“The elves were this world’s first born. We are a proud race, and we have a reason to be proud. The gods created our race out of their art and their emotions, and we hold that beauty with us still.” The elven gods took great care in creating their favored race, blessing them with seemingly eternal youth, a special affinity for nature and magic, and incredible beauty and artistic talent. Too often other races choose to see the fair folk merely as long-lived human beings, turning a blind eye to the subtleties of their art and culture. Despite what the elves view as the ignorance of other races, they have a very unique culture that they celebrate often. Following is a short list of some common elven ceremonies and how they fit into the society of the fair folk. Elven PCs will likely know about these rituals, although they may be limited in their practice depending on whether or not the surrounding community chooses to accept such customs.
The rituals described below often have some sort of tie to the cycles of nature and incorporate minor magic as well. Such behavior is characteristic of the fair folk - as a race that the gods have blessed with such grace and ability, they feel that it is only right to celebrate the world that spawned them and the innate gifts that they have been granted.
The Birthing Ceremony “The creation of a new life is particularly sacred among the fair folk. We know that the child will live for centuries, seeing ages that no one can possible imagine and potentially effecting the shape of the world over the decades.” When a new elf is born, the community responds with the elven birthing ceremony. The rite begins in the final weeks of the mother’s pregnancy, as the friends and family of the expectant family begin to gather whatever gifts they plan on giving to the newborn and the proud mother. The elf is born in privacy, kept in closed chambers with only the infant’s parents and one priest (usually of Corellon, unless the parents specifically choose a representative of another elven god) observing the actual childbirth. The guests take this private time to make last minute preparations for the ceremony and to renew old acquaintances.
When the child is born, she is cleaned and dressed in the private chamber. The mother and father leave the chamber first, symbolizing the union that led to this miracle of life in the first place. The priest follows immediately thereafter, and the crowd holds absolute silence as the priest prays to the Seldarine for the health, wisdom, and happiness of the child in the years ahead. The child is then placed in a carriage of silver and wrapped in newly made silk blankets. The priest dips his thumb into a basin of holy water and draws the crescent moon holy symbol of Corellon, sealing the prayers. The parents then take their places on each side of the carriage, and the guests approach one at a time to deliver congratulations to the family and blessings to the baby. If spellcasters are present, they perform a minor casting to grant the elven baby one unique gift.
An elf’s birth gift is always one of a kind, and rarely has a major game effect. Examples would include an elf who always heals scars perfectly, so that her natural beauty will never be marred, or a bard who has the ability to speak in perfect rhyme.
Coming of Age
“For an elf, maturity is a long process that can only be achieved through very personal experiences. One does not become an adult merely by turning a certain age or by killing for the first time. The passage from youth to adult is a slow, gradual process that requires both strength and reflection.”
When an elf has seen his first hundred years pass, he ends his years as a child and begins the journey into adulthood. However, the young elf does not become a full adult until he has made his way through a series of trials. These tests remain the same for both male and female elves, since elven society demands that certain skills be learned by all of its members. If the elf fails one of the tests, he must start over from the beginning on the preceding year. Thus, many elves remain in the transitional period between childhood and maturity for many years.
The trials an elf must face happen one at a time and take place over the next few years of his life. At his 100th birthday, an elf must spend a month alone isolated in the wilderness. He may take whatever he needs in order to survive, including food and water, and must travel through the wild peacefully, learning all there is to know from the surrounding fauna. The elf may not kill or severely damage any living being in the wild, since the purpose of the trial is to develop an affinity for the youth’s surroundings. After one month in the wilderness, the elf returns to his family, at which point a diviner verifies that he has not harmed anything in the past month. At this point, the test of awareness ends.
One year later, on the elf’s next birthday, he must face his next challenge, the test of survival. Once again, the elf is left alone in the surrounding wilderness for one month, this time with nothing more than a chosen weapon (usually an elven long bow and some arrows). This time, the elf must survive for a month, hunting for food, searching for water, and building his own shelter. If the elf manages to do well for himself and returns in respectable shape, he has passed the test. If he becomes lost, does not return on time, or is otherwise worse for wear, he has failed the test and must begin the rites of passage again next year.
The final trial, the test of experience, takes the longest amount of time and often spawns the majority of elven adventurers in the world. In order to become a full adult in elven society, one must demonstrate that he has a healthy share of wisdom. Since most elves spend their first hundred years in the seclusion of their homelands, they do not have the varied experiences necessary to become strong and wise. One year after completion of the first two trials, and elf is sent away from their home and into foreign lands with whatever equipment they require. The must travel these lands for however long it takes them to garner a truly unique experience from the outside world. Upon the elf’s return, he must meet with the community sages and discuss her new experiences. If these happenings are truly unique and have obviously made the elf a stronger, wiser individual, he will be a true adult and will be welcomed as such into the community. If the journey was uneventful or unenlightening, the trials must begin again. Many elven adventurers have either never passed the test of experience or became so enarmored with the outside world during their journeys that they left their homeland behind to pursue a life of wanderlust and excitement.
Corellon’s Feast
“The gods themselves protect my people, and the reward those who carry out their will. It is our job as elves to provide a proper reward for those heroes who perform the work of the Seldarine with bravery and valor. Such heroes will likely find eternal peace when they reach the hunting grounds of Arvanaith, but until then they can be rewarded with Corellon’s Feast."
Corellon’s Feast is a ceremony reserved for the bravest of heroes who do a great service for the elven people or who perform a particular deed with great valor and at no small cost to their own lives. Examples of deeds that have been honored include saving elven nobles from an elaborate assassination attempt, stopping a dragon from rampaging in the forest, or driving away a horde of orcs using only diplomacy. Elven soldiers often hold Corellon’s Feast when they win a war or a crucial battle, and some elves have even been known to receive the celebration when they returned from their coming of age quests after performing some particularly brave deeds in the name of Corellon’s people. Non-elves have occasionally been granted the ceremony as well, although such events are particularly rare. As the name suggests, Corellon’s Feast is a day-long feast that celebrates one particular hero or a group of heroes that have performed a great service. The event is always held outdoors, and as such it gets postponed in the case of bad weather. The most common setting for the feast is in the forest, under budding trees, but the location changes with regard to the native land of the elves holding the celebration and the seasonal conditions.
The celebration is assembled long in advance. Three enormous tables are crafted, long enough to fit every elf in attendance. Wooden chairs set with comfortable cushions line each side of the tables, and a wide variety of elven delicacies are laid out a few hours in advance of the feast. Each guest eats off of dishes crafted of either silver or porcelain and drinks from jeweled goblets crafted of platinum or gold. The drinks available to guests include wine, mead, and feywine (a very strong alcoholic beverage that instantly intoxicates non-elves), among others. When the celebration begins, guests are greeted with a day-long period of music and jubilation. The elven leader in the area sits at the head of the three tables in a chair crafted to look like a throne while the honored guests sit next to him in similar chairs. At the end of the celebration, the head of the feast gives the heroes each a pendant of the Seldarine, a tear-shaped pendant crafted in mithril and granted magical properties. After the celebration is over, the decorations, tables, and chairs are all broken down and taken away. The wood is left somewhere to decompose and become part of nature once again, while the precious metals are melted down to be used in another feast one day. The head of the feast sings a prayer to the Seldarine, and the guests depart, invariably sleeping well and waking refreshed.
The Pendant of the Seldarine: This necklace is crafted of mithril and enchanted by the most devout elven priests and wizards. The pendant itself is made up of a thin mithril chain that supports a crescent moon, Corellon Larethian’s holy symbol. The crescent moon is engraved on one side with the holy marks of the other elven deities that make up the Seldarine, and engraved on the other side with the owner’s name written in Elven. No one may wear the pendant except the person that it is intended for. If someone who does not own the pendant tries to put it on, the item becomes incredibly heavy, weighing down the unauthorized wearer as though she were hanging a cement block around her neck (treat as heavily encumbered). The pendant grants the wearer spell resistance equal to 10 + 1/2 the character's level. Additionally, each pendant grants the user at least one unique attribute that reflects the deed the hero performed in order to be rewarded with the pendant. For example, a warrior who killed a red dragon might be given a pendant that grants fire resistance, while a cleric who defeated a vampire might be given a pendant that enhances her turn undead ability or grants immunity to energy drain. The magical aura and cost to create this item depend on the gift granted to the owner.
Passage to Arvanaith
“Even elves grow old and die. The centuries eventually wear us down and claim us. But elves have learned not to fear death. We greet it as a part of nature’s cycle, and look forward to eternal life outside of this world on the hunting grounds of Arvanaith.”
When an elf dies, her spirit leaves the world and travels to the plane of Arvanaith, a heaven where all of the virtues espoused by the elven race become perfect realities. Following the death of one of the fair folk, the community prepares a passage designed to help speed the elf’s soul on its way to the paradise of Arvanaith. If possible, items used during the birthing ceremony that took place at the beginning of the elf’s life are reused here to symbolize the cycle that has been completed. As such, it is common for parents to keep items used during the birthing ceremony, passing them down to their children and then to their grandchildren so that the components may help enhance the final passage to Arvanaith.
The passage to Arvanaith ceremony is most commonly held near a river or on the coast of the sea. Other areas might be used, but there must be an obvious way for the deceased elf to travel in dignity out of the community. A basket carried by a griffin or giant eagle might suffice, as could a carriage drawn by white horses or unicorns. Whatever method of travel is being used, the deceased elf is wrapped securely in silk blankets beforehand. Items that had sentimental value during the elf’s life are similarly wrapped and placed by the elf’s side in the vessel. Weapons and armor, with the exception of a bow or similar hunting tool, are almost never included since an elf has no need of such tools of war in Arvanaith. After the elf’s final travel is prepared, a cleric recites a prayer to the Seldarine and then marks the deceased’s forehead by dipping his fingers in holy water and painting on the crescent moon of Corellon Larethian. If the elf’s travel is secured through a boat or other water-bound vessel, he is pushed into the water and sent on a course out of elven territory. If the ceremony takes place away from water, a group of skilled rangers lead the carriage outside of elven territory and then leaves the body in a secure place where it can rest. Elves never bury their dead; they find such an idea extremely confining and uncomfortable.
After the body of the deceased has been dealt with, the community gathers any personal belongings that can be disposed of and that have not been left to friends or family members. These belongings, offered to the priest in charge of the ceremony by the elf’s family members or closest friends, are disposed of one by one. Metal objects get melted down for possible later use, wood and cloth is burned and the ashes are saved, and anything else is broken down to its component parts to be used later, preferably during a birthing ceremony. The elves prefer not to see death as a loss of life but rather as a necessary part of nature’s cycle, and thus try to reuse as many materials left by the deceased as possible. That way the dead elf may be present within the community for generations to come. And when one speaks in terms of elven generations, such a period of time may very well last forever.
-Janis Tearlach, priestess of Corellon Larethian
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