| Racial Demographic | Elves 100% |
| Ruler | King (Vacant), High Council (none at this time), and Leaders of the Elven Houses (many killed or missing). Acting government is half a dozen dying high elves located in Navelorn. |
| Relations | Relations with the rest of Thardferr at best
could be called strained. The Edilar government has officially removed
the Realm from the Confederation and has undergone a civil war and seeming
attack by outside forces brought in to fight on one side of that war.
But there may be a reunification should the elves petition for aid from
the Confederation.
During the time they were part of the Confederation, Edilar led a guarded existence, and only allowed trusted gnome traders entry. Rarely, a member of another race was invited by special writ of a member of the Royal Family or King to visit Edilar, and even then it was under guard, and never did such guests set foot on Norben Island, which the elves considered to be sacred ground. When joining the Confederation, Edilar signed the Treaty of Mutual Defense and Non-Aggression, but none of the other amendments such as the Freedom of Movement and Open Borders Act, the Registration of Magic Users and Formation of the Imperial Mages Guild, or the Confederation Emergency Support Levy. Nor did they grant permission for The Order of the Sword, the Confederation's policing authority, to function within their borders. Their relations with Ruch and the goblins have, in the past, been cold if not outright hositle. Edilar has never recognized them as a government, seeing them as hordes of barbaric monsters. They are neutral, and sometimes friendly with the orc clans, but have trouble with the ones on their northern borders who claim parts of Edilar as their territory. The government of Alderd and Edilar are the closest and have never had any problems. Khardfee and Edilar are on friendly terms as well, and the Elves championed the dwarves' right to rule their own Realm after the second mage war, when Tuth wanted to rule them during the time of reconstruction. The relations with the human realms of Tuth and Lithar are the most strained with Edilar. Tuth claimed the lost forest lands of the elves when the Lunar Trees were burned by the Sythian invaders. The goblins decided to get themselves noticed by burning the elven forests that were in the area now part of Tuth, and so were invited to be part of the Confederation to stop them from causing more trouble. Tuth sided with the goblins, against elven complaints, and they were accepted into the Confederation. The elves pulled out of the area to regroup. The Elves did not think it had been all that long when they returned after a few hundred years to find that the humans of Tuth had settled their lands. When asked to return their lands, the humans of Tuth refused, driving a larger wedge between the two races. Lithar has no relations with Edilar, and has even made laws against the elves being able to own property or live there on a permanent basis. Recently some of the problems between humans and elves were addressed, and Tuth and Edilar were moving closer together since the end of the Third Mage War, under the leadership of Torin Brand. But the assassination of Eldo, the Speaker for Edilar, caused the call for the return of all elves to Edilar, and the closing of their borders. Edilar has since left the Confederation. With the end of the civil war and the War of Liberation in Edilar, the elves may return to the confederation as they petition for aid to help them rebuild. They have already allowed any and all races that would come to their aid to enter and stay in the Realm since the War of liberation started. How long this openness will last is unknown. |
| Government Structure | The elves have adopted a Monarchy system of
rulership from humankind, although the king has always been more of a figurehead
since he has always done exactly what any other elf would wish done.
(The rule of the Blood King, Morlan Barden, ended the long line of elven
kings who spoke for their people.) Traditionally, the king is the
oldest male member of the Royal Family of Barden. The Royal family size
is controlled and maintained at the number 12, although during the civil
war, all members of the Royal Family were mysteriously lost or slain other
than Morlan Barden. Each Member of the Royal Family has some relation
to a Greater House of Edilar.
The Greater Houses are the Noble families that were the first to create a gathering of elves under one rule, and uplift them from their wild status. These Greater Houses are: Alrian, Dilara, Folgin, Karalas, Kirjah, Lialini, Maliana, Matlian, Morlan, Orkami, Sylara and Tyranii.In the past, when the elves decided they were to deal with the outside Realms and join the Confederation, the eldest male son of each Greater House was adopted into the Royal Family, and took a wife from one of the Lesser Houses. This formed a Royal Family that would be trusted and obeyed by all of the Elven Houses. Each of the Royal Family members were purposefully limited to having only one child, so as to prevent any bickering over succession, and to keep them from gaining more power than the other Greater Houses. As each child grew and became an adult they took either a husband or wife from one of the Noble Houses, either Greater or Lesser. That child then became part of the Royal Family at the death of their parent member of the Royal Family. All members other than the oldest male, who has the title of King and is also called The Voice of Edilar, are simply called by their House Name followed by Barden, which means a member of the Royal Family. Husbands and wives of the family are not considered to be part of the Royal Family, but are given the respect of royalty and may reside in the Kings' Hall or in a Royal Castle. They are given the title of Lady or Lord. The child of a member of the Royal Family is given the title of Prince or Princess as well as the last name Barden. Upon becoming the Member of the Royal Family on their parent's death they take on the name of the House they are replacing. The heads of the Greater and Lesser Houses ran their own havens and ruled over them as a governor rules over a province. They were able to have as many children as they liked. The Lesser Houses are: Artanel, Briar, Coer, Dal, Dorus, Ell, Elymas, Jah, Lailan, Lir, Monwyr, Mys, Or, Sloud, Thala, Toir, Ult, Vandar and Yelnos.Each was also associated with some order or station that sees to the care of the nation or Edilar. For Example: The House of Ell resides in Navelorn. The head of the House is also the head of the Academy for Martial and Arcane Studies that is located there. He is also the leader of, and known as, M'Arteis, the Order of the Eastern Border Watchers, which patrol and guard the eastern border of Edilar against the Horde Lands.These Heads of Houses, both Greater and Lesser, were all there was of a government in Edilar. They were all the functionaries of the Realm, governor, judge, mayor, whatever was needed. The elves had no fear of corruption or unfairness, since it is not a part of their character to mistrust or mistreat those of their own race. This may change after the betrayal they have experienced at the hands of the last king, called the Blood King, Morlan Barden. The future of the Elven Government is uncertain.
During the civil war and the War of Liberation that followed, all of the
Royal Family except for the Princess Sylara Dylsara Barden and Princess
Morlan Maramyl Barden were killed. If Dylsara should find a mate
and give birth to a son, he would become the King of Edilar. The
child would be raised in stewardship until such time as he could rule on
his own. If Dylsara should only have a daughter then the traditions
and a reformation of the kingship will have to be made. If Dylsara
dies, Princess Maramyl's first male child would become King of Edilar.
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| Political Groups | The elves have no real political thinking
but they did have two groups that formed to champion differing ideals.
These two were the Dark Wood and the Norben Brotherhood.
The Dark Wood took its name from the charred wood of the Lunar trees in the central plains that are now part of Tuth. These Lunar Trees were burned down by the goblins to force the Confederation to notice them, and approve them as a race worthy of membership in the Confederation. The Dark Wood believed that the elves at that time should have pulled out of the Confederation and closed their borders for good. The Dark Wood had no relations outside of Edilar, and would not leave the traditional borders of the Realm. These borders include some of modern day southern Ruch and the East of Tuth, as well as much of Alderd. The Norben Brotherhood believed that only through the unification of the realms, and especially with the humans, can the elves become truly great. They felt that as the elves shut themselves away behind their borders, the world changed around them and left them behind. It was these two ways of thinking that gave excuse for the start of the civil war that raged in Edilar. The Dark Wood came to find that it was not their way of thinking that prevailed, but that they were used as a ruse to make the realm more easily destroyed from invasion by outside forces once it pulled back in to itself and closed its borders. The civil war and the following War of Liberation brought together these two beliefs to fight the common foe. Each of them was destroyed during this time. The future will show what will become of these two idealistic movements within Edilar. Perhaps a new group made up of the scions of both past ideas will be formed in Edilar. At this time, however, no mention is made of either past Norben Brotherhood or past Dark Wood affiliations, for the wounds inflicted upon Edilar used both of them as weapons, and the wounds will be fresh for thousands of years to the long-lived elven people. Both sides feel that the other was primarily responsible, but both sides also agree that the civil war could never have happened without the division caused by the two factions, and both sides want nothing more than to put such division behind them. It was recently revealed by the last handful of dying high elves that the only hope for the elven race was to embrace and intermingle with humankind. Despite the various misgivings of the bulk of the elven people, their pride and resistance to such an idea is at an all-time low after the near-decimation of their land and their people. As a people, they intend to accept this directive, and invite humankind into Edilar, as well as venturing forth into the human Realms. |
This page last updated on 02/12/2001
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