Elves of Anuire, the Great Kingdom of the Aelvinwoode

Thousands of years have passed since the fall of the great elven kingdom of the Aelvinwoode which was located along the northern region of nowdays Anuire between the Western Heartlands and the North. Little is known today of this once-mighty realm. Learned ones generally believe that Aelvinwoode at its height equaled the best that Lluabraight or even Rhuannach would later offer. Now, farmsteads and fields dot the rolling countryside where Aelvinwoode's forest realm once stood. 

The Erebbanien, Sielwood, and the like are remnants of the ancient coastal woodland that once stretched from the southern shore of the Seamist Mountains north to the edge of todays Mhoried. The populace of this elven nation was a hugely populated by elves which had as a main purpose the artful creation through magic and the continuation of the never ending life cycle. Aelvinwoode carried on an extensive trade, by land and sea, with other elven, and some dwarven, of its time. The natural world and its endless cycles were Aelvinwoode's focus, and the elves believed the living world would go on forever. Still, Aelvinwoode's elves understood that their kingdom, grand as it was, would eventually fall and be forgotten. Their weighty consideration of history, time, and divination magic revealed no other outcome. This news provoked a melancholy that influenced much of Aelvinwoode's art and literature. Militarism was never strong in philosophical Aelvinwoode. Though its armies were excellent, Aelvinwoode relied on diplomacy and astute political maneuvering to keep peace with its neighbors. Aelvinwoode fell in an uncharacteristic fashion for any kingdom of Cerilia: slowly. Its people left the realm steadily and secretly, under pressure from barbaric human tribes, vast floods of marauding goblins, and the aggressive, and power infused human priests. Neutral Aelvinwoode remained out of the fighting until the last war, when its northern colony, Llewyr, was destroyed, and the kingdom itself suffered grave damage. Much territory that was once Aelvinwoode's was occupied by human tribes. Bowing to the inevitable, however, Aelvinwoode was already in the process of being systematically abandoned, province by province, city by city, and had been shrinking for many centuries. Its fatalistic rulers continually moved their remaining subjects into ever-smaller national boundaries to improve the nation's defensive situation and make the most of their vanishing resources.

Aelvinwoode's situation was dire. The elves knew they could not reproduce quickly enough to replace their losses from a major war. Their beloved forest suffered from magically induced blight during the Wars of the Shadow,  and humans cut their trees for timber and firewood, while goblins burned the woodland just for the thrill of destruction. Nonetheless, the elves could certainly control how they left the stage of history. Not wishing their command of magic be used against them, the Aelvinwoode elves undid the magic wards, barriers, and preservation spells on their cities and monuments as they left, letting nature and other races erode what the elves themselves could not bear to destroy. 

No grand, sudden battles signaled the kingdom's fall, though the realm was only a shadow of its former self after the War of the Shadow and mostly diminished after Deismar collapsed. Elven cities and manors were taken apart for building materials after being looted of the few valuables they possessed. Barbarians defaced carved words, burned artwork, and built crude castles from stones that were once the foundations of universities. Even some great works and relics that Aelvinwoode's elves took with them as they left were often lost in later wars, disasters, or feuds that befell their scattered people. Today, a sage can struggle for decades to locate only one reliable source of information on the Fallen Kingdom. Some of Aelvinwoode's wood elves courageously stayed on the mainland in the old forest, their descendants now populating the small woodlands that survived the coming of humans and orcs.
Aelvinwoode was settled by numerous great elven families. These families were mainly recognized by their extensive line of Taelinrie* they nurtured and by the number of ley lines and mebgaihl they exerted control upon. Only three great parts of Aelvinwoode have survived to the present day. The. One of Aelvinwoode's most famous elven realm was never assaulted by human or other races when the kingdom was abandoned. The elven noble in control of the military could not bear to abandoned their realm and waged brutal war on the humans and other races that invaded the Elven racial home.  Sielwoode closed down its borders enacting great magical ley wards and forged an unpassable barrier in some extent around the former lands of the elven noble families of the Siel line. The line of the Tuar never actually enabled any magical wards around the todays nation extent, although it is strongly admitted by most great human generals, that driving an army in the heart of the ancient forest is a challenge of its own, Erebannien has a another more tragic story but it is known that its great and beautiful outline. The true destiny of the great Elven houses that settled that southern part of old Aelnvinwoode and the remains of the great cities that sprawled in it, is up to today a mystery. The sole surviving wizard of that age, High Mage Aelies is believed to survive to present day but his whereabouts or his state of mind are unknown to all, even to his race.

One tribe of stonebuilders and crafters was tottaly annihilated by the invading Andu. The Trautha were mostly known of their extraordinary abilities to carve life into the stone and at that they excelled. All over the Northwestern Anuire, where today mostly lie the great Duchy of Boeruine. The line of the Trautha was able to create great artifacts of immense power and it is believed that the Elves of that line lived in great stone towers of magical properties. One of their lowest creation is believed to be the Tower of the Miskill. The Wizard of the North, Torele Anviras has managed to open the wards and gain total control of the tower and its immense powers. Amongst the great creations of the Trautha were the great Circles of Power created as magical places that could siphon the ley of the land and the wielder of its power could cast tremendous magical effects. The Trautha amongst other were known for their affinity with the beasts called Gryphons. It was their coat of arms and their love for the flying beast was matched with their creation expertise of the stone.

The remains of all Elven civilizations lay scattered in the lands of Anuire but unseen to the untrained eye. Few had the luck to be blessed with the friendship of this mysterious and waning race and rip the benefits. On the other hand, the surviving Elves, still Elitists of another age still shun the perspective of treaty with the humans who have despoiled their lands.