Zoom 2021-07-15 21:00

==More info from the journey:==
* The Elves definitely referred to Kilan as being female. Kilan was definitely male when we met him.
* F. will find out details of the slave trade – and the possibilities of arranging some kind of a ‘buy-back’.
* The Lizardmen have control of the Dark Temple/Dark Star. The Dark Star was originally just the Flying City of the Earth element – the connection to the undead is a recent ‘repurposing’.
* The Elven empress is always called Ilrania, whatever her original name. She is the secular head of the Elven empire.
* The mausoleum on the Isle of the Dead has ‘always been there’ - ie it pre-dates the arrival of the Elves on North Island.
* Sallahan was taken-over by dark forces about 12 years ago.
* The GSOV has cleared from Willston – ie everybody is now effectively Clearsighted there.
==At the Nature Shrine:==
Kahu returns from giving the ex-sapling ballista bolt to Rasten. She is accompanied by the most weedy-looking Centaur that we have ever seen - his name is Ironwill and he is a middle-aged (though frail) male mage.
Kahu advises us that if we wish to leave Willston, we should book our places with the FairWinds traders tonight – otherwise those places will be taken by others seeking to flee Willston while they still can. Willston is gearing up for conflict with Ghoulagabba – and the numbers don’t look good. There are about 8000 Elves in Willston – whereas Ghoulagabba has about 80,000 trolls and several hundred thousand orcs. Having said that, Rasten has a knack for survival....
Despite this, the party decides to stay in Wilston. We are invited to stay in the Nature Shrine overnight – and are informed that Raston will be visiting in the morning. However, at least in public, proper forms must be observed, so he is unlikely to want to engage with the party (and we certainly shouldn’t try to approach him!) We therefore decide that we will ask Kahu to present him with a copy of Onwen’s White Nightshade recipe – something that ought to be extremely useful to him against Ghoulagabba. (White Nightshade is known around these parts, though it doesn’t thrive particularly well here.)
We attend the evening service at the Nature Shrine. The congregation is about 10-15% Elves, 70% human, and the rest of other races. Most of the humans have old slave-brandings on their right cheeks. Kahu herself is careful not to proselytise the Wyldwood religion – Elves are free to come to her shrine, but that is as far as she can go.
== A long chat with Kahu and Ironwill ==
===Ironwill’s info:===
He explains that he was tasked by Kth’ar Korton (the chancellor of Far Haven) to take a letter to Lord Rasten from Saratak. (This would have been one of a large number of pre-prepared letters that were sent out following Saratak’s death.) Although Ironwill had no idea what was in the letter, it must have included something about the ballista bolt: although Rasten was a bit nonplussed to receive the bolt, it’s delivery obviously triggered some kind of condition (stated in the letter) which meant that Rasten then ordered Ironwill to go with Kahu to the Nature Shrine.
Ironwill mentioned that the ex-sapling ballista bolt was similar in style (but obviously not power) to the ballista bolts that Saratak used in his tower-mounted ballistae.
He said that he had utilised the Willston teleport trap to get here quickly – which caused a certain amount of consternation when he arrived!
When quizzed about Kth’ar, he explained that the chancellor had taken pro-tem control of Far Haven, but whilst he is accepted as Saratak’s ‘executor’, he does not have the influence or respect to remain in control permanently.
The Giants that attacked Far Haven (along with the orcs and trolls) appeared to be from Soratan’s old tribe – the BloodBoulders.
===Kahu’s views on Elvish and Wild/Wyld history:===
Kahu is quite a ‘young’ Elf – born after the Elves ‘came back’ to North Island: not their recent return – the one before that. Apparently the Elves have had to depart North Island and then return several times in their history – though Kahu does take this with a pinch of salt.
Anway, in her day, the Elves tried to take full control of North Island. Not surprisingly, this engendered some resistance from the natives (and newcomers) – almost all of whom worshipped ‘Wildwood’: a shamanistic/totemic religion based on nature being ‘red in tooth and claw’. Their attempted oppression by the Elves caused a more warlike element of Wildwood to emerge – especially from those who had Dragons as their totems who spearheaded the aggressive, nihilistic version of Wildwood.
Initially the Elven war against the tribes and clans went well, but the Dragon Riders gained in personal power and then Soratan arose – he was a culmination of the Wild’s coalescence of power – almost a ‘God manifest’ - as was his Mithril Dragon. Pretty soon, Soratan and the Wild had the upper hand and began to win the war.
However, there was a backlash against Soratan’s extreme methods – he would massacre/enslave/sacrifice his enemies - which caused revulsion among some of his supporters, who then broke off and formed the milder, gentler (‘wishy-washy’) version of Wyldwood that we know today. Meanwhile, the Wild veered to further extremes, associating themselves with Dekatur.
In desperation, the Elves formed alliances with other races (made easier with the new Wyldwood that formed a bridge towards the Elves)– a strategy that was ultimately successful and which led to Soratan's ‘evacuation’ of the Wild from North Island by sacrificing his Mithril Dragon to create his Spell of Voids [‘Sacrifice’ may be a euphemism, and indeed all the legends that we have regarding sacrifices and mithril may be allegorical retellings of this.]
However, with the Wild gone, the Elves suddenly realised what excellent Mana generators they were – what with their ability to breed rapidly and create religions etc. So the Elves had to leave North Island themselves – and the suggestion that they ‘pursued the Wild’ is just propaganda – they fled in the opposite direction! They found themselves a nice new comfy home, without too many native intelligent species to conflict with, and everything was fine and dandy. Until they started running out of mana there too. Rather than wait until the place was totally ruined by their presence, they decided to try to return to a hopefully rejuvenated North Island.
===Elven factions:===
Kahu believes that the current worship of Hashandra – as exemplified by Solor – has become the Elven equivalent of Gemidiah:  ie the belief in the absolute superiority of Elves.
Kahu and her peers obviously do not believe this, but think it is better to try to change (or even subvert) the system from within. 
Other factions believe they need to go further in counteracting the current direction of Hashandra. [Clarification required of Kahu's faction]
Kahu describes Elves as being flamboyantly arrogant. Solor would certainly claim to ‘have a plan’ though Kahu doesn’t believe it. However, the enslavement of Humans was designed to generate mana.
Rasten is the Elves' first line of defence/buffer against Ghoulagabba and the trolls/orcs/undead. Meanwhile, the rest of the Elves are more interested in gaining control of the West of North Island.
===Flying Cities:===
These were just ‘vanity projects’ - they’re just flying bricks. However, they didn’t take as much mana to create as one might expect.
There is certainly no strategic imperative to retake them yet – and if the Alverans/Clans/Lizardmen manage to power them up then that will make it all the more convenient for when the Elves finally do decide to reclaim them.
The clans currently hold StarStorm and are pumping mana into it – but they are being watched by the Orcs.
===Rasten:===
He is ‘very old’ - even for an Elf!
He appears to be a ‘nice guy’ who is trying to do the ‘right thing’ - but there is a deep, dark undercurrent to him. So although he is bending towards trying to integrate with the non-Elven races – he will bend only so far.
His enmity with Elsiurs may be based on the fact that Elsiurs is half Dark Elf – something that Rasten makes a meal out of.
===Alveran/Elven alliance.===
* A hard border has been agreed.
* (*) The Elves won’t enslave any more of the ‘civilised’ races. (Though what ‘civilised’ means is not clear – doesn’t seem to include orcs, trolls, maratasen, lizardmen....)
* Exchange of prisoners is being discussed.
* Alvera will provide intelligence for the Elves' action in the West.
* Alvera will commence action against Ghoulagabba and the Undead in the East.
(*) Bez Drock’s bargain with Solor extends the number of races to be counted as ‘civilised’ - and importantly, this is now a ‘divinely-backed agreement’ rather than just a a treaty between Elves and other races.