Dalenga Degannon - Magic Elven City on the Great River

Dalenga Degannon is the name of the Elven city that moves on the Great River.  It was built by a particular group of High Elves years ago, when they turned renounced their claim on living in the realm of Faery and decided that a permanent outpost was required in the world of the Valley.

High Elves actually have several hidden cities, in both the Holabrian and Destriel Moutains, but nothing in the central lands of the Valley, where the Westron Baronies are to be found.  They do, of course, cross over (from time to time) and have dealings with other types of elves that are within the valley.  This usually includes the dark elves (or deep elves), the drow elves, the wood elves (who semi-permanently maintain peace around the various arboreal gateways to the Faery realms), and the enigmatic Grey Elves.

Dalenga Degannon was built sometime after the settlement of the first Westron Baronies, but well over a thousand years ago (approximately the year 100 or so, after the start of the Westroner migration).  It was built by the High Elves, but it is believed to be based on secret knowledge they have of the construction techniques employed by the Old Ones, especially those of Ba'a Zarn the Builder.

High Elf city of Dalenga Degannon, on the Great River

The city is constructed on (and within) a large granite island.  The island appears, even under close inspection, to be a solid stationary island, made of a large rocky base, and extending high into the sky.  Upon it are built all manor of Elven towers, halls, and manors.  Within it exists a wonderful city, of underground streets and plazas, full of magical light and plants and animals - both from the Valley and from Faery.

The city moves, east and west, along the Great River.  It has never been seen moving, but once it has settled in a place for some time (it varies - the reasons for the timing are only known to the High Elves themselves), it will suddenly be gone, and have moved elsewhere.  The moves are always accompanied by the most dangerous and threatening of storms - lightning, thick fog, heavy rains and strong winds.  This may account for there not being any witnesses.  In fact, Archivists from Parn Tandalorn are split in decision over whether the city itself moves (as in - the island floats along the river) or if it magically just appears in a new location - some massive application of teleportation magic.

It has been long debated as to whether the city could appear in any one of the Nine Rivers, or if it is only feasible for it to move on the Great River.  Certainly no recorded instances of it being spotted in one of the other rivers have been made.  Smaller craft, and some of the "daughter islands" have been spotted on the lesser rivers.

In addition to Dalenga Degannon itself, there are a number of smaller islands that contain structures owned by the High Elves.  These move about in a similar fashion (moving during a horrendous storm, with no witnesses to the method of movement), but are much smaller.  Often times they are not much bigger than a castle and some outbuildings.  It is not known if there is a set number of such daughter islands, or if they come and go as required.  Certainly, the few travelers who have been lucky enough to spend time ashore/aboard one of the daughter islands describe ancient structures there - similar to the feel and age of the ancient structures on the main island/city itself.

The daughter island, Colatta Diel, having berthed near the Harp Woods

High Elves, which although not especially friendly to the human Baronies, are certainly quite friendly towards individual Humans and members of other races (other than the dark, or Goblyn, races - orcs, goblins, and their ilk).  Members of the race who have dwelt on Dalenga Degannon speak of the city as if it is a Woman, with a mind and will of her own.  They say she goes where she will, and no one - neither an elf of the Valley, nor a highborn elven sorcerer of the Seely Court - can control or predict when and where Dalenga Degannon will move herself.

Dalenga Degannon herself boasts a small navy of amazingly lithe elven long boats, each having a prow tipped with the head of a Swan.  These boats each carry scores and scores of the slim elven knights, wearing their curiously tightly fitting elven chainmail, long lances with tips made of a curious blue-ish metal, and equipped with bows made of living branches of Trow wood - a type of tree that only grows on the isolated slopes of Mount Nar Igew - at the mouth of the Stormwash River.  A High Elf city is there, and it is responsible for the tending of the Trow wood groves, from which the elven bows are made.

Seawyrm - River Jarl Steading (2)

Seawyrm is the northern most steading of the River Jarls along the Upper Greywater River.  It is still a long way short of the edge of the Destriel Mountains, so the Upper Greywater is quite broad and wide by the time it reaches the shore where Seawyrm is constructed.

The walled town is the seat of the Jarl, Scrimjar the Axe.  Scrimjar has been the Jarl for 48 years, and comes from humble beginnings.  Previous to his reign, the Trondvar clan ruled Seawyrm.  Scrimjar was born as a thrall, to poor serf parents, but rose through the fighting schools to compete in the warrior contests that Seawyrm is known for.  As he got more and more popular, his number of followers (and his monetary winnings) grew.  He eventually had enough to buy his (and his family's) freedom from serfdom, and joined a freebooter dragonship crew to go on viking raids up and down the Upper Greywater river.  Having returned from such a journey as the leader of his ship's crew (and several other liege ships), Scrimjar got into a dispute with the elder Bjarne Trondvar, and it came to a fight of honor, where Scrimjar slew Bjarne's chief huscarl (Holvin Heigvarson), and then Bjarne himself.  Since he has been the ruler of Seawyrm.

Riverfront of the Steading of Seawyrm

The city is known for two things - first, the steep, and strong, walls facing the east.  More on these follows below.  Second, the city is also known for the fleets of dragon ships that it is home to.  Many of these river wolves ply their viking trade up and down the river, and even down into the Greywater itself.  It is not an uncommon report that tells of Seawyrm dragon ships reaching even the Great River.

One of the reasons for the raiding and trading that the dragon ships of Seawyrm are constantly at is because the city has almost no agriculture to boast of.  Almost every household in the walled steading (which has a population of approximately 2500 regular citizens - about a third of which are out of the city at any one time on viking expeditions) boasts some small garden for minor root vegetables and herbs, and it is not uncommon to have some of the northern shaggy goats of the region living on the nearly flat thatched roofs of the peasant houses.  In the trade districts of the city, more common slated and planked roofs are common, but among the commoners (and even some of the trades people) the thatched roofs (and their goats) are common.  It is a source for dairy, and occasionally meat, for a city that has little access to regular agricultural land.

The reason for the steep walls, on the eastern (land facing) side of the Steading is because of the Sword People.  These tribes of vicious and primitive savages are found mostly to the east, across the open plains between the Upper Greywater and the Shadow Woods.  These plains are known as the Blood Veldt.  The Sword People are a simple, bloodthirsty culture of savage barbarians that live in crude tribal groups (with simple shelters of sticks and skins that they erect), and make their basic economy by hunting the wooly rhinos of the Blood Veldt, and the herds of giant reindeer.  Occasionally, and all too frequently, they will have some sort of religious frenzy where the young warriors of the tribes will go on a blood frenzy, traveling in random directions, and slaying any and every living thing they come across, leaving the dead just to rot.  This is where the name Blood Veldt comes from...

Sword People

A curious encounter in the area are the rare Lionman warriors, up from the south of the Great River, who decide to go on a vision quest.  They do this, by traversing (alone, usually, but sometimes with specific companions) the plains between the Upper Greywater and the Shadow Woods for months at a time.  Only senior, experienced warrior shamans can do this, because they must be able to deal with hordes of Sword People that might attack them.  Given the nature of their questing, they do not seek long-term company (unless the companion is one that they decide, from their forays into the spirit world, that they must stay with) but a Lionman warrior would serve as a stalwart against a band of Sword People warriors, if a traveler (or band) encountered them on the lonely plains.

Located nearby is the village of Aderbak - the site of the Princess of Roses, Location 2 in the Week of Adventure Settings.

The Faery and the Goblyn

Two broad groups of intelligent species dwell in the Valley that predate both the Older Ones, and of course, the younger races that dwell there now.  These are the Faery and the Goblyn.

The Faery include all of the normal magical races one would associate with that group - leprechauns, pixies, fairies, etc - but also the arboreal magical races - such as nymphs, dryads, nyads, centaurs, fauns, and elves.

The Faery do not have gods or goddesses, as such, but rather have a number of very powerful beings who rule over the Seely court.  These are King Oberon and Queen Titania, among others.  The Seely Court is removed from this world, and exists in the Seely Realms.  How or when this split from the World took place, none now alive know.  It is possible that Oberon or Titania know, but they do not speak of it.

The most human like of the Faery are of course the Elves.  They dwell almost entirely in their forest realms, which are areas around where portals from the Seely Realms intersect easily with the world of the Valley.  As expected, time and distance in the Seely realms are very different from time and distance as measured between portals in the world of the Valley.  Because of this situation - that the Elves congregate around the Faery portals - it is rare that Elves in any number are seen outside of their own Fey glens and hollows.

Humans who encounter Elves often mistake the leading figures of the Seely Court as elven "deities".  This is not exactly true, but it is common enough for humans to believe so.  There are Elves who venerate the members of the Court in such a way, that they behave as Priests while in the world of the Valley, receiving powers and spells from the realm of Faery due to their loyalty and fealty to the Court.

When the Seely Realms were separated from those of the World, at the same time the Unseely Realms were also formed.  These were populated by the Goblyn races, mostly.  Those consist of the goblins, hobgoblins, orcs, ogres, trolls and other affiliated races.  The magics of the Unseely Realms are not nearly as well formed nor as well behaved as the magics of the Seely.  Because of this, it is much less likely that travel back and forth against the Unseely portals takes place.  Unlike the Faery, the Goblyn portals are almost all underground, some are very deep underground.  A number of powerful dark magic beings rule over the Unseely Realms, and these are sometimes venerated by the Goblyn races as their own "deities".  This is much less likely than with the Fey folk.

Two interesting outliers from this situation are notable.  The first are the Dark Elves.  These are a group of elves that, for unknown reasons, have chosen to ally themselves with the Unseely Realms.  They dwell mostly underground, and are consummately evil.  They are the most powerful, magically, of the Unseely folk, rivaling some Faery folk for power.

The second exception are the very mysterious Gray Elves.  There are, roughly, three distinct groups of Faery Elves (apart from the Goblyn Dark Elves).  The first two - the High Elves (who dwell mostly in the Seely Realms, but visit the world of the Valley from time to time) and the Wood Elves (who are more likely to remain in the Valley for some time, but always remain in the forests near the portals where they can remain in contact with the Seely Court) never remain forever in our world.  They travel back to the Seely Realm (some more or less frequently than others, but none remain here forever), and look to the Court for their guidance and allegiance.

The Gray Elves, on the other hand, are of the Faery sort, but they have decided to come to our world and dwell her permanently.  They often take up residence in parts of the world far from the forests, usually because they cannot bear the sadness that results from their decision not to return to the Seely Realms.  They Gray Elves often speak in enigmatic riddles when discussing the world, and why they dwell apart from other Elves.  It is possible that they may know about the reason for the split of the Seely and the Unseely from the world of the Valley.

One curious feature of the separation of the Goblyn and Faery from the world, there are occasionally babies born to both Elves and Orcs (the races closest to humans) that resemble a human being close enough to be mistaken for one at a glance.  There are mischevious members of both the Seely and Unseely realms who will bring such babies to Human communities and exchange them for human babies.  In both cases (the elf or orc child raised by humans, or the human child raised by elves or orcs) the results are referred to as Half Elves or Half Orcs.  Once their true origin is known, neither are ever fully trusted by Humans.  It is not known how the human counterparts are treated in the Faery or Goblyn realms.