Silmataurea

Silmataurea is mainly home to the Sylvan elves, better known as Wood elves or in their own language Taur'quessir. However the area is also known to have a number of other members of elven kind such as; Gray elves (Sin'tel-quessir), High elves (Eladrin Cala'quessir), Moon elves (Ithil'quessir) Silver/Star elves (Mith'quessir), Half-elves (Elandili) and some outcast Drow (Mori'quessir).

Silmataurea is ruled by the Athdara family who are members of the royal-noble house Silvar. The Athdara family have long served as protectors of the forest area, and as a result have clashed with humans who seek to cut down their forest home or enslave an exotic looking elf.

Silmataurea is a labyrinth network of trees that form a hidden city in that the trees themselves are the houses, however at the center of the city is the great tree palace, a Massive oak millions of years old, this tree is also called to as the tree of life and in elvish folk lore it is said to be the birthplace of all elven kind. The woodland city its self has high elven walls which look brittle but can withstand most siege weapons while also giving the elven guards a high advantage point to pummel their enemy with arrows and other such ranged weapons.

Typically the most common elf found in Silmataurea is the wood elf. How ever there is also a population of half elves, surface drow, high elves, Gray elves, star elves and moon elves as well as the odd winged elf, but wood elves number the highest in the area and city of Silmataurea.

Wood elves considered themselves the heirs of the ancient elven empires established prior to the split of the elven races, they continue to share a few of the cultural characteristics that marked such early elven realms. Although elves a proud people, wood elves felt that agility and compassion was a greater virtue than strength and wood elven realms are less concerned with expansion than they were with maintaining amiable relations with their neighbours but with humans it often ends badly. Wood elves unlike wild elves are not normally nomadic, however, as is common amongst the wild elves Wood elves are instead organized into scattered, carefully concealed villages united under a gerontocratic hierarchy composed of village councils consisting of the most distinguished families' (A from of Nobility often called houses) and the eldest members. These councils are often advised by local druids, whose influence plays no small part in wood elven politics and who frequently serve as the webbing that bound any number of villages together, the exception to this rule is the center of their culture the wood elf Tree city of Silmataurea which acts as the center of their commerce and homeland which binds all the of the wood elven towns and villages together as one realm.

Compared with other members of Tel-quessir, wood elves have a notable disinterest in the arcane arts. To a wood elf, the wizard's spells are little different seen means of controlling the natural world, which was contrary to the common ethic of living in harmony with nature rather than trying to dominate it that so many wood elves espoused. As such, wood elf adventurers are more likely to take on careers that do not require the use of arcane magic. In particular, many are drawn to the paths of the fighter, druid, ranger, bards or rogue, relying on their natural-born skill to overcome obstacles. Compared with other Tel-quessir very few wood elves go on to become spellsingers or bladesingers. The two major exceptions to the wood elf taboo on arcane magic are the or the rare born treesingers and the arcane archers, who count among their number several wood elves. Other wood elves from more remote areas are sometimes drawn to the ways of the barbarian while many religious wood elves may become Druids, Paladins of the sacred heart, or Clerics. Clerics and Paladins are often seen in much the same light as wizards. Those wood elves who did become clerics might eventually become hierophants. Many wood elven adventurers also became Harpers or scouts.

Wood elves commonly feel that they need to be in harmony with their natural surroundings and an examination of their art helps to justify this belief. While wood elves do not tend to wander like wild animals as the wild elves do, wood elves do their best to have a minimal impact on their natural surroundings, a fact reflected in their architecture. Frequently, wood elf homes are made of natural fieldstone or carefully furnished wood by the tree singers, many even sing trees to be their home such as is found in Silmataurea its self, but on occasion wood elves are known to do without even these creature comforts, living in the limbs of mighty trees or sheltered caves, rejecting furniture or any possessions they can not carry with them. Wood elf villages resemble their surroundings so closely that humans are occasionally known to wander through one without even noticing. Increased contact with other races since the end of the Retreat caused some of these cultural practices to come into question but for the large part the wood elves live much the same as their ancestors did, and still shun relations with non elven or non fay races, as such half elves are looked upon with pity for their shorter lifespans sometimes in some areas are cast out altogether as the elven parent can not bare the heartbreak of watching both their mortal lover and shorter lived child die before them.

In keeping with their naturalistic inclination, wood elves are among some of the world's finest carpenters and stone workers, masters in the crafting of bows and arrows as well as in leather tanning (for those who have not taken the oath of life). Wood elves even developed a number of specialized arrows, including those that flew further than usual as well as some that were used as signal devices. So carefully guarded were wood elven crafting secrets that even experienced fletchers from other races had difficulty emulating wood elven designs. Wood elven leather armour also often doubled as camouflage, disguising a wood elven ranger from potential enemies. Compared with wild elven designs, wood elven crafting often looks surprisingly elegant, although they are often made of the same materials and used similar methods, reflecting some of the differenced between the two elven sub-races.

Wood elves are often found enjoying themselves within the highest branches of their forest homes. Wood elves tend not keep pets, but instead formed bonds with local wildlife in a manner similar to those of a ranger. Wood elves are particularly fond of mountain lions, pumas, leopards, wolves, members of the deer family, wild equines and birds of pray. These bonds are not limited to wildlife, wood elves are known for their ability to form many differing kinds of bonds with each other, known as the bond of kinship, this bond has differing levels of strength raging from contact only to distance from each other, this is used to help each other in battle and unify their combat. There are other forms of these bonds, one is known as the lovers bond where two elves who bond together form a symbiotic psychic (psionic) link, however it has draw backs such as a deadly level of heartbreak if one of the two dies, this will drive the living elf to levels of insanity where they may take their own life, or simply give up living and in rare cases to vengeance.

The oath of life, is an oath taken by many wood elves to not needlessly take a life of any living thing, this extends to plants as well as animals and sentience. A wood elf held by this will not hunt unless there is no other means of gaining food or materials to survive, the elves who take this oath are a diet group known as fruitarian, they can not eat anything that is life that may yet be, so fertilized eggs and seeds that will grow into a new plant are forbidden, also they can not eat a plant that will kill the mother plant if harvested. The fruit must be deseeded or seedless and not harm the plant in a way that kills it.

The Brief area info

Silmataurea like many of elven nations started small. But in the case of Silmataurea not only was it the first of the great elven tree's it also started off as nothing more then a small oak seedling on a small diamond shaped island in a stream, until the first known elven tree singer woke the tree up. Silmataurea is said to have been the tree from which the others were grown from. An acorn was taken across to other lands where the other elven trees where then grown each binding to an elemental tree of the fey plains. The elf mage who woke up the tree of Silmataurea has set about this task in a way to first set events in motion that would free her then enslaved people, this meant using the gates of time, and she used a spell granted to her by a tree spirit of the fey wilds, this spell would tap into the powers of the spring of far seeing and allow for the binding of magical energies to the tree. And so began the waking of the first elven tree Silmataurea. The eleven trees are said to be bound to the 5 elemental trees from the fey plain themselves, the tree of life, tree of death. tree of pain, tree of magic and the tree of wisdom. So the elven trees are as follows.
Tree of Silmataurea is believed to be connected directly to the tree of life.
Tree of Dolltaur connected directly to the tree wisdom and history.
Tree of Avelorn on the island of ulthuan is connected to the tree of magic and knowledge.
Tree of the tree of underdark is connected to the tree of pain and torment.
The tree of death is said to be in the cursed marshes of the forest between the fey wilds of ivy's forest and the elven city's of Dolltaur and Silmataurea, unlike other elven trees the tree of death is known to wonder around, with the cursed lands in which it is found swarming with undead of all types, it is unknown if there may even be another elven city within these lands due to the high level of undead making making it extremely difficult to venture in to deep and investigate, and those who have have ventured in either never returned, or returned as part of the undead hordes.

The elven forests themselves are not to be scoffed at, with a mix of wildlife, tree-ents as well as the tress themselves which are all connected to the elven trees or awoken by fey or elf magic are similarly sentient, if your not careful, where you may have believed you were following path can soon find you lost in a labyrinth of trees and if you were to look back you would find there is not path at all. This is because the tree's of the elven and fey forests move as part of the defences of the elven city's themselves or because of fey trickery, in some cases even both. It is said unless you know the way to an elf city you will not find it, and if you found it once, unless you were deemed to not be a threat you will not find them a second time.

Both Silmataurea and Dolltaur use magical magical mist as part of their defences as well.
Dolltaur's can only be passed with the guidance of those who live there or if you are granted a ring of friendship created superficially for that wearer so none other may use it, otherwise you will walk into the mist and find yourself right back where you started. This not only keeps intruders outs, it also keeps the cities hidden.
The mist of Silmataurea is only cast when the elves themselves feel there is a need to do so, and unlike Dolltaur's mist, Silmataurea's traps you in an a sub plain until one of it's guardians comes to get you out, unless they deem you a danger where they will leave you to wonder the forever in the sub to forever wonder the fog until you die, or you are clever enough to find a way out at which point you will find yourself back where you started just as the fog of Dolltaur does.

Before the elves learned the ability to use the magical mists, which is believed to have been learned from the isle of avalon. The elves used to only use the forest, unfortunately they found this still left them at risk from attacks by their underdark brethren the drow, or other unsavoury outsiders, one such time saw the city of Silmataurea being locked in a time loop curse where a mage tried to cast defensive spells for the city, while unfortunately it clashed with a spell from a drow priestess, leaving the city stuck in a repeating cursed loop of the day that lead up to the attack repeating over and over at the rise of every dawn, some elves who died while in this curse had their spirits trapped doomed to repeat the day over and over never able to escape trapped in a forced un-death, the ghosts being the only victims able to recall all the events beyond that day, while slowly going mad with repeating the same day over and over. Only those of the bloodline who cast the first defensive spell are said to be able to lift the curse, but none are quite sure how as the elves fear to go into the city for fear they to will become trapped in the loop.

Common Classes:
Ranger
Woodland Lord of Silmataurea
Druid
Cleric
Fighter: Blade dancer / Blade singer
Bard
Rogue
Dragon rider
Scout
Wood elf Wyld Rider (horse / elk / moose / stag / big cat / bear / dire wolf / other large woodland or mythical animals)
War-hawk Rider