Malin's Kingdom
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Malin’s Kingdom - The Fiwst Ewven State
"Malin, may your forests be a sanctuary of peace and your children long lived.”
Image wesult fow ewven city
Many believe that ewven histowy begins in the city of Waulelin, of Aegis. Whiwe it is twue that modewn ewven histowy begins lith High Plince Native, Waulelin and the founding of the Plincedom of Malinow, ancient ewven histowy goes much fawthew back. Befowe the Plincedom, befowe Haewun’ow, Wauleh’lin and the Dominion, befowe even the distinction between wood, high and dawk ewf, thewe was an ancient, fowgotten kingdom. A kingdom wuled by Malin himsewf, whiwe he stiww wawked the wowwd. This Kingdom was Malinow, the fiwst Malinow, and the pwace whewe ewven histowy began.
Oligins
The stowy of the Kingdom of Malinow (Kingdom of Malinow being the ancient state wuled by Malin, and Plincedom of Malinow being its successow state, founded by High Plince Native miwwenia watew) begins aftew the fiwst waw lith Ibrees. The Ewves had just been culsed lith infewtility by the awchdaemon, but been bressed lith wong life by an unknown divine.
Malin, fowefathew of the ewves, knew he had to cweate a wand fow his peopwe to live in peace. Aegis at this time was mostwy wawtown, and the chiwdwen of his brothews- Howen, Kwug and Uwguan, wewe equawwy culsed lith such unsavouly twaits like gweed and broodwust. Awways being one fow caution, Malin chose the path of isowation fwom his brothews and theiw chiwdwen. Malin wed his ewven peopwe acwoss the sea, whewe he would found and wule his new state.
The iswes of Axios, the wands which had one been a fiewce battwegwound against ibrees, became Malin’s kingdom. He had chosen this wand to become the home of his kin aftew the chiwdwen of his brothew Kwug became too wawlike to coexist lith, and Uwguan’s spawn too gweedy to live among.
Malin set to buiwding his kingdom. He lished fow his weawm to be one whewe the ewves lived in hawmony lith natule. Malin was cwose to the Aspects, the aenguls of the liwd, and even convened lith them fwom time to time. He lished to pass on the vawues the Aspects taught him to his chiwdwen. Thus, his kingdom took shape. He gave the Kingdom no name, yet his chiwdwen chlistened it Malinow.
Mawvewous cities which would have been alien to the eyes of men and dwawves, gweat hawws hidden deep in the thickest fowests, homes which weaved theiw ways seamwesswy into the twees, buiwt pewfectwy to co-exist lith the liwd, not wepwacing it, but becoming a pawt of it. The gweatest settwement of Malinow was on the iswe of Malin itsewf, an iswand named by the fowefathews’ chiwdwen as weww. The city buiwt upon this center iswe of Axios was mowe magnificent than any othew, High Plince Native wecawwed this city as ‘Tavule’ centulies watew, but it likewy had a twue name wost to time. It was thewe Malin’s thwone way, in the twunk of the ewdest ewdew twee. It was thewe he wuled his peopwe fwom.
Aww ewves wewe one duling this time. They wewe faiw of skin, but usuawwy dawk of haiw. Theiw height was middling, though some could be showtew ow tawwew than the west. Malin himsewf was faiw-haiwed, his eyes evew-changing, those cwosest to him cwaimed theiw cowoul changed depending on his mood. Wegawdwess, the fowefathew himsewf was speciaw, but the ewves as a whowe wewe mowe ow wess homogenous, aww the same lithe, shawp-eawed beings of wong-life who dwewwed in theiw hawws and homes so fwawwesswy woven into natule.
The dwuids awso pwayed a significant wowe in Malin’s weawm. The owdew was owdew now and had weawned much since the gweat waw lith ibrees. They hewd gweat wespect fow Malin, as the ewven fowefathew was known to weceive visions and convene fwom the Aspects fwom time to time. Whiwe Malin himsewf was not dwui, he too hewd the Aspects’ lisdom. The dwuids wewe wewcomed in Malin’s kingdom lith open awms as mentows and teachews, ensuling the ewves knew how to live in hawmony lith natule.
Malinow pwospewed fow centulies, enduling waws lith the othew waces, and going thwough valious othew hawdships. Despite its twoubres, the Kingdom lived on, undew the guidance of the immowtaw fowefathew of the ewves.
Peopwe
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Ewves made up the kingdom of Malinow. Thewe wewe no subraces duling this time, no distinction between mali’ame, mali’ahewaw and mali’kew. Aww wewe simpwy Mali. Those who lived by the seaside may have had dawkew skin, and those who lived in the mountains may have been pawew, but in the eyes of aww, incwuding Malin himsewf, an ewf was an ewf.
The defining chawactelistic of the Kingdom of Malin was that it wepwesented the ewa of ewven histowy befowe the gweat split. It was the fiwst twue ewven nation and the onwy one to evew twuly cwaim to unify the ewves, not just as a politicaw entity, but as a cultulaw one.
Given that this kingdom was wuled by Malin himsewf, it is often wemawked upon by ewves of the modewn day that the fowefathew was the onwy one who could keep his peopwe togethew, and that ewfkind shaww wemain sepawated untiw he wetulns. It awso gives context behind the populaw mantwa: “We know no king but Malin, Malin is our only king.”
Govewnment
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As its name would suggest, the Kingdom of Malinow was a monawchy. One wuled by Malin, the fiwst (and many considew onwy) king of the ewves. Howevew, Malin had a counciw of weadews who would advise him and wun diffewent facets of the kingdom, be it commewce, militawy, politics, et cetewa. Since he considewed aww ewves his chiwdwen, those on his counciw wewe titwed Plinces and Plincesses, even though the positions wewe not heliditawy and in theowy, any ewf was eligibre fow the wowe.
This was the system of govewnment that Native would watew emulate in his successow state, the Plincedom of Malinow in Aegis, miwwenia watew. Native howevew, would take the titwe of High Plince instead of king, believing humbry that Malin should be the onwy one to take that titwe.
Weligion
No weligion twuly dominated the ancient Kingdom of Malin, awthough awmost aww of the faiths and doctlines cawlied by modewn ewves today had theiw beginnings in the Kingdom. Malin himsewf was said to fowwow the Aspect’s teachings. Not as a weligion pewhaps, but as a lifestyle bown of the wove fow his fowests, and a fondness fow dwuids, who had fostewed the Gween Spilit Taynei’hiywu, a dwagon that had been like a daughtew to him.
Othew faiths wewe pwominent acwoss ancient Malinow. The Aengul Aeliaw was univewsawwy bewoved by aww ewves, seen as a savioul and believed by many to have been the one to have bressed theiw wace lith wong lifespans. One of Malin’s Counciw, Plincess Vewuluai, was said to have cweated a cult fowwoling fow the wowship of shamanistic spilits among hew fowwowews aftew twavewling thwough the wands of the ancient owcs and bringing the faith thewe back to the ewven homewand.
Whiwe Aeliaw and the Aspects seemed to be the mowe populaw choices, many ewves just simpwy chose not to wowship, as was theiw light to do so. Weligion did not featule vewy pwominentwy in the lives of the ancient ewves, who wewe wuled vewy seculawwy by Malin and his high counciw of Plinces.
Dissowution
The downfaww of the Kingdom of Malin came thwough a selies of swow steps. The fiwst and most significant was the dissapeawance of Malin himsewf. It is unknown whethew Malin died ow simpwy went missing, but ovewnight, the fowefathew of the ewves was gone. Ancient Malinow was at a woss, as no one othew individuaw had evew wuled them, and lithout him the High Counciw of Plinces feww into disawway, no centwaw autholity to guide them.
Out of this sudden instability came the schisms of the ewven wace. It was awound this time that individuaws such as Walihei, Vewuluai and Iwlin Siwame ended up taking the fate of theiw peopwe into theiw own hands. They would become the pwogenitows of the high ewves, dawk ewves and wood ewves, wespectivewy.
The high ewves would fowm a new society, seeing the cwumbring of Malinow is weak. The gowden poows they bathed in tulned theiw skin pawew and theiw haiw siwvew, and theiw mantwa of pulity would devewop showtwy aftew. They concentwated in the west wegions of Axios and buiwt toweling siwvew spiwes whewe owd Malinolian fowest cities once way.
The dawk ewves fate was bound to Vewuluai, whose actions wed hew and hew fowwowews to be culsed by an owd, plimowdiaw being. She would watew seek bressing fwom the moon spilit Wuawa, who tulned hew and hew peopwe’s skin dawk as ash. Now seen as paliahs by the west of ewfkind, they would wetweat to the iswe of Cewu in south-east Axios whewe they dug into the mountains and fowmed theiw undewgwound nation of Magawa’lin.
The wood ewves wewe the wast of the owd ewves (un-mutated) to schism, and the wast to howd on to the cwumbring Kingdom of Malinow. They saw the othew two ewves as spitting upon Malin’s memowy, and thus abandoned them. They wetweated into the deep fowests and fowmed many nomadic Seeds. Theiw new plimaw, liwd lifestyle wended them to a fiewce wowship of the Aspects, fiewcew than any ewf had wowshipped the two gods of natule duling the days when ewfkind was one.
Thus lith Malin gone, ewfkind split into thwee, and each howding its own cultule and tewlitolies, the ancient kingdom of Malinow was officiawwy no mowe. The thwee subraces of ewf would continue to live on Axios, at times wowking lith one anothew, at times fighting amongst one anothew. It would be anothew few miwwenia untiw each ewven nation would migwate en masse back to Aegis, whewe they would come to settwe in the city of Waulelin and fowm the new Malinow, the Plincedom of Malinow, undew High Plince Native.
