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Shikarapura, the Nation the Dark Elves Built
In 1392 the elves of Europe voted on their future, and the side that lost walked away. Three centuries later, in a valley between…
Nations
35 posts
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After the Empire: Aldermark, the Last Elven Empire, in Its First Post-Imperial Decade
In 2018 an elderly elf died peacefully in his garden in the forest town of Elchwood. He was 847 years old. Fifteen years earlier,…
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Bastille Saint-Estelle: The Elvish Town That Chose Both Faiths
The monastery bells in Bastille ring at six every morning and six every evening, and they have done so for five hundred years. The…
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Weeping Island: The Island Where We Laid Down Our Grief
Weeping Island raises three questions, and they come in order. The first is the name. The second is why anyone lives there. The th…
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Aldø: Fifty Minutes from Sylt and the Oldest Temple in the Elvish World
The car ferry from the German island of Sylt runs every hour and takes about fifty minutes. The island comes up slowly through the…
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Duskwater: The Seafaring Empire of Shadows and Sails
"Loyalty is fluid in Duskwater. The only thing that keeps its shape is a loaded cannon." – Bumbelina of Siren's Bane, explaining p…
Vumari: The People of the Burning Ground
"The Zakaidians tried to march through our grassland once. We let them get halfway. Then we lit the match." – Fire-Keeper Dalisu o…
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Yangdon: The Land of the Golden Canopy
"The river does not hurry. The monsoon does not apologize. The stupa does not explain. In Yangdon, we learn from all three." – Que…
Tandarak: The Highland of Cast Bones
"Azaniya's shamans ask the dead what they feel. We ask the dead where they land. Their method requires trust. Ours requires counti…
Dahlasi: The Scales of the Road
"You may defy the Salt Court's ruling. You may also stop eating. Both last about the same length of time."– Attributed to Tongue D…
Zuleria: The Land of Copper and Conquest
"Copper doesn't rust. Copper doesn't break. Copper doesn't forgive. Neither do we."– Warlord Tarok, addressing a newly conquered m…
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Palangi Sari: The Land of the Rainbows
"Love offered across great differences is more luminous than love offered between those who are already alike, because it requires…