I, Elthius Pius III, hereby present the report requested of me by the agents of the Dark Sun, by order of Her Grace, the High Priestess of the Holy Sun and Empress of the Holy Kingdom of Lohander, Cassandra Guynne Cyrus tor Clete, and His Excellency, the Emperor of the Holy Kingdom of Lohander, Johan Mach Cyrus tor Clete, the Even-Handed.

On the subject of the Elven tribes, I humbly request your pardon for any inaccuracies that time may cast light upon. I can only plead for your forgiveness by stating that the material available to me was plainly inadequate, despite all my efforts, those of the Dark Sun, and the ample resources afforded to me by the Imperial family.

The reality is that, by the time this request was put in, the last surviving member of the Light Tribe of the Elves, Caelum Celestor, had already sailed to the domain of the Sea Elves.

Meanwhile, the only known member of the Earth Tribe of the Elves, Sandelar Seidhanna, has also set sail for parts unknown, and we have thus far been unable to track him.

Therefore, the only Elves I had at hand to interview were the few of the Water Tribe who have made their home in the newly created embassy in Duskport. Moreover, most of these Elves are, although over a thousand years old in most cases, considered young for their species and have not actually lived in the time period before their tribes were exiled.

That is to say, all information about tribes other than their own is second-order knowledge passed down over several millennia, and hearsay. I hope that Your Graces will afford me the opportunity to add to and correct this document as our information about these beings grows.

Nonetheless, I shall start with the exile that led to this segmentation and loss of contact.

According to the Elves, the lands of Elessia were once much richer in magic, which they, as magical beings, need to sustain themselves.

The event our legends portray as the sealing of the Night Dragon apparently coincided with the decline in magic, culminating in a war for whatever magical resources remained in our world some five thousand years ago.

According to Elven legend, during this war, two of the five tribes were nearly wiped out: the Light Tribe, of which Caelum Celestor is the last survivor, and the Dark Tribe, of which we know nothing.

The remaining three tribes—the Fire Tribe, the Water Tribe, and the Earth Tribe—went into exile in their respective homelands, protected by enchantments that both concealed their existence from the world and prevented the magic they needed to live from fading away entirely, albeit at the cost of also trapping them within the boundaries of their kingdoms.

This is also where the Fire Tribe and the Earth Tribe exit this report. The Water Tribe has little more knowledge about their lost cousins apart from the fact that the Earth Tribe is said to dwell somewhere on the southern edge of our continent, which would put them either inside or beyond the Kingdom Beyond the Wall, the Kingdom of High Kyanun; and the Fire Tribe is said to be based in the western continent of Bamorca, across the sea.

So now let me surmise what I have gathered about the Water Tribe, our opponents in the recent war.

The Elves of the Water Tribe are taller than the average human. Their teeth are long and sharp, suggesting a highly carnivorous diet, which we have also observed through our interactions and interviews with them. Their ears are long and pointed.

Their skin has a scale-like appearance but, to the touch, feels nearly indistinguishable from our own. Their tones, however, range from pale gray to bright blue.

Their hair tones vary more, from near-black and dark green to more colorful pinkish yellow and several shades of blue. Dark crimson or silver are also possible, although these are considered incredibly rare colors among their people.

When spoken with, the Elves of the Water Tribe communicate with us via magic exclusively. None of the Elves I spoke with could speak Common Lohanian, although I am given to understand that many are beginning to study it.

Thus far, all my communication with this tribe has happened with the help of their sorcerers at the embassy, which, on a personal note, I must admit was unsettling, for I do not gladly submit myself to the eldritch arts, and I did so only in this circumstance because I knew I held the High Priestess’s blessing.

In any case, when not communicating via translation spells, their speech is the language of the sea and storms. While it may seem like I am being poetical, I assure you that I am not. Hearing an Elf speak—an Elf of the Water Tribe—is to hear the sea itself: the crashing of the waves, the whispering of the winds, gurgling bubbles, and such. It is as if one is communicating with nature herself.

Their script is even more puzzling. I was allowed to handle some of their books, yet it proved impossible for me to even begin to understand their written language. It is seemingly cursed. The words do not stand still on the pages!

They wiggle, they move, they shine, they glow, they fade in and out. It will be quite an undertaking for humans to learn how to read the Elven script, if this would be possible for our species at all.

Upon questioning them about these peculiarities of the written word, the Elves told me that they write exclusively using magical means. By this, I do not mean that they cast spells that write words into books. I have seen them write with ink and quill, just like us, but spellcraft is worked into these components and into the books themselves.

In fact, the Elves looked fascinated when I showed them my own books, and they noticed that there was no magical component to my writing at all. Inquiring deeper, it seems that this created an incredible loss of knowledge when magic began fading from the land right before their exile. Most Elven literature and history were lost then; as magic faded, so did the writing in their books.

Next, I asked about where they live.

I could not fully grasp the mechanics of the enchantment that kept them exiled and fed for so many millennia, but apparently it cloaked an entire archipelago where they made their home, both keeping them in and keeping seafaring vessels out. This archipelago, they call Quel’Nimara, after the great sapphire mountain that dominates its largest isle.

It seems to be located somewhere on the northern edges of the Circle Sea, and I cannot help but wonder if that enchantment was not the reason that, for so many generations, ships were lost with apparently no rhyme or reason when exploring that region—and that it has ultimately led seafaring vessels to avoid it entirely.

According to the Elves I interviewed, society works surprisingly like ours, with the ruling family and associated nobility managing the islands and their population, and the peasantry handling the crafts and food production. Their military seems to be mostly conscription-based, with rank determined by bloodline, whilst training in the magical arts is afforded to anyone with such aptitude, noble and commoner alike.

As mentioned before, their diet is mostly carnivorous, and they chiefly sustain themselves by fishing, although I have uncovered evidence that there are also animal farms on their islands. They do not seem, however, to be too keen on plant agriculture.

Indeed, I treated some of my interviewees to fine Lohanian cuisine and found that, while they were familiar enough with wine and mead, they were not too keen on our bread or our grains, although they consume them nonetheless, I presume, out of politeness.

This is another aspect that I would raise. Despite their apparent savagery during the war, which is amply documented, I find that the Elves at the embassy, if somewhat aloof and one could say cold, are nonetheless extremely polite and civilized.

We are talking about a people with a historical, cultural, and religious tradition as sophisticated as any on the continent.

Now I shall close this preliminary report with some insights into their religion, as I feel that understanding their beliefs will be of immense utility as we craft a plan for how to best convert them to the glory of Lohander, the Holy Sun.

The Water Tribe seems to have two orders of worship. They have a minor worship of their ancestors, whom they treat much as we do our saints. They are invoked as protector spirits and omens to ward off ill luck. Unlike our saints, who are ordained by the temple itself upon proof of performance of a miracle, it seems that any deceased Elven ancestor, as long as they were in good standing with society, is eligible to be worshipped in a religious capacity.

Their main deity, far above all the ancestors, is the Water Dragon, Aqissuloshiraxx.

Much like Holy Lohander’s divine companion, Vesperathil the Sun Dragon, and his antagonist, the unholy Night Dragon, it seems that the Water Tribe’s Water Dragon was also venerated as a god before Lohander’s ascension.

The Elves have also named other dragon deities: the Earth Dragon, Mistress of Life, supposedly worshipped by the Earth Tribe; and the Fire Dragon, patron of craft and invention.

These mighty beings are believed to lie dormant, yet the Elves know not where.

While this humble scribe is not given to speculation regarding the validity of other religions, I am nonetheless, as are all people of good intention in our great kingdom, a believer in Vesperathil, for she is canonized in the story of Holy Lohander. Therefore, it seems plausible to me that these dragon gods really existed.

I feel that this is a good point upon which to induct them into the Lohanian belief system, as we can create a clear connection between their gods and Lohander’s companion, Vesperathil. Our Lord’s connection to Vesperathil, and Vesperathil’s connection to the Elves’ Water Dragon, could be the unifying line that brings them into Lohander’s light.

Thus ends my brief and preliminary report, which I hope to add to and correct as more comes to light.

By the glory of the Holy Sun and His chosen Empress and Emperor,

– Elthius Pius III

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Artwork by Eureka Akerue