The Silurite Alliance was an alliance of elven houses on Silur, during the Elvish Wars.

Structure

Though initially a military alliance, the Silurite Alliance was very quickly treated as a continuation of the Elvish Empire. Ancient imperial customs and laws were adopted once more; the allied houses surprisingly easily fell back into their old traditions, and a peacetime house nobility was built up.

The Alliance was ruled by a ruling council of the six major houses' matrons, just like the Empire was. In contrast to the old council, which had mostly political and economic influence, the Alliance's council was a closed institution with a sizeable supporting bureaucracy which treated Silur like a loose federation and exercised close control in some areas, including universal application of order and military command. The armed forces of all willing alliance members were centralized under council control, and the houses that refused were usually coerced one way or another into handing over their troops. The idea was to establish peace and make sure the peace couldn't easily be broken, as well as to protect the Alliance from the numerous hostile factions overseas, as well as foreign threats.

The council's most powerful member was Matron Concordance, who acted as the de facto commander-in-chief of the Alliance's armed forces.

History

The Elvish Wars had virtually destroyed the Elvish Empire. For over two centuries, elves had fought elves, and the initial causes of the conflict were long gone; now there was only chaos.

The continent of Silur had weathered the fighting the best. Several houses still stood, which managed to protect their territory and subjects from the worst parts of the war and lived in relative peace. The idea of rebuilding the Empire and finally ending the civil strife was floated and, after a few years of deliberation, the leaders of the seven surviving houses, which mostly controlled the lush forests of central Silur, decided to meet in Numanu00f4bar and form an alliance. Its initial purpose was purely military: protecting the houses in the alliance, and expanding the alliance's zone of control to encompass all of Silur.

This new alliance had the largest coherent armed force on the entire continent, and was extremely successful. Minor houses flocked to the safety the council offered, many dreaming of the peaceful ancient Empire. The Silurite Alliance offered peace, and easily outcompeted the few warmongering factions left on Silur. Within a few years, the continent was under the council's control, and the remaining houses overseas began flocking to Silur.

It appeared that everything was perfect. Once more, peace reigned, and people demanded to rebuild the Empire as quickly as possible. The council's power was equated to that of the ancient Empire's, and people began demanding that justice for war crimes be meted out.

House Mystraleth, which had a large army but was extremely unpopular because of its actions in the war, felt threatened. It attempted to stage a coup d'u00e9tat, sending assassins to kill the council members and sending its troops to occupy cities and destroy Alliance forces. Mystraleth could be beaten back, but not without suffering huge losses to the population and higher nobility. In fact, the Alliance was so damaged that it fell apart, and the dream of a glorious reborn Empire shattered; instead, the Silur Kingdom was established.