Wild Elf

Wild Elves have dark skin ranging from dark brown to nearly black. Their hair is dark and they tend to be much more heavily muscled than other elves. They have short upswept ears like their cousins the Wood Elves. They are the most hardy and militant of the elven peoples, in part due to their history.

Racial Modifiers

• Favored Source: Adept, Shamanism
• Favored Stat: Constitution
• +8 Speed
• +5 Health
• +7 Resistance
• +1 Base Stealth
• +1 Base Survival
• Weapon Training
  • +1 Base Skill Point with a Slashing, Crushing or Piercing weapon (must specify)
• Quick Draw

Personality

The demeanor of Wild Elves may vary greatly from region to region, but the majority of Wild Elves are known for rejecting society to live amongst nature, and their ability to survive in harsh climates despite adversity.

The Wild Elf Clansmen of Karn are considered the most militant of the elven races. Though they occasionally war with their neighbors over territory, for the most part their numerous tribes are fairly stable and occasionally work together to protect themselves and each other from being overtaken by the terrors leaking out of Kola Menaga. The half-human Devinites consider themselves to be very civilized and reject the barbarism of their neighbors. Banishers consider themselves to be better than other Wild Elves, and are disgusted by the thought of those who simply gave up on the greatness they had once had, and those who work to preventing their empire from returning.

The Wild Elves of Visici live a more savage and wild lifestyle, as life in the lawless Divided Lands is fraught with danger not only from other Wild Elf tribes, but from ruthless warlords and crafty treasure hunters who scour the southlands looking for profit.

Religion

Karn

The Lady of Thorns is a lesser goddess and the main deity of the Wild Elf tribes of Karn. They serve her by forming close ties with spirits in her following and work to preserve the world around them rather than worshipping her outright.

History

Wild Elves are one of three races of elves created by the Blessed Gods during the Elari Wars. The Blessed Gods had hoped that the introduction of races which mixed the blood and magic of the mortal enemies would blunt the conflict. Instead, the Wild Elves were eventually enslaved by the Elari and used as footsoldiers in their war against their enemies, the Faerie. The Wild Elves excelled at serving their demonic masters, and were given the secrets to sorcery. When the Elari lost their great war, they abandoned the elves serving them across the world and fled, leaving them to their own devices.

The Wild Elves of Karn followed in their masters’ footsteps and formed an expansive and advanced empire built on sorcery and slavery, until they grew too ambitious and attempted rituals even their Elari masters had deemed forbidden. This ultimately caused the collapse of the empire, resulting in their capital city being overrun with demons and other evil creatures. These Wild Elves sacrificed almost their entire population to seal the destruction within the confines of the city, forming pacts with local spirits and lesser gods. Ultimately it was this sort of shamanic power which was able bind the dark power in the ruins of their capital city, later dubbed Kola Menaga, or "the Demon Home."

The Wild Elves of Visici retreated into the Divided Lands, which had previously been the seat of the Elari's power in Visici, to make their homes away from the influence of the Free Cities.

Region & Society

Wild Elves are found throughout Lorithandar. Though the majority of their population exists on the continent Karn, though many live on Visci as well - places where the Elari had significant presence during the Elari Wars before they fled at the end of the war. Few Wild Elves live on Trevas, as the Elari did not have a presence there.

Wild Elves of Karn

After the collapse of the Wild Elf Empire on Karn, the elves there split into three main groups, the Clansmen, the Devinites, and the Banishers. The The Wild Elf Lands of Karn vary widely in their biomes, ranging from coniferous forest to tropical rainforest to the harshest desert in the world. Devinites carved out a relatively safe place for themselves in the northernmost regions of the continent. The Banishers struggle to eke out a life in the south, surrounded on all sides by monsters and demons near the remnants of the Troll Empire and the Haunted City, Draxion.

Clansmen

This group of elves decided that civilization and sorcery were to blame for the fall of their Empire, and renounced both for all time. They developed a code among their people, promoting the societal return to the Old Ways of tribalism before their enslavement by the Elari. The Clans held that they would never form great cities, nor conquer other races, nor partake of sorcery. They turned instead to shamanism and the spirits of the world, which had helped them contain the great evil within Kola Menaga. Many wild elf clans and tribes raised near this place spend their days enforcing the wards and totems surrounding it to ensure nothing goes in or comes out. One of the most highly respected professions of the Wild Elves near Kola Menaga is that of the Catori Wicate (Demon Hunter), elves who train specifically to hunt demons that escape the bounds of the cursed city.

In general, these wild elves of are fiercely protective of their land; they know it so well they could keep anybody out indefinitely. However, the Wild Elf Lands are very rich in resources and full of ancient artifacts which have the potential to be very lucrative. Neighboring groups occasionally negotiate passage through or exploration of particular sites, utilizing Clansmen as guides or guards. Those with the profession of Catori Wicate are particularly warlike and likely to be called upon for such tasks.

Many of the wild elven tribes are nomadic hunter/gatherers, roaming in ranges of their lands allowing regions to avoid being over-hunted or picked clean. Larger tribes, particularly those in very dangerous regions (the western desert) or the tribes guarding Kola Menaga tend to have larger communities. While not having anything as organized as cities, they have substantive villages with more permanent structures and defenses. This is particularly necessary for the desert tribes who constantly fight deadly demons. They shelter in caverns below the sand more often than building structures above it.

Devinites

The elves who later became known as Devinites fled north with their human slaves. They retained whatever magic they had access to and used their knowledge to carve out a life in an inhospitable climate. They eventually interbred with their slaves to the point the entire populace is half-elven. As such, Devinites no longer consider themselves to be wild elves; they are quite civilized and advanced and reject the harsh mandates of the Clansmen in regards to sorcery and civilization.

They formed the Duchies of Devin and built a magitech society which is currently the most advanced in the world. They are one of the only races to have airships for example, and also are the origin of the Lichborne. Several Duchies abut directly to Clansmen lands, and the Duchies have been known to negotiate passage or guides through the Wild Elf Lands in search of treasure and lost artifacts.

Banishers

Not much is known about the Banishers, only that they were the third and least populous group of Wild Elves to band together after the fall of Kola Menaga. These elves refused to renounce sorcery and long for a return to the days of rule, but are trapped in endless battles with the waves of demons unleashed in their land. They exspend most of their powers simply surviving.

Wild Elves of Visici

Having been abandoned at the end of the Elari Wars much like their brethren on Karn, the Wild Elves of Visici had to create a life for themselves with what was available to them. With far fewer gifted sorcerors than those of Karn, the Wild elves of Visici immediately chose to return return to their Old Ways and inhabit the Divided Lands - a lawless frontier of ruins and rubble, where the influence of the Faerie and the strict control of the Free Cities was lesser - rather than come into conflict with the Faerie or the newly founded Free Cities. Though these elves do not outright hate sorcery, they keep any ability quiet, fearing the wrath of the mages of the Sons of Tyrath, or being forced to join The Black.

Some tribes have come into contact with the Free Cities and established trade with them, adopting some of their customs and incorporating them into their clothing and weaponry. Treasure hunters, remnants of the Elari slaves, and warlords looking to stake a claim have settled the region, often coming into conflict with the Wild Elf Tribes living there. Some small towns and villages have been created and ruled by any of these factions, but they do not often last long. A number of high risk, high reward mercantile cartels have set up lucrative trade runs into the southlands with the assistance of Wild Elves as guides or mercenary guards. As such, Wild Elf travelers into the Free Cities are uncommon, but not rare.

Language

The Wild Elf ancestral tongue, known as Navari, is a soft and oddly musical tonal language, in which one's pitch and tambre help to distinguish the meaning of words. Though the language nearly died with their enslavement by the Elari, their subsequent abandonment resulted in halfhearted attempts rediscover Navari and reclaim some of their cultural identity. This resulted in a bastardized dialect mixing Navari and Planar language known as Xanmaeril’ka which spread as the empire rose to power.

The Clansmen, who rejected sorcery and the planar tongue after the empire's fall, embraced a full return to their tribal roots which began with the true rebirth of their native language. The tribes' shaman were able to commune with their ancestors and "unmake" Xanmaeril’ka, spreading the knowledge and use of true Navari to allied tribes across the world. As such, Xanmaeril’ka is now only remembered and used freely by the isolationist Banishers.

The Wild Elven language draws inspiration from real-world Native American languages and Sanskrit.

Names

Karn

Clansmen

In Lorithandar, the Planar Tongue is often denoted by linguistic stops designated by ‘, and hard sounding ends. As such, most of the Clansmen avoid breaks in their names such as “Lan’Vek” because they most often associate planar tongue with sorcery and evil, instead viewing simple 1-2 syllable names as trustworthy and appropriate. In cases where a tribe is large enough to have multiple people with a same or similar name, their name is preceded by their role in the tribe. Chieftain Mar is different than Hunter Mar.

Tribe names are often descriptive or chosen as an homage to a particular spirit. If a tribe becomes too big, part of the tribe may decide to cleave from the larger whole and choose a name related to their parent tribe. For example, the Tide Clan - which pays particular homage to a powerful water elemental known as the Lord of the Tide - may give rise to a branch clan known as the Wave tribe.

• Male Names: Amar, Anoki, Alor, Deon, Kahn, Kozar, Leto, Lorran, Mar, Mazarin, Orin, Talan, Xavorin

• Female Names: Aer, Aerin, Asta, Beri, Caela, Carei, Haeli, Lalon, Maelli, Min, Pera, Taera, Vati, Zaina

• Tribe Names: Glimmer, Wisp, Thorn, Screech, Tide, Shadow, Wave

Devinites

Devinite names often have very little to do with their rejected Wild Elf heritage. Their names are often pulled from their human ancestry and are inspired by real-world Victorian era names. Naming practices in Devinite families often pass on the names of direct ancestors. For example: Charlotte Davenport, III; Ramsay Whitacre, IV; and so on.

• Male Names: Alden, Bennett, Edward, Melville, Ramsay, Silas, Vance

• Female Names: Bernadette, Charlotte, Elinora, Lavinia, Madeline, Maude, Wilhelmine

• Family Names: Blackmoore, Cauldwell, Davenport, Dent, Hughes, Rosseau, Whitacre

Banishers

Banishers refuse to renounce the ways of sorcery and slavery, and as such cling to any reminders of their days as the ruling power of Karn. They tend to have personal names in the tradition of Xanmaeril’ka, a mix of the Wild Elf root language Navarri and one of the Planar dialects. Family names are often pulled directly from Arcadian or Pandemonian and may be directly translated.

• Male Names: Ichthalixt, Menaghaar, Sartaraax

• Female Names: Kel'ashann, Lem'khanna, Van'khaleen, Tel'zoraa

• Family Names: Arx'arn'athol, Kan'marxal'lon, Lor'arx'ithan, Mor'arn'icthral

Visici

The tribes of Visici have developed a unique naming system, where each member of a tribe is given a public name and a personal name.

Public names often consist of two to four words - more akin to a title - which describe the elf in question. These may change over time as the elves age, but are usually set well into adulthood. Personal tragedy or life-changing experiences may result in an intentional change of one's name to leave the past behind. Personal names are derived from the Navarri language just as those of Karn's Clansmen, and are usually only made known to those whom the elf trusts. They are also occasionally shared during the creation of oaths or pacts between those who have conflicted in the past as a form of symbolic trust for the future. Lying when claiming to disclose one's personal name is seen as a heinous insult.

Tribe names are, once again, often descriptive of the tribe in question. For example, the Iron Talons gained the name for frequently trading with the Free Cities for high quality weapons and modern armor.

• Public Names: Black Bear, Dark Heart, Quiet Waters, Races the Rivers, Sharp Arrow, Sings to the Sky, Strong Arms, Wide Eyes, Young Eagle

• Tribe Names: Cave Wyrms, Dark-Clouds, Goldeyes, Green Leaves, Iron Talons, Lightfoot, Stone Harts, Stormcrows

Equipment

While most equipment in the Player Guide is available, many races have a particular affinity for equipment, or materials of a certain type such as particular arms & armor.

Magic & Lore

Though Wild Elves had history of producing powerful sorcerors, with the fall of their empire and subsequent reverence of spirituality and shamanism, the aptitude for sorcery has been selectively bred out of their population. Adepts have also become more commonplace as well and are widely respected for their abilities.