Jin-El Aethis

The historical homeland of the elves is, usually, depicted in the center of our world. Not for the vanity of elven cartographers is that so, but for the fact that of the major continents that we know, Jin-El Aethis is at the center-point between them -- a perfect position from which to dominate trade and influence the politics of the world. Nearly all of the sub-races of elves can be found within the nation, though they are often separated by the sea. Each major sub-race lives upon its own island: high elves, wood elves, blood elves, water elves, night elves, and many others. Even the drow (or dark elves, as some know them), though I shall discuss their "accommodations" later.
The nation itself is a collection of small islands in the center of the Al-Braugh Ocean, which spans the region between the continents of our world. Curiously, the elves, to many other races, seem to have always been in Jin-El Aethis and it seems that they always will be. The elven "empire" can hardly be called such at all in fact, as they have never sought to expand beyond the central islands that they call home. Once, every few centuries there may be a new annexation of some island from the Thousand Isles, but hardly anything that could be rightly called imperial.
To many from outside the homeland, Jin-El Aethis seems to be a perfect paradise: a place where evil is absent and prices are low. I can tell you from experience that this is an appearance only. There is much prejudice present in the world of elves. Myself being one-quarter human, even I was only begrudgingly allowed a permanent residence upon Bal'A Kaiga, the island upon which lies our political capital. I was not allowed to live within Vel'A Sharan itself, but I was quite "generously" allowed to live on the outskirts (of course, in my years of study I spent more time in Dar'El Druida anyway!). Elves who are not purely "elven" are often seen as somehow contaminated by the lesser race of their heritage. Many are refused service at some "pure" institutions, though these are quite less common than they were in my youth. Perhaps the most egregious disgrace and shame of my homeland is the treatment of the drow, our misunderstood brethren from below the surface. Their history is long and troubled, and many an elf was killed in the wars between the dark elves and their lighter-skinned brethren. Though they are now branded as civil wars by most elven historians, drow are stilled hardly considered our kin. Their "home" island is little more than a scarcely-habitable spit of land with a single crack into that black abyss where the drow live. The city in which the bulk of the known drow live is not even near that crack, but several miles east of the entry point. Furthermore, the single waystation between Burdüg (that aforementioned city) and the surface is little more than an impoverished ghetto, neglected by their surface kin like an orphan forgotten by her kin.
Not all is dark and dreary, however. Our nation has a rich cultural history, and our lorespeakers are famous for their ability to craft a tale. Poetry, ballads, and artistic works are our main cultural export. One cannot walk the streets of Vel'A Sharan without hearing a traditional song or seeing an advert for the playhouse. The ports of Jin-El Aethis are some of the most diverse and lively cities on the entire face of Ultor, and loud drinking often persists in all of the inns until late, late into the night (I myself have, to my mother's chagrin, bless her soul, taken part in many a raucous night in Elerias). I could speak on and on of the beautiful artistry and hand-carved runestones, but I must stop myself here, before I get lost in minute details for which my readers certainly have little care.

Structure

Jin-El Aethis is ruled by a High Council and the Nahir. The High Council is comprised of three of each of the major elven subraces. While there are many, many of these subraces, only a select few are given representation. Namely, blood, night, aquater, high, wood, and (the incredibly rare) grey elves. Perhaps unsurprisingly, dark elves are not given representation on this council and are excluded from all governmental functions. This council mandates the laws to be enforced in Jin-El Aethis: who can be traded with, who is allowed on elven land, what may be shipped and received -- things of this nature. They are responsible for passing new laws, and ensuring that the laws of the gods are obeyed to the letter to avert the anger of the great ones. In essence, the council is the law of the land, and whatever they decide will become law. Members for this council are chosen by the nobility of each subrace, and are often chosen for popularity among the subrace from which they come. In some sense, it can be said that the people themselves choose their leaders, but it is not so simplistic as this and elven politics are a tangle of alliances and treaties that are too complex for me to even begin to explain to an outsider (not that any outsider could possibly sit through more than three minutes of lecture!).
With the aforementioned understanding of the council (albeit a basic understanding), I shall now introduce the role of the Nahir. He (or she), is the leader of our people, chosen by the council from among the pure elves of Jin-El Aethis. Only a pure elf can become Nahir, as it is believed that the elven gods would not allow someone "tainted" (I hesitate to use such language) by the other races to rule over their favorite dominion. The Nahir is not a leader in the sense that many other races understand it. Many outsiders are confused as to the role the Nahir plays in the lives of his subjects. If the council makes all of the laws and enforces them, what purpose does this "king" have? Religion. The Nahir is the spiritual leader that we look to for guidance in all things. Though he may not make laws himself, he can brand a law immoral, unjust, or even sacrilege. The Nahir oversees the annexation of new territories into the kingdom, and ensures that the council and his subjects heed the teachings and messages of the gods. He receives said divine messages, and interprets them if the meaning is unclear. When the Nahir is spoken of in an elven homestead, his name is said with deep reverence, a sort of wonder at some higher, almost mystical, being who rules over all elf-kind (for he is seen to be the one true king of the elves).

List of Nahirs

Vimalus the Enlightened (102-367)
Lydrin Valaran (367-484)
Alain the Goldsmith (484-783)
Elbyn Iarath (783-924)
Erlgbeth the Usurper (924-928)
Aldreth Loren (928-929)
Ulbeth Valarn (929-932)
Andresin Sylric (932-)

History

The history of Jin-El Aethis is long and storied. It is quite possibly the oldest kingdom of today's world, having been established only 102 years after the Morlu Cataclysm. The first Nahir of our land, Vimalus the Enlightened, declared the foundation of a uniquely elven kingdom in 102 AC upon the island that has since become the Royal Sanctuary (the location of the house of Nahir). Unlike the violent unifications of other races, the unification of the elves was a largely peaceful affair, where each subrace was slowly brought into the fold peacefully. The promise of prosperity and the shared identity of all elves made it easy for Vimalus to annex island after island into his kingdom. The core empire, consisting of Bal'A Kaiga, the Royal Sanctuary, Bal'A Lunis, Bal'A Rakau, and Bal'A Koraha, was established by 130 AC. In fact, the formation of the empire is so peaceful and relatively uneventful that many foreign students find the history quite boring (so I shall not detail it here). The aquatic elves were brought into the fold in 156 AC (still under the regency of Vimalus) after finally being discovered by elven traders on accident.
The enlightened rule of Vimalus was ended in 367 AC after 265 years of relative peace (he stepped down, beginning the tradition of the Nahirian Swap). The only conflicts during the formation of the empire were between elves and the other native inhabitants of the islands of the kingdom, nothing more that skirmishes. However, the reason for those small skirmishes led to the greater conflicts to follow. At that time, and still today, many elves believed in racial purity. The idea was that the elven nation could never have true peace and security so long as impure, "lesser" species built societies within the kingdom. Outsiders were viewed as dangerous, subversive, and antithetical to the peaceful existence of the kingdom.
Into this atmosphere, the dark elves were introduced. After having been left alone, undiscovered, for nearly 300 years after the formation of the elven nation, first contact was established with the drow in 374 AC, shortly after Vimalus stepped down from the Serene Throne. However, unlike all previous subraces of elves, the dark elves were seen as somehow alien. They were so strange for the surface dwellers to behold and so different culturally from the rest of the elves that they were portrayed by those who saw them as a perversion of the "perfect race."
I consider the following events beginning in 375 AC to be the darkest moment in not only the history of Jin-El Aethis, but the darkest moment in the history of all elves. The events surrounding the very first meeting of drow and surface elves are shrouded in mystery. We know that a research team was sent to the Darkisle to investigate the dead mountains there. Upon arriving, scouting reports indicated that the patrol encountered very strange-looking creatures, and that the commander had decided to take a closer look at a village they discovered deep below the surface of the earth. The report ends there, and it has led to speculation as to what happened to the party. Had they attacked or been attacked by the drow? Perhaps the drow were entirely uninvolved, and the party simply ran afoul of the dark creatures in the mountains. Whatever the truth of the matter actually was, the drow were quickly labelled by the fledgling elf kingdom as abhorrent in the eyes of the gods, birthed of the evil and dark forces of Ultor.
Almost immediately after the disappearance of the scouting party, the high council and Nahir sent a small force to clear out what they assumed would be a small and easily beaten force of barbaric natives. The elven leaders at that time had been used to clearing out local populations of beasts such as troggs, kobolds, and wild goblins. As such, the force they sent to root out the drow was small, ill-equipped, and ill-trained. They were slaughtered. Small forces continued to be sent for nearly a year of campaigning before the high council finally realized that they were not dealing with some lowly group of savages, but a highly competent and experienced enemy (no surprise for us given what we know of the hardship of the Underdark, but the Underdark was not well known at the time).
For the next 100 years, a savage war was fought between the surface elves and the drow, called the Dark War. Most of the fighting occurred on and below the Darkisle. The only motive for the genocidal mania of the surface dwellers was racial purity. To us now, this seems disgusting, and we wonder how any of our forefathers could support it, but we must remember that at that time, racial purity was thought to be essential for peace in the elven nation. So it was that elf slaughtered elf for 100 years. Unknown numbers of elves died in the conflict, which was especially brutal even for the time. There were no prisoners taken on either side, and the few small drow settlements that were encountered by the surface army (they never found a city or the main source of drow) were razed to the ground and their populations slaughtered wholesale.
It took until 484 AC for cooler heads to prevail, but only after the surface government was nearly overthrown because of the, by then, costly and unpopular war. Finally, an uneasy peace was established between the drow and surface elves. The Darkisle became an occupied territory, with troops from both sides watching each other all day for any suspicious movement. The long and slow integration of the drow into the empire began over the following centuries. To this day, the drow are not considered members of the kingdom, but as allies of it.
The following centuries to the present day are oft of no interest to outsiders. The slow exploration and charting of the Thousand Isles occurred during this time, as did the establishment of elven mooring ports all the way from Galzhür to Kolburra. One must remember that unlike in human history, for example, where many many generations have passed since the founding of the human kingdoms, for us elves of Jin-El Aethis, we can still count on our hands the number of generations that have passed since the founding of our nation. There are still veterans of the Dark War living to this very day (though they are ancient by even our standards). There are those who lived at the same time as Vimalus (who, we must remember, did not die immediately after stepping down) still living among us! For many outsider races who have lesser lifespans, the slow changes in elven history can be perplexing and rather boring, but one must understand that for us elves, we tend to focus on slower, long term changes (rather, changes that seem long term to others).
The culmination of all of these long years of history is the nation which we behold today. It has more than doubled its original size, established a successful trading network across our world, and has been involved in some of the most pressing issues of our time. For those who wish to learn more of our great kingdom, I can say nothing more to you than this: you must experience our nation for yourself to truly understand what I have said here. No amount of script can adequately describe the feel of Jin-El Aethis. Travel to it, speak to its natives. Only then will the picture become clear to you.

Founding Date

102 AC

Type

Geopolitical, Kingdom