Elven Silk Fields

To the people of the Elvish Lands , the Elven Silk Fields have a long and important history. Dating back to the early years post Age of Chaos, the fields served as one of the first means of trade between the elves. It helped unite the people with a common purpose; to rebuild civilization and to cooperate with other Realms. The trade of Elven Silk and Dwarven minerals established a long standing friendship between the Dwarven Empire and the Elvish Lands .

The Silk is both natural and magical in nature. To produce Elven Silk, Aeonian Butterflies build cocoons at the end of their lifespan on the leaves of beautiful blue flowers native to the Elvish Lands. These flowers are called Elder Windflowers. By producing and surrounding itself with a long continuous fiber, known as Elven Silk, the Aeonian butterfly builds itself a cocoon in which it will spend the remaining 3 months of its life. The cocoon is imbued with weak magical energy that protects the butterfly and cocoon for this duration, this renders the silk extremely durable. Once the Aeonian Butterfly dies, the cocoon (and the containing silk) withers away completely within minutes, which makes it very difficult to harvest. This destruction process can be halted by magical means, preserving the silk, but doing so is extremely difficult due to the speed at which the cocoon rots.

The elves that harvest Elven Silk are skilled workers that can tell the exact stage of a cocoons lifespan by sight through centuries of practice. This allows them to intervene quickly once a cocoon begins to wither. Harvesting a cocoon too early renders the silk brittle, and harvesting too late results in a much smaller yield of silk. Elven Silk workers are considered masters of their craft, and are highly respected amongst the elven people.

Aeonian Butterfly

Elder Windflower