Role

Chapter 2

The Tahl'miltheryn are a reclusive and enigmatic community of Elves. Little is
known of their ways or their culture. The name alone is known only by a few,
through the rare few of the Tahl (who would never abbreviate the name in such
a fashion) who let the word slip. Their existence to most people is entirely
an unknown. And that is how these Elves preferred it.

They never truly even considered opening themselves up to outsiders, like
their cousins of Darsylon. Instead, they chose to live in solitude,
maintaining the purity of their culture thriving without the corruption of
wickedness, greed or materialism that so often accompanies outsiders. They
were not a people of possession, only of purpose. Allowing traders, visitors
and politicians would have corrupted the beliefs they held most dear.

For millenia upon millenia, they kept themselves isolated. But they did not
turn a blind eye to the people of Thera. They watched and listened, though
were never seen. They knew the struggles and tribulations of the lower races.
They saw the wars and the strife that the people caused and then suffered
through. They knew well these events, and they knew their duty in response to
them.

The Tahl consider themselves true Elves, firstborn of the mortal races, and
therefore inheriting a responsibility for those that came after. They took
this responsibility not as some abstract idea, but as a very tactile and
necessary purpose. Therefore, once every millenia they would choose a young
Elf who embodied their best traits, as they saw them, to leave their village
and fulfil their role as the protectors, as guides and as leaders. To live as
a guiding hand to the lower races, both those who strive to live under the
Light, and those that resist it.

That responsibility was perhaps the most crucial aspect of the Tahl culture.
In this case, it is also the most relevant, as it launches the story of the
young Elf, Theoduinalastyrial.