Alhanavir, Shrinetenders of Eld

[Evanuri 399]

  MUSIC:

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

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SHRINETENDERS OF ELD

 

Among Malin’s children was Seldras the First, who parted ways with the rest of his siblings. He traveled to an ancient weald far removed from the Eaves of Malinor. There, he toiled, carving into the massive redwoods which thrived within the forest, and chiseling into the stones which bore their way from the earth. Seldras’ devotion, year by year, gathered more of his wandering, clanless brothers and sisters in that heavenly wood. To his growing number, Seldras taught the values of the written word to portray their spiritual beliefs. Their community attracted those who desire the role of shrine wardens, protectors of holy lands in which those of the Wild Faith place their worship. 

 

Those who seek to stand before the sanctums of both Aspects and Mani, willing to lay their lives, became known as the Alhanavir; Dedicated individuals who used their expressions of faith to provide liturgy to the ancient culture in which they maintained. As their shrines and faithful creations amassed, they dubbed their sacred weald ‘Dhru’an’dahlen’, or in common ‘the temple-woods’, for the towering redwood trees that housed countless shrines;  massive murals and prayer tablets carved into the trunks of the sacred trees, and the proud, scattered Menhir– Standing stones, in which holes were carved in such a way that they would sing when a breeze passed through them. 

 

Through the wood meandered a mighty river, dubbed Lan’dahlen, Blood of The Forest. This river was considered a giver of prosperity, of which the Seed sought their very livelihoods, the food they ate and water they drank sourced there. And, as such, developed a culture of river hunters. The Alhanavir were, by all accounts, the holy guardians of  the Dhru’an’dahlen.

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W A Y S  O F  L I F E

An elder with a mane that measures as tall as he is.

DIET & EXERCISE The Shrinetenders were and still are extremely in tune with where they settle and what is available to them. Foraged plants and bread are staples, with simple farms set up to harvest wild grain for the time that they would stay in that one place. The redwoods were home to plenty of nests within their high branches, in which foragers precariously scale up to emptied or abandoned nests so as to not steal brood from the avians. Such was rare, making eggs a delicacy and important to the Seed as they were thought to house the secrets and intricacies of life itself.   Hunting was often the most important part of building community as well as gathering food. Young Alhanavir on the verge of adulthood would attend these hunts to both provide for their families and hone their skill against the brutal nature of the world. Spearfishing was the preferred way of obtaining fish, whilst larger hunts were organized to take down the likes of large boar or wolves. Deer were considered a sacred prey as they are kin to Amaethon and were typically only hunted for special occasions, such as coming-of-ages.

GROOMING & HYGIENE

As a people, the Alhanavir have always put value in their presentation, partially to pay tribute to the imposing mantle of antlers of the Stag. As such, the ‘crown’ of their head and their heads in general are extremely important to them. 

 

Hair is a holy part of the Alhanavir as it is said to contain all the experiences and memories of the body. Hair ornamentation and personalization is highly encouraged as it allows each member of the seed to express themselves whilst still paying tribute to their Patrons. Braids, beads, patterns, and hairstyles are all practices that are emboldened to make each member stand out on their own. As such, one’s physical upkeep and expression was considered their own worship to their Patrons and to the world around them - groups of Alhanavir would have joined together as a community by the riverside to take care of each other, typically reserved between family, partners, or close friends. Oils were also used as their version of ‘perfume’ - rubbed into the hair, temple and skin. These oils were often derived from plants and trees in the area, both meant to smell more appropriate as well as mask their own scent while hunting, blending in with the forest to bolster the element of surprise. 

 

Elders typically wear their hair the longest - a symbol of their experience and their longevity. In times of tragedy such as death, or mourning, their hair may be cut as an offering or sacrifice - offering pieces of themselves along with the dead.

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EXPRESSIONS OF FAITH

 

 

FAITHBOUND Among all the revered parables of the Mani, under the sight of the Father,  The Alhanavir value the tiger, Rahar, and Amaethon the Stag above all else. From the Tiger, they derive their sense of strength. Many Alhanavir are said to carry a ‘holier than thou’ mentality, in a literal sense. From the Stag, they derive their cause. To the Alhanavir, Amaethon is known as the ‘SHRINEFATHER’,  defender of all sacred places.   MARKED SENTINELS  Among the Alhanavir, no artistry is more exalted than the creation of scriptures and parables. They are, after all, a codified way to walk along the Aspects’ will, stories to strive for and abide by. However, due the advancing oppression of humans, their expansive nature, and propensity for destruction, the Alhanavir were severely limited in the amount of tomes and scrolls they could carry with them.   It was from this necessity that they devoted themselves to skin arts, stamping their flesh with the liturgies and parables they lived by in the form of markings. Script was etched very finely into the larger designs and images of their many tattoos, barely perceptible.

Ghilean, current ‘First’ of the Alhanavir The Shrinefather’s Hand

AV’IN AMELAN

The scrolls passed down among the remaining members of the Alhanavir have been difficult to decipher. One may note that their strange words are written in a language far removed from typical Elvish. A sharp, deep script formed of straight lines and dots that arose from the etching of letters into wax and wood, before they were marked in ink. Tender’s Cant was devised by the Alhanavir to communicate with one another without the prying eyes of humans who had learned the greater elvish speech, the same humans the Seed viewed as the cause for the gradual decline of Mali’ame ways and traditions. While it doesn’t have an official name in the greater Elvish language, they have prescribed themselves their own title - Av’in Amelan - Tongue of Keepers, referencing their sacred duty of the Keepers of traditions and the ways of eld.

 

GREETINGS, FARWELLS, CONVERSATIONAL An'daran Atish'an - greetings, ‘the place you go is a safe place’ [used with anyone; formal] Tuelanen i'na - ‘creators be with you’ [used with anyone; formal or informal] Enan'salen - blessings [used with anyone; formal] Savhalla - salutations, hello [used with anyone; informal]   Dar'eth - ‘go safely’ [used with anyone; informal Sal sura - ‘be here again, come again’ [used with anyone; informal] Tuelanen ama na - ‘creators protect you’ [used with anyone; formal or informal] Sule sal harthir - ‘until we hear of each other again’  [used with acquaintances; informal]   On dhea'him - good afternoon, Good day [used with anyone; day/afternoon] On dhea'lam -good evening [used with anyone; evening/night] On nydha - good night [used with anyone; nighttime, evening, informal]   Thu ea? - ‘how are you?’ [used with anyone; formal or informal] Ir abelas - ‘i am sorry.’ Ma serannas - my thanks, thank you [formal or informal] Serannasan ma- ‘i thank you’ [formal] Nuvas ema ir’enastela - ‘may you have great blessings’ [used to say ‘thank you so very much’, extreme gratitude.] Enaste - ‘grace’ or ‘blessings’. Can be coupled with Aspect/Mani of choice (ex. 'Amaethon enaste')   Ara melava son’ganem - ‘my time is well-spent’, you are welcome

“O’ on’ala saes tiara, Ar’an nuven in var amelanelan, Ar’an myatha na’shivanal, Ar’an gluin’dhama enas var shivasathe, Myathem tarlen in lav'sal'inen, Ghi’la em’an aron ar’an na’nira, En'an'sal em’an aron ar’an sulena melinmar,   Amaethon.” “O', great crowned one, We beg of your guardianship, We honor your duty, We kneel in our fealty, Honoured prince of the mantle, Guide us as we exult your patience; Bless us as we sing your name;   Amaethon.”   [A prayer to The Stag Prince, Amaethon]

 

TITLES & HONORIFICS

Spoiler

Dhruathe - ’keeper of faith’, a druid or priest

Ajuelan - crafter, craftsman

Ghi’lan - guide, teacher

Amelan - keepers, wood elves

Sa’hren - ‘the first’, elder

Ta’esayelan- ‘the second’ elder’s advisor/apprentice

Len’sila (m) / Lan’sila (f) / Lin’sila (n) - student, lit. thinking person, knowledge seeker

 

Mamae - mother 

Babae - father

Isa'ma'lin - brother / lit 'his blood is mine'

Asa'ma'lin - sister / lit 'her blood is mine'

Esa'ma'lin - sibling

Asha'lan - daughter, offspring

Isha'len - son, offspring

Esha'lin - child, offspring

Ba'isa'ma'lin - uncle

Ma'asa'ma'lin - aunt

Isa'var'lin - male cousin, male relative

Asa'var'lin - female cousin, female relative

Esa'var'lin - cousin, relative

 

NUMBERING

Spoiler

Sa - one

Ta - two

Tan - three

Ny - four

Va - five

No - six

Noa - seven

Han - eight

Uan - nine

Asan - ten

Numbers eleven through 19 are translated literally as ten and the additive number separated by a comma (ex.: fifteen is asan’va)

Alan - twenty

Atan - thirty

Anan - fourty

Avan - fifty

Aloan - sixty

Anoan - seventy

Ahan - eighty

Anuan - ninety

Multiples of one hundred up to nine are represented by the multiple followed by -lan. (ex.: five hundred is valan)

Alan'en - one thousand

 

USEFUL WORDS AND PHRASES

Spoiler

Lenalin - ‘The Father’

Radalis - ‘The Mother’

Dala’harelan - ‘dread hunter’, [exalted title given to The Father]

Shal’hilas - ‘great guardian’, [exalted title given to The Mother]

En’lasin - ‘great secret’, [used to refer to ?]

Venirast - ‘the divines’, [used to refer to the Aspects as a whole]

Enastera - ‘blessed stories’, [used to refer to the Mani]

 

Vyn esaya gera assan i’mar’av’ingala. - ‘you would try to catch an arrow with your teeth’ [insult]
For he - Vyn becomes Ivys, mar becomes isa

For she - Vyn to Avys, mar to asa

For they - Vyn to Vya, mar to is’var, as’var, or es’var.

For we - Vyn to Elvy, mar to var

For I - Vyn to Avy, mar to ara.

Dirthara-ma - ‘may you learn’ [insult]

Dirth ma banal. Mar solas ena mar din - "you have learned nothing. your pride will be your death/downfall." [insult]

 

Geldauran - ‘dark apostate’ [blanket term for dark mages, creatures, or voidal mages]

 

Haurasha'len - 'golden children', high elves

Druast'len - 'sacred children', wood elves

Shial'len - 'wandering children', dark elves

 

Shem'len - 'quick children', humans [referring to their short lives]

Durgenvhen - ‘mountain people’, dwarves

Hunvhen - orcs

Athvhen - ‘half people’, halflings [used as an insult if spoken to a dwarf]

 

Prayer to The Tiger

“Rahar, tarlanne dahlasanor,

Rahar’n vianvallas la ingala prea ove aenor.

Ar’an lanaa enas var shivasathe,

Ar’an serannasaa enas var hathe lethalne.

O’ghi'myal la souaan Rahar, lasa em’an var enaste.”

 

Gradahl - ‘redwood’

Sulena Turaan - ‘singing stone’

Dhru’an’dahlen - ‘forest temple, or temple woods’ [referring to the whole of a forest as a place or worship, containing many shrines]

Lan’dahlen - ‘blood of the forest’, a specific river

Ras’Adahl - ‘smoking tree’

Alas’ala Nisathe - ‘desert powder’ [referring to the processed bark of a smoking tree]

Nas'falon - ‘soul mate’

Vhenan - ‘love’ 

Ma vhenan - ‘my love’

Ara vhenan - ‘i love you.’

Mi’nas sal’inan - ‘i feel the knife once more within my soul.’ [used to say one misses something, usually a person.]

Lathbora viran - roughly translated as "the path to a place of lost love," a longing for a thing one can never really know.

 

Banal nadas - 'nothing is known for certain.'

 

 

[By Brennan Massicotte]

 

THE RAS’ADAHL

The Smoking Tree, or more commonly known as Ras’adahl or Raell’vulsulin, is considered an integral part of the Alhanavir practices. Every year upon the day of the summer solstice, every member of their seed will migrate from their northern Redwoods and rivers to travel south, towards the scorched and yellowed grasslands. Here, is where the ame’lie tree is most common and most abundant. Each group of Alhanavir may have their own grove within a special part of the savannah, used for rituals or a graveyard for the deceased.

 

There, they will spend a week in the warm climate, collecting the sacred bark and powder referred to as Alas’ala Nisathe, or Desert Powder in the Common language. During this process, they treat this opportunity to teach those about the effects of the tree and their significance to their traditions. The Alhanavir use the warping psychedelic powers of the collected powder in their seed trials and in the creation of stories, by using the visions as a guide to whatever tale they may spin. 

 

This powder is also used in their funeral rites, where the body is laid down on a bed made of the tree’s bark and is thoroughly coated with the alas’ala nisathe, before it is burned. There, the ashes are used in ink - used to scribe further tomes and stories pertaining to that who passed, so that their memory may continue to live on. This ink is also smeared upon the roots of the tree where the bed of bark came from, marking it akin to a headstone. The process is done and repeated for all of those who had died within the year as the pilgrimage only happens annually - should the true body already be too decomposed to make the trip, belongings of the fallen will be burnt instead.

 

[By Gomer Lewis, courtesy of The National Library of Wales] A singing menhir, left standing in a deforested plain;  Evidence of the Alhanavir having lived, and left.

THE SINGING MENHIR Upon one’s travels, it’s not uncommon within the ebbs and flows of forestry and forests to find a lone standing stone, with holes bored into its features. If one listened closely, they may even hear that of a quiet song running through the hollow of the rock as the wind reverberated with the tall thing.    The Singing Menhir, or in the Shrinetender’s Tongue, Sulena Turaan, is what was used by the Alhanavir within the Wilds to denote and locate each other, much like a compass. As much as it was used to locate other kin, other clans and seeds were able to find where the Alhanavir were, by coming across standing proof of their existence in the front of tall hollowed monoliths until erosion would come to take the stone back to the earth as all things must return.

 

CALL TO OMENTAHU

Given the ability for the Alhanavir’s singing stones to stay standing for such a long period of time, they were delegated with the responsibility of being the callers of the sacred ‘ame tradition of Omentahu. Due to the songs emanated from the many megaliths scattered across the forest, the wind blows through the stones like one would blow a horn - calling to those who hear it to follow the noise to the heart of the meetings. Due to such a method of summoning, the winds are typically the strongest in the springs, in which the Omentahu are to be called.

 

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T R I A L S

THE PARABLE One of the core practices of the Alhanavir is the spreading, upkeep and preservation of scripture. Stories, myths, laws, legends, anything that could have been perceived as imperative information or tradition to the community was considered invaluable to their way of life.    As their first stepping stone, an aspirant is subsequently tasked and tested with inscribing their own myth or tale unto a piece of physical media or craft, like a tapestry or painting. Both, to hone their own storytelling skills and their craftsmanship, as well as further contributing to the Shrintenders’ sacred collection of tomes and tales.   [By Sadboi Illustrations] THE IDOL Ones of faith, the Alhanavir believed that within their Patron, they were able to draw upon the guttural strength of Rahar. The Wilds are a treacherous place and if one has no means of defending themselves or protecting themselves, their form will be forfeit to nature as intended. In order to survive, the Alhanavir live by the principle that strength must be not only utilized but revered as their own physical upkeep was paying tribute to Rahar and his own.    Here, their trialgiver, or an elder, will offer them the same sacred idol from their previous trial whilst both stand in front of an altar to Rahar. There, the idol is once again lit as the inebriated aspirant must try and protect the idol from the other who would attempt to take it from them - a metaphor to the humans who would attempt to steal the Alhanavir’s faithful way from them, and the Seed’s sheer will that protected their traditions.

[By Anato Finnstark] THE CHASE Above all, the Seed lived off the land and that which was available to them - plants and animals alike. Each had their own part to play within the community and must be able to provide to their kin.    To test such, the aspirant will be given a sacred idol wrought of both bone and wood, resembling both Patrons of the Alhanavir. Within it, contained special dried powder from the ame’lie Smoking Tree, or Ras’Adahl in the liturgical tongue. Allowing themselves to be enveloped by the hallucinogenic smoke, they will have to give chase to the sacred prey, a deer. In their stupor, they must be able to catch and kill the animal whilst impaired to prove the steeling of their own mind   [By Anato Finnstark]

THE GRANTING

The final ‘rite’ of a trialgoer is to learn the most important art of all, that of marking one’s skin. Stories that do not fit on parchment are meant to be written upon the flesh in the form of ilmyumier and tattoos - one of the most important and distinctive traits of a true Alhanavir. It’s a deeply intimate process as the trial leader and their acolyte bond together over conversation and teaching, acting as a final fortification about the importance of the traditional and community values that were learned throughout the aspirant’s quests and trials. The name serves as both a ‘granting’ of the sacred skill of marking, but also ‘granting’ the aspirant themselves the name, the mantle and the tattoo of the Alhanavir.

 

ILMYUMIER

The truest mark that denoted a Mali’ame as a member of the Seed was known as the ‘Crowned Sun’, a bleeding and radiant glyph adorned with a rack of antlers and the marks of a tiger. Typically, it was worn on the back, but was able to be placed anywhere; On the shoulders and biceps, or even upon the stomach. Faint prayers were inscribed along the larger body of the marking in a pigment slightly darker than the mark itself, only able to be read standing extremely closely.

 

The Crowned Sun

Mark of the Alhanavir

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CREDITS

 

None of this would have been possible at all without the writing and conceptual efforts of @marslol and @Periphonics , who wrote large portions of this lore with me. Also, thanks to bioware for your language, I guess!

[Tav 1384]

Alhanavir - 1 = ATEE!!! 

[TreeSmoothie 4909]

A winged man, who had met the author prior, held the tome up in reverence. "Vao rah, vao methrah -- a glorious relic. Perhaps this is the path I'm meant to take?"

[StarGazzer 286]

This family is cool

 

[craneia 98]

wood elf wood elf wood elf wood elf

[KudosMetro 124]

this is actually so cool— what????

[Unwillingly 11181]

5 hours ago, Evanuri said:

value the tiger, Rahar,

((I'm glad this ended up sticking with ppl in the long-run. ik the entire point of writing lore/culture is for ppl to use it so idrk why I'm surprised but I guess I just never expected my lore to have relevance like 2 (4, jesus) years later lol, so its just nice to see. very cool seed otherwise, really contributes to my itch to dive into wood elf RP again

[Evanuri 399]

3 hours ago, Unwillingly said:

((I'm glad this ended up sticking with ppl in the long-run. ik the entire point of writing lore/culture is for ppl to use it so idrk why I'm surprised but I guess I just never expected my lore to have relevance like 2 years later lol, so its just nice to see. very cool seed otherwise, really contributes to my itch to dive into wood elf RP again

i've loved rahar ever since i found out about him. it was sort of an instant click into ghilean as a character, so i'm very excited i get to use him in this lore piece. i'm glad to pleasantly surprise :)