Elves
"As much as I hate to admit it, there's nobody with better memories than an elf. I'm only 200 years old and already I've forgotten most of my thirties. No clue what the hell I was doing the whole time... drinking, perhaps? Anyways, no clue how they remember events a thousand years ago like its nothing. Always embarrasing when we misplace a record and have to go ask 'em if they have any so they send out some old elf who's older than my grandfather would have been. And so damn arrogant, too." - Baldur Brassbellow, a dwarven miner, scribe, architect, former alcoholic, soldier, and alcoholic again, 1914 SC
Elves, as a race, originated on the now destroyed continent of Salazuir, which was a highly magical continent that heavily influenced their evolution from primordials. The continent was populated by elves, dwarves, and telrai, with no other known sentient populations. The elves of Salazuir were able to control most of the continent at the advent of the first states, and therefore considered themselves superior to the other races. With magic as their main tool, the elves began meddling with very powerful and downright dangerous magic in an arms race between the most powerful kingdoms. In 6012 BC, one of Ineran's libraries was discovered in a ruined state by an acient magical university. The university began an excavation to discover the purpose of the library, and would acquire a number of unreadable books. However, the most fateful discovery was that of the Ars Usymra by a young student named Raemha. After the discovery of the book, Raemha became twisted and gathered a cult following, sacrificing elves to the demon inside. In 6001 BC, the cult would sacrifice an entire city in a neighboring nation to the demon, a crime which heightened Raemha's power considerably. This power spike would encourage the cult to think even bigger...
In 5997 B.C., Raemha, Reader of the Ars Usymra, utilized her cult following to attempt to sacrifice her entire nation and the neighboring nation in which she sacrificed an entire city. However, due to the logistics of sacrificing such a high amount of people, a number of members messed up, were in the wrong position, got lost, died, or started at the wrong time. The number of failures was high enough to ruin the spell, and a great amount of Negative Magic was released by the spell. This surge reacted to the large amount of Positive Magic already on Salazuir and would prove too much for the continent to handle. The entire continent of Salazuir, which had become completely inundated with magic, would shatter into thousands of pieces. The epicenter of the attempted sacrifice, Raemha, and all her followers, as well as the populations of the countries would die immediately, but the ramifications went beyond this. The event would completely destroy the continent and kill the majority of Salazuir's population. With the shattering of the continent, several large portions would become disconnected from the planet's crust, and due to the magic creating some sort of buoyancy, would begin floating. One portion would drift south to Yyradayn, giving rise to the Dark Elves. A fourth section would drift north, eventually reaching Voltheim and giving rise to the Frost Elves. However, most of the elves did not end up on these fragments.
Some elves were instead teleported to various locations. The reason for such teleportation is that the spells used to sacrifice elves to the Ars Usymra contained a spell to teleport them to Usymra's domain (essentially the pocket dimension the devil remains trapped in, with the book as its portal). Therefore elves were variously teleported. Sun Elves come from a legion of elves using the Transporters of Salazuir during the magical surge. With the transporters broken, they were dumped roughly halfway between Salazuir and the magical forests of Ærellion. They were further thrown off course by the pull of the Genies' magical hotspots as well as fallout, and ended up far to the south, just north of the equators. Their unique identity developed due to the widespread heretical belief in the army that the sun god and war god were one and the same; as the supreme god.
In contrast, the other subraces of the elves (Forest, High, and Moon) diverged due to their views on the disaster of Salazuir. These elves were those who lived in the elven colonies and magical woods there. Untouched by the magical radiation and fallout, they nonetheless felt the ramifications of being cut off from the motherland. Several diverging subraces developed over the long years since, based on how the elves reacted to The Destruction of Salazuir and the loss of ancient tech. High Elves developed from the majority opinion; that the Destruction was caused by improper use of poorly understood magic. They therefore believed that if the elven people could learn all magic, they could avoid such a disaster taking place again and potentially reverse-engineer the ancient technologies lost by their people. This view was probably influenced by their position in the magical forest, which demanded use of magic, surrounded them with magic, and improved the impact of magic. Eventually, this devolved into magical tyranny and elven supremacy, and during the Black Centuries various minorities were expelled. Many High Elven groups around the globe come from those whose ancestors fled oppression, and not all follow such magical supremacist documents, but the subrace has clearly diverged from other elven groups. While the majority, they were by no means the only view of elves. A sizable minority of elves would come to be known as forest elves. Focusing on communion with nature, living in touch with one's surroundings, and not defiling the natural order, they argued restrait in use of magic. While still making heavy use of magic, they discouraged the (what they saw as) reckless experimentation that was sure to lead to more disasters. In their eyes, the elven people needed to make do without technology, allowing it to develop naturally as opposed to risking it all to get back their convenience. This view was probably influenced by largely residing in forests where magic wasn't as beneficial to use. These two groups amounted to probably 95% of the elves present, but not all. Some elves, largely those who resided in the mountainous peaks, instead turned to worshipping a "Lunar Spirit". Seeking to become wise in the ways of astrology and divination, they postulated that by utilizing the moon and stars disasters could be predicted and therefore prevented. Their limited successes in this field have largely confirmed such views in their eyes, but have not been conclusive. Hence, they have retreated to mountaintop retreats where they became the Lunar Elves.
Of the elves not teleported away and not in the colonies or on breakaway lands, a far worse fate awaited. At best, they were left behind on crumbling rocks which soon collapsed, forcing them to the bottom of the sea. Naturally, these are the Sea Elves. They mainly coexist peacefully, trawling the various underwater ruins for artifacts from their past. A friendship between them and the Salazuiri Telrai has developed over the years as they are the last remnants of life on Salazuir, save for the creeping corruption from the Shadow Dimension. This shadow dimension is where the elves caught in the teleportation spell, and most of the continent, were sent. There, they became the Duskborn, and are no longer considered elves at all.
Elves, as a race, originated on the now destroyed continent of Salazuir, which was a highly magical continent that heavily influenced their evolution from primordials. The continent was populated by elves, dwarves, and telrai, with no other known sentient populations. The elves of Salazuir were able to control most of the continent at the advent of the first states, and therefore considered themselves superior to the other races. With magic as their main tool, the elves began meddling with very powerful and downright dangerous magic in an arms race between the most powerful kingdoms. In 6012 BC, one of Ineran's libraries was discovered in a ruined state by an acient magical university. The university began an excavation to discover the purpose of the library, and would acquire a number of unreadable books. However, the most fateful discovery was that of the Ars Usymra by a young student named Raemha. After the discovery of the book, Raemha became twisted and gathered a cult following, sacrificing elves to the demon inside. In 6001 BC, the cult would sacrifice an entire city in a neighboring nation to the demon, a crime which heightened Raemha's power considerably. This power spike would encourage the cult to think even bigger...
In 5997 B.C., Raemha, Reader of the Ars Usymra, utilized her cult following to attempt to sacrifice her entire nation and the neighboring nation in which she sacrificed an entire city. However, due to the logistics of sacrificing such a high amount of people, a number of members messed up, were in the wrong position, got lost, died, or started at the wrong time. The number of failures was high enough to ruin the spell, and a great amount of Negative Magic was released by the spell. This surge reacted to the large amount of Positive Magic already on Salazuir and would prove too much for the continent to handle. The entire continent of Salazuir, which had become completely inundated with magic, would shatter into thousands of pieces. The epicenter of the attempted sacrifice, Raemha, and all her followers, as well as the populations of the countries would die immediately, but the ramifications went beyond this. The event would completely destroy the continent and kill the majority of Salazuir's population. With the shattering of the continent, several large portions would become disconnected from the planet's crust, and due to the magic creating some sort of buoyancy, would begin floating. One portion would drift south to Yyradayn, giving rise to the Dark Elves. A fourth section would drift north, eventually reaching Voltheim and giving rise to the Frost Elves. However, most of the elves did not end up on these fragments.
Some elves were instead teleported to various locations. The reason for such teleportation is that the spells used to sacrifice elves to the Ars Usymra contained a spell to teleport them to Usymra's domain (essentially the pocket dimension the devil remains trapped in, with the book as its portal). Therefore elves were variously teleported. Sun Elves come from a legion of elves using the Transporters of Salazuir during the magical surge. With the transporters broken, they were dumped roughly halfway between Salazuir and the magical forests of Ærellion. They were further thrown off course by the pull of the Genies' magical hotspots as well as fallout, and ended up far to the south, just north of the equators. Their unique identity developed due to the widespread heretical belief in the army that the sun god and war god were one and the same; as the supreme god.
In contrast, the other subraces of the elves (Forest, High, and Moon) diverged due to their views on the disaster of Salazuir. These elves were those who lived in the elven colonies and magical woods there. Untouched by the magical radiation and fallout, they nonetheless felt the ramifications of being cut off from the motherland. Several diverging subraces developed over the long years since, based on how the elves reacted to The Destruction of Salazuir and the loss of ancient tech. High Elves developed from the majority opinion; that the Destruction was caused by improper use of poorly understood magic. They therefore believed that if the elven people could learn all magic, they could avoid such a disaster taking place again and potentially reverse-engineer the ancient technologies lost by their people. This view was probably influenced by their position in the magical forest, which demanded use of magic, surrounded them with magic, and improved the impact of magic. Eventually, this devolved into magical tyranny and elven supremacy, and during the Black Centuries various minorities were expelled. Many High Elven groups around the globe come from those whose ancestors fled oppression, and not all follow such magical supremacist documents, but the subrace has clearly diverged from other elven groups. While the majority, they were by no means the only view of elves. A sizable minority of elves would come to be known as forest elves. Focusing on communion with nature, living in touch with one's surroundings, and not defiling the natural order, they argued restrait in use of magic. While still making heavy use of magic, they discouraged the (what they saw as) reckless experimentation that was sure to lead to more disasters. In their eyes, the elven people needed to make do without technology, allowing it to develop naturally as opposed to risking it all to get back their convenience. This view was probably influenced by largely residing in forests where magic wasn't as beneficial to use. These two groups amounted to probably 95% of the elves present, but not all. Some elves, largely those who resided in the mountainous peaks, instead turned to worshipping a "Lunar Spirit". Seeking to become wise in the ways of astrology and divination, they postulated that by utilizing the moon and stars disasters could be predicted and therefore prevented. Their limited successes in this field have largely confirmed such views in their eyes, but have not been conclusive. Hence, they have retreated to mountaintop retreats where they became the Lunar Elves.
Of the elves not teleported away and not in the colonies or on breakaway lands, a far worse fate awaited. At best, they were left behind on crumbling rocks which soon collapsed, forcing them to the bottom of the sea. Naturally, these are the Sea Elves. They mainly coexist peacefully, trawling the various underwater ruins for artifacts from their past. A friendship between them and the Salazuiri Telrai has developed over the years as they are the last remnants of life on Salazuir, save for the creeping corruption from the Shadow Dimension. This shadow dimension is where the elves caught in the teleportation spell, and most of the continent, were sent. There, they became the Duskborn, and are no longer considered elves at all.
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