Elves
One of the oldest and most widespread race within the world of Natia.
Civilization and Culture
History
Originating in the fey realm of Cael Hal'an the elves for the longest time lived their lives in blissful ignorance of the dangers of the world as the fey granted them immortality in return for their worship of the fey spirts. This allowed the elves to accomplish great feats of magic with some of their most powerful magi were said to rival the powers of minor spirits and gods.
The elves allowed their hubris to get the bettor of them however and a group of elves believing their true gods to be within the astral plane, casting a spell in an attempt to reach the astral plane that destroyed the barriers between worlds allowing easier access between the different planes of Terranosha and quickly fleeing into it before the wrath of the fey spirits was realized. No sooner than the the last of the Astral Seekers had left Cael Hal'an had the portal closed behind them, enraged the fey spirits began exiling Elves from the realm in anger. Many pleaded to stay however these pleas fell on deaf ears as the spirits minds could not be changed and the children of the fey were banished from their home forever.
Unknown to the Elves this banishment would be the first schism of their race, as the Astral Seekers ascension would lead to them renaming themselves the Realta Cael or Astral elves in common tongue and dedicating the millennia practicing higer pursuits while their brethren were forced to toil in the mortal lands.
Upon arriving scattered among the lands Natia the Elves were immediately stuck upon hard times, having had much provided for them by the fey it took much struggle and tragedy resulting in the loss of many until they had finally gotten the hang of living as mortals in these new lands. In these beginning times for the Elves in Natia came what would be known as the First Schism as some elves found refuge in the underground changing them over time and causing mistrust between their over worldly brothers and sisters. These elves would gain dark skin complexions from living in the darker areas of the underground and begin the call themselves the Dorcha Cael commonly known as Dark Elves. However despite the divide the ingenuity and quick thinking of the elves helped them to build successful settlements, befriend local races such as the orcs, start trading with the emerging dwarfs and enslave primitive races of the lands such as humans.
Eventually through much war amongst themselves and the kingdoms of other races the Elven empires of Nordalf and Sudelf emerged to became two of the four great powers on the continent of Daemos along with the Orc Empire of Orbernium and -----. The Nordalf under the influence of the god of war Daemos formed a coalition against the empires of the continent of Demos citing centuries of mistrust and war as casus beli for this war to end wars that ended in the destruction of many great civilizations.
After the Twins War the empires of the Elves recovered from the destruction resulting from the end of the war and grew to their zeniths, taking up much of the territory of their former allies lands as they fell, and going into a golden age as magic had returned to them once more. This did not last forever and soon slave revolts and social unrest became the norm of the empires. This social unrest would soon manifest itself as the Second Schism that would develop within elven society, primarily in the Nordelf Empire towards the end of the golden age as the slave revolts, social upheaval and changes within the world led to different elven ideas conflicting with each other. The first would manifest as the Aard Cael who would be known by most as the high elves with them developing mostly from the ideas of the higher classes who thought elves to be better than most and more befitting of the magical gifts that the world has given them but causing friction with another large group of elves whould go go by the name of the Talamah Cael or wood elves, and believed that magic should not be abused and that there was more to be gained from working with the land and nature itself. What would start as political aggressions would soon devolve into a full blown schism in the race when an event no one could have foreseen would occur.
The sky grew dark one dark day, a shooting star that was foreseen as an omen by many would descend upon Natia itself changing its landscape forever as on this day what is known as The Fall From Heaven occurred and a giant meteor struck the capital of the Nordalf Empire not just destroying the heart of their empire but changing the landscape of much of Daemos itself, within the chaos many of Elves slave races rose up and claimed chunks of the empire for their own leaving the two elven factions to fend for themselves, the high elves holding out in their grand cities while the wood elves would seek shelter in their forest cities. Both would survive as remnants of the once mighty Nordelf Empire however those who refused to take sides and claimed to be the Fíor Cael or true elves would find themselves dispersed throughout Daemos, most dying or becoming slaves of the new Human kingdoms but others would migrate to the Sudelf Empire.
The Nordalf Empire was shattered and left tattered with few Elven settlements and even fewer kingdoms remaining within the lands of what once were the part of such a great empire. The Sudelf Empire had faired slightly better managing to hold onto their lands for much longer and having their power erode over a much longer period of time before eventually ceasing the be an empire with the only remnant remaining being the Kingdom of Prothaidia.
Eventually the true elves would die out with their bloodlines becoming interspersed with humans and other elven races until they could no longer be considered true elves.
Genetic Descendants
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