CATACLYSM AND REBIRTH: THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE RELEASE
(Note: This essay focuses on climactic changes and 
demography, not social or magical consequences of the 
Release).
                   Pre-Release Arcadia
    Arcadia before the Release was a fairly normal 
continent, with the nature-magic balance in favor of 
nature, as it had been since the early days of the Age of 
Dawn. It had enjoyed a ten-thousand year period of 
relative peace (the Age of Arcadia), and was becoming 
increasingly centralized. Power fell more and more into 
the hands of the Council of Arcadia, which turned a 
largely blind eye toward good and evil divisions and 
encouraged loyalty toward Arcadia as a whole, or at least 
one's province.
    Elwens were in the ascendant, again a condition that 
had endured since the early days of the Age of Dawn. 
Humans, who had never recovered their vast numbers since 
the slaughter of the Sublimation, numbered but a few 
million, and the largest population of elves was no more 
than three million. The Zaras numbered over a billion once 
more, but were largely confined to the Evilunds. It was a 
stable world for Elwens and their allies, a world of 
benefit and advantage, a world that they had every reason 
to want to continue.
    Yet in a few months of stupidity by Grukkar Goatleap 
of Rowan, and an equally profound few moments of villainy 
or heroism- depending on one's viewpoint- by Selkendal 
Shadowgift of Deepdark, the world was altered forever- and 
if there were good consequences, they were obscured for 
centuries by the evil of such an explosion of pent-up 
magic.
    We shall now consider the twelve provinces one by one, 
both in their condition on the eve of the Release and 
immediately following it.

    BARREN DESERT
    Pre-Release
    General. The Barren Desert was the home of several 
unique races, including glass dragons, planet dragons, and 
the Swemi, and, despite its climate, more populous, at a 
little over ninety-eight-and-a-half-million, than it had 
ever been. It shared with most provinces the trait of 
having no established nations, but its cities thrived, 
both in trade and their own internal affairs.
    Climate And Terrain. The southeastern Desert, watered 
by the Acrad River and its numerous small tributaries, was 
green and fertile, though its forestlands were generally 
smaller than was common elsewhere and its fields more 
given to scratchweed than grass. This was due to the 
prevention of rain by the Coroni Athalustera. This 
southeastern part- extending to the ends of the Corta 
River and the Corocan Stream, the southern Loromarlo 
Alalolorin, and the outer edge of desera lands- had been 
settled by Corocoros, sapphire Elwens, and venturesome 
young planet dragons.
    The southwestern Desert, a land of dunes and 
"seasand"- great flat expanses of the material most common 
to the Desert- was the ancient province of the desert 
Elwens, who, with their four cities of Amad, Vurc, Bumil, 
and Ji'carn, were the dominant force here. Still, there 
was a major city of good-aligned Jerens as well, the 
sapphire Elwen cities of Somakbarak and Echeya, and Aruda 
Shina, which housed the warrens of the glass dragons.
    The central Barren, grim even by Desert standards, 
felt the influence of the Sweptori Ashjaruma, the 
Loromarlo Alalolorin, Jerens, the Audgalna Mei, the rogue 
desert Elwen city of Do'loh, and the sapphire Elwens of 
Viasappho. This tended to be the home of people- including 
the land Elwens of Siau- who had turned inward to pursue 
their own way of life, and had little truck with the 
outside world save for the trade in glass. 
    The northern Desert, hosting the towering Rechoka Mei 
and the Rami Altaashis of the Swemi, was the last center 
of time Elwen power in Arcadia. It contained as well the 
clay fields where sandcats had lived from time immemorial. 
Because the dominant alignment here was neutrality, it had 
known peace even during the Third Good And Evil War, the 
last of Arcadia's major struggles. It thus paid little 
attention to the events of the Rowanpride Wars- a mistake 
that was to cost it dearly.
    Economy. As noted before, the major resource of the 
Desert was sand, and thus the major trade was in glass and 
its various methods of safe shipment. Virtually the only 
other products were dracmels, the mounts of the desert 
Elwens, valued in north and south alike as a curiosity,  
and those things so common in the Desert that merchants 
were able to make a huge profit: sapphires, light 
clothing, steel and glass weapons, and Jeren arrows.
    Because many of the Desert's people had been isolated 
for millions of years, they had learned to survive and had 
little need to import food. The sole exceptions to this 
were the deserae of Ji'carn and the Corocoros of Corocan 
and Corta, who had developed a taste for the tropical 
fruits of Ramasa and far southern Lillomar. Major imports 
were thus fruit, jewelry other than sapphires, and new 
inventions and magical procedures.
    Post-Release
    General. Of all Arcadia's provinces, the Barren Desert 
was the most devastated (in terms of population loss and 
Change) by the Release. Though estimating the appearance 
of new races is beyond the scope of this essay, we do have 
fairly exact figures for drops in population and 
percentage of Change following the Release.
    The Barren Desert's population dropped almost 
instantly from ninety-eight-and-a-half-million to 
(roughly) seventeen million, a loss of eighty-two percent. 
Of these, about sixteen-and-a-half-million, or nearly 
ninety-seven percent, were Changed. It is no wonder that 
even today, nearly nineteen millennia after the Release, 
the Desert is still recovering.
    Climate And Terrain. The southwestern Desert, the part 
closest to the blast, was baked at once into a sheet of 
superheated glass, the sand fused by enormous heat. Though 
some survived- as, indeed, some did in all areas except 
the immediate blast site- they perished soon after from 
broiling heat and thirst. The sun had blared down on the 
Desert before the Release; now it acted as an oven that 
allowed no water to exist and set up a crippling sheen off 
the glass that could blind every unprotected creature who 
trod there. The only survivors were glass dragons, 
perverted by the Release into tawny dragons, gigantic 
golden beasts of unspeakable evil. Even today, this part 
of the Desert is a place inundated with heat and wild 
magic.
    The southeastern Desert fared slightly better, but 
only just. The Acrad River was diverted, where it was not 
boiled away outright, and the forests that had so long 
sheltered the Corocoros and sapphire Elwens burst into 
flame. Not even scratchweed could have survived the 
immense heat and magical plagues which followed, and the 
southeastern Desert achieved the destiny it had already 
been moving toward: a harsher version of the old 
southwest, where no plants grew, no dunes offered shelter 
from the sun, and water lay several miles belowground.
    The central Desert still figures in hellish horror 
tales told by descendants of refugees from it. The 
Sweptori Ashjaruma, always barren and rocky, were bent and 
twisted, melting into grotesque heaps of lava. The 
Audgalna Mei, though mostly evaporated, remained in part- 
but only as a source of new evil, for the water became the 
carrier of fiendish, and fiendishly intelligent, magical 
diseases. The Loromarlo Alalolorin suffered an unusual 
fate: it was flooded by the diverted Acrad River, drowning 
many surviving hatchling dragons. The planet dragon 
survivors fled, their race numbering perhaps a hundred 
adults and as such just clinging to existence.
    The Rechoka Mei released its collected water, creating 
a huge, pure lake- an ironic heaven in the midst of hell. 
The Rami Altaashis was overcome in flames; even wood so 
old remembered how to burn. The clay fields were baked 
into a treacherous ground with the firmness of pottery 
that could shatter with a step, dropping a walker into any 
one of a million canyons or gorges. More than any other 
section, the northern Desert suffered from refugees drawn 
north by the promise of water, so that many of those who 
had fled from flame and water alike died at the hands of 
their desperate fellow survivors.
    Final Estimate. When wars, disease, famine, thirst, 
and heat had taken their toll, seven million survivors 
lived on. The Barren Desert had been savaged by the 
Release unforgivably, and would never be the same.
    CALADARIZ
    Pre-Release
    General. Caladariz was unique in two respects: in 
being the only province to have several lakes of any size 
and a complex river system that fed them; and in being the 
only province to house two nations: the viaquia land of 
Vina and the human kingdom of Carmai. Because many 
citizens of Carmai, including the king, had intermarried 
with Elwens and tended not to bother even unfriendly 
races, the Elwens were content to leave them alone in 
turn.
    At two-hundred-thirty-three-million-and-a-half people, 
Caladariz was the third most populous province, after 
Fhevu and the Evilunds. It flourished in large part 
because even mortal enemies were content to dwell long 
miles apart and not disturb the peace of the lake country 
with their wars.
    Climate And Terrain. Southern Caladariz made an odd 
picture on a map, mainly because of the convoluted, 
magical flow of the Sonorria River. It formed a bend 
shaped like a horse's hoof, which sheltered the dragonfly 
Elwen cities of Darkai, Drainae, and Darasaar. It had a 
tributary, the River Nemlonnumerseyuak, which in turn fed 
Aerilaol Lake, home of the reclusive lake Elwens. The 
influence of the Sonorria, as well as its other, less 
major streams, kept southern Caladariz, a country named 
for its abundance of water, extraordinarily green and 
fertile, one reason the peach Elwens of Y‚gol and Rami 
Zolonoisil had chosen it for their home. The Coroni 
Deserwalinco, the southern border of the province, housed 
mountain and star Elwens.
    Central Caladariz had one of the longest peaceful 
histories in Arcadia, in spite of sheltering many diverse 
peoples. Here was the human land of Carmai, cradled by 
branches of the Tulsin River, with its three mighty towns: 
Marsa, Neoljir, and Sonorqui. Here also was the loosely 
organized Wil'a'fanae Denefa, home to the cinnamon Elwens 
of Corcadi, Denef, Raucall, and Verechoichi. A peach Elwen 
forest, Rami Zolonoirinth, the dracofaer wood of Ramas 
Lun, the lake Elwen dwelling of Darizbarak in Rinad Lake, 
and the lightning Elwen cities of Norsoc, Kalupaliaon, 
Culfara, and Brinnam completed the native dwellings of 
Caladariz. The uninhabited Dariz Juldiay, the rogue cities 
of Turnal (shadowed Elwen) and Wihtar (moon Elwen), and 
the "kerencheeri" of the speckled Elwens- Sonorala and 
Lastaho Sil- painted an even more intriguing picture. 
Physically, the land was dominated by the Tulsin and Selby 
Rivers, the northern Sonorria, and the southern edge of 
Keler, the Salt Fields.
    Northern Caladariz can best be looked at divided into 
two parts. The northwestern was notable as the home of the 
salt Elwens- their great cities being Hchmor, 
Kelsinaehetel, and Kela- and their traditional enemies, 
the salt dragons, their warren being Vila. These two races 
were the exception to Caladariz's normal rule of peace. In 
addition, the underwater dolphin Elwen city of Normora, 
the offshore Buina warrens of the black-white dragons, and 
the dawn Elwen city of Velwenlor deserve mention. 
Velwenlor was unusual; its nearly three million 
inhabitants had rejected the usual ideals of their race, 
and dedicated their lives to helping good-aligned Elwens 
reach the fabled island of Velwen'Li.
    Northeastern Caladariz was dominated politically by 
the viaquia nation of Vina and the two land Elwen cities 
self-appointed to watch the sunset Elwens, Veela and 
Aklflam. The leaf Elwens stayed in self-imposed exile 
within Mirhgorm and Yllalla Forests, and the dolphin 
Elwens of undersea Anillomista and Doemlacall, located 
under Dariz Elfin, had no interest in contact with land- 
dwellers. The uniels of Omiel were content to keep a low 
profile, knowing many Elwens regarded them with unease.
    Economy. With such a diverse array of peoples, it is 
no wonder that Caladariz should have an equally diverse 
economy. Still, trade was more limited than it might 
appear at first glance. The leaf Elwens, dolphin and lake 
Elwens, and dawn Elwens of Velwenlor had no interest in 
exchange, the first because they saw themselves as apart 
from the world outside or above and the alalori because 
they seemed to be provided for by Sarastaa. No one wanted 
to be caught trading- openly, at least- with the viaquia 
of Vina, who were notorious even among their blood- 
drinking kind for violence and torture. Trading slaves or 
victims to them could also be an excuse for tough land 
Elwens from Veela or Aklflam to show up for a bout of 
extended questioning.
    However, in other ways Caladariz was as unique as 
ever. The shadowed Elwens of Turnal, while not quite 
dedicated to ideals of nobility, felt codes of any kind to 
be vastly inferior to business, and extended wary welcome 
even to land Elwens. The humans of Carmai had formed the 
only human-Elwen trading partnership in Arcadia that was 
marked by something more than mutual distrust. They in 
general exchanged crops, fabric, and other simple items to 
the salt Elwens for jewelry, forged weapons, armor, and 
other products of craft and war that the salt Elwens 
delighted in making.
    The speckled Elwens herded specklar, zebra-like 
creatures valued for their colorful pelts and sweet meat, 
and led a nomadic lifestyle, but returned to regular trade 
fairs every spring to sell growing foals and in autumn to 
sell the animals too old to breed. The peach Elwens, of 
course, served as a source of fruit even in the dead of 
winter, and consequently traded with everyone who offered 
something in return.
    The remaining races in Caladariz dealt mainly in 
racial products- that is, products they had a natural 
affinity for, could produce and ship easily, and knew 
there was a steady demand for. Thus, the cinnamon Elwens 
ruled the spice market, the lightning Elwens an entirely 
self-created market for lightning rods and stormturners 
(devices that kept the harmful excesses of storms at bay), 
the mountain and star Elwens the sale of quarried stone, 
mountain lichen and mountain goat meat, and other products 
of the high peaks, and the uniels the province of healing 
and good luck charms. With so wide a market in Caladariz, 
exports and imports both were few, and generally limited 
to exotic fruits from neighboring Ramasa and specklar-pelt 
robes, which had jumped in popularity after protecting 
their speckled Elwen masters during the Sublimation.
    Post-Release
    General. As with all provinces, there were millions of 
almost-instant casualties after the Release. The 
population dropped to about ninety-three-and-a-half- 
million, a loss of sixty percent. Ninety-three percent of 
the survivors were Changed (about eighty-six-and-a-half- 
million). More people died in Caladariz then in any other 
place except the more populous provinces and the 
Tableland, the center of the blast site. The only mercy- 
if it was- was that the roughly one hundred forty million 
corpses were burned away with efficient speed.
    Climate And Terrain. Southern Caladariz, as the part 
closest to the Tableland, suffered the most. The Coroni 
Deserwalinco were reforged into an impassable wall of 
melted stone- a wall that would remain impassable long 
after Caladariz had re-established contact with its 
western neighbors. The green country of the Sonorria River 
remained green, but only after costly magical forest fires 
that both destroyed trees and twisted the survivors into 
things of nightmare. Aerilaol Lake remained, thanks to the 
desperate efforts of the lake Elwen mages who survived, 
but was cast down as if by giant hands into a sunken pit 
and shut away from the light of the sun. The River 
Nemlonnumerseyuak became a cataract roaring down into what 
was later referred to as the Pit. The dragonfly Elwen 
cities were leveled, and the drainairi turned into 
helpless nomads seeking a river that was still peaceful- 
for the Sonorria rose in foaming rapids that attacked all 
who crossed them. The peach Elwen forests gained a 
sentient will of their own- not evil, simply quietly 
determined that none should leave. The zolonorae who lived 
may have wished they had died as so many of their fellows 
did; they could not have been sure whether anyone else in 
the world was still alive.
    Central Caladariz saw less devastation to both land 
and people, but what happened was bad enough. The cinnamon 
Elwens were flooded by the diverted Sonorria River and, 
like the dragonfly Elwens, turned into wanderers. The 
human nation of Carmai was destroyed; the magic that 
struck it took the form of an insidious mental plague 
whose victims wanted only to destroy every living creature 
or work of beauty they came across. In the cities they 
left no stone piled atop another, and the vultures and 
crows feasted on the bodies for days. The peach Elwens of 
Zolonoirinth were not imprisoned, but lost suddenly and 
completely their ability to grow peaches, causing a 
famine. It was a long time before those who lived 
discovered their new magical powers. The dracofaers of the 
Ramas Lun were driven gently insane; they were harmless, 
but never lucid again. Rinad Lake was saved through 
methods similar to those of the mages at Aerilaol, but its 
fate was quite different. It hovered in the air, raining 
water down into the Sonorria, which ran only because of 
it; the waters of this northern part of the river had 
boiled away within moments after the explosion.
    The lightning Elwen cities were converted into the 
Darizio Kalupa, mysterious bodies of water humming with 
electrical power, and their inhabitants with them. Only 
those living outside the cities escaped the gruesome 
liquefaction. Strangely, as if the Release were determined 
to create at least one thing of beauty in the midst of 
destruction, the uniel city of Omiel was spared; indeed, 
the country about it was converted into a fantastic 
jeweled garden, the magic pulling precious metals and 
rocks to the surface.
    Dariz Juldiay expanded into the biggest lake in 
Arcadia, overwhelming the Selby and Tulsin Rivers and the 
cities of Turnal and Wihtar. The shadowed Elwens of 
Turnal, warned by their brethren who had arrived magically 
from the Tableland of the impending disaster, hid 
themselves, but nevertheless felt the power of the Darizio 
Kalupa; they were able to cast lightning bolts from that 
day forward. The moon Elwens of Wihtar were not so lucky. 
Most of them drowned beneath the relentless Juldiay 
waters, and few of those who escaped were moon Elwens 
anymore.
    The speckled Elwens and their specklar- but who can 
say? Sages knowledgeable about that time have written many 
essays arguing one point or another, but these are at best 
guesses. They vanished, and no puessos has been seen in 
Arcadia from that time to this.
    Northwestern Caladariz melted. This is actually an 
exaggeration, but accurate for the most part. Keler, the 
Salt Fields, remain a restlessly shifting sea of liquid 
salt, the only thing that finally halted the expansion of 
Dariz Juldiay. The salt Elwens transformed with it, into 
the lombaii, creatures who can relate to what the salt 
fields have become. Vila, where the salt dragons laired, 
melted like an Elwen's skin, trapping many of the beasts 
inside. It is unknown whether any survive.
    The port of Velwenlor's purpose was destroyed, for the 
Release raised land that filled the Carlan Gulf. Sheltered 
under Sarastaa's hand, however, the dawn Elwens weathered 
the explosion far better than most, most even retaining 
their original form. The dolphin Elwens were unlucky, save 
those few changed into creatures that could survive on 
land; the rest died out of their beloved sea. The black- 
white dragons were transformed into two distinct races, 
black-white and northern, and have become the major 
predators of northern Caladariz.
    Northeastern Caladariz might as well have been baked 
in a blasting furnace. For this we can thank the viaquia 
of Vina. Their last-ditch defense, a magical shield, went 
up during the Release, for this was surely the greatest 
danger that had ever threatened them. The explosion of 
magic meeting magic, however, brought the heat of the sun 
to Arcadia for a few brief moments. As a result. Dariz 
Elfin and the Sonorasinon River boiled away, Yllalla and 
Mirhgorm Forests were consumed in searing flames that left 
none alive where they passed, and the green, gentle 
country became the Czari Desert, a place where even the 
pre-Release desert Elwens might have feared to tread. The 
Czari, like the southern peach Elwen forests, is alive, 
and intent on killing anything that tries to cross it, 
except the descendants of the creatures who lived there 
during the Release. Them, it regards as one of the ancient 
sheepdogs regarded sheep, and it acts to protect them from 
outsiders and from themselves by stopping any wars that 
spring up.
    The land Elwens, or what had been land Elwens, 
thankfully, forgot their hatred for the sunset Elwens- 
those left alive weren't sunset Elwens anymore anyway- and 
joined with them to form a new people. The leaf Elwen race 
came to an end that day, safe for a few isolated pockets 
that survived in the south.
    Final Estimate. Caladariz, by all reports, is doing 
well, despite all the bizarre mutations that flourish in 
it, and despite the fact that the famines, diseases, and 
other consequences mentioned earlier killed half who had 
survived the Release itself. What was once a green country 
is so no longer, but by all beliefs, still a happy place.

    CYTHERIA
    Pre-Release
    General. Cytheria was notable for its population of 
good and neutral creatures, although three evil races did 
dwell there (darkness Elwens, aqua dragons, and orange 
dragons). The good races generally got along with this by 
pretending the intruders didn't exist.
    Cytheria was also notable for its network of rivers, 
the most extensive of any province's, though these same 
rivers made travel difficult and had somewhat discouraged 
settlement. With a population of about a hundred- 
twenty-four-and-a-half-million, Cytheria was actually 
smaller than the less hospitable Frigid Waste. Still, the 
land known as the Springtime Province, for there the Time 
of Greening came first and lingered latest, was gentle 
enough for those educated in its secrets, and had been 
revered for centuries as a center of justice and freedom.
    Climate And Terrain. Southern Cytheria had a more 
temperate climate than the north, being mainly composed of 
the sheltered Rivadan Valley, between the Coroni Ny and 
the Lukalias, and watered by the River Laliollin. Here 
lived five separate Elwen races- the land Elwens of Dunya, 
the lore Elwens of Yulima, the light Elwens of Seli and 
Olscall, the valley Elwens of Lomeiferai and Lomedhanui, 
and the darkness Elwens of Rallarkikesvle. Here, too, the 
dark influence of aqua and orange dragons was counteracted 
by the presence of a large Clan of star dragons. Thus, the 
land generally had peace, except for the unstoppable 
hatred between the light and darkness Elwens.
    The northern border of southern Cytheria was generally 
considered to be the Tirdala River (which ran from the 
Pooka swamp of Pook to the unicorn forest of Immuu). On 
the other side of Pook was the Menua Tributary, life's 
blood to the grape Elwen city of Concorda and the uniel 
colony of Mistauna. South of Immuu were two more grape 
Elwen dwellings, Met and Kemieb. Southern Cytheria also 
included the southern curve of the Gulf of Horallis, with 
its underwater coral Elwen city of Hetel and Buin Jyssija, 
home of Mirarmach, a somewhat unusual community of lore 
Elwens who had decided nothing more interesting was to be 
found on Arcadia and who thus concentrated on the Mirar 
Faitha to the west.
    Central Cytheria, despite numerous habitations by 
intelligent races, was generally considered to be the 
wilder portion of the country, both because of its 
communication-difficult rivers and because of the 
sometimes ferocious storms that blew in off the Gulf of 
Horallis. It contained Carnbarak Forest, a home of the 
reclusive cougar Elwens, as well as Vany Forest, another 
such. Jerelsa and Lushetel, the only remaining substantial 
settlements of good-aligned Jerens outside the Desert, sat 
astride Kerencilla Stream and Meluklon River respectively, 
while the Swan Maiden lake of Lononiana was only slightly 
north of them, on the Raiirrin River. Canaroc, of the 
Corocoros, completed the last major settlement on a 
tributary (the Stream Kemieba). All other inhabited places 
in the region- like the falcon Elwen mountain of 
Eriaa-ollo-Sweptor, the lore Elwen center of Macha, and 
the uniel colony of Luilune- either did not depend on 
water, or nestled on the banks of the mighty Sawefr River.
    The Sawefr was truly remarkable. Born from the 
confluence of the Menua Tributary and the north-running 
Laliollin, it followed neither of its parents' routes, 
instead sweeping north in a great curve and then west to 
the Gulf. Magic ran in its waters even before the Release, 
and it thus could do as it pleased.
    Another thing that pleased it was to nurture 
settlements, and it did- the uniel colony of Unielgazar, 
the grape Elwen settlement of Isarrii, the Corocoro 
village of Orocoroc, the land Elwen city of Liaonadewa, 
the falcon Elwen haven of Eriaa-ollo-Garameyt, and the 
unicorn woodland of Horallis, from which the Gulf took its 
name. Near where it splashed into the gulf were two coral 
Elwen reefs, Orlephgekkar and Orlephara. In addition to 
all this, it also fed the northern chain of rivers.
    Northern Cytheria was swept by the strongest storms in 
the province, both from Horallis and from Fhevu. Thus, the 
people who lived here tended to be both hardy and 
independent, though they depended on the tributaries of 
the Sawefr to live. From the Sawefr, the River Pooka led 
north, eventually muddying into the swamp of Koppa, but 
not before leading off into three branches, all the homes 
of land Elwen cities: the Limyay River of Zaraell, the 
Kaada River of Shannonakaada, and the Stream Queco of 
Lononi. After Koppa, as well, the water led on as the 
Derliollin Stream, which split at the unicorn wood of 
Minaeo Der. The River Baypiuklon, its continuation, 
watered both the unicorn wood of Swekli and the cougar 
Elwen wood of Rali. There was civilization in the Gulf, as 
well: the coral Elwen city of Narelin and the lore Elwen 
city of Machjyss on Buino Tresfori. Though the people of 
Machjyss welcomed strangers, the rumors about the city 
were most unwelcoming, and so they received few visitors.
    In the east, life was less tied to the rivers- though 
the Swan Maiden lake of Aracus, on the Marua Tributary, 
was an exception- and more to the mountains. At the foot 
of the Lastae Mountains nestled the strangest cougar Elwen 
stronghold, Ramio Aurei, destined to become even stranger 
after the Release. Melpaita and Vlingra, two grape Elwen 
cities, looked more to Fhevu, through the Lincosemba Pass, 
as a market for their fine wines, while the moon dragons 
of Aruda Sarna and the pink ones of Aruda Nedena were 
content to keep to the private lives dragons lead when not 
bothered. The Asis and Lastae Mountains on the northern 
border, broken only by the Lincosemba Pass, insured 
relative isolation from Fhevu, which was the way the 
inhabitants of the mountains wanted it.
    Economy. Basically and understandably, two nearly 
separate economies developed in Cytheria: one by water, 
the other by land. The main instrument of the latter was 
the Laluil Trade Route, which ran from Lushetel to Aracus, 
and had unofficial continuations to Lincosemba Pass and 
the land Elwen cities. Along this route were traded 
everything from Swan Maiden eggs to fine Jeren fabrics, 
from the few wines the grape Elwens sold in Cytheria to 
jewels the dragons might exchange for a particularly fine 
and rare meat.
    Needless to say, the water economy was more plentiful 
and profitable. Traders plied every major river and many 
smaller, unnamed ones, offering imports from outside as 
well as native products of widely differing sections of 
the province. Thus, coral Elwen ornaments might be found 
in the Corocoro village of Canaroc, and Swan Maiden eggs 
in Lolorinaderlwa.
    The unicorns often paid well for clever hand-crafted 
things and sold magical devices in return. Jeren fabric 
and weapons turned up everywhere, as did the wines of the 
southern grape Elwens, the healing talents of the uniels, 
and the books of the lore Elwens. Rarer products- such as 
feather ornaments from the largely isolated and reclusive 
falcon Elwens- were apt to command a higher price, but 
could still be found in the oddest places. The exchange 
was mostly in items of this sort, for the land was 
temperate and fertile enough that all races could grow 
enough food to live.
    The largely self-enclosed economy of the Rivadan 
Valley deserves special mention. As the only way to leave 
the Valley was to hike through one set of mountains or the 
other, or else to trek all the way to the end- and past 
the city of Rallarkikesvle- the Rivadaners were resigned 
to trading with each other. As the dragons minded their 
own affairs and the darkness Elwens seemed self-sufficient 
(though a few merchants traded victims to them in return 
for the marvelous and durable products of solidified 
darkness), the trade tended to flow four ways. Yulima sent 
bound books, paper, and knowledge to Olscall or Seli, 
which added their own solidified light goods and the rare 
joybringer who would consent to serve an outside master, 
and sent it hence to Lomedhanui or Lomeiferai. Valley 
Elwen statuary, paintings, instruments, poetry, and music 
journeyed with what remained to the land Elwen city of 
Dunya, which sent lumber and fish to Yulima. The exchange 
was not as simple as that, of course, but relatively so.
    Post-Release
    General. Though the casualties of Cytheria, like those 
of all the western provinces, were not as bad or as 
horrific as those of the more easterly provinces, they 
were bad enough. Sixty-five-million-and-a-half people 
survived, ninety percent of them Changed, a loss of nearly 
fifty percent. The nearly sixty million who died were 
swept away quickly, but those who lived may have wished to 
join them. Indeed, one of the highest causes of death in 
Cytheria immediately following the Release was suicide. 
This has some support; for an unknown reason, the native 
magic of Cytheria reacted with the magic of the Release in 
such a way as to produce results seen nowhere else.
    Climate And Terrain. Though the devastation swept in 
from the west, it is possible to look at what happened 
form the south upward. In the Rivadan Valley, which hummed 
with the magic of the River Laliollin, two ranges of 
mountains, thousands of dragons, and the opposing light 
and darkness Elwens, the result was immediate and immense. 
The Coronio Lukalia were flattened, while the Coroni Ny 
were pushed to an awesome height. Most of the dragons not 
slain were transformed into wyverns, winged serpents, 
drakes, or some other form akin to but not exactly like 
their previous forms.
    The city of Rallarkikesvle, cursed long ago by the 
darkness Elwens to foil the silver unicorns, exploded 
under the pressure of the magic, scattering the surviving 
darkness Elwens- literally- to the four winds. Some were 
blown into the neighboring Frigid Waste, others into the 
new land formed by the death of the Gulf of Horallis, and 
others into northern Cytheria. Tough beyond all knowing, 
they survived, and in many cases formed a nucleus about 
which new people could gather.
    The light Elwens became geysers of pure light along 
with their cities, exploding in one last glorious rush, or 
else were cast into the deep trenches where the mountains 
bearing their name had so recently stood. The valley 
Elwens of Lomeiferai, as well as the lore Elwens of 
Yulima, were either destroyed instantly with the mountains 
that had sheltered them, or else swept north by Gales, 
gigantic winds that took their passengers on a harmless 
but one-way ride. Lomedhanui and Dunya were flooded by the 
River Laliollin, which became a lake of molten mercury for 
some reason known only to the magic. The surviving land 
Elwens and valley Elwens fled.
    The streams of central Cytheria collided with one 
another, if such a thing can be imagined in these 
relatively peaceful times, rising in waterspouts that 
expanded until touching another waterspout, at which point 
they became violent tsunamis feeding on anything in their 
paths. Every settlement between the Tirdala and the 
northern Sawefr was swept aside in the creation of this 
vast inland sea that left only islands- and Macha. The 
lore Elwens, having learned long before of the Release 
from their books of knowledge, acted to protect 
themselves, but imperfectly. No one could have estimated 
the magnitude of the Release's magic, and the steps they 
took saved Macha- at the cost of their own lives. Today, 
Macha remains a floating, haunted ruin.
    As if in apology for the destruction of so much land, 
the Release raised land that filled the Gulf of Horallis. 
The stranded coral Elwens gasped out their last breaths on 
new, still barren plains, mountains, and forests. Buino 
Tresfori was made anew, enclosed in a mountain; it is 
doubtful any of the inhabitants of Machjyss survived. 
Mirarmach, on the other hand, was miraculously spared; its 
lore Elwens were considerably annoyed to find the sea much 
further away.
    Northern Cytheria was shaken, the eastern part more so 
than the western. The Swan Maidens of Aracus were turned 
into statues so lifelike that those who found them swore 
they still lived, eyes imploring help in escaping. The 
land Elwens and grape Elwens were somehow merged with each 
other, though they lived hundreds of miles apart, 
physically and mentally; those who did not go mad 
instantly accepted their future as a mingled people and 
created a huge walled compound enclosing all five cities.
    Ramio Aurei was lifted into the air and deposited 
without harm in Fhevu. In hideous contrast, the mountains 
that had once been a symbol of hope were raised to 
enormous heights, barring all contact with the province to 
the north. New peaks, almost as high as the others, filled 
Lincosemba Pass. Even today, travelers wishing to come to 
Fhevu from Cytheria must pass into the Frigid Waste and 
circle around, or sail on the Mirar Faitha to one of the 
ports on the carved Fhevu coast.
    Northwestern Cytheria was touched by the last 
consequences of the dying Release, but even those were 
formidable. The unicorns were transformed into various 
strange creatures, such as the wolflike renoi and slim, 
white ollori, and the cougar Elwens of Rali Wood 
disintegrated slowly over a period of hours, becoming 
piles of gleaming ash. All the waters of the area became 
diverted into one great Mei Stream, flowing into the Sea 
of Cytheria, turning the fertile country not in the 
immediate vicinity into the almost waterless Mezek Plains. 
This included the falcon Elwen settlement of Eriaa-ollo- 
Garameyt, whose people were finally forced to venture 
outside and join with others.
    Final Estimate. When losses from suicides, wars by the 
less fortunate on the more so, famines, and diseases are 
taken into account, the population of post-Release 
Cytheria dropped to about forty million. It was a long 
time before these people, some of whom knew nothing of the 
other survivors, sought contact with the outside world 
again.

    EVILUNDS (Nymari)
    Pre-Release
    General. The Nymari was the bleakest but also the most 
populous province in Arcadia, thanks to the presence of 
over a billion Zaras, obnoxious-smelling creatures who 
outpaced rabbits in their breeding. It was also the only 
province to be turned over entirely to evil. Some said 
tolerantly that this was because darkness must have some 
place to live, but wits whispered: was a land really worth 
fighting for when it was a black desert, and would fight 
you at the command of Nymari Elwens besides?
    With a billion and sixty-one million people (roughly), 
the Evilunds could have invaded the rest of Arcadia at any 
time. But they didn't- and when the rest of Arcadia tried 
to invade them in the Third Good And Evil War, the united 
darkened races, under the capable Evilunds Elwen general 
Jinorn Airtouch, rose up and drove them off. Only the land 
Elwens were not content to leave them alone, and had 
established an oasis outpost in the extreme south. 
Otherwise, this bleakest (before the Release) of Arcadia's 
lands was left to go its own way.
    Climate And Terrain. The southern Nymari were less 
bleak than the northern, but only because its inhabitants 
were less wasteful in custom and practice than the Zaras 
who swarmed over the rest of the black desert. In the 
extreme south was the Oasis, containing the land Elwen 
city of Nyaesain, the only settlement of strictly good 
creatures in the Nymari. Close beside it were the 
nightmare Elwen cities of Varnain and Xala, those most 
warlike of evil creatures keeping a wary eye in turn on 
the Elwens who watched them. This hellishly hot country, 
the southern Ny Wasteland, bereft of even the scant trees 
that grew elsewhere, had just one distinguishing physical 
feature: the southern Efgoanlaol, which rolled indignantly 
and slowly north to join the River Sod.
    North of this, but still on the western side of the 
river, were the nightcat Cat-home of Orkankikisvle and the 
Nymari Elwen border city of Oranelo. East of them were the 
other Nymari Elwen cities- Lolac, Faosen, and Efgoanrenl- 
a nightmare Elwen stronghold, Nyuthaduin, and the darkness 
Elwen dwelling of Costan. Hardly more hospitable than the 
extreme south, it was a region where no good creatures 
trod if they could help it.
    Southern Nymari was bordered by the River Sod, a black 
tide rolling from Sweptoria to the sea that fit its name. 
Close beside its emptying into the sea was the victory 
Elwen town of Senatint. Though not evil, the victory 
Elwens had been hounded because of their influence over 
chance, and could find true peace only in the Nymari.
    North of the river and south of Ra, the Rakshasa 
hills, were the victory Elwen towns of Xenxesa and 
Vickrin, the darkness Elwen cities of Rallashanti, 
Calorviaq, and Rana, and Xadanolyal, a forest of the evil 
purple falcons known as lasae. This valley looked gentler 
from a distance, in the daylight, than the Wasteland, but 
more plants and not so much heat only meant more life- and 
hence more evil.
    Ra, a range of hills swarming with Rakshasas and 
Zaras, fell into yet another nameless valley, bordered at 
the north by the Lolea River. Victory Elwens dwelt here, 
in Chealeemu and Abletsin, while nightmare Elwens kept to 
their city of Jesna. Here, also, were two forests, mostly 
of midnight elms and eveningsong trees: Meluthaduin and 
Lasaolyal. All these were located well away from the 
center of the valley, which bore the results of the Zaras' 
tinkering with nature: a vast illusion of green trees and 
friendly country, disguising the real swampy foulness and 
ruins that even before the Release carried strange 
diseases.
    The Lolea River, true to its name also, was the 
southern border of northern Nymari, or Zarabarak. Other 
creatures lived here as well, however: nightmare Elwens in 
Marax and Jesartnepi, nightcats in Viareno, Ruparse, and 
Viarall, and darkness Elwens in Fleminya and 
Flemimakorvle. Songbinding dragons laired in the Kerenwa 
Heights, just south of the Ny Mountains, the northern 
border of Nymari.
    But the most dreaded wonder of this land was the 
sunset Elwen city of Alaell. The largest viaquia city left 
on Arcadia, it contained ten million dusk Elwens, and was 
living proof that, whatever the dawn Elwens might claim, 
the purple-skinned Elwens had not been driven from their 
foothold on Arcadia's soil yet.
    Economy. The southern land Elwens traded with no one 
and nothing in the Nymari, preferring the food and 
products they could grow or make in the cramped but safe 
confines of their oasis. There was much traffic across the 
Ny Wasteland, however, markets not suffering the land 
Elwens' lack of attention or their feeble attempts to stop 
the darker trades. Varnain and Xala sent back and forth 
rugs of cloth as delicately white-blue as nightmare Elwen 
skin, expertly forged swords and other weapons of war, 
ideas for new destructive devices, and iron ores and other 
metals. Orkankikesvle's main trade was in fresh meat, 
which the nightcats killed in abundance, and for water 
purification devices, which the Nymari Elwens of Oranelo 
made in abundance. Oranelo, however, was centered on the 
selection and schooling of calola avengers- assassins 
trained to the highest level of ability in tracking, 
hiding, and killing, deadly not least because of their 
ability to remain utterly undetectable to all senses. The 
only calolae who regularly ventured beyond the Nymari, the 
avengers supported Oranelo and were in turn supported by 
it.
    On the eastern side of the Efgoanlaol, the Nymari 
Elwens traded from their last and greatest strongholds on 
the face of Arcadia. Lolac was known as a producer of food 
unusually pure in this desolate region, and Faosen as a 
regular supplier of magic for any purpose- to lessen the 
heat, grow plants well, or slay one's enemies casually 
from a distance. Efgoanrenl, their greatest city, with 
seven million people by the end of the Age of Arcadia, 
served three purposes. It was the market hub of the 
Nymari, and the base for frequent raids, either by 
avengers or more ordinary raiding bands, into Sweptoria 
because of its closeness to the border. But its main 
purpose was in preparing the efgoans killed by its hunter- 
citizens for sale. The meat could be eaten, the hide 
tanned and made into a wonderfully soft coat, the sinews 
used for sturdy ropes, and the skull boiled down to leave  
a pound of silver. If the fire were applied with great 
skill by a careful mage, the head could also be made into 
an eagle mask fashionable among the wealthy.
    Nyuthaduin and Costan kept mostly to themselves, 
though Costan paid well for efgoan-hide coats and food in 
the form of captured outlanders or calolae fallen on hard 
times. Nyuthaduin held apart by choice, because, despite 
its name, it served as a point through which land Elwens 
heading to or away from Nyaesain could pass in relative 
safety.
    Beyond the River Sod was the black, jungle-grown 
valley of the victory Elwens. Not evil save when swept so 
by the Tides, these hekali creatures had constructed a 
neat, triangular trade among themselves. Xenxesa grew the 
food for Vickrin and Senatint; Vickrin, on top of a rich 
natural deposit of silver, iron, and copper, mined and 
forged the metals into valuable products; Senatint served 
as both a home of craftsmen who could make things for the 
other cities and a base for the exclusively xenxe militia 
who defended the cities. With a wary eye for strangers and 
danger- the two often went in company- and their influence 
over chance, they were a force to be feared.
    In this valley, as nowhere else, the darkness Elwens 
had retained some of their ancient lifestyle, before they 
became totally involved in their own affairs. Rallashanti, 
Calorviaq, and Rana reached out to the world in myriad 
ways- through the breeding of messenger birds and horses 
whose distant ancestors had been crossed with darkhorses, 
through the selling of the rare materials of coal and oil 
in the hills near their cities, and through their genuine 
willingness to provide a haven for fleeing criminals of 
other races. Rallashanti, at least, more resembled a 
curalli city than a zorkro one, save that the struggle for 
survival was there more protracted.
    The lasae of Xadanolyal and the Rakshasas tended to 
keep more to themselves, though sometimes purple feather 
ornaments or shapeshifting assassins found their way into 
the outside world. It was suspected that clandestine 
traders using the darkness Elwen cities as bases rode to 
one or the other on occasion, and that passage could be 
purchased on these dark caravans for the right price.
    Beyond Ra lived the victory Elwens of Abletsin, who 
had taken to extremes the xenophobic nature of their folk 
to the south. A high wall completely enclosed their city, 
and they were convincing themselves little by little that 
the outside world didn't exist, as well as slowly 
inbreeding themselves out of existence. By contrast, the 
stated purpose of Chealeemu was to serve as a neutral 
ground for all races. A powerful peace spell lay on the 
town, permitting no attack of any kind. The victory Elwens 
of Chealeemu took full advantage of this, selling their 
wares, both crude and fine, to any passerby.
    Jesna had been populated by a colony of rejects, 
nightmare Elwens who had valued order and beauty above the 
horrors their people so often encountered. They had died 
out long ago, yielding the city to an attack of their own 
kind- or so the outside world thought. In reality, the 
attack had been carefully orchestrated to appear real, and 
good and neutral nightmare Elwens still lived on, serving 
as a quiet trading operation for their southern cousins 
and a safety valve for any young xanmarae who themselves 
felt called to ideals beyond the obvious.
    The Meluthaduin and Lasaolyal Forests were populated 
by intelligent races who preferred the lives of animals, 
and so did not trade with the outside world. The Lolea 
Trade Route, however, ran through the center of this 
valley, and thus commerce at least crossed it, even if it 
did not ever pause.
    Zarabarak saw much trade in fodder for the mikali, 
stone for swords, and various other things the Zaras could 
not make for themselves- all in return for promises not to 
attack. The darkness Elwen cities of Fleminya and 
Flemimakorvle had taken an odd exception to this idea, and 
attacked any trading caravans entering Zarabarak. They 
thus paid well for the arrows, bows, and slings of Marax 
and Jesartnepi, even though these had to be transported 
secretly across long distances, and their gratitude 
supplied a flourishing illegal drug market in the two 
nightmare Elwen cities. The Cat-homes of Viareno, Ruparse, 
and Viarall were more dependent on their neighbors than 
other Cat communities elsewhere; they had acquired a taste 
for hand-crafted items and the gems of the songbinding 
dragons, and would even teach their treasured hunting 
skills in return. Alaell was almost entirely self- 
sufficient, only sending those of their youngsters who 
wished to learn hunting skills to the nightcats. The young 
viaquia often formed lifelong bonds with nightcat kittens 
in the process.
    The songbinding dragons would trade gems for fresh 
meat or medicines to treat the rare draconic diseases, but 
the payment they loved best were singers. After listening 
to the entire repertoire of their captive bards, and 
committing every song to memory, the dragons would 
annihilate them with a puff of nothing gas and go about 
their business- like all the other inhabitants of Nymari.
    Post-Release.
    General. To look at the casualty list of the Nymari in 
the Release almost makes one sick, despite the fact that 
most of those who died were evil. Though fifty-three 
percent of the population survived, over five hundred four 
million people died. As with all other provinces, and all 
peoples save the churni, curalli, alfari, and machrae, 
they had no warning. They crisped to ash or suffered other 
strange fates in seconds, and the five hundred fifty-seven  
million survivors curse the name of Selkendal Shadowgift 
as heartily as any other province's. Eighty-nine percent 
of the survivors Changed (almost five hundred million).
    Climate And Terrain. The southern Ny Wasteland was hit 
later than the eastern part, but what happened there is 
horrific enough to merit special attention. The land 
Elwens of Nyaesain either transformed into disgusting 
piles of melted flesh, or sickened with a withering 
disease that advanced like a slow poison over months at a 
time, or Changed into such strange races as the galli, 
omasi, and rioloni. Because the cactus-ring that sheltered 
the Oasis grew to a spectacular height and closed off the 
only exit, the land Elwens who remained normal could not 
drive those diseased or Changed ones (whom they called 
Cursed) from their midst. What strange peace 
accommodations were reached, we may never know, and we 
know even less of the intricacies of inbreeding that went 
on. But the survivors may, after all, have been glad they 
were sheltered from the chaos in the outside world, if 
they had only known of it.
    Varnain and Xala were bombarded by mysterious, silent 
storms of lightning alone that enclosed their cities, 
allowing none to flee. They managed to flee eventually, 
and have never looked back. It is said that the ruins to 
this day carry a smell of burning, and lightning will 
strike any nightmare Elwen who comes there. Orkankikesvle, 
being underground, was not so severely affected by the 
Release, but its inhabitants still felt the touch of 
magic. The nightcats who remained sane were forced to flee 
the fangs of those who now considered it their sworn 
purpose to remove every nightcat from the face of Arcadia. 
Oranelo was baked as pottery was in one of the ancient 
ovens, and the secrets of the avengers utterly destroyed. 
The connection of the Nymari Elwens who survived to their 
land was gone, but they set themselves grimly to work 
digging a way through the miles of baked clay that 
enclosed them to the outside world.
    The more easterly part of the Wasteland was swept by 
fire, fire that burned everything and swept across black 
sand as it had once swept across dry tinder. Yet it 
affected every city differently. Nyuthaduin was ripped 
apart down the middle, a rent appearing in the very fabric 
of its existence. The xanmarae were swept to their swift 
deaths in the chasm, or to a place that no one knows of. 
Lolac's inhabitants were set to a mad, spinning dance 
until they fell dead from exhaustion. Faosen burns even 
today, for the fires there have never died, as if in 
mockery of the city's former name. Costan was spun apart 
piece by piece, each bit devoured by a separate, small, 
slow vortex before the next was eaten.
    But it is Efgoanrenl that those who today pass for 
calolae remember in horrified whispers nineteen millennia 
later. The Nymari Elwens' connection with their home 
turned on them. The animals invaded the city; even trees 
ripped up their roots and marched against them. 
Earthquakes and poisons alike tried to destroy them. Those 
who survived all this were killed by the fires that 
renewed their flesh as fast as it burned, until in 
uttermost agony they took their own lives. Not a single 
dweller there survived.
    The Efgoanlaol and the River Sod were both diverted, 
collecting together into a sticky black swamp on the old 
border of the Ny Wasteland and what in the future was 
called Audvelyn. Nothing that goes into that swamp lives, 
even today. Either some fearsome predator eats them... or 
the land itself is alive, and breathing. Waiting. The 
Rallenlharrn expands a little every year.
    Ra alone escaped from the disaster of the Release with 
some measure of benefit. The foul country, previously 
black desert in places where it was not jungle, became 
transformed into a soft, rich country of green grass, 
gently rolling hills, and temperate forests. Its real 
treasure, however, was its pure water. Because of this, it 
was renamed Audvelyn.
    Unfortunately, the same advantageous effects were not 
bestowed on its inhabitants. The victory Elwens who 
survived the madness and fires that swept through their 
cities knew famine, in large part because the crops of 
Xenxesa had been destroyed by the fires but also because 
they found themselves unable to venture out of a tight 
triangle of magical borders that enclosed the cities. The 
darkness Elwens of Audvelyn became the meyflemi, the never 
Elwens- in the words of the excellent alalori historian 
Waaiamiraian, they "went from creatures that ate souls to 
creatures that had none." Xadanolyal Forest, in contrast, 
became too healthy for the lasae; all the purple falcons 
except those few who managed to flee had died within a few 
minutes. Rakshasa children died by the thousands, 
afflicted by some mysterious disease that attacked only 
them; the population plummeted as the adults fled Ra for a 
new sanctuary.
    The valley between Ra and the Lolea River might as 
well have been hit by a meteor. A gigantic crater 
thousands of miles across swept the Lolea Trade Route and 
the xenophobic city of Abletsin from existence. The 
nightmare Elwen city of Jesna was turned inside out, the 
buildings becoming ruins, the people bloody lumps of 
flesh. A series of swords flew through the city of 
Chealeemu, cutting apart any living thing they came 
across. Meluthaduin Forest and Lasaolyal Forest, in 
contrast, were haunted by the slendiki, panther-like 
creatures who gnawed a tiny bit of the sleeping creatures' 
stomachs each night. The animals endured for a few months, 
then succumbed to ravenous hunger and ate their fellows. 
Today, these forests are inhabited only by the slendiki; 
they alone can withstand the strange diseases that 
gradually spread eastward from the Mei Crater.
    Zarabarak suffered the strangest fate of all, and the 
ghastliest. As if the Release's fires reacted with the 
heat in that most northernmost of black deserts, what 
imprisoned that land was not heat, but cold. Tons of snow 
fell every day for a few days, crushing buildings, people, 
even mountains. Those not Changed by the Release into some 
form that could withstand the cold were eaten by their 
fellows or succumbed to ultimately deadly frostbite and 
hypothermia. The Lolea River became the Helakef River, an 
icebound monster that breaks apart when people try to 
cross it.
    Final Estimate. The population of the Nymari dropped 
sharply after the Release, and even more sharply within a 
few months. At last only a quarter of the original 
survivors, or about one hundred thirty-nine million 
people, were left alive. While this was more than the 
pre-Release populations of some Arcadian provinces, it is 
hard to do anything but agree that the Nymari finally 
received the punishment many believed they deserved- and 
far more.

    FHEVU
    Pre-Release
    General. Fhevu was the most populous of the pre- 
Release provinces, after the Nymari. At just shy of six 
hundred forty-one million people, it represented a success 
story: that of several Elwen races who had determined to 
make their last stands here, and succeeded beyond their 
wildest expectations.
    Fhevu was unique among the provinces of Arcadia in 
having several regions that were nations in all but name- 
among them Valara, Varmiable, and Inviolate Forest. It was 
also unique for its unusual geography, which shall be 
discussed in more detail in the following section.
    Climate And Terrain. Southern Fhevu, stretching from 
the Asis Mountains and the Lastae to the northern end of 
Inviolate Forest, was a country so rich that by the end of 
the Age of Arcadia "as prosperous as a southern merchant" 
had become a common saying in the province. This good 
fortune came mainly from its geography. The Asis and the 
Lastae were split through their middle by Lincosemba Pass, 
a thousand-mile-wide connection to the southern world. 
Through it and from it ran the Elacron Trade Route, which 
transported criminals to the northern city of Velwenacron, 
as well as the products of those who lived in the 
mountains. These included the mountain Elwens of 
Coronivain, Lincoberon, Coron, and Sulasu, and the 
amethyst Elwens of Callafy, Lualtali, Gnilkra, and Trelin. 
The fymitei, in particular, often took up the position of 
caravanmaster themselves, running on the long, dangerous 
journeys north.
    At the foot of the Asis, close to the sea, was the 
life Elwen town of Diavana. It styled itself a southern 
watchpost over the churni, but was in truth little more 
than an extravagant, sprawling pleasure town. The eluvori 
of Inviolate Forest, their last stand on Arcadia, 
effectively prevented any southern incursion by the death 
Elwens.
    The southern Donh Valley was made fertile by the two 
rivers that bordered it: the cool green Eluvorpera on the 
west, and the purple Raitvoup to the east. It was a gently 
rolling country of hills and many small valleys, all of 
them thickly forested. This was the kind of country the 
quermae, or moose Elwens, loved, and so it is not 
surprising that one of their cities, Quermaeremma, was 
located here. Nearby were the shadowed Elwen towns of 
Mestarall and Jestri, the darkness Elwen town of Sinoh, 
and the human town of Yukeho Uklon (somewhat more lawless 
than any other human town in Arcadia because of its 
proximity to dark neighbors).
    To the north of them, centers of law and order, were 
the valley Elwen cities of Donh, from which the Valley 
took its name, and Velynhetel. Velynhetel sat closest of 
any Elwen town to the vital Nonh Bridge, though the velyni 
shared custody of it with the shadowed Elwens of 
Raustabrin.
    Extreme southeastern Fhevu, beyond the Raitvoup River, 
held the moose Elwen city of Quermayae and the dream 
Elwens of Eriaonwyna. This was a peaceful country that had 
not known war in over eleven thousand years, by the end of 
the Age of Arcadia, and seemingly did not miss it.
    Central Fhevu consisted of five distinct segments- the 
Shannona Mountains; Velwencilla, south of the Shannonae 
and west of the Raitvoup, through which the Elacron ran; 
the northern Donh Valley; the Falchian Plains beyond the 
Eluvorpera; and Varmiable. The Shannona Mountains, magical 
granite peaks not susceptible to erosion, like most of 
Arcadia's mountains, held the last warrens of the autumn 
dragons, the Dercoroni Derlshaina that were the last home 
of the obsia or volcano Elwens, and little else of 
interest.
    Velwencilla had remained in a primal state, little 
tamed except for the Elacron and the two cities in it: the 
lawless "land Elwen" town of Acasaemoin, and the life 
Elwen town of Railaol. The two settlements could not have 
been more different. In Acasaemoin, everything from slaves 
to forbidden drugs to wild magic to exotic gemstones could 
be had, for any price. The papiliferae of Railaol had 
assigned themselves a hopeless task: keeping law along the 
Elacron. Peace there was, but only so long as the traders 
chose to obey the unwritten laws of the Trade Route.
    The northern Donh was a diverse country, almost as 
rich as its southern counterpart, and home of four 
different races. The parsepi dwelt in the guarded borders 
of their flowery country of Geluvia, while the valley 
Elwens and life Elwens had a single town each (Eaply and 
Doliniduin, respectively). The dawn Elwens dwelt there in 
four towns: Alvilaol, Cytheraquia, Alvirlkuy, and Alaasia. 
The popular joke was that they had been on their way north 
to oppose the viaquia of the Viaquia Tantel but had been 
too lazy to complete the journey.
    The Falchian Plains were unique in Arcadia: a desert 
of cracked gray clay, where snow fell never, and rain 
rarely. This was the home of the deathtrotters, and of 
their masters, the death Elwens. Following are the 
ka'cheeri, or communal cities, associated with each ruling 
Klaina (clan): Mirarmilemba (Daydark), Aprim (Deathwield), 
Amwkla (Deathbring), Lorin (Deepen), and Holin (Darkhand). 
Each Klaina had a caste system based on eye color- ancient 
ways they still kept to, despite all the pressure to 
change.
    Varmiable was the last stronghold of the holly Elwens, 
the suenaluvitae. Thickly forested, it was the only place 
on Fhevu's western coast where the land fell to the sea, 
not in harsh cliffs, but gently and gradually. Thus, 
Varmiable ships ventured onto the sea far more often then 
those of any other race dwelling in the same area.
    Northwestern Fhevu was sometimes called Velweniacaba, 
the Last Stand of the Elwens, for here several otherwise 
vanished races defended their last strongholds. By the end 
of the Age of Arcadia, however, they had recovered their 
strength, though they stayed inside their borders. The 
mist Elwens of the Pemlenni Menua and the gull Elwens of 
the cities of Luggaepel, Luggaevera, and Fhevu-olyal were 
rarely seen or heard from, but the lukalia or light Elwens 
of the country of Valara were subtly extending their 
political power. The cities of Ramis, Lua, and Sulina, 
cradled by the River Velwenibalaca, the Fhevulaol, and a 
host of smaller streams, meddled in Arcadia when they 
chose and retreated likewise.
    No moose Elwens had ventured beyond their city of 
Canyil in decades, and the canyon Elwen cities of the 
Jaggerfalt- Cinilaveri, Franit, and Dfan- were thought to 
be only legend.
    Northeastern Fhevu was a vast territory encompassing a 
range of different types of land. In the southernmost 
part, between the Raitvoup and Eluvorpera, lay a country 
of hills, forests, and waterfalls. Appropriately enough, 
it held two moose Elwen cities, Sheenlor and Querlemba, 
and Rarenta, the nation of the waterfall Elwens, whose 
main city was at Linalarentae.
    Beyond the point where the Raitvoup and Eluvorpera 
joined into the River Velwenibalaca were most of the 
northeastern settlements, though the diplomatically 
important city of Rateriaoni lay near the confluence. 
Beyond the winding Elacron Trade Route lay the dream Elwen 
cities of Eriaoniriel and Eriaonishoon, and beyond them 
the gull Elwen city of Velwenijan. Here lived luggae whose 
duty it was to warn the land Elwens of Elpyon and 
Velwenacron if one of the criminals of Velwenacron passed 
through the Acronho Linco. This ancient door judged all 
who tried to walk through it, rejecting those whose 
behavior had not been honorable. Thus Velwenacron, a 
holding house for criminals too popular to execute and too 
dangerous to exile, had an excellent way of learning when 
its inmates had been reformed.
    The other land Elwen city in the area was 
Viaquiaberon, whose members spent their days stopping 
sunset Elwen invasions from the Viaquia Tantel. Whether 
from Vicoralak, Jesartshoon, or Vian, such invasions were 
always repelled- not that they came very often. The 
viaquia were often content to stay in their beautiful 
realm of everdusk meadows and eveningsong trees.
    On either side of the Viaquia Tantel lay one human 
town- Mirarlay to the west, Kyaekvadina to the east- where 
ships set sail upon the Gulf of Torman. Those were the 
northernmost cities in Fhevu itself, but to the north and 
under the waves of the Gulf lay the maelstrom Elwen 
whirlpools of Ander, Anderaita, and Yyrim. To the extreme 
west was Buino Lualta'Fatena, whose only city was 
Mirarlan, composed of female gull Elwens who had fled from 
the persecution of Arcadia.
    Economy. Southern Fhevuan commerce, like most of the 
province, was centered around the Elacron Trade Route. The 
amethyst Elwens and the mountain Elwens worked together to 
herd the tough but unruly mountain ponies, the great sheep 
valued for their wool, and the winged goats called 
oskemiebi to the lower regions. In addition, fymite 
caravanmasters often traded gemstones along the Elacron, 
and accepted commissions to carry criminals to 
Velwenacron. The life Elwens of Diavana bought gemstones, 
but little else, and produced nothing of value; their 
needs were mostly met by southern caravans.
    The eluvori of Inviolate did not trade with outsiders, 
and were likely to shoot anyone who tried to press goods 
on them or make their Forest part of a trade route; at 
least that was the theory, and often the practice as well. 
But a group of assassins known as the Peria Ver, the Green 
Brothers, whose job it was to eliminate known and possible 
enemies of the Forest, secretly traded fine wood in the 
markets of Mestarall, Jestri, Raustabrin, Sinoh, and 
Yukeho Uklon for steel weapons, poisons, and fire weapons. 
The cities themselves also had markets for drugs, 
experimental and highly dangerous magic, cruel weapons, 
instruments of torture, and delicacies obtained in various 
illegal ways. Only Quermaeremma stood above this otherwise 
general black market, though its torturers did buy the 
latest inventions relating to their profession.
    Quermayae and Eriaonwyna, being relatively isolated, 
were serviced by a few select caravanmasters who would 
take sweet-tasting grasses, fine cloaks, prophecies, and 
dreamguarders for staple foodstuffs, the mild liquor 
called honeyberry, and clothes suited to Fhevu's heavy 
winters.
    Central Fhevu was a large mass of sprawling 
simultaneous trades, though the actual variety of goods 
traded was actually rather small. These included the 
books, musical scores, statues, and poetry of the velyni; 
the unusual animals, flowers, and foods of the parsepi, as 
well as their most demanded product, frozen magic; the 
quarried stone and fresh fish of Bloodquest; the finely 
made steel weapons that came out of Railaol and 
Doliniduin; the magic of the alalori; the cloaks and tame 
deer provided by the quermae of Duoloin; the holly fruit, 
holly leaves, and colorful silks and spices from across 
the sea that the holly Elwens of Varmiable turned out in 
such abundance; and the warriors and weapons training the 
death Elwens were cautiously willing to give.
    Acasaemoin, with its close links to the Elacron Trade 
Route and its wildly varied market, was truly in a class 
by itself. Smugglers and offerers of contraband did not 
even pretend to disguise themselves; indeed, it was the 
law-abiding stranger who was in the most danger here.
    As mentioned before, the peoples of northwestern Fhevu 
were relatively insular. This included the autumn dragons 
and volcano Elwens of the Shannonae, though the autumn 
dragons did sometimes raid caravans for especially fine 
food or gemstones. Though the menudi of the Pemlenni Menua 
invented many machines and took great delight in exporting 
them, and received new inventions, in both science and 
magic, themselves, they rarely ventured beyond the 
boundaries of their country; and the other races almost 
never traded at all. The sole exception to this was the 
(understandably) rare traffic in artifacts sacred to 
Chilune, Lady of Chaos and Mischief, which the gull Elwens 
would give anything to secure.
    In northeastern Fhevu, most traffic marched along the 
Elacron or its smaller, unnamed western branch that ran to 
Rateriaoni and Viaquiaberon. The dream Elwens, unlike 
their Eriaonwyna-dwelling kin, did have ground that would 
grow them good food and cotton for making cloth, but the 
tough grass would not support sheep. They often traded 
dreamguarders, therefore, for woolen clothes. The land 
Elwen cities received the various products of the Elacron 
and in return contributed weapons of unusual materials 
like nevershatter glass and obsidian, everdusk grass and 
eveningsong tree saplings gathered at great risk from 
across the border of the Viaquia Tantel, and harmless 
hallucinogens like alfareriaon mushrooms. There was also a 
(hotly denied and highly secret) commerce in victims for 
the viaquia, and Velwenacron, of course, received its 
criminals.
    Both the sunset Elwens and the maelstrom Elwens tended 
to take what they wanted, instead of trading for it, and 
the human cities of Kyaekvadina and Mirarlay, in order to 
protect themselves from raiders, were ever eager to barter 
fish meat and oil, as well as pearls and coral, to 
southern merchants in return for reliable weapons.
    Post-Release
    General. The immediate Fhevuan casualties caused by 
the Release were light compared to other provinces; though 
over three hundred million people died, that still left 
more than fifty percent alive. But the particularly 
bizarre consequences and violent climactic changes caused 
by the explosion of so much magic left only fifteen 
million out of a surviving three hundred thirty-seven 
million by the end of a month after the Release. Of these, 
ninety percent were Changed. Ironically, those peoples who 
survived were those who melded Changed and normal into one 
whole unit bent on life.
    Climate And Terrain. There are few historians of Fhevu 
in this grotesque time, perhaps because one can only read 
so many descriptions of what occurred before sickening. 
But this essay's purpose is to describe, not make 
judgments.
    As mentioned earlier (see CYTHERIA), the Lastae and 
Asis ranges of mountains were pushed up to impossible 
heights, filling Lincosemba Pass. The mountain Elwens 
suffered a rather odd fate: they were eaten by possessed 
mountain sheep. The fate of the fymitei was more 
understandable, but no less tragic. Their very survival 
depended on understanding the mountains they existed in, 
and when the new height of the peaks brought winds as cold 
as the void between the stars and dozens of feet of snow 
in an hour, the amethyst Elwens began to die.
    Diavana was crushed, buildings and inhabitants made 
into an inch-thick puddle of stone and flesh by some 
unnameable force. Inviolate Forest was drowned by the 
Mirar Faitha; the Release carved Fhevu's straight coast 
into a series of inlets, and the inlet beside Inviolate 
was especially large. The few surviving forest Elwens 
became migrants (see PEOPLES OF THE CHANGED WORLD, under 
THE ELWENS OF FHEVU). The River Eluvorpera rose, filled 
with a living and malevolent will of its own, and stalked 
the shadowed Elwens of Mestarall and Jestri. They fought 
bravely, but were eventually forced to flee.
    The humans of Yukeho Uklon were simply obliterated; 
all that remained were sooty prints on white stone walls. 
The darkness Elwens of Sinoh proved to have an unusually 
high number of Changed in their ranks, and these Changed 
surrounded and protected their surviving normal cousins 
from the extremes of wind and water that overcame the Donh 
Valley. (As above, see PEOPLES OF THE CHANGED WORLD for 
more information).
    The Raitvoup River, always dangerous, expanded itself 
by changing all dream Elwens and moose Elwens anywhere 
near it into water. The valley Elwens of the Donh should 
have fled their drowning home, but they hesitated, loving 
it too well, and that proved their doom: they succumbed to 
wind-borne magical plagues. The parsepi of Geluvia found 
themselves on one of the few islands left in the Mirar 
Kesamela, as it was later named, but this was not the 
mercy it seemed to be. Starving sea creatures invaded 
their land, and every day became a struggle for survival.
    The life Elwens and dawn Elwens shared a strangely 
similar fate; they both sought to escape the Release by 
opening portals to other worlds. But magic no longer 
worked as they were accustomed to it working, and the 
rifts either swallowed them or spewed forth disgusting 
creatures to deal with them. The moose Elwens of Duoloin 
quite simply lost their minds; they all Shifted into 
ordinary moose and wandered into the Shannona Mountains. 
The suenaluvitae were gathered close by Nystze, their 
goddess, but not even the power of the Lady of Emotion 
could protect them from some Change. In the end, many 
abandoned Arcadia, sailing over sea in the desperate hope 
that they could find a land untouched by the Release.
    The death Elwens of the Falchian Plains and their 
deathtrotters were the only ones who in some measure 
survived unscathed. They had a collection of prophecies, 
half wrong. Though they didn't know what half were wrong, 
they chose to believe the Prophecy of Divirsa, which 
foretold the Release, and fled Arcadia some months before 
the end of the Rowanpride Wars, returning only afterwards.
    Acasaemoin was swept up in the same disaster that 
overtook the Shannona Mountains, the same disaster that 
would have eclipsed the dawn and life Elwens had not their 
twisted portal-magic in some way protected them. The 
Mountains were compressed into small stony hills by 
gigantic phantom children that appeared, picked up the 
peaks one by one to crush them into balls, returned them 
to their places, and vanished. The autumn dragons and 
obsia withdrew together to a range of mountains, the 
Drakon-Velweni, that sprang up slightly to the north, 
across the old line of the Rivers and the Pemlenni Menua. 
They had to build civilizations from scratch, for the 
magic had stolen all they once knew.
    The menudi were turned into nagas, Elwen-headed 
snakes, for reasons unknown, and were forced to abandon 
their beloved Pemlenni Menua, for fire swept across them. 
Fire likewise burned the forests of the country between 
the old Rivers and boiled the cascades of Rarenta (as well 
as most of the waterfall Elwens). The light Elwens of 
Valara tried to make it north to the Gulf of Torman, only 
to find a fire on their trail that stalked them patiently, 
stopping when they stopped, moving when they did. It never 
let them reach the sea alive.
    The Rivers Velwenibalaca and Fhevulaol were given 
added force, and carved out a great series of canyons, to 
the delight of those canyon Elwens who were still canyon 
Elwens. The moose Elwens were all gifted with the ability 
to see the future; most went mad from this before they 
reached their two thousandth birthday. The gull Elwens 
found themselves on an icy plain that closely followed the 
boundaries of their dwellings; those who could not adapt 
to the cold quickly died. The humans and land Elwens alike 
were flooded, for the waters of the Gulf of Torman were 
chased aside by the rising of the land now called Almar, 
and had to go somewhere. They, too, became migrants. The 
viaquia dwindled away one by one, eventually becoming thin 
voices that still haunt the air of the undamaged Viaquia 
Tantel.
    Strangely, the Elacron Trade Route remained, rising 
out of the water and fire that claimed eastern Fhevu. 
Perhaps the magic meant it as a warning and reminder of 
its power, or wanted to provide an escape route to 
southern lands. Sadly, it was a useless endeavor, and 
perhaps even a harmful one; refugees from the south 
marched up it, and their desperation led to war between 
them and the settled peoples of Almar.
    Final Estimate. Though Fhevu today has still not 
recovered the strength of Fhevu some nineteen millennia 
ago, and remains a dangerous place to live, it is slowly 
climbing from the pit into which the Release flung it. 
Perhaps one day it will become as great as it once was- 
not the same, of course, but the beacon of wonder it was 
named for still.

    FRIGID WASTE
    Pre-Release
    General. The Frigid Waste, an inhospitable province in 
matters of climate, terrain, and people, had one of the 
smaller populations even before the Release. About one 
hundred twenty-nine million people lived there. Of these, 
most were Elwens of one race or another; only the most 
stubborn humans and the purple dragons cared to tolerate  
the low temperatures, unmelting ice, constant snow and 
wind, occasional hail, dangerous wild beasts, and lawless 
parts of the Waste.
    Climate And Terrain. The Waste was one unmelting ice 
sheet, miles thick, stretching from the Coroni Ata to the 
Coroni Lorohelaberon (this last somewhat misnamed). 
Rippled and faceted, so much so that merchants sold Waste 
ice as diamond to the gullible, it nonetheless had a 
variety of terrain. 
    The southern climes, closer to the green part of the 
Barren Desert and the milder southern lands of Cytheria, 
had days in summer that could almost be called temperate. 
Nonetheless, snowfalls came daily, often ten or fifteen 
feet at a time. Because of this, the main road of the 
region, the Cheasonor Trade Route, was cut through the ice 
instead of on top of it. It was a great work of craft, 
completed in the Age of Dawn, and few could remember how 
it had been done.
    The Cheasonor branched off in the Glelmirartis Route, 
leading northwest to the human city of Raulain on the 
small Dariz Helay and its island-city of Caonbuin, but 
otherwise continued straight to the port of Sonorhela, on 
the Lon. Sonorhela was a nervous place, but open, as full 
of other races (especially snow Elwens, shadowed Elwens, 
and humans) as land Elwens. It served as the link to the 
outside world for the insular city of Cheasonor, on an 
island in the Lon.
    Between the two lakes was Cerrna, a descent into an 
underground cerrum-realm. The central Elwens surfaced now 
and again to trade. North of Cerrna, the River Helauklon 
ran north and joined the River Velwena, flowing out of the 
Lon. The Velwena continued onward to the great mountain 
that housed the purple dragon warrens. It was a mighty 
river and old, its bed firmly carved, which may explain 
why it did not follow some of its water northward across 
the Line.
    To the west of the Dariz Helay were two scintillating 
Elwen cities, Juinunal and Cascada. They bore a reputation 
as welcoming even to death Elwens, though not usually to 
non-sakenoida officers of the law.
    The boundary between northern and southern Waste was 
very sharply defined, both by the Line, a great groove cut 
into the ice, and by the magical darkness that encased the 
north, the result of a curalli spell cast during the Chaos 
Collision. Of all the northern inhabitants, sakenoidae 
lived closest to the Line, in the cities of D£gbirl and 
Eltamvirak. Unlike their southern cousins, they were 
dedicated to preserving their old ways and were fiercely 
unwelcoming to outsiders- and at that, among the mildest 
of the Waste northerners.
    The geographical center of the Waste was Icaliaa Loch, 
fed by five rivers- the Glelay River, a tributary of the 
Velwena; the Glelalay, Glelmirartis, and Gleviay Rivers, 
each named for their respective directions; and the Sarnwa 
River, which flowed from the base of the Lastae Mountains 
where they met the Lorohelaberoni. Four curalli cities sat 
outside Icaliaa on the banks of rivers- Faithajesart on 
the Glelay, Ataer on the Glealay, Curallihetel on the 
Glelmirartis, and Aninu on the Gleviay- four of the cities 
of the mighty Wil'a'fanaeo Curalli. The fifth, Barak-ugh, 
sat on an island in the middle of Icaliaa, on the site 
where shadowed Elwens first opened their eyes to the black 
stars.
    To all sides of Icaliaa were scattered the cities of 
other races, lesser political powers. Closest on the west 
was the relatively friendly ice Elwen city of Glacin‚, 
with the wary land Elwen dwelling of Curalliesain and the 
snow Elwens of Elrhenn living just beyond. In the farthest 
west were the most reclusive scintillating Elwens, of 
Lennana, and the diamond Elwens of Diabarak and Ellomon, 
who sought solitude of necessity to avoid being robbed of 
their precious gems.
    Between the Gleviay River and the Amal River, a 
tributary of the Sarnwa, was Norwnos, a snow Elwen city 
making constant war on Aninu. North of even that were the 
diamond Elwens of Julima and Cad-barak, guarding, perhaps, 
the place where juldiae first awoke. It was best not to 
ask too many questions in that ancient, death- and 
intrigue-ridden place.
    To the north lay only Cythercuc, a city of sakenoidae 
who worked in close alliance with the shadowed Elwens, and 
Esain-caon-Glelmirart, a land Elwen city established 
against "the incursion of evil" that ironically contained 
many half-curalli. The east was more sparsely settled, 
mostly by snow Elwens whose hatred for curalli was 
undying, and whose great places were the cities of Kalurai 
and Lorolgarn. Granted, ice Elwens lived in Sp£ril, close 
at hand, but even so, the curalli were constantly forced 
into border wars in the east.
    Economy. The southern Frigid Waste economy centered on 
two products: silverswords and fish. The near-sentient 
plants were either shipped to the south live and whole, 
usually to be used as garden guards, or, more commonly, 
made into the magical blades also called silverswords. 
Because silverswords would not grow near non-Elwen 
communities, the humans of Raulain and Caonbuin relied 
almost exclusively on their fish.
    Of course, other, less legitimate trading went on, 
notably in assassination work and treasures that the 
purple dragons coveted and the sakenoidae were happy to 
give them- for a price. A variety of products flowed in 
and out of Juinunal and Cascada, so many that an 
exhaustive list would be beyond the scope of this essay.
    North, the main economic center was the Wil'a'fanaeo 
Curalli. Even the snow Elwens and land Elwens traded with 
them, for shadowed Elwens were best equipped to survive in 
this harsh land and could give the other races what they 
needed. Generally, the snow Elwens bought steel weapons, 
which they were incapable of forging for themselves 
because they could not use fire, and some food that the 
curalli grew in tended gardens. In return, they acted as 
contacts, both for curalli products exported outside the 
Frigid Waste and for imports- notably exotic pets and 
smoltoth wine.
    The land Elwens of Esain-caon-Glelmirart were much 
more willing to trade with the curalli than their southern 
cousins in Curalliesain, as evidenced by the large number 
of half shadowed Elwens among them. They, too, bought 
curalli steel, which was among the finest in the world at 
that time; food; wine; treasures like sivleth chaos- 
sculptures and magical toys; and graybeasts, the breeding 
of which only parsepi excelled the curalli at. In return, 
they gave the curalli rowan wood to make the furniture 
many School Masters had a weakness for, and berries that 
simply would not grow in the gardens.
    The isolationist scintillating Elwens did almost no 
trading, preferring to survive as icerunners in the 
seasons when they could not support themselves. The ice 
Elwens, on the other hand, participated in an exchange of 
mercenaries with the curalli and fosterage of children as 
well as more material luxuries like books, kertha knives, 
poisons, and stargazers.
    The diamond Elwens traded impartially with everyone, 
their only goods the gems that would cut ice into pleasing 
shapes or edge weapons with a sharpness even curalli steel 
couldn't give. On the other hand, they didn't really need 
anything else. They accepted most anything, but especially 
books and dark clothes to block the always deadly effect 
of light shining through their skin. They carried these 
goods back to their secretive homelands and vanished with 
them; their creators never saw them again.
    Post-Release
    General. Being so close to the Tableland, the Frigid 
Waste was hit especially hard. Over seventy percent of its 
population died in the Release, a little more than ninety- 
four million people. Of the thirty-five million and some 
survivors, nearly ninety-five percent were Changed. And 
this is not taking account of those who later died of the 
consequences that shall be described below. The Frigid 
Waste was long in reestablishing contact with the outside 
world.
    Climate And Terrain. The Release struck a devastating 
blow to the southeastern Frigid Waste, that part of it 
closest to the Tableland and the center of the 
destruction. There, the Coroni Ata puffed into vapor, 
either extraordinarily hot flames or some magical, 
poisonous gas converting them into little more than smoke. 
One might have thought this would have encouraged escape, 
and later travel, to the southern lands, but the survivors 
had enough problems, too many to flee from. A lake of 
molten stone, perhaps all that remained of the bedrock in 
that place, separated them from the Tableland and Desert. 
It was long before the Changed and the few normal Elwens 
learned the art of making ships to cross the Dermaproni' 
Mirar, the Sea of Sparks.
    The rest of the Coroni Ata, as often happened with 
mountains elsewhere, were pushed up to enormous heights. 
Strangely, so high and cold were they already that the 
added chill of the height proved more than the stone could 
stand. They cracked and crazed from top to bottom, the 
cracks spilling forth lava that further damaged the rent 
and torn land. The few inhabitants of the Coroni Ata, 
those that could adapt to the immense cold excepted, 
perished.
    The southern ice fields, suddenly subjected to a heat 
greater than any they had ever known, melted. The Lon, the 
River Velwena, the River Helauklon, and the Dariz Helay 
ceased to exist as separate entities, drawn into the 
immense flooding of what was later named the Velweninya, 
or Elwendeath, Sea. The land Elwens of Sonorhela, for the 
most part, died under monstrous tidal waves before they 
could flee to untouched Cheasonor. Perhaps their fate was 
more to be envied than pitied, however, for though 
Cheasonor survived, it was totally isolated, surrounded by 
thousand-foot deep waters too cold to brave even in 
magical boats. The fate of its few inhabitants was a 
bitter struggle for continued survival, and wonder at 
whether anyone else in the Waste had survived.
    The humans of Raulain and Caonbuin died at once, of 
course, with Caonbuin swamped almost as soon as the 
Velweninya began to rise. The cerrumi of Cerrna survived 
by sealing shut the passage that led to their realm- and 
were then condemned to have no more contact with the 
surface world in that area. The scintillating Elwens of 
Juinunal and Cascada had perhaps a day's warning, no more, 
and fled through underice tunnels they had prepared in 
case of the cities' besieging. It is unknown how many were 
able to find surcease among their hostile and suspicious 
brethren of the northlands.
    The mountain that housed the Purple Dragon Warrens was 
tall enough to rise above the sea, but the sudden presence 
of so much chill water was too much for even those cold- 
tolerant reptiles. They fled toward the doubtful sanctuary 
of the Coroni Lorohelaberon, leaving the island of Lasta 
to the mercy of wind and waves.
    The hungry waters rushed to the Line, but here they 
were balked by two things: the diminishing power of the 
flames and the strength of the darkness enchantment the 
curalli cast during the Chaos Collision over thirty 
billion years ago. Though the mages of our Changed World 
are powerful beyond the dreams of the peoples of the Age 
of Arcadia, the mages of the Age of Dawn must have been 
stronger still. The Velweninya was brought to an abrupt 
halt, and over a period of days retreated, leaving a small 
strip of barren land along the Line in sullen reminder of 
its power.
    This is not to say those lands sheltering under the 
magical darkness escaped the Release, though their 
casualties were less heavy and the results less 
spectacular. Instead of flame or water, the cold that had 
always been a part of the Frigid Waste came to call. It 
deepened to the point where simply stepping outside of 
doors was certain and instant death. As well, the cities 
suffered their own individual fates from the bizarre 
magic.
    The city of Lennana became a solid block of ice, 
entombing the sakenoidae inside until they starved. The 
inhabitants of Eltamvirak, in faith that their icerunner- 
shifting abilities would protect them, tried to migrate to 
a warmer place- and found themselves standing on the ice 
in exactly the same position for days or even years on 
end, as time slowed for them. D£gbirl, by contrast, 
suddenly found itself sitting on a lovely, grassy, flowery 
hill of eternal springtime, where the cold did not reach. 
The sakenoidae and Changed there were wise enough not to 
venture beyond the bounds of Audque, however.
    The land Elwens of Curalliesain succumbed to a strange 
disease involving hallucinations that curalli were 
attacking the city. They all rushed outside- and fell, so 
frozen that their bodies were found, perfectly preserved, 
years later. The ice Elwens of Glacin‚ were attacked by a 
storm of snow and ice the likes of which have never been 
seen before or since, and which continued for a solid 
year, dropping feet of ice and well over a ton of snow. 
Luckily, by the time the roofs began to collapse, the 
killing cold had somewhat abated
    Over Elrhenn, the magic, in one of its more bizarre 
manifestations, seems to have taken the form of one of 
their worst nightmares. The darkness tightened around 
their city like a giant fist, randomly crushing snow 
Elwens and killing others through fear. Perhaps the same 
thing happened in Norwnos, but we cannot be certain. All 
the discoverers of the tragedy nearly a thousand years 
later would say was that the snow Elwens were found, 
frozen, staring into the sky with looks of terror on their 
faces- terror so extreme that some who looked upon the 
corpses went mad.
    The diamond Elwens of Ellomon, Diabarak, Cad-barak, 
and Julima, in some way that we will probably never know 
the truth of, gained foreknowledge of the disaster. Like 
many other peoples, they wove desperate magic to protect 
themselves. Unlike many other magicks, this one worked, 
creating a wall of diamonds and ice around the city that 
could not be pierced by the Release. But it came at two 
enormous prices: a great sacrifice of lives and life- 
force, and the decree that no one should ever leave the 
Mar Esaora. However, one must salute the courage of those 
ancient mages. Their actions may well have saved the 
juldiae from extinction.
    The curalli of the Wil'a'fanae were completely taken 
by surprise- an odd circumstance if one thinks about it, 
as the destroyer of the world, Selkendal Shadowgift, was 
also shadowed Elwen. However, he was presumably too 
concerned with the survival of his own people to warn his 
northern cousins. Therefore, their fates were also 
devastating.
    A mighty, invisible scythe cut a circle around 
Icaliaa, creating a chasm which cut the curalli off from 
the outside world, even their close neighbors in Cythercuc 
and Norwnos. That completed, the cold came. Bits of 
intelligent, vicious snow wriggled through the tiniest 
cracks in windows or doors, existing long enough to give 
the hiding shadowed Elwens fatal frostbite. Bits of ice 
turned the smooth, rippling icefields the curalli had 
always known into treacherous terrain, where one could not 
venture without a guide. The animals of the Frigid Waste 
hid, or died, or were changed into strange amalgamations 
of themselves that struck back at their former hunters. 
Only the snowbeasts stood by their masters, bonded by a 
magic too strange and wild for the Release to touch.
    Faithajesart was surrounded in a single day by 
steelsheens, the intelligent, magical tigers Yubro 
Deerfriend had created for his kin long ago. When the 
curalli, past caring if the tigers had any malevolent 
will, opened the gates, the cats marched through with 
great solemnity and dignity. No one knows what happened 
next. All we know is that no frozen corpses were found, 
and the last messages speak wistfully of "a happier place" 
to which the steelsheens had promised to lead them.
    Ataer seemed to gather its will as a city and move 
toward what had been named, most simply, the Choarosad, 
the Chasm. Its inhabitants tried to flee, but it was no 
use. They were carried over the edge on a waterfall formed 
by the waters of the Glealay River, still screaming.
    Curallihetel experienced selective vanishing, with 
certain of its people simply ceasing to exist except as 
small sad piles of dust. No one knows why some died and 
some did not. There were good and bad people, the young 
and the old. The curalli of the city became extremely 
suspicious of outsiders, thinking any one of them might 
have been the mage that caused this disaster, and to this 
day remain hostile.