History of the Elves Part I
Title: The History of the Elves, With Attention to the Fall of the Drow. By: Bell'imar Juraviel
Despite being the eldest people on Faerun, the elves are not natives to that plane. They came to the Realms from Faerie across the moonbridges millennia ago, passing the gates of Arcadia and the along the trods that have long since been lost. The first elves were the Sy-tel-quessir (green elves), the Ly-tel-quessir (lythari) and the Aril-tel-quessir (avariel). Of these original three races, only the green elves, now known as the wild elves, survive in any number. The avariel are nearly extinct now, having fought many terrible wars with the dragons of the ancient world. The lythari have changed so far from their elven roots that they are now a race apart from the Tel-quessir.
The second wave of elves to travel to Faerun included the Ssri-tel-quessir (who became elfkind's most hated enemy, the drow). They were the most prosperous in this new world, emerging from the southern jungles and quickly establishing grand empires in their new home. At the same time, the Ar-tel-quessie (sun elves) and the Teu-tel-quessir (moon elves) arrived in the north. The Alu-tel-quessir (sea elves) appeared in the Great Sea not long after. The martial strength and magical prowess of the Tel-quessir brought the dominion of dragonkind to an end.
As the Time of Dragons ended, the First Flowering of the Fair Folk began, and the elves settled into five major civilizations along the west and south of Faerun. Along the Sword Coast rose Aryvandaar of the sun elves, Illefarn of the green elves, Miyeritar, Shantel Othreier ad Keltomir. To the south, in what is now the Vilhon Reach, rose the three green elf nations of Thaernytaar, Eiellur, and Syopiir, while two more realms arose in the forests that once covered the Shaar: Orishaar of the moon elves, and Ilythiir of the dark elves.
These elven nations each grew and expanded and developed in their own ways. But this peace was not to last. The emerging cruelty of Ilythiir sparked the first Crown War. Over the next several hundred years, the elven nations slowly tore themselves apart. Just as one Crown War ended, the black-skinned people of Ilythiir began their violent expansion once more.
As the Fourth Crown War dawned, the black elves of Ilythiir raised the conflict to a new level. Ages ago, a faction of the Seldarine, led by Corellon's lover Araushnee, turned on their kin and attempted to displace the Seldarine. Corellon and his loyal kin defeated Araushnee and the other traitors, and banished them to the Demonweb Pits. Frustrated with their inability to committed an unheard of crime. They called upon the traitor goddess Araushnee (know Lolth) and used the terrible might she granted to completely destroy the peaceful nation of Miyeritar. The decimated green elves never recovered, fleeing into the deepest forests. Some, hiding, even from their own kin, became the wild elves; others merged with like-minded sun or moon elf refugees to become a new race, the wood elves.
Shoved and dismayed at the evil of the Ilythiir, the Seldarine intervened. By Corellon's decree, the Ilythiir elves were cursed, transformed into drow, and banished from the surface world into the Underdark. They became known as the Dhaerow (the elven word for Traitor), and over the centuries this word has since given them the name by which they are now known: drow. After this, Corellon insisted that the elven elders come together in a great forest to the east to debate the cause of the divisiveness and strife at a place of decision and judgement. This place became the Elven Court in Cormanthor. In this place, Araushnee's treacherous daughter Eilstraee was judged responsible for the Second and Third Crown War, and banished from Arvandor.