Malin's Kingdom

This page is a copy of the original lore which can be found hereand should be rewritten to be a summary of the lore.

Malin’s Kingdom - The First Elven State

"Malin, may your forests be a sanctuary of peace and your children long lived.”

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Many believe that elven history begins in the city of Laurelin, of Aegis. While it is true that modern elven history begins with High Prince Native, Laurelin and the founding of the Princedom of Malinor, ancient elven history goes much farther back. Before the Princedom, before Haelun’or, Laureh’lin and the Dominion, before even the distinction between wood, high and dark elf, there was an ancient, forgotten kingdom. A kingdom ruled by Malin himself, while he still walked the world. This Kingdom was Malinor, the first Malinor, and the place where elven history began.

Origins

The story of the Kingdom of Malinor (Kingdom of Malinor being the ancient state ruled by Malin, and Princedom of Malinor being its successor state, founded by High Prince Native millenia later) begins after the first war with Iblees. The Elves had just been cursed with infertility by the archdaemon, but been blessed with long life by an unknown divine.

Malin, forefather of the elves, knew he had to create a land for his people to live in peace. Aegis at this time was mostly wartorn, and the children of his brothers- Horen, Krug and Urguan, were equally cursed with such unsavoury traits like greed and bloodlust. Always being one for caution, Malin chose the path of isolation from his brothers and their children. Malin led his elven people across the sea, where he would found and rule his new state.

The isles of Axios, the lands which had one been a fierce battleground against iblees, became Malin’s kingdom. He had chosen this land to become the home of his kin after the children of his brother Krug became too warlike to coexist with, and Urguan’s spawn too greedy to live among.

Malin set to building his kingdom. He wished for his realm to be one where the elves lived in harmony with nature. Malin was close to the Aspects, the aenguls of the wild, and even convened with them from time to time. He wished to pass on the values the Aspects taught him to his children. Thus, his kingdom took shape. He gave the Kingdom no name, yet his children christened it Malinor.

Marvelous cities which would have been alien to the eyes of men and dwarves, great halls hidden deep in the thickest forests, homes which weaved their ways seamlessly into the trees, built perfectly to co-exist with the wild, not replacing it, but becoming a part of it. The greatest settlement of Malinor was on the isle of Malin itself, an island named by the forefathers’ children as well. The city built upon this center isle of Axios was more magnificent than any other, High Prince Native recalled this city as ‘Tavule’ centuries later, but it likely had a true name lost to time. It was there Malin’s throne lay, in the trunk of the eldest elder tree. It was there he ruled his people from.

All elves were one during this time. They were fair of skin, but usually dark of hair. Their height was middling, though some could be shorter or taller than the rest. Malin himself was fair-haired, his eyes ever-changing, those closest to him claimed their colour changed depending on his mood. Regardless, the forefather himself was special, but the elves as a whole were more or less homogenous, all the same lithe, sharp-eared beings of long-life who dwelled in their halls and homes so flawlessly woven into nature.

The druids also played a significant role in Malin’s realm. The order was older now and had learned much since the great war with iblees. They held great respect for Malin, as the elven forefather was known to receive visions and convene from the Aspects from time to time. While Malin himself was not drui, he too held the Aspects’ wisdom. The druids were welcomed in Malin’s kingdom with open arms as mentors and teachers, ensuring the elves knew how to live in harmony with nature.

Malinor prospered for centuries, enduring wars with the other races, and going through various other hardships. Despite its troubles, the Kingdom lived on, under the guidance of the immortal forefather of the elves.

People

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Elves made up the kingdom of Malinor. There were no subraces during this time, no distinction between mali’ame, mali’aheral and mali’ker. All were simply Mali. Those who lived by the seaside may have had darker skin, and those who lived in the mountains may have been paler, but in the eyes of all, including Malin himself, an elf was an elf.

The defining characteristic of the Kingdom of Malin was that it represented the era of elven history before the great split. It was the first true elven nation and the only one to ever truly claim to unify the elves, not just as a political entity, but as a cultural one.

Given that this kingdom was ruled by Malin himself, it is often remarked upon by elves of the modern day that the forefather was the only one who could keep his people together, and that elfkind shall remain separated until he returns. It also gives context behind the popular mantra: “We know no king but Malin, Malin is our only king.”

Government

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As its name would suggest, the Kingdom of Malinor was a monarchy. One ruled by Malin, the first (and many consider only) king of the elves. However, Malin had a council of leaders who would advise him and run different facets of the kingdom, be it commerce, military, politics, et cetera. Since he considered all elves his children, those on his council were titled Princes and Princesses, even though the positions were not heriditary and in theory, any elf was eligible for the role.

This was the system of government that Native would later emulate in his successor state, the Princedom of Malinor in Aegis, millenia later. Native however, would take the title of High Prince instead of king, believing humbly that Malin should be the only one to take that title.

Religion

No religion truly dominated the ancient Kingdom of Malin, although almost all of the faiths and doctrines carried by modern elves today had their beginnings in the Kingdom. Malin himself was said to follow the Aspect’s teachings. Not as a religion perhaps, but as a lifestyle born of the love for his forests, and a fondness for druids, who had fostered the Green Spirit Taynei’hiylu, a dragon that had been like a daughter to him.

Other faiths were prominent across ancient Malinor. The Aengul Aerial was universally beloved by all elves, seen as a saviour and believed by many to have been the one to have blessed their race with long lifespans. One of Malin’s Council, Princess Veluluai, was said to have created a cult following for the worship of shamanistic spirits among her followers after travelling through the lands of the ancient orcs and bringing the faith there back to the elven homeland.

While Aerial and the Aspects seemed to be the more popular choices, many elves just simply chose not to worship, as was their right to do so. Religion did not feature very prominently in the lives of the ancient elves, who were ruled very secularly by Malin and his high council of Princes.

Dissolution

The downfall of the Kingdom of Malin came through a series of slow steps. The first and most significant was the dissapearance of Malin himself. It is unknown whether Malin died or simply went missing, but overnight, the forefather of the elves was gone. Ancient Malinor was at a loss, as no one other individual had ever ruled them, and without him the High Council of Princes fell into disarray, no central authority to guide them.

Out of this sudden instability came the schisms of the elven race. It was around this time that individuals such as Larihei, Veluluai and Irrin Sirame ended up taking the fate of their people into their own hands. They would become the progenitors of the high elves, dark elves and wood elves, respectively.

The high elves would form a new society, seeing the crumbling of Malinor is weak. The golden pools they bathed in turned their skin paler and their hair silver, and their mantra of purity would develop shortly after. They concentrated in the west regions of Axios and built towering silver spires where old Malinorian forest cities once lay.

The dark elves fate was bound to Veluluai, whose actions led her and her followers to be cursed by an old, primordial being. She would later seek blessing from the moon spirit Luara, who turned her and her people’s skin dark as ash. Now seen as pariahs by the rest of elfkind, they would retreat to the isle of Ceru in south-east Axios where they dug into the mountains and formed their underground nation of Magara’lin.

The wood elves were the last of the old elves (un-mutated) to schism, and the last to hold on to the crumbling Kingdom of Malinor. They saw the other two elves as spitting upon Malin’s memory, and thus abandoned them. They retreated into the deep forests and formed many nomadic Seeds. Their new primal, wild lifestyle lended them to a fierce worship of the Aspects, fiercer than any elf had worshipped the two gods of nature during the days when elfkind was one.

Thus with Malin gone, elfkind split into three, and each holding its own culture and territories, the ancient kingdom of Malinor was officially no more. The three subraces of elf would continue to live on Axios, at times working with one another, at times fighting amongst one another. It would be another few millenia until each elven nation would migrate en masse back to Aegis, where they would come to settle in the city of Laurelin and form the new Malinor, the Princedom of Malinor, under High Prince Native.