ELDERS & ELVES
Eleri looks towards the shadows beneath the lantern-lit living Tree Castle.

A DARK FANTASY BY LAURENCE VALENTINO

Elders
& Elves

Some roots should remain buried.

In Elvendom, the forest never falls silent.
Until the morning it does.

Enter Elvendom

A novel in progress / For adult readers

BEAUTY ABOVE. HORROR BENEATH.THE ROOTS RUN DEEP
01 THE STORY

WELCOME TO THE BEAUTIFUL LIE

A living world.
A buried truth.

At the heart of Elvendom stands the Eldaraen: a great living tree, its roots holding a library, its canopy a castle. Beneath its branches, the tribes have learned to call their uneasy quiet peace.

Elvendom’s elves descend from ancient primate lineages. From the Bonobels to the Gorillans, ten tribes carry their own features, traditions and memories of a war that reshaped their world.

Eleri, a young Bonobel learning to read the forest, notices what others overlook. When the land falls silent, her curiosity draws her towards the questions no one seems willing to answer.

An adult dark fantasy of strange creatures, inherited stories and the things a beautiful world can hide.

The hunt births war.War brings death.Death births peace.Peace brings the hunt.
02 THE WORLD

LOOK A LITTLE CLOSER

There is more
beneath the canopy.

Living villages. Uncharted waters.
Creatures that remember.
This is Elvendom.

Eleri, a copper-skinned Bonobel with pointed ears, carries her field slate and weathered satchel in the forest.
ELERIBonobel · Naturalist in training

THE EYES OF AN OBSERVER

She knows the forest.
Or thought she did.

Curious, observant and quietly stubborn, Eleri studies the life around her with slate and charcoal. Her uncle Fennel has taught her to notice the smallest details. Now, those details refuse to fit the stories she was told.

03 FROM THE FOREST

SMALL GLIMPSES. NO EASY ANSWERS.

The story is
still growing.

Character reveals, artwork and glimpses of a world taking shape.

Artwork from the project archive. Instagram updates coming soon.

THE NEXT CHAPTER IS COMING

Your journey
begins soon.

Elders & Elves is being written.
Release details and ways to buy will appear here when they are confirmed.

IN DEVELOPMENT · RELEASE DATE TO BE ANNOUNCED

ELDERS & ELVES · WORK IN PROGRESS

A PROLOGUE EXTRACT

The Tale
of Elvendom

But harmony does not end in silence.

It ends in justification.

The Great War of Tribes began with words ‐ lines drawn, grievances remembered ‐ and ended with blood soaking root and river alike. Brother turned blade on brother. Forests burned. The sea swallowed names. When peace finally came, it did not arrive as healing, but as burial. Truth was covered. Memory was shaped. Balance was declared restored.

Now, many seasons later, Elvendom sleeps beneath a practiced quiet.

Yet beneath the Great Tree, the oldest roots still listen.

They remember every cry ever swallowed by the earth.

And sometimes, when the island takes more than it should, the creatures remember too.

It is here, in the long shadow of peace, that our tale begins...

From the prologue, “The Tale of Elvendom”, by Laurence Valentino. Manuscript in progress.

ELDERS & ELVES · WORK IN PROGRESS

CHAPTER ONE

What Grows
Beneath Quiet

The first sign that something was wrong was not the blood, but the quiet.

Eleri noticed because the forest of Elvendom was never truly still. Even when it slept, it whispered ‐ leaves brushing against one another, insects ticking their small lives forward, roots shifting beneath the soil in slow patient movements that were felt more than heard. Sound was how the land reminded its people that it was alive.

That morning, it said nothing.

The air lay warm against her skin, heavy and unmoving, as if the world had decided breath was something that needed permission. Eleri stood at the edge of the lower canopy with one hand resting on the pale bark of the heart-tree, listening for the smallest sign that the silence belonged.

Nothing answered.

An opening glimpse. The rest is still growing.

Map of Elvendom

Illustrated map of Elvendom with the central Tree Castle, northern mountains, forests, rivers and a ring of rocky islands.Open full-size map

Project artwork