There is a book about the history of elves. It contains many more names and covers many more locations. This subset of the book focuses on central and western Serilas, which is also the place where elves were created...



Gai’La’Cah and Abril created a child called Leti. This child was the essence of the wild flora and fauna. The responsibility of establishing the stable instabilities of nature fell to her. To assist her in this task, she created the fey as extensions of herself. The pixies, the sprites, the dryads, the nymphs and more were created to watch over the lands, but in this Leti erred. The fey were too wild themselves. They tried to obey, but it was not in their nature.

Gai’La’Cah said she should destroy them and start over, but Leti could not hurt her own creation. Instead she took the spirits of the wisest and strongest of the fey, cleansed them with the four elements, and placed them inside acorns taken from Irminsul. From these acorns were born the first elves, fully grown. There were 12 of them. This new race, a more suitable balance of chaos, reason, and will, was to watch over the fey and Abril.

For many long years, the elves did exactly that. They chose a leader among them, and they lived in peace. As time wore on and they multiplied, they became too numerous to be ruled by a single person. Smaller kingdoms were established, and these spanned almost all of Abril.

An elf named Orin the White founded the kingdom of Orinsard, and in time it became the most powerful elven kingdom. They learned new arts there, and the city of Enlinor was unsurpassed in its beauty. Sparkling marble buildings were integrated into ancient trees. Glass spires soared into the sky. This kingdom was the center of both power and beauty for centuries, but not all elves supported it.

There were those, primarily in kingdoms to the west, who felt that the people of Orinsard had abandoned their mission. Instead of caring for Abril and the fey, they used the fey as a backdrop for their own beauty and ambition. What began as grumblings became resentment and eventually blood was drawn. Skirmishes, which had existed among elves for many years, turned into war, which was new to them. Five smaller kingdoms of the west (Onaligan, Din’Masat, Essos, Illidora, and Cessila) sought to bring Orinsard back into what they believed was the faith of Leti.

Orinsard, for its part, sought to defend itself. King Omverast went to the Illidorans, the strongest fighters, and offered them a deal. In exchange for their loyalty, Orinsard would help them become the only power to the west. King Kannilist of Illidora agreed. The five kingdoms laid seige to Enlinor, and King Kannilist suggested a plan to his allies to attack the city. The plan included the Illidorans coming to support the other four kingdoms, but instead they attacked their allies. The soldiers of four kingdoms were crushed between the walls of Enlinor and the Illidorans behind them.

In a very short time, a peaceful race had experienced war and betrayal for the first time.

King Omverast of Orinsard had no intention of helping the Illidorans. In his mind, he was being threatened with annihilation, and so his word was forced from him. He could not support any elf that would betray another, and he ensured that elves everywhere heard of the dark deeds of King Kannilist and the Illidorans.

Soon, the Illidorans were the enemy of all elves. Elves were angry at themselves for letting war come between them, but King Omverast had given them someone else to blame. Elves attacked elves in the west with Omverast helping both sides. Even though those guilty of the betrayal had already been killed, the anger of the western elves persisted. They sought to destroy all Illidorans, who were forced to flee their own lands. They made their way to the north and crossed the Frigid sea to lands were elves would struggle to survive. Their numbers had been whittled by war, and of the thousand who landed on the island that came to be called Illora, only 500 survived the first winter. It was clear they would not survive long, and something had to be done. They found a solution, and other elves may call it dark magic, but they considered it a gift to their children.

The young, from infants to those under 30, were taken to Lake Horasa in the center of the island. The young adults carried the younger, and they walked into the lake. As they did so, those over 30 years old sacrificed themselves on the shore, offering their life energy to change the core bodies of the young. A wizard name Bollanil and a cleric of Leti names Vonos conducted the magic forces into the lake. The forces were too much, and the two died.

Of those in the lake, approximately half survived. They emerged from the icy waters with changed skin and hair. They were now a new race, and perhaps an abomination to Leti… or perhaps an evolution from the gifts she gave them. The first few years were difficult until more grew into maturity, but with their ability to withstand the cold, they would survive.

Chaos reigned for the elves in the rest of Abril. They fought amongst themselves and broke into smaller and smaller kingdoms, eventually becoming little more than tribes. Even Orinsard was weakened, though it remained the strongest among them. The Orinsard elves began to see themselves as the chosen of Leti since they thrived when others did not.

It was during this time that humans, previously only seen in small numbers on Serlias, began massive migrations from the southern and western lands. This caused both unity among the elves, for they now had a common enemy, and also more divisiveness, because the tribes moved into each other’s lands as humans took over more land. The struggle for control of Serilas endured for centuries before an elven prince named Aldersalm, a druid of Leti, made an effort to unite the tribes into a single kingdom called Alandava’Strol, meaning “Peace of Life.” He had an unspeakable hatred for undead, and convinced many elves that humans were not their enemy. He said all living beings should be friendly. By 1200 years before the Borden Empire landed on Serilas, he had united most of the western Elven tribes into this kingdom.

Over the centuries, the Frost Elves were mostly isolated from humans and what they had come to called Summer Elves. They survived, and then they thrived in this isolation. When no longer struggling each day to live, they had more time to consider what had brought them to this place. Collectively, their anger with the summer elves grew. In -417 BE, they established Coura’Tor’Dara, the Fortress of the Southern Cliffs. It was intended to make peace with the summer elves and to work together to defend lands from the humans, but this peace would not last. The fortress was made close to the burial site of Aldersalm, and this caused tensions.

Eventually, the problem came along when a half-elf named Veynan Rhodes was captured by frost elves. At the hand of Captain Lundansa, he was killed. Frost elves consider a half-breed to be an abomination. The summer elves, while not exactly fond of them, certainly did not approve of murder. Veynan had worked very hard to be accepted by the summer elves. He was one of them, and his unlawful capture and execution were a snapping point. There were battles, and more often traps set for rangers of each.

Eventually Captain Lundansa called for a meeting, met under the Truce of Leti. No elf could harm another, but the Captain was tired of these summer elves and plotted to destroy them. He arranged to have humans hide in the keep and attack the summer elves. The leaders of Alandava’Strol and descendants of Aldersalm, Lord Felion and Lady Halsonya, were killed. Few escaped at all.

The son of Lord Felion and Lady Halsonya, Pellion, was not there, but he learned of the treachery from the two guards who managed to escape. In grief, he took his own life and asked for the Death Curse upon Captain Lundansa. Sagron found the request and offering satisfactory, and terrors befell the Frost elves in Coura’Tor’Dara. Fires began, hunting was terrible, and random accidents happened. Eventually the keep was abandoned except for a few guards to hold the fort. On the return to the winter isles, they were struck by a storm and all hands were lost. As for the handful of soldiers holding the fort, they were never heard from again either. Attempts to reclaim the fortress were repulsed by the summer elves.

Unfortunately, this left Alandava’Strol without any clear heir, and warring factions caused it the kingdom to fall apart in -404BE. Once again, the western elves became isolated tribes. In the last 800 years, they have had varying alliances, but none have endured. They have fought and made peace with humans as well.

In those 800 years, Orinsard has grown even more isolated from the other elves as they are essentially an island in a sea of humans. Their society is beautiful and awe-inspiring, but it is perhaps stagnating.