The Voice of the Elders

The Voice of the Elders is a book given by the light creatures near the Hefin Agility Course in Priffdinas. It contains 2 volumes with 4 chapters each, each of which tells a story related to the clan after which it's named. Volume 1 includes Cadarn, Crwys, Iorwerth and Trahaearn, while Volume 2 includes Amlodd, Hefin, Ithell, and Meilyr. Before receiving the book, a player must unlock one of its chapters by completing the Hefin Agility Course.

Hefin Chapter Transcript

Hefin: A vision of the Light Creatures

I stood on the high balcony of the Tower of Voices. The city, newly grown, stretched out beneath me: its crystal bones bare, its flesh of living elves still to come. Behind me, the heart of seren roiled, the shrunken core of our scattered god. I wondered whether Seren could ever love and protect us as she had before she shattered herself. I wondered whether we had need of one thus broken.

Then I saw them: blue on blue, light on light, a brightness in the clouds. I stared as they danced, unnatural and yet beautiful.

The child in me wished to play with them, to interact. Experimentally, I sang a beam of blue from a crystal. The lights flocked around it, blue lights on blue beam on blue sky. One of them slid down the beam and floated before me.

This was not mere light, my spiritual sense told me. There was a mind here, as of an animal, emotion unchained by thought. I opened my mind, reached out to touch it,, and saw:

A crystal city, like but unlike ours. Its spires reached to the sun and drew its light down so that every surface flashed with colour. From these rainbow beams the light creatures were born. They were not the city's builders. Its builder were unlike any people I have seen, and they were surrounded - in the light creature's memory - by an aura of grief, like the memory of a long-dead loved one.

The builders of the rainbow city had worshiped no god. When the gods went to war, their opening salvos blasted the city to nothing and left no survivors save the light creatures. They had no god to protect them.

My heart ached for the creatures and their loss. On behalf of my city, I offered them refuge. Prifddinas is not their long-lost home, but it is similar enough that it will give them some comfort.

And I praised Seren that she had remained with us, even shattered into a half-sane heart and a city of crystal bones. In a world in which gods go to war, its people are lost without gods to protect them. Seren is ours.

Lady Carys hefin

Meilyr Chapter Transcript

Meilyr: Notes on the Great Elixir

Dear Kaqemeex,

You asked me for notes on the herbs and potions I used to survive while waiting for the city to be re-grown. Yes, you're right that I brewed a potion to extend my lifespan, although that was not the potion's only effect - it has also altered my perception of time - made the long wait less arduous than it might have otherwise been.

I think that my potions won't be me much help to you, sorry. It's true that elves live naturally longer than humans, but it's more than that. Elf lifespan is - malleable. The legend is that Seren stretched us - stretched us through time, I mean - when she first found us on Tarddiad. In our original state, before Seren, elves probably didn't live any longer than humans.

In fact, it could be that elves were originally humans, and all differences between us and you are due to Seren's changes. Perhaps many mortal races - even all - were once the same, and the differences are just the work of the gods. We'll probably never know.

Anyway, most elves live about five hundred years, but there are many examples of elves living much longer, through various means. I used my potions. Lady Trahaearn used her creepy exoskeleton. Lady Hefin stayed young thanks to prayer and clean living (she's so dull - I can never get her to try any herbs). Lord Crwys didn't age as a tree, and Lord Amlodd didn't age in the spirit realm. Lord Iorwerth (the old one, not young Iestin Edern) must have had his own technique - probably blood magic or devouring human souls or something similarly unpleasant.

Then there were the historical elves who were said to have lived thousands of years. Baxtorian was said to be one of the first elves to arrive in Gielinor - thousands of years later he's defending Prifddinas in the God Wars - and thousands of years later he's establishing his kingdom east of the mountains. A lot of that's myth, and it could be that there were several different kings with the same name, but at least some of those kings probably had unnaturally long lifespans.

My point is, there are lots of different ways to make an elf live longer. I don't think any of those ways would work on humans. I bet an Elixir of Immortality for humans is possible, but it'd be a lot of work.

Lady Ffion Meilyr