The Aymhelin

When looking down from the top of the eastern Darnati mountains, it would be easy to mistake the Aymhelin for an undeveloped, sparsely populated woodland region of the world. Although small clusters of white towers stretch skyward among the ancient forests, if the same wild and apparently uncontrolled vegetation were invading a Human territory, one would correctly assume its inhabitants were neither numerous nor prosperous enough to clear the land for expansion.

In the case of the Elves, however, the reverse is true.

Each gleaming spire, each brilliantly sparkling stone pathway, each dense copse of stately trees, each beautifully manicured acre of prairie, and each crystal-clear pond and lake has been carefully harmonized to bring nature and civilization into near-perfect accord. It allows the Elves who dwell in the cities to commune with nature, those who live in the verdant forest townships to easily partake in the myriad benefits of a modern civilization, and the entire nation to rally together under threat of foreign or supernatural invaders.

## Lithelin and the Ailatar

   The heart of the Latari empire is Lithelin, a gleaming city of white towers rising proudly in the heart of an expansive and ancient forest. The Plain of Stars—the Ailatar—marks the place where the Elves descended to Mennara, a clearing from which her followers can see Latariana and the other glimmering lights in the night sky. The palace and the oldest rings of the city are isolated from the opulent, verdant bowl of vigorous forest green that surrounds Lithelin, but the city’s outer districts have grown into, through, and among the forest in a graceful merging of Elven architecture and natural beauty.

In the center of Lithelin is Caelcira, or “First Gate”—the political and spiritual heart of the Aymhelin. It has watched over the city for over four thousand years, standing proud against the assaults of Dragonlord Baalesh and his fiery brood.

It is said Caelcira is built on the founding stone of the world itself and will never fall to evil, unless all of Mennara shall fall first. Here, the Tear of the Latari tribe and those of the lost nations are guarded carefully, lest they fall into the hands of evil. Although the Tears are officially named for Latariana, an old adage among the Eolam court holds that her tears actually fall again due to the innumerable intrigues, plots, and jealousies that plague the court.

This is not to say that all politicking that happens in High Court is guileful. At the head of the court sits King Aeoneth, an Elf with a centuries-long reputation as a fair and benevolent ruler. At his side is his trusted advisor and long-time consort, Maegan Cyndewin. Although she fought valiantly and was wounded repeatedly while defending the Elven nation, many in the Court still deeply distrust her and conspire against her whenever they can. Theirs is a rueful hatred fueled in part by the legacy of her father, a member of the Daewyl tribe, which allied with demons in its covetous pursuit of Latariana’s Tears. It is also fueled by the legacy of her mother, a Loth Caara tribeswoman who lived to see Llovar corrupt her people. Her parentage serves as a perpetual blight to her honor despite how instrumental she was in defending Caelcira. Cyndewin is a source of continual suspicion, as many fear she has been corrupted by the same power that seduced her parents’ tribes and is working to bring about the same downfall of the Latari.

Between the palace and the walls are swaths of verdant lands interspersed with pure, spring-fed ponds, wild-growing wheat, and panon-fruit trees delicately transplanted from the surrounding forests. Though originally created as groves for the Forest Guardians, who lend aid in defense of Caelcira, these vales have become the spiritual hub of Lithelin. They are now home to a dizzying array of shrines, prayer gardens, and temples dedicated to the Path of the Stars, which are maintained by High Priestess Ancela, and sanctums for the Wealdworkers and Dreamweavers. Beyond these vales, in towering spires, reside the powerful storm sorceresses.

Hidden far behind the borders of the green lands, obscured from the view of any travelers who may venture to or from the palace, are the jarring, uncharacteristically dilapidated homes of the Verdelam. Born of lower blood and often dozens of ignoble generations removed from the first Latari, these Elves are desperate to prove themselves worthy of social ascension. Each morning, these enterprising souls journey to the keep and surrounding temples to perform the mundane tasks and menial labor that keep a kingdom functioning smoothly. This allows them—at a pace that would mortify any of the world’s shortlived races of Mennara—to slowly earn the respect and prestige necessary to arise to meaningful posts within Latari society.

The ones who fail to ascend but are unwilling or unable to return to their former lives usually take one of two paths: they embrace the life of an adventurer and seek fame and fortune in the lands beyond Lithelin, or they join the ranks of the soldiers in the Latari army. While noble blood is, of course, required to become an officer standing in command, Captain Ilendar accepts into the rank and file all who can meet the physical requirements of soldiering.

## The Bloodwood

Formerly a barren, desolate plain, the land where the Bloodwood now stands was once a gruesome battlefield where a horribly outnumbered army of Elves met and repelled more than ten thousand barbaric invaders. When the Elves later returned to dispose of the legions of rotting warriors, they discovered that mysterious saplings, as red as blood, had sprouted among the dead.

The Bloodwood’s gruesome history has become a source of pride for all the hunters, foresters, bowyers, fletchers, scouts, and hermits that call it home. Full of densely populated trees that run for leagues in every direction, the Bloodwood is an ideal place to learn tracking and forest combat, how to lathe arrows from its unique saplings, and methods for hunting the deer and boar that help feed all of the Elves in the Aymhelin.

The mystical woods are also home to a community of Elves who live in the hidden township of Methras. The core of Methras is an eclectic collection of dwellings, fashioned high in the trees and joined by suspension bridges and shared platforms. In the center of the interconnected sprawl sits Ledish Schall, the ancestral seat of the Etharyon champion Dareine, the governing magistrate of all Elves who choose to set foot within the Bloodwood. From this seat, Dareine provides counsel, resolves disputes, directs hunts in ways to best manage the animal populations, and ensures that Huntsmaster Cillian, the leader of the Latari’s elite scouts, has whatever tools and resources the rangers may need.

Given its remote, often secretive nature, Methras is also a home for Elves who seek refuge from the traditional caste and political structures of Latari society—and a destination for those restless Elves who seek more adventure than Elven life typically offers. Living wild among the Bloodwood, they are free to indulge in more ignoble pursuits, and within isolated huts, one can find Elves engaged in a host of scandalous ventures.

## Blackthorn Grove

On the northernmost frontier of the Elven lands, as far from Lithelin as one can get and still remain in the Aymhelin, a stoic pair of keeps known as Sern Genslyn, “The Vigilant Twins,” stand at the edge of the Aymhelin. These two towers guard the most trafficked Elven border against bandits, raiders, and the evils that are working to corrupt the Human lands of Terrinoth. The twin structures flank each side of a cobblestone road that parts a lush section of the Misty Plains known as Blackthorn Grove—and the archers, trebuchet crews, and cavalry of the Twins have protected the Aymhelin from corruption and invasions for centuries.

Nevertheless, most of the Elves in the southern provinces treat those protecting Blackthorn Grove with fear and suspicion. Dwelling so far from the spiritual heart of the Elven empire, and so close to barbarous Humans, has influenced the warriors of Sern Genslyn to an alarming degree. The denizens of the grove are more likely to trade with, socialize with, and even marry people from across the northern border, particularly the Free City of Dawnsmoor, than their own kind. Those in Lithelin see this as scandalous and disquieting, although it is condoned—and in fact encouraged—by the longtime commander of the keeps, Marshal Cennan Valareth.

Wise and farsighted enough to understand that supplies, companionship, and military aid are all far closer to the north than the south, Valareth will happily work with the Humans to care for his soldiers. However, there is an even more important and hidden purpose behind the cross-cultural mingling: it allows an elite group of spies to collect rumors and information that drift south from the Human lands. Spymasters operating out of Riverwatch hold that this is overseen by Aenara, a merchant who runs a startlingly impressive trading emporium in the village of Brightvale. These Elven spies glean everything from unfounded rumors to verified intelligence and shuttle that information back to the capital via go-betweens, messengers, and encrypted notes carried by ravens.

## Selenic Coast

Though most of the fearsome Selenic Sea, which dashes against the southern shores of the Aymhelin, is hazardous for novice crews to navigate, the sheltered port town of First Fall to the southwest of Lithelin acts as a welcome harbor and easy port for loading and unloading trade goods. Built around a natural lagoon and bulwarked by Elven masons and elemental sorcerers millennia ago, First Fall is almost immune to the battering winds, deep swells, and forceful riptides of the open ocean.

As such, almost all seaborne trade with the Elven empire in the Aymhelin comes through First Fall before being carried north and east by carts towed upon well-maintained cobblestone roads. North of the docks, outside the city proper, lies the commune village of Selonish, a large collection of huts built on stilts above the water of the bay. The spiritspeakers and elementalists of Selonish share resources and support each other as they seek mastery of the wind, water, and spirits of the bay. The village is overseen by Manaan, an ancient, wizened spiritspeaker with a level of power that is seen only a few times each century. Having long since given up the active pursuit of any additional mastery, Manaan now spends her days providing counsel to the village, guiding younger spiritspeakers, and helping to ensure that the ripples caused by the Whispering Forest don’t spread beyond the borders.

## The Greywood

Lying just to the northeast of the Selenic Sea, not far from where the Aymhelin empties into the Broken Plains, lies the Greywood. The forest is a taboo realm of unnerving legends, where realities unpredictably bleed together and the veil between Mennara and the Aenlong becomes thin enough for creatures to easily pass from one to the other. Within its shadowed trails wander creatures that were never meant to set foot upon this plane. Here, those who seek favors from the Fae may be able to bargain for whatever they seek.

The Elves hold a careful, perpetual vigil around the Greywood, doing their best to stop mortals from entering the dank, lightless forest, but also to prevent anything from leaving the trees as well. Much to their dismay, the Elves lack the power or ability to purge the forest of its mystical threat, so instead, they greet the unnatural creatures that try to emerge from these woods with maximum aggression.

## The Darnati Highlands

Far to the west, close to the southernmost plains of Lorimor, the Aymhelin begins to thin, and hills and rocky outcroppings break up the swaths of immense trees. This rough terrain makes the Elves who live in the Darnati Highlands a particularly hardy stock. Marking boulders and cliff faces like pearlescent scars, treasured moonstone is found in relative abundance here, furnishing the material for some of the Elves’ most wondrous armaments. Among the artisans who make their home here are miners and smiths who produce many of the Aymhelin Elves’ razor-sharp weapons and intricately fitted sets of armor. These items are so extraordinary, effectual, and cherished that none dare insult or ostracize the smiths who forge them—making the Darnati the only Elves truly immune to the rigid caste politics and tangled intrigues that plague the Lithelin court.

Nestled among the highlands are the ancient stone temples of the Darnati warriors, a mysterious order of mystical adepts who channel their spiritual energies into amazing displays of grace, speed, balance, and power. Often referred to as the Swordmasters, these monks are among the most feared warriors in all of Mennara—and from their modest monastery, they hold perpetual vigil over the highlands.

## The Deepwood

There are few places in all of the Aymhelin that are as mysterious, magical, or vital to the Elves as the Deepwood. A miracle of both enchantment and nature, the heart of the dense forest is the collection of towering, powerful trees whose fibers are as strong as steel and bend but never seem to break. These trees grow agelessly, stretching ever taller and spreading their limbs ever wider, until the canopy of the forest obscures almost all light from its floor.

If the trees are the heart of the forest, then its soul is the collection of gently glowing ferns and fungi that dimly light the darkness like hundreds of small candles. Despite millennia of study, the apothecaries and sorcerers of the Aymhelin are still trying to truly understand this unique flora, as beautiful as it is mysterious, that occurs nowhere else in the world.

The Deepwood’s magical nature also draws the attention of non-Elves. Foreign forces are constantly sending emissaries, spies, or raiding parties, or offering lucrative contracts for samples of the life that grows uniquely here. Few survive long enough to actually catch a glimpse of its dark beauty.

To spare the lives of those foolhardy enough to attempt the journey, but also to fend off greater threats, the Deepwood Archers were established to catch or repel any who dare try to infiltrate the forest. These elite scouts camouflage themselves in hues of deep purple and blue to blend in with the perpetual shadows beneath the Deepwood canopy. Masters of stealth tactics and capable of hunting in total darkness, the Deepwood Archers epitomize the silence of death. Yet, incredibly lucrative contracts lure an increasing number of adventurers to accept foolhardy quests to the Deepwood each year.

## The Thalian Glades

To the west of the Deepwood, where the dense trees slowly begin to give way to patches of lush grasses, are the Thalian Glades. A miracle of nature, the glades are located at the perfect confluence of rain, sun, shadow, and soil. If left unattended, the glades grow wild with their own native foliage, or if tended by creatures who have deep, passionate respect and love of the land the way Elves do, they can support a kingdom.

The Elves have worked these lands for untold centuries, developing both physical and mystical connections that allow them to produce an unimaginable bounty from the relatively small open spaces between the trees. They mix golden fields of grain with long rows of vineyards and clusters of orchards with carefully placed apiaries—enough to feed all of the Aymhelin and still have trade stock left over.

To protect against raids and incursions, the Elves of the Aymhelin turned the glades into the base of operations for the Yeron Riders, a legendary flying cavalry unit that is among the most elite group of warriors to be found anywhere in Mennara. Saddled upon incredibly rare flying horses known as the Yeron and overseen by Aishalan Finnan, they keep watch for threats near and far. When not patrolling, the Yeron and their riders are able to live in relative peace and prosperity, enjoying the beauty of their environs.

## The Fountain of Purity

A natural spring in a rich, life-filled forest near the Thalian Glades, the Fountain of Purity is, so the legend goes, the spring that the Latari used to purify the Aymhelin after the Third Darkness. It is said that while its water nourishes the pure of heart, it devours the wicked from within, rejuvenating old beauty and cleansing the forests of the shadow-touched. The cults of the Wealdweavers tend these waters and the Aymhelin saplings that are nourished by them.

The Fountain of Purity is forbidden to all but the Elves, though nobles from lands all over Mennara have sent messengers to Caelcira begging King Aeoneth for draughts from one of the many streams that run down into the glades. Over the centuries, various desperate—and greedy—beings have attempted to take control of the mystical waters by force, only to face the combined fury of the Wealdweavers and the Forest Guardians sworn to protect nature.