THE HALF-ELVES

The Half-Elves are not incomplete Elves, nor Humans with an especially fortunate grandparent. They are an ancient people descended from the Twelve Sisters and the first kings of Mirithar. Their bloodlines have continued for thousands of years, and a Half-Elf will produce Half-Elven children whether their partner is Human, Elven, or Half-Elven. History made them a people unto themselves, even if history has since misplaced the record.

​

In the Age of Heroes, Elves and Miritharin fought together against the Demon Lords. Dragon Ships crowded with berserkers sailed south to Monte Tifone, where the Elves led them to victory over the Father of Demons. Upon their return, twelve immortal daughters of Galadwen married twelve Miritharin warlords, granting them long-lived heirs educated in Elven wisdom. These became the first Half-Elven kings.

The kingdoms did not endure. Within a century, the great corruption of the Elves began, and Dark Elves and their monstrous children laid waste to both Elven civilization and the new kingdoms of Mirithar. The Twelve Sisters were borne back into the heavens upon the wings of Aithlos, the Great Swan. There they became the Elenethrin—the divine protectors now worshipped by their descendants.

​

The Half-Elves survived without their thrones. Today they wander the wild and forgotten places of Mirithar and Angland as Rangers, scouts, guides, storytellers, healers, and keepers of old roads. They possess no kingdom and claim little settled land. Miritharin villagers often regard them as troublesome outsiders. Few remember that the wandering Rangers descend from the kings who once united their tribes.

Every Half-Elven family claims descent from one of the Twelve Sisters. These Lines preserve different songs, duties, crafts, and stories from the Age of Heroes. Half-Elves also gather into wandering bands—families formed by choice that may remain together for five years or five hundred before dissolving and forming anew.

​

Their priests and priestesses are Rangers. They keep forgotten graves, broken bridges, abandoned shrines, ruined watchtowers, and roads no kingdom maintains. To them, a place does not cease to matter merely because everyone else has forgotten its name.

​

Their language preserves forms of ancient Elven speech no longer heard in modern courts. An Elf may hear a Half-Elven name and recognize a pronunciation that vanished two thousand years ago. To the Half-Elf it is merely the way a grandmother spoke. To the Elf it is a voice returning from history.

​

They were kings before memory failed them. Now they wander the ruins, guarding the memory itself.

​

—Lantern of the Thirteenth Word