Svartalfheim
Ervenian Era, 1051 AB
Svartalfheim is a divine realm in Nidavelir, the third layer of Ysgard. Home to secretive but benevolent drow, it is the realm of Eilistraee and believed by some to be also ruled by Erevan Ilesere.
Geography
Eilistraee's touch is everywhere: a soft argent aura over feast-steps and training floors, a hunting horn when lost travelers need a friend, a sword’s new edge singing with moonfire after the dance. Her priests guide, feed, and teach; her knights redeem before they strike. Erevan’s laughter lingers in the side streets, petty tyrants rarely leave with the purse they brought.
Notable Locations
Dokkar, the Close Bazaar
A lattice of narrow streets and unblinking prices where every purchase comes with a small grace—a verse, ribbon, or charm.Yggwyrd, City of Soft Voices
A moon-lit necropolis of elven shrines where elves may speak with the dead; banshees serve as guardians rather than terrors, and non-elves are forbidden entry.Elkhound’s Gate
A calm, moon-sigiled arch toward the Lower Planes, departures pass unchallenged, while arrivals are measured by song and steel.Travel & Passage
Warm rivers act as avenues through the realm, while Moonspring thresholds, shallow basins of silvered water, open to other elven shrines when a hymn is sung to completion without a single false note.Localized Phenomena
Magic leans to music and mercy: bardic spells swell, illusions that uplift or unmask flourish, moon and charm magics bloom, while fear, cruel compulsions, and grave-binding necromancy tend to falter. Guest-right is light and song: offer bread, warm water, and an honest verse, and you are safe until the end of the next watch. Slavery is anathema; the fleeing find roofs, lessons, and work before judgment.
Trait Type |
Description |
|---|---|
| Gravity | Objective “down” is toward the nearest surface; in shafts and great wells it tilts toward the dominant wall. |
| Time | Normal. |
| Shape & Size | Finite (realm-scale), nested within Nidavelir’s infinite honeycomb; labyrinthine caverns and river-galleries. |
| Morphic Traits | Resonantly morphic to song, dance, and mercy. Choral rhythm can open ward-doors, calm crowds, or carry messages along tuned stone; gentle pranks and pageantry can nudge minor features (lights, banners, small furnishings) without breaking guest-right. |
| Elemental Energy | None Dominant |
| Alignment | Strongly Good, Mildly Chaotic. |
| Magic | Bardic/performance and sonic effects, moonlight & moon spells, non-coercive charms, inspiration, and healing, as well as divinations carried by music (spellsong, omen-chants), figments/glamers that delight or honestly unmask are enhanced. While ,Fear and despair effects, coercive compulsions (e.g., domination, geasa not freely accepted), necromancy that creates/controls undead, broad silence fields that would suppress communal song. are impeded. |
Type
Magical Realm
Location under
Owner/Ruler
Additional Rulers/Owners
Comments