The Wood of the Azure Sky, or more simply The Azure Sky, has a history which Eldier lore dates back as early as 010CR,in the first known written account in all of Suun.
Golden Time of the Eldier
According to legend both oral and written which has been handed down throughout the centuries, the ancient race of the Eldier was created in the year 010CR. The God Iui was said to make a deal with a single herd of white tailed deer. The elder shaman of the deer approached the God Iui and bade him to give them a gift in return for their eyes amongst the wood, and their closeness with the woods, to impart to the coming elves. The God Iui looked upon the deer shaman with his long white flowing beard, giant antlers and wise, quiet eyes. A smile etched across the god's face, as well as the shaman's as they agreed upon the terms of the trade. The God Iui would give the coming elves the closeness of this land from the deer, in return for the longevity, intelligence, and closeness to man from the coming elves. In this way the emerging elves once again were tied to the land and the beasts that walk upon it, and in this way it was that a single herd of white tailed deer was transformed into the race of the Eldier. The first tribes of the Eldier quickly spread and were able to breed enough so that their numbers would grow to sustain the race.
They became masters of the forests in which this deer tribe had lived for a decade, since the beginning of recorded time. They used their intelligence to gain an advantage and to become as skillful as the Elves in their woodsmanship, and manipulation of the forests. The Elves recognized them as kindred upon their emergence [011cr] and granted them the right of the land in which their herd, or tribe had existed since the beginning of time in Suun.
For nearly four hundred years the Eldier lived in peace, enjoying a period of art, poetry, music and expansion. Their tribes lived in peace, taking much food from the buffalo, which served as the major means of survival for the Eldier. In fact, the Eldier passage to manhood ended with the slaying of a buffalo, using only a knife. The buffalo provided skins for housing, bones for tools, meat, for nourishment, fuel for burning, blood for paint, as well as the use of various body parts for ritualistic fetishes, and body ornamentation.
Year of the Orcx
In 421CR The Chieftain of the Eldier, Aendafyer the White lead a group of 12 skilled hunters into the plains to the southeast, to hunt for buffalo.
After hunting down six head and the buffalo ran farther to the south, the Eldier collected the bodies of the fallen. They began to gather their prizes to bring them back to their tribe as a fog rolled in from the south, covering the ground, and rising above their heads. They heard the sounds of the buffalo, crying as if a slaughtering had ensued just beyond their vision. The cries of pain coming forth from the buffalo soon changed into a low guttural cry of agony, and finally after it depreciated to a low moaning, it stopped completely.
From the fog the frightened Eldier witnessed a host of red glowing eyes staring back at them. A rumbling befell, as if the oxen were headed back their way, and they saw a terrible monstrosity. A horrible visage of a half buffalo, half Orc creature, later to be denominated as Orcx, ran toward them. The Orcx attacked with rocks, sticks, bare hands, hooves, devastating charges with long curving horns, and anything else which wasn't nailed down to the plains floor, and could be used as a weapon.
Their rage from the memory of hundreds of years of being savagely hunted and killed by the Eldier for food and sport fueled their anger. Aendafyer managed to escape their wrath, and make it back to the tribe in time to warn them of the oncoming doom. The Eldier gathered all of their warriors together and left to face the Orcx' herd.
In the year 421CR the War of the Azure sky began, as the Eldier tribes, with the help of the wood elves of Whitewall Forest, relentlessly attacked the Orcx as well as their allies The Reptaur tribes. For many years the battle raged on as Eldier from the west and east came to help their brothers, as well as the Wood Elves form the north, in a massive campaign to wipe out the evil abominations of the Orcx and the Reptaur. Around the year 434CR the war quieted down considerably as casualties on both sides were to numerous for either side to continue. No clear victor could be seen. From time to time minor battles erupt between the two, but to the present date, the conflict is relatively even. The Wood Elves from the north help the Eldier all they can, and the Orcx continue to grow rapidly in numbers, expanding their lands to the South, West and East as well as to the North. A major help to the Eldier exists with the coming of mankind, who seem to be a willing ally in the extinction of the vile looking Orcx, and Reptaur.
The Woods Today
The Wood of the Azure Sky is a quiet place these days. Taking a leisurely stroll through them is not advisable seeing as how it would be quite likely to end up as target practice as the other end of an arrow, or ambushed by unseen Eldier footman. The forest does not stir, as long as there are intruders, all eyes are watching, and silent.
The Wood are primarily ruled by the Eldier Tribes, which have solidified into a single kingdom of Eldier within the Azure Sky. It is ruled by the noble Jhilldafian Eendef''thistlie (White-Tusk), an ancestor of the great Aendafyer the White.
Although other tribes exist outside of the Azure Sky, The Quil'thistlie, or Brown Tusks in the common tongue, rule the Azure Sky unquestionably, and are the largest Eldier tribe in all of Suun. They share the land with the wood elves of Whitewall, whose territory overlaps with their own. The Orcx have relatively little presence within the Azure sky, as they mark their territory just outside of the massive woods. Some have been known to stray into the Wood of the Azure Sky, which usually ends in death for the "intruders" with the only possible cause, the dozen or so Eldier arrows hanging from their backs, and protruding from their necks.
Geography and Environs
To the East of the Blacktooth Mountains lies the Wood of the Azure Sky. It is a heavily forested area that is overshadowed by the towering mountains to the West. To the North lies Whitewall Forest and farther to the North the sub-arctic region Lorric'neblin. To the South and East lie the Lost Plains of Barowing. In the middle of the forest lies the Eldier settlement of Tor'nebar, which is directly northwest of Barrowig. Because of the fact that the cold seasons are only moderately more frigid than the warmer seasons, it is a relatively pleasant place to live. The wood is mostly covered with Conifers of varying types, the ground being covered with grass, and various fungi. The animal population includes deer, elk, moose, fox, wolves, brown bear, rabbits, and other common woodland creatures.
Lost Plains of Barrowig
When the Fields Were Wild
From the year 0cr to the year 421cr an intelligent creature did not inhabit the Plains of Barrowig. The Eldier came south from The Azure Sky to hunt oxen, and participate in rituals, but otherwise the Plains were the home of Buffalo, J'beir, Lions, Rhino, Mice, Rats and other various field animals and insects. The grass was green, the mountains could be seen far to the northwest, and the great Azure Sky to the direct north. The sky was crisp and clear and not an unnatural thing stirred. A human traveler and hunter who first gazed upon this area of the world wrote in his diary:
(420cr) This field calls to me as a hunter. There are beasts that well resemble other beasts I have seen before, but at least one thing is remarkable about this land, and that is the land it self. I see majestic mountains that dwarf this entire region. I see a forest so big I cannot see its borders standing miles away. Truly I have never seen a more peaceful, serene, and alive of a place.
The Green Plains of Barrowig remained untouched by any intelligent creature for over four hundred years since the coming of Cyryllynese. The animals survived well and the winters were not terribly cold, making it an ideal place for many creatures to dwell.
The fall of the lost Plains
In the year 421, according to Eldier lore, a great evil befell upon this world. According to Eldier mythology, the god Gruumsh One Eye descended down from the heavens into the fields of Barrowig. Along with him, he brought a thick cloud of fog using it to hide his presence. He floated down in front of a single herd of Buffalo, and there the story begins.
The Buffalo, which had been a long time source of food for the Eldier, were subject to Gruumsh's desires and could not withstand his will. There the colossal goblinoid avatar slaughtered the entire herd of Buffalo to use the blood of the beasts, as well as their still beating hearts as a wicked component in creating his foulest of all creations. On that dread day, in the year 421CR the first of the Orcx tribes emerged from the fog, and stood as monsters.
The Orcx tribe, The Slaughtered Tongue, recalls the story differently, being the oldest, and closest relatives of the Orcx created on that fateful day. The Orcx shaman, called Gno'Gol by those that care enough to listen, recants his memory:
De day long on fields and de grass cool on my ancestors hoof. From de north come de bastard Deer-man to hunt my ancestor and dey kill five heads. De great Gruumsh, who impart the thought unto my ancestor, come down from the sky, in a cloud o' fog. He say to the grandfather "I give you the gift o' thought, to vanquish de deer-man, who hunt your children". De fog come down and surround my ancestor, who run from the fog in panic. Lucky for he, it follows, and engulf him in pain. In a minute o' screams the Great Ancestors forever changed into strong. We yell from our belly, in mad screams, for de blood of deer-man. We war, and they run like coward babies do. The White run, and he make it to him tribe. There he say that he sees evil, that we come from the sky to murder. We pay him for him killings.
In truth it was the Eldier who did hunt the Buffalo, the Orcx'en ancestors for centuries, and in truth it is the Eldier that spread murderous rumors of the Orcx to gain favor of the goodly races in their attempt to eradicate the Orcx'en tribes. Common knowledge holds, however, that the Orcx are bloodthirsty savages, despite their primarily vegetarian diet.
They are feared by the common man, and may be killed on sight, finding alliances with only others feared by man, such as the Reptaur, and numerous Goblinoid races. Today the plains that once were seen as beautiful and peaceful by a human traveler, have been described by others as a blood soaked, ashen, and abandoned battlefield were bones can be seen along side the colonies of buzzards that hunt for the dead, in a massive graveyard of unmoved corpses rotting and decaying in the two suns of Cyuk. Finally it is advisable not to get caught in these fields at night, as some say that the dead walk on all fours, as corpses of Eldier, Orcx, and Reptaur alike work to avenge those that led them to their death. Whether these rumors are true or not is left for the very foolish to explore.
