Eldraine

Eldraine (pronounced EL-drain ) is a plane introduced in the Throne of Eldraine set and described in Kate Elliott's The Wildered Quest.

Description
Eldraine is a medieval world filled with knights, castles, and magical creatures. Wild magic is woven through the heart of the plane and two opposing but intertwined sides battle over it, impossible to untangle one from the other.

The Realm is ruled by High King Kenrith. It is split into five courts that came to be after mankind rose up and overthrew the Elven Lords that had enslaved them. These are Ardenvale, Vantress, Locthwain, Embereth, and Garenbrig. Here anyone, male, female or otherwise, might be knighted and become a "Syr". Two individuals are chosen each generation by the Questing Beast to possibly become High King and High Queen, both having to quest throughout the courts and become knighted in each to receive the honor. Currently, there is no High Queen, as Linden Kenrith was unable to complete the last quest to Embereth.

Outside of the Realm lie the Wilds, a place of untamed magic where the fair folk roam.

The Realm
The Realm is an orderly society consisting of five courts, each of which is aligned with a color, exemplifies a virtue, and has a sacred relic. These relics are mysterious objects with immense magical power and sentience that lie just beyond mortal understanding. They are the physical embodiment of one of five virtues and possess the power to judge those virtues within individuals.

Each court has its ruler under the High King and considers its own associated virtue to be paramount, though not to the complete exclusion of the other four (obviously, it would be foolish of any knight to discount the value in Loyalty, Knowledge, Persistence, Courage, or Strength).
 * Ardenvale – Ruled by the High King Algenus Kenrith and his Queen, Linden Kenrith. White-aligned Ardenvale exemplifies the virtue of Loyalty and is home to the Circle of Loyalty. A knight must step into the circle, which is made of a brilliant white flame, to prove their loyalty. Ardenvale's symbol is a circle-bound flame.
 * Vantress – Led by Gadwick, the Wizened, although he is almost never seen. Blue-aligned Vantress exemplifies the virtue of Knowledge and is home to Indrelon, the Magic Mirror. One may tell Indrelon a secret that it doesn't already know to have a single question answered. The symbol of Vantress is a keyhole.
 * Locthwain – Ruled by Queen Ayara, an elf. Black-aligned Locthwain exemplifies the virtue of Persistence and was home to the Cauldron of Eternity before it vanished. The Cauldron of Eternity can return those who die back to life if it deems them worthy. Locthwain's symbol is a goblet.
 * Embereth – Ruled by a council, red-aligned Embereth exemplifies the virtue of Courage and is home to the Irencrag, which can empower magical weapons such as the sword Embercleave. It is also the location of a great knight tournament. Embereth's symbol is a triplet of spearheads.
 * Garenbrig – Ruled by King Yorvo, a giant. Green-aligned Garenbrig exemplifies the virtue of Strength and is home to the Great Henge, which can be used to travel between locations on the plane. The symbol of Garenbrig is a pair of hammers.

The countryside around the main castles is dotted with villages and towns, and there are way-stations constructed along the roads for questing knights, stocked with firewood and supplies.

The Wilds
The Wilds are an enchanted environment with shifting borders, where distance, direction, time and the seasons all seem to be distorted and where both monsters and curses abound. The inhabitants of the Wilds are called the fair folk by the people of the Realm, and include faeries, elves, merfolk known as undines, redcap goblins, reclusive human witches who practice dark magic against those they deem deserving, and those dwarves and giants who don't choose to live in the Realm. The closest thing the Wilds have to a ruling body is a Council of Druids, elves who wish to return the plane back to the days of elvish oppression.
 * The heart land, with the ruins of the old crown city of the lost elven dominion.
 * Four pyramids guarding its perimeter, each with a pair of obelisks on top.
 * The Jade Bridge and the Obsidian Bridge, crossing the river that surrounds the heart realm. The Obsidian Bridge houses a deadly guardian.
 * An amphitheater made out of the remains of a petrified dragon, where the Council of Druids meets.
 * The Well of Ghosts
 * The Bridge of Regrets
 * Ashvale
 * Bramblefort
 * The forest on the Choking Drum
 * Delirium Swamp, infested by brain-eating fungus.
 * Faeburrow
 * The haunted glade at the fringe of the Wilds. Where the Kenrith twins were born and sacrificed.
 * The Witch's Cottage
 * The Witching Well</c>
 * Malice Rocks
 * Maraleaf Forest
 * Mistford
 * Oakhame, an elven settlement
 * Ogre's Pass
 * Red Fell, home of Torbran
 * Tuinvale, known for its Treefolk
 * Wintermoor
 * The Wildwood

History
Long ago the elves ruled the Realm. According to the humans, they were proud, arrogant, vain, and cruel, and they allowed any sort of magic to flourish unchecked. The elves asserted that those who were too weak to defend themselves should bend their knee to the more powerful in exchange for protection. Eight or nine generations ago, mankind rose up and overthrew the Elven Lords that had enslaved them, and the five knightly courts were created. Some elves remained at Locthwain rather than withdraw with their brethren into the Wilds after the elven courts had lost their hold on the Realm.

More recently, the last rulers of Castle Ardenvale had turned their magic to petty, selfish, wicked purposes and betrayed the virtues they should have upheld. Many spurs of the Wilds were able to grow back into the countryside where they’d been eradicated long ago. Unsavory magic was let loose unchecked. Ogres and dragons rampaged and destroyed as they pleased because no two towns could agree on a joint effort to fend them off. Witches roamed wherever they wished and cursed people with evil gifts and terrible afflictions. The Wild Hunt rode through the Wilds.

After a two-generation-long interregnum, the Questing Beast</c> chose the humble Algenus and Linden to quest for the high rulership and gave each a sword as the mark of its favor. While Algenus completed the High Quest and became High King, Linden had to interrupt hers to save the lives of his children, Rowan and Will. After she married Algenus, she took them in as her own children.

The Realm became far more peaceful and orderly now that the High King ruled. Once he’d achieved the high rulership, Algenus hung up the gilded sword gifted to him by the Questing Beast, and settled down to the less glamorous but more difficult task of ruling well. The courts cooperated because there was a single ruler to coordinate and administrate, but Ardenvale was still fighting to recover what was lost. Queen Linden has been working to improve relations between the five courts, but notices increasing activity and hostility in the Wilds.

It turned out that a malevolent planeswalker was stirring the non-humans up. After the High King was abducted by Oko, the fey, and turned in a stag, Queen Linden struggled to hold the courts together. The Wilds were getting bolder, but with Algenus gone, the courts weren’t coordinating their efforts to fight the rising tide of attacks. Meanwhile, Queen Ayara took another route and sent an envoy into the Wilds to negotiate with the Council of Druids. When the royal twins turned eighteen, they set out on a quest to find their father.

The confrontation between the Realm and the Wilds culminated during the Wild Hunt at the location of the witch's cottage where the twins once had been born and had been killed by their natural mother. At that time, they had been saved by Linden's magical sword. At the cottage, the stag was killed and the Wild Hunt was brought to its ritual end. As the dead stag returned to the form of Algenus Kenrith, his wife was able to return him to life with the aid of his own magical sword which at that time had been hidden in the well. Their children left on a greater quest to unknown regions, and they all lived happily ever after.

Native
• Rowan Kenrith

• Will Kenrith

Visitors
• Garruk Wildspeaker

• Oko

Inhabitants
Sentient races: Other:
 * Humans
 * The fair folk
 * Dwarves
 * Elves
 * Faeries
 * Giants
 * Ogres
 * Ouphes - Summoned to the plane by Oko
 * Redcaps
 * Treefolk
 * Trolls
 * Undines
 * Witches - Counted effectively as fair folk despite being human
 * Archons
 * Beasts
 * Bears used as mounts by the people of Garenbrig.
 * Birds
 * Boars
 * Cats
 * Chimeras, used on the Wild Hunt.
 * Constructs
 * Dragons
 * Drakes
 * Frogs - mentionned on Frogify</c>
 * Gargoyles
 * Giant Foxes - used as mounts by the elves
 * Gnomes
 * Golems
 * Griffins - used as mounts by knights
 * Hell-hounds - used by the elves on the Wild Hunt.
 * Horses
 * Lich lords
 * Mammoths
 * Oxen
 * Serpents
 * Snakes
 * Specters
 * Spiders
 * Spirits
 * Treefolks
 * Turtle Hydras
 * Unicorns
 * Walls
 * Weasels - used as mounts by the redcaps
 * Wolverines
 * Wolves
 * Howl-backs. Dark blue, almost black, creatures with four clawed arms and four taloned legs, a spine ridged with writhing tentacles, and an eye-less head whose hideous round maw is lined with white sharp teeth. They can swallow and regurgitate magic.
 * Night warks. As yet undescribed.
 * Wilderfrogs, sometimes transforming into a ravenous creature called a grodhemoth.