The Seldarine
The elves are not rich in terms of the size of their lands (most kingdoms are no larger than a city-state), but they stretch across a vaster distance than any other nation. While Arkhosia is a continental stretch of continuous steppes, and Bael Turath has its feet in hell, its spires grabbing at heaven and its roads tying the whole together like a spider's web, the elven people spot reality entire. They stand in the Feywild, in climates across the mortal world and in crystaline enclosures deep in the Underdark. Because of this, unlike the dragonborn and the tieflings, the elves are not a single nation. Rather, they are a series of disparate, independent kingdoms united in confederation. They hold ambassadors from each other close, and though they bicker at times they will stand as one.
The Anauli Empire
- Shinaelestra
- Jenn-Tourach
- A city-state that cycles through a dozen locales in the mortal world throughout the year, ranging from frozen tundra to trackless desert to tropical forest.
- Mithrendain, the Autumn City
- Built on a gaping hole in the Feywild that leads deeper into the Fomorian Feydark than any other, Mithrendain is the site of the last war between the elves and the Fomorians.
Cendriane, the Twilight Kingdom
A large city-state, Cendriane exists simultaneously in the mortal world and the Feywild, and controls the land surrounding it in each. Free travelers who leave Cendriane can choose which of the two worlds they come out in; those who look over its walls see both admixed in their sight, with only movement to tell the difference between the two. Its double-population, and the access granted by its dual existence, makes Cendriane one of the most influential and connected of the elven kingdoms. The city's nobility are also its administrators, with rank based on crafts and trades rather than land-holdings; each is responsible for managing production/artisans, controlling wages and working conditions and overseeing training for one area of Cendarine's skilled labor. Titles include the Lady of the Horses and the Ladies of the Weave, Forge and Scrolls. Their court is as raucous as the floor of a trading house or university, ruled by a Princess. Her title, like all in the city, is matrilineal and matriarchal.
A character knows the following with a successful History check:
- DC 25 - Cendriane is famous for its seven bridges, each of a different fabulous material, which cross the river Alph. Symbolic of the link between the mortal and fey realm, they are frequently the site of processions and festivals. They vary in size, from the slender walking bridge of glass dubbed the Strand of Memories Unshared to the fifty-foot wide span of the jade Causeway of the Lords of Summer.
- DC 30 - There is a growing division in the council of Cendriane as to their relationship with the mortal realm. The minister of Sunlight and Music is opposed to any involvement beyond trade, while the minister of Dreamtime and Ceremony argues that it is the burden of the elven races to guide and correct the short lives of mortals. The princess has kept her opinion to herself thus far, but has not forbade action by her subjects.
- DC 35 - Avaellor, Cendriane's Spiral Tower, is home to nine Sages (and their various apprentices) gathered from across elven lands who use powerful magics to keep open their kingdoms' paths. It is they who allow Cendarine to span the planes, they who move Jenn-Tourach, they who keep Shinaelestra's portals from falling to ruin. The Sages are the elven lifeblood; without them, the planes-spanning confederation would shatter.
The Realm of the Twin Queens
The cavernous cells ruled by the Twin Queens' stretch for miles throughout the underdark. Tiny pockets of life, carved from giant, beautifully carved, hollowed-out stalactites and stalagmites. By the blessing of some god (Corellon? Sehanine? Araushnee?), this kingdom has, and will, always have its Twin Queens to rule it; in each generation, one of the pair proves barren and the other gives birth to her own set of twin girls.
- DC 35 - The Twin Queens, Kiaransalee and Zinzerena, lead their people in aiding Bael Turath in their war against Arkhosia. Is it their nearness, in the underdark of the mortal world beneath Vor Kragal, that gives them sympathy? Has the Hell-Born Emperor promised reparations, or the dragons made some insult? Do the Queens, themselves, traffic with devils? No one can say. But a few know that, in strictest secret, the Queens give what aid they can. Never elven soldiers - this would tip their hand to their kin - but swift transit through the Feywild, enchanted steel, and even the dross to pay ogre mercenaries all aid the Turathi war efforts thanks to them.
