Elders

The Elders, or Aelderi, are widely regarded as the oldest of the races of Vedar. They feature prominently in the histories, myths and legends of the younger races. The rise of the Elders is known as the Age of Awakening and began more than ten thousand years before the present day.

History
The Age of Awakening

Early Bronze Age

By the time men or dwarves even began to form into recognizable tribes, the Elders had old civilizations spanning much of the continent of Vedar.

What is known is that the Elders first developed inland in what is present-day territory of the Aurelian Empire. From there, the Elders first coalesced around the first city of Melothos in the north-east. This was close to a main river, and had good access to both lumber and sources of tin, which the Elders used to craft basic tools and decorations.

Over time, Melothos developed into a place of learning and culture. The Elders spread across Vedar and numerous minor nations developed.

The Aelderi Dark Ages – the Great Migration

Almost ten thousand years before the formation of the Aurelian Empire, the young civilizations of central Vedar collapsed for unknown reasons, though many are posited by historians. The Elder people fractured into small city states and nomadic groups. Over the next two thousand years, the Elders spread out across the known world, in a period known as the Great Migration.

As part of the Great Migration, many Elder moved across the world in small groups known as ‘Prides’. These generally consisted of one to several close families or friendship groups, and could be incredibly varied in their makeup and beliefs. Some ventured for knowledge, or adventure, or some simply to hunt and gather and live with nature. It is during this period that the Elders first made contact with the younger races, including dwarves and men, native to the continental south-west.

It is known that the oldest dwarf civilisation of Akhmun had been founded and was beginning to flourish by 8,000 PR. Some of the oldest surviving dwarven texts record dealings with Elder Prides.

Late Bronze Age

By 8,000 BI the Elders had once again begun to coalesce into more stable societies. By this point they were not alone even in their home provinces of central Vedar. Men had begun to venture beyond the south, with tribes making it at least as far north as the Silvan Sea, spreading along the coasts and multiplying in hotter, colder or wetter areas that the Elder did not care to inhabit. The Dwarven northern kingdoms too began to form in the hills and mountains around this time.

The most powerful Elder civilization was the central empire, comprising most of modern day central Vedar, although it was more of a collection of disparate city states and communities than a true empire. This was led by a hereditary High King and his Council of the Arcane, a groups of mages that advised the High King on all matters. The Elder Lords formed a separate council, comprised of rulers of individual city states and other powerful groups within the Elder society.

Slavery was commonplace and routine throughout Elder society. The Elders viewed the other, younger races as little more than beasts of burden, far inferior to their Aelderi masters. Much of the Elder civilization was built upon the backs of human and dwarf slaves, as well as other less common races. The newly discovered Orcs were sometimes employed as guard dogs, while goblins were viewed as vermin, often exterminated on sight.

Over the following millennia, Elder civilization was largely stable, slowly expanding until it encompassed much of the Known World. Trade with the Oceanic Empire and other, smaller Elder nations was carried out mostly by boat and brought riches from across the world to Melothos, the cradle of the Elder and capital of their chief nation. Much of the Elder were divided into various groups based on their old Pride families. The most powerful of these generally held sway over vast swathes of the population, with great influence over many other, smaller prides.

By 4,000 PR four main groups of Aelderi had formed in the Lords’ Council:

• The Thossolians – those that had mostly stayed in central Vedar and had been the first to begin rebuilding their civilization. They were the main supporters of the High King

• The Silvans – Those Aelderi that preferred to live closer to nature. Their political stronghold was the Great Forest to the south-west of the central lands but many inhabited the countless woods and forests of Vedar. Their leader was Faenya Silvine – the Lady of the Forest.

• The Drukherine – This group was varied and consisted of many Aelderi Prides that had ventured out in the Great Migration and returned, as well as some that had stayed. They were led by the Lord Drow, the patriarch of an old and noble Pride that was well-respected.

• The Thalassans – those Aelderi that lived by the sea in coastal communities, they were first and foremost explorers and traders and had much less interest in the Aelderi politics than the other groups. They were very strongly supported by the Thalassian League, or Oceanic Empire.

The relative powers of these groups waxed and waned somewhat as different, smaller prides shifted their support, but stayed mostly similar due to the conservative nature of the long-lived Elders. The War of Thunder

See full page: War of Thunder

The Elders had known of the giant realm of Ostoria for centuries, however around roughly 3,000PR, the relationship descended into a great and terrible war, known as the War of Thunder.

It is unclear what initiated the war. The Elders viewed themselves as the rightful rulers of all of Vedar and it is possible Ostoria became seen as a threat to that.

The Drukherine had claimed dominion over all the Turan plateau and enslaved all the races they found there barring the giants. Drukherine sources in the Old Library of Melothos stated that a storm giant destroyed a Drukherine outpost as a warning against being too close to Ostoria, however other sources mention prior Drukherine raids against the giants - it is known that the first giant slaves had been shown, to great fanfare, in Melothos many years before.

The Schism

See full page: Aelderi Schism

Over the next few hundred years Aelderi society only grew more and more divided. The Drow family had become the largest slave-owners in the entire civilization, and pushed for more and more complete subjuguation of the 'lesser races'. The other races, in the north, south and east all lived in fear of aelderi raids.The Silvans over time had grown stronger in their opposition to slavery, believing it was the responsibility of the aelderi to shepherd and guide the younger races, not control them. With the death of the High King in 2,652 BI, the Lord Drow attempted a coup in Melothos, with his agents and supporters planting themselves into various positions of government. They were strongly opposed by the Silvans and eventually this broke out into intra-aelderi fighting.

For the empathic Aelderi, fighting between members of their own race was considered horrifying. In 2,621 PR the Lord Drow attempted to end the resistance and invaded the Great Forest itself. He and his forces found it deserted however, with Faenya Silvine, third of her line, having sent the vast majority of her people away. What occurred between the Lord Drow and Faenya Silvine is mostly unknown, but it resulted in the destruction of the Great Forest, with much of it reduced to ash. Many Silvans watched their home burn from evacuation ships and nearby hills.

The Lord Drow, although scarred, and much of his retinue escaped with their lives, though many of his followers perished and Faenya Silvine was never seen again.

This action was viewed as despicable and unforgivable by many of the Aelderi and turned them against the Drow, and although the foremost home and stronghold of their main foe had been destroyed, the drukherine found themselves now opposed by an alliance of almost all the other factions of the elders, both major and minor. Over the following years, the drukherine were forced from their positions of government, their homes and eventually into exile in a campaign known as the Scouring.

Though there had been much sorrow and much death, eventually the threat of the Drow was deemed to have been ended. Any followers left on the surface had either been imprisoned or forced into repentance, with varying punishments.

To compound to the woes of the elders, it was during this period that the contact with the Oceanic Empire was lost. All ships sent out to investigate never returned, and no new ships ever again appeared on the eastern horizon. These events rendered the Thalassians in the home realm a minor faction with little power, resulting in a de facto two-faction government of the aelderi, with just the Thossolians and Silvans retaining any real power. The Silvans were more numerous, but mostly stayed in their woods and forests, leaving the vast majority of governance to the Thossolians.

The Age of Heroes

See The Fall of the Elders