Ald'Norai

History

Foundations

The Ald'norai were once one of many ethnic groups of ancient Hyr'Norai that lived mainly on the Vinasir river of Daravin, the Elven homeland. Located primarily on the northern-facing wing of the Vinasir, along the banks where the city of Arlain is set, this group of Hyr'norai was known for one thing that the rest of their peers were not: their willingness to delve into and explore forbidden magics. Near the beginning of the Second Age, large sectors of the Elven world placed strong restrictions on magical experimentation, forbidding extensive delving into Necromancy, the usage of Bane, and of course sweeping restrictions on Blood Magic, punishable by death for even the slightest transgressions, where magic was once allowed to be practiced and proliferated somewhat freely.

The Ald'norai were never fond of these restraints; they found them to be limiting of mortal potential. Around this time, there was a large debate on the purpose of mortals and what they should strive to achieve. There were a few major positions throughout the Elven world. One was a traditionalist approach: harmony with nature, in line with the intentions of the Elven Gods. Another was harmony within society, producing a social order that provided peace and prosperity to its inhabitants, including those of other races, proposing that the Elves open their doors to the rest of the world.

Then, there was the Ald'norai view: of growth, expansion and cohesive ideals that spanned from the western end of the continent to the east. In other words, domination that led to cultural unity. The Ald'norai looked at the growth of the other races - such as humans whose generations were far shorter and who had children at a much higher rate - and saw a threat to the gilded Elven life. In these other groups they saw filth and barbarism, and believed that the best way to achieve all forms of virtue and order would be through the safeguarding against the growing hordes of the younger races.

In order to achieve this, the Ald'norai believed that they needed to form an Elven Empire, one that would dictate to the other races. "Silor" was coined as the term for this Empire because in Eldhan it meant "to Reign", or to rule all others. In that respect, they viewed restraints on magic as a hamstring, cutting through the limbs that allowed for Elven reach. In Ald'norai society, even Blood Magic remained legal, and due to their growing Elven nationalism many of the city-states of the Vinasir began to confederate into one nation: Indorin, the world's first true nation, and the namesake of Daravin's "Kingdom of Indories".

Indorin

When Indorin first formed, it quickly began to absorb its surrounding neighbors, as they were largely small city-states with unspectacular militaries. Consequently, they were also unwilling to engage in forbidden practices, whilst Indorin employed all manner of immoral dealings in order to bring them to their knees. Much of the length of the Vinasir, particularly in the north, became consumed by Indorin. In response to this, many of the Elven traditionalists of the southwest began to form their own coalition of states, forging the borders of what became known as Cor Aron, now the "Kingdom of Couronne". In the north, the Elves of the Amoras river formed the state of Ard-Orain, now the "Royal Kingdom of Ardon".

There were, of course, more; four more in fact. Osrigal, the namesake of the "Kingdom of Ostigen"... Kyriven, Lordras, and Verinor, the namesake of the "Kingdom of Verdiven". Cor Aron, Ard-Orain and Indorin were however the primary players in this game, the quickest to grow and to dominate their surroundings, effectively turning their neighbors into puppet-states. Consequently, they also each represented one of the three conflicting Elven ideologies, that of traditionalism (Cor Aron), harmony (Ard-Orain) and expansion (Indorin).

It was this competition of ideas, and Indorin's forcing of its neighbors to form coalitions and then nation-states, that rapidly accelerated the Elve's progress into an obsession with growth and power. Inadvertently, Indorin had managed to make its views the dominant norm if only because its growth forced its neighbors to respond by growing in turn. And quickly, as Indorin's tactics grew more ruthless and aggressive, they too were forced to act in much the same ways.

Ard-Orain quickly lost its identity as they began to depend on human slave labor to maintain their production, forcing their own adults to participate in the military and other practices necessary to defend against Indorin's aggression. This loss of identity was quickly thereafter followed by a societal collapse; ideological factions within the Elven principality began to question their descent into militarization and disorder, while those more interested in victory continuously acted more and more like the Ald'norai they were adamantly against.

This culminated into a civil war in the nation, and within a few years it was entirely annexed by Indorin. At this point, all of the remaining Elven states formed a coalition against Indorin with Cor Aron as their head, and a centuries long war ensued. As non-Elves and particularly humans continued to grow and expand their diaspora, they increasingly came into conflict with the Elves of Cor Aron, raiding their rich settlements from the western fringes of Calanon. Harmony with humans quickly fell out of public favor and the Hyr'norai of Cor Aron began to enslave and brutalize them equally as much as their eastern peers. They also continued to expand. In many ways, the ideological differences between the Hyr'norai and Ald'norai slimmed to near-nothing; the one thing differentiating them at this point was the usage of forbidden magic in war-time.

The Ald'norai at this time had allowed Blood Magic to become entrenched in their military ranks. They commonly brought scores of unarmed human slaves into combat with their Elven peers, keeping them piled in tightly packed cages as reserves. They would then sacrifice them en masse to empower their Blood Magic mid-battle, allowing them to perform abilities with minimal ether. This dramatically improved arcane stamina made battles increasingly difficult for the Hyr'norai, and as magical academies began to appear across Indorin teaching mages how to streamline their arts and to focus them purely on efficacy during war, the combination of superior mages and improved reserves of ether turned the tides of war forever.

The Hyr'norai forced the Ald'norai to fight in a battle of attrition. They would fight them ruthlessly at every opportunity and would refuse to surrender their towns and villages. As Elven settlements are largely populated by fighting-age adults, they would often fight against Ald'norai aggressors to the near-last. This kept their war ongoing for hundreds of years more, and fostered a bitter hatred between the Hyr'norai and their peers, one that forged the foundations for the later Elven schism.

It was only at this point that the Ald'norai actually began to be known as "Ald'norai", as they were frequently called Vinasrans by the rest of the world until this point. A millennia into the Second Age, around the 24th century, these Elves began to utilize Blood Magic as a method of increasing their lifespan, sacrificing the vitality of slaves to ethereally enrich their forms. They also began to create Strigoi, or undead, and would psychologically engineer them with Necromancy to act as their ruthless enforcers in the never-ending war with the Hyr'norai. While many of these practices began to skew the battle of attrition in their favor, the source of their namesake was the punishment they had been given by Malek, as they made their first transgressions against the domain of death. The Black Sigil first appeared on their race, with a slim number of precautionary casualties; Necromancers who crafted Strigoi, the Strigoi themselves, and the worst of the Blood Mages. Few others.

It was this first experience with the Black Sigil that would truly change Elven history, and Malek's efforts in many ways were counter-acted. Eager not to defy the Gods and be met with their wroth, the Vinasrans did in fact cease their production of undead. However, within the Black Sigil - Malek's curse that would winnow Elves and turn their eyes and then limbs black until they decayed - there was discovered a Mark of Control. A mage first discovered the complex ethereal properties of the Sigil, and from their discovery they learned to reproduce the Sigil, and tap into the Mark itself. It was, in many ways, the Mark that had perpetuated the magic's curse and degenerative effects. The corrosion of the Elves had largely been a withering that appeared to turn their skin and bones to ash and soot, and they often described feeling as if they were being burned from within.

And so, with the Mark certain to be the source of this Bane, scholars began to understand the way it worked. It was named Sigilic Pyromancy (or Keeras'Annath in Eldhan) for the Sigil it was found within, and its emphasis on flame. While it did not make its practitioners much more effective in arcane duels, the Mark - as mages first began to initiate others and explore it - was found to be exceptional at producing devastation, razing towns and cities with fires that could not be put out, and covering battlefields with flames that would severely damage the morale and endurance of their foes. The most powerful of Pyromancers could also perform an ability known as Sigilfall, capable of producing widespread devastation within small cities. It was at this point that the name "Ald'norai" or "Ashen Elf" began to spread, as the Vinasrans became strongly affiliated with the imagery of razing cities to the ground with unwavering flames; walking through the fires they spread, unharmed, and torturing their enemies with scorching heat.

The Birth of Silor

By this time it was the middle of the Second Age, the Age of Elves. In the year 2849, Riala Elaine was born into the city of Vinasra Ilan, the capital of Indorin. Whether she was a child of genius or an inheritor to an already increasingly winning nation is a matter of debate, but whatever the case it is clear that she was a competent administrator and military leader. While Riala was at first a court adviser and general, she was chosen to be the ruler of Indorin as the reigning monarch passed on with no heir. It was with the weak prince's death and her ascent that Indorin truly began to press its advantage, spreading to fill out much of the width of Mornoth. Cor Aron's coalition partners were all annexed within a few short decades, and Cor Aron itself began to diminish in size and capacity. Not long into her reign, Riala became the ruler of a unified Daravin, and with Cor Aron's fall she declared the Kingdom of Silor. From then, she continued her expansion and growth, and Silor came to cover all of Mornoth save for Lorien's northern warrens.

Silor even expanded west into Calanon, and covered nearly half of the Atharen of today. For hundreds of years, Silor existed in total prosperity. While slave revolts and movements by disgruntled Hyr'norai continued to persist, Riala's grip on the Empire was firm and her goals unwavering. She sought to fulfill the Vinasran ideals of old; to unify the entire world into one order, with all Elves Ashen and all other races pressed beneath them as the laborers of an elevated society. But centuries followed on, and old age began to claim her. The Queen-Empress of the soon-to-be unified world began to wilt, and for all of her efforts and desires she knew she would not live to see the totality of her Empire's might.

It was then that a proposition came: that there was one method towards immortality that could not be denied by the Black Sigil; through a series of forbidden rituals no longer known to the world. Passed from the lips of a deceitful, would-be Queen to her sister who Riala found herself in love with, the idea of a perfect Lichdom met with Riala's fixation. Though wilting, Riala was made a proto-Lich, an imperfect version of the promised dream. But through this transformation she became youthful again, beautiful, with improved mental faculty and the stamina to continue her expansion and rule. Riala became elated by her transformation and began to offer "Lichdom" to all of her favored courtiers, military generals, family members and others, this imperfect immortality eventually being spread throughout vast scores of Silor's ruling class. So endorsed by the Queen-Empress was "Lichdom" that it became a popular way of coming into her favor in court; a necessity of the ballroom, with the "mortal" Elves compared to the unambitious Hyr'norai of the past, refusing to explore the depths of magic in a way akin to Ald'norai ideals.

This anathema of simple mortality became the formula for Silor's total collapse. Riala had so saturated her peers with faux "Lichdom" that when the Black Sigil came again, Malek's second warning, over eighty percent of Silor's ruling elite were culled within years in a massive wave of deaths. Riala was the first to be punished and to die, held by her lover - the one who encouraged her transformation - in regret as she realized the folly of her actions. Riala's death was slow and brutal, and it was only the first of many. Hundreds of thousands followed, and the death of the Ald'norai ruling class led to a level of societal chaos and instability never seen again, not even in the wake of the Bleeding. Almost overnight, Silor was overcome with riots, civil wars and warring factions, resurgent Hyr'norai nationalism and worst, slave rebellions.

These effects culminating led to hundreds of years of violent instability. Silorian society fractured on a fundamental level, with ideological rifts forming within its own communities. Many began to question the validity of unregulated magic, of limitless growth and expansion. Many others took advantage of the power vacuum to forge small Kingdoms and principalities of their own. Then, by the end of the Second Age, all of these discordant and warring Ashen Elf societies became conquered one by one from within, by a wave of humans no longer seeking merely their freedom, but revenge.

From the ruins of Silor forged the heart of what would become the Unbroken Empire, the most powerful nation in Atharen's history. First, however, one more grand and terrible event needed to occur.

The Ald'norai Genocide

The Ald'norai genocide was the first - and worst - intentional act of racial elimination in the world's history. While Ald'norai had been enslaving "inferior" races for around a thousand years, their purpose had never been to eliminate the human diaspora, largely due to a belief that the other races served some purpose in the world's order; that the Gods had created them for a reason. While there was some debate on these reasons and they typically lent to the younger races acting as servants to the Elves, they did not view their eradication as a desirable prospect.

The opposite was the case in regards to the humans, in their view of what the purpose of Elves might be. Part of the reason so many Elves began to scatter into Calanon during Silor's collapse - thus causing the schism - was due to a fear of what humans would do within the bones of their dead Empire. It was well-known by Elves with any knowledge that when human slave revolts occurred, they would often massacre as many Elves as they could in their wake, leaving a trail of brutality behind them. When Silor fell, this reality played out on a scale unprecedented in history. Within the first decades of its collapse, millions of Elves were killed by the revolting humans. Their cities were sacked, monuments were destroyed and the Elven Gods were even hunted ruthlessly, though none of them were killed.

The actions taken by the humans went beyond sheer brutality and rage. Their attempt to systematically eliminate the Ashen Elves was calculated, and they employed many tactics in doing so.

Forced Relocation: The most effective of these tactics was the forced relocation of all Ashen Elves into the province of Sil-Elaine, an almost entirely uninhabited, low-lying area filled with wetlands and marsh. This was done mostly during the summer months, where Sil-Elaine's heat and humidity were so severe that scores of Elves died to heat stroke and exhaustion. They were provided no food and were forced to forage for their own, only - given that there were millions of these Elves - there was not enough game or available food for the vast majority of them.

They were incapable of building the level of agricultural infrastructure necessary to support their population, at least in the short span of time they had before any supplies or reserves they might have had ran out. During this time, starvation was so severe that the Elven God, Lotheric would scour the oceans and hunt fish and other aquatic creatures by the millions, utilizing his Archetypes to act in much the same way. He would provide the fruits of these hunts to the Elves, but they remained lacking in food regardless, and of course water, medicine and the conditions necessary to stay hygenic.

Millions of Elves died from starvation, millions more from dehydration, millions from dysentery and many other causes. Around seventy to eighty percent of all remaining Ald'norai died during their forced relocation, resulting in a death toll of around forty million.

Afflicted Infertility: One of the leaders of the Unbroken Empire's revolts was an Ascendant Bane mage, or a 'Scourge', named Nairan Liric. Nairan held a deep hatred for Elves, largely linked to the death of his sister in one of their labor camps. He was also a grim and vindictive man, obsessed with his magic and how he could use it to harm others. The genocide offered Nairan ample opportunity to practice his art, and upon becoming a Scourge he engineered a biological condition that he quickly spread through the Ald'norai populace due to their close quarters during forced relocation. Particularly non-lethal and highly asymptomatic, this disease spread unnoticed and thus rampantly through the Elven community. Its effect was meant to be something that would prevent Ald'norai resurgence for all of history: the majority of Elves inflicted with the disease became permanently infertile.

As a result of this disease, Ald'norai recovery was extremely slow and their population continued to decline well into the first two centuries after their relocation. Additionally, the disease appeared to weaken the immune system of those afflicted with it, resulting in millions of deaths by various diseases. This infertility resulted in Ald'norai populations falling as low as six million in the year 3503, in the Age of Tyranny, contrasted with around one hundred million at the height of Silor in the mid-Second Age.

Fortunately, the Ald'norai eventually became immune to this disease and their fertility returned to its zenith. This resulted in a massive boost in their birth rate in the third century of the Third Age, and by the middle of the Third Age there were nearly forty million Sil'Norai (as by this time they transitioned away from their old name) living in Sil-Elaine. Unfortunately, with the Bleeding, the lingering disease would mutate and come into a resurgence, acting as the catalyst to the current Sil'norai infertility epidemic.

Cultural Inquisition: Once the Ald'norai were relocated and, effectively crippled from ever returning to their prior might, the Unbroken Empire began an inquisition against them that affected all aspects of their culture, especially their religion. While the Elven Gods were allowed to live, partly because the Empire feared provoking the Eldashan into allying with their enemies and incurring massive Elven revolts, symbology of them such as idols, open worship and temples and monuments were struck down violently. The faith of the Eldashan, fundamentally important to the culture of the Ashen Elves, was made culturally irrelevant over the span of decades. All expression of it was effectively made contraband, and simultaneous with this was an attack on the other cultural premises and institutions of the Elven race.

And so this cultural inquisition, as it is called, spelled the final phase of the Ald'norai genocide: the death of their culture, resulting in increased Unbroken centralization, the proliferation of Common throughout their society, the loss of religiosity and the blending of Elven identity with new Imperial industrialism. Much of what remained of Ald'norai culture after the inquisition was merely symbolic: the Sil'Elan monarchy (Riala's descendants), old folktales, and the few songs that survived the cultural purge as many of them were viewed as insurrectionist propaganda.

Veratelle, Tyrnac and Lotheric (who all still resided in Sil-Elaine) became largely irrelevant, followed by small communities that were utterly disconnected from the increasingly Unbroken-like main of their society.

Characteristics

The Ald'norai appeared to be almost the middle-ground between the Sil'norai and Hyr'norai of today. They possessed the Sil'norai's silver patterns, their fair skin (though less so) and their characteristically ashen hair. They also possessed the golden eyes common to the Hyr'norai, as well as amber shades, and the Hyr'norai's considerably longer ears. Further, they had a similar build, height and lifespan as the Hyr'norai.

One trait the Ald'norai had that the Elven races no longer have, save for in a rare Sil'norai genetic mutation, was their ashen-like freckles and moles that ran across their body. While many of these were light, some Ald'norai had a remarkable number of these birth markings, colored anywhere from silver to dark grey to black, and occasionally white. Further, many are depicted by historians - such as in famous busts in Lorien and the Imperium - as having totally black sclera, due to the Black Sigil. While this was not actually common, it is a common myth among modern historians that the Ald'norai had black eyes. This is generally, however, seen as human propaganda to make them appear villainous.

Part of the reason the old Elves were so dominant was their racial ability, Lothas. While Lothas is also an inherited feature among Hyr'norai, it is fairly diminished from what it used to be. While Lothas evidently has divine origins, it was actually a trait with a somewhat genetic feature, with certain bloodlines having more powerful variants of it. These bloodlines were specifically bred and their members were seen as attractive partners, with their traits passing down through generations.

Lothas was a powerful ability in these ancient times; it could generate blasts of scorching light, blind others with its eminence, and be infused into weapons and armor with ease. It could also be applied to living objects. The Ald'norai were also capable of seeing very well in extreme light, making them resistant to their own abilities. This, of course, created excellent conditions for war with other races as even many of the Elves' mundane soldiers held a significant advantage over their peers. However, this enhanced form of Lothas has since disappeared from the world.

This is due to a combination of factors; Hyr'norai do not specifically breed to maintain these light-wielding bloodlines, and the Bleeding also corrupted many of the Elve's inherently magical genes. This is why, for example, the Sil'norai are totally incapable of utilizing Lothas. It appears that the more corrupted one's body becomes, the more diluted and unspectacular their ability becomes as well.

Change

The change from traditional Ald'norai features to the modern features of the Sil'norai and Hyr'norai was certainly influenced by the Bleeding, with magical mutations dramatically altering the Sil'norai, most notably with mutations diverging their biology from their western peers. However, a lot of this change occurred over centuries, and much of it long before the Elven schism.

Western and eastern diaspora of Hyr'norai were always different - the eastern Elves were always paler, always more prone to ivory or silvery hair, and always with the strange mutations that gave them a unique complexion to their skin. However, most of these differences were almost entirely in color. The lifespan, build, and other defining characteristics of the Ald'norai were roughly identical to that of the old Hyr'norai, and in fact the modern Hyr'norai.

It is the Sil'norai who began to demonstrate considerable changes even before the Bleeding, though obviously not to the same extent. This was largely due to a small amount of human genetics beginning to spread throughout their race. Around 5 to 10% of all Sil'norai genes come from humans in their ancestry, and due to this their ears began to shorten, their lifespans slightly decreased and they became slightly smaller and less robust. The influx of Half-Elves into Sil'norai society fundamentally changed their genetic make-up, and through time more and more Ald'norai traits began to disappear. When the Bleeding struck, the last Ald'norai trait common to Sil'norai - the ability Lothas - entirely disappeared from their race. "Sil'norai" who were far away from Sil-Elaine at this time and did not lose Lothas have all but vanished, as they either reproduced with humans or other Elven races, disappearing through generations.

Thus, the Vinasran Elves as a distinct race have vanished from the world. While some Elven nationalists have sought to revive Ald'norai heritage through Necromancy, they have found it impossible to reintroduce the ancient form of Lothas, making the Ald'norai effectively extinct.

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