Драгонэйджпедия: Эльфы
The history of elves in Thedas is tragic and full of sorrow.
In the ancient times, they were immortal and knew no illnesses. Magic was as naturally for them as a breathing. They reigned over the continent for seven thousand years. Their beautiful palaces looked as the spires of crystal rising to the clouds through the forests. They had close contact with the spirits, the magical creatures, who helped them to explore the deepest secrets of magic. The spirits also helped them to create the a Library where billions of books, pictures and memories were kept for the ages. Using such knowledge, elves have created the portals, which allowed them to travel through the whole continent in a couple of minutes. Their greatest city Arlathan was a fantastic place where the statues could speak and every column glowed with runes.
They lost everything of that in a moment.
There are is no real evidence of how it happened, everything what we know it is just rumors and fragments of old tales. The known sources tell that the humans arrived in Thedas from the north three thousand years ago. Initially, elves interacted and traded with them peaceably. However, later they preferred to close the borders of Elvhenan off from the humans. Nobody knows the reasons of this action, some elven legends tell that elves, who contacted with the humans, have found themselves aging. They were frightened and decided that mortality is like a disease that can touch them too. Whether it is truth or not One way or another, all further humans’ attempt to reach Arlathan ended with nothing got nowhere. Emissaries never returned from the forest and all settlements near its borders disappeared without leaving a trace.
The People of young but proud Tevinter wasn't weren't happy about such aggression of course and finally demanded a war against their strange neighbors. The Imperium forces marched into the Arlathan forest two thousand years ago and laid siege against to the city for six years. A war was not easy; elves fought for their home desperately and the Tevinter magisters used a powerful Blood magic, which has forced the very ground to swallow Arlathan whole entirely. Elvhenan fell and the elves were enslaved, losing their lore, which supposedly lead to losing their immortality as a result.
There is a point of view that this story is not completely true. It claims that the pathetic magic of Tevinter could not affect Arlathan in such a way. It was destroyed by something else and Tevinter forces just used the opportunity as the looters to loot the ruins.
However, the result was the same. Elves became slaves and their culture was destroyed. Thousands of them died because of diseases, and a hard work and or in the blood rituals of magisters. Their life have has not become any easier even when Andraste freed slaves everywhere in Thedas (except Tevinter as usual). Elven slaves joined her army in the struggle with the Tevinter forces and Andraste rewarded them by giving to the elves a new home, Dales. They tried to collect restore in these lands the rest of elven culture and to keep their memories and it was a small peaceful break for the both races for a couple of centuries.
However, elves also wanted also to keep their religion and worshiped the elven gods. The Andrastian Chantry keened which had a purpose to spread the belief faith into the One Maker over the whole world, could not accept such heresy in the middle of its demesne, so the result was predictable. Using the regular conflicts between humans and elves on the borders of Dales as an excuse, the Chantry of Orlais has called for a holy war against the elves. Other countries have not supported Orlais in this war but elven army has been crushed nevertheless, so they have lost their last refuge in Thedas.
Nowadays elves is are just the small and despicable nation that is separated into two groups. City elves live alongside humans and became to be have just become another kind of people associated with poverty and crime. They try to survive getting any hard and dirty job but there are not many options to reach a normal life. They are allowed to live only in the special separated places named alienages and they have no proper citizens’ rights. If something happens with to them inside or outside these reservations nobody really cares including the city guards.
Dalish elves still refuse to contact with humans and live in the deep forests in the small tribes. It is not a good life too, of course. They suffer of hunger, wild animals attacks and diseases. They try to keep elven culture, traditions and lore and laud the former elven glory. The terrible fact is that all their efforts is are just a rude ridicule. The last disclosures have shown that the biggest part of the carefully keeping kept legends and traditions was transformed with time so strongly much that all of them have turned into just stupid fairy tales, which have almost nothing common with the truth. However, they don't want to listen to anybody who tries to open their eyes undeceive them and all this pride is a huge trap that makes them just gradually dying die out in a self-isolation.
In the ancient times, they were immortal and knew no illnesses. Magic was as naturally for them as a breathing. They reigned over the continent for seven thousand years. Their beautiful palaces looked as the spires of crystal rising to the clouds through the forests. They had close contact with the spirits, the magical creatures, who helped them to explore the deepest secrets of magic. The spirits also helped them to create the a Library where billions of books, pictures and memories were kept for the ages. Using such knowledge, elves have created the portals, which allowed them to travel through the whole continent in a couple of minutes. Their greatest city Arlathan was a fantastic place where the statues could speak and every column glowed with runes.
They lost everything of that in a moment.
There are is no real evidence of how it happened, everything what we know it is just rumors and fragments of old tales. The known sources tell that the humans arrived in Thedas from the north three thousand years ago. Initially, elves interacted and traded with them peaceably. However, later they preferred to close the borders of Elvhenan off from the humans. Nobody knows the reasons of this action, some elven legends tell that elves, who contacted with the humans, have found themselves aging. They were frightened and decided that mortality is like a disease that can touch them too. Whether it is truth or not One way or another, all further humans’ attempt to reach Arlathan ended with nothing got nowhere. Emissaries never returned from the forest and all settlements near its borders disappeared without leaving a trace.
The People of young but proud Tevinter wasn't weren't happy about such aggression of course and finally demanded a war against their strange neighbors. The Imperium forces marched into the Arlathan forest two thousand years ago and laid siege against to the city for six years. A war was not easy; elves fought for their home desperately and the Tevinter magisters used a powerful Blood magic, which has forced the very ground to swallow Arlathan whole entirely. Elvhenan fell and the elves were enslaved, losing their lore, which supposedly lead to losing their immortality as a result.
There is a point of view that this story is not completely true. It claims that the pathetic magic of Tevinter could not affect Arlathan in such a way. It was destroyed by something else and Tevinter forces just used the opportunity as the looters to loot the ruins.
However, the result was the same. Elves became slaves and their culture was destroyed. Thousands of them died because of diseases, and a hard work and or in the blood rituals of magisters. Their life have has not become any easier even when Andraste freed slaves everywhere in Thedas (except Tevinter as usual). Elven slaves joined her army in the struggle with the Tevinter forces and Andraste rewarded them by giving to the elves a new home, Dales. They tried to collect restore in these lands the rest of elven culture and to keep their memories and it was a small peaceful break for the both races for a couple of centuries.
However, elves also wanted also to keep their religion and worshiped the elven gods. The Andrastian Chantry keened which had a purpose to spread the belief faith into the One Maker over the whole world, could not accept such heresy in the middle of its demesne, so the result was predictable. Using the regular conflicts between humans and elves on the borders of Dales as an excuse, the Chantry of Orlais has called for a holy war against the elves. Other countries have not supported Orlais in this war but elven army has been crushed nevertheless, so they have lost their last refuge in Thedas.
Nowadays elves is are just the small and despicable nation that is separated into two groups. City elves live alongside humans and became to be have just become another kind of people associated with poverty and crime. They try to survive getting any hard and dirty job but there are not many options to reach a normal life. They are allowed to live only in the special separated places named alienages and they have no proper citizens’ rights. If something happens with to them inside or outside these reservations nobody really cares including the city guards.
Dalish elves still refuse to contact with humans and live in the deep forests in the small tribes. It is not a good life too, of course. They suffer of hunger, wild animals attacks and diseases. They try to keep elven culture, traditions and lore and laud the former elven glory. The terrible fact is that all their efforts is are just a rude ridicule. The last disclosures have shown that the biggest part of the carefully keeping kept legends and traditions was transformed with time so strongly much that all of them have turned into just stupid fairy tales, which have almost nothing common with the truth. However, they don't want to listen to anybody who tries to open their eyes undeceive them and all this pride is a huge trap that makes them just gradually dying die out in a self-isolation.