Post by Trippy Hare on Apr 18, 2005 5:58:19 GMT -5
Home of the agrarian and mysterious Elves, the city-state of Bishal is enmeshed in a lunar fold of Magic. Its location changes with each Lunar month, and during the New Moon, the entire city simply ceases to exist...as does anyone within it. Anyone inside does not experience any passage of time while the city is "phased out", which leads to the already long-lived Elves having even more years under the belts. While this can be problematic in terms of maintaining any sort of government, the enormous advantage it provides against outside aggression more than makes up for it.
Like their city, Elves are a nomadic and otherworldy people, preferring to commune with the forces of Nature, and delving into the rich stores of knowledge the natural world holds, to socializing with other kingdoms. Due to this closeness with the natural world, Elves are inherently able to wield magic, and often do so, without any formal training. Elven people as a whole have few laws and almost no presence of government, and although Bishal is their largest population hub, it represents only a small fraction of the total Elven population.
While most Kingdoms have a variety of religious/spiritual beliefs, the Elves have a singular legend, revolving around a warrior from the days of the War of Oblivion and his supposedly enchanted weapon, a bladed throwing disc known as a chakram. Although there exist wide variations on everything from his deeds to his name, most Elves refer to him as Helios. He supposedly fought off various armies of foes singlehandedly using this chakram, and Elven legend continues to state that whomever can extract the chakram from the stone it is embedded in is not only a descendant of Helios, but destined to do great things...none of which are known.
The Bishal military does not formally exist, as Elves maintain no standing army. Individual Elven families or nomadic groups avoid combat as much as possible, resorting to magic to assist in their escape. However, their potent ties to the land and to each other act as a sort of communal telepathy, and should escape be impossible, or a threat large enough to pose a danger to the entire race emerge, the entire Elven nation can respond to it.
Due to their affinity with nature and the environment, the Elves have an ongoing nonagression pact with the Canids, though neither side completely trusts the other. The Canids are wary of the Elven "Traveler City", and the Elves see the Canids as noble animals who have corrupted themselves with the taint of modernization.
Though elves in general have little use for currencies and coins, Bishal is a large enough city that there are coins minted there. Silver coins are the most common, while gold coins are less so, yet still encountered frequently. each gold coin is worth about 50 silver ones, though many elves still prefer bartering for goods or services. The coinage minted in Bishal is usually reserved for merchants or caravaners who trade with other kingdoms, as gold coins are accepted just about everywhere, though the value of each coin depends greatly on the person accepting it as payment.