Chalcoli
Chalcoli, also known as the Kingdom of the Chalcoli Elves by humans, is a largely hidden expanse of loosely affliated Wild Elf and Wood Elf clans west of the Ceti. It was self-ruled by the Wild Elves prior to the arrival of the Helegu Khaganate and their hobgoblin allies more than 300 years ago.
Prior to the arrival of the Helegu, the Chalcoli was a collection of interconnected elven controlled woods stretching more than 1,000 kms from end to end, including cutting across territory claimed by other nations. Organised contact with the outside world was rare outside of the sacred times of solstice and equinox.
Insular and atavistic at heart, the spiritual practices of the Chalcoli were heavily influenced by an arcane understanding of the special and unique place possessed by elves in the scheme of existence. Never friendly to outsiders, the Chalcoli grew distinctly hostile to all non-Chalcoli (race didn't matter) over the centuries and were involved in numerous skirmishes and some larger scale wars with their neighbours.
Territory claimed by the Chalcoli would immediately have all signs of non-Chalcoli civilisation destroyed and an elven inspired "rewilding" put in place. The ruins of many ancient cities. became barely discernable with specific effort made to erase any trace of visible evidence of the previous occupants. Only the most ancient and sacred places were left untouched, but without their original inhabitants these too fell to the wilderness after decades of neglect.
The great crisis sparked by the Helegu invasion saw the Chalcoli never directly confront the Helegu and their allies in open warfare, but engage in an endless and sustained hit and run warfare, known as "gurth-din". Never as numerous or as populous as their enemy, after a century long occupation of their land, that saw more than one half of the original forests destroyed or severely degraded in some way, the Chalcoli submitted, the last of the western nations to do so. Every 7 years, the Chalcoli send 7 of their best and brighest as hostages to the Helegu court as tribute.
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