By Silvia Pato and Rodrigo García Carmona.
Elves have lived in the Great Forest for millennia. They first settled there during the expansionist campaign of the Elvish Empire of Gae Assail that would eventually conquer the entire known world around the Central Sea of Atllän Throughout the next two thousand years, the elves evolved as a civilization—prevailing over the neighboring peoples—thanks to their knowledge of magic, whose power increased as the Warcrow became ever closer.
The Tinge
Moreover, the Taint would also affect the wizard's psyche, driving them to complete insanity sooner or later. Most of them would meet their end babbling about incongruous visions, while others would simply commit suicide.
The self-anointed Radiant Elves established limits for the appropriate use of magic, thus avoiding the Taint. This, however, wasn't enough to stop other elves in their ambition to attain the power of the ancient civilization that preceded them. They affirmed that the Taint was simply a way to ascend to godhood. The Radiant Elves considered them delusional, calling them Darkmind Elves and causing a schism that sowed the seeds of their undoing.
The Civil War
The tension between these two philosophies thoroughly divided elvish society in light of the largest Warcrow in recorded history. Darkmind Elves would gain followers with ease, eventually surpassing the Radiant Elves in number to the point that the Twin Emperors and their court adhered to the former's dogma. Henceforth, by imperial command, dissidents to the Dark Doctrine would be persecuted, branding Radiant Elves as rebels and causing elvish society to inevitably break apart as they plunged into a civil war that dragged the whole world's population.
Once they returned to Maevhan Forest, Niamh led a moving ceremony for the survivors in which the spirits of those who fell in battle consumed by the Taint were received by the Sÿena trees of the Great Forest, which would be considered sacred ever since.
The Sÿena, sacred trees
The Sÿenann culture and society has evolved around the sacred trees that hold the spirits of their forebears. The relentless and unwavering defense of their home goes beyond ecology and life in communion with nature. Each Sÿenann has a Sÿena tree assigned to them when they're born, of which they become fully responsible once they reach adulthood. This bond is eternal, even transcending life, for when a Sÿenann dies they're buried at the feet of their Sÿena, which will welcome their spirit in it.
Among all Sÿenann traditions, the harshest is the one that dictates that if a Sÿena dies, the elf to which it was bonded must abandon the Great Forest. Normally, the shame and dishonor the tree keeper feels make it unnecessary to force them out. Banishment is the worst of punishments since Sÿenann that wander away from the Forest for too long begin suffering withdrawal effects due to the dependency they have on the Great Forest. In the end, the Sÿenann are magical beings because they've spent millennia assimilating the magical properties of land that's been fully impregnated and imbued by magic. Without it, they end up becoming savage creatures, desperate and irrational; yet unrelenting, precise, and lethal as any elf.
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