Elves of Severall

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Elves of Severall
A Guidebook to the Fair Folk of Severall

Deep within the massive forest that covers the northern third of the West Elyran continent is the river called Ashatabrelle. Springing forth from the snow pack of the Rhenarrhohal Mountains the Ashatabrelle flows south where is joins its sister rivers, The Conneabrelle and the Genavrabrelle to form the crystal blue Lake Oorwhalle. From the southern tip of the lake the Ashatabrelle springs forth once more, its icy clear waters flowing south for more than 200 miles before the land rises and forces it to split in two. The Ashatabrelle heads southwest then west, all the way out to the Sea of Corsairs. The Grandrabrelle flows south east, then east on its way to the North Divide. Nestled between them, just where the two rivers part ways, is the ancient elven town of Corellaestra.

Legends tells that Corellaestra is the orginal home of the elven people. It was there, the stories of all elven peoples tell, that the Mother and Father of the elven race made their home and begat the many tribes of the Fair Folk. Every mystical elven kingdom, every village of the elven woods, and every tribe that hunts the north share the tales of Corellaestra, though the details of those stories have changed somewhat over the millennia.

Today only a single structure stands in Corellaestra. On the land that rises just above where the two rivers part ways stands the Haevrellhenge, a series of twenty-seven massive stone pillars arranged in a circle. Made of an unknown white stone with faint blue and green viens, each pillar stands eighteen feet tall and is eight feet in circumference. The pillars support a lacy dome structure of the same white stone that peaks thirty-six feat tall. Haevrellhenge has stood on the spot since the days of the Mother and Father, and while weathered, still stands strong and unbroken. No one knows its orignal purpose. For millennia now, however, Haevrellhenge has been used for a sacred meeting of the all elven peoples called the Corellaestrathum. Every 100 years the leaders of all the various kingdoms and tribes come together here to celebrate their shared heritage. Here, they speak of the path elf-kind has trod over the past century and try to shape the course it will take over the next. The festival lasts for the three months of summer. The oak forest around Haevrellhenge fills with the pavilions, yurts, and tents of thousands of elves from all corners of the Great Forest who come to join their leaders in this celebration. The holiday is one of gratefulness to the Gods for Severall's creation as well as a chance to extol the virtues of elven diversity. Fights and feuds are paused, even wars have been halted to attend the Corellaestrathum.

Once the summer long holiday ends, Corellaestra stands empty once more. The many distinct tribes of the Fair Folk return to their own ways, their own regions, and their own joys and troubles.

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The Elven Tribes

Like many races, elves can breed with other races and produce bloodlines of mixed race offspring. Thought not common, Aasimar, Teifling, Genesai, and Draconic bloodlines, not to mention Half-Elves, all occur in almost every elven society. As in all races, these instances are the result of purposeful crossbreeding or romantic involvement between such races. Unlike other races, however, elven speciation also occurs naturally as a response to the environment. Elves are an innately magical race and that magic responds swiftly to help the elven people adapt to their surroundings. In most cases, such speciation can occur within only three or four generations. This has resulted in a variety of elven tribes all sharing the Great Forest together.

Wood Elves

Wood elves are the original, and by far the most numerous, of the elven tribes. Most of the elven kingdoms and villages are comprised of the wood elf tribe.

Wood elves are short and slim, standing between 4.5 and 5.5 feet tall and weighing between 95 and 135 pounds. They possess a natural grace but are more frail than other races. They tend to be fair skinned and dark haired, with various shades and combination of brown, red and black being most common. Wood Elf eyes are almond shaped and come in various shades of blue, green, amber, and brown.

Wood elf societies and cultures can vary a great deal from kingdom to kingdom, but some similarities occur. Wood elves tend to favor things of natural and simple beauty. They enjoy loose, comfortable clothing. They prefer meals of simple, fresh foods and seldom drink anything other than water or elven wine. Their architecture tends to enhance and almost merge with the terrain, creating villages and cities of remarkable beauty that appear to have almost grown out of the forest rather than being built from it.

As a race, with few exceptions, wood elves value freedom, variety, and self-expression. They are mostly Chaotic Good.


Frost Elves

Far in the northern reaches, where the Great Forest turns to mostly spruces, pines, and larches, stand the massive Rhenarrhohal Mountains (Diamondgleam Mountains). It is around this range that the seven clans of the Frost Elf People make their lives.

The Frost Elves are a nomadic people. They have no cities and no stable villages. The closest thing to a permanent home any of the clans possess are the seasonal locations they return to camp at year after year, but even these tend to move over time.

Each of the clans moves through its range, from camp to seasonal camp, following the migrations of its food supply. Entire clans seldom move together however. Most are separated into multi-family structures called Aelvkins, consisting of between 50 and 100 individuals.

The Seven Clans

Clan Mist-Walker and Clan Ghost-Wind are the two most southern clans. These clans roam the forest just south of the Rhenarrhohal's. There the Great forest is mostly pine, spruce, and weeping cedar with occasional patches of hardy northern maple and oak. Clan Mist-Walker roams an area from just west of the mighty Ashatabrelle River to the forests just past the eastern end of the Rhenarrhohals. Clan Ghost-Wind travels the lands between the Conneabrelle and the Genavrabrelle and south down to Lake Oorwhalle.

Both clans are renowned for their close relationship with the Fae of the Northern Forest. The Aelvkins of these two clans almost always make their seasonal camps in or near areas frequented by Fae of the Seelie Court. They make regular offerings of portions of their successful hunts and crafted goods to maintain this close relationship. The clans historians speak of numerous instances where the Fae had come to the clans aid, and vice-versa.

Both clans follow the migratory paths of herds of caribou and supplement their diet with moose, hare, various tree nuts, berries, and fiddleheads.

Clan High-Wind and Clan Vale-Haven are known to the other five clans as the Mountain Clans. These two clans both dwell within the forested passes and valleys of the Rhenarrhohal Mountains. The massive snow topped peaks of the range house an impressive array of valleys all interconnected by passes, trails, and game-paths. The two mountain clans move between these valleys, following herds of hardy sheep and mountain goat. Like the more southern clans, they add tree nuts, berries, and fiddleheads to their diet.

The two clans have hostile relationships with the frost giant clans that also dwell in these mountains. Numerous wars have been fought between the two races. Relations with the smaller number of cloud giants and storm giants are more cordial, but far less frequent.

Clan Ice-Walker, Clan Evergreen, and Clan Sky-Dancer are the three most northern Frost Elf clans. The clans roam the spruce and larch covered lands north of the Rhenarrhohals. During the cold dark of the extreme northern winters the clans move south into the foothills of the mountains following herds of reindeer and dire reindeer. From spring to early autumn they move to the northern coast where they hunt seal, sea lion, polar bear, whale, and a variety of fish.

These three clans also hold yearly competitions for their best and brightest. They hunt Rhemorraz, Dire Polar Bear, and other dangerous northern creatures. Vicotry is awarded to those with the largest kill for each creature type. The victors earn a personal share in that years profits from selling whale and sea lion ivory to the southern elven tribes.

Traits

Like their wood elf cousins, frost elves have fair skin and almond shaped eyes. Frost elf hair, though, is almost universally pale. Pale blondes, greys, whites, even light blues and greens are common among them. Generations of their high protein, high fat diet, however has produced a hardier and heavier breed of elf.

Frost Elves lose the standard elf -2 to Constitution but gain a -2 to Charisma. Their isolation and environs have made them less caring of social graces and more rugged looking than other elven tribes, while their nomadic lifestyle and diet heavy in proteins and fats have somewhat rounded their features and made them more hardy.

Frost Elf characters can choose, at character creation, to give up their +2 to saves vs enchantment spells and effects in exchange for Cold Resistance:2 +1 for every 5 character levels. Once made this choice cannot be changed.

+1d2 x 10 pounds. Frost elves are heavier than other elven tribes.

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High Elves:

High Elves are the evolution of Elven civilization manifested. They are the builders of cities and the backbone of many elven social structures. While the Wood Elf tribe was still dwelling in their treetop villages the High Elves created the first true large towns and eventually the first cities.

The High Elf tribe prides itself on its passion for the arts and other creative acts. Philosophy, art, music, architecture, and politics are all common pastimes for the High Elven people. The traditional elven love and respect for nature manifests itself often in these pursuits, creating works of art and buildings of striking beauty and music and poetry that evokes the grandeur of nature in the listener.

HIgh Elves, while creative and passionate, can also tend towards haughtiness and elitism. Elven Supremacists and even High Elven tribal supremacists occur among them with a bit more frequency than the other tribes. The majority, however, prefer to think of themselves as an example for the rest of the world to aspire to, and apply the vastness of elven patience to waiting for the other tribes and races to catch up.

The High Elven Tribe is the second largest of the elven tribes. They can be to some degree or another in almost any large elven city but their population is most concentrated in the kingdoms along the southern edges of the Great Forest.

Traits:
Like other elves, high elves are fair of skin. High elven hair color is almost always either a glossy black (Blueblack, redblack, blackblack), or a dark golden blonde. Ocaisionally golden reds, and dark reds occur as well. Eye color can be any color common to elves, as well as rich blues, purples, and greens.

High Elves are creatures of unusual beauty enchanting personality. They lose the standard even +2 to DEX and gain instead a +2 to Charisma.

High Elves are slightly taller than other elves. Add 1d2 inches to height and 5 pounds per inch gained. This stacks with the height and weight gain from HTP Gold elf, so a Golden High Elf can be significantly taller than normal elves.

High Elves characters can choose either Wizard or Bard as their favored class at character creation. Once chosen, this choice cannot be altered.

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Isle Elves

Not all of the elven tribes dwell under the leafy canopy of the Great Forest. Not long after the end of the first age elves took to the the sea and many families never looked back. Over the millennia these families have grown into the vast fleets of the the Isle Elves.

There are two major branches of the Isle Elf tribe. The Lyrthaevus Sodalities make their homes on the thousands of islands that dot the Sea of Corsairs and sail that sea and the Lyrthac Ocean. The Lyrthaevus Sodalities are by far the larger of the two branches. The second branch, the Ebyrinth Argosy sail the waters of the Inland Sea. The families of the Ebyrinth make their permanent homes on the isles off the south eastern coast of the Great Forest.

Isle elves share the same general build and the same natural grace of other elven tribes. Their hair and eyes tend to be dark, with black and browns being most common. Isle Elf skin, however is far darker than their cousins. The elves of the Lyrthaevus Sodalities have skin ranging from olive to bronze. Those of the Ebyrinth Argosy are even darker, with skin ranging from golden brown to rich chocolate brown.

Isle elves spend much of their lives on or in the sea. At the young age of 30, Isle Elf children begin digging for clams and diving for oysters and other shellfish. Around 50 they're manning smaller fishing vessels under the tutelage more experienced elves. By the time the average Isle Elf reaches 100 they've spent years of their lives sailing between the islands of their people, learning the ways of the sea. Isle elf adventurers are trained in their arts as much on board ships as not.

Traits:

Isle Elves are identical to normal elves except int he following ways.

Isle Elves lose the standard elf +2 to listen and Search and gain a +2 to Balance and Profession: Sailor (They keep the Standard +2 to spot)
Isle Elves at 1st level can choose either wizard or swashbuckler as their favored class. Once made, this choice cannot be changed.

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Tundra Elves

On the north west corner of the West Elyran continent lies Caernigs Spur. The Spur is a horn like protrusion jutting from the corner of West Elyra where the Great Forest gives way to a landscape of frozen tundra and icy, rock-strewn scrublands. The spur is also home to a number of bizarre mystical properties. The barriers that separate the Prime Material from the transitive and energy planes is thin here, or perhaps worn. Areas of planar bleed are far more common and planar breaches occur with some frequency. Finally, the area is a favored play ground of the Fae of the Unseelie Court. These things conspire to make Caernigs Spur a harsh and unforgiving environment suitable to only the hardiest, or most willful, of the elven tribes.

Originally a branch of the Frost Elven tribe, the clans of the Tundra Elves are well suited to the cold of their territory. Legends of the Tundra elves say that they were a favored people of the Mother of the elven race. They tell of how their people were instrumental in aiding the Mother in a game of wits against an Unseelie Prince. The details of these stories vary from clan to clan, with each stressing their particular clans importance in the Mothers victory. The truth, whatever truth there may be to these tales, has long since been lost.

Today the Tundra Elves roam the frozen wastes of the Spur hunting reindeer, polar bear, hare and various fish. Over the centuries they have learned well which areas of planar bleeding to avoid and how to recognize the opening of breaches. Many of the clans have also forged bonds with some of the Unseelie Fae of the area, though those bonds are often chaotic and strained. Both sides regularly seek to enmesh the other in plots and games to test the wit of the other, and the results are just as often bloody as they are cordial.

Their connections to the Unseelie have led to a certain amount of distrust from the other elven tribes, particularly from Clans Mist Walker and Ghostwind of the Frost Elven Tribe.

Traits

Standard Tundra Elves are identical to the Frost Elves. The consistent exposure to various planar energies as well as regular relations with the Unseelie fae, however, have left few Tundra Elf bloodlines purely elven. The Tundra Elf clans have much higher rates of Planetouched offspring than the other tribes, with Cansin and Genasi being the most common.