Aerenal is an island continent inhabited by elves that lies to the southeast of Khorvaire. After the fall of the giant civilization in Xen’Drik much of the elven race fled to Aerenal. Here they have established their own nation where a court of Undying rules over the living.

Straddling the Thunder Sea and the Dragonreach Sea, the island nation of Aerenal lies between the continents of Khorvaire and Argonnessen roughly at the equator of Eberron.

Aerenal is the ancient island kingdom of the Aereni elves, who take their name from Aeren, a mythical hero said to have freed the elves from the giants of Xen’drik. It is also home to the deathless Undying Court. Aerenal is ruled by both the Sibling Kings, a brother and sister pair that serves as the temporal authority of Aerenal who rule from Shae Cairdal, and the Undying Court, the religious leader of the elves, which resides in Shae Mordai, the City of the Dead. In addition to the Aereni elves, a small group of Tairnadal elves inhabits the northern steppes of Aerenal, though many have since migrated to Valenar. Due to fear of the “walking dead” and the isolationist nature of the Aereni elves, few non-elves ever visit the small continent. While the Aereni despise the creation of the undead, the deathless of Aerenal, unlike the undead, draw power from positive, rather than negative energy, and are generally good in alignment. A manifest zone of Irian is thought to make the existence of The Undying Court possible. Aerenal is heavily forested, and many exotic plants grow there, such as the soarwood tree, whose wood is used to build airship hulls, and the necromatically charged Covadish plant.

Aerenal is made up of different elven lines. Each line is descended from one of the tribes that followed the prophet Aeren from Xen’drik. Lines are not a single family it is more like a city-state with lots of different families bound together by common history and lead by one noble family. The noble are allowed to be raised as deathless. But membership in a noble house is not hereditary. A elf becomes a noble by what the elf does. Aereni nobles do not even breed among their house; instead, they breed with other members of the line, keeping the noble blood spread throughout the community. Unlike humans the Aerenal marry for love. Anyone can become a member of The Undying Court if they become great in life.

The elves have perfected the art of embalming, and some practice this trade in the great cities of Khorvaire. When a elf is being prepared for burial two chronicles of the elf’s life are written and one is put in to the tomb and the other in the great library in Shae Mordai. The tombs are in catacombs that stretch deep beneath the cities of Aerenal.

Two forces govern Aerenal. The Sibling Kings hold all temporal power. By ancient tradition, the nation must be ruled by a bonded brother and sister. When either sibling dies, the Undying Court selects a new pair to rule. The Sibling Kings are seen as the living embodiment of Aerenal, and the conduit for the power of the Undying Court.

While the Sibling Kings guide the daily affairs of Aerenal, the Undying Court shapes the destiny of the elf race. This council of the deathless selects, advises, and empowers the rulers of the land. The motives of the Undying Court cannot be understood by mortal beings; their plans stretch out over millennia. But those who have studied the elves—and their conflicts with the dragons in particular—are convinced that the deathless have a goal whose fruition may still be centuries away. Indeed, since the deathless measure existence in time spans that even dragons cannot imagine, their machinations and plots worry the dragons to no end. Each family owes obeisance to the Sibling Kings and the Undying Court, but each has its own traditions of internal rule. Some are matriarchal, some are patriarchal, and others have their own sibling lords.

Brief History
Elven civilization began on the continent of Xen’drik. The elves were slaves to the giants of Xen’drik for thousands of years. Thirty-nine thousand years ago the elves went against their giant masters and started a war for freedom. But both side lost. The giants were destroyed and the elves had to leave or they would have been destroyed with the giants. A visionary named Aeren lead the elves away and to the island of Aerenal, which was named in commemeration of their leader (who died shortly after arrival). With the giants dead, and no need to fight, the elven tribes started to separate, but unlike before they stayed in contact with each other. The elves shared a common reverence for their ancestors and with the war ended and arcane knowledge they gained from their former masters most elves set the sword aside and took up the path of the book. The elves dedicated themselves to the study of magic, mysticism and a way to avoid losing their elders. The art of necromancy became very interesting to the elves. In time, two schools of thought came to dominate the field of necromancy: the techniques of the line of Vol, which many blame for the spread of vampirism into Khorvaire; and the traditions of the Priests of Transition, which focused on positive energy and the power of Irian. The way of the Priests of Transition won out and the tribes united in support of the cult of The Undying Court. The Tribes became the noble lines of the elves. To this day the The Undying Court rules the land.

Notable People and Organizations
The Cairdal Blades
The Deathguard
The Tairnadal
The Stillborn
The Undying Court

Notable Locations
Shae Cairdal
Shae Mordai

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