Eluvia

ELUVIA

‘Think not of our coming as a burden but as a blessing. Before

you were primitive people. Now you are worthy to be in our

company.’

Nickname: The Sorcerers

Languages: Eluvian

Population: Säuger 5%, Eluvian 94% and Drummon 1%

Government: Meritocracy/Democracy

Leadership: Elected Council

Lifestyle: Independent, academic, flexible.

SOCIETY

Unlike most other societies, amongst the Eluvians one’s talents

and abilities are valued above any thought of bloodlines or

wealth. Eluvians are expected to find talent within themselves

and use this to the support or betterment of themselves and their

society. For the most part public positions of power are filled by

people who self-nominate and are then voted on by the

appropriate colleagues or interested parties. So a town mayor

will be a local citizen chosen by all to lead, or the head of a Mage

School will be the teacher who has shown both the most aptitude

as a leader and a person that staff agree they can follow.

Eluvian youth are encouraged in any talent they show, but many

still value the paths of magic above all others. It is common for

most Eluvians to have at least some skill in Evocation,

Elementalism or Ritualism, and they represent a large proportion

of the members of the Mage Guild. Since it was the Eluvians who

first taught the use of magic to the Sauger and the Drummon this

is to be expected, but some Eluvian have over the centuries come

to reject this and refuse to learn anything of the magical arts.

Such communities have grown up around the edges of the lands

claimed by Eluvia, where they choose to live close with the land

around them without resorting to magical manipulation of it.

Eluvia is home to the Mage Schools, and they have adopted the

other Guilds as useful mechanisms for teaching required skills.

Leadership of these are always chosen by nominating and voting

on the most talented members. The government is generally

formed by individuals talented in academia, cultural lores and

languages, and generally managing people. Anyone may nominate

themselves for a particular position, and ask for support from

those eligible to vote on that particular position. Some do hold the

view that those who choose to go into public service such as this do

so only because they show no true talent for any of the valued arts or

industries. Elected mayors and councils lead each settlement large or

small, and a council elected from the ranks of the bureaucracy make

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decisions of national importance. From this council sometimes one might be chosen to represent all of

Eluvia at international events, such as the election of the High King, and often ambassadors to other

nations are elected for the purpose of representing Eluvia.

LAW

The elected leaders and council of each settlement are responsible for overseeing matters of

justice. Most often they will employ a group of armsmen to keep the peace, and act as judge or

jury for any misdemeanors brought before them. Incarceration alone is a rare sentence, with

recompense to the victims of any crime either in coin or in work being more often required.

Those guilty who refuse to co-operate with their sentences may be imprisoned whilst being

made to do the work required of them, or until enough of their personal goods are sold off to

cover their fines. In the case of severe infringements execution may be required, but only in

cases where murder with intent is proven.

Examples of justice include the instigator of a tavern brawl being required to pay for the repair

of damages and for the care of anyone injured; a bandit who steals from travelers (without

harming) being required to return all money and goods and work on the upkeep of roads for a

year; a fellow bandit who killed his victims being executed.

EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Most Eluvian will begin to learn the arts they see around them from an early age. All are taught

general academics until old enough to choose their own path, though those who show particular

ability for a specific area might be given extra instruction in that talent. Apprenticeships might

be given to students of great talent, but most are taught in class groups until old enough to be

trusted to work alone. All Eluvians are expected to have a good knowledge of the world, of their

society and find a talent that can be used to improve the life of those around them. Most also

learn the magical arts alongside academics since it is so pervasive in the society, and many seek

to make this their life work given its complexity and high value.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Eluvia supports several major cities as well as widespread towns, most having been at least

partially built through magical manipulation of the stone and water. Farming and other resource

production relies heavily on magical manipulation, although other industries cannot incorporate

such skills as easily. Eluvia’s strong relationship with Septoria and Drummon allows much of its

needs to be seen to through imports, allowing more of its citizenry the time to pursue the

respected paths of academia and research.

MAGIC

Members of schools of magic are the most highly regarded individuals in Eluvian society, and

children are usually taught the basics of at least one type as a part of their normal schooling.

Most members of Eluvian settlements will have some aptitude with magic and use it as a matter

of course in their everyday lives. Farmers use it to till the soil, craftsmen to shape their work,

armsmen have spells ready to release in their roles as guards or soldiers and academics use the

portal stones to travel to meet each other at opposite ends of the land with great frequency.

There are some however who reject this heritage, seeing reliance on it as a cause of the

cataclysm that brought the Eluvians to this place, and responsible for other atrocities over the

centuries. They choose to live outside of the cities of Eluvia, away from the industries so steeped

in magic, and will refuse to teach its mysteries to their children.

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RELIGION

Eluvians usually have little interest in religion, and it has not been part of their culture until the

recent centuries. Their oldest tales do not mention any gods, but instead speak of the Eluvian

people themselves having abilities now only attributed to the direct intervention of Rund, Halb

or Dahr. The stories do mention the creation of the world, but do not dwell on the powers of the

gods nor mention what respect or responsibilities the Eluvian people owe them. Instead all

power is attributed to the Eluvian people themselves, with the legends saying that in the time

before memory Eluvian lived without fear of death. Age and illness were unknown to the

Eluvian ancestors, and even mortal injury could not dampen their life.

Houses of the gods have been established in the major centers of Eluvia, but often this is for the

comfort of visitors. Very few Eluvians feel the call to become Dedicated, so these places are most

often overseen by those of Sauger descent who now live in Eluvia.

NAMES AND LANGUAGE

The Eluvian language has evolved since it came into contact with the Sauger and Drummon, such

that the modern tongue is entirely distinct from the old form used now only among the mages

and occasion ceremonies in Eluvia. While the script has been maintained, pronunciation has

changed enough that a modern Eluvian word is often spelt differently than its base for in Old

Eluvian, and may often also have an alternative meaning. Many words from the neighboring

Sauger languages have been incorporated, and entirely new vernacular created to explain many

concepts that the first Eluvians did not comprehend. Old Eluvian is the language most often used

in the texts of mages though and so many born in Eluvia, and more across the other nations,

undertake to teach themselves the dying tongue to maintain the knowledge of the past.

Example family names: Carmine, Elmarion, Finneres, Gilithion, Nimeol, Rimmith, Silerion

Example personal names: Anlar, Clareol, Finbeleas, Ganealin, Girelias, Lirael, Melsaerion,

Niraeleth, Rael, Sindriel, Therasiel,

DRESS

Most Eluvians are conservative in their dress, and though it will differ depending on industry

they often favour long robes and gowns. Wealth is not a symbol of status and so jewelry and

other such accessories are not overly common. Floor length robes are used by both men and

women, with draped sleeves and wide sashes as belts. More practical clothes are used in outdoor

crafts, and favored far more by those who have chosen to live in the outskirt communities away

from the mages and academics.

HISTORY

Eluvian history has many tales of great heroes and battles, of knights who could not be killed and

great towers of learning and culture. They also tell of a time of great change, but stories of

cataclysm center on the battles fought and enemies who forced the great changes on their

people.

The Eluvian have ever fought off the conniving grendlers, creatures of low culture but high

intelligence. Their history speaks of a great war that culminated in open battle, both sides

employing all the magics and monstrous allies at their disposal. The enemy employed a great

power against them, something that destroyed not only the warriors on the field but all the land

around them. Disoriented warriors regained their awareness to find themselves surrounded by

a strange landscape and even stranger sky. The forest and towers they were fighting to protect

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had vanished, in place a long lakeside and low trees that sheltered the remains of squat wooden

buildings, many burning or destroyed by the magics that had been released.

The grendler armies regained their awareness as the Eluvian did, and those who had survived

the blast rejoined in battle. But quickly they found their magics did not work as they expected,

and their injured did not stand to rejoin the fight. The grendlers’ weapon had robbed them of

their control and so the Eluvians were forced to retreat to the forest. The grendlers too left the

field, spreading out across the new land, pillaging and killing all in their path.

The Eluvians healed their wounded as best they knew how, but the hindrance to their magic

twisted its purpose and returned only misshapen flesh and incomplete will to their fallen

comrades. The poor creatures dragged themselves from the field, and it is said the woods still

ring with the voices of those who should be dead.

Unsure of their location the army of Eluvian spread out across the region. They met strange

creatures, animals who walked upright and spoke with words not grunts. Many attacked the

Eluvians at first meeting, each not knowing of the intelligence of the other. Many Sauger were

destroyed in ignorance, and many more fell to the knives of the grendlers, who also spread

throughout the area and who would not hesitate to kill what they did not understand.

The Eluvian established homes of their own, defending them against the local Sauger who they

saw as savages, and the endless raids of grendlers who would not make for themselves what

they could take from their neighbors. After years of study and speculation the Eluvian elders felt

that they understood the weapon that had brought them to this strange place, and found a way

to increase the power of their magics once more. By focusing into the strange stone

outcroppings they found their magic was concentrated and they gathered in all their remaining

people to return home. Their attempt failed, causing nothing more than an explosion of power

that once again disoriented all gathered and destroyed much of the town the Eluvians had built

around the stone.

Disheartened, the Eluvian were forced to expand the borders of their newly claimed lands to

survive and rebuild, their exploration bringing them into conflict with all the surrounding

nations. The Sauger armies found it hard to defend against their magic, and so even a relatively

small number of Eluvian were able to devastate any force a nation could raise. But the limitation

on their magic remained, and for several years the Eluvians continued to use the old way of

reviving their injured, and even tried to revive the bodies of Sauger cut down in their battles.

Each time the flesh refused to knit and often the mind remained empty, leaving many foul

creatures to wander the region – neither dead nor quite alive.

What the Eluvian people did not understand was that the area they inhabited was already

occupied, by Sauger people from nations including Randwelt in the south, Septoria in the west

and the Anari people who occupied lands around the rivers and lakes where the Eluvians first

appeared. However none of the peoples of these lands were any match for the Eluvian warriors.

The people of the lakes, the Anari (River Folk) were scattered entirely, some fleeing to the

neighboring countries of Randwelt and Toraneya, while most fled into the mountains of stone in

the former countries east. The people of Randwelt were forced to retreat also, and ceded much

of their once vast lands to the alien Eluvians.

With these mounting pressures, the Sauger each turned their armies upon Eluvia. First the

Randwelt pressured by the surviving Anari that had fled south, committed their knights to the

cause. Due to a misunderstanding with the Toraneyan warrior monks resulted in the destruction

of a temple, the Toraneya unleashed its warriors and priests to the cause. The Kenaani, ever the

opportunists, assisted in their endeavors. Although the Eluvians powers of magic were great,

their lack of numbers meant dire consequences for Eluvia.

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At this time Eluvian records its first contact with the Drummon people. They were found in the

mountain to the east. Some Sauger had inhabited the mountains once, and some Anari had fled

into the west but seemed mostly to have succumbed to the influx of grendlers, Drummon and the

savage orax creatures. The strange Drummon did not use any magic at all, though told stories of

having lived in a place quite different from this until cataclysm dropped them here among the

strange Sauger. While their first dealings were somewhat hostile, the Eluvian soon found a stout

ally in the doughty Drummon, and together they faced the continuing attacks of the Sauger

surrounding them.

Upon meeting the Sauger to the west, those who dwell in the land of Septoria, Eluvian would find

a breakthrough that they required. Upon finding this land they were compelled to provide

assistance to the struggling Sauger who lived it seemed in a state of utter chaos and destruction.

In these Sauger they saw the potential for a strong ally if they could help them recover from their

own folly.

For several months the Eluvian who travelled to this land worked with the Sauger there to

reestablish their civilization. They used their magic to heal and till the land ravaged by famine

and healed many under the grip of a dreaded plague tearing through the populace. They

Septorians also showed an aptitude for magic and the Eluvians were fascinated with how they

were able to learn the simple magics that they were teaching them, curious of the result. The

Septorians, in turn gave the Eluvians the Septorian language and customs – such as the use of

currency, and were able to forge an alliance as close as with the Drummon to the east. These

forces together were able to hold off the attacking Sauger, until finally a peace was negotiated by

Jeroen, the leader of the southern Sauger forces. The combined power of the remaining Sauger

nations had been unable to drive away the Eluvian and Drummon from their newly claimed land,

and though some little territory was returned as a part of negotiations, the modern borders of

the nations were decided. Much was also lost to the ravaging of the orax and grendlers, leaving

swathes of uninhabited territory across central Dantir, which to this day remain places of great

danger to travelers.

The Eluvian people could not return to their homeland, and could not vacate the land they had

come to occupy over the generations of war, and so the few Anari who survived the war have

remained homeless ever since. The Anari are known to travel every other nation of the

mainland, but will not use the portal stones, nor any other form of magic, and refuse to enter

within the borders of modern Eluvia, which they still see as their home. There is little a modern

Eluvian can do for them since they often avoid Eluvians wherever they may meet, and every

attempt to offer them recompense or the chance to resettle within Eluvia (alongside the Eluvian

people) has been met with scorn or silence.

Since this time Eluvia has been recognized as an independent nation, and at the insistence of

Jeroen, the first High King, they were accepted as observers at the court of the High King. After

several centuries Eluvia was allowed to take part in the vote on the appointment of the High

King, but has never yet had a candidate accepted into the role.

ENVIRONMENT

Eluvia stretches across the western arm of the mainland of Dantir, with a short coast as its

northern border. It encompasses several rivers and lakes both large and small, and is considered

quite fertile from border to border. While it claims part of the central mountain range it does not

mine them as thoroughly as the Drummon or Randwelt, nor does it clear forests to make way for

expansive farmland. Instead the Eluvian use their magic to encourage the natural open land to

produce what they need, preferring to keep the environment around them as natural as possible.

The climate is temperate, quite mild in all places except perhaps in the mountain heights, and

production is easily managed by relatively few farmers.

How others see the Eluvian

people:

Avantine – Such conjurers of

cheap tricks are nothing when

compared to the ingenuity of our

Intellectus

Septorian – Speak ill of the

Eluvian? You do not seem to be

on the path of living long my

friend!

Drummon –We are diametrically

opposite and we knew them not

in the time before. But they

came to our aid unlooked for

and have earned our respect and

alliance.

Toraneya – The gods have given

them a second chance at life.

Should another temple be

destroyed by their hands we will

not be as merciful

Jorgenwyld – Such power is of

little use if it is not used.

Randwelt –.Perhaps in us they

will be able to learn nobility and

become more than the power

they wield

Ekhai Lāhui –Abuse the power

of the land at your own risk.

Kenaan – Let us hope that we

never have cause to war with

them once more. At least until

we have mastered their powers.