Fantasy Starlight Caravan Lore

[Owl Knight]

-The Great Western Continent-

Spoiler: map

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Synopsis~
Dondar, the King of the Elves, is twenty years dead. The Elven lands have fallen to the corruption of a dark sorcerer and his minions, and those who escaped his enslaving will, find themselves trapped in the hard and cruel kingdoms of men, where they are seen as thieves, tricksters, and unwanted vermin.

Forced to live as outsiders, some living in squalid ghettos and finding poor work as laborers and servants, others living as nomads in wagons that serve as both their transport and home, the remnants of the Elven clans dream of a day when they will have a homeland of their own. Some dream of returning to the fallen homelands and driving out the sorcerer, others wonder if a new homeland may exist beyond the realm of men.

Now, word has come from the distant north that Andar, the exiled Prince long thought to dead, is alive and he has founded a new land for the survivors of the Elven holocaust.

Those who are bold and able to undertake the journey, will find the road a difficult one. Wolves and other less savory creatures stalk the great forest of pines, highwaymen and bandit tribes patrol the roads, trolls and goblins infest the hills that rise to meet the Grimrock Mountains, and beyond the mountains lies a land no one has entered save for the followers of Prince Andar.

ELVES

Culture~

• Each elf family is bound to one of the five ancient clans.

Spoiler: The Elven Clans

• Elweth - Clan of the white mountain: Elves of clan Elweth are fair skinned and their hair is most often the color of straw or bright red. They are known for their surefootedness on difficult terrain as they made their dwelling in the foothills of the holy white mountain.

• Carda - Clan of the emerald plain: Elves of clan Carda are dark of hair and eye and ruddy of complexion. proud and fiercely independent. They made their living in the homeland by herding the wild plains elk, a beast that provided hide, milk, meat, and was strong enough to draw elven wagons. Those who escaped the holocaust managed to bring many of their herd animals into the kingdom of men, though they were met with resistance from human herdsmen who did not want to share grazing land.

• Nymren - Clan of the riverlands: Like the Elves of clan Carda, the Nymren are dark of hair and face, though they tend to be shorter and more slender and fair of face. They are skilled at water craft, fishermen and boatmakers, and they have a great knowledge of herbs and roots that can be used for medicine.

• Lothan - Clan of the grey wood: While many of the Elven clans intermingle and share knowledge and resources, in the days before the holocaust the forest dwelling clan Lothan was secretive and protective of their borders. Only when the sorcerer burned down the grey wood, did Lothan survivors flee with their elven brethren into the kingdom of men. Lothan Elves are often darker of skin than their brethren. They are unmatched in woodcraft and marksmanship.

• Adari - Clan of the starlight spring: Elves of clan Adari are the proudest of all Elves. They are believed to be the oldest clan and King Dondar was the last in a long line of Adarian high kings. They are brown or black of hair and pale of complexion. A very small few still boast skills in starlight magic, but their powers of foresight and divination have grown weak compared to the elder days.

• In the days following the holocaust and the flight from their homeland, the Elves have united into small communities, with only a few precious relics of their homeland held in the hopes of one day rebuilding the clans. It is common for clan members to intermarry, with the females taking on the clan allegiance of their husband. Marriage is seen as a sacred union and divorce is uncommon.
• Elves favor a fast, skirmishing form of combat to the grander armed conflicts of humans. Because of their slight stature, they often struggle when going toe to toe with armored foes and prefer to move with stealth and cunning, striking quickly and withdrawing to maneuver their enemies into choke points and battlegrounds where they are in greater control of the terrain. They are especially adept with the long knife and the bow. Some have adopted the way of the spear and a few even have practiced with swords they acquired from dwarves or humans.
• Elves commonly mark their faces with a henna-like substance. These markings can indicate clan allegiance, availability for marriage, known magical abilities, and elements of family history.

Biology~

• Elves commonly live between 200 and 225 years, and women tend to live somewhat longer.
• Male elves grow between 4’ 5” and 5’. Women to 4’ 7”.
• Elves reach sexual maturity at relatively the same time as humans, but their generative powers ensure that their adulthood and middle age are far longer. Most elves do not begin to show the signs of extreme age until their 160s. At this stage women commonly lose their ability to conceive, but their natural magical abilities seem to heighten in response. Elder females hold a position of great reverence in all Elf circles for this reason as men do not experience a similar heightening of power with age.
• Like many things with the elves, fertility is tied to the movement of the stars. Because of this, large families are uncommon and children may have long gaps in age. Under particular stellar combinations, twins may be born, and these children will commonly have very strong connections to the natural generative magic of the elves. Because Elven pregnancies are uncommon, births are often seen as reverent and sacred events and Elven midwives hold a revered position in society.
• Elves and humans share common ancestry, and they can interbreed, although the few unfortunates born with half elven blood often face persecution on either side. They are taller than most, often leaf eared and slender. Elf women are more likely to conceive half elf children than human women, and only under particularly potent stellar formations. Half elves are almost universally sterile, so quarter breeds tend not to exist. If a half elf’s mother had particularly strong magic, it is possible for a half elf to have some fleeting power, but it is rare.

Magic~

• Elven magic is a natural force derived for their connection to the ancient beings that first created life on earth. These beings are largely forgotten, having returned to their homes amid the stars, but their starlight magic lives on in their first children, the Elves.
• Elven magic is generative, some can focus their lifeforce to heal minor wounds, ease pain, and soothe emotional distress.
• Others can sense shifts and changes in the natural order, feel the lifeforce of trees, plants, waters and earth.
• Some can commune slightly with beasts, though the true tongues of animals have long been lost.
• Divination is a rare gift. It generally manifests late in life for female Elves, although some have the gift from a young age. Elves with the divining gift are often gifted with flashes of many possible futures, or may receive strange warnings or portents in their dreams. There are very few who can exercise any control over this ability without years of practice and deep meditation.
• Sorcery, the channeling of life energies for the purposes of increasing one’s power or causing destruction is seen as a great blasphemy and was the only crime, aside from willful murder, that bore the penalty of death under the Elf Kings of old. Sorcery invariably has the effect of twisting and corrupting living things, robbing both the sorcerer and their victims of humanity.

HUMANS

Humans were born of the same creative power that brought forth the elves, but they are beings of earth and stone, short-lived, but hard and strong. They reproduce in great numbers, spread quickly, and concern themselves with ambitious conquest and feudal power struggles.

Almost all humans are mundane, but those few who do discover an innate magical gift, generally turn to sorcery and use magical catalysts like elf blood to increase their powers. Sorcerers are feared and reviled among humans as well as elves, but most humans do not understand the difference between the generative magic of the Elves and the unholy power wielded by sorcerers.

In ancient days, Elves repelled humans across the mountains using superior guerilla tactics and diplomacy between the two races has been one of uneasy isolation. Very few Elves plied their mercantile across the mountains and almost no humans crossed into the west.


THE SORCERER
His origins are unclear. Some claim he arrived from across the western sea in a boat with black sails, some say he rode up the coast from the south to strike at the riverlands. Some even whisper that he was born to Elf kind and sought to harness and grow the power of starlight in his heart. Whatever the truth may be, one thing is certain. Death followed in his wake.

Though King Dondar and the clan leaders fought across the nation against the sudden and terrible assault, the Sorcerer spread a dark and odious corruption over the land. One by one the clan lands fell, driving the few surviving elves gack over the mountains. No one knows what became of those left behind, and no one knows why the sorcerer did not extend his assault into the human kingdoms.

The human kings, moved by the plight of the refugee Elves, initially opened their borders to accept refugees, but the race of man was not prepared to be as welcoming as their rulers. Elf survivors were relegated to ramshackle ghettos and tent villages. Over time, they were removed and shuffled from village and hamlet to village and hamlet until they adopted the habit of living in traveling wagon villages.

Work was hard to come by and most Elves turned their hands to labor and servitude, while others took to the forest and byways, making their way as trappers and hunters. It was a hard and demeaning twenty years for the once mighty race.