Ildreth Elmspath

ldreth Elmspath shed his childhood name later than many elves, living until his 120th year as Naeris Elmspath. Born into an ancient wood elven dwelling, Elmspath's childhood was spent learning the ways and signals of the forest. Although physically unremarkable among his peers, Elmspath demonstrated an early affinity for the ways of the natural world, showing an ability to distinguish between scores of birds and beasts by the time he entered his teenage years. While Elmspath lacked easy social connection, even by the aloof standards of many of his wood elven brethren, his affinity with the natural world brought him to the attention of Aelar Oaksway, a ranger who scouted and protected the eastern woodlands that played host to a number of wood elven dwellings.
By the age of 50, Elmspath was taken on as a near-apprentice of Oaksway, and learned the ways of the ranger. As his knowledge of the natural world enhanced, he began to develop a near-reverence of his mentor, who in turn passed on many of his skills, developed over centuries of ranging. He also passed on a hatred of Orc and Goblin kind, borne out of Oaksway's own youthful traumas, where his own family was butchered by a marauding party of Orcs seeking to lay claim to elven ancestral lands.
As Elmspath grew into adulthood, taking the name of Ildreth at 120 on an increasingly rare visit to his family dwellings, so he and Oaksway began to range farther afield, though rarely beyond woodland borders. Yet while Elmspath's experience and skill grew, so his concerns over the future of the world grew alongside him. Detecting what he felt was a weakening of the bonds between the natural world and the ancient magic that sustained the great forests, Elmspath also noted an increasing distraction in Oakway's focus until, having ranged alone for a few days under instruction of reporting back to Oaksway on changes in the forest boundaries, he arrived at a prescribed meeting place alone, and unable to detect the presence of Oaksway at all.
Since that moment 18 years previously, Elmspath has struck a lone course, rarely returning to the vicinity of his family, and on occasions going as long as a year without spending more than a day in the company of other elves. His rangings now share a dual purpose: the protection of the woodlands and exploration of the magic he feels weakening around him, and a sense that his great mentor is not dead, but neither is he safe.