Rethas Nerasil

Rethas Nerasil, or roughly "haven among the sands" in the elvish tongue, was a great civilization of the Aildari that stood within the desert lands of Rashaka until the end of the Third Age.

Though few races outside of the Aildari were ever permitted within its great walls, the vast city was widely known and and spoken of with much wonderment. After the Shadowswell, when many parts of the world were disastrously shifted, the city of Rethas Nerasil mysteriously disappeared along with most of the dune elves. Those left behind found themselves homeless and lost, nomads among the shifting sands. To this day, groups of dune elves traverse the wastes in search of their ancient homeland.

History
At the end of the Second Age, when the elves parted and went their separate ways, one group took the sea in search of a new home. Led by the great warrior and tactician Aelneas Kel'sennar, called Earthguard to some, this group was largely made up of fighters and craftsmen who had grown close to Aelneas and viewed him as their true leader.

After a perilous voyage, the elves came upon the continent that would be later known as Rashaka, a harsh and violent land covered almost entirely by a massive desert, with a sprawling jungle making up the rest.

Despite the seemingly unwelcome terrain, Aelneas claimed the desert sands perfect for the start of the elves new homeland, and the construction of Rethas Nerasil began. The elvish craftsman Kelim Ashaniar, also Aelneas' closest friend and advisor, oversaw the planning and building of the city.

The elves unanimously declared Aelneas as their new king, and though the warrior was hesitant to bear such a title, he accepted knowing that the people looked to him for guidance and leadership. Aelneas declared that his people would henceforth be known as the Aildari, "elves of the desert", or Dune Elves.

The kingdom of the Aildari stood fast for over a thousand years despite constant clashes with Rashaka's other inhabitants: the snake-like Nazini, the demon-worshiping Sel'gad, and the Tyranaur empire.

During the Shadowswell, when the Plane of Shadow nearly overtook the material realm of Relia, Rashaka was chaotically plane-shifted. It returned to Relia, but the land had been so violently phased that nothing was as it once was, and the great city of Rethas Nerasil had disappeared entirely.

Life in Rethas Nerasil
As Elves are known to do, the Aildari adapted quickly to life in the harsh wastes of Rashaka, even taking on different physical qualities as time passed. The warriors found their skills still quite useful, as they protected their new settlement from roving bands of marauding Tyranaur, monstrous sand worms, and giant scorpions. These warriors were also largely responsible for the hunting and gathering of meat, hides and other supplies. Craftsmen were kept busy with the creation and maintenance of the city as well as keeping the citizens and soldiers outfitted. Rashaka's desert is rich with ore and mineral deposits which the Aildari mined regularly in addition to eventually expanding to mining around the Wyvernrest Mountains. Expeditions into the southern jungle were not uncommon for gathering of fruits and other useful foilage that did not grow in the desert wastes.

Rethas Nerasil was designed from the beginning to be an ongoing process. The basic structures were built, and then the city expanded in a circular fashion from that point on for many decades. The dune elves quickly developed their own style of unique architecture. The artistry of such design soon became highly cherished as the Aildari people fleshed out their own identity separate from their elven kin.

Life for the Aildari in Rethas Nerasil was one of equality. Every elf followed their passion, but considered it only natural to aid fellow peers and contribute to the well-being of their society. As such, social classes never truly emerged within Rethas Nerasil, and instead every citizen enjoyed equal treatment, opportunity, and compensation.

Kelim Ashaniar, the lead architect in the city's planning and construction, was later appointed as the governor and advisor of city affairs to assist King Aelneas as the population steadily grew. Over time, Kelim recruited several other trusted friends to form a city council. Though Aelneas retained the power of King and held the highest seat on this council, the government quickly shifted away from traditional elvish style.

Language
The Aildari continued to speak the language of their ancestors, but were also known to speak Common with traders or passerbys. Some dune elves even learned a rough version of the Nazini tongue. The language of the Sel'gad tribe was considered taboo, as they were sworn enemies of the Aildari and their tongue was thought to be that of demons.