The Shimmer Elves: Background and Information

A Shimmer elf


A Shimmer Elf has a black and white coloured skin, and most of them wear black and purple clothes. Shimmer elves are believed to be mortal, but due to the fact that most die because of war the maximum lifespan of the Shimmer elves is not known. After the downfall of their highly evolved society knowledge begun to slip away, now the few mages that are left preserve the little knowledge they still possess. Once their society was shattered other races became interested in Lunaris.Knowing that the Shimmer elf defenses were down and their people were divided certain races became aggressive towards the Shalante. Soon after that, ogres invaded their lands and even today they still possess portions of land that once belonged to the Shimmer Elves.

Background

The break-up with our Kin

Almost 5000 years ago an elven lord known as Vashar Valderona Talranshande was accused by the the local high counsil of practising black magic. In his homeland, Lorerian Forest this was one of the most severe crimes an elf could commit.

Because this lord Vashar was of royal blood he was given a fair trial, this special treatment was also granted because lord Vashar was very popular among his kind. He was put on trial and was found guilty by a small mayority of the counsil, even Vashar's explanation that his dark art study would benefit the knowledge about life and death was not sufficient to avoid his fate. His punishment was predictable and clear....death.

But Vashar Valderona Talranshande had always been seen a respected leader and honourable elf and the fact that he was now about to be killed caused a lot of discussion among the elves and soon there were many who supported Lord Vashar in his ideas and believes. Within a few days the situation grew more dangerous and there were even a few minor fights between the followers of the honorable Lord Vashar and the ones who wanted him gone. As if there weren,t enough problems already, long forgotten hatred between the noble houses on each side were brought in the discussions too. It has to be said that even then the noble houses of the Ithil and Culaydë family were already giving strong support to Lord Vashar and the other houses loyal to him.

The elders of Lorerian Forest called the high counsil together and decided that to avoid a civil war they had to come up with something real quick or they would have to face their own kin in a bitter struggle which would have led their entire race to devastation.

Finally they came up with a new judgement and it was clear that this would be their last, while they awaited Lord Vashar's answer they already assembled the most elite of the elven army. They had offered Lord Vashar and his loyal followers a choice: they would all be teleported and banned to a strange and unknown world where they could build a whole new society, but never again would they be welcome to their homeland. Even if they wanted to come back the chance that they would find a portal back was very small indeed...

With his fine judgement and countless years of wisdom and experience Lord Vashar Valderona Talranshande decided to accept this offer and lead his people to this unknown world. It was only because of his truly royal view of things that the wretched wood elves of Lorian forest were spared a terrible war that they would eventually had lost! But because those pityfull elves lacked insight, judgement, true leadership and were so ingnorant of progression our proud ancestors were doomed to a terrible fate.....

In the weeks that followed almost three entire tree cities were stripped from top to buttom. Few elves remained at those cities and almost all suplies were taken along. Not only food suplies and construction materials were brought along, even many animals and herbal species were taken to that new world that awaited them. In total almost seven thousand elves and hundreds of animals made the yourney to their new world and arrived on the land we now know as Lunaris..


Our Fate

As soon as the banned Elves arrived on Lunaris they knew that their live would change beyond recognition. The world they had entered was still in its primal fase and even today it has not changed much. At the spot where the ruins of Deanor are now, they first came into this land.

The elves were used to live in peacefull woods and beautifull valleys, they soon learned that there would be nothing here that even resembled that. But due to the leadership of Lord Vashar Valderona Talranshande they held their fate and began to rebuild their lives. They used everything what they brought along to build their new homes and this finaly led to the construction of the great city: Deanor.

But they were not the only creatures living in this part of Lunaris..... They soon discovered other races, like: barbarians, goblins, orcs, manticores, trolls and ogres. At first these races reacted rather peacefull to the newcomers.....but this would soon change......

A few years later things began getting difficult for Lord vashar and his people. The weather was too harsh for the delicate elves and many got ill or found it increasing difficult to maintain this way of life. Farming proved to be almost fruitless and even the enviroment seemed to turn against them, storms ravaged the fishing ships and made life even more miserable for the once proud elves. And it wouldn,t take long for they decided to take a different approach...

Scouts soon found out that many of the other races were living under better condition and in much better suitable areas. And so the thoughts of conquest were inplanted in the minds of the now desperate elves. There was little that Lord Vashar could do, seeing the morale and hope of his people diminish and even he was running out of options very fast....

The orc and goblin races were the first to fall under the might of the elves, and soon the other races fell one by one. Their territory was increasing very rapidly, but so was their bloodlust and greed... Study of the dark arts and military tactics became very popular and started to replace their knowledge of nature and their ralationship with her. Within 10 Years their territory reached from coast to coast and even then our ancestors were not done with their plans to reshape this world to their image. This image however was not the one that nature had in mind.......or the gods on this world........

200 years after they arrived on Lunaris the elves had changed from friendly, proud and nature loving beings to greedy, violent and powerhungry beings with no respect for other races, nature or even the gods themselves. All races had fallen under the strenght of their armies except for the ogres and a large city of humans who made many attemps to make peace with those that tried to destroy them. This city however would play a mayor role in the events that were yet to come.

Plans were made to attack the human city with an incredible force and it was obvious that even the mighty walls of this city would not hold long against the might and magic of the agressors. The gods however had plans of their own concerning the outcome of this battle......

It was on the night before the offensive that Lord Vashar was visited by the gods of Lunaris. They spoke to him through visions and made him very clear that they were not happy with the way his people were destroying and raping their world and everything on it. The promised him that if they should attack the human city they would have to face the consequences. These visions were so real that the wise Lord Vashar finally opened his eyes and saw what he and his people had done. He knew that he had to do something very quick or his people would suffer a terrible fate.

During the night Lord Vashar asembled all the leaders of the elves and held a counsil. He told them of the visions and ordered them to hold the attack. But they were not listening, consumed with hate and greed they walked away and even spread the rumor that their king had lost his mind. Only a few leaders trusted their king and held their people back... there was nothing that he could do now to stop this attack.....there was nothing he could have done to prevent the wrath of the gods...

The city was attacked and destroyed, but the attackers did not even get the chance to celebrate their victory.....because at that moment the gods unleased their fury!

An awsome display of raw power struck Lunaris. Vulcanos erupted, hurricanes destroyed everything in their path and tidal waves swallowed all that were in their way. The city of Deanor was struck by a gigantic fireball that roared from the sky and lay the whole city to waste, including all that were inside. But the anger of the gods was not only physical... Terrible visions struck the mind of each of the still surviving elves and showed them all the wrong deeds they had committed and tormented their brains... Only a few hundred elves survived the night of judgement and those were the elves that were fatefull to lord Vashar...

But even the remaining elves were not left unpunished. The visions had not only changed their thoughts but also their appearance, they now resembled the evil that they once represented. It was a curse that would remain with their race till the end of their time...and so even today our faces are still horrible to look at and even our newborn children have terrifying nightmares about the cruwsome deeds that our ancestors inflicted upon this world...

Lord Vashar did not give up hope but deciced to lead his people into the mountains and live their lives from day to day. From that day on they called themselves the Shimmer Elves cause they were neither walking in the dark nor the light any longer....they walked between...in the shadows of a ravaged world. Even today we still live our nomadic life and honour those that kept our race alive.

Much of what was once ours is lost forever...but in time we managed to maintain a fair portion of land that we still proudly name: Lunaris. There are no buildings on this land expecyt for a few ruins and a small harbour. We still live according to the traditions of Lord Vashar and the other ancestors who proved to be the last hope for our race.. Although some of these traditions seem cruel (like putting a newborn outside the tent on his first night) they only serve us to maintain a strong and healty race.

We are not without problems however.....

Almost all knowledge was lost to us those thousands of years ago....and even today the few mages among us try to regain what they can and preserve that which we still possess. Also many races are attacking our land for thousands of years now...probably still seeking revenge for the past....

But as long as our passion, honour and courage remain we will survive! We might dream of times that used to be but we know that our time has not yet come....

To this day the Shimmer elves have reclaimed much of what was original theirs, and continue to fight any aggressors that might invade their lands. Living their nomadic life they roam the mountains, plains and forests, and dream of times that used to be……….


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