The first accounts of these encounters come from oral traditions dating to the -2000s, which had been faithfully discovered and recorded by the scholars of Gledgast many millennia afterward. They spoke about large bands of Everosi warriors entering the dark forests of Heolrend with spears and shields in hand, preparing to fight against the monsterous Heolrid that dwelled in the shadows. In they came, formed in dense ranks with spears thrust in every direction. Yet, when the Elivas spied them, the new breed chose now to charge, but to wage war like cunning hunters. They gathered great rocks and sharpened fallen branches to create projectile, following the model of their enemy. It was also in those years when language began to develop among the Elivas, spurred by not only the everyday necessity of communication, but the existential pressure of invasion. In sometimes coarse, other times shrill calls and growls the Elivas communicated their plans for battle. As the warriors stepped cautiously through the narrow defiles of low brush between towering timbers and crags, they were suddenly pelted by a ferocious tumult of stones and spikes. Those caught by such missiles were quickly felled, and the tight formations of Everosi soldiers were rapidly broken apart into madness. When the time was right, the Elivas threw themselves forward with horrid, piercing screeches, barring claws, jagged rocks, branch pikes, or any other weapons upon the stunned enemies. Entire raiding parties were butchered in this manner, leaving few survivors to tell the story. In this way, the Elivas developed their methods of warfare. Battles between the Elivas and Everosi tribes continued throughout the duration of the Awakening, though the dynamic had changed. No longer was it possible for single warriors or noble bands to enter Heolrend without support, for the cunning Elivas hunted them. Lords who wished to grow wealthy from the riches of that land and from the pelts of its occupants were compelled to deploy great hosts. In -1688, a chief named Ferestor, master of the Pherenon tribe, gathered over 2,000 warriors, which was a significant number in those days, and endeavored to carve a realm for himself within Heolrend. It was his belief that success would not only greant wealth and prestige, but secure preeminence for his people among the competing tribes of the region. In the summer of that year, Ferestor crossed the great Zomore with his 2,000 soldiers and pressed into the heart of Heolrend. He travelled along the ancient routes of beaten down bramble and hard soil created by generations of Everosi before him, daring the Elivas to emerge and fight his force. Those that he found were brutally slain if resisting or captured if possible. It was then practice stripping the valuable flesh from the bones of the Elivas, all whilst they cried and shrieked against it. The remains were then discarded among the thick vegetation or left behind as message. In that way, Ferestor tore through Heolrend with sword and flame, butchering all those he encountered without olûndari mercy nor inhibition.
Not all hope was lost among the Elivas during Ferestor’s campaign. In the depths of Lodon, as the Elivas began to call old Heolrend, a warlord began to rally the disparate and vulnerable beasts. His name was Yherep, meaning River child in the tongue of the ancient Elivas.
The reigning Lod of the Elivas homeland, Seyphet, witnessed the Great Conflict of 2304 tear the continent asunder. Heavily armed professionals, mercenaries, and other hardened warriors devastated the traditional militias and seasonal defenders who guarded the various realms of Everos. These are whom might be considered the first modern Elivas warriors, less tribal and more akin to professional fighters found elsewhere in Qadal.
Despite the prowess of the new warrior class instituted by Seyphet Lod, there remained obstacles which hindered their successes. Foremost, the ancient separation of classes and tribes into warbands was a sore-felt absence. None among the Iphet class desired similar status as lower dreges, especially in such a noble institution as the military. These warriors protested and treated violent mutiny if their priviledges, naturally forged during the earliest epochs of battle against the Aemar, were not respected and upheld. Those who did not immediately mutiny refused to fight. Seyphet Lod did not desire a gradual collapse of her reforms, and thus considered some concessions. Lowering the status of common warriors was impossible without even worse unrest and mutinies. Returning to the old warband system would be folly. In deciding, she chose to appeal to the Iphet class’s natural hubris. She devised a grueling and cruel series of trials for the most daring and ambitious Elivas fighters. It involved bare sprints across the arid heartlands of Lodon, swimming over the Zomore and returning, and numerous feats which were pointless but sated the whims of the warrior class. The final trial was different, something renowened and feared on the continent. A warrior must combat one of their own kin, but the target is ensnared with Viiryne chains as to be Elirev. Neither fighter is given a weapon, and the fight continues until one or the other is subdued. Death is not the objective, but the handlers are occasionally too slow to prevent a grisly end for the unfortunate and weak. The reward- a special status created for the purpose, known as Lespheyed, meaning ‘highest skill’ in their tongue. These victors are allowed to wear ornate decorations crafted from specialized ‘rainbow gems’ which are multiple gems of bright color combined together. This strategy successful appeased the Iphet for long enough for the reforms to root themselves. Seyphet was now able to turn toward more pressing problems which faced post-Great Conflict Everos.

The Elirev

In the darkest days of the Awakening, when history was nothing but mere memory, the peoples of Everos feared and hunted the Elivas- chasing them like prey for glorious sport. Those wretched beasts were flayed for pelts and their heads thrown high upon Everosi hearths! This was the fate of those beings for centuries, until the day when Atûn came forth to the children of Mesian and alleviated their eternal curse. He used a power called Vojûn, which was yet experimental and volatile, for that purpose. It was a success. The Elivas were elevated from mere beasts of instinct to olûndi of mind and reason. They developed their own culture and civilization from nothing but their beastial kin groups- creating language from guttural roars and trade with native herbs. This was their strength, and they united to oust the Everosi invaders and hunters from Lodon. Yet, their salvation was also their greatest weakness. The experimental powers of Vojûn that Atûn grasped to grant the Elivas sentience left them vulnerable to the ebbs and flows of said energy. When it grew abnormally strong, the Elivas were strained to maintain their olûndari bodies from breaking; where it is weak, the Elivas struggle to retain their sentience and reason. This makes them dangerous. Without Vojûn, they became like the feral Heolrid which lacked all reason and logic.
Nothing in Qadal strikes fear in the Elivas more than Viiryne, for that is the chief manner by which the powers of Vojûn are subdued and destroyed. However, this byproduct of creation has outstanding military potential. If an Elivas became a wild Heolrid under the right circumstances, then scant few warriors could muster the skill to stop him. Great Lods and nobles of the Elivas have utilized this concept in battle by creating warriors known as Elirev, or wild spirits. The first instance of these Elirev dates back to the Ascension era, when the Etayen first made landfall in Everos. The year was -1320, prior to the infamous Shattering when the Everosi population was broken apart and fled as migrants to distant lands. A number of these early bands travelled to the banks of the Zomore with the intention to enter the domain of the Elivas and harbor themselves in that place. It was not yet an irresistible tide, yet sufficient threat to prompt action by Eseph Lod, the master of Lodon in those days. He gathered a host of warriors and devastated those who dared to trespass on the ancient soil of the Elivas. Hundreds of Everosi exiles were killed during the following months, and their blood and bones stained the shoreline. The survivors were either enslaved or marched back into Etayen held territory to meet an equally grim fate. With this violence came retaliation, and Everosi warlords mobilized to smash Eseph Lod.
Early in the year -1319, the chief of the Tharrod tribe, named Ghentholastor, materialized those animosities and fears into an army of 5,000 warriors. In a campaign reminiscent of Ferestor the Pheranon’s invasion during the -2400s, Ghentholastor marched into Lodon with the intention of razing the landscape and slaughtering the Elivas lord. Unlike the days of Ferestor, however, the Elivas were united under Eseph Lod. They rallied and fought the Tharrod in a Series of skirmishes along the Zomore. Each time the Everosi warriors fought across the river, they were repulsed with steep casualties. When the campaign seemed to linger on the brink of failure, Ghentholastor made a pact with the neighboring Helodast tribe. Their leader, a warrioress named Felthera, agreed to join on promise that her tribe would reap equal spoils with the Tharrod. The allied army number around 11,000 esseythu. With this development, the Elivas faced destruction and enslavement. Eseph Lod mulled over his options, which were pitifully scant. Yet, one bold solution came to mind- Viiryne. This rare mineral is a byproduct of intense concentrations of Vojûn and can absorb or disperse that energy. Eseph reasoned that if enough could be harvested, then it could be applied onto Elivas warriors, breaking down their sentient demeanor and turning them into the beasts required the crushed the Everosi host. It was a mad gamble, but with enough convincing the Lod was successful in convincing his people of the merits. They gathered the Viiryne with the assistance of Aemar slaves and prepared their warriors for the transformation. Records of the oral stories told by Felthera regarding the incident exist in Gledgast, offering compelled detail.

“We slew the mongrels in the great numbers, leaving their pelts to rot between the gnarled roots of trees. Those who surrendered we cut into pieces and discarded in the Zomore. Ghentholaster and I saw victory, dangling just before our eyes in that wretched land. We were brash, and we marched forth into the deep lands with our warriors fighting to match our pace behind us.
On the fifth day of our campaign, we arrived at a place the fangmen called Xhesh. It was an expanse of scraggle grass which rose to our waists and was thickest around the ankles. Our warriors, thousands of them, clove the grass to free themselves as if each blade were a grasping hand. On the far side, yet, we saw stirrings. Elivas gathered there, though they were not warriors. They looked frail and starving, and their fur was matted and filthy. Wild, primal things. We shot arrows at them to compel their departure, killing a few, but they remained waiting. I ordered my warriors to reach and kill them. When we reached 100 strides, a number of Aemar men suddenly emerged, dressed as fighters, yet they held great lengths of chain in their hands. Along these measures were large pieces of black rock, the nature of which we did not yet know. They placed the chains upon the limp bodies of the waiting Elivas. We were frozen with horror as they began to transform! They writhed with pain and screeched like wounded animals, but their bodies grew in size and their fur prickled. Their squeals turned to roars and their eyes flared gold with unbound fury. Each one stood over seven strides tall, yet they transitioned between standing upon two legs and prowling about on four.
The handlers of those monsters dashed from them in fear, but those unlucky few were caught and torn apart. Once their feast of blood was through, they challenged us. It was thunder as their vast bodies smashed through the tall grass. Our warriors held their ground. When the enemies crashed upon our lines, the man standing foremost were immediately crushed and grounded into the tall grass, beyond sight, by great paws, limbs, and ravenous fangs. Perhaps five score were slain within minutes. We struck them many times, but the blades and spears failed to significantly tear through the flesh of the monsters. It took a dozen warriors at once to kill but one of them, and each of them killed our men effortlessly. I slew one myself, but only after a thunderous blow upon the bridge of its snout. In that way, we battled them in the tall grass of Xhesh, drawing blood and being bled. We slew them all but were compelled to halt our advance in that field which was carelessly littered with the dead.”

- Oral records of Felthera of Helodast Everos in exile – 507

The bloody fields of Xhesh proved to the world that the Elivas were fearsome enemies, and it illuminated to Eseph Lod the value of his enslaved warriors.

Later generations of Elivas were able to bridge the gap between normal warriors and the powerful Elirev through the use of Vojun infusions. What does this mean? These infusions can take a few forms- either exposure or consumption are most common. The idea therein is that Elivas warriors can expose themselves to abnormally high concentrations of Vojun prior to battle, and during the battle be exposed to Viiryne. Normally the Viiryne has a maddening effect on the Elivas, causing them to lose reason and revert back to a state prior to their gift of sentience by Atun via Vojun. Becoming exposed to Vojun BEFORE the Viiryne means that the changing does take place, but that reason can be maintained for a short while before that feral state overcomes. This makes warriors like the Elirev much more manageable in battles.
  Consumption of Vojun can take different forms as well. Food or drink are the most common vessels for this transfer, being first exposed to intense levels of Vojun prior to consuming. For this practice there are certain sacred rituals involved- guided toward the veneration of ancient warriors and the memory of Lodon’s miserable days of capitivty against the Aemar. Many warriors may partake at once on the eve of a battle, music be played, and great speeches offered to ennoble the proceedings.
Mercenaries

The Elivas are a cunning people, more concerned on ends than means to achieve them. Mercenaries therefore became commonplace in the young nation. Aemardic warriors from elsewhere in Everos, but also Othos and Neyas poured into the west to serve the Lod’s in their quest to command the entire western plateau. Once this was achieved in the late -2000s, the clever Elivas Lod’s turned their mercenaries against one another, invading the central regions of Everos around the Aeducarr mountains. At their height before the invasion of the Etayen, the Elivas commanded everything west of the Aeducarrs, along the Zomore, and upon the Amhelon reaches.

Elivas Economics

Merchants hailing from Lodon are notoriously selective folk, bearing goods to Nevan, Etal, and the Gismyr while long shunning the Aemar from neighboring Everos and Othos.
Economically speaking, one might believe that the coastal domains of the Shallows would domination those massive yet austere interior provinces. It makes a measure of sense, for international trade is most known to pass through ports, with a minority crossing overland. However, the Lods of Lodon considered these same concerns as Lodon grew in wealth and prominence. The response was a system of taxation wherein the masters of the shoreside territories were expected to repay the interior territories for goods traveling landward. Consider it a system of interior tariffs which was otherwise unknown in Qadal.
This state of affairs only changed around the early 3000s, when the Corgastodmar and Elivas came to a general accord to cease their centuries of sporatic warfare.

Lodon’s Architecture

The character of Elivas villages is much unto islands upon churning oceans. Their low profile shifts between sight and unsight as the ocean grass which abounds it drifts on the winds. Houses are meant to be sweeping in their design, so that the dreadful gusts of wind which tear over the plains might be mitigated. The same might be said of taller constructions, for those which exist, which are forces to be nearly pyramidal as their height increases. Erect buildinds as found in eastern Everos were attempted in the early years of Lodon but were universally eroded to collapse within short years.
In regards to defensive architecture, the Elivas capitalize on the proliferation of dry grass which populates the western plateau. Walls are not constructed upward to dissuade assault or deny siege engines. Instead, the Elivas invest themselves into systems of low walls, trenches, and open grounds which array from town edges. These features are deployed at irregular intervals, so that an approaching host might need to overcome multiple trench lines, scattered stone walls, or its across the same path, but be confused by a similar yet suffled mix of the same elsewhere.

Elivas Society

The collective entity of what might be named Elivas culture is a profoundly adaptable apparatus.
The Elivas are a particularly monied society, as international trade is their compelled expertise. Those settlers situated on the coastline benefit the most, while those living along the eastern borderland with Everos live sparse, austere lives.
Those Elivas settled beyond the reaches of Lodon are much different than their brethren of the homeland. Their societies reflect the local cultural environment, morphing and changing to adapt as best as possible.
A more fundamental divide that exists in Elivas society comes from the acceptance or bitter rejection of their bestial condition. It is all they have ever known, but the beasts were quick to look beyond their own borders and see the conditions of their neighbors. They believed themselves to be uniquely cursed and discovered through Eshanic lore passed by the Etayen that their assumptions were correct. Ácolitus doomed them as savages like those wrought by Qazun; Atûn uplifted them. Mesian tolerated them. Little about that story inspired the same proud racial legacy as might be found elsewhere. This created a separation of opinion which has endured since the earliest years of Elivas existence to the present, no matter when that present might be now. A number of the Elivas embraced their beastial nature while others scorned it and loathed themselves. In manifestation, the former group developed, recorded, and celebrated their ancient history, bringing it forward into the modern era in exciting and novels ways. The latter group sought to assimilate themselves into neighboring cultures, Everosi, Neyasi, or otherwise to divorce themselves from that shameful heritage.

Questions of Class

Elites of the upper class among the Elivas are known as the Iphet, or ‘first’ in their tongue.
Among their numerous priviledges is the capability to immerse themselves in raw Vojûnic smoke. Now, the practice itself is not illegal nor reserved for the upper class alone, but the means to practice in safety are limited. Skilled nemeshari must raise sufficient amounts of Vojûnic energy through their own facilities or with the assistance of Voladûr to achieve an effect. At the same time, they cannot raise too much. This could corrupt and destroy the subject and the nemeshari themselves. Once raised, this energy must be sustained, which requires further expertise. Failure on this stage could lead to destruction or the undoing of the process. After an hour or about passes, this Vojûnic power must be dispersed. The common mind might recall Viiryne and its potency, but those peoples cannot approach nor use such things. It requires further skill to disperse the power with increasing it accidently or simply pushing it onto the local area. One can image the associated costs, and how these processes are beyond the means of lesser Elivas.

Elivas Literature

Volumes have been dedicated to the tumultuous, violent years of early sentience, where those who were once hunted gained sense of self and strove to resist a predatory world. Among themselves, the Elivas enjoy exploring a heroic tradition of their earliest ancestors. This is perhaps a naïve means of approaching a world wherein heroism is often diluted by outside influence, namely the Eshan, but this might be expected of a race so young. Indeed, the narrative essence and prose of the Elivas is much alike a new-born, eager to explore and define its place in a strange world. Others, such as the Etayen, are conservative and self-aware in all their writings, and thus lack the same colorful brilliance in their legends.

Music of Lodon

The Elivas are civilized beasts derived from wild beasts. It is a nature buried deep in their esseythu, such that it will never be separated. Their most noteworthy contribution to music is their bestial nature. Talented performers among them are able to mimick the ancient chants of their instinctual past, turning such wretched noise into a fearsome, melodious chourus. A great gathering together can plunge a room into the historical depths of antiquity by recreating the herd songs of the Elivas beasts. Now, from what place these chants are recalled is unknown. Perhaps they were always known, deep inside. The Elivas have refused to educate outsiders on that point.

Education

The Elivas are a young race, and thus their intellectual tradition lacks the same steady foundations as other races. For centuries, therefore, the better sort among the Elivas dispatched their children to courts across Esha. The Everosi Aemar whom they neighbored were considered a rather barbaric sort, perhaps given their intimate proximity to one another. They were avoided. Instead, the Elivas flocked to Tarimikras in Othos and the Semyr islands wherein the Etayen established their chiefest base with the outside world. They absorbed knowledge of science, history, mathematics, and Eshanic lore which were otherwise unknown to them. Profound knowledge was returned which served to radically reconstruct again and again the world which the Elivas observed.
Two schools of thought reign in Lodon. The former is internal, wherein Elivas thinkers wish to maintain the purity of their intellectual heritage by devising novel perspectives on subjects rather than copying neighbors. For example, why should the Elivas adopt the same opinions on the Eshan as the Etayen, who were so different in experience?
The latter school is external, wherein Elivas thinkers argue that the great share of Esha’s wisdom is found among its ancient peoples. Attempting to waste time creating new responses to elder subjects was foolish. Instead, the Elivas might swiftly equal themselves in knowledge and thereafter explore new regions of thought. In this way they might be foremost rather than eternally secondary.

Love and Relationships

Granted the naïve nature of the Elivas, the callous boundaries of love are not present as elsewhere. Individuals might be promised to whomever they wish, regardless of class.

Gender and Sexuality

As the youngest Eshanic race in Qadal, Elivas conceptions of gender are molded by their own profound transformation rather than foreign influences. In their culture, males and females occupy the same positions, whether military, economic, political, or broadly social.

Death and Rites

The Elivas dispose of the dead upon great burial mounds atop their ceremonial crags. It is thereupon where great copse of trees and beautiful growth towers over the surrounding forest.
Separate traditions developed for those Elivas who dwelled outside the confines of Lodon proper. In Everos east of the Zomore, a practice grew into existence where the dead were buried in small, half-domed mounds. These constructions were unsuspecting on the outside, and with time came to appear like the landscape around them and disappear from definitive view. However, one who is lucky or educated in such esoteric knowledge might pick them out. For one so inclined, they must first discover the entrance, which is universally separated from the mount and buried over. Beneath extends a short tunnel which traverses the entrance aperature to mound. This is the weakest portion of the mound. Among the most ancient burial grounds, the tunnels are collapsed and layered with the top-soil of ages.
Now, past the tunnel comes the mound proper. The beauty of the interior differs among the classes, but the excitement of discovery makes it ever impressive. For the wealthy, the inner walls are lined with white marble, decorated with carvings of animal and olûndari life dwelling in bliss. Small basins capture the rainwater which seeps through the earth as spring pools from which roots and subterranean flowers grow. Offerings of treasure are left behind with the corpse as respect, being trinkets of gold, silver, and many scented flowers of beauty. Among the lower classes, simple stone or hard-timber suffice, so that over time their mounds might crumble to utter ruin. Inside are no spring pools, but perhaps numerous small flowers to keep the corpse company instead. What treasures are left behind are crafted from simple materials such as bronze, bone, or iron. Indeed, though the material is worse, the departing love imbued within them is as genuine.

Language

The linguistic lineage of the Elivas tongue, known as Empheyev, is utterly unique in the Qadayen experience. It boasts no association with the venerable Eshanic tongue which the Eshan themselves imparted unto their chosen peoples in unique and divergent ways. No language might claim to be a cousin nor distant relative. An untrained ear and mind cannot understand it. The origins of this speech come from the distant epochs of the late Awakening era, when the Elivas combated Aemar invaders for their own survival. The whole account is written elsewhere, but suffice to mention that beastial roars, growls, screeches, and similar guttural emissions are the foundation. They created novel purposes for these sounds and organized around them.

Naming Conventions

Names among the Elivas take from the same contrived tradition of their language and are thus unlike names elsewhere in Esha. Letters such as Y, L, I, H, P, X, E, and others are common. Examples of names are such as Yithmenal, Kisekexeh, Pephixeh, Lisha, and Heyiph.

Veneration of Mesian

Faith and bonds between the Eshan and olûndi are the doorways to protection and power in Qadal. Those realms which have grown great, like the Aemar, Etayen, Daorhu, and Axodraharik owe their success to the close support and patronage of their creators. For the Elivas, this connection was nonexistent for centuries. Mesian rejected and despised her cursed creations, retiring to Vussalas with bitterness after their feral condition was known. She cared not for them, nor anything in Qadal. In Mesian’s eyes the First Realm was an evil place which corrupted the Eshan into deadly conflict with one another. The Elivas spent the first millennia of the Awakening beastial and vulnerable, hunted for pelts and sport by the children of Aebaster who dwelled nearby. The Eldest of the Eshan made no effort to stop them. Aebaster viewed the Elivas as agents of Ácolitus’ corruption in the olûndari world and praised the opportunity to rid Qadal of any remaining vestiges of the Light Bringer. Yet, the other Eshan viewed the circumstances of Lodon with interest. Atûn, the archrival of Aebaster, saw in the Elivas a means to assail the security of the Aemar and their creator. He communed with Mesian between the borders of Vussalas and olûndari world with a proposition: using Eshara and an early form of Vojûn, Atûn could grant sentience and reason to the beasts and make them a proper race. The only duty of Mesian in the arrangement would be to accept them and grant upon them Eshara. Atûn reasoned that Mesian would turn against Aebaster for abandoning her to the furious punishment of Ácolitus, thus opening an additional battlefront against Aemarda while Atûn prepared the Etayen for their great ascension.
In -2500 Atûn bestowed sentience upon the Elivas, just as promised. Mesian was astonished to see her feral spawn transform into infantile, vulnerable, and bipedal creatures. They knew no language, held no skills, and lost the wild instinct which had kept them alive against encroaching enemies. In a sense, they were more pathetic than their beastly form, and Mesian viewed them warily. Indeed, she came a breath away from discarding them forever. Atûn halted her and assured her that the Elivas would mature and develop with time to become a respectable race of olûndi. They needed Mesian’s Eshara to achieve that end, and thus religion grew in importance among the Elivas. Her cult is unique among faiths in Qadal, as it grew organically along with the race itself, pieced together at the same time as basic language and mathematics rather than built upon an existing cultural platform.
The first temples dedicated to Mesian by the Elivas were constructed within the remote caves which were legion in Lodon. Worshippers carried their few worldly goods, whether jewels, shards of precious stone, beads, or woven cloth and hid them away within these holy sanctuaries for protection. Religious Services were similarly carried out within these places, well away from the eyes of invaders. Over the following centuries, the holy caves, known as Yidri to the Elivas, became the centers of civic and social life. When the sun rose, families would eat a simple morning meal and travel through the forests toward the caves. The holy women, of whom more will be said later, greeted them and bid they sit upon carpets of woven branches and leaves deep within the heart of stone. Around them early ‘candles’ of hardened fat lined the walls, tucked into small gaps broken into the rock with primitive tools. In the shadows were neat piles of community goods, left as offerings to Mesian or for protection by the holy keepers of the Yidri. When Services began, the affair consisted of singing and dancing accompanied by rude instruments fashioned from sticks, stones, reeds, and animal pelts- not Elivas, of course. Those attending became lost in a transe created by the gentle, melodic harmonies and beating rythym of dancing feet. At the perfect moment, the holy woman introduced simple inscence created from burning local roots and bugs in a lumpy paste called Hyev. This was believed to connect the esseythu and mind to the Eshara of Mesian, thus establishing the relationship from which the Elivas gained power and protection from their creator. Once the ritual was complete, the faithful were released to attend their daily duties. Others remained in the Yidri to commune with the holy woman and seek spiritual advice from Mesian, while it was also commonplace to store and manage luxury goods kept in safety. In the evening, the rituals would commence once again. When the Elivas departed that second time, the day was considered complete.
Like every religion in Qadal, the cult of Mesian possesses holy figures who commune with their creator and administer the rituals which bind olûndi and Eshan. For the Elivas, the religious class was and is composed of females drawn from every corner of society. Known as Yidirev, these females are the strongest, wisest, and best educated among all the Elivas. They are chosen for the position through a ritual considered primal and strange to other Qadayens, wherein small multi-legged insects called Phoyesh are bred and summoned by the reigning Yidirev. When the time is proper to choose a new Yidirev, these insects migrate throughout the forest, supposedly guided by the divine will of Mesian. They seek and gather around those chosen by Mesian as most fit, settling their permanent fate with or without their consent. After the selection, the individual is found and taken away from family and home to attend one of the Yidirev within the Yidri. There are historical instances of females rejecting the call of Mesian, even going so far as to slaughter the Phoyesh which choose them, but escape is impossible barring complete self-exile. The Phoyesh often choose multiple females for the purpose, allowing some leniency and flexibility for succession. All those chosen to spend the remainder of their lives as attendants for the Yidirev, keeping them clean, lighting candles, protecting community stockpiles, and orchestrating the dancing and song which accompany Elivas worship. Unlike other faiths, there is no significant hierarchy of the temple- rather, each of the Yidri are administered by the Yidirev and their successor attendants. Perhaps more than any religion, then, the role of the ubiquitous holy figure among the Elivas is important, since each Yidirev is the reigning master of their Mesianic cult and supporting pillar of the local community. Without the basic unit of faith, Elivas society could not function, nor gain the Eshara necessary to protect themselves from the harsh world.
The status quo of Elivas faith remained largely unchanged throughout the Awakening era. Pressing concerns such as military invasion from the likes of Ferestor and the Everosi tribes stole away the attention of the Heonavs through the -2000s and -1000s. At this same time the Elivas struggled to eek out an existence for themselves as an established civilization, gathering much knowledge regarding language and culture while battling existential threats. Religious thus remained a strictly pragmatic expression of Mesianic culture, reserved for the Yidri and smaller communities. For the Heolod, the purpose was in gaining the Eshara and favor of Mesian, whatever that might entail. This in turn influenced the perception of Mesian and religion amongst them. For centuries, she was portrayed as a distant beacon of power, impersonal and without clear manifestation. Mesian was neither warm nor close. Most early representations portray her as Eshor or smooth-skinned and fair like Aebaster. Perhaps a portion of the fact might be attributed to the uneducated and naïve demeanor of the Elivas, who cobbled together civilization from nothing, but more credit might be given to Mesian herself. Throughout the Awakening she was ashamed and distant from her children, denying contact with them and only granting Eshara as a matter of obligation. For that reason, that Elivas did not portray her as one of them, but as a looming and strange presence over their lives. However, circumstances began to change around the beginning of the Ascension era. The Etayen rose to power in the south, and rapidly began their legendary conquest and colonization of Qadal. Mesian was quick to take notice. She watched from Vussalas as Atûn’s children spilled over the Semyr and into Everos, smashing against the tribes of the Aemar and driving them northward toward the Aeducarr Mountains. This gave the Elivas flexibility and stability unprecedented in their bloody history. Freedom allowed the Elivas to alter and express religion in new manners, and fair tidings gave Mesian confidence to embrace her ilk.
Mesianic faith developed into a more sophisticated form of worship during the Ascension era as political unity and economic prosperity compelled the Elivas to reevaluate the callously pragmatic relationship between them and creator experienced during the Awakening. Portayal of Mesian, temples, writings.
Following the advancement and expansion of the Mesianic faith starting in the -1500s, the reigning Lods began to take increasing political interest in the activities of the Yidirev and organization of the Yidri. The popularity of communal religious Service was the foundational of social interaction, and thus political power as well. If these proceedings could be managed by the state, then the temple could be manipulated to spur popular interest in support the Lods, which were many and divided between many factions in those days. The Yidirev remained aloof from the political turmoil surrounding them, though it took on new identities. Enemies from without were replaced by competing Heolod from within, each attempting to gain the support of the Yidirev to legitimize themselves. As the conflicts between them grew in intensity, the pressure upon the Yidirev mounted. The most notable instance regards Hejesh Lod, master of an Elivas domain along the western coast of Lodon.
Collective faith in Mesian bound together the otherwise divided Elivas realm until the Ascension era suddenly ended with Atûn’s death in year zero. In its place came a dark age, rife with terror and the chaos of Vojûn unleashed. The fragile balance of warring Heonev and their Lods was shattered by the unexpected geopolitical turmoil of Étunas’ demise. Nations of the Aemar fought among themselves and their neighbors for control of the lands freed then abandoned by Corgastor, while the surviving Etayen of Everos violently lashed out against any external threats while their internal stability crumbled to dust. Though the river Zomore protected the eastern borders, Lodon was not sparred from hardship. If anything, the Aemar kingdoms which bordered the west considered the Weeping Era prime time to claim land and wealth from across the Zomore. The smaller Heonev along that frontier were devastated by constant attacks orchestrated by ambitious and cruel Vojûnic warlords who grasped the power left behind by Atûn and mastered it for themselves.
Darkness loomed over the Mesianic faith as the creator’s Eshara struggled to match the immense task of protecting the whole Elivas population. Yet, the kingdoms of the Aemar could only sustain their offensives for so long. Once the first centuries of the Weeping Era had come and passed their power waned. Successive generations of war left swathes of Everos nothing more than dust and ruins. Amidst this dark period the Elivas closed ranks and formed the first united realm of Lodon in 658 under Xheveral Lod. He claimed the lineage and tradition of ancient Yherep Lod as warrior-lord and keeper of Mesian’s land- protecting Lodon from the manifold threats which faced it. Firmly established political unity provided the Elivas with a new sense of identity which bled into religion. No longer was the Mesianic temple subject to pressures from minor, competing states, but rather the singular polity under which everyone fell. This was beneficial and harmful in equal meansure. In one sense, the Mesianic temple could now operate consistently across Lodon, fulfilling the will of Mesian across her land. In another, the power of religion is often supplanted or subsumed into the political state, as in the Corgastodmar and Eurobasar empires. Church and state became one, as the Eshara granted by one fundamentally upheld the other. However, the Yidirev of the Yidri viewed themselves strictly as the messangers and speakers of Mesian, not the Lod. Therefore, the conflict of the middle Weeping Era was one experienced in some measure centuries prior- the temple was forced to resist pressures of the state. However, the temples were compelled work in coordination with the Elivas state to benefit the masses and maintain legitimacy. It was a constant push and pull between them, one which was all pervasive and unavoidable.
The strength which the Mesianic faith enjoyed in the homeland did not translate well beyond the shores of Everos. Expansion to new domains, Nevan, Othos, the Semyrs, and others, meant interactions and conflict with other Eshanic races. It was not a matter of defense, but of successful competition. This meant a choice. Mesian could traverse the beaten path of Aebaster, Atûn, and Corgastor by intervening in the machinations of her chosen people. She could speak with them, guide them, and grant them power against their enemies and rivals. However, this risked the creation of celestial contests like Aebaster and Atûn’s ancient feud, which Mesian witnessed in close. Wars, death, and the annihilation of civilizations were the outcomes of that exchange. In the end, Atûn was dead and Aebaster weakened so that Corgastor was uplifted to take the reins. Nothing was gained. Mesian was wiser than to wander down that lonesome road and made her decision. Elivas dwelling within Lodon would receive blessings of Eshanic power, or those defending Lodon from outside attack. Yet those outside the homeland in distant corners of the world were deprived.
Although a means to limit power and conflict, the Mandate of Mesian to bless the homeland alone created a divide among the Elivas. The battle-lines were clear. Those outside the shores of Lodon grew estranged from Mesian and her worship, perceiving in their own ways that Eshara was no longer forthcoming and that prayers were left silent. Those remaining in the homeland kept to the faith which provided protection and unity more powerful than olûndari institutions could provide.