Ambarant Diarchy

The **Ambarant Diarchy**, also known as the **Ancient Elves**, were an ancient civilisation that inhabited Coédór long before the Dawn of Men. The Ancient Elves were known for their belief in Terazi and their strong affinity for the Redglist Tree.

With a lot of their civilisation being washed away by time, many former locations of the Ancient Elves have turned in to mythos among the inhabitants of Terazan. Many ancient relics of the Ambarant Diarchy that are found across the land are locked away in museums and vaults in order to protect these incredibly rare reminders of the past.

## History

### Creation of The Four

When the world was formed the first beings created were the Elves. Terazi used a new power known as Magic to breathe life in to the four lifeless forms she had made, allowing them to think freely and wander the land of her world. She taught them to see, to listen, and to speak with one another. These first beings were known to the Ancient Elves as **The Four**.

Through the guidance of Terazi these four beings became what would go on to be known as the first iteration of the Hína. For a time they wandered the world in search of a greater purpose, walking among one another as their personalities differed and became unique. After many lifetimes of doing so, they came together to ask Terazi to create more Elves that they may teach - eager to spread their knowledge to others of their kind. Enthralled with the compassion of the four Terazi obliged, and created the first civilisations of the Elven kind.

Each of The Four spread to the Four corners of the world, adopting new titles to reflect their duty across Terazan.

* The first of the four travelled to the North and became known as the *An-hír*.
* The second travelled to the Eastern reaches of the world, and became known as the *Rhûn-hir*.
* The third travelled to the South of the world, and became known as the *Acharn-hír*.
* And the fourth travelled to the West, and became known as the *Dún-hír*.

The four of them each created a coalition to rule the world, arranged to meet to discuss matters on how to rule the Elven kingdoms together, and reflect their decisions independantly throughout their socities.

### Occupation of Coédór

Following the creation of the first civilisations of Elves, the Four collectively decided that they would spread across the world to create their vast kingdoms. After occupying the continents of Coédór the Four spent many hundreds of years moulding and instructing the socieits, each in their own image and with their own ideals, in order to spread their influence across the land. It is thought that this is the origin of the subspecies of the Hína.

## Economy

As the first civilisation the Ambarant Diarchy is know to have had an active economy based on currency. Though found rarely, there are coins that survived the flow of time and are unearthed in deolate locations in Terazan.

The Ancient Elves traded coins, known as **Ambari**, made from a mixture of mithril metals and the natural hardy bark of Redglist trees. Though it is unknown to what extent a singular coin was worth, it can be assumed that based on their valuable materials they were quite dear.

The coins were identical on both sides, featuring small circular imprints around the edge, and an inner ring containing twelve markings. The significance of these markings is thought to represent some kind of structure within the Ambarant governing body which has since been lost to time.

Differing significantly from coins used in modern day, Ambari are incredibly light in weight and durable to both blunt trauma and vast temperatures, allowing them to survive in even the most hostile of places.

## Society and culture

### Ambarant Rule over Coédór

After the world was occupied by The Four it was decided that their respective kingdoms would uphold a value and ethos. The ideaology was that it would keep them focused on what to offer the world, and the destiny of all Elves in all things.

Those in the North became known as the **Children of Nature**, focusing on learning all there was about forest life and agriculture. After all, the world was created by Terazi and therefore they should draw as much knowledge as they could from her creation.

The Elves of the East became known as the **Children of Thought**, constructing their high towers on the Eastern isles of Ethuílmen and beyond and collecting vast knowledge to store in grand libraries. These Elves were responsible for gathering intelligence, and homing the mysterious of the arcane for the Elven people.

The Elves of the South became known as the **Children of Willing**, a sect responsible for facilitating and helping other natural beings that lived on Terazan. These Elves were more sympathetic to other creatures than most, with a strong philosophy that all beings are born equal and should have access to drink from the same pools of knowledge: a philosophy that would turn against hem during the rise of Men.

The Elves of the West became known as the **Children of Control** and were responsible for using higher powers, such as Magic, to unlock secrets about the world. They were known for their strong belief in the Gods and more dismissive nature, as it was of upmost importance that their work did not fall in to the wrong hands.

Together the four sects of the Ambarant Diarchy ruled Terazan for a long time, introducing crude rulesets (such as the Míríantra) to govern their citizens by. The ruling is known to have lasted at least five-hundred-thousand years.