Legends of Belariath

High Elves History

Following the end of the Kin War, the death of Jalar and the obliteration of the Astral Council, the Exalted and the Preservers went their separate ways, the Preservers withdrawing to the forests and the Exalted to their remaining towns. A Council was soon called of the eldest remaining descendants of the leading families. After much deliberation, ten leaders were selected from these families to form the Council of the Exalted. These felt it their duty and their place to carry forth the traditions passed down to them by those who had remained faithful to the will of the Elahil. This Council then established as law among the High Elves, as they soon came to be called, the essential principles that all of their kind were to follow. Then the ten clans dispersed across the continent to establish ten centers of civilization. New towns were built to replace those destroyed during the Kin War. Over the centuries each of the ten towns grew into cities and the population centers of High Elven civilization. The Council of the Exalted has continued to meet annually over the centuries, and whenever any major crisis would arise, these being primarily threats posed by the Dark Elves and other of the lesser races. To this day, the Council remains one of the most potent political forces on the continent, their edicts having the full weight of law within the High Elven cities, their will a power to be reckoned with by even the largest of human governments. With the Sylvan Elves an uneasy truce has yielded to a gradual tolerance, if not an acceptance of their different ways. The Dark Elves, however, have remained the bitterest of enemies, their betrayal considered a lasting blight upon the world.