The Isle of Dawn was one of the few Elven settlements not controlled by High Elves at its foundation, with the Grey and Wood Elves ruling them from the start. These Elves were soon called Sea Elves and formed close ties with the Wood Elves of Lamura, building their greatest city Majestic Oliverias on the coast of the southern part of the continent. This alliance soon became closer and a senate of prominent citizens was formed, this Sea Senate decided external policy for the alliance but left the disparate parts to run their own areas. As the Higher Wars dragged on over the decades the island became isolated from most of the continent which suited the people to a large extent. Only one group of Elves did reach the island during those years, a group of survivors from the wars against the Dragons. These Elves were all that was left from an army defeated by the Dragons near the coast of the Margatubast.
As their relations with the Orcs and Dwarves soured the Sea Senate decided that they would need a leader in war and elected one of their number King, his name was Corellia and he was the ruler of Oliverias. Unfortunately the Sea Senate didn’t foresee the length of the wars and didn’t make provision for the titles continuance, so when King Corellia died during the second year of what was later called the Higher Wars and his son Elander assumed his title they were at a loss. King Elander turned out to be a fine leader in the wars and the Sea Senate forgot all about the problem. The war dragged on and the Sea Senate handed more and more power to the King which he used wisely but the isolation of the Isle of Dawn meant that the two parts of the Kingdom started to lose the common interest that had bound them together. As the wars continued the people of the Isle of Dawn sent less help to the Wood Elves of Lamura who had to assume the burden of defending Oliverias against the Dwarves and Orcs. As Kaegor started his revolt in the west King Elander was killed in a great battle against the Orcs, his general Kanolach took over the army and defeated the invasion. The triumph and the morning of their second King made the Sea Senate elect Kanolach king not the son of Elander, Fingol who left the mainland and returned to the Isle of Dawn. King Kanolach decided that it was time to finish off the Dwarves of Calenost and started a campaign against them, he was winning when the Dwarven King Rarii Deepaxe activated the Naga runes. Kanolach escaped the destruction of his army and returned to Majestic Oliverias to hear the news that Kaegor had revolted and that the Mountain Dwarves were advancing upon Lamura to revenge themselves on the Elves for the destruction of Calenost. His army destroyed Kanolach called for more troops from the Wood Elves and the Isle of Dawn, both places were losing confidence in him and the Sea Elves only sent a small force with instructions to just defend Oliverias. The Dwarven host attacked Lamura destroying large parts of it before they were stopped by the leader of the Elves in that region, King Kanolach bereft of troops stayed in Oliverias. During the next decades Kanolach stayed in Oliverias hearing more and more bad news from the west, his supporters in both Lamura and Narolann started to leave him, especially after he failed to go to the aid of Gleaming Tovaj. The Wood Elves of Lamura came to rely on their own leaders and hardly ever came to Oliverias anymore.
The end of the Higher Wars should have given Kanolach a chance to patch up the rifts in the Kingdom but he was bitter with his people and especially those from Lamura so he ignored them. When the Kaegorian Empire collapsed and the Old Empire came, again the Elves had to fight to defend their borders and this time with no help form the Isle of Dawn because Kanolach never told them. When he died in 243, in the new human calendar, he had no heir and the title of King went to Fingol on the Isle of Dawn. The Wood Elves of Lamura decided that they no longer needed the Sea Elves and certainly didn’t want them so they made their most prominent noble Prince of Lemura. Fingol thwarted in his ambition to be King of the lands his father had ruled and died for, persuaded the Elves of Narolann that the Wood Elves had violently revolted against his rule and took the fleet and an army to avenge this, leaving his daughter Volanthe Galathadel to rule in his place. The fall of Majestic Oliverias is well documented and Fingol returned to the Isle of Dawn with the fleet but his daughter who had found out his lies refused to let him land. Fingols support amongst the fleet evaporated and he was left with just his ship and its crew, left with no alternative he sailed north and has never been heard from since.
There are only two main centres of habitation the city of Blessed Narolann the centre of Elven culture and Twilight Home where most of the humans and a large part of the half-Elven community reside. The Elves of the island never enslaved humans but did educate them when they asked for it and so the relationship between the two races never soured as it did in the other elven kingdoms. Humans were always treated as equals and a mixing of the races naturally occurred giving the island the largest half-Elven population on the world.
Blessed Narolann
Blessed Narolann (Small City): Alignment NG, Population 11,000 (80% Elves, 10% Half-elf, 5% Halfling, 5% Human). Authority Figure: - Princess Volanthe Galathadel (Female Elven Mage)
Narolann is the ideal for Grey Elves with its wide tree lined boulevards and gardens intermixed with marble buildings, chaotic to the human eye but pleasing to that of Elves. All over the city tower giant red wood trees used as homes by Wood Elves with their houses sitting on the larger branches and rope walkways spanning the smaller gaps between trees. Almost a hundred streams flow through the city into pools and over falls before making their way into the sea to the east of the city, the sound of running water is never far when you walk the city’s streets. At the eastern side of the city sits the palace made completely of pink tinged marble with four slender towers looking over the central glass dome of the palace.
The palace is the home to the Galanthadel family who are the rulers of the Island, but in the Grey Elven way they see themselves more as spokesmen for the inhabitants of the island.
Twilight Home
Twilight Home (Large Town): Alignment CG, Population 3000 (40% Human, 30% Half-elf, 15% Elven, 10% Halfling, 5% mixed). Authority Figure: - Major Turgin Half-Elven (Male half-Elf)
The port of Twilight Home is the main contact point for the island and the outside world. It is built from stone like most Elven ports but has great parks away from the harbour for the inhabitants to spend their spare time in. The port is mainly run by human and half-Elven merchants and sailors, who levee tariffs from traders and organise the defence of the town. The town is a working port with all of the taverns and other establishments that go with that but is renowned for the friendly manner of its people and the light hand of the town guards.
Outside the cities
The woods outside the cities of the island are home to every type of Fey creature and are considered to be dangerous for humans to travel off the main road between Narolann and Twilight home. There are also supposed to be sacred pools and clearing dedicated to the worship of the gods and nature but again they are normally only visited by Elves. Wood Elves do roam these woods but they know the woods and any dangers that they might encounter. The only other place that human do visit on the island are the mines on the mountain where they and their Elven friends mine silver for the beautiful adornments made by the Elven smiths.
© Copyright Winwick Pig Publications - Leigh & Ellard 2021
