maenala

Maenala City of the Light

Maenala is the capital of light elven society; the Light Elves believe it is the center of all civilization. With over a hundred and fifty thousand elves living inside it, it represents a truly masive number, especially considering how very few elves there are compared to humans. The city is roughly well organized, and some four stories in height of 'streets', allowing for a good bit of expansion without creating the sprawling cities seen made by humans.

Government:
While the old elven royal family was executed long ago by the Dark Elves, the 9 remaining clans chose a new royal family, that most closely related to the old one. This royal family rules, on occaision, with an iron fist, but most commonly simply lets things go along normally. It is a monarchy, with a king at its head, and this king is supposedly the ruler of all Light Elves in Artheria. Using metal tools to craft objects in the city is illegal. Hypocritically, or at least the wood elves see it this way, the elven king not only allows, but encourages other elven cities to make and use metal tools, to give him the swords his armies need.

Governor: Zaelak, elven aristocrat (expert 3)
Important Officials: Beurocrats, elven (expert 2)
City Guardsman(normal): elven archer (soldier 3)
City Guardsman(Elite): elven archer(soldier 6)

Physical:
Maenala consists of four layers deep of 'grown' streets. In reality, giant oaks, twisted and shaped by elven magic into forming almost flat streets upon which the elves can walk, from some twelve feet beneath the forest floor to sixty feet into the sky. On the most eastern side of the city, surrounded by a wall of solid ironwood trees grown together so thick that an arrow couldn't get through, the royal palace rests, formed of the delicate crystal-leafed trees of the forest to sparkle like a gem when the sun is shining. The elves never practiced any form of controll or planning in their city, so shops and homes are spread almost randomly, aside from a few small areas where the heads of the clans reside.

Major Organizations:
The Shaper's Guild: When the elven king outlawed the use of any metal tools for crafting within Maenala, the Shaper's guild grew in power incredibly. Suddenly, the only legal way to get needed tools for certain jobs was to hire the shaper's guild to grow them magically. With this great power, the Shaper's guild grew in prestige, until it was almost as powerful as an entire elven clan. The sorcerers that make it up practice 'shaping', a type of transformation magic that 'allows' trees and other plants to grow into particular shapes they desire. Building a house using shaping magic can take weeks, and cost a good bit; many poorer elves are forced to simply live in older homes, or to build themselves shacks out of sticks that could not be cut from trees; must have fallen on their own, or be pulled off. Some even buy housing materials from outside the city, and build homes using whatever wooden tools they can; as expensive as it might be, its cheaper than something shaped.

The Silver Bow: Even the elves have need of hired soldiers on occaision. The Silver Bow isn't so much an organization, as a building, a meeting place where groups of mercenaries will place notice that they are available for hire, and those seeking mercenaries will post requests for contracts. The elves like to try and claim that these mercenaries are only hired for 'good' purposes, and so associate the 'holy' seeming silver element with the building. In reality, these mercenaries are hired for anything from suppressing riots to going out to raid a Dark Elf village and bring something back, such as a prisoner perhaps.