Our current tribe is one of diversity and differences. I cannot tell you the stories of tribes I have not met, nor can I speak for every elf born in this tribe; but I can tell you how elves came to be on the World of Two Moons and how the Tall Tree Holt’s tribe began.

Uncountable eights of seasons ago our ancestors, the High Ones, fell from the stars onto this world. No elf alive today knows why the Palace, the vessel the High Ones traveled in, crashed here, but it is known that once they set foot upon the ground this world dampened our ancestors’ magic, leaving them defenseless. There were no hunters or fighters among elves at that time and learning the ways of this world in their weakened state was by no means easy.

Perhaps the High Ones would have been able to return to the stars had it not been for the humans. The humans were odd, five-fingered creatures the Tall Tree Holt born elves only speak of as legends. For some reason the High Ones’ arrival angered them and they attacked. Many of our ancestors died in that struggled and the survivors were split up in small groups.

One of these groups were the ancestors of the Tall Tree Holt tribe. Lost in the cold wilderness one of them, the High One Nenteela, made a very important choice. She managed to find enough strength inside herself to Shape-Change into a wolf. In her new form she joined a wolf pack and with their help taught her kin to hunt and survive in this new world.

But food was not all this new kinship brought. A century passed and Nenteela was more and more seldom seen in her elfin form. Then one night she appeared with a cub, but an eight of nights old. Nenteela had many children while in wolf form, but this one was special.

The elves that took care of her came to call her Kala. She was the first wolf-blooded elf, the half-wolf.

As time went by Kala grew into a strong leader and soon became the tribe’s first chief. She had many children, but always had the closest relationship with the wolves. Had it not been for Junli - her first Recognized - helping her think like an elf she’d surely been lost to the wolfsong very quickly indeed.

However, after a few centuries, the call of her wolf-side became too strong and she left the tribe. Keenstar - her oldest cub - took her place as chief and no one challenged him for the position. In him the starsong sang loud and clear. His dream was to return to the Palace and the stars. Sadly this dream became his downfall. During an attempt to find a way safely past the human settlements separating the elves from the High Ones’ vessel he and many others died in an avalanche.

After Keenstar came chief Firetune. Firetune had no other great dream or quest than seeing his tribe safe. As the weather grew colder hunting became more and more fruitless. Elves starved or froze to death. That was when Firetune made the decision to seek out a new place to live. Since that decision our Howls have never again mentioned snow; the cold, white thing that was said to fall from the sky like rain.

It is no longer known how far the tribe traveled, but in the end they came to settled where the Tall Tree Holt once was. A long time of peace and calm followed. Food was plentiful and every member of the tribe lived in the Now of Wolf Thought.

Perhaps things could have remained that way had it not been for the arrival of another tribe; the bird-bloods. With the death of our last Howl Keeper Longtale we lost the knowledge of their tribe name and who they truly were, but from what we know they were dark of skin and powerful magic users.

The Tall Tree Holt welcomed the bird-bloods warmly, though some of them were vary of these strangers. In the end the bird-bloods decided to stay in the Holt and became a part of the tribe.

Many turns passed and the tribe flourished. Never in memory have so many children been born close to each other in age. Not only that but most of them were gifted with the old powers in some way.

The joy and peace ended abruptly one night when the first wolves started to show signs of a mysterious new illness. After a hunt outside the Holt’s borders, that no elf had joined, many of the wolves came back wounded. Not long after they began to show signs of madness. They began to attack anything that moved, even their own kin and all who were bitten turned just as crazy. It was named “the foaming-sickness” because of the white foam all the sick ones got around their muzzles.

A few elves were bitten before the sick ones could be healed or put out of their misery. One of them was the chief’s daughter Whirl. Her life was saved by the tribe’s healers, but some madness still lingered in her mind, unknown to those around her.

No one truly knows what twisted idea it was that made Whirl challenge her father. It came as a shock for the tribe when Whirl first accused the bird-bloods of bringing the foaming-sickness, then loudly claimed that nothing like that would have happened if she had been chief. Most were upset by Whirl’s harsh words and thought her mad, but some agreed and sided with her.

Firetune did not fight as well as he could against his daughter, too shocked by the change in her. That cost him both the Chief’s Lock and his life. Whirl won the challenge and was quick to banish her wounded father and all the bird-bloods from the Holt.

The wolf-bloods – or those of mixed blood that Whirl had allowed to stay – were divided. Some thought Whirl was right, others saw it as their duty to obey the chief. But all wolf-bloods did not stay with Whirl. Some left of their own free will, others tried to leave but were stopped because Whirl saw them as too useful – the healers for example.

As the season of Soft-Rain swept in over the forest many of the banished ones had gathered together. Most of them were wolf-bloods, but some bird-bloods had stayed behind as well. They howled for Firetune - he did not survive the wounds from the challenge. They were too grave and no healer had been allowed to leave the Holt to help. They mourned and they raged, but they would not give up on the Tall Tree Holt. It was their home; Whirl had to be fought and banished they all finally agreed.

The season of Soft-Rain turned to the season of Shore-Mist and the banished ones decided it was time. Their chosen leader, Nightspear, Whirl’s cousin and the tribe’s best fighter, made her way to the Holt, alone. There she was greeted warmly by Whirl who now called herself Boldpath.

The challenge was a swift one. Nightspear easily bested the crazed Boldpath and banished her. The mad one cursed Nightspear’s name even as she fled into the woods, together with the few followers she had left. The remaining tribe was reunited, though they had lost many of their magic users.

Nightspear’s dream was for everything to go back to what it had been before Boldpath’s challenge against Firetune. During her time as chief she led many scouting parties in search for the bird-bloods who'd left the Holt's territory after being banished. It was during one of those searches she and a few others got killed in a rockslide.

Soulcaller - Nightspear’s daughter – was the sixth chief of our tribe. She was a powerful magic user and difficult to fully understand. Even her Recognized couldn’t quite figure her out. All he could tell the rest of the tribe was that Soulcaller knew things, secrets that she would tell the tribe “when they were ready”.

Sadly that never happened. One day the chieftess was walking alone along the shore. When night fell and the tribe woke up and saw that she was missing they sent out a hunting party to search for her. She must have gotten lost in the fog and fallen off a cliff for all they found of her was her broken, cold body in the sand by the Vastdeep.

Greydusk became chief after his mother. He was a very caring leader who always put the tribe before himself. He died saving a tribemate from a falling branch while he and a few others were scouting the Holt’s borders.

Stronghands was a chief of action. He was the one who found the trolls and saw to it that they and the tribe began trading. It was also during his time that cubs gifted with magic were born once more. He died in a hunting accident.

Clearmind – the last chief of the Tall Tree Holt – was a simple elf who knew how to enjoy life to the fullest. He was a natural leader and knew how to make others listen to him without needing to raise his voice.

It was during Clearmind’s time that the Stone from the Sky came. One night the sky lit up with a shockingly bright light, blinding everyone. When the Stone itself – the source of the mysterious light – hit the ground, the whole Holt shook.

The Stone was beautiful and it had a clear aura of magic. We saw it as a message from the High Ones, for who else could have sent us something so powerful? The trolls didn’t agree. They had grown envious of us over the turns of seasons as they had seen Tree-Shapers and Healers being born. As if the birth of our first Metal-Shaper hadn’t been enough to anger them.

At first the trolls tried to trade the Stone for sharp knives and beautiful jewelry. When that didn’t work they disappeared into their tunnels. For three seasons they hid. Then, one night, without as much as a warning, they attacked…