The Death of Queens

Amongst both elves and ælves the Queen is immortal, or rather undying. However, per Cavcari's Last Invocation, anything that has a beginning must have an ending, and so it has proven amongst elvenkind. Some three hundred years ago a great plague sprang up amongst both elves and ælves. The source of the plague is unknown - perhaps it was a magical persilence, perhaps it was simply the will of nature, or perhaps it was a pollution of the ambrosia on which they fed. But the plague was most lethal... and seemed directed specifically against the Queens of those peoples. At a stroke, it seemed, every elven Queen was slain.

With the loss of their Queens, the elven hives were vulnerable, and their enemies were not slow to take advantage. Orcs and dvergar, and indeed sometimes human and dwarves also, struck and struck hard. Many hives were simply wiped out, others were decimated never to recover.

But by the grace of Choriam, that was not the end. Although reduced to a mere handful of Lords and Ladies, the elven and ælven peoples did include some Maids in their number. New sources of ambrosia were found, sources untainted by whatever pestilence had brought them low. New hives were founded, and the elves endure.

Alas, they are much diminished. Elven Maids who are promoted to Queen after reaching adulthood seldom have the same wisdom and majesty of those born to the role. The oldest living elves are now scarcely three centuries old, much younger than is the norm for those kin. And with so much of elven lore and history being passed on orally, much has been lost forever.

There is hope for the elves. As the next generation matures and new Queens are born into their role, their powers are restored, and the number of elves can increase rapidly. For now, though, their position remains precarious.