Tower Critique: Eh’lah

10/09/2005

Oh no… It gets bad here, folks.

Nestled deep in the jungles and set on the banks of a wide, wild river, Eh’lah was created by a small party of Dhe’nar just after the Fall of Sharath. In the time since its founding, it has grown into a fair sized community, steeped in ancient tradition and strong in its following of the Way.

Okay, seems fine so far…

Roughly a month before the Fall of Sharath, what is assumed was a scouting party left the shining Jewel of the Dhe’nar for reasons unknown.

Well, if it is assumed that they were a scouting party, then perhaps their reason should be assumed to have been… scouting?

It can be surmised that they were sent out to find lands to conquest…

Lands to…. Conquest? They were such elite scouts, they used nouns instead of verbs.

“We are here to conquest you!”

“Pardon me… Say that again?”

“Uh… Filthy inferior person. We are going to conquest you!”

“Hah! Hey Bob, come check out these jokers. They got no shirts on, tattoos all over their torso, headbands on, and they can’t even speak common. They’re going to “conquest” us!”

“Tell ‘em we’ve already been ‘conquest.’ Perhaps they should ‘scouting’ somewhere else and find someone else to ‘fighting.’”

...or settlements of other races to raid. What is known for certain is what they returned to. As they walked, weary and ready to see their families again, they scented ash upon the air. They crested a hill, in time to see the fires begin to rain down on their beautiful city, and the mountain rend it asunder. They sat on the hill, unsleeping, and watched as what they believed to be their entire race was destroyed.

I kind of assumed they weren’t sleeping if they were sitting there watching. It’s hard to watch stuff while asleep. I know, I’ve tried.

True Dhe’nar, they said their farewells to the ruins of their home and traveled deep into the jungles. All they knew, their race and their families, were dead (as far as they knew)…

So, they didn’t bother checking, eh? Would have wasted too much time?

“Hey, looks like our city’s on fire. Oh well, guess everyone’s dead. Let’s go.”

Apparently Dhe’nar are complete idiots, not to mention extraordinarily lazy.

...and they would not allow the Dhe’nar or the Way to perish in the flames that had claimed Sharath.

Not that they really knew what happened to Sharath, since they never actually went to look.

They finally came upon a spot next to a huge river, and settled down to rebuild the Empire of the Firstborn.

Sure, a small party of scouts in a village next to a river. It should only take a few hundred thousand years of nonstop breeding to repopulate an Empire. Morons. Besides, one city doesn’t make an Empire.

Come to think of it, one city called Sharath wasn’t an empire to begin with anyway. Talk about ego.

And wasn’t the whole founding of the Dhe’nar based on the rejection of worldly nation-building and politics in the first place?

They called it Eh’lah, meaning Hope or Rebirth.

We’re not sure which.

While the rebuilding Sharath focused on learning from the past to create newer ways, those living in Eh’lah clung to the memory of the old, and recreated the old ceremonies faithfully.

Y’know, they could have just walked a few miles away to visit Sharath. Would have saved them a whole lot of work.

Besides, “learning from the past” and “recreating old ways from memory” are the same damn thing.

They also created new ways, made to keep alive the memory of those that had perished in the fires. They never forgot, never allowed themselves to let go the mourning, and never faltered from the Way they held so dear.

And NEVER VISITED SHARATH EVER AGAIN FOR NO PARTICULAR REASON.

“Hey, El’fy, remember that big capital city we saw on fire from a hill? It’s been a couple years… It’s a huge mountain I can see from here. Think we should go check it out?”

“NO, EVERYBODY’S DEAD! WE NEED TO REBUILD EVERYTHING FROM SCRATCH HERE! DON’T LOOK OVER THERE! I SAID DON’T LOOK! I’LL POKE YOUR EYES OUT!!”

“Geez, sorry I asked. Fine. I’ll just get back to breeding now”

By the way, it’s also not difficult to keep memory alive when your lifespan is measured in the thousands of years. It’s about as impressive a feat as a man still remembering his old neighbors 2 weeks after moving to a new apartment.

A comparison of Eh’lah to Sharath shows many similarities.

I hope so… Again, since elves live into their thousands, LESS THAN ONE GENERATION WOULD HAVE PASSED since Sharath’s destruction. There’s absolutely no reason for the cultures to be anything but identical!

There are few fundamental differences in the most basic of rites and traditions, and each city has a “mascot” reptile they consider perhaps the most fierce thing to hunt.

Ours is a gecko named “Zippy”. He dances at all our home games.

In fact, where the oldest traditions of the Dhe’nar are concerned, it seems Eh’lah has simply added their own slant to them, instead of making sweeping changes.

Why would they have made “sweeping changes” anyway? Is that what normally happens when you make a new community a few miles from your old one?

The most notable of the changes, perhaps, is the coming of age ritual, the Great Hunt and the naming standards. Children are still sent, naked and unarmed, into the jungles to return with a prize from the animal they killed.

They just looooove being naked, don’t they?

And seeing as even Giantkin have trouble killing things naked and unarmed, I wonder why these super-killer Dhe’nar don’t have their amazing powers reflected in game stats? Seems quite the oversight. After all, if teenage Dhe’nar can kill vicious jungle predators naked, single-handed, with no weapons, then the multi-hundred year old Dhe’nar walking around the Landing should be a lot more powerful, shouldn’t they?

Of course, I suppose they could also be full of crap… Nah…

However, where Sharath’s young simply go out to return with what they will, the children in Eh’lah must declare what creature they will kill before they leave the village. To return with the skin of another creature is to fail as surely as if they died.

And again I must ask… What happens if they fail? Here’s it’s “to fail as surely as if they died”, and above it’s “as surely as not returning at all.” So not returning is equivalent to dying which is equivalent to failing. Huh?

Me, I’d just assume that the ones that didn’t return moved someplace where the adults don’t want to see them naked so badly, and don’t expect them to kill tigers with their vicious elven fingernails.

When a child returns successful from their Great Hunt, they are taken to the Temple, and the Chamber of Remembrance. They are left alone in the dark room, and after a time of sitting and quiet meditation, the Chamber shows its true colors. The Chamber is designed to show proof of Eh’lah’s belief that the body remembers...that the blood will always recall what has come before, as it is passed down through the years. Thus, each child sits in the dark, and he remembers the Fall of Sharath, seeing it as if he had been upon the hillside witnessing the rain of fire.

Since most of the city DID witness it, this is not that remarkable. In fact, if they’d just WALK ON OVER to Sharath, they could ask the people who LIVE THERE exactly what happened!

Names in Eh’lah are “backwards” by the standards of most cities. Those that live in the village use what would normally be termed the surname, or last name, as the name they are called by, and their first name as a special “true name” to be used under special circumstances. Thus, Gryphon Blackmoone becomes Blackmoone to the populace, and someone like Dhrakyn Ta’Nhilmon becomes Nhilmon, with the prefix dropped.

Why. Why make such an arbitrary naming convention for no good reason, especially if your goal is supposed to be the preservation of your culture. Language and culture do not change dramatically within a single generation.

True names are considered gifts to be given only to your closest friends and most trusted allies.

Spouses exchange them, as do battle companions of many, many years.

Wow… I won’t even TOUCH what THAT implies. Don’t ask, don’t tell.

Thus, at a simple listen, you can tell who is close to whom by what name they call others by, and what name they are called by who.

So true names really aren’t that well guarded, if you can just simply listen and hear the different names a person is called. Well done.

However, further comparison shows several differences between the two places. In outlook and lifestyle, Eh’lah seems at once more spiritual and more tribal.

Wow, more tribal. Being a dinky little tribal village compared to the mountain city of Sharath, yes, that’s assumed. Why it’s more spiritual, however, is a mystery.

Those who live in the village tend to wear less, most especially into battle.

Again with the nekkid. They moved 3 miles from Sharath, and became Picts. Quick, call Had’rian!

Tourneys and tests of strength and bravery tend to be more rough and dangerous than the ones in Sharath. At the same time, the rituals are more heart-felt, opening the soul to closer examination.

And what does that mean, exactly?

The most public ceremony is the Keening. Each evening, the Priestesses come forth from the temple with their assigned Tishi’qa (the Handmaidens, a group of all-female warriors assigned to protect and guard the Priestesses at all times), each carrying a lit torch. They file out in two columns, one to each side of the river, holding their torches high in the air. They speak not a word, and as they take their places, the entire village falls silent. In that deep silence, the Priestesses begin keening, wailing with their voices pitched high in mourning, to sorrow again for the loss of Sharath.

“Guys, it’s RIGHT OVER THERE.”

“SHUT UP!”

Other smaller traditions exclusive to Eh’lah include a massage technique that not only relaxes the muscles, but brings out memories and feelings long since buried.

Ummm…brain massage?

Very similar to the real-life technique of rolfing…

Throwing up?

...this is one way to bring about remembrance of things long past.

Another is to actually think.

The Dhe’nar dialect is also slightly different in Eh’lah than in Sharath. While the two languages are certainly compatible, the language in Eh’lah is often considered of an older variety, and includes many words that Sharathians seem to have forgotten.

Which, of course, makes no sense at all, seeing as Eh’lah is the smaller, younger offshoot of the older, mainstream culture at Sharath.

The village’s dialect seems to contain more contractions, and words with two apostrophes, than the larger city’s.

Words with more apostrophes? So, they’re not representative of glottal stops, but rather, they’re just apostrophes. Well done. I see MUCH studying of language was done here. S’o, do’es th’is’ m’ak’e m’e Eh’lah Dhe’nar n’o’w?

While both Sharath and Eh’lah are set in jungles, the village is more overgrown, more deeply set into the rainforest than Sharath.

Seeing as Sharath is a mountain city, and Eh’lah is a village in a jungle, we probably could have assumed this…

Also, it does not contain any mountainous terrain or cave networks.

Seeing as Sharath is a mountain city, and Eh’lah is a village in a jungle, we probably could have assumed this…

Woo. Deja vu.

Thus, they have no dark dwarf population, although their ratio of human and giantman slaves is higher.

Okay, so now Eh’lah must be a massive city with a higher Dhe’nar population than Sharath, rather than a village, otherwise they would not be able to support any significant population of slaves, never mind a HIGHER amount than Sharath itself.

Folks, a little consistency wouldn’t kill you.

Also, there are no sh’arom, but those in the village do not lack a creature to be wary of.

“Yeah. His name’s Murphy, and he’s right over there. Be wary of him.”

The nhil’mon is a lizard, usually over twelve feet long, adept at swimming and fighting with its long claws and heavy tail. There are two varieties of nhil’mon, the brown and the black. The former are smaller, with muddy brown scales and rings of mustard yellow around their eyes. They are also much less likely to attack without reason, and put up less of a fight than their larger cousins. (For a real-life equivalent, please look at this picture of a komodo dragon.)

And then please forget about it, because your description doesn’t match what a komodo dragon looks like.

The black nhil’mon are something to be feared. They are often several feet longer than the brown variety, with gleaming black scales speckled with yellow. They are a temperamental reptile, known to attack without provocation and kill even the finest of warriors by dismembering them or dragging them to the depths of the river to drown. (For a picture, see this photo of the Nile monitor. She’s a baby Nile, but it gives you the general idea.)

So it looks like a komodo dragon -and- a Nile monitor at the same time. Uh huh. If you squint real hard, it looks like a water moccasin and a Sleestack, too.

Both varieties are hunted to prove bravery and prowess, although in a controlled manner. Seldom are they hunted by young Dhe’nar on their Great Hunt (every so often, generally several centuries apart, someone succeeds). More often, warriors hunt them to prove bravery and skill, or lovers to prove loyalty to their partner. (A common phrase used by Dhe’nar women advising another female on how to rid oneself of an unwanted suitor is, “Tell him to go kiss a nhil’mon.")

Ha ha! That’s so rich! Women are so nutty… And why can’t they check the toilet seat before sitting down?! Huh? Back me up on this, guys! And why don’t they make the plane out of the black box! Huh? Hey, is this thing on?

The nhil’mon is respected and protected in Eh’lah.

Aside from the whole “killing their warriors without provocation” thing, I guess…

But, if you’re a culture that reveres suicide as its highest virture and ultimate goal, I suppose it kind of makes sense…

When first the Dhe’nar settled in the area, they met resistance from the neighboring human villages. While the dark elves were certainly more than a match for the humans, the nhil’mon made excellent guard dogs, protecting their territory from the humans that trespassed upon it. Often, the Dhe’nar set up ambushes and guards in areas that would force the invaders towards nhil’mon egging grounds, leaving the lizards to clean up the intruders that attempted to run away.

So, are they vicious predators that kill Dhe’nar warriors without provocation, or are they guard dogs? Who knows? Who cares?

In conclusion…

Promises, promises…

...the Dhe’nar of Eh’lah were overjoyed to learn that Sharath still stood, even in a changed and rebuilt form.

One can only imagine how long THIS took. I guess somebody from Sharath got tired of watching these idiots, and sent a messenger over.

“Dear Eh’lah.

You’ve been fun to watch, but enough is enough. You see that big mountain over there where our old city used to be? How about you walk over and check it out. You may be surprised.”

A large weight lifted from their shoulders, for they were no longer the only ones responsible for upholding the Way and the Dhe’nar bloodline. They have sent emissary missions to Sharath, and the two towns are rediscovering each other, seeing what the mixing of similar but different cultures will bring. Eh’lah has also begun sending their young to Wehnimer’s Landing, keeping an eye on the expanding empire.

The Landing isn’t an expanding empire, it’s a large urban trade hub. Maybe the Eh’lah Dhe’nar should check their maps better, and aim a little further south… You know, where the only empire on the continent is located?

Only time will tell what the future may bring them.

Well…duh. That’s how time works.