The Retreat

The Retreat is a term referring to the gradual departure of the elven race from Faerûn.

In the millennia that have passed since the last Crown War, many elven nations have risen and fallen on the island of Evermeet, in the Vale of Evereska, deep in the High Forest, in the great forest of Cormanthor, and in the distant Yuirwood. Although these newer nations all achieved great things in their own time, none of them ever equaled the might and power achieved by those first nations established during the First Flowering. As the humans began to raise their own empires, the elves found it beyond their abilities to check the rash expansion and arrogant power of lands such as Coramshan and Netheril.

Confronted by vigorous expansion into the ancient forestlands of Faerûn, the second-born realms of the elves once again faced the prospect of endless cycles of warfare. The elves began to talk of retreating from the world of humanity to somewhere they could truly call their own.

In 714 DR, the Fall of Myth Drannor galvanized the surviving elven realms to action, and elves began to travel westward to the island of Evermeet, abandoning their ancient lands. As more and more elves grew restless and disillusioned with life on the mainland, they heard a mystic call from over the waves to the west to the island of Evermeet, often referred to as The Calling.

By the Year of Moonfall (1344 DR), the Elven Retreat reached its peak. Persecuted by numerous savage races such as goblinoids and orcs, and equally put off by the invasive and often short-sighted expansion of humans, many elves decided simply to pick up and move. As a result, the elven presence on the mainland fell to the lowest levels since the arrival of the Tel'Quessir twenty-five thousand years ago.

Recent events on Evermeet have given rise to the thought among some elves that they cannot just turn their backs on the world and expect it to survive. These elves proclaim that the Retreat is now over, and a trickling of elves can be seen beginning to establish a stronger presence in Faerûn as a result - but centuries of migration cannot be reversed overnight, and it is clear that the days of elven empires sprawling over thousands of miles of forests is gone forever.