Elves and the Barren Lands

The Strife of the Elf-Lands.

The immediate north is a lush forest, inhabited by numerous creatures. Further still north is the Elf Plains, home to a nomadic tribe of elves. They have no formal government, and are in effect, barbarians. Though most live to be age five hundred, they refuse to learn the advanced sciences and alchemies harbored by the humans, gnomes, and other races of intelligence.

Very few learn to read and write, and those that do have a tendency to learn only the basics. Their beliefs in totems and the various magics of the wild give them no need of it, combined with their use of vocal storytelling to pass on history.

They refuse to believe in the gods above (and below), and instead put their faith into their ancestors and the totem-spirits, Although more civilized peoples find totem-spirits archaic and ancestors as beneath notice, it is not far from right that their totem-magic and such truly works.


Barren Ester-lands.

Far to the east, just beyond the cavern-wastes, lives another fellowship of elvish peoples. These, in contrast to their barbaric brothers up north, have embraced technology and all it's mechanic wonders. Alchemy is below interest to them, as they do not believe it to be a 'science' at all. Mage-craft is generally disdained as well, reason being that scholars of the arcane arts don't produce much to society.

The elves of the Barren Lands are an atheist nation controlled by guilds. Their chief import is grain and meat, as the east is infertile and devoid of animals, while they export any machinery they concoct.