Port Elizabeth

Port Elizabeth is a southern port city-state of ancient origin. The city is protected by an aging half-elven wizard-king, Elgarad and his control of the Elvenstar.

History
Port Elizabeth was a coastal fishing village known as Eblith in Xanarr prior to 300 LCY. In 300 an elven wizard from Luccini named Gylharen travelled south to Eblith and decided to set it up as a southern port from which to pass rare goods from the south to Luccini. After having an impressive wizard tower built in Eblith the then Emperor of Xanarr, Amon Anth, approached Gylharen and asked him to negotiate a trade agreement with Luccini such that raw materials coulXanarrd be shipped to the ancient high elven city and magical goods could be imported to Xanarr. The deal was struck and Amon Anth awarded Gylharen both with the governance of the new port and his daughter Elizabeth's hand in marriage. The quickly growing town was renamed after the maiden and became known as Port Elizabeth.

Over the years many elves from Luccini and elsewhere came to settle in Port Elizabeth, seeking the excitement of life in the rising empire of Xanarr. The port city thrived at an even greater rate than the capital Xanarr itself. It was known for its diverse inhabitants, being particularly welcoming to half-elves, a pedigree that often brought scorn in other elven homes. The prominence of half-elves here (including the son and daughter of Gylharen and Elizabeth: Gwilliam and Azalira) created a city of tolerance for many lawful races.

In 370 Luccini was beset by The Great Unraveling, a force of cultists summoning creatures that brought magic that even the Luccinans were unfamiliar with. The creatures from elsewhere frayed the fabric of existance that the fate of Luccini was writ upon. Luccini was too proud to ask for assistance from just anywhere, but communication was sent to Gylharen. His aged wife had become a master of psychic and spiritual arts in her many years at Gylharen's side. She set out with her daughter and a host of other spiritualists and together were able to hem in the fraying of the fabric of Luccini's existence. Unfortunately the effort wore the aged Elizabeth out and she passed away in Luccini before she was able to make the trek back to Port Elizabeth to her lover. In their eternal gratitude for her sacrifice, the magi of Luccini created an artifact of great power for Azalira to take back to her father in Port Elizabeth. This artifact wad the fabled Elvenstar. The artifact is reputed have the power to protect Port Elizabeth from anything that may ail it.

When cataclysm came to Xanarr several decades later, Port Elizabeth was spared much of the grim fate that befell the civilizations of mainland Ddera. However, both Azalira and Gwilliam were away from Port Elizabeth when the cataclysm struck. They had been functioning as aides to Marranth and Iescalon, respectively. When the likely reality of the loss of his children became apparent to Gylharen he took ill from grief and died a short time later, leaving Port Elizabeth leaderless in a desperate time of troubles. The grandson of Elizabeth's brother, Stephen Anth, had spent years studying the Elvenstar and when leadership of Port Elizabeth fell to him, he was ready. The line of wizard-kings that followed from Stephen Anth has married freely in and out of various lineages and kept Port Elizabeth prosperous and safe to modern times with King Elgarad.