The forest Elwens- eluvori, (el-oo-VOR-ee) in the Primal tongue, meaning "people of the leaf"- are among the shyest and strangest races of Elwens. Few who are not their neighbors or students of history may know anything about them. They live in one province only, and have played nearly no part in history in more recent times.
Come among them, if you will- the forest Elwens, the Children of Rodollen.
PHYSICAL LOOKS
Eluvori have brown-green skin, or brown streaked with green, that looks and feels like wood. In fact, it acts much of the time as a tough woody covering that keeps arrows and blades from doing much damage to them. Fire will make it burn, and axes slice cleanly through it; but the eluvori do not take much notice of these weaknesses. They are proud to be so much like the trees they love.
Their eyes are any shade of green, or green upon green; the eyes of the Lord Rodollen (see below) were supposedly marshfire on emerald on jade, with the inner ring being too bright to look at when he was excited. Eluvor eyes are also occasionally a clear blue or violet. These colors are regarded ambiguously- sometimes as a sign that the individual bearing them will do great deeds, sometimes as a sign that he or she will cause unnecessary harm to the Forest. (For the isolationist eluvori, they can mean both at once).
Eluvor hair is soft and usually green, resembling the fuzzy leaves of some plants. The strangest features of most forest Elwens, however, (at least for other races of Elwens) are their faces themselves. Sharper than any other Elwen people's, they have often been compared to elves', and their mouths are leaf-shaped. Unpleasant speculation has arisen that eluvori and elves share the same blood- a conclusion that is violently rejected by both of the races named.
Eluvori have a clear blood, much like sap, when they bleed at all; as noted above, it is not easy to cut through their skin. They can only sprint at about fifty miles an hour, much slower than other Elwens, but in the forest they can travel at unmatched speed. The undergrowth, dead trees, and other obstacles seem simply to bend and flow around them like water or light. They live about twelve thousand years, and many of them die of old age; those who do not often survive in the Memory Songs the eluvori use instead of writing to preserve their history.
EMOTIONAL MAKEUP
Many eluvori have a tendency to take things slowly and patiently, not reacting with the fire and fury that, say, typifies land Elwens. This is not due to a lack of emotion, but from a belief in the basic rightness of the world. Things will work out; wrongs will be righted. It may occasionally be necessary to take the righting of a wrong into one's own hands, but such behavior is not encouraged. Eluvori take the long view most of the time, and almost always see (whether it could happen or not) what harm a hasty action might do to the forest. They would rather retreat into the boughs and discuss things than attack.
All of this, however, does not mean that the forest Elwens lack Elwen pride. In fact, they take pride in their very simplicity. According to the historians of the Inviolate Forest, (see below) it is the other peoples of the world who dress up simple things in complicated metaphors and make things harsher than they need to be. Eluvori understand the simple things: birth, the change of the seasons, the hunt and the growth of life, death. No matter what changes may seem to sweep the world, these things are changeless. The eluvori therefore see no need to become excited about them, or assume they will alter.
The only time this patience and delight in changelessness is left behind is when something threatens the forests where they dwell. The Children of Rodollen can move, then, with a speed that surprises their enemies. They will not permit a single bough to be harmed if they can stop it. In fact, they will sometimes coolly kill someone who does not intend to harm the forest at all, simply because they feel that he or she might try. Someone who attempts to pass through Inviolate Forest without permission is just as likely to die as make it, probably more so.
Eluvori very rarely regret anything, including the need to kill. They see their lives as governed by necessity. If necessity instructs them to kill, then they do so. Then they go back to their simple lives, praying and dancing and hunting.
(It should be noted that many of their Elwen cousins find the eluvor 'simplicity' as hard to understand as the forest Elwens do their 'complexity').
MAGICAL MAKEUP
Eluvori have little magic that is not tied directly to the forests (and some of their critics would say they have 'little magic' altogether). However, the following abilities have been known and observed:
Quelling fire. Eluvori have the ability, if they concentrate sufficiently, to dismiss fire. This includes both magical and natural- a campfire gone out of control dies as easily as the flames a firehound might leave behind. The forest Elwen, however, will usually lose the ability to achieve sufficient concentration if the fire is flung at him.
Steel-sense. A forest Elwen can sense when steel has been drawn anywhere in the wood he calls home, or which he loves best. Though this is usually used to detect axes that someone might be leveling at defenseless trees, it can also alert the eluvor to a battle taking some distance away in which he might wish to intervene.
Woodsong. This is the ability most prized by the Children of Rodollen, the ability to sink into the great harmony of life all around them and sing along with every note. It has many purposes: healing the wounded, refreshing the mentally weary, and tending the forest itself, to insure that nothing has gone horribly wrong. Such things as diseases in the trees or a great slaughter of animals will sound a dissonant note, and, usually, reveal to the eluvor where the problem is taking place.
Shadow-walking. Legend says the eluvori made a bargain with the curalli long ago. The eluvori gave up some forestry magic, and were taught by the shadowed Elwens to shadow-walk. If an eluvor steps into the shadow of a tree, he can step out of the shadow of any other tree he knows. The only limit to the gift is that the end destination, if not the place he starts from, must be known personally to the forest Elwen. He cannot go to a place he has merely heard about and not seen.
Healing. This refers to the healing of land, not the healing of people; very few eluvori have that gift, and those who do are mostly mages. An eluvor dancing on ground that has been scorched by fire, torn by an earthquake, or otherwise damaged begins to sprout trails of green light. These heal whatever damage might lie below the surface and encourage the grass and trees to sprout again.
Empathy. Again, this has little to do with other intelligent species. An eluvor can feel the 'emotions' of a particular plant or animal species that he has trained to, or that, at times, he has a natural affinity for. Eluvori who have plant empathy usually are much affected by the seasons and spend a large part of the winter asleep. Eluvori who are animal empaths can sense what an animal desires at the moment and may be able to fend off an attack.
Wilding. This, though a gift common to all forest Elwens, is very rarely used. Once an eluvor descends into wilding, he will rarely return. This magic allows him to assume an absolutely savage and animal-like aspect, to in effect become part of the Forest. It is sometimes used simply by eluvori tired of life, but it is more often used to attack enemies. The eluvori so turned gain a greater cunning, if not a greater intelligence, and will fight tirelessly until they are slain or their enemies are.
ORIGINS AND MODERN SETTLEMENTS
Like all Elwens, the eluvori were born from starlight, though they make a distinction many of the others do not and say that only light, not fire, birthed them. For a long time they were a wandering people, scattered in forests all over the continent, ever searching for a perfect place to dwell and finding it not.
Then Rodollen, the greatest of their kind, inspired by a vision from the stars, created the Inviolate Forest in southwestern Fhevu, on the border of the Falchian Plains (see churni). Rodollen himself did not die, but became a great tree in the center of the Forest, never dying, always alive to hear the sufferings of his people. This is called the Sacrifice, and the eluvori named themselves the Children of Rodollen in his honor. They are still one of the few races that does not worship either the stars or gods of their own; Rodollen receives their praise and what worship they will give.
The largest settlement of forest Elwens dwells today within the Inviolate Forest, and almost never stirs outside its borders. At times, individual eluvori or small companies may be met wandering far away from Inviolate, but they are either exiles or stubborn, prideful Elwens who refused Rodollen's call. They are of no account next to the vast numbers of eluvori living in Inviolate itself.
Of course, this concentration increases the danger that an enemy could destroy the eluvor race at one stroke. But the eluvori themselves are quietly confident, and rarely even think about danger unless it comes to them. The Singer and, when they have one, the High Priest or Priestess who govern them do take thought for such things, and an organization of assassins called the Ver Peria are often set to deal with the enemies of the Forest.
LANGUAGES
It has been claimed that all eluvori speak the same language, Hallin, a descendant from the ancient tongue of the same name. However, this is not entirely true. The Inviolate Forest is vast, and many isolated groups dwell within it, not coming into contact with others for generations. Thus, there may be said to be at least three languages in the Forest itself:
Carolan. The language of the western borders of the Forest, closest to the Falchian Plains. This has picked up a few words from Alidden and the tongue of the papiliferai (life Elwens) to the south.
Engori. The language of the center of the Forest, largely unchanged since Rodollen's time. This springs partially from the need to keep up the communication with the spirit of Rodollen (who speaks only this tongue and Primal) and partially from pride. Considered the "purest" tongue.
Namolas. Critics claim this is either debased Engori or a debased mishmash of tongues from the Outside. In reality, however, Namolas, which occupies the northern and eastern borders of the Forest, is quite different from the other languages of Inviolate. It has adopted more outside terms and sometimes even grammatical functions, and has many more words than either Carolan or Engori. The language that most outsiders who help the eluvori speak in.
More to come, I promise.
