Land Elwens- munthi, in the Primal Tongue- are the most prolific, politically powerful, and widespread of the Elwen races. They are often more curious than most, and thus many of the half-Elwens of the world descend from them. Their stubbornness, pride, and prowess in war are also legendary. Come among them, if you would- the Free Ones, the Children of the Trees.
PHYSICAL LOOKS
Land Elwens are born with pale skin; but, as they alone, of all the Elwen races, tan, quite often mature land Elwens, especially in the southern climes, will have chestnut or dark brown faces and hands. Their eyes and hair can be any color or combination of colors, including many unknown to humans in nature (silver, gold, gold-flecked black, blue, green, orange, red, pewter, and so on). Indeed, blond hair (as opposed to "golden," which is metallic-colored; or "yellow," which is the color of corn; or "sunlight," which looks like what its name mimics) and brown hair are quite rare among them, as are brown and hazel eyes. Land Elwen inheritance in this matter, as in any other, rarely breeds completely true, and a child of two parents looking the same may hearken back to colors last in the family three generations ago- or be completely different.
Land Elwens stand about six to six and a half feet tall, with shorter than this being more common than taller. They are very slender in comparison to humans of the same height, though they weigh more than many Elwen races (about 170 to 190 pounds). Like all Elwens, they have reflexes five times as fast as humans', and keener senses. For example, they can see in the dark, hear breathing and heartbeats, and follow a trail by scent. (For more on this magic common to all Elwens, see Elwens.)
Land Elwens have bright silver blood, like most Elwen races, that comes scalding hot out of their veins. They can briefly sprint as fast as cheetahs, but not for more than a few miles. They live (unless felled by violence or accident earlier) about ten millennia.
EMOTIONAL MAKEUP
Land Elwens are the most volatile of the Children of the Stars. While ordinary Elwen emotions may be estimated to burn ten times as hot as those of humans, those of land Elwens burn thirty times as hot. They are the source of their magic- for example, a hotly angry land Elwen can call fire, while those coldly angry can call diamond shards or bubonic plague- and much of their prowess in war, as well as bitter conflicts and feuds among land Elwens.
Most land Elwens, wherever they dwell, consider kin to be important. They may not always love their families. Indeed, temviaq- deadly quarrels between members of the same bloodline- are not uncommon. But they generally consider themselves bound to avenge the deaths of those related to them by blood or love, and there are a hundred thousand tales in Arcadian literature of land Elwens following murderers across the continent, or enacting revenge plans that may cross generations.
As for other general traits, most land Elwens are more responsive to the culture and city they live in than any general description.
MAGICAL MAKEUP
Other than the emotional magic mentioned above, land Elwens have little specific racial magic. They can sense and read the emotions of others (unless those others have taken pains to conceal them), and are often more gifted with mental magic, especially the common gifts of telekinesis or telepathy, than their kin.
Perhaps the mightiest magic other than the emotional that land Elwens possess is that for which they were named: their ability to bond with the earth. A land Elwen may twine his or her will with the land's, causing trees to attack, animals to hunt intruders or give up their lives willingly, and the soil to become more fertile. Those with strong earth magic, or those born into high blood families, will often undergo a special ritual called the Claiming, in which they spill their blood upon the earth and call the elements to witness the joining. The Elwen is thereafter responsive to the emotions of that particular piece of ground, and vice versa; and they physically suffer the hurts that happen to each other. If a forest on Claimed land is burned, burns appear on the Elwen's body. If the lord or lady of the land sickens or goes mad, then the land will become fouled, and often the animals and people who live on it will begin to die.
ORIGINS AND MODERN SETTLEMENTS
Land Elwens were born in the Rivadan Valley, in southern Cytheria. Some say they were born of starfire, others simply of the starlight like the other Elwen kinds. But most land Elwens hold they were born from the hands of Laerfren, the Lord of Light, most powerful of the silver stars. That, they say, is the cause of their blood-hatred for the curalli. For the shadowed Elwens are the children of Lafrenna, Lady of Shadows, most powerful of the black stars, and Laerfren and Lafrenna are ever at war in the annals of Arcadia.
The Children of the Trees spread across the continent by migration, and by now, halfway through the Twelfth Age, have established themselves in nearly all provinces. Major communities include:
-Velwenacron and its sister cities in the north of Fhevu, dedicated to keeping criminals from escaping.
-Carmai, a nation of both land Elwens and humans in southern Caladariz.
-The Oasis, a small, tightly guarded city in the south of the Nymari, dedicated to winning, if they can, the province back from the darkened races.
Communities in Cytheria, both in the Rivadan Valley, where some still dwell in the home of their ancestors, and in the north.
Curalliesain in the north of the Euras Ataar, the Frigid Waste, guarding the Curalli Confederation.
Sonorhela and Sonorchea, in the south of the Euras Ataar, which make the magical silverswords and live mostly in paranoid fear.
Siau, in the north of the Barren Desert; an isolated and suspicious city.
Corafur and her sister cities in northern Sweptoria, centers of philosophy and learning.
And the Three Cities of the Trees, in the southeastern Tableland:
Rowan. Greatest city of Arcadia, she numbers over ten million people at this writing, not all of them Free, and is the greatest war power and power for trading, both, in Arcadia.
Oak. Perhaps the home of the purest land Elwen culture in Arcadia, this city worships the Goddess Suulta exclusively and is under Her personal protection. No strangers of alien race pass her gates.
Palm. Long a slave-trading city and disgraced because of it, this city on the Acrad River is now climbing out of its dark past, and may freely claim to be the center of poetry in Arcadia, a claim challenged only by Rowan.
LANGUAGES
All land Elwens, save those who have lived long among people of alien race (and most of the other Tree Children in Arcadia would name the people of Curalliesain and the other northern Euras cities among these) speak Arilar tongues, descended from the language spoken five billion years ago in the Rivadan Valley, a language said to come from the hands of Laerfren Himself. These languages have diversified so much that only the dedicated work of scholars, and the common-sense bonds of race, proves any relationship between them. The most influential are:
Alúcani- The language of the Rivadan land Elwens. They claim this as the oldest and purest Arilar tongue, though this claim is doubted and challenged in many other quarters. It is the common trade and diplomatic language among the communities of the Valley.
Makil- The tongue of northern Cytheria, the city of Shannakaada and the like. For a long time, when northern Cytheria served as a refuge for runaway slaves and a stronghold for slaver-haters, this was the sole language in which anti-slavery material could be openly published. It has retained its romantic appeal since then, and many descendants of those who fled to Shannakaada embrace it as a mother tongue.
Soramblon- The 'land Elwen language' of the northern Waste (placed so in quotes because many claim it has been tainted by curalli contamination). The snow Elwens and ice Elwens, at least, see nothing wrong with it, and often use it between themselves (they hate each other so much they will not consider using each other's languages), and so do the curalli when they shout insults at the atagarni in battle. (It is true that the Free Ones and the Children of the Shadows have become in many respects one people, and many young Elwens coming from the Euras on their Wanderfrees are of mixed blood).
Analari- The form of the language spoken in Corafur and the other Cities of the Blossom, in Sweptoria. As mentioned above, they are the centers of philosophy and abstract magical theory in Arcadia today, and many treatises are published in Analari alone, or Analari with translations.
Aril- The High Tongue of Rowan, and to some extent Oak and Palm. Without question the most influential Elwen language in Arcadia. Most races use it as a lingua franca when communing with contacts from the next province or farther away, and debased forms of it appear in trade and government communication all over the continent. It has been assumed that almost half of Arcadia's present population of two billion speaks or at least knows some of it, and Aril lends itself admirably to everything from science to poetry.
More to come, I promise.
