Vaniir

The Vaniir are the gods of the elves, who brought them to Trudvang and showed them the world. They taught the elves how to weave vitner, and told them about the relationship between Trudvang, Dimhall and Sarvisja. They fought together with the elves against the logi dragons in Falekala, but abandoned them for unknown reasons during this war.

History
Like spears of burning starlight, the Vaniir blasted down upon the surface of the world with their creations, the elves. When the elves and the Vaniir came to Trudvang, many things had already been shaped and crafted. But this new people of starlight came to grow and make many things of their own. They laid seeds in the earth that soon blossomed into forests deep and enchanted, and thus together with the elves they created much of Trudvang known today, including their home of Soj. They made it into a place of untamed nature unlike many other places in the world.

One of them, Whote, was restless. He left the other gods and the elves, and with his ravens and great spear he wandered out into the world to experience it for himself. After traveling the world, he stuck his spear into the ground. There it would grow to become Yggdhraasil, the Ancestor Tree, that gave birth to humans; he would become their protector and guardian.

Then the wurms, the fire-drakes of Falekala, came from their blackened pits and spread their dark wings to take Trudvang as their own realm of chaos. The elves and the Vaniir rushed to defend their creation and defy the dragons. The two battled side by side, the Vaniir seemingly unscathed by dragonfire, and together they turned the tide and held back the oncoming darkness. But so it was that one day the elves went to do battle, and the Vaniir did not join them. The elves were abandoned by their makers and had to face their foes alone. And so, in the end, the elves paid a mighty price for their hard-won victory against the dragons. When the elves sought the Vaniir to ask why they had turned their backs in their people's hour of need, the gods were not there anymore. The Vaniir had left Trudvang and returned to the cold darkness whence they came, save Whote, and perhaps others. Unable to follow their gods, the elves could do nothing but watch the stars grow ever smaller in the night sky as the Vaniir drifted farther and farther away.

From this almost cataclysmic change, two groups began to take shape: the bright Illmalaini and the dark Korpikalli. The star elves and the dark elves. The two peoples were divided in their view of the gods. The dark elves cursed the Vanir and raised their fists in anger toward the makers that had left them, vowing never again to acknowledge the gods or call upon them. The star elves, however, sought to understand the gods and why they left Trudvang. They view this time as a trial that they are meant to overcome, so they must persevere and not lose faith. Since savenpaha, "the Betrayal of the Gods", stargazing is therefore very akin to praying for the Illmalaini. The current age, the Age of Stars, got its name after two new stars were lit in the night sky, which most elves (at least the Illmalaini) took as a sign that the Vaniir are still out there.

What few know is that at least one of the human gods, if not all, were actually Vaniir themselves. The only one that is known for sure to be a Vaniir was Whote, the Creator-God of mankind, even if only the few remaining worshippers of Whote remember this or use this term. Other Vaniir left like Whote, and there are many who believe that these could have become the deities of Gavi in the west and Stormi and the Sturmasira in the east, even though none of the myths and legends of those religions would indicate that.