Capital:
Dalariadh
Population: 1,997,440 (99% Wood Elves)
Government: Monarchy
Religions: Elven Pantheon
Imports: Rare magical items, rare minerals
Exports: Fine elven goods, wine
In the northeast of Vatheria lies a vast stretch of forest,
where the hand of man has never held sway. It is the realm of the
elves of Celendor, and their lord the Elven King, the Lord of the
Golden Wood, The King of the Fey Hunt, Elorian Mistmantle. The
woods have a dark and dangerous reputation among the humans of
Vatheria, who mistrust the elves. The reputation is well-earned in
many ways, for the ancient and warlike elves do not welcome
travelers to their forests.
For long ages, the elves of Celendor were satisfied to remain
undisturbed within their realm, at peace with the outside world
which troubled them little. But as the Conorrian Empire of the
humans has fallen greatly in the world, so the younger realms of
man and orc have increasingly waged war in its wake. After a
century of constant raiding along its borders, the elves of
Celendor have roused from their long peaceful slumber to arm
themselves for war. Celendor is now a great elven realm in the
fullness of its power.
Celendor’s chief enemy is Carhallas, and the hatred of elf
and hobgoblin is old and deep. Against the vast numbers and
martial cunning of the hobgoblins, the elves pit sorcery and the
greatest archers in Theeurth. The border has been the scene of
countless raids and skirmishes for the last two centuries, and
observers say that it is only a matter of time before the two
nations go to war.
HISTORY
The true origins of Celendor are lost in the mists of time. It
is a realm as old as the oldest human nations, vanished Iridian
and Numanthaur. Its residents claim that their ancestors first
settled the great wood ages before the coming of man to Theeurth,
when the world was young and the gods still walked its surface.
Human records first speak of the elves as great lords, seeming
almost as the gods themselves, who taught man the arts of writing
and magic. Little did the powerful lords of forest and valley
reckon with the energy and fertility of their new apprentices. In
little time, as the elves count it, though long ages of man, the
petty kingdoms of humanity rose into the first and greatest
flowerings, the great empires. As Iridian and Numanthaur and
other, forgotten powers rose, the elves, who cared little for
about such occurrences, retreated into their fastnesses and there
dwelt in solitude, having little commerce with the human realms.
That changed when the gods rained down their punishment on the
ancient world, for the elves were not immune to the great
destruction wrought upon all of Theeurth. Though Celendor did not
fall and pass away as did Iridian and Numanthaur, the destruction
was great, and many of the wisest were killed. Celendor was first
among the nations of Theeurth to restore its old power, and the
new king, Aranduir was determined that the elves would never again
be withdrawn from the world.
A renaissance of elven culture and power began in Celendor, but
was cut short by the arrival of a new race, yet another evil of
the Wrath of the Gods. Orcs had arrived in Vatheria, and came upon
the eastern and southern borders of Celendor in great numbers,
burning and looting as they came. The wars of elf and orc lasted
for centuries, and during that time another great human power
began to conquer all the lands of Vatheria. The Conorrian Empire
was on the rise and like its predecessors, it soon outstripped the
elves in size and scope. But the elves had peace, and were content
while that peace lasted.
For elves of Celendor, that peace ended in CY 1902, when the
Kazimak horde of hobgoblins crossed the Talamakas mountains and
descended on the west. This vast, unruly mob of dangerous and
desperate warriors burned a path not only through the strong
Conorrian Empire, but into the wild, lightly settled lands north
of the Worldspine, where they settled into a state of continual
warfare with the elves that has lasted for more than eight hundred
years.
By the twenty-second century, the Kazimaks had become the
Carhallas Empire, and began to wage war in the systematic,
Conorrian way. In 2456, the emperor Kahaldin led a vast army of
hobgoblins and ogres into the woods of Celendor. For a year, they
drove off every army the elves could send against them, matching
elven sorcery with mercenary wizards hired from human lands. In
the following year, however, their luck changed. The elves managed
to recover from their disarray and an organized resistance began.
In the winter of 2457, amidst a heavy snowfall, the elves of
Celendor surrounded the hobgoblin army at a small river valley now
known as Eld-en-Hathas, or the mound of the slain. Very few
hobgoblins returned to Carhallas, and no large army has since gone
into those woods. Since that time, the elves have been girding for
a great war.
The Quest Knights
One night more than a century ago, the greatest treasure of the
elves of Celendor was stolen from the court of the Elven King. It
was the lone bloom of the Emiriel Tree, which blossoms only once
every nine hundred years, and then only with a single, perfect
flower. The tree then withers away and the blossom, carefully
tended by elven adepts, is planted anew, symbolizing the eternal
renewal of the elven race. The elves believe that if the line of
the Emiriel Tree ends, their race will begin to wane and die.
All attempts to find the Emiriel Flower through magic have
failed, leaving the elves with only the vision of the king’s
daughter, Princess Arvanna, which showed elven knights questing
through all the lands for the lost flower. And so the orders of
elven knighthood have indeed dispersed across Vatheria and beyond,
searching out rumors of the Emiriel Flower. No stone is left
unturned in this epic search, and over the years, fewer and fewer
elven knights return to the Elven Court to speak of their
journeys.
MAJOR POPULATION CENTERS
Dalariadh (Metropolis; population unknown) Deep within
the primeval heart of the forest lies the city of Dalariadh, known
to bards as the City of Nightingales, or the Halls of the Elven
King. Here the greatest of elven craftsmen labor alongside the
finest poets and most noble warriors of their ancient race. Songs
tell of the great tree-lined avenues, of the ingenious fountains,
and of the lofty alabaster towers of the city. The palace of the
king is said to house a thousand rooms, and that gems and works of
art adorn its every corner. It has been generations since any
outsider has seen the great city, however.
Imirion (Small city; population 22,450) This
fortress-town lies in the rocky foothills of the Talamakas
mountains, on the southern eaves of the great forest. Known for
its graceful arches and wide boulevards, Imirion is the place
where most trade between Celendor and the outside world occurs.
Merchants from all across Vatheria arrive here to purchase rare
items of elven art, cloth woven from the finest elven silk, and
rare plants found no where else.
IMPORTANT LOCAL SITES
The Caves of Eärenya - Where the eastern eaves of the
forest rise up the slopes of the Tarrakas Mountains, lie the doors
to a second realm below Celendor. The Caves of Eärenya are a
large network of natural caverns, worked and shaped millennia ago
by the hands of the elves with the aid of the dwarves of
Dwimmerlak. These caves are a refuge and stronghold in time of
war, and hold the halls of the smiths who turn out the wondrous
Celendor mail and the bright steel of the elves. But more
importantly, the songs tell that here is the home of the
Veleanturi, the undying elven masters of fate, who see backwards
and forwards through the mists of time, recording prophecies and
glimpses of what was and what might yet be.
The Valley of the Gods - It is thought by the wise that
somewhere in the vast forests of Celendor lies a valley where even
the elves do not go. Legend says that this valley is guarded by
four fiery angels with swords of light and darkness. Here, it is
said, the gods gather when they hold their councils. |
