How someone prays to the Elven King is generally determined by the person's occupation:

The Clergy

Priests and priestesses use whatever form suits their current needs best, and they encourage their followers to do likewise. They do not perform rigidly ordered services with any sort of canonical structure, nor is there an established list of sacraments. The clergy, instead, work with the individual worshipers to design services and rites that work for them.

Guilders (and Other Folk)

Farador extends his magic powers throughout the Great Woods, permitting a stunning variety of plants to exist simultaneously without regard to climate. This magical protection includes the climate, so it never snows in the Great Woods, nor are there any forest fires, floods, or other natural disasters. As a result there are many herbalists, hermits, beast guilders, and other nature-loving type folk as well as actual wizards who worship the Elven King. Prayers for the welfare of plants or animals are perfectly suited for worshipers of the Elven King. This is not druidic magic, which comes from the White Wolf. The Elven King's magic can cause plants and animals to grow or behave against their nature, while druidic magic can only affect what is within a plant or animals given nature.

Healers

A great number of healers worship the Elven King. Because of this, one form of worship of Farador is simply for free-form prayers (either silent or aloud) to be uttered while healing or preparing to heal someone. There is no set pattern to these prayers and no official versions. Farador much prefers for the individual to do what ever feels right in the given instance. He hates to see anyone or anything die, and, in spite of the White Wolf's reputation, the Elven King is the deity who is most likely to raise someone from the dead.

Warriors

The Elven King is extremely personable with everyone. He is completely approachable. He has no bodyguards, and he shuns formality. He is just as likely to be seen dining with a servant as with a fellow monarch. This makes many of the elves nervous, and quite a few take it upon themselves to guard their beloved king, whether by guarding the Elven Kingdom or by fighting in battle. Although the Elven King's magic is what keeps the more powerful Cinnamarians trapped inside their mountain during daylight hours, Farador himself never actively fights in battle. Like the Dumnonian monarch, the Elven King is considered to be too valuable to risk in the nightly wars. Farador will not order others to fight for him, though. He feels that taking such risks are the individual's decision and not his to make. Strangely, this has led to combat being one of the ways that his worshipers choose to honor him. They know that he needs them to fight in the war, so they do it as a way to show their love for him. These worshipers will kill anyone who is actively seeking to harm other individuals, yet they will not slay people simply because of their race or nature. They do not advocate the destruction of the Dark One, since Serak is Farador's nephew. Instead, they wish to see him banished permanently to his own dimension where he can do no further harm to Centurians or to the Mirari. Again, there are no set prayers for warriors who worship the Elven King, though they often pray before battle and invoke their god when helping with the injured and the dead following any conflict. A surprising number of these prayers are granted, temporarily enabling the warrior to heal or even, on very rare occasions, raise someone from the dead. Farador is an extremely busy deity, though, so his worshipers never count on their prayers being answered and they understand when their god cannot help them.

Wizards

More than anything else, the Elven King loves magic. The Elven Kingdom is built with magic, and magical things happen there as a matter of course. Many wizards worship Farador, though only elven and half-elven wizards (and Dumnonians who get special permission) are allowed to study in the Elven Kingdom itself. Oral components of spells can take the form of a prayer to Farador, and a display of magical wonders may constitute a worship service of the Elven King.

Thieves and Spies

The notion within the religion of the Elven King that one should do no harm to others unless the others are actively doing harm makes it very difficult for thieves to worship Farador. Military spies, however, sometimes convert to his religion, especially if their activities are directed solely against the Cinnamarians.

Marriage Rites

Wedding ceremonies performed by clerics of the Elven King usually take place outdoors. If a site is considered particularly sacred to Farador, that's wonderful, but any grove, clearing, oasis or other pleasant location will do. An abundance of vegetation is preferred, though not mandatory. The couple joins the cleric alone at the designated location. (Wedding guests are invited to a feast, following the service, but not to the actual ceremony.)

During the private service, the couple exchanges vows under the direction of the cleric. These vows are considered to be exclusive and for as long as both partners are alive. Strict believers hold that the vows are for all time, since there is no guarantee that a loved one will remain dead and since Farador himself remained celibate for several centuries following the death of the Elven Queen, Tira. (While it is possible to obtain a divorce by direct petition to the Elven King, such things are discouraged, so the couple should be very, very sure of their commitment to each other before taking such vows.) The cleric serves as a witness to the vows. The couple may either ask the cleric to write vows for them or compose their own vows.

At this time, if the couple chooses, a physical object, such as a ring, may be exchanged or given by one member of the couple to the other as a token of the vows that have been made. A token, however, is not mandatory.

Following the verbal exchange, the cleric issues a blessing upon the couple and leaves them alone. The couple is expected to consummate their union before joining their wedding guests, though what actually happens is up to them, in keeping with the freedom within the religion of the Elven King.

When the couple chooses, they then join their guests at the wedding feast.

That, then, is a brief overview of the Elven King and religious services known to be associated with him.

Eternal Death to the Dark One!

For Members:

September:

21--David Rhodus
26--Chad Barnard

October: 1--Nancy Hubbs-Chang.

November: None.

For Characters:

Month 15: Feast of Plenty

Month 16: Fast of Want

Month 17: Feast of the Dark One

Month 18: Fast of the Free

These positions still need to be filled. We'd really appreciate the help!

1. Banker: If you are great with numbers (or if you simply know how to use Excel or a similar program) this is the job for you! We need help keeping track of all that treasure you folks are picking up in battle, what you are buying at market days, what you are winning at the races, and all the other little details that go into making Dragonlords run smoothly. Any budding moneychangers out there <g>?

2. Timeline Keeper: We need some help reconciling the timeline from the Centuria series with the club timeline. The job involves going through the books and short stories to detail what happened when. Anyone want to lend a hand?
3. Proofreader: As you noticed in this month's essay, we need people to help proofread the character sheets and other materials for glitches. Any budding editors out there who would like to lend a hand?

Full submission guidelines are at

Please remember to send all submissions in ASCII or .TXT format.

"DRAGONPROPHET" PUBLISHED (Again)!

The follow-up article will be published soon.

Dragonlords Webring.

Dragonlords has started its own webring. You can find out how to join the ring at

Only members of Dragonlords may join the ring, but they may add as many sites (business, personal, or to another group whose sites are maintained by a Dragonlords member) as they please.

Dragonlords' Chat List.

Dragonlords has started a new chat list where you can discuss the Centuria books (or anything else <g>) with L.A. Malcor. The URL to join the list is

Dragonlords' Bookstore.

If you want to buy a book online, remember that Dragonlords has a store in association with Amazon.com. When you buy through our store, Dragonlords earns a fee. All money goes to help defray the cost of running Dragonlords so our memberships can stay free. The URL of our bookstore is

Dragonlords' Video Store.

Dragonlords also has an online video store in association with Reel.com. You can look up filmographies of actors and directors as well as buy videos. Proceeds go to help defray the cost of running Dragonlords. [Discontinued March 15, 2000]

There is a new special section for the Academy Awards. Check it out!

Dragonlords' T-shirt

Since no designs have been submitted for a club T-shirt, we're going to put this project on hold until the club decides they want one.

If you would like to submit a design for the club T-shirt, send your suggestion in .gif or .jpg format to Dragonlord Krin at Legend@malcor.com. Try to keep your design suggestions to four colors or less, since that will significantly cut our costs.

As soon as at least two submissions are received, Krin will put the suggestions up on a webpage so we can vote on what we like best. Once the design is chosen, Krin will put up a sign-up sheet so we can see how many people actually want the shirts. Pricing will vary, depending on how many shirts are ordered.

 Return to the Dragonlords of Dumnonia Home Page