"Our Forests are dead. But they live in Tannaliel."
The traditional seat of power among the elves of Highpoint has always been the great northern forests of the endless plains. As the Lilat and Heréal were razed by the lunar rains, the elven villages built small mechs to house saplings from their great trees that had long sheltered them, then embarked on these mechs to wait out this turbulent period in the planet’s history.
Most elven mechs were small affairs, housing perhaps a hundred or so elves, depending on stealth and speed to survive. But one great mage, among the most powerful of the already powerful elven wizards, vowed to take the fight to the enemy. The arch-mage Tannan, with the aid of several of his distin guished colleagues, shaped the still-living wood of a Lilat grove into a veritable conduit for magical energy. This magical walking tree construct is the mightiest of the elven mechs. It is “the walking tree of Tannan,” or, in the sylvan tongue, Tannanliel.
Tannanliel is the first and only elf city-mech. It is taller than any other mech from any other race, measuring almost 2,200 feet tall at the top of its highest towers. Graceful and thin, it looks like the consummate elven design, at once resembling a sleek tower, an ancient tree, and a powerful magical construct.
Tannanliel is built entirely of enchanted trees, their still-living roots, limbs, and trunks bound together in architectural form to match Tannan’s vision. These trees still live, drawing nourishment from the earth whenever the mech halts for the night, repel ling intruders with the vines that live on their exterior, growing and repairing themselves as directed by Tannan.
Tannanliel’s internal structure reflects the elven attitude. Its vertical levels are not divid ed according to use or function, but rather according to a magical hierarchy. The entire mech is ruled by the five arch-mages who built it. They reside in the mech’s highest levels, within its head and in the living tree-towers that reach high off its shoulders and back. Protected by Tannan’s magic, these tree-towers repel the lunar rain with pitiful ease.
Below them are the residential quarters of the rest of the mech’s mages, according to their ranks within the Order of Tannanliel, a recently organized mages’ council devoted to the magic of golems, constructs, and, of course, mechs. The Order is responsible for keeping the mech running. It occupies the mech’s arms and upper torso.
The next tier includes ranks of warriors, archers, and other defenders of the mech. Most are drawn from the dozen or so elven villages that have taken refuge on Tannanliel. Tannan accepts any and all elves who need protection, though once they are on board he requires them to contribute to the mech’s defense, and, in the long term, hone their magical abilities to the point where they can construct their own mechs.
Because the magical operation of Tan nanliel is so much more efficient than the steam-driven engines of the dwarves or the blatantly wasteful labor systems of the orcs, the elves have far more space to devote to living quarters, and far more room for specialists trained in something other than steam mechanics. Thus, Tannanliel includes a fairly large military force housed in its middle torso.
The lower torso and thighs are home to tradesmen and other specialists: the carpen ters and blacksmiths who keep things run ning. Finally, in the rest of the leg area, the elven peasants live, farming small protected terraces hanging off the mech’s legs.
Tannanliel has little to fear from the out side world. It is perhaps the most powerful mech in existence. Its very structure is alive, capable of growing and of healing wounds. It is a single massive artifact, a conduit of magi cal energy through which Tannan and his legions of mages can launch batteries of fire balls and other spells at attacking creatures. No lunar dragon has stood against it — nor, for that matter, has any other creature.
But Tannanliel is vulnerable from the inside. Tannan himself is inextricably linked to the mech. His will controls it, directs it, and sustains it, though the magical energy required is so great that he frequently calls upon other great spellcasters to aid him. As the months go by, Tannan appears more and more drained. Some rumors say that the burden of sustaining Tannanliel is too great. Some say he accepted favors from powerful extraplanar creatures to build Tannanliel, and those favors are now being called in. Others say the strain of Tannanliel is simply too great for one elf to bear. But one thing is certain: Tannan’s intentions and behavior are indisputably noble. Everything Tannanliel has done has been to aid the elves, be it by fending off dragons or taking in a never-ending stream of elven refugees. It is an engine of vengeance that the enemies of the elves have learned to fear.