✨It's White Soul Wednesday! ✨
Welcome to the New Year and to a new White Soul Wednesday!
First news of the week - an enormous thank you to everyone who's been checking out the story so far! We've been holding steady in the top 600 of the fantasy-adventure tag on Wattpad out of 32K stories, which is wild!
There's just so much content to come this year, and I'm excited to share it with you all!
With that said, onwards to the newest lore-drop!
Alongside humans, Alset’s countryside is populated by two species of elves, who existed long before humanity, and born from the will of nature itself.
Uriyans are rumored to be the first race, born from the will of green and flowing things. Even the shortest members of their people are taller than most humans at their fullest heights, with sharp features and long delicately pointed ears which continue growing throughout their long lives. Their lifespans are longer than most humans and Ciriyans, at roughly 300 years, though they were said to be much longer lived prior to the Second Dragon Conflict.
Their ancestral home is along the eastern forests of the Shattered Hills, however it is a closed place permitted only to their own kind, and not featured on maps - a depiction of the forest city Anveligren would be considered taboo, though holding high economic value in certain circles.
There are rumors that they were the first beings to have harnessed the power of the arcane, however that is often debated by Ciriyans. The first Unasir is widely portrayed as being a dark-haired Uriyan male in art and song.
Ciriyans are a more diminutive race of elves, rumored to have been born from the will of stone and soul. Even the tallest members of their people at their fullest height are barely able to measure to the chest of an average human woman. Their features are stout even as juveniles, and it would not be uncommon to mistake them for human children, with the exception of their pointed ears with characteristic tufted hair. As their long lives continue their bodies thicken wider instead of growing taller, eventually with hair covering the majority of their bodies after they fully physically mature - roughly around 130 years for males and 150 years for females. They are longer lived than humans, typically living around 250 years.
Their ancestral home was once within the northeastern part of the Golden Valley, though fissures have developed along the range, and the vast metropolis Anvengol that dwelt there has long been destroyed, lost in the what they refer to as the Age of Fissure during the reign of the Eleventh King.
They often describe themselves as being the first race to have harnessed the power of the arcane, however that is often debated by Uriyans. The first Trenasir is widely attributed to being a fair-haired Ciriyan woman in art and song.
Anavielle “Ana” Gaelrevar
A rarity among adventurers, Anavielle - known as Ana among her close companions - is a half-Uriyan. Born from a human father and Uriyan mother, she possesses a rare gift of soul-sight, being able to perceive the nature of a being’s spirit, which occasionally offers her glimpses of prophetic knowledge.
Born in the forest city of Anveligren, she left her home a few years prior to the typical Uriyan age of independence, leaving in her mid-thirties due to ostracization for her mixed heritage*. She lived with her father in Levant for nearly as long, following him on the trading caravans he escorted as an adventurer to gain experience with seeing the wider human world.
She became drawn toward Prism as the guild was rebuilding itself after their defeat at the Quinane Seat, due to seeing the “blazing strength” of its leaders, Homura in particular. She even correctly predicted Prism would be tasked with returning to the south at the end of the Dunane Crisis, and knew they would fail in their mission a second time, though didn’t share that vision with her guildmates.
Hobbies: archery, sewing, reading
* Though Anveligren’s borders are open to her, she has no desire to dwell there long-term, as she would not be able to own property or raise a family there. She visits occasionally on guild business.
The Ciriyan tavernkeeper of the Bard’s Hearth, a pub in the middle district of Levant. The business has been in the Kobo family since it was founded by Kiri’s great grandfather, and he was eager even as a younger boy to be able to manage it for himself.
Kiri got his wish at a younger age than would be expected for a Ciriyan, taking over the tavern at the age of thirty from his father, who desired to pursue his own passions outside the family business. Under Kiri’s watch, the Bard’s Hearth’s focus shifted more from being a reliable restaurant to being a source of direct support for the adventuring industry. In addition to food and drink, the Bard’s Hearth also serves information on jobs too small or confidential for the Masterhall adventurer-guild union.
Though his tavern has experienced ups and downs over the years, Kiri remains as dedicated to his family’s venture as ever and is always on the lookout for connections to help secure his business’s future.
Hobbies: reading, cooking, managing the “Bard’s Hearth” tavern
That's all for today, see you this Sunday for the next update!
