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Difference between revisions of "Elantris (city)"
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|region=Opelon
|world=Sel
|universe=[[Cosmere]]
|books=[[Elantris]]
}}{{exemplary|date=2017-06-05}}
== History ==
=== Construction ===
The actual origins of the city are unknown. It was constructed "hundreds of years if not over a thousand years" before the [[Reod
{{theory}}
=== Discovery ===
When the [[Aonic]] peoples migrated to Arelon, they found Elantris empty and abandoned. Initially the city was viewed with superstition; people believed it was haunted. King Rhashm, who renamed himself [[Raoshem]], strove to overcome the fears of his people and settled Elantris as the center of his kingdom. Several decades later, people started being taken by the [[Shaod]], becoming Elantrians.{{
=== Capital of Arelon ===
It was during the [[Sel#Middle Era|Middle Era]] on Sel that Elantris's sphere of influence greatly expanded, coinciding with the development of Arelon as a nation-state.{{
=== The Reod ===
Ten years prior to the events of the novel [[Elantris]], a large earthquake occurred in the south of Arelon, causing a significant crack in the ground, later refered to as the [[Chasm]]. This caused an event that came to be called the Reod from [[Aon#Reo| Aon Reo]], which means punishment and retribution. The creation of the Chasm was a large enough change in the geography of Arelon that the Aons used across Elantris, such as the massive Aon Rao formed by the Elantrian Metropolitan Area, became incomplete. Elantris, and the Elantrians that called it home, "fell" because of this. The city, which had glowed with an inner light, grew dark and a greasy slime started to cover every surface. The Elantrians themselves were likewise diminished. Their silvery skin turned grey and was covered in dark splotches and their brilliant white hair began to fall out, along with other, less readily apparent, changes, such as their hearts ceasing to beat and their wounds refusing to heal. The strongest and most powerful Elantrians were also placed under extreme pressure from the [[Dor]], which ached for release, leaving them effectively immobilized through cyclical "attacks".
The fall of Elantris had a profound effect on the rest of Arelon as well. The Elantrians and their use of AonDor had served as the lynchpin of the Arelish economy for centuries. Their ability to cheaply create large amounts of food had supported massive urban populations. Its sudden absence, along with several other factors, caused a destabilization of Arelish society, which prompted an uprising against their former leaders. The majority of the Elantrians were killed by their former servants.{{book ref|Elantris|5}} [[Iadon]], formerly a successful merchant, came to power and eventually became king. He moved most of the population to [[
Inside Elantris, conditions continued to deteriorate. Elantris had been constructed using AonDor, and, without the Dor sustaining it, the city began to rot and decay. The stones themselves started to crumble. Since the Elantrians could no longer heal nor die from their wounds or starvation, the pain they felt from each injury eventually grew to the point where it drove them mad, forcing them to retreat deep inside themselves. Afterwards their only interaction with the outside world would be a phrase, unique to each person, that they would repeat over and over again as if in a trance. These Elantrians came to be known as the [[Hoed]].{{book ref|Elantris|4}}
The resettlement was supported in part by the [[Widow's Trial]] of [[Sarene]], Raoden's "widow", which supplied the city with much-needed food and supplies. Due to her initial distrust of "Spirit", she attempted to thwart his plans by obeying the letter but not the spirit of his requests. This forced the Elantrians to be creative with the materials and contributed to the unique culture of New Elantris, such as the garish clothing prompted by Sarene's choice of fabric colors.
Around this time, Raoden, along with [[Galladon]] and Karata, discovered that at least one of the Hoed had been an Elantrian since before the fall. This shocked them, as all the original Elantrians were believed to have been killed in the chaos following the Reod. This Hoed led them to a hidden library containing books on AonDor, among other subjects, as well as a passage to [[Devotion's Perpendicularity|a small pool]] where it appeared Elantrians could go to die. In the library, Raoden was able to gain an understanding of certain aspects of the fall of Elantris. The omnipresent slime, for example, was the result of the decomposition of a microorganism that had thrived on the light given off by the city. When the city fell dark, the organisms died. The microorganism was a type of fungi or mold that thrived on the light and grew as a thin translucent film on everything where it added an enhanced radiance to the already glowing city walls. The mold fungus did not make any mess and was practically imperceptible until it died and rotted into a brown slime.{{book ref|elantris|34}} He also discovered the tie between AonDor and the geography of Arelon, and was able to take his first step towards "fixing" AonDor, with the addition of the Chasm line to the Aons.
=== The Restoration of Elantris ===
| [[Elantris/Summary#Prologue|Elantris Prologue]]{{book ref|Elantris|prologue}}
}}
The Shaod is the process by which ordinary people become Elantrians. The only restrictions are that the individual must be of Aonic descent and be within area of the Elantris effect. [[Aon#Mea|Aon Mea]] describes the area in which the Shaod can occur.{{
=== Power Amplification ===
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