Ancient elves lived in a world before the Veil separated the fade from the waking realm. Their culture was rich, varied, and based heavily on magic. All elvhen were born mages, and their long-lived nature made for a world both wondrous and strange. A single ball could last a week. Courtship could last decades. A complex ritual might take a hundred years or more to cast.

The eluvian network allowed for near-instantaneous long-distance travel. Goods and knowledge were shared freely, and resources were plentiful. Spirits were viewed as companions, fellows, sentient entities in their own right. Some spirits even took on elvhen bodies, to better experience everything that a physical form had to offer. Elves lived largely in harmony with nature, and their magic made for numerous advances in architecture, healthcare, infrastructure, and more.

Kingdoms of Elvhenan
Originally spanning across the face of Thedas, the elven kingdom was organized into smaller provinces, governed by their individual nobles and royalty. There were five separate kingdoms in total, which later came together to be known collectively as Elvhenan.

Evune

The justice system of Evune was heralded as one of the hallmarks of its reign. Its citizens - noble and peasant alike - were all permitted and encouraged to sit on a ‘peoples jury’ to vote on the outcome of court cases. Though the reigning monarch was given the final say in all rulings, this power was balanced by the means of succession of the kingdom itself. Monarchs were permitted to sit for no longer than 500 years - and at the end of that tenure, when the kingdom’s heir was put forward, the people’s jury had the power to veto the monarch’s choice.

Original home of: Mythal, Solas

Sil’tarem

It was said that all the knowledge of the kingdoms was kept - or created - by the scribes and bookbinders of Sil’tarem. Notably, even during the height of the Evanuris’ cruelty and excess, the kingdom’s extensive libraries were kept free for all elvhen to utilize and enter. Some of Elvhenan’s most powerful spells - and lengthiest rituals - were conceived by the scholars and academics of Sil’tarem.

Original home of: Dirthamen, Falon’din

Oranavra

Oranavra was hailed as the bastion of strength. To that end, tournaments of strength and skill were held quite often, and were seen as deadly serious affairs. Those who performed well were given acclaim, lands, and slaves. Those who performed poorly were ridiculed, stripped of their titles, and sometimes even taken as slaves themselves. For any elvhen of repute, refusing to participate in a tourney was seen as shameful and cowardly.

Original home of: Andruil

Vun Anor

A violent, opulent land of excess, Vun Anor was best known for its violent means of ruling succession. The kingdom’s monarch was open to challenges from any citizen. Any challenge made to the ruler was required to be met on the field of battle, and battles for the crown could only end in the death of one of its combatants. Elgar’nan was notedly crowned the official king of Vun Anor when he brutally slayed his own father on the killing fields.

Original home of: Elgar’nan


Adahl'en


All elvhen of Adahl’en are required to be married upon reaching adulthood. If an individual was not able to establish their own match, the elders of their kingdom would assign them a partner. Divorce was not permitted, and faithlessness was punishable by death.

Original home of: June, Sylaise

The Rise of the Evanuris
As the elven kingdom expanded, so too did their claim on the land. When their presence disrupted the native Titans - ancient beings tied to the earth, capable of causing earthquakes and shifting the fabric of the land itself - the elves declared war in order to protect their people.

Several prominent mages rose to power during the war. None more so than the individuals who eventually became known as the Evanuris. Generals who hailed from different kingdoms, each of these powerful mages was eventually brought together under a single banner to fight against the Titans.These army Generals quickly rose in prominence due to their skills in battle and the unmitigated power of their magic. Their victories in war gained them many followers, and as their influence grew, so too did their political clout.

Soon, the Generals became powerful enough to threaten the very hierarchy of their respective kingdoms. Unwilling to bow to those they considered weaker than themselves, Elgar’nan and Andruil waged war against their own. The others - Mythal, Falon’din, Dirthamen, June, and Sylaise - were worshiped and adored, and were given royal titles and lands as gifts and tribute. Whatever the case, the original kingdoms of Elvhenan were eventually subsumed by the Evanuris, and their original ruling lines became defunct as the Evanuris took their place.

It was around this time that Andruil met Ghilan’nain and shared some of her power, creating the eighth and final Evanuris. Mythal, too, gave one of her dearest friends a body of his own, and thus the Dread Wolf sprung into being.

The kingdoms were united again, each separate, but ostensibly merged into one beneath Elgar’nan and Mythal, who were the strongest of the Evanuris. Arlathan was founded in -7600 Ancient.

As the Evanuris power continued to spread, they also began to claim the peoples beneath their rule. Nobility was branded first, and then everyone tied to their houses. This ‘vallaslin’ - blood writing - boldly announced an elvhen’s loyalties, and was originally a mark of pride. Power quickly corrupted the Evanuris’ minds, however, and the vallaslin’s purpose became distorted. Eventually, every citizen was marked with the symbols of those they ‘belonged’ to.

In their height, if an elf did not have vallaslin, they could be claimed by any Evanuris who walked by. Those without vallaslin, or who did not submit themselves to receive vallaslin willingly, were viewed as faithless, traitors, rebels, etc. 

War came to the lands once again, as the Forgotten Ones rebelled against the Evanuris’ rule. Resources grew scarce, and the atrocities of war became commonplace.The Evanuris turned to dark magic, slaughtering their own people in order to amass power for destructive spells, and committing terrible sins at the height of their power - and fell into a resulting madness. And still, the Evanuris were lauded as saviors by their war-torn peoples, who feared as much as idolized their rulers.

With Mythal's murder, her loyal companion, Solas, created the Veil to punish those who had killed her. And with the creation of the Veil, and both the Evanuris and the Forgotten Ones were sealed away, the ravaged elvhen people cried out to their gods for salvation - but were met only with silence.

Notes:

• The information contained above is not widespread knowledge.
  
• Ancient elvhen and those directly tied to history may be aware, but dalish elves born in a “modern” time would still know the Evanuris as the benevolent Creator Gods.
  
• Much of the truths of ancient elvhenan have been lost to time.
  
• This was penned by [color=#e82a1f]Ashon [/color]<3
  

Interesting Onsite Changes:
Valiant Hearts doesn't always follow the Wiki to a T, so what I've done is I've created a running (and frequently updated) list of things that we have changed, or are not canon about the Evanuris onsite.

• Elgar'nan and Mythal never married! But he did propose, once. She rejected him. 
  
• In VH canon, Mythal's only romantic relationship was with the Dread Wolf. This relationship was kept on the down-low, though. 
  
• The Sylvas have existed since Ancient Times. 
  
• Solas (otherwise known as the Dread Wolf) created the Veil as retaliation for his lover's murder.
  
• Sylaise and June did marry! 
  
• Dirthamen and Falon'din were not twins; but rather platonic partners, who had an unhealthy co-dependence upon one another.