It was a sunny and peaceful spring day in the southern elf town of An-kavva. The town was situated in a valley, surrounded by grassy foothills and small patches of forest, with the Great Sea off in the distance and visible on days when it was not foggy. Not a single cloud was in the sky today. The streets of An-kavva were busy with young elves running around, playing games and laughing, not having a care in the world. A new tavern had just opened up in the small town, which gave the townsfolk much to talk about. It was quickly earning the reputation for being ‘a nice place for a pint’. Minstrels and other stage entertainment from around the town as well as from the ones close by and as far away as Tratchet in the North were already signing their names and chatting up the owners for the nightly evening entertainment. Being the small town that An-kavva was, this new venture caused quite a stir. Everyone knew everyone in this town, which made it a great place to live and raise a family. Also with the town being close to the sea there were many other towns of similar size in the area, one of them being Askari.

The young ones from An-kavva were well raised and looked after by the others in the town. The community was close and they did their best to keep it that way. It was a very well-developed town with nice houses, little poverty, a discipline station, a town hall, shops with a market every Thursday and a bigger one on Saturday where people from the surrounding towns and villages were asked to come and sell their breads, meats, produce and of course snacks and little wooden toys which the children loved and looked forward to.

The elders passed their time carving wood from the pieces cut from the forest. It was also common to find them fishing off the docks into the sea. There was a local post office in town, and also a theatre, where elves could perform and entertain the townsfolk and the villages nearby. Most of the older elves kept themselves busy by training younger elves in the barracks, or running blacksmith shops. Despite the quietness of the village, there was a need to prepare for war. Farming was also very big outside of the town towards the North West, as well as ranching. The horses were helpful as beasts of burden as well as for the rangers. Of course there were the young maidens who would train the horses, and groom them not only for the rangers, but every year they’d hold an annual horse race between the town of Askari and An-kavva.

The roads of An-kavva were further lined with small shops, fruit markets and a couple taverns and a few inns. The barracks was located at the far north side of the town. This is where the young elves were trained to become Elvin rangers, just in case the town was ever under attack, or if An-kavva’s allies, the dwarves of Fijndhorn, the wizard’s of the lands, and the men of the lands should ever need to go to war, the Elvin rangers could join them in their fight for freedom. The neighboring town of Askari was located about ten miles west of An-kavva. It was also inhabited by friendly, laid back elves. These two towns got along great with each other allowing for a lot of trading to occur between them. Towns to the North and the East of An-kavva were also traded with, but Askari and An-kavva had a unique history that made them very much sister towns.

This relationship of course permitted many young men to travel to each other’s town to find a beautiful elf lassie to spend his life with, and vice versa. The marriage customs of the elves were deep in tradition and in touch with nature. There was a level of respect for Mother Earth and for each other that needed to be demonstrated before the marriage could be allowed. The two betrothed needed to spend one month together in the nearby forest with nothing outside to help them, and they were asked to take nothing with them, not even clothes. When the time was up if they were able to rejoin society and were of good health, having supported each other while in the forest and still wanted to marry, than the high priest of the Elvin temple of either town would perform the marriage ceremony. Their love was proven to be true. Each town within the Great Sea ring, as it was called, had the same marriage laws, with slight differences, but they all followed a very similar custom in respects to ensuring a long marriage, and that it was true love that was being shown.