THE HIGH ELVEN CIRCLE |
The High Elven Circle
is a meeting of the tribal leaders from each of the wood elven tribes,
created, it is said, by the Four in the years immediately
before SW I. Traditionally The Circle meets once every
fifty years (a cycle) in the Thaelon
to discuss matters of interest, but generally only meets to make decisions
in times of great mutual need. All tribes are invited, and messengers are sent
out the year before the meeting and will bring back news of the attendance of
each tribe. Tribes may decline to attend if they deem it necessary.
There is no penalty for not attending and attendance is
purely voluntary and the tribes do not have to cooperate
in actions they did not agree to. The down side is that the absent tribes
have no voice in the decisions of the elven
race. Dark and shadow elven tribes tend not to be invited, however, the notable
exceptions are meetings during the first and second Sarvonian Wars.
While the elves had
no leader among them, it became clear in the early history of the circle that
it was nessesary for one member of the Circle to hold the meeting to order, and
act as the Circle's chairman (as
humans would call it), and often responsible for the successful
implementation of the Circle's final decisions. This
"chairman" is a leader of one
tribe chosen by the other leaders of the Circle and all tribes must be in total
agreement. If no agreement can be reached it is traditional to call upon the
High Avá'ránn
(the first of the Styreians and immortal Elven Queen) to
show the circle her wisdom on the matter.
The leader of
the Circle may hail from any tribe and
is always female, but it is not recommended that the same tribe holds
the chairmanship for more than 6 cycles at a time.
She only holds the post for two cycles (a century),
when the decision will be taken again. The leader of the
Circle is referred to as the
Avá'ránn, representing the spirit of
Avá and the
High Avá'ránn in the reality of
Caelereth. She is respected by all wood
elven tribes for her great responsibility for the
elven people.
The Avá'ránn is not officially due any "tribute"
from the other tribes, however, as the leader of the
elven Circle is chosen
by the tribes it is expected that unequivocal
co-operation is shown on actions that tribe has agreed on. By nature
elves are communtiy spirited. Any requests
made by the Avá'ránn will therefore by
elven nature be for the good of the race,
generally.
The meetings of the Circle are very vulnerable of course
to attack. Meetings are usually heavily guarded by warriors.
Elven magicians
from various locations have the meetings under the strongest possible
shielding. It has been known for them to cast a powerful temporal
shift spell to bring the Council environs to one of the
higher planes
within the Void. The
place in which the meeting is
being held is translocated temporarily to some of the
higher levels of Avá's
Dream, leaving a swirl of white mist in its place.
Information provided by
Wren
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