Drey-Gelvani

The children of Gelthena and Kelamin Kahn are the Drey-Gelvani, the "Dark Elves", strong and powerful, dark and sinewy beings.

Their progenitor deity, Kelamin, was the Gelvani god of war, skill at arms, and competition. In the divine realm of Arvanis, it was his duty to protect paradise from those outsider deities that sought to corrupt it. Like their fore-father, the Drey-Gelvani have a strong accord for the arts of war.

When the Gelvani race was cast down to Naeja, Kelamin's children made their home near the modern northern borders of Mirivia, and called their lands Shanothyr. It was the Drey-Gelvani who defeated the orcish hordes that first plagued the elves, and it was they who secured the forests of Mirivia for their people. But, as it has been said, the other Gelvani did not appreciate the dark elves' martial ardor or their intense devotion to arts of war. The Drey-Gelvani were thus mistrusted and feared by their cousins, with the Que-Gelvani in particular fearing that the armies their brethren kept existed to keep them in check rather than to protect them.

Thus it was that, when the Orog'Kahn finally ended and peace seemed to return to the land, the Que-Gelvani called to their cousins to disband their hosts. Tension grew between the two Blood-Lines, and violence finally ensued: the Royal Prince of Shanothyr was slain in a duel with Tiercellis Calazar, a Que-Gelvani hero. Though the Shanothyri initially threatened war,
they instead chose to seceed from Mirivia. Quel-Thena Elphaedrir, not wanting war amongst her people, grudgingly accepted this. However, it was not long before tensions grew too great, both in the mortal realms and in divine Arvanis as well.

The dark elves began to believe the Quel-Thena would try to retake their kingdom. The high elves, for their part, believed their war-like cousins would strike for the throne. In the end, the paranoia of both Blood-Lines led to war. The Que-Gelvani struck
into Shanothyr with a small force intent on thwarting a greater conflict with a quick, decisive victory, but this instead resulted in the Drey-Gelvani leading an all-out assault on Mirivian soil. The battles that ensued left thousands of Gelvani dead; the great city of They-Kithara itself was razed. Finally, the Dark Elven armies were forced to withdraw. An even more awful war had been waged within Arvanis, though, and paradise itself shook with the thunder of war. Fey-Kalin was destroyed at the hands of Kelamin, who was in turn defeated and slain by Tiercellis, the mortal who had once been his Servitor. This god-slaying is the source of a great enmity between the two Blood-Lines, though their alliance against the Barukar might have opened the door to eventual reconciliation.

The Drey-Gelvani still rule over Shanothyr, but their kingdom is a divided one. Some dark elves have chosen to return to their ancient ways and see act as the defenders of the Gelvani as a whole, against opponents within and out. They tend to be worshippers of Tolathar, once Kelamin’s most loyal Servitor, and now ally of the ascended Tiercellis. Others have fallen
further from their true selves, and seek revenge for the downfall of their race, through the conquest of Mirivia and the destruction of Gelthena herself. These dark elves were worshippers of Crothien, the brutish, wicked son of Kelamin. Since that deity's destruction, such warriors have devolved to blood-thirsty marauders, little more than petty bandits with delusions of a higher calling. Finally, from the chaos of the times a third deity has arisen to power amongst the dark elves. She is called Baelshyn, “the Black”, and is held highly among some Gelvani women as the embodiment of rage and plight. Through the chaos that she creates, her worshippers hope to bring the downfall of the current dark elven civilization and return the Blood-Line to a looser, clan-based society. In this way she believes she will save the Drey-Gelvani; right or wrong, most Gelvani gods just believe she is deranged and incapable of anything besides creating havoc.

The Drey-Gelvani are taller than all the other Blood-Lines, save the Sylvana-Gelvani. They are sleek, dark creatures, with skin
tones ranging from dark tan to nearly onyx. Their hair ranges from ash-gray to dark brown and pitch black; their eyes
are brilliant shades of green, blue or silver, but a few dark elves have been known to possess black eyes. Much stronger than
most of their kin, and most humans, they possess, incredibly dense, wiry and defined musculatures.

Dark Elves prefer lightweight, highly detailed clothing. They dye their clothing in dark shades of blue, brown, green, purple and red, as well as black. In their forest of Shanothyr this keeps them well camouflaged to foes. When at war, the Drey-Gelvani wear the heaviest armor known to elves. Rank-and-file warriors at the least wear fine, elegant suits of chain mail, but elites and champions don unique sets of elven platemail. Such armor is among the most elaborate works crafted by elvenkind, and the prestige they carry tie directly to their decorations. The suits worn by the greatest warriors of Shanothyr would be considered priceless artifacts by other cultures, masterpieces fit only for display. Dark elven weapons are also considered works of art, and their beauty if matched only by their durability and deadliness. It thus goes without saying that Drey-Gelvani appreciate art like other elves, but focus their works toward weapons, armor, and depictions of battles and other martial motifs.

Dark elves are particularly fond of body art, and almost all of their kind have some form of tattoos. Correspondingly, Drey-Gelvani practice a form of magic not known to their cousins. Called Shamora-Kifi, or "magical flesh", these are complex patterns of deeper, mystical meaning set in ink, infused with enchantments, and burnt into the flesh. Though most grant only minor magical powers, some say the greatest of Kifi artists can enchant incredible powers upon the canvas of the flesh.

Drey-Gelvani live in hundreds of small communities throughout their forest, but only have one true city: Feyldyr-Mar]. Their smaller settlements keep in close contact with one another. The ancient cedars their forest is mostly made of are not as large as the emerwoods of Que-Gelvani woodlands, and thus dark elf homes are built around and below the bases of the trees. The dark elves use the massive roots that rise from the earth as foundations and support for their walls, and use magic and an understanding of nature’s ways to shape the growth of the tree to their means. When trees are large enough to serve thus, they raise tree-dwellings much like their high elf cousins. Drey-Gelvani villages are typically lit by fairy fire spells to banish the dominating darkness of their forests at night. Dark elves do not use walls to defend their communities, but their defenses should never be held in doubt. Wit and deception, skill and magic, these are things trusted more by the warlike Drey-Gelvani than any mere wall.

The Drey-Gelvani are the only elven society with a predominately patriarchal, rather than matriarchal, system of rulership. They are led by a king rather than a queen, but all Drey-Gelvani are considered equals. Women fight along side their men, and the men raise the family alongside the women. There is no gender difference, aside from the matter of royal succession. Many high elves see this as a by-product of Kelamin's defiant ways whilst he still lived, but dark elves point out that a queen could just as easily rule them. Nonetheless, Que-Gelvani and Sylvana-Gelvani see a king on Shanothyr's throne as evidence of the fundamental disfunction of dark elf society. This attitude has been contagious to some degree, and some Drey-Gelvani women have begun fighting for a return to a traditional Matriarchy.

As can be expected the Drey-Gelvani possess the greatest elven army. All dark elves are trained from childhood to master the spear and bow, and it is required of each and every man and woman to serve in the royal army for at least a decade out of their life. For all their differences with the Que-Gelvani, they have ever been the first line of defense against invasions by the orc and ogre kingdoms. They proved they were ultimately willing to stand beside their cousins against the Barukar. This leads the other elves to hope that, despite their divisions, the Drey-Gelvani would unite do defend the elven kingdoms should an outside threat arise.

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