Elven Histories

• Parent: History

Although they resemble the commonly accepted histories, true elven scholars hold to a divergent view on how the world of Korinth was created. 

Creation

Creation began as a concept in the mind of Meneth'Kel'Badaris, the Creator. At the will of Meneth'Kel'Badaris, from nothing, emerged the essential tools of creation: Essence, from which the materials of existence are drawn; the Vault of Celestia and the Pits of the Netherworld, from which all good and evil come; the Ever Turning Gears, from which time flows; and the chaos-stuff of Limbo, from which springs creativity. 

With the tools in place, Meneth'Kel'Badaris created life. The First Creations who are also called Jaaren. Beings so ancient and mighty, together they might rival even Meneth'Kel'Badaris. When the work of creation finished, Meneth'Kel'Badaris made ready to depart but one final act remained. To Jaaren Elvedreth-Abar was the Gift of Purity bestowed. Please with all that had been wrought, Meneth'Kel'Badaris quit the realm of mortals forever. 

Origin of Elves

After their creator departed, the Jaaren took what had been made for them, and created the universe. The heavens and the earth, darkness and light, mountains and seas, and all things natural. Only then, with the worlds in place, did they add new life, their own First Creations. Perfect beings, sculpted from the stuff of Essence and imbued with the energy of Limbo, Celestia, and Netherworld. All life sprung from these perfect models. The perfect human gave birth to humanity. The perfect dragon, dragonkind. And of course from the perfect elf, came the race of elves. It fell to Elvedreth-Abar to create the race of elves, and into the elven spirits he laid the Gift of Purity, given to him by Meneth'Kel'Badaris and entrusted to the elves by the Father of All Elvenkind.  

The first elves were called Minethrin and Aryion, and they walked on Korinth with their father for many days before he, like all his Jaaren brethren, followed their maker away from this world and into the unknown. Alone, in a new world, Minethrin and Aryion made a home for themselves and gave birth to the race of elves. Thanks to the Gift of Purity, bound in their very soul, not even the smallest tinge of evil existed in their hearts.

The Drift

Many ages passed on Korinth. Elves alone, among all the first creations, had the Gift of Purity and so their bodies never grew old and never died. Instead they lived in perpetual youth. This kindled within them an understanding of life not held by mortals. They did not seek the the things other races did, instead living their lives in seclusion and close contact with nature. 

Then magic entered the world and the elven spirit began a slow drift away from the Gift of Purity. Magic came natural to elves, but it did not come without its price. It changed the spirit of those elves who embraced it, altering them in subtle and difficult-to-see ways. Younger elves sought out this change while the oldest among them urged purity. In time, the first Great Schism occurred, when the elders of Mineth'Aryon closed the realm off from mana. Those among them that wished to continue the pursuit of magic, and in so doing abandon the Gift of Purity, left their ancestral homes to settle among the other races.

Still, after the first Great Schism, no animosity existed between the two races of elf. They maintained close ties with one another.

It took almost a millennia for the true impact to be known. The elves that left their home grew old and died. A new sorrow came into the elven spirit when the first of their race passed into the unknown, and to this day the loss of an elf brings great sadness, a grief that is deeper and stronger than anything the short-lived races can experience. 

Birth of the Drow

It took a long time after the death of the first elf for the very bedrock of their foundation to be challenged. 

The elf Drethmendureth, who had abandoned his home and, in so doing, forsook immortality, lusted after that which he had lost. He tried to return to Mineth'Aryon but he could not. Slowly his heart hardened and his rage grew until he opened himself to dark influence of the farol. With this turning, the song in his heart died, replaced by the evil of the farol. Shocked and grief-stricken, his family cast him out. Undaunted, Drethmendureth sought for a home of his own, taking with him by force Elendreine, daughter of the ruling king. He fled with her into the bowels of the earth, not to be seen again until the race of elf known as the drow emerged. Alone among the elves, the drow spirit is vile and wicked, and its song has gone out. 

All of Mineth'Aryon suffered, for through their Gift of Purity they could feel the acts of depravity committed by Drethmendureth and his people upon the elven soul.

Though only the Mineth'Aryon could feel it, the stain would forever change elves. It opened a gateway within their spirit through which evil could seep. No longer could it be said that all elves were good, pure, and gentle. Now they exhibited the full range of depravity previously known only to the lesser races. 

The second Great Schism resulted when the elves Mineth'Aryon withdrew even further, cutting relations with all of their "tainted" kin.