Boek Ruinborn Elf

The **Boek** are a type of Ruinborn Elf living in the central part of Noruin. Hardy and stocky-looking, they share a less pronounced version of the bat-like nose of the Kwineh people.

The borders of Boek territory roughly correspond with those of the Trollsbay region, however the southern Trollsbay is actually controlled by encroaching Cheshoshi tribes.

## Contact with the Ynnic Peoples

There is substantial evidence of passing interactions between Ynnic Ruinborn Elves and Boek, presumably in the form of individual Boek warbands scaling the Cliffs of Ruin to either raid or cooperate with Ynnic polities.

Ancient Sarda records dating to the third century after Ash mention the *Posvleadi* as one of the foreign peoples - a century before the Epednar's first mention by Hrolatas. In 320 Posvleadi braves were pivotal to the survival of the early Adbrabohvi settlement, ambushing the Amstenuri army sent to destroy it in the Battle of Adbrabohvi.

On the Boek's part, the name of the Inek Tribe by the Ynnsmouth predates the arrival of Cannorian explorers and is instead associated with the Sarda word *Ynnik*. The Inek regularly gather the treasures contained within Ynnic funerary barges and see them as tribute from the heavens.

In the Inek Tribe's origin myth they believe to be the descendants of “warriors [who] came from the heavens to unify the warrior tribes of the Boek”. Another legend speaks of “brave few Inek who climbed the great cliffs, ascending to the world beyond where the people there bestowed upon them great gifts of gold, in exchange for the face of one of [the Inek's] gods.”

### Truth Behind the Myth

During the reign of the Ynnic King-Emperor Joanseln in the seventh century, the Posvleadi chief Gelinik is recorded to have been sent by the priests of Adbrabohvi “on a sacred mission to aid the Emperor”. After Joanseln's assassination, Gelinik pledged his loyalty to his daughter, Zeldja yen Dolin, and aided her against the Rider Assembly at the Battle of Tromseloc during the First Ynnic Civil War.

Afterwards Gelinik's mission had been deemed accomplished, and he was granted honourary citizenship. At Zeldja's coronation ceremony, the Posvleadi were listed as one of the people she was ruler of. It isn't known whether this meant full citizenship was extended to all members of Gelinik's tribe, or whether they would have to live as second-class citizens like the Rzentur did. Either way, Gelinik departed soon after the civil war's conclusion:

*"His heart began yearning for the land beyond the Great Cliffs, and so he set out, but not before the Empress gifted him a beautiful gold medallion with a gem of the Ynn embedded, so that he could live as King among the Buycev."*
―Telnik yen Mocvas, *Voyfel Cathashianka*
Even the Sarda word *Buycev*, meaning warrior and which refers by extension to all warrior peoples surrounding the Ynn, is similar enough that linguists suspect a common root with Boek.

### Lost and Found

Most Posvleadi left the upper Ynn to follow Gelinik, and by the time of Calrodiy I's coronation no mention is made of them among the Ynnic Empire's subject peoples. Sporadic contact with the world below remained nonetheless. In 798, Imperial authorities were able to locate the missing head of Filenval's statue through hearsay from a Posvleadi woman visiting Adbrabohvi:

*"Bacaran citizens spent two centuries looking for the missing head, until it was finally found to have floated past Adbrabohvi and the Divine Waterfall, ending in the Nether World where a tribe of Posvleadi had taken to worshipping it. Emperor Calasandor yen Brelar graciously paid for its return, while Jeborad's head was brought to Vareynn. “It was destiny” the Emperor commented “That the head of a great explorer would see the world beyond the Ynn River.”"*
―Pentrjon Saskiaro, *The Brelari Emperors*
### The Missing Link?

*Doboniwlens*, meaning "Divine Hair", is a name describing members of the Inek Tribe born with natural dark blue hair, a feature unique to their tribe which doesn't appear in any other Boek. The birth of a Doboniwlens is an auspicious event, and they are looked to as quasi-angelical figures. As Sarda Ruinborn Elves are born with the widest variety of hair colours, among which blue is associated with the nobility of Vels Bacar, this gives further legitimacy to the myth of the Inek being descended from the "heavens", where the heavens are actually the Ynn River Valley, and the Doboniwlens's "Divine Hair" is actually the ancient Posvleadi's Sarda blood resurfacing.

### Consistent Contact

Consistent contact with Ynnics was only established after the arrival of Cannorians, who gave tools to the Inek allowing them to conduct organized expeditions beyond the Cliffs of Ruin. One such expedition took place in conjunction with that of the Anbennarian explorer Adrien síl Terr.

Adrien arrived by the Ynnsmouth in 1552 with a ship and a small party, and was informed about the locals' reverence for the world above and their chief Tewalari's ongoing mission to obtain the means to visit it; Adrien offered to help Tewalari do so by constructing a temporary pulley elevator. To Adrien's voyage with Tewalari are dedicated the first chapters of Adrien's book, and one passage details the reaction of the common Sarda Ruinborn Elves to the sight of the Boek:

*"When we approached the Ynnic village, the people feared us at first, believing our group to be demons who had come to tempt them or abduct them and force them to live to the bottom of the Cliffs. Talking with those Ynnics proved the greatest hurdle yet. Tewalari spoke to me in Boek, which I translated to Common and relayed to Ivrandir. Ivrandir, in turn, translated it to Elven in the hopes they would understand something.

Tewalari introduced himself and his tribe, and asked the local people what their names were. Ivrandir had no idea if the word the Ynnics replied with, "Teta", was their name or some kind of remark. Nonetheless we relayed it, and Tewalari made us tell them the following: “Some of us came from the end of the River, others from the sea beyond.” This sentence was met with silence, and the Ynnics looked confused or shocked as they began muttering among themselves.

Soon they began asking questions, which Tewalari saw as an encouraging sign. The questions, however, were all inquiring on the sea and the waters below, which Tewalari tried to warn them about with increasing concern. This only furthered their curiousity, however, and so they brought us to the local leader, a Ruinborn named Seronval who by all measures could have passed off as an elven priest back in my hometown. He spoke to us politely, and asked us to relay to him what information we had given to the villagers beforehand."*
―Adrien síl Terr, *Report on the Ynn River and its Peoples*
Adrien and Tewalari parted ways, as Adrien continued further inland while Tewalari returned home to his tribe after receiving several gifts. One of these gifts was a necklace which Tewalari deemed similar to the Inek tribe's most treasured artifact, and for this Tewalari declared that the Ynnics also were a people serving the heavens. He became known as Tewalari Doboni-Achukkoa, Tewalara the Divine Passageway, and made more trips during his lifetime.