Avariel elf? What is an Avariel elf, anyway?

Avariel elves appear at various places in fantasy literature, and are instantly recognizable by one particular feature- their large wings, which enable them to fly- not with the same mobility as even the largest of birds, but certainly comparable to larger mammals and reptiles such as gryphons or drakes.

OK. So this is a domain about elves with wings, then?

Well, not exactly. This site is a showcase for various creative elements which are diverse in and of themselves, but all of which happen to be the creation of the same individual. Because www.yournamehere.com seemed just too plebian and boring, I went with something which interested me.

So how did you develop an interest in elves with wings, anyway?

At various times in the last seventeen years, I've done rather a bit of role-playing, and even managed to get paid for a little of it. The interst in Winged Elves came during my tenure as a Community and Development Services Technician at the late Cavedog Entertainment, while working on the multiplayer on-line gaming service built around the game Total Annihilation: Kingdoms. TA:K featured five nations (four in the original, the fifth introduced in the expansion The Iron Plague), one of which, Zhon, was ruled by a monarch who was an avariel elf. Part of our job included playing characters in the world of Darien (wherein the game was set), and, by inclination and the luck of the draw, I played the role of K'shinsa StormRider, emissary of Zhon queen Thirsha to the Darien Council, and also that of WingedElf, an interface between the game universe (and, by extension, the company) and the players. Since Cavedog's demise, I've kept the spirit of the character alive as a useful on-line pseudonym which has been used in some graphic work, on IRC, in my LiveJournal, and various other places.

For the most part, the links on the navigation bar should be fairly self-explanatory, with the exception of the Seventh Nation project. There are six traditionally Celtic nations- Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, Wales, Cornwall and Brittany. The seventh nation referenced here isn't a real nation at all, but a collective of those in the Celtic diaspora- whether in the United States, Canada, Australia, elsewhere in the former British Commonwealth, or wherever expatriates from these countries have settled. The project itself will examine the elements of Celtic, neo-Celtic, or simply invented pseudo-Celtic culture in these places.