Green Elves and Spirits

[Scribe's Notes: This book is an expansion on the first book “Green Elves and Cities.” I highly recommend that you read that one first for greater clarity.]

There are a great variety of Spirits in our realm; high or pure Spirits and low or unclean Spirits. Green elves offer tribute to a number of Spirits depending on their region and tribe.

I will speak on a few examples of Spirits, many of which are honoured on my home region of the Plains, in hopes that these may help demystifying Green kin so that they can be actively included in elven communities.

The Spirits are important to Green elves. It is through honouring the Spirits that we safeguard our souls and strengthen our communities. All kin should find cleansing and purpose through the Spirits.

[Scribe's Notes: I will include some of the City names to attempt to draw parallels but the reader should keep in mind that they are not one and the same, only similar.]

The First One [Corellon]

The First Spirit of the Elves came together from the chaotic nothing that lives outside of all things. The First One was neither truly male nor female. This Spirit would change his form as it suited him. He wandered the realms until he came upon a place of great beauty; what would soon be the elven homeland.

He was so inspired by this place that his awe sprung from his head creating the elven Spirit of Great Nature. The First One, confronted by his creation, his brother, spoke. His first words bore such power that they alone crafted one to forever safeguard them; the Keeper of the Word.

The three Spirits conquered the monsters of that realm and made it their home. In their triumph, their kinship grew; this new love took the form of the Great Flame.

All kin should offer tribute to the First One, the creator. It was from his power that we have come to be and it is from his love that our souls do not perish like the souls of other races. Elven souls are special; they return home to prepare to live again in a new elven form.

It is only if the elven Spirits are forsaken that a soul risks being cast from this cycle of rebirth to die. It is the responsibility of all kin to ensure that their brethren's souls are kept within the cycle. Your soul is only yours for a time but it belongs to all elves. It should not be used with selfishness.

To honour the First One comes in as many forms as their are elves. Often, even honouring another elven Spirit still honours the First One because they all come from him.

The Great Nature [Rilifane]

The Great Nature lives deep inside of all kin. They can feel him in almost every wilderness. This Spirit can bring strength as much as he can bring peace. There are many parts of the Great Nature; he is father of many lesser elven Spirits.

His many faces make him an easy ally of Outsider Spirits. Kin that mainly offer the Great Nature tribute tend to be willing to work with similarly aligned Outsiders, more often than other Green kin.

He is honoured with tending to the wilderness, protecting one's territory, finding awe in wild spaces and hunting. This Spirit often puts his divine touch upon Green or Copper kin.

The Keeper of the Word [Known as the White Stag outside of the Plains – Labelas]

The Keeper of the Word appears as a Seer or Shaman wearing a large antler headdress. He is known to have blessed the elves with Time, giving us our long life. Just the same, the Keeper of the Word is opposed to any taint upon the divine bloodline of elves. He creates the Punished which are often called half breeds or half elves outside of the Plains. They are cursed; the gift of Time is withheld from them.

It is impossible to know if Punished are elven souls in twisted forms or Outsider souls in corrupted elven forms so it is recommended that kin not risk a potential elven soul being cast from the cycle by being cruel to them. If it is an elven soul within the Punished then it is suffering already due to the Selfishness of its blood kin.

The Keeper of the Word was worn down by the constant light of the Great Flame. It offered him no time to reflect and be idle. So he spun all the great secrets of the world into a gentler light; he crafted the Moon.

The Keeper of the Word is honoured through learning, teaching and telling stories to kin. The time between the light of the Great Flame and the light of the Moon is sacred to him; tribute is best spent to him at this time.

The Great Flame [Known as the Sun outside of the Plains – Hanali]

The Great Flame helps in the crafting of elves. She burns loves and passions into each soul before they enter their new elven form. She safeguards the day; ensuring that kin have a warm, nourished land to live upon.

The Great Flame also manifests as the quiet warmth within one's chest to call forth the love of kin in all its many forms. A body and soul that is uncorrupted or untainted will be able to feel the Great Flame within them. It is important to cleanse one's body and soul often.

There was a time, after a harrowing battle with tainted monsters, that the Great Flame felt corruption upon her. She entered a shimmering lake, calling on the Water Spirit to wash the evil from her before it might tunnel inside. As the Water stripped the vileness from the Great Flame, low Spirits were birthed from the ichor.

Such unclean Spirits as the Spirit of Bloodlust which infects the soul with perverted love and destructive hunger for the Hunt, the Spirit of Shadow that burrows into hearts to fill them with greed, envy, and malice toward others, and the Spirit of Foulness which hates all love and beauty and seeks to destroy it with all manner of foul monsters.

All kin should remember to keep the Great Flame close to their hearts to ward off the evils that seek to corrupt elven ways.

The Moon [Sehanine]

The Moon guides kin through the trials of life. She shares with them secrets of the world and even those within themselves. She lays her touch most often on Moon-kissed elves but will also aid Seers, Shamans and those seeking difficult answers.

After the Moon Spirit rose for the first time, she sought to assist the Keeper of the Word in guarding elven secrets from Outsiders. Those that mainly give tribute to the Moon are often tempted to go far and wide in search of elven secrets and hidden places that may be able to help the People.

The Moon is honoured through explorations, learning hidden knowledge, hunting undead and elevating one's soul through a close connection with the Spirits. [Scribe's Note: This connection is often gained through the help of herbs and mind altering tonics.]

The Wind [Aerdrie]

The Wind is one of the hardest Spirits for many Green kin to find closeness with. She is the Spirit of change. When she lays her touch upon kin, she can provoke them to travel or follow their whims. This can be problematic in many Green kin tribes that rely on the community staying together.

The Moon Spirit uses her great magic to hide tribes from Outsiders. In the Forests, she often works with the Great Nature to spread her magic through the trees to confuse all by elves when travelling.

She is honoured for bringing the change in seasons and ushering in new generations of elves. She has no preferred tribute; out of all the Spirits, she calls kin to follow their heart and bring her whatever they find along the way.

The Sky [Angharradh]

The Sky is the most honoured of all the Spirits, on the Plains. She is the combined Spirit; the Great Flame, the Moon and the Wind join together to make the Sky. It is through their joining that they temper one another.

Tribes that mainly honour the Sky tend to be less strict than others. For example, unlike the Forest kin with their smaller tribes that tend to prefer uniformity in their ways, Sky Blessed tribes will accept the variety with which the Spirits craft elves. This can result in an unusual collection of Green kin.

City kin will find Sky tribes to be easier to work with and more tolerant of new concepts, as long as they do not offend the Spirits.

The Water [Deep]

This is a common Spirit among most Green elf tribes. The importance of the Water Spirit cannot be overstated. The Water Spirit provides life, change and cleansing. Without this Spirit and tribute to it, souls can be at risk of corruption.

The Green kin that mainly offer tribute to the Water Spirit tend to find allies in Outsiders due to their need to vanquish foulness from their territory, and even beyond. These kin will most easily find their place among the Paladins and Priests of City kin. Even so, Green kin that are favoured by the Water Spirit (usually coastal kin) can be difficult to hold within the stability and static nature of cities as they are rarely content to remain idle for long.

The best tribute to offer is to cleanse one's soul and body through communing with the Water Spirit, preferable in salt water, if possible.

The Great Arrow [Known as the Hunter outside of the Plains – Solonor]

The Hunt is one of the most important activities in Green kin life. So it would follow that the Great Arrow would be of as much importance. Unlike other unclean Spirits for the Hunt, the Great Arrow brings his ecstasy through the deliberate use of the bow rather than slaughter.

This Spirit is the most popular among Forest and Jungle Green kin where the environment allows for a careful hunt with a bow. While on the Plains there is less cover and on the Mountains there is little space. The bow is still used in all these regions, only to different degrees.

The Great Arrow is honoured through the Hunt, improving one's archery, and protecting one's territory; including the wildlife within it. Wanton destruction through the Hunt will earn the ire of this Spirit and Green kin that are favoured by it.

Green kin that mainly offer tribute to this Spirit can often be folded into existing City kin militias however you may find them less inclined to follow orders, especially if they go against the nature of the Great Arrow.

The Wolf [Also known as the Panther, even on the Plains - Fenmarel]

This is a Spirit honoured by all Green kin for he offers us comfort and company when there is no other. The Wolf lays his touch profoundly on Green kin so much so that there are many tribal stories that say that he has a hand in aiding in the crafting of our forms.

There are many risks in tribal life that can leave a Green kin on their own. It is through the Wolf that they can find the strength to go on. On the Plains, to Green kin that are truly without their kin, the Wolf is known to offer an omen. This omen appears as a panther that will join the kin as their new Spirit guide and forever offer them fellowship. Green kin that receive this omen are known as Panther Blessed.

While this Spirit is merciful to the plight of Green kin, I must caution kin from exclusively offering it tribute. The company of the Wolf can be addicting; isolation can be addicting. Green kin that too often seek out the Wolf will find that they struggle to join with their brethren. The longer they follow the call of the Wolf, the harder it will be to return to a community.

We see this most often with Forest Green kin that are notorious for their powerful aversion to any other elves and Outsiders. City kin will find those of the Wolf to be the most wild of the Green kin and most difficult to integrate.

Green kin should always be grateful to the Wolf and offer tribute but we should not forget that it is the love of the Great Flame that brings the Wolf back to his brethren. Do not go so far that you forget what such love looks like.

The Charred One [Shevarash]

The Great Flame burns loves into our souls. There are times, especially in loss, where these loves burn so hot that they can harm the soul, leaving it charred. The Spirit that governs such loss is the Charred One; He is lost to his fury against the vileness of the Spider and unclean Spirits like her as well as consumed by sadness.

Unfortunately, this Spirit is well honoured among many Green kin tribes. Especially those that divide into male-only or female-only tribes. These tribes often have no purpose beyond their Night Hunt. This makes them incredibly difficult to bring into any community, let alone a city community.

It makes them especially bad in leadership beyond their Spirit's purpose because they too often refuse to see any other aspects of life as having any importance which is antithetical to tribal ways. Green kin should be encouraged to bring love back into the hearts of Charred Ones. Our People are so much more than their hate towards the Spider.

Starlight [Araleth]

This is a Spirit rarely offered tribute outside of the Plains. It is said that in the Great War, during the heat of battle, sparks flew from holy weapons of the Spirits and landed among the Sky. Once the battle was won and the Spider cast into her depths, the Great Flame empowered the sparks with her strength before they could fade. It was then that the Spirit of Starlight was born.

In my tribe, many of the males are blood blessed [Scribe's Note: They are innatists but more than that their blood lines are touched by the Spirits] and have the ability to bring forth light. Those that are particularly talented can call on Starlight.

This Spirit calls on kin to oppose all manner of darkness and corruption. Yet it does not do this with hate or malice but with love of kin at its heart. The kin that mainly offer tribute to Starlight are some of the friendliest Green kin one can find. [Scribe's Note: Please keep in mind that this is by Green elf standards. It is unlikely to be friendly in the city way.]

The Trickster and the Dancer

While we do not offer tribute to these Spirits I would like to address them as I have had many debates on them while in the Fair City.

The Trickster is not honoured among many Green kin tribes, aside from Forest kin. For tribes like those on the Plains, this is because we have no trust of fey kind. No more than we would dragons. On top of that, we have no place for the nonsense that this Spirit encourages. Life on the Plains is harsh enough; it must be taken seriously. We do not encourage kin to sabotage each other or cause casual harm for amusement.

The Dancer is not an elven Spirit, regardless of what City kin wish to believe. This is a Ink-skin Spirit. The Dancer is a way with which the Spider lures souls away from the elven cycle into the Ink-skin cycle.

Now some may see the virtue in this; that if more clean souls are within the Ink-skin cycle they may eventually be redeemed. However I do not agree with this because it leaves elven souls at too much risk and underestimates the power of the Spider over souls that are within her clutches. The corruption of the Spider is well known. Kin should not encourage honouring of this Spirit or soften the vigilance of kin against the manipulations of the Spider.

Conclusion

To Green kin, Spirits are not a distant abstraction like faith is among many City kin. The Spirits are ever present and, at times, very close to our souls.

I know that City kin will often dismiss Green kin reactions as dramatic or overblown but this is because we have a deeper connection with our Spirits; a connection that is very important to us. We are unlikely to allow things that will offend the Spirits because of it.

Scribed and Edited by: Bear-on-the-Mountain, Dwarf Enthusiast

Spoken by: The Father of Ash, Son of Lightning, Gift of the Sky; Shaman Wyn of the Plains and the Fair City