Watchers in the Wilds

This text, written in Sylvan, was scribed by famed Tenari researcher Tamlin Syra'nar.

Our Runidiri cousins are much misunderstood. While many folk in the world view them as stuck up lovers of nature who eschew modern society, however I have found that assessment to be only partially true. While the Runidiri do forgo what we would call normal civilization; large cities, commerce, culture, they also are keepers of a history and tradition unlike anything else on the mortal plane. My time spent living amongst them and traveling with them has been truly enlightening, and I can only hope that they gained as much as I did out of our time together.

Runidiri myth would have you believe that they traveled to this Mortal Realm, along with the gnomes, from the Feywild, many years ago. The times change from clan to clan, but I think the most common timeframe that was given would be one thousand years after the arrival of the Tenari on the Mortal Realm, and a thousand years before the Saeli. It is believed that they were fleeing some conflict in the Feywild and were tasked with some sort of conflict there and were tasked at safeguarding the "children of Sindar'' here in the Mortal Realm. These children are actually the spirit creatures that they eventually built their temples around. These creatures will be elaborated more on later, but the conflict in the Feywild, according to the myth, had something to do with a being or beings trying to harness power in the Feywild using these spirits. Or at least that is how their legend goes. We know that gnomes predate the Runidiri's appearance on the Mortal Realm, which among other facts not listed here, shows that it all may be much more myth than history.

There seem to be a great number of these spirits, which the Runidiri spread out across the entirety of the Mortal Realm, or at least Imperia, in an effort to decentralize any attempt to eliminate them all at once. These spirits often take the form of animal, elemental, or flora in the region. Most interesting about these spirits is that when they die, which may I add was unclear if they age or not, they are able to go through some rite that the Runidiri practice to reincarnate. As the Runidiri tell it, the personality of the spirit is consistent with the last one, but the memories do not always pass on, or sometimes pass on partially. Key to this process is the khasir, a gem-like object that stores the enormous life force of the spirits, which must be protected and guarded until their rite can be completed.

That leads me to the next interesting feature of the Runidiri, their temples. There is no list or map of the locations of temples, it is all passed down through spoken tradition from generation to generation. These temples were built in the regions that housed the various spirits so that the Runidiri could better protect them. The temples they build are often natural in nature, built inside a great rock face, or amongst the branches of an ancient strangler fig tree. They are filled with gorgeous drawings and art, often depicting the spirit or spirits local to that temple. The Runidiri do not live at these temples persay, while a few do spend many years at a temple, it is never permanent. Clans of Runidiri travel the world visiting different temples, and learning the lessons of the spirits myths. The Runidiri assigned to protect these spirits, largely from the Moonclaw clan, do live at the temples for some time, but always feel more like guests there. There is an ancient Runidiri phrase that roughly translates to, "one's true home is in their soul," a phrase that I rather enjoy, especially in how it applies to both spirit and elf alike.