Rathla Laranlor

Rathla Laranlor (*Rathla* meaning brothers, *Laranlor* meaning Regal Lord, representing the two kings that always exist in the elven kingdom) is the name of the Elven Kingdom on Solitude. Rathla Laranlor (often abbreviated to just Laranlor) is a relatively small kingdom in landmass, but houses a very large population of elves and a smaller amount of other humanoid races. Laranlor is located in the north western part of Solitude, mostly consisting of several millennia old forests of ancient, evergreen trees. There are always two kings that rule over Laranlor, hence it is often referred to as "The Twin Kingdom" or in a more mocking manner, "The Split Kingdom".

## The Royal Families

Since the dawn of time, there have always been two elven Royal Families, the Athel'noresh (Elvish for keepers of the day) and the Lyth'vanae (Elvish for children of the night). Both of them reign over the elves simultaneously, each family representing their own god.

The elven kings have a command structure that is quite odd to all the other races. The Atel'noresh represent the side of Illumis, and the Lyth'vanae represent the side of Relkor. Any time a reigning king dies or loses their position for some other reason, a new king is chosen from the royal family by vote where every member of both families gets to bring forth their opinion. There must always be a king from both families on the throne, or the sacred balance is lost.

The kings rule the lands from the sacred city of Arakhor. The city is physically split in half, both halfs representing a god in both color and decoration, Illumis by bright yellow and other colors of the day, and Relkor by purple and dark colors of the night. The castle in the middle of the city has two giant statues on top, facing away from each other. These are statues of the gods, depicting a scene where they stand with their backs together, trusting in each other to have the others back. The part of the castle in the middle of the statues is where the thrones of the kings are located, and where they hold their audience.

The current kings are Lhoris Athel'noresh and Aerin Lyth'vanae. They are both fairly young, Lhoris being about 340 years old and Aerin about 350. They have ruled together for 50 or so years, mostly keeping the realm in peace and prosperity for the time of their reign.

## Religion

Elves are often considered quite religious. Many elves worship Relkor or Illumis, and there is definitely some animosity there between the followers of these gods, but mostly on a friendly level. Alongside Illumis and Relkor, the elves have a huge respect for almost all the gods, especially Martha, Felumbra and Nadinis. Elves are often known to wear some kind of insignia or marking of their god on their clothes or even as a tattoo on their body. Out of all the races found on Solitude, elves are definitely the most religious.

An exception to the religious piety of the elves is the huge, dense forest in the middle of Laranlor called The Forests of Faenir. Here live the wood elves, who are seen as savages and heathens by all the other types of elves. The wood elves are known to have no interest in religion, but instead put all their energy in to nature and an entity known by two names An'she and Mu'sha. Loosely translated An'she means the sun and Mu'sha means the moon. Together, they form the earth mother which is the deity of choice for the wood elves. Wood elves are shunned by other elves, and are regarded as lunatics who cry at the moon and worship the sun. They tend to stay on their own in The Forests of Faenir and keep to themselves.

## Cities and Villages

The elves are known in that they prefer living in less crowded places, therefore their cities are often quite loosely built and there aren't many of them to begin with. Their capitol is the only exception to this, since the sacred city of Arakhor is quite compact, even though for a capitol it is still fairly small.

## Notable Landmarks

Notable landmarks in Laranlor are The Forests of Faenir, The Riverlands and the island of Nyithemar.