Elves (Aereni)

The Elves of the isles of Aerenal are defined by one thing, the past. Elves live their entire lives in the shadow, sometimes quite the literal shadow, of their honored ancestors who they raise and glorify. There are two main ways this lifestyle manifests, in the warrior tribes of the Tairnadal from northern Aerenal, and the Aereni Elves of the mainland who raise their ancestors as positive energy undead. While there is a need to reference the Tairnadal cousins of the Aereni, this discussion will mainly focus on the Aereni themselves; another article shall talk about the Tairnadal groups, and another still will discuss their far removed cousins of the Drow of Xen'drik.

Beginnings in Xen'drik

While their origin is not truly known it is suspected the Giants were able to pull Eladrin from the plane of Thelanis, and that separation from the fey eventually made the elves of today. What is known is that the Elves served as a slave caste to the giants of Xen'drik, used to do all manor of menial labor the giants would not stoop to do themselves. Elven mythology, although there is little hard evidence to back this up, claims the Elves were most extensively used for the practice of sacrifice, and that the sacrifice of an elf allowed for even greater magical ability from their giant masters. Elves were assuredly bitter at their treatment no matter if the giants sacrificed them or not, and as resentment grew, a leader would appear to the elves in time.

Aeren and Flight from Xen'drik

Aeren was supposedly a humble baker in an enslaved community of elves, before his entire community was sacrificed for the benefit of their masters blood magic ritual, leaving him the only survivor who fled out into the jungles and the resistance groups of elves therein. He then quickly rose through the ranks of the freedom fighters, encountering many of the most beloved and dedicated freedom fighters in the stories, until he rose to command all the disparate groups. He was then gifted with a vision, that foresaw what would become of the continent of Xen'drik and its destruction in fire. Aeren thus bade the elves to leave the island continent, for he had seen a land to the north which would be a welcome to them; while many left, some had to stay behind to continue the fight against the giant threat. Aeren led his people through the storms of the Thunder Sea, clashed with the Sahuagin of the dominion below, and even talked down a mighty Sea Dragon that threatened the fleet of his people, before he ushered them to the lands he had seen in his visions. Yet the travel, war, and loss weighed heavy upon the Elf, and even as he was the first to step upon this bright land he also became the first to fall on it, dying after a few grateful steps upon dry land, with words of gratitude to those who had been lost on his lips. The loss was keenly felt, and for all that he had done for them the Elves named their new land Aerenal-Aeren's Rest.

Thus sayeth the old myths of the Elves. Anyone on Aerenal will take these stories as fact, true in every measure of the world, and while they could certainly be true there is almost no evidence for such. Aeren himself is a historical specter, with little to nothing that can be found of him, and theories abound as to if he existed at all or if "Aeren" was perhaps some shared persona. What can be ascertained is that the outline of the story, of a people subjugated and fleeing from their containment, does seem to be true. Elven resistance is also a widely agreed upon fact of pre-devastation Xen'drik. The Elf revolt seems to have occurred at a time when the giants were reeling from another conflict, one not well understood in Khorvaire or most of Eberron, and right before the Dragons scoured the land. The Elves did most assuredly leave the island, or at least most, the current Drow of the island not withstanding, and make their way to Aerenal. Yet whether the Elven myths speak truth or not is hard to determine with certainty.

Birth of the Undying Court, and the Aereni life

The fighting of Xen'drik and the travels to Aerenal undoubtedly caused an astonishing loss of life among the Elves, and this seems to have effected the culture that lived on in those who survived. The sacrifice of these Elves was something to aspire to for many of them, a great honor to have lost their lives in battle to great foes. This is the line of thought that would come to propagate the groups of the Tairnadal. Others, those who would become the Aereni Elves of today, instead saw in this the greatest of tragedies. Their greatest heroes had been lost to mortality; invaluable leadership, wisdom, knowledge, and courage, now lost to the world. These elves wished to never again see such great lives lost to the ether, and their myths say they found the solution in Aeren's journal, the beginning of what would become the Ritual of the Undying, the foundation of the Undying Court. A more in depth discussion of the Undying Court themselves will be found in another article dealing specifically with them, this article will discuss the court as it relates the culture of the Aereni. In that vein, let us continue, for the Undying Court is very much the drive behind the Aereni culture. In order to understand this, you need to understand what the Undying represent: immortality.
This is the goal of the Aereni, to live on and be remembered as having so contributed to society that their loss would be too great to allow it to happen. Thus, the culture of Aereni excellence. The Aereni dedicate their long lived lives to complete mastery of some element that they find essential, to make them the absolute master of that element. For example, Elven mages are known to spend a century perfecting their incantation of a particular spell before they would ever think to truly cast the spell. This sort of single minded excellence is what their society is built towards striving for, with the goal being an immortality with the great souls of the past. This makes the Aereni an infamously dedicated people, but only in a singular subject. One Elf may be a master in a particular spell or skill, yet the general knowledge of someone from Khorvaire or Sarlona means they would be outmatched in most other factors of life.

Dragons and Khorvaire

Aerenal was left at peace for sometime, until the creation of the Undying Court was completed. Upon the completion of this task, long in the making, the dragons of Argonessen attacked the elves of the isle. With the Aereni's newfound source of power in the Undying Court, and hardened determination from the Tairnadal warriors, the dragons would be pushed back from the isle. The dragons would sortie out to the isle of the Elves from time to time across history, and the memories of Dragon Wars still remain both in the living and the dead of Aerenal. The reason for these sorties are unknown, and like most actions the dragons take is much debated. It is suspected that the dragons stood against the creation of the Undying Court, yet why they didn't strike sooner in such a case remains unknown.
The Elves of Aerenal have long been separated from Khorvaire, seeing it as little more than a backwater of history to their own greatness. While some groups of Elves have migrated to the continent, most frequently under duress or exile, the continent has not been thought of much by the Aereni civilization and their insular mindset. The Last War did draw their attention to the continent, even some unofficial action against the forces of Karrnath (this is due to the use of Mabaran undead by the Karrnathi, a practice considered foul to the Aereni), yet even this did not draw much of a response. The Mourning however has certainly brought something resembling worry to the usually stoic islands, as a new generation of elves now make it their life work to solve what caused such a catastrophe, these scholars remain very early in their research though, and any likely breakthrough will only come a century or two down the line on their time scale.

Why Does This Matter?

The Elves of Aerenal are among the longest lived peoples of the world of Eberron, and their practices of necromancy means there is an even greater bank of knowledge among the ranks of the undying. If one were to be looking for knowledge long lost from Khorvaire, Aerenal would be a good place to start looking for it. As a player, the isles of Aerenal could provide inspiration for an Elven mage, or possibly warlock to the Undying Court, or maybe even a positive undead linked to the plane of Irian.

Culture

Major language groups and dialects

Elvish-The Aereni and Tairnadal speak functionally the same dialect, with some small differences between them.
Giant-Some Elves still speak giant, if only to remember the time of their exodus from Xen'drik.
Draconic-Contact with the dragons of Argonessen has resulted in a need for the ability to communicate, and thus draconic is alive and well on the island.

Shared customary codes and values

Aereni Elves value doing something the right way, and believe the right way was mastered by the ancestors many years ago. While innovation is not discouraged, per se, it is the view of society that the right way to do something has already been figured out many years before, and why should one look for more than that?

Common Dress code

Masks are common, especially among the undying, or undead, members of the society. Anyone who functions a higher role-either in the religion of the Undying Court or the government of Aerenal-wears a mask for the purpose as well.

Art & Architecture

The architecture of the Elves is huge and sweeping, often rising greatly in height. The epitome of the philosophy-measure twice, cut once-the architecture of the elves is the result of centuries of dedicated and perfectionist Elvish architects working to create their masterpieces in hopes of proving worthy of joining the court.

Common Myths and Legends

The travels of Aeren

Historical figures

Aeren- The Prophet who led the Elves to the land of Aerenal

Ideals

Beauty Ideals

In a society where the outlook on life takes into account a point in life where your physical body will be dead beauty matters little. While Elves do retain their fair nature, common to other fantasy settings, the Aereni put little stock into it. Masks, the customary mortuary mask of the Undying Court most often, are a common feature in everyday life for the Elves. There are even certain lines of Elves that practice a form of bodily mortification, a practice dubbed "half life" among the Elves, in which they prepare their bodies for death while still living.

Gender Ideals

The Aereni care little for gender, and have no ideals for male or female to strive towards aside from the example of the patron ancestors of their houses.

Courtship Ideals

Aereni courtship is a long process that involves the whole of the lines that would be joined by the union, with negotiations over whether it would be beneficial or not to join the lines often taking more than a century. After it has been decided that the union is beneficial for all involved the romance itself matters little for those involved, only the producing of a scion of the two lines.

Relationship Ideals

A relationship only matters in what the product of that relationship could create for the society at large.

Major organizations

The Undying Court

Why Aren't All Elves Level 20?

They study for a century or more right? Wouldn't it make sense for them to have reached the apex of magical ability during that time? In short, no. In long, Elves are so long lived that in some ways their longevity somewhat plays against them in this regard. If they thought as a human did, then perhaps they could achieve such mastery in their centuries of study, but they think thoroughly different. Elven excellence, while extreme, is singular in its focus. Remember, the Aereni value doing something right, and thus it takes an Elf about a century of study on Aerenal to "get it right," before they even begin to be trusted with anything beyond the absolute basics.

Diverged ethnicities

• Khoravar (Half-Elves)

So They Have Undead Walking Around?

Yes, the Aereni society is based around the ideal of living forever, and how the loss of great souls is a tragedy to be avoided at all costs. Their solution to this problem is the positive energy undead they have created, and the Undying Court in general.