Monday, September 5, 2016

Odekor - Day 5

Elves.
Slender. Tall.  Elegant. Beautiful.
These were the elves.
Hailing from the continent of Ashada, the elves had built an empire of their own before they encountered humans.  They were the first race to sail the oceans of Odekor, the first race to encounter another sentient species.  The elves met the dwarves of Birichir four hundred years before they encountered humans.  They proceeded to enslave them.
Four hundred years later, the elves met humans.  The meeting did not go well.  The elves went to war with the Empire of Choan, confident of their superiority in all things.
This confidence was badly misplaced.
Humans had the advantage of numbers. They allied with the dwarves, and employed tactics and deployed resources that the elves had never encountered.
The Serene Kingdoms of the elves had existed for six thousand years.  Fifty years after declaring war on the Empire, the Serene Kingdoms were reduced to ash and bone.
Martial victory was not enough for the Empire.  Under the direct orders of the Emperor, every elf over five years of age was put to death.  The surviving children were sent to Choan, where many died in the laboratories of imperial wizards seeking to understand and possibly duplicate elven longevity.  The wizards never managed to duplicate elven longevity, but they did discover a means to eliminate it.  Elves would now live no longer than humans and many would not even live that long.
Elven culture was eradicated. Their language was outlawed. Within a single generation, the elves had been reduced to a minor slave caste in the Empire.
This was done, not only as revenge for daring to defy the Emperor, but as a very clear warning to the other races.  Fuck with humanity and this will happen to your own people. Watch. Learn. Obey.
When the War occurred, the elves were still slaves to the Empire.  Beautiful and submissive, they served in pleasure houses and as personal servants to the nobility. Most died beside their masters when the godstorms ravaged the planet.
A few elves, however, did survive.  Most lurk in the ruins of cities, stealthily avoiding the undead. Some have fled the cities, to eek out a crude and miserable existence in the ravaged wilderness.  However, after a thousand years of servitude, freedom does not come easily to the elves.  Most gladly serve new masters, no matter how monstrous or depraved, desperate for some sense of normalcy and continuity with their previous existence, before the War.
Beautiful. Slavish. Broken.
These are the elves of Odekor.

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