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.

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.

Randle's Folly

artist's conception of the horrid experience endured by a survivor of Randle's Folly

In 1032 OC, the Imperial Army was in a very difficult spot: for 60-odd years, the rebels had had the upper hand by forcing the Imperial soldiers to hover close to the Erkenheld-Fethil border where they would be mercilessly picked off by the rebels guerrilla tactics. Army leaders were also feeling the impatience of the Queen and her royal advisors, who wanted to end the Border Wars as quickly as possible.

It was this mix of urgency and desperations, perhaps, that lead General Victor Alamacious Randle to undertake what had the potential to be a brilliant campaign that had the potential to change the course of the war. After capturing an elf in an attack on his encampment, Randle had some of his spies use various mean to gain valuable information from it - specifically , a hand-drawn map to the rebels' base of operations.

Randle ordered his entire battalion to enter the forest from various points meant to triangulate the rebels' camp. His plan was to rush in and take the camp with no prisoners and use it as a waystation for further exploration of the forest.

But the brilliant plan quickly turned into a terrible failure. The map hand been drawn as if well-beaten paths existed, which should have made storming the camp in such a quick and coordinated fashion easy to do, but no Imperial soldiers found anything but dense undergrowth and nearly impenetrable vegetation. The rebels presumably used the soldiers' disortented state and isolation from one another to their advantage - though no bodies were found after the failed attempt, few men stumbled out of the forest of the next few days. And few of those men were sane enough to speak coherently.

What happened to the men who survived Randle's Folly is not clear, and dependent on the trustworthiness of terrified and now paranoid soldiers. Randle's Folly marks a major defeat for Elothnin, both in terms of the material loss of soldiers and a huge drop in morale.

See Also:
Eldernoth Furbolg

The Great Green Wall

The Great Green Wall is a colloquial term given to the Erkenheld-Fethil border by Elothnin's soldiers. A few years after the quiet that followed the Years of Red Grain, the red elves emerged from the eastern edge of the Erkenheld Forest to fight with the Imperial Army once again. After a few battles two things became clear: that the red elves had allied themselves with other strange forests creatures, like gnomes and centaurs, and that the Erkenheld was completely impenetrable.

In the last 80 years, this term has been used to describe the situation the Imperial Army faces - it has to skirt the edge of the forest in order to fight with the rebels, but can never pursue the rebels when they retreat back into it.

See Also:
Randle's Folly

The Service and Loyalty Act of 953

In the 950s OC, during the peak of the Red Grain period, the Imperial Army had an unprecedented and undeniable upper hand in the Border Wars. The tactic employed by the queen following the victory at Alamodour, however, required a large number of Imperial troops to overwhelm and cut off rebel bases.

As more successes followed, it became clear that army needed to attack and contain compounds in multiple areas simultaneously - it also became clear that the Empire needed substantially more troops in order to achieve this. In a desperate move, with little input from her cabinet of advisors, Queen Lilhelndine wrote the Service and Loyalty Act of 953, which ordered that able-bodied Elothninian man was required by law to serve a term in the Imperial Army, and that punishment for refusal was death.

Very little else was explained in the document¹ - Lilhelnndine did not specify what, in particular, qualified one as 'able-bodied' or how long 'a term' was. thus, the actual implementation of the draft was left in the hands of the army itself. Informally, the rules of conscription developed over the next 50 years: any of-age man who could walk reasonably well, see out of at least one eye and use at least one arm could be drafted. There need not be a clear or regular system which conscription occurred in, instead garrisons coulc (and should) draft from the locals whenever they needed bodies. And a term tended to be the length of whatever campaign a battalion happened to be partaking in.

Due to the lack of oversight or standardizaation, the border provinces of the Fethil and Perejin were affected much more severely by the Service and Loyalty Act than the other areas of Elothnin. Generally, this is thought to be a matter of convenience, though rabble-rousers claim that it is yet nother demonstration of the classism pervsavie throughout the empire.
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¹The only other peices of information included were that spies should wear purple when not actively engaged in acquiring new information and that mush should be served for breakfast because, as she put it, "and army travels on its stomach."

Alamadour

the commemorative monument erected at the battle site by the Fethilian sculptress, Lendnisa Worthis

Alamadour was a large and well-known red elvish farming compound situated near Neerhemfeth. Perhaps the nearness of such incursions caused these particular elves (including the famed elvish leader Valiyon) to be among the fiercest fighters among the rebels.

Alamadour was destroyed in the dead of night by a surprise attack by the Imperial Army. The battle itself has become the stuff of highly unsubstantitated legend - it is claimed (sometimes by older Athenorkos elves who claimed to be survivors) that the Imperial soldiers mercilessly killed all evles they found out in the open, regardless of sex or age, and barricaded the rest in their homes to be burned alive.

The destruction of Alamadour marked the beginning of the Years of Red Grain - a period of great loss for the red elves and major victories for Queen Lilhelndine and her army. It is remembered both as a tetament to the awesome military power of Elothnin and as a symbol of the great injustices suffered by the rebels. Since around 1000 OC, when the Rebel Forces emerged from the Erkenheld Forest after the red elvish retreat at the end of the Red Grain Period, the Rebels have shouted "Remember the Alamdour!" as they run into battle with the Imperial Army.

The Years of Red Grain

one of the few Fethilian compounds that survived the Years of Red Grain

The Years of Red Grain is a term given by the Athenorkos rebels to the period between the fall of Alamadour in 937 OC and the formation of the Rebel Army roughly around 970 OC. While technically a discrete war in and of itself, the Years of Red Grain are typically thought of as a period of the Border Wars. This period is marked by a dramatic shift in the tactics of warfare, which decisively favored the Imperial Army.

For twenty years after the Burning of Neerhemfeth, the Imperial Army attempted to stave off the red elves, but took hard losses and had no definitive victories. Eventually, the troops were recalled and the queen sent out Prabil Worthis to establish diplomatic ties to the Athenorkos elves. The elves and many Elothninians (including, legend has it, Prabil Worthis himself) assumed that the change in strategy signalled the tacit defeat of the Imperial Forces. In actuality, Lilhelndine used this as an opportunity to strengthen her military forces and have her best and brightest devise a plan to counter the elves' guerrilla tactics.

Roughly a decade after the death of Worthis, Lilhelndine began a brutal but effective military campaign. Instead of trying to establish bases of operation, as they did previously, the now quite large and well-supplied Imperial Army laid siege to the elves' agricultural compounds, typically taking all their food and viciously slaughtering any of the elves they found there before warnings could be sent to neighboring compounds. If the army suspected that elves at the compound had left to make guerrilla attacks or scout out Imperial whereabouts, a contingent was left behind to kill the returning elves without mercy.

In the next 30 years, elvish compound after elvish compound fell to the Imperial soldiers. Military records from the period indicate that 114 compounds were destroyed, and it is estimated that several thousand elves were killed in the process. Elvish scholars, however, claim that these figures are unrealistically low. The end of the Red Grain period came around the early 970s, as the sightings of red elves dwindled dramatically while they fled into the Erkenheld Forest and up into the Klevarcht Mountains.

The Burning of Neerhemfeth

an artist's conception of this most auspicious occasion

Few would suspect that Neerhemfeth, a sleepy and sparsely populated hamlet in the Fethil, has played such an important role in Elothninian history.

Around the Otellian calendar year 850, right at the start of Queen Lilhelndine's reign, Elothnin was beset by a severe famine. As her subjects starved, Lilhelndine had no choice but to make incursions into the Fethil - at that time, wild and untamed except for some stray red elvish bands populating the region after the Athenorkos' First Displacement. Elothnian leaders of the time argued that the red elves were doing little more than dancing in the grain, and that given their dire situation in the way of food, it was their right to cultivate the lands.

Since there was little in the way of a formal, centralized army, Lilhelndine order bands of small, local militias to explore the Fethil and report back vital information about the red elves' whereabouts and character. Forays were made towards the elves, who met the Imperial militia men with great distrust and apprehension.

By 855, Lilhelndine had grown impatient and demanded that an outpost be established in the Fethil, north of Neerhemehind along the Quentalno river. This outpost - which was chistened Neerhemfeth - was to serve as a base for supplies and communication for further explorations into the Fethil.

Though it was a small, dreary, unassuming place, it became the site of great controversies and (many respected historians, both Elothninian and otherwise, agree) its establishment marked the begining of the Border Wars. While the red elves had tolerated Lilhelndine's curious excursions into the Fethil, the establishment of an actually Imperial town in the Fethil provoked them. Many of the red elvish leaders saw the building of Neerhemfeth as a breach of the informal negotiations they had had with Otellian during the First Displacement period.

Memorandums sent back and forth from the militia men charged with the construction of Neerhemfeth and the Queen indicate that all was going very well, with no signs of trouble from the nearby elves. It came as a great surprise when the red elves fell upon Neerhmefeth, razing it to the ground. Valiyon, a well-known red elvish leader of the area, nailed a statement, written in Athernorkos, to a post in the town square. It took sometime for the Elothninians to translate it, revealing the following message:

Because we are honorable, we are warning you. Your Otellian took our ancient lands, but we conceded as long as you stayed there at let us have the Yellow Sea¹. Though we are numerous, though we could overtake you and reclaim what was once ours through magickal means, we did not out of respected for the agreements made with your forbears. Clearly, because your lives are so short and memories so feeble, you do not remember the boundaries your king agreed to in exchange for peace with us.

These are our lands, humans - they are not yours to take. You have grown arrogant and presumptive, like greedy children. Only the Athenorkos can live in these lands. build your puny hamlet again, and we will burn it again and we will strike down any of your forlorn soldiers you are foolish and selfish enough to send here without mercy. This is your only warning, Lilhelndine.

While this declaration caused quite a stir among those men on the front lines - who had seen the red elves slipping through the waving tall grass silently, regarding them with wary glances - the threats of the red elves were not taken seriously by the queen or her cabinet, and the immediate rebuilding of Neerhemfeth was ordered. Only two days into the reconstruction, Neerhemfeth was once again burned, and this time, most of the soldiers were left dead or captured by the elves and never heard from again.

Lilhelndine ceased construction on the waystation and had the troops retreat and ordered scholars to pore over what few documents still existed from Otellian's time. After some time, the scholars come to the conclusion that no formal agreement had been reached by the Elothninian founder and the red elves. there was a long standing informal understanding, yes, but there appeared to be (on the human side of things, at least) nothing actually preventing Lilhelndine's encroachment. The queen order Neerhemfeth to rebuilt once again, and this time, ordered extra troops sent to protect it.

Over the next 40 years, Neerhemfeth was burned to the ground 6 more times by angered red elves. The Imperial Army (such as it was) made little progress into the Fethil's interior because the elves used a combination of guerilla tactics and their social magicks to seduce and/or kill humans who ventured far enough away from Neerhemfeth.
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¹This is what 'fethil', which is actually an Athenorkos term adopted into the common Tongue, is literally translated as.

Mundayne Hegemony

Gramski's Prison Notebooks

First proposed by the great political philosopher Gramski of the Round Open Patch near a Stand of Birches, a hunchbacked gnome taken prisoner by the Imperial Army for his revolutionary behavior. Gramski first attracted the ire of the authorities while openly trying to recruit both the magickal and mundayne beings of a small frontier town to join the rebel cause. Gramski was detained and charged with being a general nuisance and not wearing wooden shoes¹ within imperial bounds.

Because of his belligerent behavior before the military tribunal that considered his case, Gramski was given the sentence of 30 years in prison, to be served in a workshop making weapons for the very troops that he had worked so hard against. Of course, Gramski was deeply demoralized by the ruling and, in particular, the sentence that he was given. However, with his intimate knowledge of woodcrafting the rebellious gnome found subtle artifices to undermine the efficacy of the weapons he was forced to make with what he hoped would be deadly results for their imperial wielders.

During his time in prison, Gramski, who had always been a prodigious talker, set down to record his thoughts on and justifications for opposing the Elothninian Empire's seemingly insatiable appetite for expansion. This labor yielded several important concepts, including the landmark notion of Mundayne Hegemony. According to interpreters of Gramski², Mundayne Hegemony describes Elothninian society as systematically devaluing and destroying magickal beings' culture, rights, and even their lives on the belief that the use of magick corrupts the morals and internal ethics of beings. Magickal creatures, in the view of some anti-magick demagogues, are lazy, morally deficient, and dishonest because magick allows its practitioners to skirt the kind of labor that keeps humans honest. This, in turn, is used to justify the systematic disenfranchisement and devaluation of all magickal beings.

In his strange, often cryptic writings Gramski argued that if mundayne and magickal beings were ever to have peace with one another, mundayne beings would have to be compelled to abandon their anti-magickal beliefs -- only then could a just society be created.
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¹Following an edict by King Gimmelthorpe all gnomes dwelling within the confines of the Elothninian Empire were required by law to wear wooden shoes at all times, "for the sake of public decency and order." This law has been viewed by many in the gnomish community as being both discriminatory and naive.
²Because of the strict constraints on his activities and the danger of being found with anti-imperial rantings by prison guards, Gramski elected to write in a form of code, which only the most astute and initiated readers are able to decipher.

Traditional Folklore and Superstitions of Elothnin

the gnome-warding lights of Perejin

Throughout their storied history, the humans of Elothnin have incorporated a number of peculiar superstitions into their daily lives and folklore. Scholars of magicology and anthropology suggest that such superstitions are attempts to understand and control magickal forces which humans, by their mundayne nature, cannot make sense of.

Many superstitions suggest that magickal creatures (and magic itself) are dangerous, sometimes even cruel, and thus should be avoided. The marriage customs of the Fethil region are good example of this: although humans now find intermarriage between red elves and humans acceptable, taboos against this used to be in place in both cultures during the red elves' First Displacement period. Folklore from the period claimed that the red elves would use their charms and glamours to appear as lovely humans, often arriving to a town alone and forlorn (sometimes even claiming to be attacked by the very same group of elves that they in fact belonged to). Once accepted into the community, the masquerading elf would then set about seducing eligible young folk. Some stories claim that the elf would seduce multiple partners, then set them on each other in a jealous rage, so as to weaken the human community, while others say that the elves would marry a young human, then bring them back to their homeland where the human would be used as a servant or slave of some kind.

Such tales inspired a number of marriage customs designed to root out camouflaged elves - for example, both the bride and groom are expected to eat a hearty bowl of mush, a dish elves are known to find unappetizing. Similarly, Perejinders still line the perimeter of their houses with bright lanterns (thought to keep gnomes at bay, thus preventing a magickal attack in the dead of night), and not getting the lanterns lit by sunset is considered an extremely bad omen.

Folklore regarding the Shrine in the Forest and the waters of Susselfen are also indicative of the suspicious and careful approach Fethilians take to magic. Both are said to have the power to imbue even the most mundayne of creatures with magickal powers, sometimes even causing a careless human to be transformed into something unearthly. Occasionally, such tales describe positive changes (such as the Fethilian boy who, after spending the night in the Shrine, was able to call for rain during a time of drought), but more often than not, the result is quite tragic (for example, the strapping young Susselfenner who valiantly jumped into a river to retrieve his sweetheart's hat - only to grow gills in the process restricting him to a life under water forever separated from the lass). Stories surrounding the Old Man claim he has a similar eccentric and fickle tendency to either bless or curse human passers-by, often for no provocation at all. The cumulative moral of these stories highlights the great power of magick, but emphasizes that said power rarely benefits the human recipients of it.

Another common theme in Elothninian folklore is that magickal beings can be negotiated with if one keeps one's wits about them. The Perejinder custom of bringing mush to centaurs as payment for fortune telling is thought to derive from the tale of a clever young woman offered a bedraggled-looking centaur some delicious mush one day in the forest. She then uses her wits to trick him into telling her her future by wondering aloud if she would ever be able to feed him the tasty dish again.

Skillilinilia, the deity of the Great Land Sea, is the subject of many similar tales as well. Fishermen point to her legendary negotiations with King Otellian I, where he extracted a promise from her that his people would be allowed to fish in her seas as long as they did not take all her fish, as the genesis for their superstitious custom of throwing the last fish of all of their catches back.

Legend also holds that Skillilinilia's famed curiosity can be used for one's personal gain if one is willing to sacrifice. The most famous example of this is the legend of Otellian's courtship: Alethia Fenstrauer, Elothnin's future first queen, was an ambitious girl who had set her sights on climbing the social ladder while Otellian established his empire. One night, she slipped away from court and venture to the caves where Otellian was reputed to have negotiated with the deity and called for her. When the spirit arrived, dripping wet and covered in black scales, Alethia implored her to make Otellian fall in love with her and take her as his bride. Skillilinilia questioned Alethia for hours about her motivations (and Alethia, knowing that the deity had not emotional expectations of her, told her the truth) and finally agreed to give the girl what she wanted - but only if Alethia returned every morning to tell the sleepless deity what her dreams had been the night before. Hopeful maidens at court still venture down to the caves of the Land Sea and shout out their nightly visions in the hope that she will grant them their deepest desires.

High Etiquette in Elothnin

a clearly unwholesome man breaking several rules of etiquette at once

The rules of etiquette in the fair land of Elothnin are considered by many to be convoluted, contradictory, and outdated. In spite of this, they remain alive and well among the elite of the empire because proper adherence to them is seen as a mark of one's good breeding and distinguished character. This article attempts to outline some of the more well-known customs and manners, but it should be noted that it is by no means exhaustive.

Rules of Conversation

• It is considered uncouth to talk about the customs of foreign nations (as their strange ways are thought to be, in turn, frightful and titillating to women), matters of finance (since one who feels the need to crow about their spending obviously cannot support a fine lifestyle), and one's upbringing or education (royals consider childhood and adolescence undignified). It should be noted that the Border Wars can be discussed, but only in the context of veiled comments made while playing a highly popular military strategy game (usually on a giant board with obedient peasant used as pieces) named Carrot Takes Radish.

• To support the illusion that royals and vassals life a completely cloistered life, many consider it rude (verging on insulting) to be approached by their friends doing such mundane things as shopping for food, or going about their morning routine. It is considered even more rude to mention that someone was spotted doing such things in more refined environs - it has in fact, actually inspired several well-known duels.

• When engaged in conversation, one needs to strike a fine balance between affection and standoffishness. Typically, this is achieved by making a caustic remark and then immediately following it up with an affirmation of some kind. The former is meant to establish one's wit and position in the social hierarchy, while the former is an affiliative maneuver to solidify good relations.
  

• One should never laugh unless one is wearing a mask or holding an alcoholic beverage. If one is in such situations, one should laugh obnoxiously more or less constantly.
  

Rules of Cross-Gender Interaction

• A man should never approach a woman standing alone who he is not well associated with. To do so suggests that she is no better than a common whore (that said, many say that women should never stand alone as it invites such comparisons). However, a man approaching a pair of ladies is frowned upon because it may result in a pairing off that leaves the second woman alone, looking like a strumpet. Thus, men may only approach a lady if he has enough gentlemen accompanying him to provide escorts to each of her friends.
  

• Making introductions is an exception to the above rule. It is considered somewhat forward, but a single person of either gender may approach someone who they are known to be well acquainted with (of either gender) in order to approach someone they do not yet know. In such a situation, the individual approaches their friend on some shallow pretense, and their friend introduces them to the unknown person. If this exchange occurred in a public area, good faith has been established, reputations upheld, and the friend can make a graceful exit (unless, of course, they are a woman alone).
  

• Courtship in Elothnin's high society is an elaborate process of face-saving and reputation-negotiation, full of public announcements. For a man and woman caught in this process, their interactions are shifted according to each new development. Thus, a man and a woman must adhere to nonverbal mannerisms as well, so as not to give the wrong impression. In general, they should: stand no closer than 8 inches to one another, touch each other only on the shoulder or the forearm (and then only briefly), turn slightly outward so that they do not appear to be excluding others from their conversation, and either sustain eye contact or smile indulgently, but not both.
  

Rules of Conduct and Attire at Court

• Much of the time of those at court is occupied through various balls and hunts. Such activities give the court a chance to mingle with itself. Under the pretense of carefree amusement, such activities are actually sites of sexual politics, gossip, and social ostracization - each of which is fueled by someone's idiotic refusal to adhere to the basic rules outlined above. Each of those are watched much more closely at court in the contexts of social activities, thus transgressions are more noticeable and their consequences amplified.

• At a ball where dancing will ensue, men and women occupy two sides of the ballroom, separated by a satin rope. Men are allowed to cross the rope to invite ladies to dance on the floor, but for no other reason. It should also be noted that all those not wishing to dance should excuse themselves from the ballroom, since it is considered indecorous for a man of high breeding to allow a lady to go unpartnered at a dance (this usually results in many men hounding the remaining poor lass for a dance right as the music starts). However, a dance at the ball only suggests that the partners are now acquainted if neither individual has danced with anyone else (which, again, can cause some tongues to wag).

• The fashions worn at court have their own code of manners to contend with. Every royal and vassal family has adopted a family color, which should be worn prominently at such gatherings as a visual marker of who may approach who most freely, what political alliances are forming, etc., all of which play a part in who chooses to dance with who. Additionally, a man should not remove his hate before a lady removes her gloves (since both suggest familiarity), but a lady should remove one glove in order to receive a kiss on the hand from a gloved man. Hairstyles, as well, suggest certain things about those who wear them: for women, updos signal a women not interested in relations with the other sex (which cam be interpreted many ways) and intricate braids or twists suggest that a woman is open for courtship and male attention. Occasionally, a woman will let her hair fall and then invite a man to help her re-pin it - an act, while still considered polite, is thought to suggest that the pair's copulation is a forgone conclusion.
  

Elothninian Fashions

The styles of dress in Elothnin vary widely and perhaps deserve a bit of explication. As with most societies, the cut and quality of clothing convey much about an individual to those around them, and convey much about a culture or people to foreigners.

The lower classes of Elothnin, unsurprisingly enough, wear highly practical garments made of terribly mundane materials. The leggings and tunics the menfolk sport are typically woven out of cotton or linen in the warmer months and knitted from the wool of the fabled Fethil sheep during winter. Female peasants (see right) wear similarly pragmatic outfits - often a loose shirt, full skirt, bloomers, and a wide belt that also serves as a sort of makeshift waist-cincher. As women are often responsible for weaving or knitting the materials for such items, their clothing does tend to be brighter, and often sports decorative stitching as well.

Merchants and urban citizens of the empire, on the other hand, wear more body-conscious items made of finer materials. Men wear long jackets in a variety of colors, typically made of leather or dense wool, over dark trousers and plain shirts (see left). Often, men have only one or two such jackets, but own several interchangeable sets of shirts and pants, often giving the impression that they own only a single outfit! Women of this class (see right), on the other hand, typically have only a few chemises and leggings which they wear continuously under several colorful overdresses.

The fashions at court are extremely elaborate and ornate - sometimes artistic but just as often ridiculous. Unlike the fashions of the less wealthy, many styles appear for both genders with little uniformity. The general trends that do emerge, however, are bright colors for both sexes and exquisite fabrics. The clothes are typically made of fine leathers, silks, and furs regardless of time of year: royals often view it as a sign of strength to sweat the the summers and shiver through the winters in the interest of frippery. There is very little gender difference regarding the hues one wears, with men just as likely to sport traditionally feminine colors, such as pinks and pastels, as ladies.

Education in Elothnin

Elothninian schoolboys grudgingly broadening their horizons

The educational system of Elothnin is unique in many respects. It is characterized simultaneously by its egalitarian and stratified implementation: primary education is mandatory and available to all Elothninian children, but access to higher education and the quality and focus of education in general seems to vary greatly along class lines.

Primary Education
One of the major gains of Assiold II's reign was the establishment of public schools which were free and accessible to the entire population of Elothnin. This especially impacted the rural areas in the Fethil and Perejin, which had historically had little to no interaction with the education system.

The public system, in its current incarnation, mandates that all children between the ages of 8 and 15 must attend school 3 days a week and that children should be literate, have a working knowledge of mathematics, and be familiar with the history and culture of their homeland by the time they reach the age of majority. The actual implementation of this system, however, differs widely between wealthy and poor children. Less well off students generally attend rustic schoolhouses (see left) for half the day, and then go to work on farms or in factories, depending on their location. Schooling in their case is considered a nicety at best and a nuisance which interferes with their economic obligations at worst.

Children from a more privileged background, however, often receive a more thorough and longer education. Most have tutors prior to age 8, who help the children develop their academic skills early on. The parents of these children often request a waiver from attending public school, and educate their children with tutors through all of their primary education. Therefore, they are exposed to a broader range of topics in more detail. Additionally, the children of particularly prestigious families (specifically royals or vassals bound for a life at court) usually spend the last half of their education away from home. They are generally sent to either Opleneer or Neerhemhind where they receive training in etiquette, art, dancing, grooming, and sometimes dueling in addition to the more mundane and pragmatic subjects.

Higher Learning
In addition to publicly executed primary education, Elothninians have the opportunity to attend various universities, which specialize in the academic pursuit of many esoteric topics. The two primary universities of note are Opleneer University, which is committed to the arts and humanities, and Gimmelthorpe University (see right) in Neerhemhind, whose great strength is in the hard and social sciences. There are a number of other smaller colleges strewn about the empire, but those in the know generally consider believe that they produce hack academics obsessed with trivial and vain research exploits.

Though the universities do not require a tuition to be paid per se, and are thus technically available to the economically disadvantaged, it is customary to donate a large sum of money upon enrollment. In practice, the attendees of these institutions are overwhelmingly the youngsters sent here for preparatory training plus a few exceptional bright commoners (Phinneas Flumpert is one such case). The result is that those getting the free ride often emerge as the most driven and successful academics, while the rest squander the opportunity only to fall into the hedonistic revelries of the court.

Vassalships

Queen Lilhelndine making Prabil Worthis a vassal

In Elothninian culture, vassals represent the highest class of individuals who are not related by blood to the Otellian dynasty. Technically, a noble family is any whose surname appears at least once on the Otellian family tree, and a royal is someone who is a first or second degree relative to the reigning monarch. Royal and noble status ensures a place at court (and, of course, a high standard of living).

Vassals, on the other hand, are families whose status has been raised to the equivalent of nobles by an Elothninian ruler. This is a rare occurrence, and is generally done in recognition of great deeds performed in the name of the ruler which benefit Elothnin generally. Once bestowed, the vassalship is transferred through the family line. Currently, there are eight such families in Elothnin:

The Alorn family were made vassals after the great scholar, Horace Alorn, established Opleneer University. King Gimmelthorpe, who attended the school when he was in Opleneer during the city's great period of cultural renaissance, was so impressed with it that he made the Alorns vassals early in his reign.

The very first vassalship was bestowed on the Durannan clan by King Otellian I. Though the details have been lost to history, it is said that the original Durannan was a great war leader, and crucial to Otellian's campaign to displace the red elves. The Durannan clan continues to produce excellent military minds.

Rawny Fopp was a close and very adventurous friend of King Gimmelthorpe's who, as the story goes, played a major part in opening the Perejin region to Elothninian expansion. Much of the Fopp clan still resides in Perejin, and they remain one of the most powerful logging families in the empire.

The Iloskin clan were made vassals by Queen Rilinia. The Queen, who always complained of being cold, commissioned fabulous and ornate coats from the reknowned furrier Gwail Iloskin. While most of the Iloskin clan have gone on to bigger and better things, almost all try to incorporate fur into their outfits as often as possible as a homage to their illustrious ancestor.

King Malin II is often credited with the re-establishment of good relations with the dwarf communities in the wake of the dwarf-led kidnapping and killing of his great-uncle Leith Shando. In his memoirs, the king states that Trifion Lainel's discovery of precious ores in the Klevarcht Mountains was the impetus to reconcile with the short, testy mountain people.

Cacherd Perlin was made a vassal for his contributions to music by King Cius II - however, Cius II went mad and was removed from the throne six months later, so his taste in music may have been suspect at the time. Nevertheless, once a vassalship has been bestowed it cannot be rescinded, and the Perlins remain at court to this day.

King Teifus I made the exploration and use of the Great Land Sea a major focus of his reign, and expressed the utmost respect and admiration for the Robel clan, a family of fisherman who had trained mersprites to catch the rarer, tastier fishes from the deeper levels. This style of fishing is still used today.

The most recent family to receive a vassalships is the Worthis clan. Queen Lilhelndine made Prabil Worthis a vassal early in her reign, and this illustrious family still keeps a close eye on the developments in the Fethil.

A Short History of the Red Elves

The history of the red elves, as it is known to Elothninian scholars, is a sad one. As far as can be discerned from the various ruins scattered around the northeastern edge of the land, the red elves once lived in the basin of the Great Land Sea. Archaeologists speculate from the placement of the stone structures that the ruins are the remnants of the major town centers - normally equidistant between the Klevarcht Mountains, where the stones were cut from, and the Great Land Sea. Unearthed farming implements and fossilized furrows found in Helletiern suggest that the red elves domesticated wild grains while occupying the area in addition to fishing.

The First Displacement
Otellian's colonization of Helletiern forced the red elves from their stone homes and into the Fethil. Surprisingly little is known about the methods Otellian used to achieve this, but many historians argue that it must have been quite bloody for the elves to move out of the region en masse. Additionally, many traditional red elf songs dated to the period describe bloody battles and mournful losses.

The red elves adapted well to the Fethil, having already developed agriculture, and reformed into an agrarian society. As the Klevarcht Mountains in this region do not typically house dwarves, the red elves relied primarily on the materials at hand to construct buildings. Prabil Worthis described one elvish compound as consisting of many furrowed fields with small groups of thatched houses between them.

The society of red elves altered to adapt to these new environments and new demands. The previously open elves became more insular - even xenophobic. Though highly suspicious of outsiders, they retained their social magicks and often used them in manipulative ways, leading the incoming pioneers of Worthis' era to nickname them Charmers: beings to be wary of since they were known to seduce and trick the settlers for little or no reason.

Additionally, red elf culture prior to Otellian appears to have been loosely based around division of labor, and that each class tended to interact only with its own members unless the entire town was together. After the First Displacement, however, red elf society was drastically reordered, since all elves worked with the wheat and protecting their communal farms. As the old classes fell away, the red elves became highly egalitarian. Elvish marriage customs and family classification evolved as well, and instead of grouping by class, the red elves grouped by proximity.

Surnames, which had previously been related to occupation, were largely dropped except for political marriages. In these cases, usually cross-area matches, but sometimes also cross-race matches, the surname used is the local name for the area. Generally, marriage during the First Displacement period was considered binding, and the only acceptable state that sex could occur within. Therefore, considering the distances between elvish farming compounds, and the fact that participants in such cross-area marriages were still expected to work in their home compounds, the red elves became highly accepting of polygamy.

As more and more human settlers arrived, the red elves eventually began to live peacefully with the Elothninians. It should be noted that while there seems to be no taboo against humans marrying elves on the human side of things, the red elves have discouraged this on several notable occasions.

Second Displacement
The beginning of the Second Displacement roughly coincides with the first skirmishes that evolved into the Border Wars. The onset of the fully militaristic expansion into the Fethil, resulted in a brutal disruption of the agrarian culture the red elves had developed. Prior to the official beginning of the war, many of the elvish arming compounds had fled - either together, into the mountains, or had disbanded and started wandering the Fethil in search of a new settlement or as minstrels. Some compounds refused to move, and were hit the hardest by the first waves of the Border Wars. The red elves were generally armed with inferior weapons, but fought with more cohesive action than the Imperial Army. Sadly, they were also outnumbered in almost every instance, and were sometimes brutally massacred as a result. A particular poignant example of this, one that has in recent years become a rallying cry of the red elves of the Rebel Forces, was the battle at the Alamodour compound.

After the compounds had been virtually destroyed, the more militant elves who had not fled into the Erkenheld or the mountains formed guerrilla bands, and taunted and tortured the badly organized Imperial Army throughout its supply lines. Eventually, these bands joined with centaurs and gnomes to form the Rebel Forces as we now know it. Today, the red elves are the most populous and committed fighters making up the rebels, and it is generally recognized that they have been wronged the most by the expansion of Elothnin.

However, there are tensions within the red elf community regarding their place in the Border Wars. Two perspectives dominate this debate, each of which reflects a different response to the brutality of the Second Displacement: those that fled to the mountains or scattered throughout the Fethil believe that the elves should focus on rebuilding their community, while those that stayed and fought believe that their community can only be truly rebuilt on its own land. It should be noted that these tendencies are not clearly divided, and many feisty youths from the mountain complexes join the army, and many similarly feisty youths leave the army to settle and procreate within the mountain valleys.

The complexes of the mountain valleys are generally comprised of a few fields and a large multistory (usually overgrown) housing complex where all in the valley live together. Other red elves either live in the traveling carts of entertainers, tiny elvish settlements in the North, or with the Rebel Forces. The living conditions of the red elves have once again caused major cultural shifts regarding marriage. Red elves today generally take the need to reproduce as a cultural issue, and place a high priority on it. Given this pressure and the growing tendency for young elves to be constantly traveling, the once stringent morays against premarital sex have relaxed significantly. Additionally, the lack of stable relationships of any kind have made single parenting more acceptable. Marriage, now, is a term used by red elves to describe others with whom they share an additional strong emotional attachment to - often one that crosses great distances. The red elves continue to be polygamous in this sense, and are in fact even more fluid. The process of declaring and dissolving marriages has become looser and less rigid. All in all, these customs create a system where elves are able to move about freely while they attempt to establish yet another homeland, but are still able to reproduce and gain emotional support from others in a culturally acceptable way.

Notable Red Elves
Jellihondor
Rethnaki
Elcrona

The Queen's Court

the Otellian dynasty - click on this link to download it and be able to actually read it

The Queen's court is composed of Elothninians of only the highest classes, and serve to inform, protect, and entertain the monarch. Although technically anyone who meets the high standards can be part of the court, it really only reflects that portion of nobles and other sundry elite individuals who live in Neerhemhind. Above all, the court is characterized by the vast amount of importance it places on virtually meaningless and confusing rules of etiquette.

Gaining Entry
There are many ways for an ambitious young Elothninian to join the court, but one should be forewarned that the criteria for any such path are stringent, esoteric, and highly convoluted. Essentially, to be part of the court, one must either be born to it or earn through a variety of career paths. Arguably, the easiest is being noble by birthright, as it requires little more than the establishment of the correct family ties. Nowadays, this can be done by proving that one comes from a family directly related to the Otellian dynasty. Those with surnames that appear in this illustrious (and awfully gnarled) family tree (pictured above) have a guaranteed 'in,' as it were.

Vassalships are a similar way of gaining access to the glittering, luxurious world of the royal court. Once a vassalship has been established (which is no easy task), members of that family are granted access to attend court. They generally do not receive the same warm welcome and broad inclusion that nobles get, but vassals are given an entrance which the common Elothninian is not.

If one is not born a noble and is not a member of a vassalship, then the road to court has many more obstacles and is much less certain. Many of the members of the court are there because they have displayed incredible talents, and are there to entertain the royals either officially (through formal performances) or informally (through social interactions where they display their talents anyway). This most clearly applies to those in the art, musicians and poets and the like, but can be extended to beauty, wit, and charisma as well. The court also houses those who fill a more educational or informative role for the Queen. She, and virtually all rulers before her, surrounds herself with brilliant intellectuals, the finest military tacticians, and the most well-informed diplomats and politicians. It should be noted that simply being the best in a given field is not enough to land a place in court - after all, Phinneas Flumpert himself is a clerk in the Imperial Army, and not advising her majesty.

If all else fails, one can play a functional role in the court. This often takes the form of bodygaurds, assistants, and ladies in waiting. These are the necessary jobs that keep the court afloat, and while they are not highly regarded by the nobles and royals, they do provide a glimpse into their world, and possibly even entry to it.

At the Court
The actual shape and atmosphere of the court changes with each ruler, and sometimes throughout a particular ruler's reign, but the functions of the court remain stable. The primary function of the court is to build and maintain political relationships in an environment that is relatively safe for the monarch to be in. Thus, the court is necessarily closed to most. However, as the number of attendees and positions inevitably grows, the court becomes an arena for others to resolve their political and social agendas as well. For the nobles and royals, who have relatively few families to choose from when getting married, and for whom other's opinions about their manners matters in material ways, the court is a sight of veiled negotiations.

The court also affirms the ruler's bidirectional relationship with local culture. The court gives a monarch the space to explore the newest and most popular forms of entertainment without the threat of assassination or attack. Simultaneously, the ruler can affect the direction popular culture takes by implicitly endorsing some things by including them at court and rejecting others. The propagandistic effects of this should not be underestimated, as entertainment is often the closest link (in terms of shared experiences) between the common folk and their ruler.

Finally, the watchful ruler can use a setting like the court to keep tabs on those closest to her. Being able to discern someone's duplicitous nature through those they choose to interact with, and what they talk about is extremely valuable, and the court offers the perfect environment to watch possible traitors in their own element.

The Origins and History of the Elvo-Felintark Empire

a very lost elvo-felintark trading party

Before the Tinkers
The earliest recorded histories of the felintarks suggest they lived as bands of nomad several thousand years ago. The structure of their societies bear a striking resemblance to the modern human barbarians of the lower San-Kesh-Brovnajia region. Eventually, the bands settled at the oases which sparsely populate the San-Kesh, leading to the domestication of palms, reeds, and various desert animals for livestock. The settlements grew into a number (scholars speculate anywhere from 6 to 20 such settlements) of stable agrarian city-states. Obviously, as the population of each grew, the availability of resources to support that population grew more and more scarce and began to break out between the city-states.

The establishment of the Felintark Empire is credited to Lord Ralah, the warlord who first united the city-states. Around 4,000 years ago, he and his band of panther-riding warriors overtook state after state, and the brutal takeover led to the suppression of inter-region tensions. Ralah established his seat of government, redrew the boundaries of the city-states in what he believed were more equitable ways, and sent his seven most loyal and trustworthy warriors to rule over the newly created states. Much of Ralah's reign, and the reigns of his next four successors, was spent building up the infrastructure necessary to support the rule of such a large area, and many of the ancient roads, aquaducts, and facilities remain intact today.

Within a thousand years, the Felintark Empire had solidified into a functioning society, despite the great spans of distance it reached across. Each city was connected to all others through a highly reliable, well-maintained network of roads and thoroughfares. The empire had also become extremely insular and highly stratified. The maintenance of such a huge, sprawling empire required an immense amount of record-keeping and procedural checkpoints, and the felintarks had developed an intricate bureaucratic system to manage it. The class system supporting this became largely economically based as a result of this - the education system that trained the clerics who kept the empire functioning charge ever-increasing prices for the preparations and exams needed to obtain more prestigious positions.

The Elvo-Felintark Golden Age
Scholars speculate that silver elves first entered the San-Kesh desert around 2,000 years ago. Not much is known about their migration, but some documents from the period and revealing tinker folktales indicate that a conflict with the dwarves forced the elves out of the Klevarcht mountains. Legend holds that the leader of the tinkers, Mosol Telekson, knowing that the felintarks were a suspicious and insular, but curious people, devised a plan to end their period of Wandering through the Dark Lands. Mosol recruited his five best technicians, and together they devised the most astoundingly lifelike mechanical bird ever created. He then asked the jewelers of his party to embellish and adorn the bird so that it was dazzlingly beautiful.

Bird in hand (as it were), the Mosol left his fellows behind and journeyed to the edge of the empire. The elf initially was not permitted entrance, but Mosol showed the gaurd the bird, explaining that it was a gift for the emperor, and that he had to deliver it himself since no one else knew how it worked or could repair it should it break. When the gaurd balked (since letting in a very alien-looking stranger was most definitely against protocol), Mosol quickly built a tiny, clockwork beetle out of metal scraps that were laying around the gaurd's office. Charmed, the gaurd let Mosol through. Mosol repeated this over and over again, until rumors of a gray-skinned mechanical genius who created marvels out of trash spread throughout the empire - even to the emporer himself. By the time Mosol reached the palace and gained audience with the king, he did not even have to ask permission for his people to enter the empire. The felintark emperor, upon seeing the jewelled bird, exclaimed that anyone who could create such amazing things would be welcome in his lands forever.

Since the agreement between the emperor and the elf, the silver elves and felintarks have lived together peacefully. The entrance of the silver elves also spurred the great Golden Age of the empire - a material, political and intellectual flourishing of culture in the region. Entrance into the empire remained difficult for outsiders, but the tinkers pushed the felintarks to establish outside trade with other nations. The tinkers also suggested establishing political ties with other large nations, and felintark delegates can be found in most foreign bodies, including Elothnin (see delegate at left). While the empire is still ruled by felintarks, silver elves can be found at virtually every level of society.

Modern Life in the Empire
Today, the Elvo-Felintark Empire is ruled by Alphaeston III (see right), who has continued the political custom of sending felintark diplomats to various countries. While few have gained entry to the Empire itself, we now know much more about the daily lives of the silver elves and felintarks through contact with diplomats and trading parties.

It seems that though the elves and felintarks have lived together for the last two thousand years, each has retained their own customs. Felintarks, who consider modesty a point of honor, dress in full length robes with hoods (those in the upper echelons of felintark society also wear a veil which obscures all but their eyes as well). Those who have interacted with them describe felintarks as polite, warm, and generally affectionate, and as concerned with showing the proper respect to others as they with protecting their own. Honor and prestige among felintarks is generally determined by one's education, with the more time-consuming and esoteric disciplines being associated with highly class levels. Subsequently, the traders and explorers who have given the most insight into felintark ways of life are considered quite common within the empire.

The silver elves, in contrast, have one of the most egalitarian societies known to Elothninian scholars. Tinkers generally explain that there are a number of known disciplines that the tinkers' magic manifests through, and that one's class (if it can even be called that) is determined by their reputation of proficiency in a given discipline. They emphasize that no discipline is valued above any other. It should be noted that some of the disciplines show gender disparities, and that females elves are much more likely to become 'shapers' (those who discover and manipulate existing patterns - such as finding trade routes, developing military strategies, or even breeding animals) while male elves tend to become 'makers' (those who take raw materials and create new things from them, such as the clockwork birds typically used to carry messages from one part of the empire to another). Felintarks, in contrast, show very little gender imbalance at any societal rung since the education system is open to both men and women.

Elvish dueling

the great duel between Svava and Jellihondor

Though dueling occurs in most sentient species, elvish dueling refers to a traditional form of conflict management governed by a very specific (and sometimes contradictory) set of ancient rules. Elvish dueling has been documented within each of the elvish breeds, and has also been used to manage tensions between them as well. On very rare occasions, elves will duel with other beings, both magical and not. Unlike the duels of humans, which are often short, brutal, and to the death, elvish duels virtually never result in death and often last for an extended period of time due to the many procedural points that must be addressed before, during, and after the duel takes place.

Step 1: The Challenge
Elvish duels are the mechanism through which most questions of honor or cultural transgressions are solved. The duels have a highly formalized structure, and each step of the process is considered binding. In order to challenge another to a duel, an elf must approach their opponent in a public space with at least five witnesses present. They must then declare the point of contention and explicitly propose the binding resolutions of the possible outcomes. If the opponent declines the duel, an elf cannot challenge them on this point again and must find another way of resolving the conflict. If the opponent accepts the challenge (which is most often the case) the challenged elf accepts the terms of resolution and chooses the kind of magic to be used during the duel

Step 2: Preparations
Because of the almost ritualistic nature of elvish duels, at least three days of preparation are needed before it can commence. To be considered valid and bindings, a duel must occur in a proper arena, in front of at least ten witnesses (one of whom cannot be an elf), and must be judged by three individuals who are considered to have extraordinary magical skill or knowledge. Each opponent selects one judge, and the third is typically a volunteer not affiliated with either side in order to ensure impartiality.

Step 3: The Duel
Once the arena has been established, judges have been found, and witnesses have agreed to attend, the duel can proceed. It should be noted that generally, finding the requisite number of witnesses is not a difficult task as duels are regarded as a sort of spectator sport among the elves. Particularly impressive duels, such as Svava's challenge for the throne, can be attended by hundreds, sometimes thousands, of elves. Most duels are also accompanied by traditional drums, as well.

After a long series of formal introductions (which include, but are not limited to, the opponents introducing themselves to each other, the judges introducing themselves to each other, the judges getting introduced to the opponents, etc.), the original point of contention and terms of resolution, and the type of magic to be used are reiterated. Generally, one of the witnesses is recruited to act as a master of ceremonies, but this is not always the case.

The duel then begins. A duel consists of four rounds, and during each round, one elf uses offensive magic and the other uses defensive magic. The rounds alternate such that each elf is offensive twice and defensive twice, and never uses the same type of magic consecutively. Typically, the original challenger is allowed to choose which position they will take (offensive or defensive), thus establishing the pattern for the duel. The object of each round is to use the most impressively difficult, but still appropriate, form of magic of the round. Skill is primarily determined through the strength and effectiveness of the magic used, but most judges also take the innovative use of magic, the quickness of a duelist's reflexes, and (to some degree) the showmanship involved into account as well. Those who have witnessed elvish duels say that they are breathtaking displays of magic.

Step 4: The Decision
After the completion of the duel, the judges retire to come to a decision. The decision must be unanimous, so, this process sometimes takes a considerable amount of time. Whatever decision the judges reach is considered permanent and binding, and thus cannot be appealed. Once the decision is reached, the judges return to the arena (where the duelists have been waiting in the interim ) and the terms of resolution are immediately enacted.

The finality of these decisions underscores the seriousness of duels in elvish culture. a case in point is the duel of Prabil Worthis, one of the few non-magical beings ever to participate in an elvish duel as anything more than an observer. Worthis was challenged to a duel by a particularly xenophobic elf named Rustletan, who challenged Worthis' right to marry an elf. Worthis (against the wishes of virtually everyone involved) accepted the duel, and as was his right as the challenged party, requested the duel take place as a drinking contest. Worthis won, and in the process, was awarded the northern Fethil. Rustletan and his fellow stuck by their word despite the strange circumstances, and have never uttered a bad word against Worthis since.