Semadra, the First Tinker

an artist's conception of the mythical Semadra

In contrast to their blue and red cousins, silver elves have a much less narrative creation story. Silver elves believe that at the beginning of time, the magickal and mundayne realms were unified, and that their splitting was the result of some unforseen, unknown force. They further believe that when this disconnection is understood and resolved, the two realms will become unified again at the end of time.

Silver elves further beleive that the purest of beings are corporeal magickal ones (like, not surprisingly, elves) - those which unite the magickal and the mundayne in their very essence. When the two planes split from one another, most beings became either wholly magickal or wholly mundayne, but a lucky few retained their forms.

The three elvish sistes, Vinkenti, Athenorkos, and Semadra, fell into this lucky latter category. Myth holds that the three argued amongst themselves about what should be done. Vinkenti argued that the split was for the best, and that they should try to find a way to becom wholly magickal, so she retreated to the forests, a site of vibrant magic to isolate and protect it from mundayne influences. Athenorkoes argued that, trapped as they seemed to be in the mundayne realm, they had better just roll with the punches as best they could, and immersed herself in the lives and traditions of the mundayne creatures around her. And Semadra shook her head at her sisters and quietly explained that nothing could be done unless they understood why the split had occurred in the first place.

Semadra retreated to the solitude of the mountains, a place which fit her so well that she began to resemble the landscape around her: skin the color of cold granite and hair the color of freshly fallen snow. As she sat alone in the mountains, patterns began to reveal themselves all around her. she found that she had become aware of the motivations of those around here, of the growing of things beside her, and the movements of the weather above her.

Knowing she was on the way to unifying the two planes again, Semadra set out to uncover more patterns - effortlessly using all she learned to build gates through the mountains, find trails through the desert, and learn any languages she came across. It is said that she bore children as she travelled - though who sired them remains unclear - and that all of the silver elves in existence owe their strange talents and coloring to this single ancestor.

Today's silver elves, though not a mystical sort, still hold the art and science of tinkering in a regard that is tinged with religiosity. Though none of them realistically assume that Semadra is among the living, even fewer would openly say that she no longer wanders, searching for a way to unite the two realms.