Elven Empire

The **Ancient Elven Empire** had spanned all of Norland in its prime. They were forced back by the fledgling races of that era until they had to cross the seas and enter the Ashgreen continent, Lithgalen.

At the pinnacle of their existence, the old empire had a total of nine epics that even braved the horrors of the Eternal Battlefield.

## Overview

While the elven empire was a thing of the past, its power and glamour could not be questioned. Not one of Norland’s three human empires and three other empires were able to achieve even a small part of the power that the great elven empire held at its finest.

The starpath, windwalker, and nightwind elves held sole control of the empire, excluding the silvermoons from any political decisions after their fall in Norland. They currently have over four epic beings, most of which were centered around the royal family.

## Description

The buildings here were in typical elven style, the buildings all slender and tall while the city was full of ancient trees and flowerbeds. The spiral houses were covered in turquoise and deep blue tiles, while the borders were made of gold or a combination of gold and silver. The motif of gold, silver, and blue was the main aesthetic of the elven empire.

### **High Elves**

The high elves here were taller and stronger than their distant relatives still in Norland like the wind elves and prairie elves. The men were close to two metres tall, about Richard’s own height, while the women were closer to 1.8. Alongside their natural magic affinity, it allowed the entire race to be fairly talented at a number of things. Their shamans toed the line between magic and the divine, giving their soldiers powerful boosts to strength and recovery.

Adult high elves were good warriors who stood somewhere about level 12 on average, forming the basis of the empire that had once ruled over all of Norland. The Millennial Empire still had some weapons from back then, but they were nothing like this. While still beautiful and elegant, those weapons from the old elven empire were all enchanted and practical. In Lithgalen, it was clear that actual enchanters and craftsmen were quite scarce. The empire truly fell.

### **Current**

Given their low fertility, their numbers had grown very slowly since they migrated. The population had tripled in the thousand years they had spent here, but that was still less than half of the peak. To them, the resources on Lithgalen were virtually inexhaustible, which was why they had made no attempt to trade with the other empires. In their eyes, such things as trade and planar war were meant for the lowly humans, orcs, and dwarves. They were above such greed, not needing to engage on paths of blood.

## Locations

### **Imperial Palace**

The imperial palace was located deep in Lithgalen, but it stood upon a white peak and not on a world tree itself. To the elves, the palace could only be placed upon a golden world tree; the regular ones that governed Lithgalen were nothing and could only provide shade.

A naturally planted golden world tree would have grown into a sky tree by now, but the ones in Lithgalen were stuck at their limit after millennia of growth. Only a small number of people in the Empire knew just what a branch of a golden world tree meant; absorbing it would allow their current ruling world tree to become a true sky tree; even if this didn’t turn it into a golden world tree, it was better than the current situation. A small step forward would spell huge growth for the Empire.

### **East**

* Silent Forest - In the middle of the Silent Forest in eastern Lithgalen was a huge world tree, nearly a thousand metres tall and capable of controlling everything within a million square kilometres. Although the tree had reached its racial limit and couldn’t begin to compare to a golden world tree, it was strong enough to give the current King firm control over this section of the continent.
* Perillum Island - The second largest harbour on the east coast of Lithgalen, the base of the third fleet of the current empire. The city itself had 100,000 residents, with most of the economy catering to the fleet that protected the entire northeast of the continent. The island itself was only a few kilometres from the mainland, close to the beautiful Whitesand City that was named so for its beaches.
	+ The silent night elf forces each was level 16 at minimum, which was strong enough to become an elite officer in the royal army. The well-equipped night elves were even more powerful than the guards of the empire; even Prince Syon’s core soldiers were the same level. However, the Prince only had a few dozen guards, maybe a hundred at most; Richard had thousands.
* Flower Trail - A medium-sized city supported by a tree of life. It was a quiet town that focused on beauty, making it the choice residence of many artists. Even the royal bard Eversong had a villa over there.

## Items

### **7 Divine Weapons**

* Moonlight
* Skylance

## History

“Before we came to the sea of trees, our Evernight Tribe was part of a great elven empire on another plane! We are the descendants of the royalty of that ancient empire, high elves called silvermoon elves.”

“Silvermoon… elves?” Melia found this rather difficult to comprehend. Just like most others of her generation, she hadn’t been told of this history.

“Yes! That is why our warriors are stronger than those of the other tribes, that is why we have so many sons and daughters. We have the blood of high elves in us, and it’s far purer than even the Jadeleaf Tribe!” Kael’s eyes started glimmering brightly in his excitement. Elves by nature placed great emphasis on lineage, and there was nothing more gratifying than knowing one’s blood was pure and noble. We silvermoon elves were royalty even amongst the high elves.

### **Decline**

The current elven Emperor believed that the real reason for their decline was the loss of their world trees. They’d originally had five golden world trees in Norland, but now the one they did wasn’t even perfect. For this sake, he had given away far too much in an armistice agreement that tore apart the last of his race’s pride. Only the silvermoon elves of Lithgalen weren’t particularly distressed by this; to them, this wasn’t the first time they had fled.

However, Richard stroked the two silver pages emotionally. He knew clearly that the decline of the high elves had nothing to do with their world trees; they had just refused to allow themselves to grow. Taking advantage of their once-invincible navy, they had locked themselves away from the world and whiled their time away in conceit. They only ever talked about their tens of millennia of history, never understanding that the past was gone. Now, even the duergar were better at shipbuilding than them, and Richard hadn’t even needed to use the ultimate weapon of his seven warships to decimate an entire fleet. He had been looking forward to the Song of the Rainbow, but he hadn’t gotten the chance.

Thousands of years ago, all the lesser races of Norland had joined forces and taken advantage of a moment of weakness to eliminate the elven empire, driving them out of Norland. Now, any of the three human empires were fully capable of conquering Lithgalen on their own. Before he set foot on the continent, Richard had never expected to see such a weak epic being in his life; the Emperor did have the level, but he didn’t even have the combat experience of a legend.

### **War**

The warships of the high elves came from when they still ruled all of Norland, each one a colossal construct spanning 1,300 metres. They possessed unfathomable strength, a pinnacle of magical civilisation that were no less complicated than saint runes. Only seven had been built in three hundred years, but they allowed for a stranglehold on all naval activity that managed to kill nineteen legendary creatures before discovering Lithgalen itself. The warriors of the fleet had wiped out all of the natives and turned the continent into an administrative location. The war that had burned down all of the locals was what gave the continent its Norlandic name: the Ashgreen Continent.

When they met their steep decline, the most powerful elves of Norland had retreated to Lithgalen and sealed themselves off with the help of their warships, using their naval superiority to preserve their lives. Almost a thousand years had passed and seven had been whittled down to three, but they hadn’t been able to build another yet.

### **Portal**

The records of the elven empire talk about a natural passage to the alter world. It’s located at the Eternal Battlefield.”

Richard’s eyes went wide open. He had known it would be difficult to get to the alter world, but not to such an extent. Strangely enough, it just so happened to align with another of his goals; the Eternal Battlefield was in Arbidis.

Putting aside the fact that he had no idea how to get there, Richard knew that it would be near impossible to find a portal on a level of the abyss where the demons and devils were constantly fighting. As a human, he would be a lighthouse in the darkness that attracted powerful beings from both factions.

Macy went on to explain that the high elves had created an extradivine set called the Seven Moons. They used them to form a portal directly into Arbidis, sending an army of powerhouses to explore the depths of the abyss. Unfortunately, they had mostly capitulated to an endless swarm of demons and devils before they could actually enter the portal to the alter world, forcing them to return. Of more than a hundred legends having entered, only two epic beings and four legends returned to Norland alive. While this wasn’t the event that directly ended the elven empire, it was one of many points of hubris that had led to their eventual downfall.

### **Arbidis**

According to Macy, the elven empire had searched their way through the abyss to eventually reach Arbidis, but their army was repelled at the boundary to the alter world. In theory, it was faster to go through the hells— the abyssal layers were interconnected in all three dimensions and following a straight line didn’t guarantee getting anywhere— but as someone with demonic blood himself he felt more secure going to the abyss. The abyss was also the place they had the most complete knowledge of; Emperor Charles had mapped out nearly all of the layer that Daramore had been the lord of. They didn’t even know if that layer had a new lord now, so their information was still fragmented, but it was still better than the near-nothing they knew about the hells.

The brute force method to reach Arbidis was simple in theory— one just had to fight through layer after layer of the abyss and reach its depths. The elven empire had done just that, but they were fortunate enough to actually succeed before they died of old age. Of course, the pinnacle of Norland’s magic evolution had played a part as well; there were a number of elven scholars who focused on all kinds of esoteric fields, expanding both the cultural depth and the technical ability of the plane as a whole. The human empires still hadn’t reached the elves’ peak after millennia of growth.

The elven empire had explored the abyss at great cost, finally finding a path to Arbidis and confirming its coordinates. They mobilised the entire country to create a rainbow bridge, breaking through numerous obstacles to directly enter its depths. However, it was easier said than done to tear into the space at the depths of one of the strongest planes in all of existence; even finding a passage to the alter world, they had lost the first extradivine artefact in the history of Norland.

## Members

### **Epic Beings**

1. Emperor - he wasn’t all that stronger than Prince Casir, but he’d still been confident in himself because of the divine artefacts passed down the royal line. Every piece of equipment on his body was a divine item from the old empire, his sword almost breaking that limit.
2. High Prince Casir†
3. Druid

It isn’t easy to become an epic being as a druid, and this one is definitely the weakest of their epics. Casir is the second weakest, and the Emperor is a little stronger than that. It’s said that their strongest epic went to explore the void more than a century ago, and this was the person closest to divine laws.

Having been closed off for nearly a thousand years, the high elves of Lithgalen had just spent too much time in comfort. Having fought three of their epic beings, he knew that not one of those three were truly worthy of that title. They were each far weaker than human counterparts at the same level, especially the Emperor who was actually level 29. Apeiron, one level lower than him, would be able to kill him in an hour if he didn’t escape. The druid and High Prince Casir wouldn’t take half the time.

### **Royal Family**

* Prince Syon Lyer†
* War Prince Lyren†
* Prince Starblaze
	+ Starblaze was a widely known name from eight centuries ago, the premier talent of Lithgalen. He had been a genius swordsman, archer, druid, and mage all in one, recognised by Alucia and receiving three different blessings in the enlightenment ceremony. This had made him a shaman of the Moon Shrine, with strength not one whit inferior to the standing Grand Shaman at the time.
	+ Lithgalen held an enlightenment ceremony every year, but only the most important and talented youths stood a chance to receive enlightenment. Fewer than three got even a single blessing every year, and Starblaze’s three were completely unprecedented. He had redefined what it meant to be a genius, becoming the biggest prodify of Lithgalen and someone who could even compare to the best of the ancient era. Battle, planar exploration, magic - he had achievements in every field.
	+ He had been absorbed in his research of the abyss to the point that he had tainted his world tree with the energy of the abyssal flames. He was then expelled after summoning an abyssal lord in the lands.
* 4 Legendary Princes
* Silvermoon Elves

## Military

The combined army of the empire came out to about 300,000 strong, but 80,000 of them had been defeated halfway to the palace, 100,000 more on Richard's march.

### **Frozen Cavalry**

The frozen knights were around level 15 on average. Just like their magical warships, the frozen cavalry was a legacy of the elven empire. They were amongst the strongest land units, surpassing even the orc behemoths slightly and capable of going toe to toe with demonic legions. However, the technology behind them was another thing Lithgalen had lost, and having lost some of the armour sets in the past they only had 12,000 men left. This was the last pride of the elven empire, the one troop that allowed them to still assume they were superior to Norland and Klandor.

The knights and horses train as one, the mounts are a special breed that they call nightmares, which are similar to your magic horses, but the real core lies in their frost armour which allows them to blend with their warhorse and dramatically increases speed and defence. Think of them as something like your Savage Knights, but significantly weaker and focused on armour instead of runes. They actually don't compare to rune knights, especially Richard's troops.

### **Moonblade Guards**

Richard’s night elf force was even stronger than the moonblade guards. Those guards were also level 17 at minimum, but they numbered only a hundred.

If Richard or Greyhawk were here, they would have scoffed at the sheer pride behind that statement. In the eyes of these elves, the only way other elves could be strong was to descend from the royal bloodline.

### **Naval Fleets**

They appeared to be dark blue with gold trimmings and the eye-catching symbol of the elven empire all over them. Only those who had gone through ancient records would know that this was the same design of ship as was made famous in the elven era.

In all of Norland, they had the most advance army fleet of navy, but all of these were relics of the past without much advancement. While the human empires of Norland hadn’t focused on their navies in the millenium since the elves had been routed, Richard's fleet built by the grey dwarves was leagues over the old sailships.

Elven cannons could fire at targets up to ten kilometres away with frightening accuracy, which was the biggest reason for their naval superiority. A number of other races had tried to enter Lithgalen after the old empire had first fallen, but a thousand years later they had given up all hopes. Elven cannons were still much more advanced than those made by the dragonblood gnomes and duergar. The mainland’s warships had always been huge, but they weren’t particularly strong; in front of the weapons advantage, they were no different from blocks of wood.

When the elven empire had been destroyed, the elves had lost many things in the process of their flight. Amongst those losses were the blueprints and manufacturing process for the magic warships. In the centuries since, those of Lithgalen had never managed to engineer these ships once more. Without the divine magic of old, it was impossible for them to create the cores that drove these ships, and the replacements they came up with still only had two-thirds of the power. Every one of these flagships lost was one they would never have again.

### **Pale Shamans**

Milky-white life energy bubbled out from within him, being poured into the Book of Creation which guzzled it all up. The image of an elf gradually showed itself, dressed in an elegant white ceremonial robe with golden edges and two scarlet ribbons hanging from the shoulders. While the silhouette was still a little blurred, he could tell that this was one of the famous pale shamans of the ancient elven empire.

The pale shamans were amongst the best healers of the elves. They couldn’t match up to human priests, but unlike priests who ran out of energy quickly they could sustain themselves in battle for a long time. The two ribbons signified that the shaman was already level 18; any further levels would have been denoted by dark gold branches that signified a level each.

### **Jade Shamans**

The white fog started to turn light green, the aura of nature strengthening and also changing the image of the elf on the page. The white robes switched to blue, and although the scarlet ribbons remained the platinum staff had turned into a staff of nature. Thus was a jade shaman, another famous healer meant for a different kind of battle. These shamans had much greater range with their healing, able to support large dispatchments of soldiers instead of individuals or small parties. However, the level was still limited to 18.

## Plot

### **Entry into Lithgalen**

The elven patrol sped along desperately, but their magic sails were operating at full capacity and couldn’t possible push harder. The navigator of the fleet might have been skilled, but the fifty kilometres he could cover in an hour was already well above average. Still, it couldn’t even compare to the average hundred that Richard’s seven warships did as they crossed the ocean.

No matter how hard the elves tried, they couldn’t pull away from Richard’s ship. However, a few eagle druids had taken the Millennial Empire’s scroll and flown towards Lithgalen in advance. Whether the response would be peaceful or a war declaration, only the elves knew.

It was approaching dusk by the time Richard learnt of Lithgalen’s reply. An enormous fleet with twelve primary warships that were each close two 200 metres in length greeted him on the open seas, flanked by more than twenty other ships that were each more than a hundred metres long. This was a large fleet even when the elves were in their prime, and it implied the presence of a large port nearby.

The seven warships named after the seven moons suddenly felt like demon lords that had descended to the plane, sending enemy after enemy into the sea. Wreckage, corpses, and survivors quickly filled the waters, leaving the desperate elves with no choice but to try and make their way onto Richard’s ship. However, no one below the legendary realm could fly in Richard’s domain, and those who swam close were shot down by the night elf gunners up above.

One of the two legends of the fleet rushed over to the Blue Moon, but before he could cast any magic Waterflower silently decapitated him. When the other saw the situation and ran, Richard let him escape so that someone would be able to tell the mainland about their loss.

The naval ‘battle’ was already nearing its end, and the smaller ships were allowed to escape while any survivors were fished out of the water. Those who resisted ended up dead, but with the night elves being the ones sent out on the rescue missions most of them actually watched in shock. From what they knew, the last remnants of the silvermoon elves had already fled to Lithgalen, but Richard’s soldiers looked exactly like them. Their sheer power was proof of their lineage and identity as well, so there were minimal problems.

There were more than a dozen sunk ships all around, but Richard wasn’t interested in anything from the elven empire. Once all the rescues were completed, he had everything sunk before heading for the nearest port city.

### **Decimating All Comers**

Three days later, shocking news arrived at the imperial palace. Syon, one of the ten most powerful elves in Lithgalen, had fallen to a human called Richard in battle. The human had then led a 5,000-man force to capture the Silent Forest, and was currently marching all the way to the imperial palace.

It was only after Syon’s death that Richard’s original message was released from the east. It stated that he carried a branch from the Golden World Tree, and wished for a trade with the empire. The specifics of this trade offer were unknown.

As Richard marched along the Flowering Plains, the imperial palace exploded once more. Casir, who hadn’t lost in centuries, was soundly defeated in a battle against the human invaders. The Emperor ensured that the news would be suppressed as long as possible before gathering everyone to discuss things once more.

### **Clash of the Epics**

Up in the sky, the battle of epics finally began. Three faces formed around Richard, shooting out destructive lights from the three different law systems that converged right behind the elven lines. The orbs of light combined into a dark grey that quickly shrank and dimmed, instantly bringing a look of horror upon the druid’s face as he realised what it was.

A black hole! Although it was a few hundred metres from the ground, the black hole would be completed in mere seconds. These things had no impact on epic beings, but there were tens of thousands of elven troops underneath! This was the essence of the entire empire; if this black hole formed, Lithgalen was done for!

This was the ultimate destructive ability. Even in the heyday of the elven empire, only two rulers had ever mastered it, and their mere presence had ensured that no other race had dared to harm them in their prime.  However, as he poured his energy into the beam, the druid found that it was much harder than expected. This only meant one thing; Richard’s laws were far beyond his own, needing much more of his own power to neutralise.

This might have been a battle between two epic beings, but the total range they affected was very small. Those more than a hundred metres away couldn’t even feel their auras. The elves were a race dedicated to the pursuit of elegance, and this held true for their epic beings as well. Their goal wasn’t absolute power, but absolute control; they chose to focus all of their energy in extremely small regions, amplifying their abilities within.

### **Fall**

The innermost circle of elves stuck close to Lyren and held him down, while the rest formed a perimeter around him and loaded their thunder cannons. The prince immediately felt extreme danger and tried to run back, knowing that his enemy didn’t care about allies, but just as he tried to dodge Greyhawk managed to spare the time to cast half a dozen curses that halved his speed. The signature explosions rang out as a full round of bullets were focused on the one elf, covering him in explosions and smashing his mount to pulp.

Lyren’s fall stunned the tens of thousands of soldiers that still hadn’t been deployed. He was an invincible general in their hearts, a god of the battlefield whose prestige was no weaker than the four epics. He had never been defeated before; today was his first failure, and it would also be his last.

The body of the elven prince quietly lay on the ground, only his sword standing tall. The Emperor and druid glanced at each other and slowly retreated, the elven army doing the same. Richard didn’t order a chase, having the remaining night elves clean the battlefield while he floated in the sky in confusion.

Lithgalen truly was far weaker than Richard had expected. Even recovering from the various wars as they were, the Archeron Family would be able to conquer the entire continent if they so wished. Fortunately for the elves, he wasn’t at all interested in new land and just cared about getting to Arbidis.

Three days later, he destroyed the last of Lithgalen’s military. A full 50,000 warriors died in battle, 20,000 were captured, and a scant few thousand managed to escape. This time, he didn’t rein in his power and attacked the three epic beings of the other side with full force. The already-wounded Casir decided to join this battle, and he was killed in the melee. The druid was seriously wounded as well, with only the Emperor managing to escape with light injuries.

This campaign shook all of Lithgalen. Only a day after defeating the Emperor, Richard was at the royal palace and had captured the imperial world tree. The fleeing Emperor finally sent a messenger to express willingness to negotiate, but the stakes this time were completely different from what they had first been.

The negotiator had clearly received near blanket authority to ensure peace, paying Richard an enormous sum for the cause. The northeastern section of Lithgalen was handed over to his control, alongside the resources from three private planes. Richard found himself surprised at the ease of negotiations, starting to suspect whether he was even dealing with the high elves any longer.

An armistice was reached quickly. Although the Emperor himself wasn’t present, the treaty was signed under the imperial world tree and attached to its leaves. The guardian of the entire continent was a more powerful guarantor than the Emperor himself. This treaty would soon come to be called the Whitepeak Treaty, becoming one of the most impactful agreements in the history of Norland. It would cement the fall of the ancient elven empire, removing its glory forever from the public mind. When Richard and the druid signed their names on the leaf, elvish superiority had been crushed.

## Richard Archeron

He had only ever seen two silvermoon elves in his life, his mother Elena and aunt Tzu, but both of them had very similar personalities and determination. He had no doubt that, even if they were met with the same situation, they would rather die than sign such an agreement. However, at the same time he knew that such scenarios would never arise with them at the helm. The two women were prideful in their own ways, but neither was arrogant or conceited.

Richard had once been willing to take out something as great as a branch of the budding golden world tree in exchange for the abyssal records. This was in no way an equal exchange, but he had planned to show some goodwill to his mother’s cousins. He certainly hadn’t expected a smooth affair, but he also hadn’t expected things to get to this point. Whatever it may be, he had effectively subjugated the last bastion of elvenkind.

This trip ended up being a huge harvest. Amongst what he received were more than a dozen precious materials from the old empire, some of which even met the standards to be used as cores in grade 6 runes. He also got a few world tree seeds, alongside a basket of leaves from the imperial world tree. Although they weren’t nearly as effective as the branch, the broodmother’s clone in the Forest Plane could greatly enhance her analysis of the world trees and trees of life. If things worked out, she would even be able to create more units than before.

Richard didn’t have the ability to build a portal that would take him all the way, but even if he could that wasn’t the best choice. With two broodmothers supporting him, it was a much better choice to conquer his way through the abyss. The silver pages recorded the stories of those who had first opened up the path, of the pinnacle of the elven empire. They were proof of the ancient empire’s superiority, indestructible vessels for elven glory. They were a window into the mysterious divine era of the elven empire, which hadn’t been deciphered to this day even by gods.

In the end, he had to accept that the true value of his branch was far below that of these two pages. However, that didn’t matter to the elven empire; two pages they couldn’t hope to decipher were worthless when compared to a branch that could help their imperial world tree transform into a sky tree. Once that happened, all high elves would experience a growth in power. They had originally hoped to rob him of the branch, but having failed to do that the Emperor finally came to face reality and bowed.

## References

1. ↑ Book 6, Chapter 100
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Book 9, Chapter 91
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Book 9, Chapter 94
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Book 9, Chapter 89
5. ↑ Book 9, Chapter 94
6. ↑ Book 9, Chapter 99
7. ↑ Book 8, Chapter 34
8. ↑ Book 9, Chapter 35
9. ↑ Book 9, Chapter 82
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Book 9, Chapter 96
11. ↑ Book 9, Chapter 95
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5 Book 9, Chapter 98
13. ↑ Book 9, Chapter 92
14. ↑ Book 9, Chapter 90
15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Book 7, Chapter 153
16. ↑ Book 9, Chapter 97