THE CHRONICLER

Ancient Wolfen Historian

This historian tells of times recorded in the Tristine Chronicles, but it is often at odds with the more famous book, so few of his works have survived. One text of the Chronicler is shared with CrIsis before they left Otter as it spoke of the Dread Pirate Jason. This text was read by Malkin Falimede.

There still stand virgin oaks planted by Elven Druids that dared to settle this land long ago. This was shortly after the end of the Elf-Dwarf War, early in Wolfen history. Many elves, lost in regret for the many wartime atrocities, established druidic practices and Biomancy magic. They tried to reconcile themselves with the world and the stars by becoming one with the World and the Zodiac. Healing the land became one of their greatest concerns, the children of the wolf, another. The Devil’s Mark in the Ophid’s Grasslands stands as a reminder to the forces that came into play in a war that laid waste to so much of the world. Only the Northern Wilderness was left unscated by that devastation, save for the Devil’s Mark

Many refugees from the war found safe haven in these Elven communities. Those refugees had with them the relics of their past. They were laid aside as grim reminders of their lost history. The books that told of the legendary rune weapons, and magic of that time all strangely vanished when the Dwarves and Elves destroyed their races. No satisfactory explanation has ever been found for the almost total lack of such artifacts even in the most preserved ruins. Here I tell you that thousands upon thousands of runic weapons, books, idols, and gold were brought to the north. Only a meager fraction of the treasures were stored in the Library of Alarassa, but there was stored the knowledge. Why has evidence of this never found? The Chronicler maintains that it is only because no great effort has ever been made to prove this community ever existed.

Thus the legendary Elven community was allowed to bring civilization to this part of the world. They passed on a civilization of great personal, perhaps more aptly put, emotional wealth, the likes of which had never been seen before, or since. Its very presence was the force that helped bring the Wolfen into the light of intelligence and society. This racial birthing is one reason for the Wolfen’s current admiration of all things Elven.

Stories of this strange community that walked among wolves eventually spread to the early human communities to the south. The happiness and prosperity of this Elven society were taken by the humans to indicate great material wealth. The humans were only beginning to travel the seas, and unscrupulous individuals saw this as an opportunity for raiding and quick profit. Some insist that the Wolfen’s hatred for Humans began here, with the pirate attacks on their Elven spiritual forebears. I, the Chronicler, insist that this is indeed so.

The human pirates came to the northern coast and found the Elves unwilling to share their riches with them- claiming there were no riches, only relics to be preserved for future generations. Instead they offered the “riches of peace and harmony.” This was not the manner of riches sought, and so the pirates struck…
Some say that a sword is not inherently good or evil, and that only by the use to which it is put does it become a thing of death and destruction. So it was the Elves would not wield the weapons of the prior age that had wrought destruction upon two civilizations. When the humans came to take the weapons, the Elves did not stop them, and so more humans and even fellow Elves came to claim their possessions. The greatest, or worst, depending on your viewpoint, was the Dread Pirate Jason, an elf consumed with hate.
When the pirates were told there was nothing left, violence again claimed the Elves. The Wolfen rose up against this outrage on their spiritual brethren. Few were spared, on either side, and the peaceful civilization ceased to be, other than a few survivors. The library, inland, disappeared.