burned our towns ruthlessly and treated all our people with cruel hostility.

Finally, they appointed one of their number as king and he forced all the coun-
try to carry tribute to Pherdiad."

The invaders, called the Sion Hac ("Foreign Beasts"), dominated Pherdiad for
four generations. Their control of eastern Elfland, however, seems to have
been only tenuous; for it was there that certain native leaders eventually began
the revolt against them. Perhaps civilization had weakened the Sion Hac, or the
Elves had belatedly learned better fighting tactics. Regardless, their rising final-
ly freed Elfland from human domination. They razed Pherdiad, which had
become a symbol of their humiliation, and built a new capital that they called
Ider Bolis ("Eternal Victory").

The History of Elfland
The Elven city of Letho was one of the most remarkable jewels in the crown of
the Lloroi Empire. Neuth (Elven for "Abiding Place of the Elves") was a stable
bulwark at the northern fringe of civilization. Warm sea currents moderated the
climate year round; gratefully the Elves worshiped Miodmuiri, the sea, and
Oenglamh, the sun.
This peaceful world was destroyed by the upheavals of the Cataclysm. The vast
forests of Neuth were shattered and set aflame by lightning and blazing meteor
showers. The sea floor buckled and the coast rolled back hundreds of miles to
the south. The alteration of topography placed Letho in a depression that rap-
idly filled with muck from the surrounding lakes and newly-formed streams. The
mud ultimately buried the city; only the high, slender towers remained visible.
After the liberation, Elfland became a grimmer place. Gone was the sponta-
neous enjoyment of life that had prevailed before the invasion. The belief in
Elven superiority became an active doctrine in which the Elves buried their
shame. The true victims of this idea were the descendants of the human Sion
Hac and their Elven concubines. These people were called the Ercii ("Mixed
Bloods") and relegated to the status of pariahs. Not permitted into any caste,
they survived by doing the undignified work that Elves spurned. Laws forbid-
ding their marriage to pure-blood Elves perpetuated their kind and kept the
problem of their existence alive.
Elven history is now given over to local matters for several generations. The
people of Neuth sealed the borders of their kingdom and slew all trespassers
who violated their seclusion. What interest the Elf kind had in foreign places
was restricted to the sacred pilgrimages to the sea.

Somehow, amid the chaos of the Cataclysm, a natural leader, Seolan, gathered
the survivors of the Elven civilization around him. He grasped the world-wide
scope of the disaster and realized that his people stood in danger of losing their
hold on the past and plunging into barbarism. This threat he fought with tireless
energy, charging every Elf who knew a useful trade or art to make himself
known and to do what he knew best. Most important of all, every craftsman,
artist, and scientist was required to teach what he knew to as many apprentices
as possible. Seolan's authority, informal at first, was legitimized eventually by
his acclamation as the High Prince of Neuth.

Seolan installed his incipient government in a semi-intact town named Pherdiad.

To help him administer his program of cultural preservation, the prince chose
educated Elves as subordinates. Through their careful planning, starvation was
prevented and marauders were driven out of Elfland. Books and scrolls were
gathered from the ruins and schools were established to prevent the barbariza-
tion of the rising generation which had never known the Empire.

Seolan laid the groundwork for an autocratic state and his successors extend-
ed the power of the High Prince. Only a century after the Cataclysm, the Elves
dwelled in orderly villages where scholars still pondered the classics of old,
while elsewhere Men lived in caves and fought with stone axes. But the com-
mon Elf was not a free creature: his work, his travel, his obligations were dic-
tated by a semi-divine monarch and a growing web of administrators. The
Elves' herculean attempt to extend the life of the past had spawned a stilted cul-
ture, tradition-bound, caste ridden, and hostile to novelty and experimentation.

The first five centuries after the Cataclysm saw Neuth grow into a secure land
where poets amused a luxurious court and the more learned Elves debated
points of philosophy. Yet, despite the mild climate of the post-Cataclysm, the
winds of change turned chillingly upon Elfland. When the Elves journeyed out-
side Neuth to worship Miodmuiri at the seacoast, they observed the furtive
passing of some scattered barbarian tribes. Comparing them with their own dig-
nified culture reinforced the Elves' conviction that they were the best and most
favored of all races. Yet even while poets composed panegyrics to Elven glory,
trouble was looming on the borders.

Says the ancient biographer Caladh in his Lives of the Seolians: "In the reign
of Dalan, for what cause I know not, a blast from the gods smote us; and unex -
pectedly from the regions of the west, beyond the Spires of the Eternal, invaders
of an obscure race marched in confidence of victory against our land. By main Mosaic of the High Prince Seolan, the Redeemer, in the Glorious Hall of High
force they easily seized it; having overthrown the prince in Pherdiad, they then Princes

1

When the next invasion came, it was not the work of barbarian peoples. In the
latter ninth century, prosperity led the Miviorans to crave expansion of their
realm into the lands north of Serpent Bay. They established there a base which
they called Addat and laid claim to the surrounding area, vanquishing its thin
population of barbarians and Trolls. Elfland watched the invasion with horror.
Every Elf hoped to someday make a pilgrimage to the sea. Now, suddenly, for-
eigners were turning their processions back from the coast or exacting tribute
for right of passage. Vengefully, the Elves rallied for their first war outside their
own borders.
Unfortunately, Elven tactics derived from fighting the primitive Sion Hac almost
two centuries before. The modern armies of Mivior broke up their outdated for-
mations and took thousands of prisoners. The Elves scrambled back to their
borders to frantically study their options. At last an embassy (made up of draft-
ed Ercii) arrived in Addat to negotiate for return of prisoners and the right of pas -
sage to the sea. The Miviorans condescended to allow pilgrims transit in
exchange for a nominal tax. They were looking ahead to the trading possibili-
ties that these pilgrims might provide when they arrived hungry and tired from
the north.
The reigning High Prince, Ffaraon, could not endure the shame of Elfland's
defeat and abdicated. Elir, an Elf who had been training for the priesthood of
Oenglamh, accepted the throne in his stead.
Elir, true to his background, initiated a program of religious revival to offset the
despair of his nation's defeat. His mass meetings drew hundreds of thousands
Etching of an interior view in the Great Temple of the sun god, Oenglamh
2
of Elves together in fervent prayer while the Elven priests invoked the power of
heaven against the offending Miviorans. In the ensuing hysteria, the part-
human Ercii were subjected to another cycle of needless persecution. One
group of them, hated more than most for their adept use of magic, gave up their
hard life in Elfland and fled to foreign parts. Finding scant hospitality in the king-
doms of the south, they and their descendants took up a nomadic way of life
and became known as the Wandering People.
Elir's prayers seemed to be answered when, on his deathbed, his excited couri-
ers brought him word that a miracle had taken place in the lands of Men.
Dreadful monsters like none ever seen upon Minaria were slaying humans by
the thousands and turning their cities into tombs. It was, of course, a report of
the coming of "the abominations of the land and the horrors of the air."
"It is the avenging hand of the gods!" declared Elir, who died joyful.
But the monsters failed to destroy mankind and had all but vanished by the end
of the tenth century. Men were again fast becoming a threat to Elfland, but all
Elir's successors could do was pray.
The next prince of note, Huardar, was a supremely practical Elf. He abandoned
Elir's policy of divine intervention and appraised the situation coldly. A hundred
years had passed since the Mivioran War and the Elves had done little to update
their military. Huardar began to recruit human tacticians through the coopera-
tion of Ercii traders. Since the Mivioran War, Ercii had begun to work in the
undignified business of trade, sometimes going out to human cities to live. Their
life was never easy, but usually it was better than among the Elves. Besides, in
human eyes the Ercii were an extremely handsome people. Even today they
are popular among humans as actors and dancing girls.
At this time, the Muetarans were conquering the cities of Kalruna-Sasir and
many defeated officers had gone into exile in other lands. Approached by Ercii
agents, many of these exiled noblemen consented to take service with the
prince of Elfland.
The trainers received an adequate, if reserved, welcome and were placed in
charge of the several Elven training camps which Huardar had established.
Even the lowest caste Elf chafed at being subject to the orders of Men, but they
yielded to the wisdom of the high prince and endured the indignity stoically.
Within a few years, Huardar was ready to try out his new army by making incur-
sions into the barbarian borderlands. The Elves' training, plus their native for-
est sense, garnered them numerous victories against these uncouth tribesmen.
Subsequent princes continued the policy of cautious adventure to train their
troops and placed a number of Conodras tribes to the east of Elfland under trib-
ute.
Foreign contacts slowly expanded. The government grudgingly allowed a limit-
ed trade with outsiders, which was carried out by Ercii agents. The restrictions
on profit within Elfland did not apply to trade with humans, so many cunning
Ercii traders grew rich. With their new capital issuing from trade, Ercii estab-
lished the new businesses, such as banking and money-lending. Because the
operators were only despised Ercii, little regulatory oversight was carried out.
For the first time, Ercii individuals had the power of money, the power to influ-
ence the prince's officials -- by winning favors in exchange for legal loans, or ille-
gally by bribing the venal elements they found at court. Pure-blood Elves,
forced by ponderous regulations to hoe a too-small farm or labor over a profit-
less workbench, resented Ercii prosperity, and violent spontaneous assaults on
the Ercii minority multiplied.
In the early twelfth century, Dwarven colonizers arrived from the East with the
intention of mining the gold that their prospectors had discovered north of the
great forest of Neuth. Elir III, the reigning prince, dispatched an army to drive
them out, but the Dwarves' mountaineering skills made for a prolonged cam-
paign. Over the winter, Ider Bolis mobilized for a full-scale war, but meanwhile
the Dwarves had allied with a large northern barbarian tribe. The ensuing con-
flict became a costly stalemate which was finally ended by treaty. The Dwarves
were allowed to mine their discoveries and maintain a fortress there for a peri-
od of one hundred years. In return, they guaranteed their neutrality in any Elven
war and would pay a quarter of what they mined to Elfland. The city that the
Dwarves built was called Aws Noir, which means "Dark Mountain" in their
speech.
But no sooner had one foreign crisis been resolved than another raised its head.
East of Elfland, the Vidarnan dukes were engaging in a program of military col-
onization on Conodras territory. Since some of these tribes were tributary to
Elfland, such aggression was an affront to the Elves. However, Elir III, aged and
tired, did nothing. He saw no advantage to be had in intervening in a human
war; moreover, his time was now taken up by complex intrigues against his royal
cousins. Against their approval, he wished to pass his throne on to his daugh-
ter, Ideh. Unfortunately, although Ideh did follow him, her time as High Princess
was wasted in mollifying her jealous relatives. She died suddenly, a suspected
victim of poison; her young sons were passed over and all disappeared under
suspicious circumstances while kinsmen quarreled about the succession.
broke all contact with foreign peoples and drove their traders out of Elfland.
Worse, he ordered the expulsion of the Ercii minority. Most Ercii did indeed
leave to establish a precarious new life in alien lands, although a large colony
of them settled in the wilderness north of Hothior and made a virtual principali-
ty of their own.
Over several years of energetic activity, sometimes innovative, sometimes just
ruthlessly expedient, Boewenn made many changes. He commenced a rapid
expansion of the army, for instance, admitting even females if they showed
strength and fierceness. He set convict gangs to excavating the site of Letho in
search of ancient magic weapons. Then, to test his power, he attacked and
sacked Aws Noir, taking its stored treasure and rich mines for Elfland. But all

The violence that was rising among the Elves gave evidence that even the dif-
fused influence of the outside world and the halting attempts of Neuth's princes
to modernize were having a demoralizing effect on every aspect of Elven soci-
ety.

After a generation of recriminations, assassinations, and executions, the

impetuous Etirun took the throne. Etirun began by rebuilding the military which
had deteriorated during the prolonged dynastic squabbling. What promised to
become a successful reign was ruined early by Etirun's maladroit entrance into
Immer's internal politics. He provided the catalyst for Immer's Ducal War, which
aligned Elfland with the despised Vidarnan dukes.

As the war dragged on, Etirun lost prestige at home. Why, his subjects wanted
to know, was Elven blood and treasure being wasted in a human civil war?
Even the troops in the field grumbled as morale fell and war attritioned their
numbers. Events finally released Elfland from the hated quagmire; Etirun, pur-
suing Conodras raiders, was surprised in the night, captured, and turned over
to the Immerite monarch. In exchange for release, Etirun had to cede all dis-
puted borderlands to Immer and pay a large ransom for his own person. The
prince went home in disgrace and his last years of life were bitter and unpro-
ductive.

The following reigns brought gloom and ferment in Elfland. Scandals disgraced
the court; a prince was exposed as having taken Dwarven bribes in exchange
for extending the old peace treaty for another century; another outraged public
opinion by taking Ercii concubines into the royal harem.

A formless anger and despair spread through the population. Their leaders
were worthless and foreigners repeatedly bested them in war; Ercii swaggered
like princes through the towns, while decent Elves suffered under crushing
taxes. In this feverish climate, a new "chosen race" obsession flourished as an
antidote for the spreading insecurity.

But many responded to uncertainty and discontent in other ways. To escape
their imprisoning castes or high taxes, some Elves fled the border; others joined
bandit gangs in the deep woods. Royal administrators were mobbed and beat-
en to death for enforcing unpopular policies, and caste members sometimes
rioted and destroyed their places of work. The whole kingdom seemed to totter
on the brink of dissolution.
Stone statue of Miodmuiri, the ocean goddess in the Plaza of the Holy
this was only preparation for his dream -- a war to destroy his human neighbors
everywhere. The Elf had shown brilliance in many ways; it is hard for his biog-
raphers to understand how he thought such a vast undertaking was remotely
possible. Nonetheless, the war that Boewenn planned for eventually came.

At last the fury and resentment found itself a leader. His name was Boewenn
of the Bards' caste. He told the populace their anger was right and just and
called for the downfall of the corrupt prince. "A people's prince!" became the
popular cry as mobs gathered behind him wherever he paused to sing songs of
the ancient virtues and glories, and to make angry speeches of revenge.
When troops arrived to arrest Boewenn, his oratory seduced them, too, and
they also acclaimed him as high prince. A spontaneous march on the capital
began; the government collapsed without a fight and its members fled for the
border even before the mobs reached the gates of Ider Bolis. The feeble flight
of a prince sanctioned by thirteen centuries of tradition proved how far the decay
of Neuth's monarchy had gone.
Fought in the early fourteenth century, Boewenn's War would take a large man-
uscript to describe in detail. The Elves themselves commemorate it with many
stirring songs, such as this "Ballad of Boewenn." Although the patriotic song
was composed after the war, its composer obviously still idolized Boewenn and
he tactfully makes no reference to the Elven army's defeat at the hands of the
Goblins at Twilight Moor, nor even the dreadful aftermath when Neuth's capital
was sacked and their warlike high prince killed.
Boewenn, Boewenn, the prince of the Elves
He gave us the right to be proud of ourselves.
His courage was huge and his honor was great
Lead us, our lord, to a glorious fate.

Boewenn liberalized the oppressive caste system. Officials of the former As we marched into Mivior
regime underwent public trials, usually for corruption, but sometimes merely for We met their men upon the moor.
enforcing unpopular laws; the condemned became members of convict labor We took their best and we cast them down
gangs, which multiplied greatly under Boewenn's rule. The new High Prince Then saw to the razing of great Addat town.

3
 best Minarian legal minds for years to come, leading to many reforms else-
Hothior, Hothior, where is your boast where.
That you would quell the Elven host?
Is it in the smoke of Tadafat's mound Thus, under Maenor, the Elves displayed an outgoing enterprise that few would
Or in the corpses on the ground? have expected from so insular and tradition-bound a people. Everywhere Elves
seemed to be working and building. A lumbering industry sprang up around Star
The Invisible School held wizards quite strong; Lake, with good shipbuilding timber being floated down the River Sullen to
They challenged our soldiers but couldn't fight long; Addat. Fur garments, art, and metal work in the unique Elven style found favor
Their powers of magic they put to the test in other countries. Textile-making, fishing, mining, farming, alchemy, and other
And all they found out was that Boewenn's was best! industries sped Elfland back to strength and health.

We humbled the boasting of Lone Wirzor's lords; Not the least, Maenor's hard-working common-sense leadership had put an end
They struck us with insults; we hit them with swords; to the source of violence and animosity that had plagued Elfland's succession
We smashed in their strongholds and put them to flame, for so long. By the time of the great prince's death, his son Adillh was the sin-
Sparing not child, not duffer, nor dame. gle choice of all the people; they acclaimed him High Prince among universal
celebration.
Aft giving the rout to Immer's famed king
We despoiled his country and rose up to sing:
"Down with inglory and up with Boewenn;
"O give us the power to slaughter all Men!"

After his initial victories, Boewenn's over-extended armies were defeated on all
sides. His corpse was identified among the slain after the fall of Ider Bolis.
Much of value was destroyed during the desperate fight for the city, but fortu-
nately, Elfland's conquerors were civilized people who showed restraint. The
Eaters of Wisdom themselves seized the royal library and protected it against
sackers and arsonists until the conquering army restored discipline. By their
timely efforts, aided by the more enlightened monarchs on hand, many ancient
books of tremendous historical and occult value were spared to be taken away
as booty, giving a great boost to the practice of magic in Minaria. But the loot-
ing of the library was traumatic for the Elves; more than any other possible dis-
aster possibly could, it told them that the survival of their distinct civilization was
at risk and the confrontational means they had used to safeguard it had nearly
caused its utter destruction.

Never since the days of the Sion Hac had the Elves fallen so low. The human
victors went so far as to foist a new high prince of their own choosing on the
kingdom -- Gwawl, a cousin of the old royal family prior to Boewenn. While con-
queror garrisons pilfered the Elven towns, Gwawl attempted to turn back the
clock by undoing all of Boewenn's reforms.

As the Elven people recovered from the stupor of having been defeated and
occupied, Gwawl became the focus of national outrage. Strikes and riots
spread, and Gwawl, losing control, turned to his human allies for support. He
wanted the mobs scattered by a full-scale military attack on the centers of oppo-
sition. But the foreign kings returned word that they were no longer interested
in Elfland and that they had more pressing matters at home. The riotous Elves,
they said, were foolish, primitive, and violent, entirely beneath the notice of civ-
ilized Men.

The Miviorans supported the feeble prince longest, but when Elven mobs came
beating on the palace, Mivior, too, abandoned Gwawl. Dragged from his palace
right though the midst of inactive Mivioran soldiers, the pathetic High Prince was
torn to pieces in the street.

Gwawl's collaboration made it impossible to restore the old dynasty, so Maenor,

a popular hero of the late war, was elevated by the free acclaim of the Elves to
the vacant throne. From the start of his rule a myriad of problems beset Prince
Maenor. The Dwarves had returned to Aws Noir and not surprisingly cut off the
Elves' tribute rights. Worse, Neuth's economy was suffering from the loss of the
productive Ercii, whose industry and expertise was sadly missed.

The energetic Maenor took important steps to open normal relations with his for-
eign neighbors and to free the economy from heavy-handed regulation and high
taxes, then oversaw the rewriting of the seventy-five thousand-page legal code.
Maenor instructed his legal staff that the new book of law could only be one
thousand pages long and swore to hang one lawyer or judge for each page that
exceeded the limit -- beginning with the legal staff. The prince duly received the
one thousand pages asked for. The "Maenoric Code," as it was afterwards
called, became an outstanding model of jurisprudence and was studied by the