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The Freefolk aren't one distinct heritage from creation to modern day, but rather a collection of loosely associated peoples who have integrated to the point that the same categorical distinction across the world refers to them. The Freefolk consist of the plant-like Yanar, the Wood-Elf-like Selvath, and the subterranean Erythar. What distinguishes these Elf-like people from their Teled, Maquixtl, Sihndar, and Kathar cousins, is that they are defined by their refusal to join the Allorn Empire, and subsequent isolation for 15,000 years. These three groups grew closer to each other during this period while diverging further from the other Elves. Their continued independent spirit, nature-harmonizing, and communal lifestyles define them even in the modern era, though their perspective spans the whole world, spreading their self-sufficient communes to the far corners. This page will separate information pertinent to the sub-groupings at each section, and discuss shared information in the history and ideology sections.
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Note: The Erythar are currently not yet playable. Information is only sparsely present on this page.
Physical Characteristics
Selvath
Selvath fulfill the niche of traditional Wood/Forest Elf for Aloria. Most Elves in the world of Aloria are capable of being just as brawny/skinny, hairy/smooth, muscular/lithe, tall/short as other heritages, aside from hyper-muscularity people like the Eronidas and Urlan. Selvath more often have darker skin tones, but because Aloria does not follow the rules of genetic determinism, Elves of any coding or appearance can be Selvath, even within the same family, where Selvath of different skin tones and shades can be born. Most Selvath range from the high five feet to the high range of six feet, with rare cases just barely hitting seven feet. When compared to the Erythar and Yanar, the Selvath appear more brawny and tribal, though Slevath should not be misunderstood to be uncivilized or undignified. Tribal tattoos and hairstyles are common, but they are just as well mixed with fine silks and jewelry. that are nonetheless designed to promote mobility and comfort in their warm jungle homes and high in the trees. Most Selvath live easily to 400 years old, though some have been known to reach 1000 years old with of Magic. Generally, we recommend that players keep their characters younger than 150.
Yanar
Yanar fulfill the niche of traditional Plant-person for Aloria, though the range is quite broad. The conventional Yanar appears like an Elf with pointy ears but with all of their exterior body parts either covered in, or composed of plant life, flowers, or bark. Yanar can be entirely plant-like with no skin showing and everything covered in leaves, bark, and flowers, or only have localized flowering/leafage-like hair made out of vines, forearms covered in flowers, and select plumage of flowers/fruits growing from their shoulders, with a more conventional skin tone visible. Yanar are generally not bound to any physical expectation, because their body goes through periods of wilting and blooming, and sometimes regrows entirely as a new person, radically changing their appearance and personality on rebirth. Most Yanar range from around five feet to six feet tall, with only a few reaching some height above six feet. Yanar do not age conventionally, and can in theory be thousands of years old, but due to their rebirth process, lose all their memories (this is explained further below in the Expanded Lore section). Generally we recommend making the currently played iteration no older than 150 years.
Culture
The Selvath, Yanar, and Erythar are all defined culturally as Freefolk, both the name of their heritage and the best way to describe their ideologies. Each of the sub-groupings arrived to the same conclusion separately (discussed in History) but found strength and support from one another when they unified. Culturally, these three people are all part of the same society, they share many customs, habits, and traditions. Yet, culturally, they are also somewhat different from one another due to particular niche habits each group developed. The Selvath for example are a lot more rowdy and wild than the other two, having so-called Wyld-Feasts during which they voluntarily shapeshift and transform to experience all manner of new and sometimes forbidden things. They enjoy their lordship over the woods, and will readily take from the fauna what they want, believing themselves lord and master over all other denizens of the woodlands, while also integrating these creatures into their identity. The Yanar in turn are much more peace-loving and attuned to the environment they live in, choosing to live in harmony with nature and trying to preserve its pristine qualities. The Yanar are often more empathetic and slow to act, preferring caution in their contemplative moots. Finally, the Erythar are more spiritually inclined to the point they can almost be described as monastic. While the other two engage in a lot of collaborative customs and activities, the Erythar value privacy and self sufficiency, and are often more remarked by their absence from common festivities, than having any of their own. Specific cultural habits will be discussed further below in Expanded Lore.
Language and Naming
All Freefolk use the Altalar Language, which ironically is the mother tongue of the Allorn Empire that they are defined by in defiance. Ultimately, the Selvath and Erythar are outright Elves, and the Yanar are Elf-adjacent, so while they once had unique languages of their own, Altalar was adopted as a common middle ground that eventually replaced all others. each of the subgroups has a slight variance in accent or dialect that is distinguishable enough to allow them to be told apart, they are all mutually understandable. Altalar is mostly a fantasy language that borrows verbiage from Spanish but gives them fantasy flairs by softening consonants and extending vowels. Good examples would be "Adios, Gracias, and Hola", which would, for example, be changed to "Alïos, Ce'lias, and Äula", but there are no hard rules for this, and it is generally not recommended to translate whole sentences and only use this styling for individual words. Modern Spanish names are also suitable for translating into Altalar naming:
- Example of Male names: Ëasiel (Daniel), Lüsas (Lucas), Näul (Raul), Noveyn (Robert), Äuonshe (Jorge), Lavlo (Pablo), Mancel (Marcus), Sönsalo (Gonzalo), Na'ael (Rafael), A'losso (Alfonso).
- Example of Female names: Samila (Camilla), Isaveyl (Isabel), Sa'alia (Natalia), Siliana (Clara), Fisonia (Victoria), Savniella (Gabriella), Veani (Beatrix), Nassissa (Fransisca), Eyfa (Eva).
- Example of Unisex names: Sil (Gil), Aleycis (Alex), Ëasi (Dani), Eysmeynlea (Esmeralda), Äuimey (Jaime), Monshaa (Morgan), Qüiem (Quim), Feyno (Vero), Savia (Gabi), Cimme (Kim).
Unlike the other Elves, who maintain complex naming customs depending on lineages, Freefolk maintain very simple naming customs in comparison that pay more homage to direct families. Freefolk don't have surnames but instead refer to their clan names and their birthplace. Clan names are defined by what a clan is known for, for example, a famous battle (of the Willowcreek Clan) or an occupation (of the Woodforge Clan) or a Magic School (of the Firekindle Clan). It is best to keep these names in English for recognizability. And finally, they might add a suffix to declare where they are from. There are three choices: West Selvaria (generally peaceful mystical forest), East Selvaria (generally war-torn chaotic forest), Massaria (Hadarian mangrove jungles near Allar cities), Enlaria (Ard-al-Nur desert-oasis forests near Dragonkin/Skyborn towns), and Neylaria (Regalian forest, a relatively new settlement and close to the main Roleplay Hub). So a full Freefolk name could be: Isaveyl Silamaan of the Moongsong Clan in West Selvaria.
Religions
- Estelley: Estelley is the most obvious Religion of choice for the Freefolk, as they all have a God specifically assigned to them in the pantheon as their patron Gods, who also have historical relevance to their existence outside of the Allorn Empire. Estelley as a whole can sometimes be experienced as somewhat dubious to the Freefolk, as it is mostly a pro-Allorn Religion, but the Freefolk extract spiritual lessons while avoiding that topic.
- Draconism: There are some small Draconist clans among the Freefolk, those who have largely rejected Estelley as a product of Allorn Imperialism, and embraced Draconism due to their proximity to the Dragon-God Gaia of Nature. The Draconist clans among the Freefolk had no oversized relevancy to the events concerning the other Dragon Cults within the Allorn Empire, but survive to this day.
- Minor Faiths, Evolism: There are minor cults among the Freefolk who have been swayed by the Deep Ones, Rejected Gods, or even Death Gods. Evolism in particular has some notable minority religion status among the Selvath, whose occasional wild lifestyles, can venture into the rejection of traditional spirituality in favor of transactional faith with Demon Gods, while the Selvath in general have unique attitudes to Demons.
- Khama, Fornoss, Unionism: These three Religions are grouped as "generally unlikely" because there just isn't a whole lot of logic to support the idea that a Freefolk might convert to one of them. They all inherently espouse ideas that go against the grain in Freefolk society, so while it is not impossible for a Freefolk to worship these Religions, they should generally do so while having integrated in other societies.
History
Freefolk history is vast, and yet incredibly compressed, despite spanning at least 15,000 years. Among the three subcultures, the Selvath were the first to develop a form of writing, though this didn't occur until after the Dewamenet-Allorn War, a war between the Asha and early Teled that destroyed the former, and the establishment of the Allorn Empire by the latter. It is generally believed that the Freefolk subgroups come from a common period when the Teled Elves were first made, but no hard proof has ever been found for this. From the very beginning, the Freefolk groups and their Gods were opposed to integration with the Allorn Empire. In particular Gilan, the patron of the Selvath, led numerous Autumn Crusades against the Allorn Empire with vast armies of beast and Selvath alike, until the Three by two Meet. This event was initiated by Mana, who sought an end to the bloodshed between the Estelley Empresses and Gilan and Soma on the other side, with the Yanar caught in the middle.
During this Meet, the Empresses negotiated on one end, and Gilan, Soma, and Mana negotiated on the other, attempting to secure the independence of their people, while finding ways to give concessions to the Empresses and the Allorn Empire. The eventual conclusion of the agreement was found in the Three-by-Two Compact, which in broad strokes ensured the political independence of the Freefolk peoples while submitting the Gods to serve in the Estelley Pantheon and converting the Freefolk to worship the Estelley Gods as a whole. It is implied there were other hidden stipulations only discussed between the Gods, but the people were none the wiser as the Gods never discussed the matter. Freefolk history is relatively unremarkable for the next 15,000 years after the Fire Era of the Allorn Empire, the Freefolk lived in the Selvarian Walds at peace, and while they legally lived on Allorn territory, they never paid taxes, never paid homage, did not fight in any wars, and never interacted with Allorn citizens who were forbidden from entering their woods.
The Freefolk started aggressively involving themselves with world history around the year 300 BC when the Goddess Mana took a more active role in attempting to avert the inevitable doom of the Allorn Empire. While the Freefolk had no love for the Allorn Empire and felt distant from it, they reasoned that the Three-by-Two Compact was only stable because the Allorn Empire allowed it to be, and without the Empress enforcing it, the Elven princes would try to encroach on the riches and wealth of the Selvarian Walds. Mana instructed her followers the Yanar to reach out into the world and preach against the societal decline, and call for a return to simplicity and nature, which obviously fell on deaf ears, despite their earnest attempt. Soma took her own precautions, sending her followers the Erythar into the wide Allorn Empire to collect cultural, religious, and magical artifacts for safekeeping for the inevitable collapse, storing them in so-called mysterious Somatic Vaults deep underground. Gilan did what Gilan knew best: arm the Autumn armies and Spring militia, preparing the Selvarian walds for the inevitable attacks from the greedy princes.
The Allorn Empire's collapse came, Mana recalled the Yanar to the safety of the Selvarian walds, Soma closed her vaults for the safekeeping of cultural heritage, and Gilan called for another Autumn crusade to destroy the border forts and towns to create a buffer between the Selvarian Walds and the collapsing Allorn Empire. They chose not to help the Allorn citizens as the Eronidas invaded, the Void Invasion destroyed the northern armies, and the eastern states declared independence, closing their borders from any intrusions. To the Freefolk, their independence had lasted an eternity, and it would last another eternity after, but something had changed. Whether Mana, Soma, or Gilan wished to acknowledge it, their acts had endeared the people to care about the state of the world outside of their enclaves. The Yanar had seen the way others lived and wished to spread the gifts of healing and care to the people across the world. The Erythar experienced the mania and chaos that beset other lands, and felt there were other things for them to protect, while the Selvath had experienced a dash of excitement after dry seasons in millennia of no action. The Freefolk ventured out into the wider world, founding new Folk-Walds in various corners of the world, where vast impenetrable forests would grow to harbor them.
Expanded Lore
The Expanded Lore section contains additional contextual information about Freefolk Culture. This section is not necessary to read to get a good understanding of the lore, just the background information, but can enhance the roleplay experience.