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Ulthuan

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Ulthuan, also known as the "Ten Kingdoms" and the "Mystic Ysle" by some Human scholars[11a], is the island-continent of the world of Mallus that serves as the ancestral home of the Elven race, and is currently inhabited by the High Elves.[1a]

Ulthuan is located off the eastern coast of the New World, near the isthmus linking the continent of Lustria to the northern lands of Naggaroth. The island currently lies approximately 300 miles from the New World at its nearest point, though this distance was less in the time before the Sundering and the geographical changes that great Elven civil conflict wrought.[1a]

Ulthuan forms a hollow ring of land floating in the sea, surrounding what is known as the Inner Sea. This inner sea is accessible only at the Straits of Lothern, in the south of the island-continent.[1a]

Ulthuan is split up into ten High Elven kingdoms, each with its own cultural character and ways of waging war and ruled by a High Elf prince or princess. Ulthuan was shattered in the distant past, during the Sundering with the Dark Elves, and much of its northern regions and western coasts now lie underwater. The eastern approaches are protected by the Shifting Isles, a treacherous maze of magical mists and moving sandbanks.[1a]

Ulthuan is also home to the majority of the world's remaining Dragons, who slumber under the volcanic mountain ranges of the Dragon Spine Mountains in Caledor.[1a]

Government[]

Ulthuan's ten constituent kingdoms are ruled by a collection of High Elf princes, princesses and archmages, above whom presides the joint monarchs known as the Phoenix King and the Everqueen. The relationship between these monarchs is not as simple as their titles would suggest. The kingship is elective while the queenship is hereditary, and both monarchs maintain entirely separate courts in different regions of the island-continent.[1g]

The Everqueen is always also the Queen of Avelorn. Her realm is the site of the principal shrine of Isha, the Earth Mother, and she is regarded as the spiritual leader of the whole Elven realm. The position of Everqueen is always taken up by the firstborn daughter of the previous queen, conceived during her year-long ritual marriage to the Phoenix King. After this formal marriage, they are free to take new consorts, but only the daughter conceived from the marriage of the Phoenix King and the Everqueen can be the new Everqueen.[1g]

Hence the queens of Avelorn have always been the Everqueens of Ulthuan, forming an unbroken chain from ages past. By contrast, the Phoenix King is chosen from among the princes of Ulthuan, one year after the death of the previous incumbent. Each is crowned during a holy ceremony, held at the massive pyramidal Shrine of Asuryan and attended by the legions of the Phoenix Guard and the princes of Ulthuan. The process of choosing the new Phoenix King is rife with intrigue. Emotions often run hot during this fraught and delicate event. Traditionally, the last thirty days of the year of mourning are set aside for the election to take place; however, in practice the debate starts much sooner than that. Often, the politicking starts long before the reigning Phoenix King has died. High Elves love intrigue, and never is the prize greater than when a new Phoenix King is chosen.[1g]

The grandest of Ulthuan's noble families each look for their candidate to be chosen, and they vie for the support of their peers for their choice. Further to this, each realm in Ulthuan desires the new Phoenix King to be chosen from their land. So it is that rivalries are set aside — or created — to ensure that the agendas of the noble houses are met. For all the deception, manipulation, and chicanery employed during the election process, it is almost unheard of for the tactics employed to escalate to violence or outright sabotage. Such actions are considered heretical, for the Phoenix King is the anointed servant of Asuryan. Few high elf nobles are so consumed with victory that they could believe, even for a moment, that the Creator God would ever approve of a king selected by the ruling council under such dubious and destructive circumstances.[1g]

Ten Kingdoms[]

452px-Ulthuan

A map of Ulthuan with the heraldry of the Ten Kingdoms of the Asur.

The Ten Kingdoms of Ulthuan are generally separated into the "Inner Kingdoms," which have part or all of their coast on the island-continent's Inner Sea, and the "Outer Kingdoms," which face the Great Ocean. The Inner Kingdoms are often characterised as being introverted and dreamy, while the Outer Kingdoms are more rugged and accustomed to warfare.[1a]

Inner Kingdoms[]

  • Eataine - The Kingdom of Eataine is simply the hinterland of the vast city-state of Lothern, and first amongst the elf kingdoms of Ulthuan. It is the home of the current Phoenix King, Finubar, and the site of his Phoenix Court. Eataine is dotted with vineyards, villas and summer estates to which the noble families of the city retire. The city is one of the wonders of the known world and the source of Eataine's prosperity.
  • Caledor - The Kingdom of Caledor is a thinly populated, mountainous realm. Its sparse population has ever belied its power, for it is here, beneath the blazing peaks of the Dragon Spine Mountains, that the dragons dwell. Here, long ago, came Caledor Dragontamer. Mightiest of the ancient mages, he bound the fearsome dragons to his will, using harnesses of enchanted truesteel smelted in the fiery heart of Vaul's Anvil. His descendants named their kingdom Caledor in his honour.
  • Ellyrion - The Kingdom of Ellyrion is a land of gentle summers and mild winters, of sweeping plains, azure skies and heady pollen. It is famed for its horses, who thunder across moor and heath from dawn to dusk. The steeds of Ellyrion are the swiftest and most noble of four-legged beasts, much prized by nobles of the Ten Kingdoms, and those of the lands beyond. To folk from other lands, the Ellyrian steppes appear to stretch on forever. Indeed, time and distance work strangely here. A traveller can walk directly towards his destination for hours upon hours, growing ever more distant from his starting point, yet never coming closer to his goal. The Ellyrians know the secret paths and ways through their land, for they have learnt them from the horses, but such secrets are seldom shared -- even amongst the elves.
  • Avelorn - The Kingdom of Avelorn is the oldest of all the Elven realms. Ancient glamours lie upon its tangled groves, and creatures of legend still walk beneath its eaves. Yet Avelorn's glories are maintained only by the constant watchfulness of the rangers that guard its borders, for the monsters of the Annulii Mountains are drawn to this realm as to no other; scarcely a day passes without an attack by some dread creature. Avelorn is ruled by the Everqueen, the chosen of the Earth Mother, mistress of the undying forest, preserver of green fastness, observer of the rites of the golden spring, and monarch of one of the Twin Thrones of Ulthuan.
  • Saphery - The Kingdom of Saphery is an enchanted land, with skies that shine with all the colours of the rainbow, hills that move by night and warm rivers that glow with gentle light. Magic courses through the blood of Sapherian elves, and all of the realm's princes are also mages of awesome power. They are reclusive and idiosyncratic, dwelling in exquisite mansions far from other outposts of civilisation. Each noble's home has its own character that reflects the interests and magical research of its patron.

Outer Kingdoms[]

  • Yvresse - The Kingdom of Yvresse is the land of mists. It encompasses not only a sizable part of eastern Ulthuan, but also the islands of the Eastern Ocean. The mainland is a wild coastline, fringed by deep coniferous forests. The foothills of the Annulii march off to form distant peaks that tower dramatically into the clouds. Yvresse is the least densely populated kingdom of Ulthuan, and by those elves from other realms, it is often considered a bleak coastal realm, and less than lovely -- but to those who call it their home, the towering cliffs and soaring sea birds are sights as fine as any to be seen on the continent of Ulthuan.
  • Cothique - The Kingdom of Cothique is a coastal realm, inhabited by shrewd and hardy seafolk. It is a cold realm, battered by chill northeastern winds, and little-loved, save by its own people. Yet even these folk of Cothique are renowned for their wanderlust, and reputedly spend as little time within their own land as possible. Their graceful vessels plough the turbulent northern waters in search of goods and trade with different lands. This is a highly dangerous area to sail, not just because of the perilous waters, but because the seas contain many monstrous creatures stirred up by the collapse of northern Ulthuan centuries ago. Kraken, huge shark-like megalodons, behemoths and even the dread black leviathan are all known to lurk in the waters north of Ulthuan.
  • Chrace - The Kingdom of Chrace was once a relatively empty and peaceful region of Ulthuan, occupied only by those who sought to escape the civilised realms and return to nature. Now, Chrace exists in a state of permanent war, for it is the main route through which the Dark Elves seek access to the Inner Lands. Its settlements are fortified, its glades ring to the sound of sword upon steel, and its populace lives ever under the shadow of battle. The once-wondrous forests have become perilous, for dark magic has scoured the land, corrupting ancient groves and giving birth to monstrous creatures.
  • Nagarythe - The Kingdom of Nagarythe, also known as the Shadowlands, are a dark and desolate region, but was once the greatest of the elven kingdoms. Here, the first Phoenix King once held court, and it was here that the greatest battles against daemonkind were won. That desperate struggle hardened and embittered the folk of Nagarythe, so that other elves came to regard them as a cruel and bloodthirsty people. After Aenarion's death his son Malekith inherited the kingdom. When Malekith rose against the rightful Phoenix King, he led his warriors in a savage and destructive war. Nagarythe was destroyed and many of its people fled with their evil master to the cold lands of the New World.
  • Tiranoc - The Kingdom of Tiranoc is the westernmost of Ulthuan's realms. Once it was the fairest of the elf lands, where majestic snow-capped peaks towered over sweeping flower-strewn plains. Its people were great sailors who colonised many lands to the west. Wealth flowed from these colonies: gold to gild the city's spires, silver to be wrought into the bodywork of chariots, furs for winter wear and medicinal herbs to cure the sick. The charioteers of Tiranoc, famed throughout the land for their skill and daring, raced between their white marble cities. The folk were content and peaceful, and their lives golden. But this time of happiness was to pass.

Notable Settlements[]

Long years of war against the forces of Chaos, the Dwarfs and the Dark Elves have caused the steady decline of the High Elves' civilisation. The cities of Ulthuan no longer bustle with life, but are mostly shells of their former glory. There are still mighty cities to be found on Ulthuan, however, as other minor settlements.[12a]

  • Anlec - Once the capital of Nagarythe, the city of Anlec was sacked and razed during the Elven civil war of the Sundering in part for its subservience to Malekith, the Betrayer. The ruins of Anlec have been refortified, fought over, and cast down again more than once, and even today they draw the Dark Elves back to the lands of their ancestors. Some whisper that more Elves have died fighting over Anlec's ruins than anywhere else in Ulthuan.[1d]
  • Gaen Vale - The Gaen Vale itself is a beautiful, high-sided valley of wildflowers, apple trees, and fresh mountain springs. The landscape spreads out in a rolling patchwork of bountiful forests, fast-flowing rivers, and wide groves of graceful statues and temples of purest white. Music fills the air, not the tunes of the Elvenfolk, but the melodies of the earth: birdsong, the rustle of wind in the branches of tall trees, and the gurgling of life-giving waters flowing from a rocky peak at the island's centre. Together the sounds form a natural orchestra that plays the symphony of creation with every breath. If one is welcomed by the oracle, an Elf-maid armed with a moon-coloured bow will appear and guide supplicants into the valley below.[9c][9d]
  • Lothern - Lothern is the greatest city of Ulthuan, the island-continent of the High Elves. Situated within the kingdom of Eataine, Lothern is the capital city of both said-kingdom and the island-continent itself. Human merchants are allowed to trade here, and the city has been a busy centre of international trade since the beginning of the Phoenix King Finubar's reign in 2163 IC.[7a]
  • Modnar Ekal - Modnar Ekal, a fishing village to the west towards the town of Nienna.[12a]
  • Nienna - Nienna is a fishing village on the way for Ulthuan's coasts. The great halls of Nienna's watchtower once held mighty garrisons ready to repel any invaders that might land on Ulthuan's sacred shores; now, they are empty, cold, and lonely. Crellion and his brother Thanniel had been the only watchers for the last three decades. Down a hill with a watchtower, the fishing village has to deploy the local levy to face Chaos invasions from the sea.[12a]
  • Tor Achare - Tor Achare is the High Elf capital of Chrace. Its foundations were laid in the years following the death of the first Phoenix King Aenarion and it has endured relatively unchanged since those halcyon days. Carvings of Aenarion's foremost generals stare proudly from alabaster cornices, capstones, and finials, in death watching over a people their heroism preserved in life. Statues of Caledor I and Aenarion the Defender loom over courtyards, marble giants filigreed with gold and set with glittering gemstones. They tower over the masses just as their deeds eclipse those of their descendants.[8a]
  • Tor Anroc - What had once been a glorious fastness, the sunken city of Tor Anroc is little more than a skeleton, its high towers smashed and its walls sundered during the Elven civil war of the Sundering. Only broken stubs of lost towers remain, jutting from storm-lashed waters like the fingers of a drowning victim. With each passing year, more succumbs to erosion, collapsing below the waves. Lost to history are the Lord of Tor Anroc and his sons. None speak of them now for fear of ones' thoughts becoming moribund.
  • Tor Dynal - Tor Dynal is a large High Elf city located in the realm of Cothique in north-eastern Ulthuan.[1h]
  • Tor Elyr - Tor Elyr is the capital of Ellyrion, a city built on a series of island castles linked by a web of silver bridges. Each castle is a palace, sculpted from the living rock of a peaked island, decked with statues of Ellyrian princes and their steeds. Beneath Tor Elyr, the waters of the Sea of Dusk churn wrathfully, their foam-flecked tips dashing against the city's alabaster walls. Ellyrians believe that the spirits of their fallen steeds dwell within those waves, and indeed horse-shaped figures rise from the white crests every dawn. Should Tor Elyr ever fall, they say, the spirits of the waves will rise up one last, terrible time to drown the city and all within.[1b]
  • Tor Yvresse - Tor Yvresse is a metropolis of Ulthuan as beautiful and grand as any of the Elven cities of old. Even to the present day, it shines like a beacon against the dark rock of the landscape and the green shawl of forest draping over the mountains behind it. Sadly, the glory days of the city that was once considered the jewel of Ulthuan are long past.[9b]

Notable Locations[]

Ulthuan is home to many places of importance, not just for the High Elves but for the whole Known World.

Notable Mountains[]

Notable Isles[]

Foreign Relations[]

Old World[]

High Elves garrisons in the Old World

High Elf garrisons in the Old World and their main diplomatic interlocutors in Bretonnia, the Empire of Man, Estalia and Tilea in ca. 2276 IC during the Anarchy.[5]

Despite being unwelcome in the Old World, with little change until after the Great War Against Chaos, the High Elves had yet to retreat entirely to Ulthuan until after that conflict ended over two centuries ago. Up to that time, they still maintained a strong presence in fortresses and garrisons situated on islands along the coast of the continent, from Bretonnia in the north to the southern tip of Estalia.[5]

Long ago, the High Elves suffered a great loss at the hands of the Dwarfs during the War of the Beard, which led to their expulsion from their mainland colonies. While they agreed not to return to the lands they knew as Elthin Arvan, this did not mean they had to withdraw completely.[5]

Instead, they relocated to the islands off the western coast of the continent, allowing them to retain their status as a global naval superpower. Control of the seas is what truly matters to the Asur -- by dominating the waters, they can influence the lands, even if the Dwarfs dispute their supposed 'control' over the Old World.[5]

The High Elves are heavily involved in the Old World's trade and diplomacy, and it is not uncommon to find courtly High Elves in cosmopolitan cities such as Marienburg, serving as diplomats, courtiers, and even advisers to Human rulers.[5]

On the mainland, the High Elves presence is limited to a few isolated locations, as far from the Dwarfs as possible.[5]

The High Elves own a castle on the west coast of Bretonnia, a location the Dwarfs consider out of sight and out of mind. While they are not in open conflict, relations between the two Elder Race cultures remain strained since the War of the Beard, and they largely ignore one another at present.[5]

In the past, the High Elves maintained numerous coastal citadels, but over the last two centuries since the end of the Great War Against Chaos, they have gradually withdrawn from the Old World, abandoning many of these strongholds.[5]

Far East[]

High Elf Domains World Map 6th Edition illustration

A map drawn by Jacob Stacheldhorf that incorrectly swaps the positions of Grand Cathay and Kuresh.[3a]

In 699 IC, representatives of the Phoenix King Aethis the Poet made contact with the old Human empire of Grand Cathay and visited the court of the Dragon Emperor. They returned laden with silk, jade and spices -- which became highly valued commodities in Ulthuan, and trade between east and west began to flourish, mediated by High Elven merchants.[2b][2c]

Despite maintaining trade relations between their realm and Ulthuan, the Cathayan Dragons look at the High Elves with disdain for riding Western Dragons, a relationship that they see as an insult since it seems that the Western Dragons are servants of the Elves. This disdain has passed to the Human Cathayans themselves, who also subtly look down upon the Elven Dragon-riders.[6]

Notable Colonies[]

Sea Elf traders use outposts outside Ulthuan as staging points to reach the Lost Isles of Elithis in the Far Sea and then cross the ocean towards the Turtle Isles on the west coast of Lustria, or to sail eastwards from there to the other Elven outposts in the Sea of Dread in the Far East.[2a][3a]

Interactive Map[]


Trivia[]

Ulthuan is heavily inspired by the mythology of Atlantis, a fictional island-continent that was first described by the famed ancient Greek philosopher Plato. Like Ulthuan, Atlantis was described by Plato as a technologically advanced naval power which dominated the western hemisphere of the known world, and was intended to embody what Plato described as the perfect human society. Like Atlantis, Ulthuan would sink beneath the seas following the events of the End Times.

Sources[]

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