Legendary ancient elven empire, supposed to have been located at the Waters Marshes in Northern Sarvonia.

The Legend of Fá'áv'cál'âr. Before the War of the Chosen, when powerful sorcerors ruled the lands, there existed the holy elven empire of Fá'áv'cál'âr. For many centuries Fá'áv'cál'âr prospered. The other races - orcs, humans, and dwarves - lived as subservient races to the elves, but in this early age they were living together happily.

Image description. View on the ruins of the once proud ancient elven empire of Fá'áv'cál'âr, now home of the legendary shadow elves. Illustration drawn by Quellion.

The elves of Fá'áv'cál'âr were devoted to the worship of the High Goddess Avá and all of Her creations. Thus the elves also sought to live up to their position as Her privileged children. In their praise of Avá, they also devoted themselves to the other gods, including Cóor, who was recognized as an equal, and just as beautiful half of the Great Mother.

Of the Light Elves. Eventually, an Empress known as Kásh'áv'taylá in the books of history came to power. She was a former High Priestess of Avá, and was quite righteous in her belief that Avá was the only true god deserving of worship. The Emperor or Empress of Fá'áv'cál'âr was also recognized as the chief of state religion, and thus, through this powerful position, Kásh'áv'taylá slowly steered the elves away from the other gods. However, one faction remained firm in its worship of all things created by the Dream of Avá, and worshipped the spirit of the High Goddess in everything existing instead of focusing on the Goddess herself. These elves who never succumbed to corruption would later become the Light Elves. The pureness of their faith eventually caused them to evolve into a higher form of being.

The Rage of Coór. After nearly a century, the elves had become so stoic in their worship of Avá and all the things that She had created that they more and more shunned the other gods. Soon the gods who had been forsaken envied the High Goddess and grew furious about Her Children. Cóor was the most angry of all, though He remained calm and calculated. Although He was the essence of chaos itself, He was also part of Avá, and thus could restrain himself in his anger. But in the course of time Cóor convinced the other gods that the elves were corrupt and must be punished. Finally, Armeros, mighty God of War, incited the other races against the elves, something that kickstarted the War of the Chosen in years to follow. The first to rebel were the orcs, who assaulted and destroyed one of the units of the Empress' elite Royal Elven Rangers. The elves were hard pressed to keep control of their empire, but in the end they beat back the masses with little room for mercy of any sort.

But Armeros' action only had the opposite effect on the elves. The attacks against them made them feel all the more justified in their lone worship of Avá. Their hubris reached a point such that they decided that the other gods must be both evil and heretics for rebelling against the chosen sons and daughters of The One. The elves also began to discriminate against the other, so-called "lesser races", thinking of them as inferiors.

The Seeds of the Dark Religion. Once more, however, a faction of elves began to separate themselves from the mainstream. Elves started praying to Coór in order to beg him for a sign to open the eyes for those elves who seemed to shut their eyes from the reality of the Dream. They knew that the other gods had been forsaken. They knew that they must appease them. But through this, they came to the conclusion that alone, Avá is weak. It is only through her better half, Coór, that She truly became The One whom they worshipped. Eventually, this belief - implying that Coór was the better half of the Goddess - developed further, becoming a cult of sorts.

The Revenge of the Gods. Kásh'áv'taylá continued to preach her nonsensical drivel to the elven people. But finally, Queprur, the Goddess of Death, who was still wandering the lands in elven form like all the other Gods, intervened. She appeared through Her avatar on the steps of Fá'áv'cál'âr’s capitol, Fá'áv'dárím ("City of Avá"). Singlehandedly, She walked through the city, setting fire to homes and smiting many elves with Her scythe. Finally She reached the palace of Kásh'áv'taylá.

With one swift stroke, Queprur decapitated the elven Empress. She impaled the head upon a spike and set it high upon the palace of Fá'áv'dárím. This horrible action divided the elven nation. But the revenge of the Gods for the freedom of Avá's Children had only begun. In the days that followed, Foiros rained down fire upon Fá'áv'cál'âr. Grothar, the God of Weather, and Baveras, the God of the Sea and Water, flooded the kingdom of Fá'áv'cál'âr. At this time the area of the once proud empire became an unbearable swampland, the whole city was scorched by fire and finally drowned in the sea.

With the death of their figurehead and the ruin of their land, they began to develop different beliefs about the Gods and their own role in creation. Millenia later, these ideas would help to develop the different tribes of elves, but for now the elves were only unified in their disorientation.

The Time of Purification. Those elves who had always disapproved the Cóor-believers, shunned the others of their kind for their dark ways. The new Emperor, a militant elf by the name of Ur'á'gór, decided he wouldn't tolerate them any longer. A witch-hunting crusade began within Fá'áv'cál'âr for the rebel elves who recognized Cóor: Once discovered, the elves would become the center of a harmonious ritual. They would be bound to a tree while elves danced, sang, played music, and prayed around them. It was supposed as a "purification" ceremony where the elf would eventually be ceremoniously killed so that the victim would "returned to Avá".

Saban's Revolution. One of the worshippers of Coór, a powerful elf named Saban began to rally his brethren together, not willing to be hunted down any more by the fanatics of the High Goddess. Saban, having seen that he was greatly outnumbered by the rest of the elven population, enlisted the aid of the orcs, humans, and dwarves along with his wife, Kalara, a huntress and warrior herself. The other races, still seething from their earlier defeat by the elves, agreed to help him.

A grand scheme was concocted, setting the exact date and time of an uprising. The other races agreed to turn the nation over to Saban once the war was over. When the invasion did occur, the elves of Fá'áv'cál'âr were completely unprepared. The revolution made fast progress against the nation already weakened by the wrath of the Gods. Soon the entire nation fell under the united control of the revolutionaries.

However, the orcs were notorious already for not adhering to deals. They convinced the humans and dwarves to ignore the weak elves and take their birthright. They sacked the elven cities, raped their women, took their riches, and burned their homes to the ground. Saban was furious.

Saban's Death. Eventually he and his wife Kalara confronted the leaders at the rubble of the palace of Fá'áv'dárím. Unfortunately, they had reached the point where they needed him no longer. Rudely, they ignored the elven leader. Frustrated and angry, Saban and Kalara unsheathed their magical weapons and attacked the leaders of the allied forces. Unfortunately, they failed to notice that the sentries posted at the palace had changed to the other side. Kalara was shot several times in the back with arrows, and once through the heart. She was dead instantly.

Saban was also fired upon, taking wounds in his legs and shoulder, but still he lived. He fell to his knees unable to stand any longer. Tears ran down his face as he looked at his folly, the ruin of great Fá'áv'cál'âr. Holding the body of his dead wife in his hands, he cried: "If our longing for the uttermost beauty is the destruction of this land of splendour - will the beauty of the world then also destroy the world and thus beauty itself?" As he finished those last words, Us’gar Loc’um’rak, the orcish general, decapitated the elven leader.

The Final Wars. From that day forth, Us’gar and his race were cursed by Cóor. By killing Saban, he had destroyed the possibility of a mighty elven empire under his guidance. Ever since that day, the orcs have been the most violent and bloodthirsty race on Aér'aí'chán. And thus a ferocious war broke out among the remaining three races over the rulership of the remnants of Fá'áv'cál'âr. The land was ruined further and further, with none of the three emerging victorious. Eventually, the lands became uninhabitable and they were all forced to move on.

The elven race had been decimated. Almost all elves moved away from the doomed lands of Fá'áv'cál'âr and migrated elsewhere - to various forests and safe-havens where they wanted to live their lives in peace. The remaining orcs, humans, and dwarves left as well, seeing that an empire of rubble is no empire at all. Saban's followers remained, though they were lost without their leader. At this time, Saban and Kalara's son, Sohlim was only an infant.

Of the Dark Elves and the Shadow Elves. The remaining followers of Saban became the dark elves. Later, when Sohlim grew older, he took on the name of his father, Saban, and journeyed forth in search of new lands. He eventually settled the Eophyrhim tribe in the Paelelon. Every firstborn male of Saban's line, from that day forth, would take on the name of Saban once his father died. One incarnation of this family line had become particularly notorious, descending the Hèckranian volcano so that he might destroy the Earthen Titan at his home in Hegedorn and gain immortality. However, he was stopped by an innocent soul.

The other elves who chose to remain instead of accompanying Saban still live in the dark marshes of what once was Fá'áv'cál'âr and now bears the name Waters Marshes. Like the Wind Elves or Light Elves, they have evolved into something else. They have become creatures of shadow, thus earning the name Shadow Elves.