The Serene Republic of Xethess

History

The Wood Elves have always been the backward cousins of the Elven races. Their connection with nature made them loathe to cut down trees or strip and irrigate land for farming. Widespread across the East coast, Wood Elf populations generally eke out subsistence (if not hunter-gatherer) existences while otherwise adapting to the norms and culture of the prevailing High Elven society.
In 301 PE, though, the seeds of a major change were planted in the jungles of the Green Horn. The Wood Elf Cleric Chissa Inassianni foresaw a vision of a massive and insidious foreign threat reaching into the jungle and stripping all life from its lush expanse. Only the forgiveness of the wicked and the resolution of long standing conflict could stop this catastrophe.
Chissa interpreted the great evil as none other than the ever-expanding Regency of Verdon, and the reconciliation as the unity of elves. She spent the next century travelling around the elven lands for a century learning everything she could about statecraft. In 204 PE Chissa returned and united several large tribes with her divine powers, strength of character, and genius for diplomacy. Choosing a spot on the north coast of the Green Horn for her capital, she founded a city she named "Xethess" which loosely translates to "Nature's Bulwark".
From this location, Chissa slowly attained the loyalty of the rest of the Wood Elf tribes in the Green Horn, and Xethess' borders expanded beyond its city limits to swallow nearly the entire peninsula. Wood Elves across the continent heeded her summons to build a civilization in the wilderness. An influx of Dark Elf migrants helped bolster the population with their high feritlity rates. By 190 PE, the population of Xethess had grown to 7,000 and would double twice over the next four centuries (this is considered to be astronomical growth for the slow-childbearing Elves). Upon the founding of the Union of Granmor in 0 PE, Chissa left once again to begin another diplomatic campaign across the Elven lands.
What transpired between Chissa and the Elven leaders during this second round of journeys is unknown. All that is sure is that Thalassa limited its campaign to the far edge of the Serpent River at the west edge of the Broken Horn, and the construct armies of Fennein also seemed to have limited their movement north of the Hornridge Mountains. Even the Dark Elves of Bol'Tein seemed to slow their attacks, and raids on human settlements near the Iron Mountains increased. While there were no signs of coordination, or indeed even peace, the status quo was clearly changing in the East. The Dwarves of the Mountainhomes, extremely alarmed, drastically increased the urgency of lobbying The Verdonese Empire for military assistance between 200 and 210 EY. A campaign was finally organized and thousands of troops streamed across The Great Desert to put down this dangerous upstart.

Disbandment

After a hard-fought campaign with devastating losses, the Dwarves and their Imperial allies besieged the city of Xethess on 1/23 of EY 212, completely removing the power-base of this fledgeling and quite concentrated country. Fearing reprisals, the population of Xethess was magically evacuated as supplies dwindled and starvation set in. By the time the Union forces broke through and the defending army surrendered, 15,000 citizens had been evacuated, effectively halving the city's population. Members of the Conclave and the Military Leadership who did not surrender were executed one by one until the rest did. Among these was none other than Chissa Inaissiani, martyred for her dream of a cosmopolitan jungle haven where nature and civilization could coexist and change could be resisted indefinitely.
While the dream of a Wood-Elf led coalition of Elves died that day, the Republic and Chissa's memory would live on in the efforts of the Xethess Remnant. Several thousand square miles of dense jungle and mountainous terrain hides any refugees who could tolerate going back to the Old Ways, as well as as many as 10,000 others. In a truce with Fennein and actively aided by Thalassa and possibly Kolthis, the Remnant fights a guerrilla campaign to choke out the occupiers and prevent the precious mountains and forests along with their plentiful Mithril reserves.

DISBANDED/DISSOLVED

In Nature, With Nature, For Nature

4/20 225 PE - 9/3 EY 212

Type

Geopolitical, City-state

Alternative Names

Xethess, The Republic

Demonym

Thessian

Subsidiary Organizations

• The Xethess Remnant

Location

The Green Horn

Related Ethnicities

• Wood Elf