Eralus

Eralus, a red elf living in Susselfen, possesses many of the traits characteristic of his race: he is quite friendly, has a deep love of ale and pipeweed, and is perhaps too chatty for his own good. It is this last trait that tends to get Eralus into hot water most often (although it is, of course, exacerbated when he is drunk and stoned). Though not a member of the Rebel Army himself, much of his information about its movements comes from his Uncle Jelli and is, in fact, highly classified. Though a sweet lad, those closest to Eralus would be the first to acknowledge that he lacks good common sense and is prone to make friends with those he ought not to.

Flumpertist vs. Eirellian Theories of Magick

a theoretical map of a human's aether in the 4th dimension

A war currently wages in the field of magickology concerning the actual physical properties and manifestations of magick itself. A good amount of descriptive analysis has been conducted on the expressions of magick, allowing for the classification of different types of magick and the establishment of magick-related neuroanatomical stuctures. The theroetical aspects and the processes through which magick has such obsevered effects, however, are still not well understood. Two schools of thought have developed in recent years¹, each with strong models of magic, and the magickological community is currently embroiled in sorting out this heated debate.

Both views generally agree on a number of things. Namely, both theories take for granted that all objects - both animate an inanimate - exist in a 4 dimensional conceptual universe. Magickologists further posit that these objects have features which exist in the magickal dimension - called aether, after the magi concept of a 'magickal element' - which when manipulated, may have an effect on its appearance or functioning in the other three dimensions as well. Both views also agree that the existence and size of Flumpert lobes determines an individual's awareness of the aether of those around them and their ability to cotrol their own aether in various ways.

Flumpertists claim that time itself is a separate vector, or perhaps a physical force, which affects all dimensions simultaneously in a linear fashion. Time, then, is a factor which is independent of magick. The separateness of these two things, along with magick's close relathionship with the physical dimensions, requires users of magick to be relatively close to objects they manipulate, and that such magickal manipulations must fall in a temporally close and logical order. Fruthermore, Flumpertists explain the differences between ethereal beings (such as spirits) and corporeal as a function of the direct proportion of their aetheric matter to their physical matter, and suggest that a higher degree of aetheric composition can be used to sculpt the physical in self-directed ways and to minimize physical needs.

The Eirellian view challenges many of these positions. Eirellian scholars, led by the supposedly (but as yet unsubstantiated) halg-mage, half-human magickologist Silva Eirelle, propose that mgaick and time are fused at their very core. The 4th dimension in this model is referred to as aether-time, which is essentially a plane of infinite probablities. Here, time is not presupposed to have a linear structure, and can manifest as circular or curvilinear given certain conditions. The great divergence between Eirelle's theory and Flumpert's centers on how magick is actually performed: through the direct, tangible influence of one aetheric being on another in the Flumpertist's view or by using one's aether to choose a course (from an unending set of possible courses) for another's in Eirelle's. The close linkage between time and magick has led Eirellians to question Flumpert's classification of the Art of Seeing as a non-magickal pheomenon.

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¹It should be noted that this debate rages within mundayne circles only. Leading scholars' repeated attempts at gain insight from magickal beings on this matter has proven unsuccessful due to reluctance or inability for elves, mages, and gnomes to discuss magick scientifically.

Elshin

Elshin, a member of the Rebel Army who ran with Jellihondor's battalion for a short time, is a man internally at war with himself. Though he identifies as a red elf, it is quite clear to those who meet him that there is more to the story: he has the rosy skin and ease with social magicks of an Athenorkos elf, but his black hair, brown eyes, and muscular build betray his mixed heritage.

Elshin was born to a young human woman in the Fethil about 150 years ago after she had had a fleeting tryst with a handsome red elf at a dancing circle where the pipeherb and ale flowed perhaps too freely. Thinking herself a single mother, with a child who was not fully human no less, the girl steeled herself against the prejudice she knew she'd face raising him alone, and named him Otellian to give him the strength of Elothnin's founder.

Only two days after the baby was born, the handsome red elf returned to the girl. At first she thought he had come to her to make her his wife and to raise the child together, but it soon became clear that he had no such intention. With cold, hard eyes that looked nothing like what she remembered from that fateful night, the elf demanded the baby boy, explaining that should he inherit his father's magickal abilities, it was important that the child grow up among his kind. when the girl pointed out that humans were the baby's kind as well, the elf gave her a withering look and replied that humans were little more than greedy children themselves and shouldn't be allowed to raise their own young anyway ¹. Scared and shamfaced, the girl handed the baby over to be raised by the elves and told the human villagers it had died in the crib the night before.

The elf, knowing that the black hair and brown eyes that were already noticeable would set the child apart from his future playmates, named him Elshin - the Athenorkos word for strength of character. Such a name was fitting for the boy, who grew up having to defend his odd background, explain his strange features, and prove over and over again that he was as magickal as the next elf.

Elshin's earliest memory was not of games or a meal at home, but instead was of Imperial soldiers surrounding and burning his compound to the ground. The smell of burning thatch and the stark shadows cast by the sweeping flames still haunt Elshin's dreams, and the knowledge that the soulless, heartless beings that cause him and his family such trauma were a part of him only feuled his hatred of humans. For the rest of his life, Elshin truly never accepted the human side of himself - he admitted that it was true that he was a 'halfie,' but never acknowledged that his human traits were more than cosmetic, which marked him out from the other elves. Elshin was tempestuous and headstrong, willing to trample friendships and feelings to make a point, which was in stark contrast to the ways of red elves.

It was no surprise to anyone who knew him that Elshin joined the Rebel Forces. Ironically, his mixed heritage made him an excellent soldier: all the grace and dexterity of an elf, but with the extra strength and size of a human. Elshin thrives on being in the thick of battle, and feels more fully elvish with every human soldier he mercilessly strikes down. When Jellihondor's battalion struckout on its northbound journey to the Dark Lands, Elshin found himself getting more and more frustrated with the lack of combat. He cordially took his leave of the group when the oppurtunity presented itself to him in the City of Mages and gratefully returned to the front lines.
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¹As Elshin was born in the height of the Years of Red Grain, this likely refers to the elves' perception of humasn as encroaching on their land out of selfishness and greed.

Avadon Clarence Grundlethump

Avadon Grundlethump is part of that group whom war cheat the most - fine young lads drawn into the fray not of their own volition who are senselessly cut down before they have the chance to be men.

Avadon was born in the Fethil grew up with his brothers Rundleton, Lemonius, and Malmont on the family's Fethil sheep farm. It was a bucolic childhood, among the swaying wheat and floating sheep, that isolated him from the horrors of the long-waged war all around him.

Avadon was a lad who looked to have a good future ahead of him: he was strapping and strong, with an intuitive grasp of common sense, unerring sense of decency, and was bright enough without ever being too intellectual curious. At the age of seventeen, Avadon was preparing to take over the family farm and was starting to think about settling down and marrying one of the village girls.

These hopes were dashed by a slow rapping at the door one evening as the Grundlethump family was sitting doen to their nightly mush one evening. A man, introducing himself as a one Larthon Ractor, explained that according to the Service and Loyatly Act of 953, the most able-bodied man of the house would be drafter into Her Majesty's Imperial Army. Glancing swiftly about the room, he pointed at Avadon and gruffly told the shocked lad to report for duty at the West Fethil garrison in two days' time.

Avadon, and his family, knew what drafting lead to, and each of them tried to steel themselves for the heartache that so often followed such orders. Avadon left for the garrison the next morning, promising to write often. He proved himself to be an able soldier in basic training and survived his first year as a soldier with no close calls or injuries.

It was close to the end of the campaign his battalion had been assigned to that tragedy struck. Avadon's battalion had been stationed on the edge of the forest, and he was on sentry duty. As he paced back and forth endlessly through the night, the lad had a moment of terrible luck. Avadon happened to glance up into the forest at precisely the wrong moment and locked eyes with a red elf. The elf acted quickly, glamouring Avadon before he could scream and luring him into the murky depth of the forest. Once inside the Erkenheld, the rebel elf snapped Avadon's neck in one fluid motion, wanting to spare the poor, unlucky human boy as much pain as possible.

The rebels buried Avadon in one of the magickal paths to ensure that the Imperial soldiers would never find his body. The search parties warily sent in after Avadon's disappearance found not trace of clothing, no blood, no evidence that the young man had ever been near the forest. After some weeks, Avadon was presumed dead and the sad news was delivered to his his family. Each of the surviving Grundlethumps knows that their beloved Avadon is almost assuredly dead, but not one of them can quite give up hope that he is simply AWOL and still trying to get home again.

Major Ambrose Pearson

Major Ambrose Pearson is a spy in the Imperial Army stationed in Susselfen along with Nelhoepher, Lem, Bertronius, and McNab. Pearson is a thin, narrow man in his early thirties and is highly regarded by his fellows as a spy, but not well-known by any of his comrades.

The flat Fethilian drawl he has adopted and the drab, somewhat dingy wardrobe he wears daily masks Pearson's comparatively privileged upbringing. Born to a highly successful book merchant in Opleneer, young Pearson came from a family wealthy enough to afford a classical education for their children - all 17 of them. Pearson is as well-versed in the finer distinctions of the arts and etiquette as any vassal. He is also an extremely well-travelled gentlemen prone to flouting social conventions: prior to joining the army, Pearson joined a band of Felintark caravaners ostensibly to investigate the possibility of acquiring Felin books for sale in Elothnin. During his travels, Pearson became fluent in Felin, participated in skirmishes on the nybbas with Inlan nomads, and herded giant goats in the Brovnajian Steppes before returning home ten years to the day after he'd left. Pearson is currently married to (and frequently corresponds with) an Inalan priestess, a felintark poetess, and has recently secretly eloped with a red elvish whore from the Blushing Loaf, but prefers to keep such things to himself.

Unlike virtually all other spies currently employed by Her Majesty, Pearson was drafted. Given the considerations of loyalty and trustworthiness that distinguish volunteers from the conscripted, it should come as no surprise that status as a draftee alone is typically enough to prevent entry to spy training. Pearson's other undenaible qualities led Atelon Scrudton to look past this in his favor. In a memo to his close confidante and protege, Caspio McNab, Scrudton wrote the following about Pearson:

Caspio! what luck! After many months of searching, I think I may have finally found a suitable replacement for you. What know you of a one Ambrose Pearson? I daresay I shan't expect you to know much - seems as though no one knows much about the lad at all, as if he lacks a past.

But I distract myself. The cause for my unbridled excitement is this: this Pearson posseses such a cunning, such a craftiness the likes of which are rare indeed. And, were that not enough, he has a face that is appealing but never betrays his thoughts, without a lick of training! Such raw talent I haven't seen since I first met you, my dear friend.

I daresay he lacks your warmth, that gregariousness you have which puts people at ease so quickly, but he bests you in at least one way: the boy is a more natural actor than I have ever seen. He is so observant - changing his posture, matching the accents of those around him flawlessly - he is a veritable chameleon. A more natural intelligence officer i've never met, including you or I. Were it not for the troublesome issue of his drafting, he would already have been sent to you for training.

Despite the great talent Pearson has in disguising his true nature from those around him, his peculiar sense of humor has always been his greatest tell. He has a singular wit - acerbic, sardonic, and suspciously worldy - that betrays the full scope of his varied experiences and keen intelligence. It is suspected, but not donfirmed, that a number of the more sarcastic and witty journalistic stories being printed in recent years about experiences on the front are actually Pearson's handiwork published under a pseudonyms.

Sylon Goill

the immense Sylon Goill frightening small children

Sylon Goill is one of the lucky few who benefited from the Border Wars: always larger and brawnier than those around him (by adulthood sporting a size 42 waistline, most of which was muscle) and always a more brutal and vicious fighter than his peers. Goill isthe type of man who would be performing the same actions regardless of context and just happened to find one that encouraged his aggressive and bloodthristy nature. In more peaceful times, he likely would have become a criminal.

Goill was born to a fisherman and his wife in a small village on the coast of the Great Land Sea, the last of seven children. His father was a rather cold and unemotional man, very reserved and gone for days at a time on the water. Though the elder Goill was more affectionate with his octopodes than he was with his children, there's no evidence to suggest that the fisherman had violent tendencies or was even much of a disciplinarian.

Sylon Goill outgrew his brothers and sisters at a young age, as all of the rest of his siblings possessed his father's lankier build. He took to ambushing and attacking his older siblings around age 10, leaving them with bruises and bloody noses. His scuffles with neighborhood children generally had more dire results - broken bones, lost teeth, and in one particularly vicious case, a permanent blinding in one eye. He was feared by all the children of the village, human and Ogrish alike. At 12, Sylon could not be contained through conventional means. He had been expelled from school and stories of his brutality were pervasive enough that the big, muscular lad could not find employment anywhere in the village.

By the age of thirteen, Goill had been deposited at a garrison with stirct instructions from his parents to lie about his age and volunteer for the Imperial Army. These were virtually the only parental orders Goill ever followed. The commanding officer of the garrison never questioned the boy's age and sent him straight through to basic training. It became quickly clear to his drill sergeant, however, that Goill already possessed refined fighting techniques, and consequently recommended that Goill join the so-called Black Diamonds - a squadron of elite soldiers used for the most brutal and dangerous tasks.

As a Black Diamond, Goill proved he has other qualities, too. His commanding officer noted his fearlessness and single-minded dedication to improving his fighting technique. He also noted that Goill possessed a sly, crafty mind that, though uneducated and not what one would call particularly bright, was coldly unemotional and capable of quickly discerning the weaknesses of his opponents. Memorandums sent by the commanding officer suggest that he had ambivalent feelings towards Goill - someone so young with such martial potential and skill, but with virtually no empathy or loyatly can be a very hard soldier to control.

The commanding officer's predictions bore some truth over the years. Goill became known as a deadly and reliable soldier, but also began disappearing with no notice when he became bored. He began skipping out on his battalion to join other, more interesting campaigns. Stories of his survival of such campaigns (such as fending off four elves and a centaur simultaneously and torturing a gnome in order to force it to lead him out of the forest again) only adds to Goill's mystique. After 20 odd years in the army, he has become a sort of folk figure to rank-and-file infantrymen, but was regarded with a mix of awe and suspicion by his fellow Black Diamonds.

Despite the unease he causes among others, it is undeniable that he is one of the more....talented...members of the Black Diamonds, and it cam to no one's surprise when he was promoted to oversee their operations. Goill himself has greatly relished the freedom such a position offers him, and has taken to giving his orders and disappearing to pursue his own grisly end unfettered.

The Magickal Paths of the Erkenheld

One of the many mysteries surrounding the Erkenheld Forest are the tales of magickal paths tracing their way through it. Little is known about the forest except that mundayne beings cannot find or use them, and that the Rebel Forces have been using them as a base of operations since the Red Grain period. According to rare first-hand reports and the maps drawn up by tortured elves supplied to General Randle, the paths take the form of a sort of organically grown hedge maze by those using them, but are labyrinthine and hard to navigate. Beyond these few bare facts, little can be reliably substantiated.

Based purely on conjecture and speculation, some particularly brave (or perhaps stupid) magicologists have attempted to gain greater clarity into the manifestation and functioning of the paths. Many scholars have posited that the Sprite Queen created the paths, but there has been, as yet, no direct substantiation of this beyond a couple of ambiguous remarks she made in an interview with Dr. Phinneas Flumpert. It is suspected that the tricky, somewhat malevolent forest sprites native to the region use them to run away quickly from their victims.

Other scholars have suggested that the exclusivity of the paths may account for many of the stranger Fethilian legends. It is well-known that some humans (particularly those with red hair) may display some limited magickal capacity, and it is highly likely that such individuals may inadvertantly stumble into the paths from time to time. The strange disappernces of forresters and soldiers could be the result of slightly magickal lads (fairly common in the Fethil due to the frequency of interbredding between humans and red elves) becoming lost in the notoriously confusing paths. Similarly, some claim, that the well-known Shrine in the Forest may reside within such paths - this would explain why descriptions of it are so consistent across time and region, but also why expeditions to find it tend to turn up empty-handed.

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.

The Origin of the Athenorkos Elves

an artist's conception of the mythical Athenorkos

The red elves of the Fethil believe that their existence is proof of the magickal realm meddling in the mundayne realm's affairs. Red elves explain that the magickal realm is far older than the mundayne one, and that the deities and spirits that reside in it, bored of on another, grew increasingly curious about the mundayne realm - a place without magick. As their interest increased, the planes drifted towards each other, eventually colliding in such a way that granted magickal beings limited access to the mundayne.

They came through the plane and saw the wonders of the mundayne realm - solid ground, the firm resistance of stones, the organic patterns of nature - and marveled at it. Wishing to know more, the deities created three elves to explore the mundayne plane and report back to their creators all they saw and learned. They bestowed upon each elf powerful qualities: to Vinkenti they gave great fierceness and tenacatiy so she could explore the darkest and most dangerous places, to Semadra they gave unending curiosity and reason so she could understand and make sense of the uniquely mundayne patterns of life here, and to Athenorkos they gave the gifts of good luck and cleverness so she would be able to discover things not even the gods could conceive of.

But of course, unchecked, these qualities led the elves astray. Vinkenti went into the great forests, but grew increasingly more insular and suspicious of her sisters. Semadra grew more and more fixated on unravelling the patterns around her, and eventually her single-mindedness caused herto lose sight of her duties. Athenorkos, whose cleverness often led her into troubles, always managed to escape from harm through good fortune, and never forgot to thank the gods for her serendipity.

Though the trickiness of Athenorkos and her descendants earned red elves many enemies, every red elf knows that their cleverness and luck will protect them from harm - even as blue and silver cousins have forgotten how to protect themselves.

The Origin of the Vinkenti Elves

a portrait of Queen Svava as the mythical Vinkenti

The blue elves of the forest believe that the magickal and mundayne planes, while generally quite distinct and separate, are inextricably joined in the Erkenheld. This great forest (which was proven by Dr. Phineas Flumpert to be a major source of magick) unites Magick and Reality in a fundamental and unique way, unseen anywhere else in either plane.

The elves of the forest say that seeing the power and ragility in such an intersection, the Green Woman, a deity from the magickal realm, created three caretakers - named Vinkenti, Athenorkos, and Semadra - who were charged with protecting and cultivating the Erkenheld. The three female elves were singular in all the multiple universes - the only beings that were at once mundayne and magickal. In this sense, they were extensions of the surreal forest around them.

At first, the three elves were overcome with wonder and dutifully protected the forest. Vinkenti cared for the plants, Athenorkos helped the animals grow strong of body and spirit, and Semadra catalogued the stones and soil, measuring their various properties.

But the curiosity of the elves got the better of them. Vinkenti felt the temptation to change the plants, but resisted. Semadra, on the other hand, used her magickal gifts to shape the very stones around him - accidentally creating a magickal gate and locking herself out of the forest, leaving her and her descendants to wander the stony mountains and desert without a home. Vinkenti felt pity for her poor sister, and took up the tending of the soil and stones.

Though Vinkenti was once again tempted to overstep her bounds, she resisted. Athernorkos, on the other hand, grew too self-confident and lonely, and began changing the animals into sprites to be her companions. Although vinkenti forwned, thinking her sister to forward, she continued tending the plants and stones. One day, Athenorkos came to Vinkenti and told her to take good care of her sprites. Confused, Vinkenti asked why she should take care of them, and Athenorkos replied that she was bored and still lonely, and wanted to see the rest of the world. Athenorkos left the forest, and Vinkenti was enraged at her sister and vowed never to let her or her descendants return to the Erkenheld.

Thus, Vinkenti was left alone, abondoned by her sisters, to care for the forest in solitude. The burden proved too great and the Green Woman gave her many children to share the duties. The Green Woman granted them long, happy lives as a reward for caring for the animals and sprites and plants and soil, and when she saw her forest was finally safe, retreated into its heart - a place so mystical and so far that not even the blue elves could go. But the blue elves believe that their diligence and firece protection of the forest will be rewarded, and when the two planes finally separate at the end of time, the blue elves will be given a fully magickal existence.