The twilight vale is the home realm of the Elves, a land bathed in eternal twilight. In the west, it is known as the Twilight Vale or Realm, whilst in the east, it is known as the ling-chien 靈間, “elven plane”. The elves themselves call it alavaan, with a similar meaning to the above. It’s mountains and seas mirror that of the material world, but its skies and forests could be no further different. A land formed before any written histories, from ancient calamities humans, by the patron God of the Elves, Valaan, it sits as a strange mirror, linked through mysterious forces.
Sometimes, where elves build their great cities in the Twilight, the people of the Material may find strange ruins in their corresponding place. Similarly, great cities and ancient magical sites in the Material show their effects in the Twilight. Unlike the settled lands of the Material Plane, the Twilight is a wild and dangerous place, full of wild beasts, magical flora, and mysterious and unknown races. In the material, danger lurks at the corners of civilisation; in the twilight, pockets of civilisation shine across a dark and untamed land.
The landmass of the Twilight is the same in shape to its material counterpart, and the elves split their landmass into several continents.
In the far east is Halvanai, also known as Tianyuan (天元大陸). This is the most populous continent, with its central plains tamed and ruled over by three kingdoms and seven minor states.
The House of Xuanyang. To its east sits the Hyaanyaanfu, the House of Xuanyang (玄陽府), a mysterious entity with an even more mysterious tyrant that occupies the equivalent of the Material Sea of Shattered Stars.
The Kunwu Mountains. To the west of Tianyuan are the mighty Kunwu mountains (崐峿山脈), a dangerous place of ancient wild magicks and dark beasts, that occasionally spill over and bring calamity to elvenkind. It acts as an impenetrable wall demarcates where the eastern realm ends.
The continent of Syilavaen or Syiafeng (夏風大陸) sits to the southwest of Halvanai, separated by the Kunwu mountains. Syilavaen is the most sparsely populated of the three habited continents, with isolated citadel cities hundreds to thousands of miles apart, connected only by teleportation arrays. Between them is a vast grassland, with occasional forests and low hills. Occasionally, long trees will rise tens of miles into the sky, upon which roost fearsome birds that prey on anything that may walk below.
The beasts of the land are no less dangerous; most have unnatural abilities, or are creatures imbued with magic, very deadly to the common elf, and even a challenge to the wandering mage. Rumours abound of beast-men and bird-men walking the wilds.
Silavaen is bordered on the north and east by mountains, much like the lands of Parsor in the Material, and to the south is the endless sea. The elves of Silavaen call it the “dead ocean”, as its murky grey waters hold only solitary creatures of darkness, unable to support ordinary life. Whilst it is not as dangeorus as the Kunwu mountains, no elven cities are built by the sea.
The Forest of Lies. Marking the northwest is the Azure Forest, or Forest of Lies (青幻林). A dark illusory magic grips this forest of crystal blue, affecting all those who enter or pass over its skies. Inevitably, with one’s senses altered, it is easy to fall prey to the hunters lurking within.
The westernmost inhabited land of Ilahaiem, the Exalted Land (天慶大陸), corresponds roughly to Dacrame as well as the Isle of Umbaer. Like Halvanai, it is a land of lush forests, though of a slightly more coniferous flavour. It is relatively sparsely populated, with hundreds of small kingdoms and city-states constantly battling with each other, constantly shifting hands. The elves of ilahaiem live in relative peace, with fertile lands and waters, and few dangers in their deep woods. Of course, when the winds of winter blow in from the north, crops wither and oceans freeze over, an irregular calamity that could last for months to several years.
The lands of the wild north (蠻荒北域) is a vast area of snowy taigas, bitterly cold ice plains, and barren tundra that stretches the length of the landmass from the far east to the far west. It is a land inhabited by beasts of winter, wild and powerful monsters who thrive in the extreme cold, and prey on themselves and on elvenkind. Every cycle of sixty years the beasts of the north become agitated, surging south into warmer lands, pillaging and murdering as they go, forcing elvenkind to band together to fend off the invasion. This is known as the beast tide (獸潮).
Legends say that north beyond the wild north, where even magic freezes, one will see seven moons in the sky, the realm of Cerí. Likewise south beyond the endless sea, there are five suns, marking the realm of Marí.