The Eld were mysterious beings said to have inhabited Tarisia long before the rise of the Old Kingdoms. The oldest traditions remember them as gods and name Taris their Queen Mother, while other tellings describe them as an ancient people possessed of powers later generations mistook for divinity. Whatever they were, their ruins and surviving works suggest a civilization capable of feats that remain poorly understood even today.
Overview
Little reliable knowledge of the Eld remains. Their civilization had already vanished by the rise of the Old Kingdoms, leaving behind scattered ruins, strange artifacts, and the enigmatic Discordant Paths.
The oldest stories frequently place the Eld alongside Taris herself. Some call them her children, others her servants, and still others a race of lesser gods over whom the Mother Goddess ruled. Ancient images attributed to them occasionally depict Taris towering above gatherings of small, vaguely humanoid figures, though whether these portrayals represent literal appearance, divine hierarchy, or artistic convention is impossible to know.
Where recognizable, the Eld themselves are usually depicted as slight figures of remarkably small stature, with somewhat oversized heads and long, tapered ears. Whether these ancient images bear any resemblance to the Eld themselves is impossible to know. There is no one left to ask.
What became of the Eld is unknown.
Stories variously blame war, divine judgment, catastrophe, betrayal, or the Eld themselves. A few surviving traditions speak of some ancient quarrel involving Taris, though precisely what occurred and what became of those involved changes considerably depending upon who is telling the story.
Eld Ruins
The ruins of the Eld belong to a wetter world.
Dry channels wind through ancient temples. Empty cisterns dwarf those of modern cities. Great stone basins stand beneath ceilings carved with the movements of the heavens, while aqueducts begin and end where no river has flowed within recorded history.
The Eld appear to have possessed an extraordinary understanding of water and its movement. Some mechanisms manipulate pressure, flow, and motion, remaining dormant until water is introduced. Others respond to wind, sunlight, celestial alignments, or the presence of living creatures. Whatever principles governed their construction, the Eld appear to have possessed a deeper, connected understanding of the world.
The Discordant Paths are believed to be the fragmented remains of powerful Eld pathways, while some claim the Hearth of Tarkes is an ancient Eld temple whose original purpose has been twisted into the Revenant forge of today.
The Old Kingdoms devoted generations to studying such places, recovering enough knowledge to operate some of what they found without ever truly understanding it.
Eld Relics
Eld Relics are rare objects of extraordinary and poorly understood power. Some are recognizable as weapons or tools, while others bear little obvious relationship between their form and purpose.
Many possess a strange affinity for living things, responding to touch and movement or altering themselves to accommodate whoever carries them. The most famous are the Eld Arms, ancient weapons that bond themselves to living bearers until the distinction between something worn and something grown becomes difficult to make.
Other relics remain inert for centuries before suddenly awakening, reshape themselves when handled, or reveal purposes entirely unlike those imagined by their discoverers.
Rumor holds that the Quorum in Harmony gathers around one such relic, an ancient Eld object resembling a pool.