Elua Tribe
The origins of the Elua tribe date back to the High First Age and a now forgotten Solar Queen. In the far northeast away from the Forest People project of the rest of the Solar Deliberative did she begin her project. Enjoying bio-genesis to the exclusion of all other crafting arts she wanted to create an offshoot of humanity as other Solars but maintain a very pleasing ascetic while attaining the desired result. Part of her project included trees that would be able to store memories as fruit and to regulate entire ecosystems and when linked together it formed a complex pattern that was nearly sentient.
The Elua tribe remembers this time by a diminished version of the Solars complete title as she was known to them back in the First Age, Jalha the Mother Tree. When they where guided by a powerful force that protected them and the forest. Due to the Solars secretive nature they where spared much of the Usurpation and the wars that followed. Thankfully Jalha gifted them with a remarkable healing ability and when the Contagion hit they again were spared the worst of its effects all the while remaining within their hanging city from the branches of those family trees they had developed such a deep bond with.
The Fae invasion that followed was less than ideal. As the wyld washed over the borders of Creation the Elua where changed. Their Solar inspired forms where twisted and changed. The blue-green skin tone and markings remained as did their bright intelligent eyes. But their arms spilt into two below the elbow. Long cat-like tails at the base of their spine. In the males a hunger for flesh and deeper connection to their essence. The female members of the tribe became linked together. Part of those trees resides in each of them at conception. It’s what allows the males such use of their essence.
But they saw themselves as corrupted and tarnished no longer how the Solar set them out to be. Consumed by grief they turned on each other in now known as the “Time of Tears”. The tribes population plummeted and they would have vanished if it where not for the first chieftain of the Elua’a, the New Elua known to the tribe as Jalha’ni (the Daughter of Jalha). She brought them back together and told them it was time to find their own path in the world. That the Tree Mother was probably not returning.
The new shamans she brought forth revered the Wyld and the changes it could bring. They gave a power to the raiding party along with their great intelligence very few of the other barbarian hordes could resist them. They did this to keep the hunger of the males in check so the tribe would not turn on itself again. While the woman remained in the last untouched Family Tree the wyld did not, or could not change.
They formed the link that kept the memories of the tribe alive all the way back to the beginning thanks to the links with the tree. It was this link and defined purpose that made their tribe less susceptible to the change than the other tribes were. Even though part of Creation was consumed by the Wyld, their forest moved closer to it. Remaining just outside the reach of the Wyld. They fought with the more twisted of Creations.
One of their number has recently Exalted as a Lunar after fending off a large attack by several tribes while the food gatherers made it to the safety of the hanging city. So far from Creation and the other Lunar Exalted she could not last long and slowly the Wyld has been corrupting her. Even with the tentative attention of the female priestesses of the tree they are fighting a losing battle. Her name is Jalha’ai (roughly translated as to being of that line) to the Fae she is known as Beautiful Laughing Madness.
Their tribal stories tell of the Jalha’s Lunar mate and how close they were together. And she is worshipped that the Tree Mother will be returning to them soon. Even she is excited that she will meet their greatest ancestor. But greatly saddened because their forms have changed so much and she herself is so effected by the Wyld. They where preparing the small city for the arrival of the Tree Mother when disaster struck when metal men appeared from the forest. They had saws and drills and they cut down the forest. Responding to defend the trees their primitive weapons where no match against such a force.
The trees fell and branches shattered taking dozens of homes and hundreds of the tribe falling to their deaths on the forest floor below. Saving what she could Jalha’ai rallied the warriors and several houses of food bearers away from the carnage and further south. Following the old song line she remembered from another age. And memories of another forest like their own. With the loss of the Family Tree the wyld effected them further. Unable to hold back their urges they swept down like a ravenous horde.
Several villages where attacked in Halta and one of their more distant temples which the stories of the Elua held to have the other Family Tree. Rebuilding their homes distant from the other Haltan cities. There where about 500 warriors and 1,000 food bearers and growers left out of a population that numbered nearly 20,000 only a few days before. Their continued existence looks bleak if they are not able to find a new Family Tree to regain control over the wyld that wants them. As they become more effected their ability to reason and see clearly are being lost. In a few weeks there will be nothing left that separates the Elua from the other wyld tainted hordes.
Appearance of the Elua’a - In the fallen Second Age they have deviated slightly from the Solar inspired forms that they were given.
Personality of the Elua’a -
Shamanism of the Elua’a -
