Tuathwold

While the elves are content to consider the entire forest as one, the elves of the Tuathwold have divided the kingdom into six regions. The central area they call Tuathvial, home to the Throne of Rose and Thorn and seat of the leading House. Tuathvial is the name of both the region and the city of the Rose Court. The other regions follow.

• Avaloraleigh

• Braethendor

• Cymrion

• Kellindeath

• Lyvanaldir

    In addition to these 6 regions or provinces, there are areas of the Tuathwold that the elves do not consider to be part of the forest. The lands near the dwarven canton of Norvandir are part of Cymrion, but have historically been claimed by the dwarves. The elves of Cymrion are so scattered that the Tuathi seem to respect those claims.   The branch of the Tuathwold in the Korlon Hills is called the Gnarled Wood (or Gnarled Forest) and is not considered part of the Tuathwold proper.   While each region except Cymrion has one large city or town, most elves of the Tuathwold live in small communities rarely consisting of more than two or three families. The cities and towns are all connected by elfgates, magical pathways that allow long-distance travel in the course of a single night. Traveling along an elfgate has an eerie, dream-like feeling, but when the morning sun rises, the traveler is always just arriving at his or her destination, even if that destination was hundreds of miles away.

For time immemorial, the Tuathwold has been the home of the Tuathi, elves who crossed over from the Feywild in a time long past. Once the Tuathwold stretched from its current borders south to the Great Lakes and Dead Man's mere, the encroachment of humans, beginning with the settlement of Calastan, has reduced the wood's size considerably. Something that the elves of the forest have not forgotten and will not forgive.   When High Priest Calas broke off from the rest of the settlers to found Calastan, he directed his followers to clear a broad area of the forest. The Tuathi sent representatives to meet with these new humans, but Calas' strict anti-magic stance labeled the elven diplomats as corrupted. Misunderstanding turned to prejudice, and soon the Calastani declared war on the elves of the forest. The elves responded in kind.   It took centuries before another kingdom of Arvanor approached the forest, almost a generation in the lives of the elves. South and west of the forest lived small tribes of humans, who strove to live in harmony with the forest and the elves. They respected the fey of the Tuathwold, and the fey protected them from the human-elf conflict to the east. When Ser Brinador united these people and brought them into the Empire as the kingdom of Brineven, they continued to respect the elves, the fey and the forest. Thus while Calastan continued its conflict with the elves, Brineven sought to make peace with the Tuathi.   The Fracturing of Arvanor changed the dynamic. Calastan brought in the beastfolk known as gnolls to support its war effort. When the gnolls turned against Calastan, the theocracy was decimated. The once powerful kingdom reduced to the lands just around the city. Meanwhile, Brineven's queen did not rely on one particular humanoid army, but brought in competing factions to protect her lands. When they also turned on the kingdom, infighting between the various tribes allowed Brineven to weather the worst of the betrayal.   So when the gnoll armies turned north and set their sights on the Tuathwold, Brineven was able to offer some aid. It may only have been symbolic, but the help of the humans did give the elves some respite against the hyena-folk. Allowing them to drive most of the gnolls out of the forest. While gnolls are now a concern in the southern regions of the forest, they were not able to penetrate far enough to pose a great threat to the Tuathi.   Now the Tuathi are split. The Kingdom of Rose and Thorn now debates their stance on the humans. The more conservative clans and villages support the Tuath-nir, who consider human-kind a greater threat than even the gnolls and seek to continue the war against them. More progressive clans and villages see Brineven and feel that peace may be possible with the humans, and even think that through peace, they can help steer human-kind to a more elven perspective. If not friends, then at least allies.    

The Alfar

The Alfar are another source of debate between the two elven viewpoints. Those who seek greater understanding of human-kind see these "half-elves" as a natural intermediary between the two races. It comes as no surprise that most Tuathi alfar are from these more progressive clans. The Tuath-nir see the alfar as abominations. The rare alfar born in clans supportive of the Tuath-nir tend to be from alfar who have more elven characteristics and can blend easier with those clans. When one is born who has a less-elven appearance, they are often driven out of the village or clan with their entire immediate family.