Kelethin
Kelethin is one of the most amazing cities in all of Norrath, a tree city built peacefully around the trunks of the giant trees of the Greater Faydark. I was seeking Bards in this part of the world, and a fellow traveller who gave me directions told me to not look at my feet, but I had no idea what he meant until I saw the bottoms of dozens of wooden platforms sticking out of the mist. This is the ancestral home of the wood elves, and the center of their society. Elevators can be raised and lowered to the surrounding forest floor from some of the lower platforms, allowing easy access for the wood elves and protection from those they would rather not have visiting.
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Map
 Kelethin
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See the Kelethin Starting Guide for helpful information for players starting out in Kelethin.
Lifts
There are three lifts from Greater Faydark into Kelethin.
Northern Lift
Other names: "Orc Lift"
Location: Approximately (988.77, 221.86, -21.26) in Greater Faydark.
(Guard Fayfear & Guard Pineshade at bottom, Guard Orcflayer at top)
Central Lift
Other names: "PoD Lift"
Location: Approximately (138.10, 233.33, 8.60) in Greater Faydark.
(Guard Rainstrider, Guard Fireblight & POD at bottom, Merchant Kwein & Merchant Linolyen at top)
Southeastern Lift
Location: Approximately (27.07, -137.08, 8.82) in Greater Faydark.
Other names: "Newbie Lift"
(Guard Brookrock at base, Merchant Iludarae at top)
Surrounding Areas
The area surrounding Kelethin is swarming with life. Black wolves, wasp drones, and bats move through the forest and provide targets for many a budding archer from the city above. The nearby orc city of Crushbone occasionally sends out scouts as far as Kelethin, but they have never gained a foothold on the city's platforms themselves.
Farther from the main city lies the entrance to Crushbone itself. The orcs have made camps ringing the entrance and many heroes (and corpses) have been made fighting the large orc families that live here. Faeries also move through the forest, but they will leave the average traveler alone unless they are known to hunt faerie-kin. The nearby smaller forest of Lesser Faydark holds the portal to the land of the gnomes and is inhabited by more ferocious orcs and other, more horrible creatures. The way to the dwarven city of Kaladim lies through the Butcherblock Mountains and its dangers.
Traveling To and From Kelethin
Kelethin is one of the four major cities on the continent of Faydwer. The others include the cities of the high elves, the dwarves, and the gnomes. Wood elves share Greater Faydark with the high elves, although the high elf city of Felwithe is almost exactly the opposite of Kelethin. Felwithe is a grand and opulent city on the outside while being simple and beautiful on the inside. The gnome city of Ak'Anon and the dwarven city of Kaladim are both a short distance away. The journey to Ak'Anon goes through the sparsely populated forest of Lesser Faydark. Kaladim is found in the nearby Butcherblock Mountains.
As far as traveling abroad, Kelethin is about as far from a port as you can be on this island. The trip from Kaladim's port to the human city of Freeport is a long and boring one. There is a set of magical gates near the pass to Lesser Faydark where powerful mages have been rumored to travel, but they have been inactive for quite some time.
History
The Koada'Dal generally like to think they are the closest to their ancestors of ancient Tunaria, but the Feir'Dal know better. When the Elves arrived in Faydwer and saw the marvelous unspoiled woodlands, fae-touched and lovely, some of them saw a chance for a fresh start, away from the mistakes of the past. Some, however, were too rooted in the past to see this great opportunity and set about building walls and buildings and canals, trying to force a portion of the Faydark into their memory of Takish'Hiz.
The Fier'Dal (Wild Elves), as they would come to be called, saw this for the folly it was. When they looked at the Faydark, they all agreed it was much like Takish'Hiz, only much wilder, and they did not see this as a bad thing. They tried to convince their countrymen to abandon their city, but they were unable to convince them. In then end, they left the Koada'Dal to their marble halls and struck out into the wilderness.
Between where Kelethin and Crushbone stand today, the Wood Elves set about their first attempt at a woodland home, Shadow-Wood Keep. There stood-- stands, to this day-- a massive broadwood tree. The Elves spent decades coaxing the trees around it to grow horizontally to furnish a flat surface on which to build. They then laid crossbeams over the trunks, and mats on top, and hung mats from the surrounding upright trees. Leaves served as the roof. For many years, the Feir'Dal dwelled here very happily.
The Orcs and Elves had been at odds since the Elves arrived. When they started building Crushbone as their own city so near the Wood Elven settlement, the Fier'Dal were furious and began preparing for war. Unfortunately, the Orcs attacked first. The Orcs massacred the unprepared Elves and set fire to the Keep, burning it and everything in it. Only a handful of the Wood Elves escaped.
Today, no one knows precisely where to find the ruins of the Keep. Those few who claim to have seen it speak of a burned-out shell haunted by decaying skeletons-- the remains of the inhabitants whose hatred of the orcs keeps them from true rest.
The remaining Wood Elves were heart-broken but not beaten. They began construction at once on an even more magnificent home. Slowly, one of oldest and most respected rangers, Kele, put together a team of rangers to distract the orcs while the others worked on the nascent city. Dispite attacks from both the orcs and the native fae, the Wood Elves build many platforms and huts high above the forest floor. Once there were enough homes for everyone, the community moved in there, and christened it "Kelethin," Elvish for "Child of Kele."
The Orcs, enraged at the seeming disappearance of their hated enemies, began burning great swaths of forest down to drive them out of hiding. It was only at this point, after having established a city of their own, that Kele went to Felwithe to ask aid against the Orcs. The High Elves, who had only been waiting to be asked, graciously granted it. The Orcish threat diminished thereafter. The High Elves made it plain, however, that if their woodland countrymen expected Felwithian aid, they should remember their loyalty to the Felwithian crown.
Local Color
Places
The city itself is really the site to see when you are in Kelethin. It is incredible to an outsider (although I'm part elf myself) that these wood elves live and work on platforms with no rails or protection from falls to the ground below. Although personally not afraid of heights, my barbarian friend who made the trip to this city with me refused to ride the elevator to the platforms and curled up in a bush below to await my return. I can't say that I blame him.
People
The people of Kelethin are a quiet folk. They are sequestered away in Greater Faydark, and since the population reveres nature as a rule, it would be difficult to find any of the poachers or other misusers of the gifts in Kelethin. It pains my human half to say it, but I feel that elves are one of the truly beautiful races in Norrath, and this peaceful city is a faint reflection of an inner peace and harmony that we all could learn from.
What's in this zone?
See the Greater Faydark page.
