As I’ve been moving, I’m turning to an old topic for this week’s post: Valenar. As always, this is based on my campaign and may contradict canon sources; use at your own risk!

During the Last War, the Tairnadal war leader Shaeras Vadallia turned on the people of Cyre and laid claim to a section of Cyran territory, founding the kingdom of Valenar. Since the end of the Last War, Vadallia has been acting in a provocative manner. His people raid neighboring nations and Karrnathi outposts. Why? What do they hope to gain?

To understand the Valenar, it is important to understand the culture they come from – the Tairnadal elves of Aerenal. Since the elves first came to Xen’drik, the driving force behind their culture has been to preserve their greatest souls – to ensure that these heroes aren’t lost to Dolurrh and dissolution. Among the Aereni, this produced the negative energy necromantic techniques of the line of Vol and the positive energy techniques of the Undying Court – both ways to physically preserve the elves of the present day after death. The Tairnadal took a different approach. They didn’t just want to preserve their current champions; they wanted to save the heroes of their legends. They’d kept these legends alive in song and story, and in time their priests found a way to forge a bond between the spirit of the ancestor and a living elf. However, this is an act of sympathetic magic that requires the living elf to emulate the actions of the ancestor. This is a two way street; the more closely the elf emulates the hero, the more guidance the ancestor can offer the elf; the goal of the Tairnadal warrior is to become a perfect avatar for a hero of the past… though the greatest Tairnadal can go beyond this to forge new legends and become the patron ancestors of a new generation.

In the present day this is accepted as simple fact by the Tairnadal. When an elf reaches adolescence, he is brought to the Keepers of the Past and a ritual is performed that reveals which of the patron spirits has chosen the elf. It’s important to understand that the spirit chooses the elf, not the priests or the elf himself. In theory this is because the ancestor can see the elf’s nature and potential, and the match is a good one – but it may not be the ancestor the elf WANTS to emulate. Nonetheless, once the choice is made it is the sacred duty of the elf to try to act in all ways as the hero would in his place. In some ways this can be compared to the Kalashtar, who also preserve spirits by bonding them to mortal hosts. Like the Kalashtar Quori, a Tairnadal ancestor survives as long as there’s at least one suitable host. However, in the case of the Kalashtar, it’s simple genetics; for the Tairnadal, the host has to work to maintain that eligibility. Note that despite the phrase “ancestor,” the living elf need not be an actual genetic descendant of the hero who chooses her.

Emulating an ancestor doesn’t mean literally reenacting the deeds of the hero, although it can. Most of the heroes of Xen’drik fought drow and giants. A Valenar elf can emulate his ancestor while fighting goblins or humans; it’s simply a question of interpreting how the patron spirit would act if he’d had humans to deal with instead of giants. Was the hero known for skill at magic or swordplay? Did he act honorably, or was he a sly trickster? Did he fight from horseback or skulk in the shadows? The Valenar come from a sect known as the Valaes Tairn, and these elves believe that while they needn’t fight giants, the best way to emulate and strengthen the ancestors is through war. It is this that brought the elves to Khorvaire. However, at the end of the day, their ancestors weren’t mercenaries. And for that matter, their ancestors didn’t rule a kingdom. The Tairnadal champions fought against amazing odds, surviving due to their skill, cunning, and knowledge of the land. They relied on speed and guerilla tactics, outmaneuvering and out-thinking the enemy. And at the end of the day, this is what the Valenar are setting up on Khorvaire: a battleground to re-enact that ancient war. They have claimed the territory and spent decades learning every nook of it, finding the best places for ambushes and setting traps. Now they want a powerful, worthy foe to come and attack them – so like their ancestors, they can be the resistance against the mighty foe. Long-term, Shaeras Vadallia doesn’t care about being a king; he wants to lead his people in battle, as the warrior-queen Vadallia did long ago.

Recently, a few questions and thoughts came up on this matter.

How do the Valenar justify massacring Talentans, Q’barran settlers, and Cyran refugees who pose no threat to them? How can this be seen as honoring their ancestors?

To begin with, let me make perfectly clear: My goal here isn’t to somehow absolve the Valenar of guilt; it’s to explain why they do what they do. The actions of the Valenar make sense to the Valenar. They are following a religious imperitive that reserves their culture and their ancestors, and these things are more important to them than the fate of a human civilization that is just a few thousand years old. This ties to one of the basic themes of Eberron: People aren’t perfect. In our world people fight wars, commit genocide, and inflict suffering on one another for what can seem to outsiders like the most trivial reasons. Narcissism and greed are at least as prevalent as empathy and compassion. Eberron reflects that. There are truly good and noble people, but they stand out because most people are looking after their own needs. As I’ve said, this is what makes the Church of the Silver Flame stand out: it’s basic tenets are purely altruistic, and MOST of the faithful follow those tenets. The fact that there is corruption in the church reflects that even there, people aren’t perfect – even in this bastion of light, there are people who fail to live up to the ideals, intentionally or simply because they fail to see their own flaws.

So, with all that said, let’s start in the past with the slaughter of Cyran refugees fleeing from the Mourning. On the surface, a heartless massacre of helpless innocents fleeing destruction. But let’s look at how and why such a thing could occur.

There’s many reasons for a nation to consider a massive influx of refugees a threat. How many advanced nations in our world would allow a tens of thousands people from a nation they have been at war with to simply swarm over the border? Aside from straining resources, these people have been the enemy for decades. They may appear to be civilians, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t soldiers and spies among them – and enough farmers with pitchforks can be a threat all on their own.
No one understood the Mourning. It happened incredibly swiftly, and the people caught in the heart of it didn’t have time to send a message to the outside world. Those who escaped were fleeing in mad terror, not knowing when it was safe to stop and certainly not ready to pause and rationally explain what was going on – because they didn’t KNOW what was going on. The Valenar had no idea what was happening in Cyre. So what they see is vast mobs of Cyrans moving towards their borders. The vanguard of the border patrols meets them and seeks to turn them back. The Cyrans stampede on; they don’t have time to stop and explain. If necessary they will fight in order to keep moving. They vastly outnumber the Valenar and they are panicked; they are not going to stop and rationally think “These are Valenar, we’re simply not capable of matching them.” In return, a Valenar warband faced with a hostile force that outnumbers them ten to one, with no knowledge of why this apparent invasion is going on or if a greater threat is over the horizon, will deal with them ruthlessly and efficiently, preparing for whatever the next threat will be. The Valenar on the borders during the war will be warriors, not caregivers or diplomats – and on that day, they were still at war with Cyre.
Khunans versus Thrones. Not all of the violence was carried out by Valenar. The Valenar weren’t expecting the massive influx of refugees and couldn’t possibly cover the entire border against such an invasion. However, most of the inhabitants of Valenar aren’t Tairnadal elves; they are humans. However, they are humans with a different cultural and ethnic background from the Cyrans. The people of the Five Nations largely trace their roots back to the nations of Rhiavaar, Nulakesh, and Pyrine in Sarlona. The people of southeastern Khorvaire come from the nation of Khunan in Sarlona. All of these nations are long gone, but traditions remain… including deep-rooted animosity between the Khunans and the “Thrones” who had oppressed them for centuries. When Cyrans suddenly came to them, helpless and looking for handouts, many Khunans were both determined to keep the Cyrans from regaining their power and hungry for vengeance for the many indignities suffered by their ancestors. Noble? Of course not. But again… people aren’t perfect. The Cyran refugees reaped the bitter harvest sowed by their ancestors’ abuse of the Khunans.

That’s the past. Now let’s move to the present day, with the Valenar raids on the Talenta Plains and Q’barra. Consider the following things.

These raids occur on the warband level. A warband is comprised of eight to twelve elves. The raiders aren’t acting under orders from Vadallia, or following a grand tactical plan; they are free agents following their instincts.
The Talenta Halflings are far from helpless. One to one, the halflings are no match for Valenar. But the Valenar aren’t looking for a one-to-one matchup. A Valenar warband may challenge a halfling community with dozens of warriors. On top of this, the halflings know their land. Here, they are the ones setting ambushes and trying to outwit the foe. Which is what the Valenar want. They don’t WANT the odds to be in their favor; they want a challenge.
Raids take different forms. The term “raid” raises the image of Valenar sweeping in on horseback and setting fire to buildings and the like. And some raids are just like that. But at the end of the day, Valenar seek to reenact the deeds of their ancestors, and not all of the heroes were cavalry troops. Some were stealthy warriors who fought on foot. In this case, a “raid” would be more like a siege, with the Valenar lurking in the jungles around a village and cutting it off, forcing the people inside to try to find some way to deal with the ghosts in the woods. This sort of struggle is mentioned in The Dreaming Dark novels, when Daine remembers fighting Valenar.
Fine, they seek a challenge. They’re still starting fights and killing people. And the Q’barran settlers aren’t so tough. All true. Again, I’d never claim that all Valenar are altruists or paragons of virtue – and those who ARE (because their patron ancestors were) would never support such actions. But with that said, the Valenar kill far fewer people in these raids than you’d expect. When you look to many similar cultures in our world – Vikings, Mongols, pirates – the goal of such a raid is to kill you and take your stuff. The Valenar don’t actually WANT your stuff… and for that matter, they don’t particularly want to kill you. The goal of a raid is to antagonize your rulers or to see if you can pose a martial challenge. In the case of Q’barran settlers, they want to cause enough damage to inspire terror in the people and have word spread of how something must be done – but not so much as to cripple the colony, which does nothing for them. They want you to be able to rebuild so they can come back again. Meanwhile, with the halflings, they don’t want to kill the best halfling warriors; if they can’t pose a threat NOW, maybe they will next month. Maybe they’ll come up with a clever ambush. Maybe they’ll bring some sort of unexpected druidic magic to bear. Essentially, far from slaughtering the halflings, they are actually transforming the halflings into veteran soldiers. And personally, I think a number of Valenar warbands have lost the gamble in dealing with the Talentans; I don’t think it’s entirely a one-sided exchange.

With all that said, the elves are hurting these communities. They are causing significant collateral damage. People are wounded and some will die. But they aren’t TRYING to massacre the people they strike; on the contrary, if anything they are trying to kill as few as possible while still accomplishing their goals, because that’s a far greater challenge.

Some of the ancestors are bastards. The Valenar seek to preserve the legends of their past – heroes who accomplished great deeds and overcame terrible odds. But frankly, not all of these “heroes” were heroic. Some were assassins. Some specialized in spreading terror. In war, these things can be expedient tools – and the Valenar keep all of these legends alive. A very interesting character point is to have a Valenar PC whose patron ancestor was a cruel killer of civilians. Will the PC turn his back on his duty, or embrace this path and become the assassin he’s supposed to be?

In Summary: The Valenar raids are insupportable. That’s the point – the Valenar want people to be angry about them and do something to stop them. If the people of Khorvaire saw the raids as justified, they’d never do anything to stop them. However, compared to many mundane bandits – who exist across Khorvaire – the Valenar don’t kill as many people in their raids as one would expect, nor do they take much loot. They don’t want to cripple their victims. The thing is an exercise driven by long-term goals and religious imperitives… not the same sort of raiding you see from bandits, pirates, and others driven by greed or hatred.

In another thread, the idea is suggested that since the civilian population of the Tairnadal – their children, horse breeding grounds, and so on – are in Aerenal, the smart move is not to face them in Valenar, but rather to set up a sea blockade and to attack the Tairnadal in Aerenal. This raises a variety of questions.

What sort of naval defenses does Aerenal have?

Aerenal is an island. Dragons aside, they’ve had to deal with the organized threat of the Dhakaani and with all manner of raiders, from Serens to Sarlonans to Lhaazars. There are sahuagin in the sea, and civilizations that have risen on Xen’drik only to fall prey to the Durashka’tal – but which lasted long enough to pose a potential threat. And when you’re an island, it’s good to have a strong navy, both for defense and commerce. Tie to this the fact that Aerenal is Eberron’s primary source of exotic lumbers (darkwood, bronzewood, livewood) and that the elves have long had a talent for arcane and divine magic. As such, I see the Aereni as having a fairly small fleet in comparison to the Five Nations, but each ship is individually quite powerful – fast, constructed of the finest materials, and supplemented by magic. This is reflected by the Bloodsails, who after all started out as Aereni elves. One weapon I’ve seen the Aereni using is an arbalest that fires livewood bolts, each holding a dryad – so a way to hit an enemy ship with a mystical boarding party at a distance.

Now, that’s the Aereni. Take the Aereni navy out of the picture for the moment. Personally, I think the Tairnadal are very weak at sea. None of their patron ancestors are famous seafarers. Mobility and stealth are important to them, and both are difficult when you are trapped on a boat. I don’t think they actually maintain a fleet; I think they chartered ships from the Aereni and Lyrandar to get to Khorvaire. So they won’t meet you at sea. However, they do have a small griffon air force that can harry ships, and beyond this, as they don’t use the sea, I would expect their druids to have created a host of “natural” defenses to make approach by sea extremely difficult; the water will be filled with hidden rocks and reefs waiting to tear out the bottom of a ship. So the Tairnadal won’t fight you at sea, but they will make it difficult for you to land – and a small air force that includes wizards and druids can certainly add to that difficulty. It’s like a mystical minefield; it’s a question of how much it will cost you to make the landing.

How powerful are the Tairnadal on Aerenal?

I see this as a DM’s decision. Ten thousand years ago, the Valaes Tairn were forced to flee Khorvaire in disgrace because they’d overextended themselves and had to return to protect their homeland from an attack by dragons. So, option one is to say that they haven’t learned from history and have done exactly the same thing, and that this is a brilliant tactical move that will cripple them. Option two is to say that they have learned, that the force that followed Vadallia is significant but not the majority of the Valaes Tairn, and that the force that remained is armed for dragon – which means they can put up a significant fight. In any case, just as the Valenar have been preparing Valenar as a battleground, they’ve had twenty thousand years to prepare for battle on Aerenal – so even a small group of Tairnadal should prove a challenge. They WON’T stand and fight. They’ll melt away into the shadows and fight a guerilla war, just as their ancestors did. Now, Aerenal is where the majority of the Tairnadal civilians – children, the infirm, etc – are, and not all of these people can fight so effectively. Which then comes to the question of how the invading army will behave. You capture a thousand Tairnadal children. OK, now what? Hold them for ransom? How far will you go with your threats? These children haven’t attacked Khorvaire. Given that the Tairnadal are clan-based, their clan may not even support Vadallia’s actions. Will you be the one massacring innocents?

I’ll note that you always have the Draleus Tairn – the dragon slayers – on staff as the defenders of Aerenal, and you’ll also have those elves whose patron ancestors wouldn’t have supported Vadallia’s actions.

Of course, the REAL question about Elven power is…

How will the Undying Court respond to an attack on the Tairnadal?

The Tairnadal have set this in motion due to their actions on Khorvaire. Will the Aereni and the Undying Court support them? Well, let’s look at this from the perspective of the 20,000 year old Ascendant Councilor. As you’ve scried across the world, you’ve seen the goblin empire rise and fall. You’ve seen human civilizations rise on Sarlona and tear one another apart. You’ve seen humans come to Khorvaire, and seen Malleon the Reaver slaughtering the native goblins. You saw the beginning of Galifar, and you saw the Five Nations turn on one another and tear the kingdom apart.  The short form? Wars happen. Civilizations rise and fall. The nations currently fighting the Tairnadal have terrible skeletons in their past, and besides, in another thousand years they will be gone. On the other hand, the Tairnadal have been your allies for twenty thousand years. They have taken your side against the dragons. And furthermore, allowing humans to take aggressive action on the soil of Aerenal sets a TERRIBLE precedent. Like I said, you’ve personally seen the humans spread onto Khorvaire and drive the goblins into the darkness. Are you going to allow those same humans to get a foothold on your sacred island?

Personally, I cannot imagine the Undying Court simply sitting back and watching as an invading army lands on Aerenal. Whether they are targeting the Tairnadal or not, Aerenal is the haven of the elven people: allowing foreign invaders to shed elven blood and to gain a foothold on the island just seems impossible to me. And at that point, you are dealing with the Aereni navy and the mystical power of the Undying Court itself.

With that said: What I can imagine is a player character – one of the pivotal figures of this age – being able to sway the opinion of the Undying Court. As it stands, the view of the Court is that war and violence happens; the Tairnadal are following the dictates of their religion; and if it’s a choice between human suffering on Khorvaire and elven suffering on Aerenal, they’ll always choose the defense of Aerenal. However, if a PC frames this as “Why must their be ANY suffering” and offers some sort of alternative, I could see him winning the support of the Court on the matter… at least when it comes to negotiating with the Tairnadal. I simply can’t imagine the Court sitting idly by while humans invade Aerenal… but I can see the Court throwing its support to a diplomatic solution to the Valenar problem.

Have the Dragons of Argonnessen ever used Seren barbarians in battle against the elves?

First off, I’m sure that over the course of history some Seren raiders have reached Aerenal on their own. Otherwise, it’s possible, but I think they’d be just as likely to use the stone giant, goblin, and dragonborn troops that are commonly associated with the Light of Siberys. Personally, I think each war is slightly different; this one is the war notable for the massive ground invasion, this one involved a flight of aquatic dragons, this one was entirely fought in the air.

I want to play a Valenar PC, but I don’t want to support Vadallia’s actions. Why would a Valenar turn on his people?

Tons of reasons. The obvious option is that you’re not Valenar, you’re Tairnadal, and you never supported Vadallia in the first place; you’ve come directly from Aerenal on your own personal quest. But here’s a few options dealing specifically with “rebel” Valenar.

Your patron ancestor is a paragon of honor and chivalry. You were fine fighting in the war, but you cannot support Vadallia’s betrayal. Since then you have acted alone, seeking to find honorable combat far away from Valenar.
Your patron ancestor is Vadallia herself. You initially supported Shaeras Vadallia’s actions, as he is accepted to be the finest avatar of Vadallia. However, her spirit is a part of you and you don’t believe she approves of this course of action. For now you are building up your skills and allies. When the time is right, you intend to return and challenge Shaeras, to defeat him and restore your people to the proper path.
Your patron ancestor was known for defending the weak and innocent. Not only have you abandoned Vadallia’s cause, you have actively opposed your cousins in their raids, both directly and by training the Q’barrans and Talentans in effective tactics for fighting Valenar.
You haven’t just turned against your people, you’ve turned against your ancestor. Your patron ancestor was known for massacring innocents. Vadallia set your warband (as warbands are usually composed of people with compatible ancestors) to go reaving, and you simply couldn’t stomach it any more. You refuse to follow your ancestor. Perhaps you have chosen a new ancestor to emulate, even though that’s not supposed to actually work – or perhaps you are sickened by the traditions of your people and want to change the entire system of the Tairnadal faith. If you keep it personal, you could actually have decided to go so far as to eliminate the vile ancestor, by tracking down and eliminating every elf that is emulating him.

One of the ideas for an elf PC who rejects the nation of Valenar is that the patron ancestor is a paragon of honor. So if that character remained with Cyre, what would his relationship be with the Valenar elves? Would they consider him to be an exemplar of their religion, following the path of his ancestor even if it meant going against his nation?

“Going against his nation” is going to be less of an issue than “going against his leader.” Very few Valenar have any serious investment in Valenar as a “nation” – remember that their families and such are back on Aerenal. Valenar is a military beachhead, not a homeland. Having said that, most would at least respect the PC’s decision, as long as it did fit the established stories of the ancestor.

As he wouldn’t consider himself a Valenar, since he’s not a member of the nation, would he be all right fighting his own kin?

Just as few Valenar think of the nation as a homeland, most consider their identity as Valaes Tairn of warclan X as more important than being “Valenar.” I would expect the same to be true of a PC; these people didn’t stop being Valaes Tairn or his cousins because they chose to follow Vadallia (as their ancestors did long ago). I would expect the PC to understand why a Valenar whose ancestor was known for loyalty to his leader would remain true to Vadallia, even if he personally considered it dishonorable. So: I don’t think the PC would relish combat with Valenar, any more than they would want to fight him. However, I think both would be prepared to do so if it was clearly the action their ancestors would have taken in the same circumstances.

What’s a Valenar warhound? Just a dog? Or a super speedy dog to keep up with the horses?

The latter. It’s tied to the idea of the hounds and horses of the Otherworld in the Mabinogian – elf huntsman having steeds and hounds that are unnaturally swift. These have the same mythical origin as the steeds themselves (going back to the Xen’drik wars). However, I don’t think of them as being as common or integral to society as the horses.

Why are Eberronian elves unable to dream?

Because they are derived from 3.5 elves, which tranced instead of sleeping. There are a variety of explanations one could give for this; here’s two ideas.

It’s connected to their origin as being tied to Thelanis. But why is it that the equally fey 4E gnomes still dream? Well, it could be that the heart of Dal Quor in a previous age banished the Eladrin/Elves for encroaching on its borders, but wasn’t offended by the gnomes; or that fey never dreamed, but a clever gnome won the heart of the Dreaming Heart and it formed a bridge so they could be together. Thenlanis is about stories – make one up!
The giants did it so their servants couldn’t be manipulated by the Quori of the time – though this doesn’t explain why Eladrin don’t dream.