“Honestly, when you see how nice the current generation of elves were, you’d find it hard to even consider how a mere few generations back, their ancestors were cannibalistic savages, the most feared raiders in the continent.” - Ungrad Blackpaw, merchant from Boroes, circa 102 FP.

The City of Alfheim, the main stronghold of the faction of Alcidean elves who advocated for a more friendly relationship with the other races, was not always an elven city.

A mere four centuries ago, the city was the capital of a kingdom known as Gumaghal, which ruled an area around the center of the eastern plains. The kingdom fell to an elvish onslaught, its warriors butchered and feasted upon, while the rest of its inhabitants reduced to slavery by their new masters. Even so, the kingdom still left its mark in history, albeit in a different way.

One look at Alfheim allowed any visitor to feast their eyes on the unusual architecture of the late kingdom, which the elven conquerors had kept and at times, preserved. In fact, after a couple centuries of conquest, many of the elves started to grow attached to the people they had enslaved, especially the younger generation who were born and raised there, and had less prejudice to begin with.

That attachment grew over time and eventually caused the rift that broke the elven domains into two major factions these days. The old traditionalists wished to maintain their old raiding ways and looked down upon other races, and still held much of the Great Emerald Forest in their hands, but the new, younger breed of elves who advocated for a closer, more friendly relationships with their neighbors ruled over the plains, and had even encroached into the forest at places.

Part of the reason for that divide were the many half-elvish hybrids Aideen and Celia saw in Alfheim. The traditionalists had scoffed at such children and treated them no better than other non-elves, which was something the parents of those children refused to accept. It helped that the great number of the hybrid children meant that the younger revolutionary faction handily outnumbered the old traditionalists. That caused the few armed clashes between the factions to end in the revolutionary faction’s victory.

A couple centuries had passed since then, and while the neighboring countries were wary of elven deceit at first, over time they grew to accept the change of heart of their once-savage neighbors. Trade quickly began to take place between the elves of Alfheim and the neighboring regions, although the forests were mostly still forbidden land to foreigners.

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On the other hand, the elves that chose to live in Alfheim and engage in trade with others had embraced the cultural aspects of their once-slaves. Everywhere Aideen and Celia could see, people were dressed in flowing robes and dresses made out of colorful fabric that hung loose on their bodies. Many also had bits of paint on their faces as decoration, a far cry from the feared warpaint of elven raiders.

Alfheim itself was a bustling city, full of activity and people going about their lives. People who had bad memories about elven raiders might have felt fear to see so many of them living and going about their business in the city, but Aideen was just reminded of the elves from her homeland. Those people too, had adapted to a more peaceful lifestyle, if their choice was driven more by necessity and survival.

Maybe it was sheer coincidence, but the two incidents which forced the elves to change their ways took place within the same century. The transition from nearly savage raiders to a more peaceful lifestyle was not always easy either. She recalled many who failed to adapt to such a life in her memory, and often sought out violence either deep in the wilderness or in battle as a result.

Probably because the motivation that sparked the revolution amongst Alcidean elves was due to a desire to give a better life to their families, the elves in the northern continent seemed to suffer less from those issues. After all, those who disagreed had likely already fled to join the opposing faction in the forests, which left only those committed to the course they chose behind in Alfheim.

Aideen and Celia parted ways with the caravan they traveled with once they reached the city, though they did follow a few of the guards who went off to sell the saved up shells from the monsters they took down. The armorer’s shop those guards went to had many examples of the finished product that Aideen couldn’t help but take a moment to admire.

The ugly looking brown-and-gray shells of the beasts had been treated and polished to a vibrant red shine for the armors sold in the shop. Buckler-sized shields were made out of undamaged upper carapaces, with a handle set on the backside for the user to hold it with. Other, smaller shards of shells were woven into a set of scale armor, the scales overlapping each other in two layers with a leather and fabric layer behind them, one that looked positively festive and lively.

She understood why some nobles collected such armor. Each of them were bonafides works of art in their own right, and best of all, they were pretty functional as armor as well. While the shells were not quite as sturdy as metal, they were very sturdy for their light weight, and an armor made from them provided plenty of protection while remaining very lightweight at the same time.

It also announced one’s presence very visibly, but given how nobles were already prone to decorating their armor in ways that did the same, she doubted they considered that much of a handicap if at all.

Aideen bought a few pieces of jewelry fashioned from other bits of the shells, as souvenirs for the friends and family she had not seen for almost a century now. She planned to return to Ur-Teros sometime in the next few decades, once she had seen the elvish and dwarven lands in the east to her satisfaction.