Legends of Arcanth

Wood elves refers to the sylvians that reside in the forests of arcanth but that’s not an accurate description as there are some “pure” elves that live in forests and many “wood” elves are found in cities, towns, and other urban environments. A more accurate way to classify them is by their actual physical differences: they are short in stature especially compared to their far taller relatives, most about 5’10, another characteristic is their pronounced ears, which are larger and thinner than those of “pure” elves usually more facing back than straight up. While deeply connected to nature they aren’t as innately ment using magic as “pure” elves, they are however much better in dexterity and they are very perceptive in nature making them great archers.

Here are the most common variants/ethnicities of wood elves:

Veran Elves – Veran Elves are wood elves primarily from the Ortian Forest in Shinjiri. They are mostly good natured and are great healers, many you will find in great cities offering help to those in need if they’re willing to convert that is, promoting the praise of Arcanthia. They do not hunt as they believe animals are sacred children of Arcanthia just as the elves are, as such they are almost exclusively vegetarians, and even then they limit what they take from the woods. Veran elves are fair skinned bright eyed and dark haired.

Aestan Elves – Hailing from the Vitaen Forest of southwestern Kaldiros, the Aestan Elves are known for their passion, and respect for life. Not life of plants, animals, or even people but life of those who live. The Vitaen forest is full of life whether it be monsters; trees, or elves. Life in the Vitaen forest is tough: conflict is the rule of life Aestan Elves care not where you live as long as you truly live, because all life must end so you must respect what you have while you have it. Aestan elves have a tanned complexion, and light hair.

Autumn Elves – These elves come from the brutal Occasus Forests of Western Arcanth, to understand the Autumn Elves is to understand the Occasus itself. The Occasus Forest is one of perpetual death and ruin- a never-ending sunset. Because of the tough place the Autumn elves have gotten tough right back, they’ve embraced the decay and used it as a tool. They’ve dropped their ties to nature and are some of the more industrious of wood elves. They also use necromancy quite often as resources are limited, so wasting and working body regardless of its vitality is a luxury they can’t afford. Autumn elves are auburn haired and light skinned with eyes of fire.

Hiemian Elves – Cold and emotionless as the Somnian Forest of Northern Arcanth they call home. Living in a sleep that never wakes, the Hiemian Elves have learned to be far more introspective than other wood elves. They believe that in order to balance nature and civilization they must be firm with their laws, and wise with their choices, life is but a dream of the world soul, that must be guarded but not obsessed over. Their skin is pale as ice and hair white as freshly fallen snow.

Legulan Elves – These are the most common of wood elves, originating from the vast expanse that is the Greenwoods. They have no issue mining the land for ore, cutting down the trees for timber, and farming the land for food as long as a balance remains. They despise those who abuse nature or kill for sport and are willing to stake their claim of the Greenwoods by bloodshed if needed.

Venatoran Elves – These are the tough wood elves that share the Vehemen Woods with the Valinorians, as such they have grown to be just as tough in ferocity. The Venatoran Elves have vowed to leave the woods unharmed as they believe it to be the home of Arcanthia thus sacred, they’ve learned to become the top predators and live as hunters. Everything they make and use comes from the beasts they kill, using composite bows and bone swords.

Furantian Elves – These blood thirsty elves are from the “slaughter” woods of shingiri, realizing they can’t physically keep up with the other races of these brutal forests they’ve learned to scavenge of those who can. They have no honor to them and are seen as ow lives and thieves, usually banned from other cultures lands.

Venenian Elves – These are the scheming wood elves of the Rot Woods, they are cut off from other elves in the sense that they’ve not only broken all bonds to arcanthia but have also openly defied her by corrupting their life tree and straight up rejecting nature. While they aren’t really industrious by other races standards they are easily the most industrious of wood elves. The only thing that still grows in the Rot Woods are the fungi still trying to feed off of the long dead life. Venenian elves culture the insidious Grimboldorf, a dark, fungal parody of a life tree which spreads blight and decay instead of life and fertility.

Sylvan Elves – These are the elves of the sylvan grove and supposedly the original wood elves. They are the most fanatical in the worship of arcanthia and harm neither beast nor tree, and basically live in a druid ruled community, they are more than willing to release beasts of nature and natural disasters on all who disrespect the woods. They view the other wood elves as misguided children and the other races as demons, they will punish both with equal fever.

Blaze was adopted by a mercenary group known as Rennatons’ Wolves, he was found at 6 years old huddling in a cave, crusted with blood, and shaking with fear. With almost no memory, and a single, skeletal feather at his feet. (Blaze does not remember this at all, his earliest memory is drinking soup asking Arthae about magic).

He was raised by a mercenary named Arthae, a wily gray haired warrior who taught blaze how to use a sword. At age 14, Blaze’s father Arthae was killed in a malin ambush after a mission went south and some of the mercenaries betrayed him for a higher price. After Arthae’s death Blaze and his adoptive brother Aretis, roamed the Malin streets for two years, disillusioned with the group which had betrayed their father. until they joined the Infernon rogues, a ragtag group of adventurers fighting whatever injustice they saw fit to attack. It was in this group where they both found a home among those like them and were fighting for more than just pay(though a little coin never hurt ;)).

While there are many many regions which feature within the stories, the main setting for the majority of them is within the Air Kingdoms of northern Kaldarin. The Three most powerful nations were once aligned under one Banner, that of Aelsyr, Vahltradium (the other two nations call  it malus due to being immoral at best), Trinium, and Destus. Vahltradium is a militaristic empire stretching from the gothic capital of Malldroth to the war torn Blasted Heath. “Citizens” in this hellish nation are slaves to their oppressors.  Vahltradium is ruled by the immortal tyrant King Varendeth, and his cultic followers. At one time holding the largest empire in the human age they’re now in decline. Trinium is a devout kingdom ruled by a long line of kings dating back even before the three nations even aligned in the first place. Trinium is faced with many threats on a daily basis, to answer these threats they’ve developed 3 main knight orders to face the darkness. The Platinum order was founded to deal with the demonic incursions they must exterminate from time to time. The Mithril   knights were founded to give trinium an edge against the ever expanding kingdom of Vahltradium. Last but not least is the Silver order deals with the creatures of the night and beasts of the shadows. Destus is a capitalistic nation that survives off of trade with other nations. Law in destus is confusing, convoluted, and corrupt beyond any hope of being just, the king’s true power is indirect in the form of guild charters. The city is more directly run by the powerful guild acting as a form of megacorporation the black market has become prominent here as only those with guild charters are allowed to legally run businesses. Some other nations that will have large influences on the story include Aquarius, Gelinor, and Skyhold.

First a brief introduction to the magics: There are many types of magic: mystic, arcane, elemental etc. Arcane magic is like a science, orderly and complex. Arcane Spells are formulated as a mathematically precise pattern of glowing runes and glyphs. Practitioners of Arcane magic are known as “Wizards”. Mystic magic utilizes forces beyond comprehension to affect reality in subtle ways. Oftentimes mystics are seen as frauds or phonies,  Mystic spells manifest as ethereal currents of glowing energy. It is capable of seeing the future, affecting the boundaries of life and death, and  and  Users of this kind of magic are called mystics. Elemental magic manipulates the base elements of arcanth, and those who use it are either called sorcerers or borns. The primary elements which elementalists utilize are Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Light, Dark, Storm, Frost and Metal. It is a raw and destructive power capable of leveling entire towns,   (side note when we refer to born’s those are people with the innate ability to use this kind of magic). There are a plethora of other kinds of magic: Thaumaturgy, Alchemy, Necromancy, Bardic magic, demonic, Warrior spirits, [Viomancy], and divine but those three are the most notable.

Legends of Arcanth is a series of stories me and my friend have been working on for a while now so we hope you enjoy it.  What began as a 4th grade writing project developed into the massive world of Arcanth. It is a high fantasy world so don’t expect overly realistic descriptions or a grim dark story either.  This isn’t Game of Thrones, this isn’t Lord of the Rings, and this isn’t Elder Scrolls this is Arcanth. This is a world where magic is a very prominent feature, and where the heroes and villains are larger than life, but still flawed in their own ways. One can’t help but remember villains like the charismatic Derek Valendel, pilot of the Steel Horizon, or “heroes” like the eccentric (and borderline psychotic) Eldrik. It is a world of impossibly majestic landscapes: like entire nations built atop soaring archipelagoes of flying islands, or of mountains which tower high above into the ether of the astral sea. The story centers around the adventures of Blaze and Griffin, as they deal with threats of often cataclysmic scale. We are open to feedback, but keep in mind that we’ve developed more than we can tell you in any one post so there’s only so much we can do. Also, keep in mind this is a work in progress: thus elements of the lore are subject to change: not everything is set in stone. We are also open to your ideas, and we are always looking for cool new ideas to input into our epic story (A name surrounded in brackets like [this] means that the name is a temporary devname.).