The Kingdoms of the Elves & Dwarves

[Silver Moon]

People of Mengale

The Mengale Ambassador

One of the High Lords or High Ladies has always held the responsibility of serving as the Mengale Ambassador, to communicate with the outside world. The present ambassador is High Lady Arwen Gerithar Silmar. She is the youngest of the High Lords and Ladies, and is rather rebellious, being receptive to new and different ideas. She also enjoys travelling outside of Mengale, which is highly unusual for someone from this Kingdom. She holds a precarious position among the leaders of Mengale, being the daughter of a well-respected former member, but with the others wanting her to develop more maturity before voicing opinions to their group.

Arwen was born the daughter of High Lord Gerithar and his wife Lady Trean during the year 2323 and raised from birth to be a Mengale High Lady. In 2482 she became High Lady with the passing of her father. She also began to dabble with the spellcasting arts of wizardry rather than clerical magic. At that time she was only 159 years old, which was a human equivalent of only 15, and very few of the other High Lords and High Ladies took this “child” very seriously. Those who attempted to try to manipulate young Arwen soon found that it was a mistake to think that adolescence was the same as naivete, as she had been very well trained by her father as to the political workings of the Kingdom and personalities of the other High Lords and High Ladies.

At the strong encouragement of both her mother and the other High Lords and High Ladies Arwen married Lord Silmar in the year 2505. Lord Silmar had inherited the leadership of his family, a prominent family who specialized in creating ornate silver jewelry and dinnerware. He had never married, and was the human equivalent of around 35 years in age. The two were very attracted to each other and looked forward to a happy future together. The High Lords and High Ladies hoped that his maturity would rub off on her, but it instead had the opposite effect, with him now acting more youthful and vibrant, with him accompanying Arwen on her journeys outside of the Kingdom. While abroad Arwen continued to expand her knowledge of magic use, something not looked favorably upon by those of Mengale.

Tragedy struck while the two were taking a sea journey in the first days of the year 2579. Human pirates set upon the ship that Arwen and her husband were sailing on. Their leader, a vile man named Morbin, killed Silmar and had his way with Arwen. The pirates then set the ship afire and adrift. Before perishing in the fire, Arwen threw herself overboard. She washed up days later on an isolated island near the Hope Island Chain. The only inhabitant of the island was an old unnamed human woman, who found the barely alive elf and tended to her wounds.

Several days later Arwen’s fever broke, and she became coherent again. Depressed and despondent over the death of her husband at the hands of humans, she avoided the human woman as much as she could. Many months passed, and Arwen found herself to be pregnant. She prayed to Correllon Larethian that the child was Silmar’s, but was told in dream that it was not. As a High Lady of Mengale she had been raised to despise any not of the blessed full-elvan blood, and the thought of having a half-human child was too much for her to cope with She tried to kill herself, but the old woman again saved young Arwen’s life. The old woman later helped her give birth to the child.

Arwen wanted nothing to do with the half-elf baby, and the old woman was left with the task of raising him. The old woman named him Ross, and taught the boy to refer her as ‘Mother’. Arwen kept herself distant from the two of them, but found herself unable to totally abandon the boy. She knew that she could not return to Mengale with the child, as their society would never accept him. Arwen considered constructing a boat to leave the island, but the old woman refused to leave her lifelong home, and Arwen did not want the abandon the young boy here with the old human only having very few years left. So Arwen stayed, and as time went on she began to help to raise the boy, teaching him physical skills as well as how to use magic. The boy always would refer to Arwen by her given name.

The old woman surprisingly lived several decades, and Ross grew to be a young man before she eventually died of old age. Arwen and Ross then built a boat and sailed for several weeks until they reached a populated island that traded with the main continent. Shortly the two of them returned to the Kingdom of Mengale. The Mengale elves have such long lives with such a long-term perspective that during Arwen’s three-dozen year absence the other High Lords and High Ladies had not yet gotten around to replacing her, and so she resumed her position among them.

Arwen introducing Ross as her bodyguard, stating that “He and his now deceased human mother saved me several times from certain death. I made a promise to her before she died that I would look after and protect her son.” As the other leaders of Mengale were grateful for the return of their High Lady, and with assurances from Arwen that her relationship with Ross was not and would never be sexual in nature, they granted Ross a special exception to allow him to reside in Mengale as a Non-citizen.

As the only half-elf within Mengale, the population has barely been tolerant of his presence. It is clear that most consider him an impure intruder in their elvan lands. He is even rejected by most of the other non-citizens, who have become generally accepted by those of Mengale and feel that associating with Ross could jeopardize that. The one exception is the gnome, who has become his only friend. Arwen is saddened that he son will never be accepted by her people, and whenever a situation arises that requires a member of the High Council to travel outside of Mengale she always volunteers for it, to give Ross a chance to experience the outside world.

To date the only one who has deduced Arwen's actual relationship to Ross was a young elvan thief named Raliana. She had worked for Potter of Forest End and accompanied Ren during two trade caravans into Mengale. A few years later Arwen and Ross ran into her while conducting research at the College Library at Luynn, and Ross spent several days with the attractive young lady, during which time a comment accidentally came out. Raliana has agreed to not reveal this to anybody.

Unbeknownst to all of Mengale, Arwen has also secretly met with Gredawal Lyrr, the current patriarch of the Lyrr family in Brondani. The two of them would both like to see the elvan groups reunited, but have not yet deduced how to make that happen.

 

[Silver Moon]

City of Brondani

The City of Brondani

On the southern coastline, approximately 900 miles southwest of the Silvanost Kingdom, is the city of Brondani. A human family named Brondani founded the city over 4,500 years ago. During the first two millennia they turned this city into a thriving port city. Unlike other cities, this one was always kept clean and respectable, and became a magnet for other noble families to establish their households in.

Approximately 2,500 years ago Lyretra of Silvanost, daughter of the murdered bard Llyr, could no longer tolerate the rulings of their queen, and sought a new home for her elvan noble family. The city of Brondani had always welcomed the traveling bards from the family Llyr, and Lyretra met with the head of the Brondani family to negotiate arrangements to move there. The Brondani family owned a vast tract of undeveloped land immediately north of the city, and offered to sell it to the elves. Lyretra, and ten other noble families of Silvanost pooled their monies together for this purchase, then moved to their new home.

A few decades later another elvan household also left Silvanost for Brondani, acquiring some adjacent land from the Brondani family. This now established an equal number of noble houses of both human and elves, a dozen of each. Each race's twelve houses were ranked by their level of prominence, and it was declared that both #1 ranked houses of each race was considered equal, outranking the #2 house of either race, and so on down to #12. This ranking system has remained in effect ever since.

Like the people of Silvanost, the Brondani elves are a polygamous society. Unlike Silvanost, all of their unions are recognized as true marriages. The Brondani elves 'encourage' the first marriage to be between full-blooded elves that descend from those of Silvanost, however this is not absolutely required. Like the noble households, each spouse is referred to by a rank, this ranking being chronological numerical order. Children are also ranked by birth order and gender. Typical all first and second sons and daughters are encouraged to also bond with full-blooded elves. Beyond these initial unions, the race of the spouse is less important, and unions often occur between the human and elvan noble houses of the city. These human households have also adopted the practice of polygamy.

Each of the 24 houses in the city has its own specialization of skills. The Llyr family was the #1 ranked elvan household, specializing in both bard and mage abilities. A little over 1,200 years ago the long lost Ring of Llyr materialized again, brought to Brondani by a mysterious elf who claimed to be an ascended hero. Several of Lyretra's apprentices became entranced and enraptured by this individual, who then involved them in a plot that involved the Kingdoms of Mengale and Silvanost. When the situation was over there had been elvan deaths at both Kingdoms, with the blame placed upon those of Brondani. While Lyretra herself was innocent, she was held responsible for the actions of her apprentices, and the Llyr family was stripped of their top ranking, being reduced to the #12 elvan household of the city. From that point forward magic-users have been held in very low status everywhere within the city, and the few that remain in the city are not allowed to congregate.

Llyretra died around 450 years ago, and her eldest son Gredawal is now the leader of the Llyr family. Over the centuries they have been working their way back up the rankings, and are now considered the #6 ranked family in the city.

The rankings of the Brondani Families, and their specialties, are as follows:

Elvan Noble Houses
1. Taraloen - Clerics of Correllon Larethian and linguists
2. Sindafalathion - Fighters and equestrians
3. Enmelloniel - Artists, weavers and knowledge of religions
4. Novardaian - Fighters, equestrians, and master sword-fighters
5. Vanadhol - Engineering skills
6. Llyr - Bards and historians
7. Megilial - Armorers and metalworkers
8. Angachilion - Jewelry, gem cutting and glass blowing
9. Maegolkarien - Rangers, druids and astrology
10. Engwahilien - Fighters, sword and weapon makers
11. Annonamon - Herbalists and alchemy
12. Luinecoire - Dancers, vintners and brewers

Human Noble Houses
1. Brondani - Leadership skills, heraldry, ship captains
2. Silverspring - Dancers and artists
3. Waters - Enginnering and shipbuilding skills
4. Mills - Agricultural, animal handling and druid skills
5. Bowman - Archers, rangers and woodworkers
6. Newquest - Paladins, fighters, equestrian and charioteering skills
7. Chamberlin - Mapmakers, navigators and shipmasters
8. Richman - Financial managers and priests
9. Zeckerman - Gaming, hunting and rogue skills
10. Mayville - Armor and leatherworking skills
11. Holmes - Woodworking and wooden weapon making skills
12. Dennett - Historians, linguistic and rogue skills

 

[Silver Moon]

The Llyr Family of Brondani

Family Llyr, 6th Ranking Elvan Family in the City of Brondani.

First Generation

Llyretra was leader of the family when they first arrived in Brondani from Silvanost around 2,600 years earlier (it was then that they referred to themselves as the First Generation of Brondani Elves). She was a Bard/Magic-user. Her mage’s Guild was considered responsible for the conflicts with Silvanost and Mengale 1,200 years ago. This caused the family to fall in rank from 1st Elvan House to 12th, and has taken them a considerable amount of time to rise back in status. Llyretra had seven husbands and twelve children, of which Gredawal was her 1st son, through her 1st full-elvan husband. Llyretra died around 450 years ago.

Second Generation

Current Family Leader: Gredawal is the eldest grandson of the great bard Llyr. Gredawal’s mother Llyretra was Llyr’s daughter. Like his mother, he is a Bard/Magic-User, although his use of magic is a well kept family secret.

Gredawal, unlike his many siblings and cousins, only had one spouse an elvan Bard named Netralia from the Sindafalathion family. They had three children. Netralia died around 200 years ago. Gredawal is 2,138 years old (human equivalent of 76).


Third Generation

First Daughter of Gredewal: Maelwys is a Bard and is 1,153 years old (human equivalent of 40). She married an elf named Artheranor from the Maegolkarien family, and they had two children. Around 70 years ago she also married a human named Erol from the Silverspring family, and they had three children. Erol past away 30 years ago.

First Son of Gredewal: Bradwen is a Bard and is the family historian, and presently expected to be Gredawal’s heir. He is 975 years old (human equivalent of 35). He has had six wives (four currently living) and has eighteen children.

Second Daughter of Gredewal: Fflewdur, like her father, is a Bard. She has also secretly trained as a Magic-User. She is 650 years old (human equivalent of 23). She has had five husbands (four currently living) and has had fourteen children. All of her husbands and most of her children have also been secretly trained as Magic-users.

 

[Silver Moon]

The Llyr Family of Brondani

Fourth Generation

First Daughter of Maelwys: Elladyne is the elvan daughter of Maelwys’s first husband. She is a gifted bard, who is considered to have the best singing voice of the entire family. She is 593
years old (human equivalent of 21).

First Son of Maelwys: Erathrenor is the elvan son of Maelwys’s first husband. He is a bard, who has spent most of the past half century away on adventure. He is 481 years old (human
equivalent of 17). He has been mentioned as a possible heir to Gredewal.

Second Son of Maelwys: Jason is the half-elvan son of Maelwys’s second husband. He is a fighter/cleric, who cares for any ill members of the family. He is now 98 years old (human equivalent of 29).

Second Daughter of Maelwys: Tilden is the half-elvan daughter of Maelwys’s second husband. She is a very mischevious thief and looks forward to all that life has to offer. She is 87 years old
(human equivalent of 27). She is married to the 1st son of the human Dennett family, and has two children. Her best friend is the elvan thief Ralaina.

Third Son of Maelwys: Pat, brother of Tilden. Half-elvan son of Maelwys second husband. He is a fighter who serves as a bodyguard to his mother and grandfather, often as the team leader of a group of his half-elvan cousins. He is 81 years old (human equivalent of 25).

**Note: The storyline thus far has only featured the following five of Bradwen and Fflewder’s 32 children:

First Daughter of Bradwen: Aralyne is the full-elvan daughter of Bradwen’s First wife. A bard, linguist, and gifted historian. She is 516 years old (human equivalent of 20).

First Son of Bradwen: Allanor is the full-elvan son of Bradwen’s first wife. A bard and historian. He is 438 years old (human equivalent of 18).

Third Son of Bradwen: James is the half-elvan son of Bradwen’s fifth wife. He is a fighter who has served as a bodyguard to his father and grandfather. He is 143 years old (human
equivalent of 32).

Second Son of Fflewdur: Adam is the half-elvan son of Fflewdur’s third husband (who has died). He is a fighter/magic-user who has served as a bodyguard to his mother and grandfather. He is a very gifted mage, and the favorite of Griedewal’s 37 grandchildren. He is 119 years old (human equivalent of 29).

Fourth Son of Fflewdur: Daniel is the half-elvan son of Fflewdur’s third husband (who has died). He is a fighter/magic-user who has served as a bodyguard to his mother and grandfather. Like his older brother Adam, he is a gifted mage. He is 91 years old (human equivalent of 23).

 

[Forrester]

I gotta say . . . you know how to create those elven names . . .

*shoots self in head*

 

[Silver Moon]

I gotta say . . . you know how to create those elven names . . .

*shoots self in head*

Nahh, Don't shoot yourself. I don't know how to create them...just where to steal them from. Some I stole directly from the sources referenced in the first post. For others I called up the Middle Earth random names generator - and just plugged in the real names for my friends, and wrote down the result from the generator.

Hope you are enjoying the setting - we've been having a lot of fun playing it.

 

[Forrester]

Hope you are enjoying the setting - we've been having a lot of fun playing it.

The only enjoyment I'm going to get is if my players end up killing the NPC elves you've listed above .

*scribbles down godawful names*

 

[Silver Moon]

The only enjoyment I'm going to get is if my players end up killing the NPC elves you've listed above .

*scribbles down godawful names*

Well, I suppose you could do that since you're free to use this setting however you wish. However, mass murder seems to be a rather harsh punishment for having unusual-sounding names. Tell me, do the half-elves named Ross, Pat, Adam and Daniel get a pass or are they on the hit-list too?

 

[Silver Moon]

Rings of Silvanost

The following are a set of five magical rings, at least one and possibly several of which may play a part in the upcoming "League of Assassins" module.

The Rings of Gealdor - These were a set of five unique rings constructed approximately 2,400 years ago by the elvan mage Ilferos Engwahilien for King Gealdor Eldenros, the Third Ruler of the Elvan land of Silvanost. Approximately 2,250 years ago Gealdor gave up his throne and all of his worldly possessions, leaving the world to travel the night skies with a mystical race. Each ring is gold, and has the crest of the Eldenros family on it. In the years since then the rings have each changed hands several times.

Properties of all of the Rings: Each ring is said to be indestructible. Each of these rings is also exempt from the restriction of the wearer only being able to have one magical ring on a hand at the same time (Gealdor wore all five on his left hand).

The Safety Ring of Gealdor is worn by the Fifth Ruler of Silvanost, Queen Vanya Eldenros, daughter of King Elufin Eldenros and granddaughter of King Gealdor Eldenros.

This ring has the combined properties of a Ring of Force Shield, a Ring of Mind Shielding, and a +3 Ring of Protection.

The Travel Ring of Gealdor is currently worn by Vanya’s younger sister, Princess Isildre Eldenros.

This spell allows the wearer, regardless of character class, up to three Teleport without Error or Transport via Plants spells a day.

The Sight Ring of Gealdor has found its way to the City of Brondani, 800 miles southwest of Silvanost, where it is worn by Netralitor Engwahilien, the leader of the Noble Family of Engwahilien and nephew of the mage who created the ring.

This ring allows the wearer, regardless of character class, to cast a Clairaudience/Clairvoyance spell, a Scrying spell, or a True Seeing spell up to 5x a day (but not at the same time).

The Fire Ring of Gealdor had become the possession of the King of Allor following Gealdor's death. Allor is a coastal city state 200 miles northwest of Silvanost, and was a military ally to Silvanost. The Ring disappeared from the City of Allor following the death of its owner, an Allorian noble, over 300 years ago. It has recently reappeared on the Continent of Phlooredah in the City of Jawltorn, where the Jawlt Lordholder will soon be auctioning it off.

This ring functions as a Ring of Elemental Command - Fire as well as being able to also cast a Fire Shield spell twice daily and a Flame Blade three times a day.

The Spell Ring of Gealdor had been in the possession of Gealdor’s son King Elufin Eldenros, Fourth Ruler of Silvanost. Elufin died at the Battle against Tulisar in Elesterne (Silvanost’s northernmost region) 245 years ago, where it became the possession of Elufin’s military leader, General Maelfellinor. While he was never officially declared Silvanost’s Ruler, Maelfellinor led Silvanost under martial law for almost three decades before dying in a tragic accident. The Ring disappeared at that point, and was not seen again until 85 years ago, when it became the possession of Admiral Tucker of the Ostland Navy, who took it from a pirate captain. It later became the possession of his son, General Tucker of the Ostland Army. It recently changed hands in the Kingdom of Vestland, where Ostland was defeated at the Battle of Lowndes, and the ring was then taken from General Tucker by Lieutenant Commander Blip of the Vestland Army.

The Spell Ring of Gealdor is similar to a Ring of Spell Storing, except that it also allows the wearer to absorb spells cast at them into the ring (provided there is space for it, as the Ring can only store a total of five spells). To do this the wearer must concentrate on this task and make a successful Saving Throw as the spell is being cast at them. Complete absorption of the spell for later use takes a full round, so the wearer would not be able to both expend and absorb a spell simultaneously. The wearer always knows what spells are currently stored within the ring. Any type of spell can be stored in the ring, and can be expended by the wearer regardless of the wearer’s own class and level. All expended spells are cast from the ring as a caster at 12th level, regardless of the level that they were originally cast at.

Presently, the Ring has the following spells stored within it:

1. Insect Plague
2. Move Earth
3. Confusion
4. Summon Monster V
5. Blindness

 

[Silver Moon]

Stone of Llyr

The Elf Stone of Llyr

One of the Nine unique stones that Correllon Larethian gave to the nine elves that helped him to vanquish evil. Like the Elven stones of other mythos, each stone is partly "alive", able to sense the world and react to it, giving guidance to the elf who is the current possessor of it. Other properties of the stones, which are only granted to the Silvanost elves and their descendants, provided that they are also devout worshippers of the elvan deity, are as follows:

1) Limited empathy with stone throbs and guidance to the owner to things of interest nearby.
2) Granting of random visions of far away things of interest.
3) Increases all saving throws and armor class by +1
4) Granting of Wisdom +1 to +5 (starting at +1, and increasing by +1 for each century after that to the maximum of +5)
5) Allowing for the scrying and communication to the holders of the other eight stones, as well as the scrying of members of the elf's immediate family (sight and sound) at 12th level. [Note: The Llyr stone seemed to no longer have this property following its disappearance, as the holders of the other eight stones could no longer scry or communicate with it, leading some to (mistakenly) believe that the stone had been destroyed.]

Each stone also has unique properties.

The Llyr stone, when held by a bard, enhances any spells cast by up to 25% (as applicable: increased range, number of targets, and duration; decreased casting time and opponent's ability to save).

Note: Pictures of both the Fire Ring of Gealdor and Stone of Llyr have been posted on the "League of Assassins" thread.