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The Elan were once a nomadic race, living in vast fleets that moved freely across Aesgar. Elan legend states that they were once a Chorodemarii tribe that became separated from their ancestors during the cataclysm that shattered Chorodemos. The link between the two races is significant genetically, and their stories both speak of dragons destroying their ancestral civilization. But the similarities end there. The Elan do not blame dragons – they revere them. In fact, Elan holy men point to their destruction as just punishment from the gods.

While modern historians agree on a link between Chorodemarii and Elan genetically, and that a cataclysm divided them, the cause is said to be natural – likely a meteor that wrought the “fire” and “wrath” from the stars. Physically the Elan still resemble Chorodemarii, but have over time lost the claws in their feet and their extra eyelids. Their hair is also thinner, believed to be a result of their living largely in space. Elan typically live between 180-200 years, and are said to age more “gracefully” than some humanoid species.

Elan society has a long and culturally rich history. Nearly a thousand tribes once traveled freely across an area encompassing the modern League and beyond, into the Fringes and Metron space. No permanent settlements were established during their peak, though they did build small monuments in places considered sacred.

Passive is the word most often used to describe the Elan tribes. Any outsider is given welcome and hospitality upon visiting an Elan settlement. Rarely do Elan go to war, and even then it is considered a sacred act – life is not to be destroyed if possible. They have chieftans, warriors, holy men, and families as their social hierarchy, and each position is given proper reverence by the entire tribe.

Nevertheless, the Elan have been to war. Warriors typically prefer close combat with knives and hatchets – Nebulan reports state that these readily pierced heavy armor. Their bravery is renowned. Conflicts occasionally occurred between tribes for resources or prestige (with little known bloodshed or animosity) but they had a number of wars with alien forces, the most noteworthy of which destroyed their way of life.

These Elan Wars against the Nebulans go back to a point undocumented but said to be before Nebulan civilization began its rapid expansion. Conflicting views on the control of worlds brought the two to blows that would last for over two thousand years. The most well-documented conflicts took place in the last five hundred years, when the Nebulan government began to crack down on Elan movement within the Empire.

The first wars were hard-fought and bloody. Differing tactical sense and excess casualties forced the Elan to fight as the Nebulans did – to kill. The first wars became ones of attrition, and after years of superiority Elan numbers in the region dwindled. Scores of planets were fortified against the Elan, effectively blocking their spiritual pilgrimages in eastern Aesgar. Such blasphemous acts compelled the entire Elan civilization to strike. But the very nature of their society worked against them – the Elan assaulted the Nebulan Empire in waves, in tribes. Some fought better than others. Yet each time they fell to attrition, and were slowly – tribe by tribe – exterminated or subdued.

Kardak Raegen was the last Nebulan general to engage true Elan resistance; he was from a family who had long fought the tribes. He finally managed to subdue the remnants mainly by employing a strategy of total war – completely cutting off or destroying any local worlds from which the Elan could draw resources. Kardak was of a new breed that would begin causing friction within the Nebulan Empire. He wrought terrible destruction on the Elan – unleashing plagues, damaging ecosystems, and committing flagrant atrocities when it suited his ambitions. Kardak and other Nebulan leaders of the Elan Wars wrote its history in blood, a stain which remains to the present. No history text neglects the Elan surrender on Shi’an, where the last free Elan were systematically slaughtered under a population quota set down by the Nebulan government.

Today the surviving Elan are largely settled on remote coreward planets in the Nebulan Empire. Stringent laws prevent them from bearing arms, forming militias, and traveling abroad in groups larger than two, amongst other stipulations. A certain percentage of the population is required to be present on reserve planets at all times. The Elan are the only documented case of consistent, prolonged Nebulan oppression.

Strangely, most Elan remain largely passive toward their oppressors. Many of the warrior caste speak fondly about the wars against the Nebulans, retaining the memory of their glory with pride. But perhaps the primary reason for their silence is a lack of numbers – scarcely a fraction of a percent remains of what the Elan species once were.