They are the most prideful and zealous of all elfs, the Silvanesti have a long and isolationist history, ripe with veins of treachery and war. Let’s learn more about the history of the Silvanesti Elves! Buy Races of Ansalon: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/27946/Races-of-Ansalon-35?affiliate_id=50797
Transcript
Cold Open
They are the favored of E’li and yet they have known little more than torment in the later ages of Krynn, not entirely undeserved I might add.
Intro
Welcome to another DragonLance Saga episode. My name is Adam and today we are going to talk about Silvanesti Elves. I would like to take a moment and thank my collaborator patrons, the Heroes of the Lance, and invite you to consider becoming a patron or member of this channel by visiting the links in the description below. You can even pick up Dragonlance gaming materials using my affiliate link. I am referencing the Races of Ansalon sourcebook for this information. If I misspeak or leave something out, please let me know in the comments below.
Discussion
In The Foundation, in the Age of Dreams the gods populated Krynn with three races. Gilean created humans, Takhisis created Ogres and Paladine created Elves. It didn’t take long for the races to claim territory and form tribal communities. When the Ogres enslaved Humans in order to build their empire, the elves watched from the safety of their forests. The elves watched as the Orge nation split from within, as their slaves revolted and as the Ogres degenerated into monstrous visions of what they had once been. There is something poetic about the Ogres descent that is echoed in the elves’ own descent, for as the ogre’s forms became twisted, the elves’ home would follow.
In the Time of Light, in the Age of Dreams, Silvanos Goldeneye believed his race was superior to Ogres and Humans, and as he and his people watched their civilizations fall. He convened the first High Elven council, Sinthal-Elish, where they decided to scavenge the Ogres ruined cities and built their own civilization in the forest of Silvanesti, where they believe all life began. Silvanos became the first Speaker of the Stars and married a woman named Quinari. Not every elf was content to serve Silvanos, and a group led by Kagonos rejected Silvanos’ mandate to be a servant caste in Silvanesti. He turned his back on Silvanos and his new kingdom, and disappeared into the forests.
The elves quickly learned that the forests they claimed were already occupied by none other than the first creations, Dragons! Thus began the First Dragon War. Thousands of elves died in the battles and when they were on the verge of becoming extinct, the gods of magic, Lunitari, Solinari and Nuitari granted them the knowledge to create Dragonstones, rune bearing crystals that could trap a dragon’s soul. The elves used the stones with relish and ultimately defeated the dragons, casting their trapped souls into the abyss of Nemith-Otham, thus ensuring their survival. The elves then hid the stones underneath the Khalkist Mountains knowing they would be safe and forgotten.
There they lay, safe and forgotten, until the Dwarves began excavating their new mountain kingdom of Thorin. They decided to destroy the stones in the Lords of Doom, but were ambushed by Ogres on the way, and the Dragonstones were lost and the dragons released! The dragons unleashed hell on the elves. They commanded armies of Bakali and Ogres in the Second Dragon War and laid siege to Silvanesti. A trio of sorcerers called forth magic and with it demanded that Krynn itself swallow the Dragons. The magic ran wild and destroyed thousands of lives. The three sorcerers begged the gods for help and were removed by the gods of magic to create the Orders of High Sorcery. The magic would take centuries to finally subside.
Tension between Silvanesti borders and the Ergothian empire had been boiling up for centuries. When Silvanos died in 2515 PC, his son Sithel became the new Speaker of the Stars and erected the Palace of Quinari in memory of his father. Sithel has two sons, Sithas and Kith-Kanan; and three hundred years later, when their father and Speaker of the Stars is mysteriously killed in Silvanesti’s borders, they declare war on Ergoth. The Kinslayer War is known as one of the most disastrous conflicts in history with countless dead. Elves, Dwarves and Humans fought ferociously and in the end, everyone was tired of death. General Giarna lies dead and Kith-Kanan is scarred. It would take 70 years of work, but Kith-Kanan negotiates a peace treaty called the Swordsheath Scroll. The Hammer of Honor would be forged by the Dwarves and shared between the three nations as a reminder of the tragedy of the war and their combined strength in unity.
The Speaker Sithas lost trust in his brother Kith-Kanan after he married Suizine des Quivalin, the former consort of General Giarna from the Kinslayer Wars. Kith-Kanan would leave Silvanesti with thousands of his brothers and sister elves to found Qualinesti. When Sithas heard of the migration he sent warriors to stop it, shedding the blood between the factions, cementing the divide between the two elven nations.
For the next thousand years, the Silvanesti elves looked inward, celebrating their peace and prosperity. As Istar rose in power, the elven nation would openly defy its bigoted proclamations. The two nations would skirmish with each other’s naval merchant routes, which led to Silvanesti blockading Istar. Then the Cataclysm hit. Silvanesti became an isolationist nation. Three hundred years later, the Dragonarmies attacked Silvanesti, and the survivors fled to Southern Ergoth to their Cousins. The current Speaker of the Stars would be taught to use the Dragon Orb and with the confidence he could use it to protect his nation, he did just that. Unfortunately his mind was seized by the Dragon Orb, draping Silvanesti in a nightmare that would affect the forest for decades.
Alhana Starbreeze would bring the companions to Silvanesti to banish Cyan Bloodbane, the Green Dragon controlling Lorac’s nightmare vision, and begin the long road to restoration. By this time, the elves had been enforcing their position on all other life on Krynn for thousands of years, living in arrogance and racism only rivaled by the Kingpriest of Istar! Though the next generation is willing to work together in this Third Dragon War for peace, it is a precarious peace that will last through the end of the War of the Lance and through the Second Cataclysm. In an effort to unite the two elven nations, Alahna Starbreeze would marry Porthios of Qualinesti and after a coup, they were branded as Dark Elves. Their son Silvanoshei was placed on the throne.
The Chaos War would see the Silvanesti return to isolationism, retreating under a magical shield that ultimately sapped their life force, erected by their old nemesis, Cyan Bloodbane. In the Age of Mortals, Mina would arrive with her army, passing through the nation’s shield and kill Cyan Bloodbane, garnering faith and trust in her, which led to barely any resistance in her claiming Silvanesti for the One God. Silvanoshei would fall in love with Mina, following her and her army to take the city of Sanction, who are in turn followed by Alhana and unified armies of Silvanesti and Qualinesti. The Minotaurs attacked Silvanesti, slaughtering their people and claiming the forest nation. When Takhisis is made mortal through Paladine’s sacrifice, she moves to kill Mina and Silvanoshei steps in, killing Takhisis with a broken Dragonlance. Mina in turn kills Silvanoshei out of rage. Alhana is redeemed and passes the title of Speaker of the Stars to Gilthas Solostaran, Laurana and Tanis Half-Elven’s son.
Gilthas, thought to be the puppet King, secretly married Kerianseray the Lioness, thereby uniting the three Elven Nations once again after nearly three thousand years! For those elves who chose to join this new unified Elven tribe, they would follow Gilthas into Khur in search of a new homeland, but this migration would cause a fraction within his own tribe and the native tribes of Khur.
Outro
And that is all I can say about the Silvanesti Elves. Do you think they were given a bad rap due to the circumstances they found themselves in? Would the loss of their homeland have happened if they opened their home to other races? And finally what is your favorite elven piece of art? Leave a comment below.
I would like to once again invite you to consider becoming a patron or member of this channel, and you can pick up Dragonlance gaming materials using my affiliate link, all of which are in the description below.
This channel is all about celebrating the wonderful world of the Dragonlance Saga, and I hope you will join me in the celebration. Thank you for watching, this has been Adam with DragonLance Saga and until next time, remember:
Troubles borrowed will be paid back with interest compounded on sorrow.
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