If You Grew Up In Lorelette
For any elven characters growing up in Lorelette (the tiny, mostly unknown elven settlement in the Frozen Pines Forest), the write up below is from the perspective of the typical wood elf there and what you’ve most likely grown up hearing. By nature of the remaining elves being so few and there being practically no communication with the neighboring cities for the past millennia, little is still known about the surrounding cities.
What You Know About Lorelette
“Most left, but we few remain loyal to the forest that once provided for our people’s prosperity. We are one with the Frozen Pines Forest. We grew tall and strong as it did, and we’ll wither and die along with it.”
Lorelette is a tiny elven settlement (only about fifty remain) located at the heart of the Frozen Pines Forest, practically no living Agora peoples know of its existence.
About two millennia ago, the wood elves actually lived in what is still known as Lorelai, their original Agora home. At the time, it was a wood elf city, whose size and power rivaled that of the neighboring cities. The Frozen Pines Forest was much larger as well, nearly double that of its current day size. Communication among the wood elves in Lorelai and the surrounding cities was strong, and ocean travel was common.
That era is long gone. About a millennia ago, the Frozen Pines Forest began to quickly recede, ocean travel became increasingly dangerous, and terrifying rumors of a neighboring island disappearing into the bowels of the ocean began circulating Agora. The Lorelai city council were soon forced to have a meeting, where they agreed this was a sign of the beginning of the end; Innisfree was a dying world. Because of this, the majority of the peoples there decided to pack up and travel back to their home island of Benji before ocean travel to the West became impossible.
As time wore on, the few elves that remained were forced to move their home to keep up with the dying, shrinking Frozen Pines Forest, eventually abandoning their original home in Lorelai and settling in what is now known as Lorelette. The remaining wood elves at this time chose a life of seclusion, and had little to no communication with outside peoples since.
While the remaining wood elves have made Lorelette a reasonably comfy home, it was generally not a happy place to grow up. The remaining people there are mostly solemn and withdrawn, and they spend most of their time in meditation or doing what little they can to maintain the dying forest.
What You’ve Heard About Drakkar
“I think I recall my father mentioning that name once or twice?”
Even when the wood elves were at the height of their power in Lorelai, there was little to no communication with Drakkar. While at the time Drakkar was primarily a gold mine, the wood elves had no taste for the minerals they’d dig and vastly preferred to use the forest’s bounty for ordination, thus having no particular need to do parlance with anyone from Drakkar directly. There’s a fair chance you have never ever heard of the place before at all.
What You’ve Heard About Ramon
“From what I recall, we used to be close allies with the Ramon people, but that was a long time ago…”
While almost nobody has so much as mentioned Drakkar, you’ve certainly heard a few positive stories regarding Ramon (strong trading partners, even some light “tourism”, etc.). Relations with Ramon were already deteriorating by the time the wood elves abandoned their Lorelai home, however, and nobody in Lorelette knows how the city’s doing after all this time.
What You’ve Heard About Lorelai
“Have I stole a brief visit back to Lorelai? No, but I know one that did and regretted it. I wouldn’t be able to stomach the pain of seeing what has befallen our once beloved home.”
You’d know that a couple wood elves from the past five hundred years actually have made a brief visit back to Lorelai, but rarely talk about their experiences. The rest are of the mind that the Lorelai they knew or heard stories about is dead, and whatever remains there is something else entirely.
What You’ve Heard About Ivarstead
“From what I was told, dealing with the Ivarstead people was… not particularly pleasant, even when times were good.”
While the wood elves once had strong relations with Ramon, communication with Ivarstead was kept to a minimum. Supposedly, not only were they a pain to trade with back in the day, but they gave extreme resistance to the wood elves transport back to Benji, despite already charging outrageous taxes to do so. If there’s any city you were told about with distain, it’s Ivarstead.