[Information] Elves

[Icereach]

Elves

Immortal and implacable, the elves of Gost are a lost culture struggling desperately to regain its roots. They alone of the northern refugees still seek to regain their homeland, even three thousand years after being forced from it. They are typically tall and ruddy complected from exposure, with pristine memories that stretch back nearly to the days before the mist. Though they lack the physical fortitude of many races, elves are known as some of the most experienced and successful rangers on Gost. Elves place emphasis on skill with the bow and blade from an early age and train extensively to incorporate their ancestral magics efficiently to combat the horrors of the north. Elves make excellent scouts and rangers, and their night vision and enhanced senses are the stuff of legend.

Physical Description
Elves tend to grow tall and lean, with followers of the Path packing more muscle on their svelte frames than those that have strayed from it. They average around six and a half feet tall; the legendary Llewellynd, last of the original refugees from the north, was said to have been over seven. They also weigh much less than their height would suggest, in relation to the other Medium races. Elven facial features resemble humans closely, with the exception of their elongated, knife-shaped ears that extend back as far as a hand's length from their heads. Skin tones range from a deep burnt umber to a lighter ochre. Hair colors range from pale yellow to black; elves favor darker hair colors to help hide in the night, and lighter-locked individuals often dye their hair darker when crossing into the mist. Greens and blues predominate eye color, though brilliant violet is not unheard of every few generations.

Elves of the Path favor simple, sturdy, and practical forms of dress, in earthy tones and colors that easily blend with their surroundings. They do not ornament their long ears as halflings do, nor do they wear jewelry that could jingle and reveal their position to an enemy. The concept of physical vanity is something long stomped out of elven society; this does not mean they haven't found other things to be vain about. Elves that have left the Path do their best to blend into their adopted communities and favor whatever fashions are trending there.

Society
To the elves of Gost, there are two distinct groups of people: those that follow the Path and everyone else. For elves of the Path, nothing matters more than finally discovering their ancient homeland deep in the mist and driving away that unholy malevolence. They are expected to spend every minute of their waking life training or otherwise furthering that goal in some fashion. They believe that time spent in idleness is, at best, offensive to the memories of every elf lost along the way. Stepping away from the Path entirely is one of the gravest crimes for any elf, and those that do are both shunned and stricken from the memories of those they leave behind. Still, high mortality and low birth rate among this immortal species have forced them to compromise, if only to keep their population alive. Descendants of those shunned are given the opportunity to take up the Path, if they make the decision at an early enough age and find a band to join and begin their training. This applies to both pure-blooded elves and those with traces of human in their ancestry, and they suffer no discrimination based on their parentage.

Elves of the Path never put down roots; thinking of a place as home is the first step to abandoning the path. Instead, they can be encountered wandering the many roads of Gost in either large caravans or small, roving bands of 5 to 20 members. The caravans serve as a resupply to the guerilla army that is the elven nation, as well as the remaining repositories of elven knowledge and learning. Those that travel in the caravans include craftsmen, horse breeders, master trainers, and children too young to begin their training. They tend to stick to the larger roads, especially the Capital Road when inside the halfling enclaves, as no elf may set foot on halfling land. "Visiting the caravan" is also a time for courtship, and has become a sly euphemism in their ancient language. Younger children are raised communally within the caravan and expected to join the training bands upon reaching early maturity.

The smaller roving bands exist for two reasons. One type focuses on developing young elves, training them against the many hazards of the road in preparation for their first forays into the mist. The second is made up of elite units, striking as deeply into the heart of the mist as they can manage. Bands are expected to be largely autonomous and often range far and wide across Gost.

As mentioned previously, elves that leave the Path are cut off entirely and named Faithless. Further, many of the settled peoples of Gost distrust all elves to some degree. It has been universally agreed for centuries that the elves played some hand in the cataclysm that drove them south. Whether true or not, this has led to widespread discrimination against all elves, with those that have left the Path seen as the least objectionable but still wholely unwelcome. Despite their human faces, their height and long ears make it nearly impossible for them to disguise themselves successfully as the other race, and they are often forced to the outskirts of polite society. Only in the Free City of Magadan do Faithless elves have anything approaching equity.

Fortunately for half-elves, their human ancestry breeds strong and true, allowing them to blend in well with the other races.

Path elves favor the names of their ancestors and sometimes reuse the same ones many times over. Examples include Llewellynd, Honspar, Bjornin, and Hilde. Family units are largely a matter of convenience for Path elves, and they rarely associate with any sort of surname. More often they'll identify as belonging to the band of their most senior ranger. As in all other aspects, Faithless elves adapt to the naming conventions of the society they skirt.

Relations
Elves foster very few relations with the other inhabitants of Gost. Their roaming caravans strive to be as self-sufficient as possible, to the point of growing their produce directly on the tops and sides of their wagons as they travel. Still, they must occasionally trade for goods like raw metal and supplies they cannot produce on their own. Most of these they acquire from the dwarves of Higarde. In times of great distress, they will send bands to the Tower of Zelas to consult with the white orcs and seek their vaunted council, one of the few peoples willing to make the journey. To those willing to listen, the elves of the Path pass along information about the state of the north, though they have grown jaded and rarely seek outsiders on their own.
The halfling enclaves, in particular, hold the elves accountable for the invasion of their lands. Any elf crossing into halfling lands, for any reason -whether they follow the Path or not-, can expect to be arrested and summarily deported from halfling territories. Punishment for trespass grows quite severe quite quickly for repeat offenders. The exception to this rule is the Capital Road, which by universal treaty is open to all peoples of Gost. It terminates at the mist wall in Border, where elves are once more free to exit its path and sally forth into the waiting darkness. The halflings of Border, unlike their southern kin, have seen the true horrors the mist can spawn and are noticeably more lax in enforcing any deportations of elves that happen to stray within the enclave's bounds.

Alignment
Elves of the Path are fanatical in their goal and lean very heavily to a lawful, orderly turn of mind. They also struggle with concepts such as morality and favor choices that further the common good, even at the expense of the individual. Faithless elves run the gamut of alignments.

Adventurers
The most commonly encountered elven adventurers are members of Path training bands. Instruction begins just a few years short of physical maturity and ends in an elf's second decade of adulthood. Most training bands consist of a few adolescent members, several younger adults, and one or two senior members. The more elite adventurers range closer to the mist border, usually in small units but occasionally as solo hunters.

Faithless elves tend to avoid adventure at all cost; they abandoned the Path, after all. Further, taking up a life of adventuring would likely cause them to lose any status they've managed to scrape up for themselves within their respected communities. The best a Faithless elf can hope for, though they shun both the Path and settled life, is a short, brutal one as a mercenary.

Religion
Path elves worship an ancient goddess named Luma, the Guiding Star. Her followers permit no specific dogma attached to her name, for her divine mandate is single and pure - to guide home the lost elves. It is said that once Luma had a Holy Book written in her name, but it was stolen at the dawn of time. Ever since, she has allowed her followers only one tenant, so as not to confuse them of their purpose. Clerics of Luma are denoted by a simple star device worn on their outer clothing and specialize in divination magics. Elvish druids also revere Luma, and often claim knowledge of a deeper secret to her worship. They see her guidance written on the world at large.

Faithless elves often adopt the deities that are worshipped locally. However, in far Magadon, a group of Faithless claiming to be the true followers of Luma have begun to make waves.

Alternate Racial Traits
Arcane Focus, Blended Viewnote there are no Drow on Gost, these particular elves just have superior dark vision*, Blight Born, Creepy, Darkvision, Desert Runner, Devoted Companion, Dimdweller, Dreamspeaker, Dusksight, Elven Arrogance, Envoyvery rare*, Fleet-footed, Human-raisedFaithless only*, Long-Limbed, Moonkissed, Natural Swimmer, Overwhelming Magic, Vigilance, Woodcraft

Favored Classes
Barbarian, Druid, Fighter, Paladin, Wizard
(wip)