ProjectGorgon:Commentary on the Autumn Felling
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| http://cdn.projectgorgon.com/v456/icons/icon_4006.png Commentary on the Autumn Felling | |
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Hint: A dusty tome in Irasce's library
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| Category: | History
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| Visibility: | Ghosted Until Found
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Commentary on the Autumn Felling is a Lorebook found in the Council Grounds of Statehelm.
Content
Commentary on the Autumn Felling
By Sage Iluvius
We must change the way we teach our history. Young elves are still taught the old stories of our gods and our people, with little commentary to help them truly understand the past.
History lessons usually begin with the Song of Ir-Hetsu (translated from ancient elvish by yours truly):
Old as old is elven blood,
Old as old were elven gods.
In days past did we long fly
in the sun and rain
Under watchful eye of Cae-a-lee.
Sudden was the Autumn Felling
From a place of timeless speed
And from our golden elven souls
Was ripped the joy from all our deeds.
Blessed were the early dead
For sadness took them instantly.
Long instead did others languish
Wailing out to Cae-a-lee
Who could not heed the calls of elves
Who'd passed in battle to the sea.
Ir-Hetsu and his sister Ari
Lesser gods from a kinder time
Came forth to save our fragment souls
And protect us from all treachery.
There's a lot to unpack here. First, of course, the Autumn Felling coincides precisely with the coming of Autumn to the Fae Realm, about 19,730 years ago as I write this. A date that is easy to remember, since it's the epoch by which most elves describe dates -- the current year is 19,734 AF.
Something very terrible happened in our world when the Autumn Court took control of the Fae Realm, but we know not what, save that elven society crumbled. Many --- perhaps MOST -- elves suddenly died as if from shock, and most others suffered the Wailing Agony for the remainder of their short lives.
But what we do not explain well enough to our young is that there were several BILLION elves -- 12 billion, by my personal estimate -- prior to the Felling. We teach them that "half the elves died", but that only describes the immediate impact of the Autumn Felling. The horrible Wailing Agony left the other "half" of our society in shambles. And in this time of weakness, other races attacked us. Unknown calamities befell us. Within 500 years, we know that the lone major city of elves, Arihome, contained only a million elves. And if that sounds like a large number, we need to better educate elves about the difference between billions and millions.
Prior to the Autumn Felling, evidence suggests that elves were by far the dominant life form. "The dwarves controlled the underground and the elves the above-ground." Other races existed -- they must have! -- but perhaps they were not yet capable of great art and thought. For very few recordings from humans, orcs, goblins, hags, or any other now-powerful race have survived from prior to the Felling.
Nor are the names of most ancient gods recorded. We know Cae-a-lee's story only from the above-mentioned poem fragment and similar scraps, and we know her visage only by impressions left in the Fennyra Crystal.
It would seem Cae-a-lee died at the same time as the Autumn Felling. Irhetsu and Arisetsu are mentioned as lesser gods of wind and sun, respectively. When Cae-a-lee disappeared, the poem claims that these two gods "saved elves":
Wailing herself in agony, Arisetsu took the mantle gold
Ir-hetsu became her champion, and fought foul gods
To bide her time
To save the race of elves itself
I take this to mean that Ir-hetsu and Arisetsu went from being lesser gods to more significant gods. Both grew in power, though Arisetsu far more than her brother. We know that between 900 and 1,800 AF (after the Autumn Felling), Arisetsu split into several gods -- "gave birth", as the poems say, to Errana, Elshana, and Dreva. And then, about 2,300 AF, Dreva seems to have instigated a war between all the gods.
What can we make of this? Well, it is surely true that the elven gods protect elves, but we must remember that the gods are also a reflection of mortal life. Their actions often mirror ours. Cae-a-lee died because elven society collapsed... or, the other way around: elven society collapsed because Cae-a-lee died. They're the same thing.
Similarly, the later change in Dreva shows a change in us -- in elven society. Dreva's avatar started as an elf, but in a mere thousand years became a school of fish, and then a shark, and other such unimportant forms. What could that possibly symbolize about our society? I do not know precisely. But clearly, old elven society was responsible for maintaining a kind of balance in the world. When elven society collapsed, so too did our role as protectors of balance.
It is true that we have recovered and flourished since the Autumn Felling. It is good to teach our young about the wonders of Fae Rashin and the Six Suns and the World Trees and everything else that we have accomplished since. Elves are certainly a powerful and influential race in the modern era.
But we should also teach our children that once we were much more, and much different. We ruled the surface world, dominating or controlling all the races. But we changed fundamentally in the Felling. We no longer wish to rule the world. It can never be as it once was, because we are not the same -- nor are our gods.
We must also teach them that since we do not understand the Autumn Felling, we are in danger of repeating it. In a few hundred short years, the Winter Court will take power in the Fae Realm. We have contacts there now, and we do not anticipate any danger to our realm when the Winter Court takes power. But how can we be certain? Our ancestors were at least as well-prepared as we are now. And they were wiped out in a flash, their greatest works now lost to history.