Shadow Elf



Centuries ago, long before the Seelie or Unseelie ever came to be, a long forgotten tribe of elves traveled into the barren wastes of the Scarred Lands and came across the ancient ruins of a civilization from the Forgotten Age. Traveling deep into catacombs and crypts, they learned of forbidden and horrible rituals meant to cheat death itself by stealing immortality from the very gods themselves. Some believe it was the restless spirits of the undead within this place that influenced the judgement of the elves, but they slowly became corrupted by greed and obsessed with translating and carrying out the ritual. Disaster occured when the ritual backfired, the very ancient deities they sought to rob of their power cursing them with a state of existence that was neither alive nor dead in which the light of Faelith had disappeared from their hearts.

Personality/Behavior
Shadow Elves go through a life cycle in which they are born as true living fae, with emotions and impulses that they often find frightening and confusing without the light of faelith in their hearts to feel any joy or love appropriately, leaving many in a state of constant emotional turmoil always with an unrelenting sorrow deep within them. Most will avoid direct contact with other fae if possible or try their best to make sense of their cursed state. As they grow older, their hearts grow darker and colder until they are incapable of any true emotion at all. In recent generations there have been a few born of their kind that seem to be capable of expressing more emotions, a possible sign of their cursed blood weakening but such individuals are normally very emotionally unstable as if with an extreme case of bi-polar disorder. From a cultural standpoint however all are raised to be unfaillingly polite and humble, hoping to on some level make ammends for their transgressions of the past. Despite this however, the darkness in their hearts has lead to a predisposed nature of deception that makes most any who deal with them very careful.

Description/Biology
Shadow Elves can be born from any standard Elf stock and may share similar physical features of their living half, but will always retain the tell tale features of the Shadow Elf; faded gray/lavender skin, yellow eyes, muted out grayish white hair (warriors of their kind regularly dye their hair in the blood of their victims however) and sharp predatory features. In their youth they have some semblance of life in their appearance and have been said to have "morbid beauty" but as they slip into old age they become emaciated, their skin drying and tightening against their bones leaving them looking like true walking dead. While they don't sustain any permanent damage, they are also weakened and fatigued by the effects of direct sunlight.

Climate/Terrain
The Underdeep or anywhere dark is prefered, but they can exist anywhere.

Territories
Shadow Elves tend to keep to the Scarred Lands of the Unseelie Territory but vast cave systems stretch stretch out in all directions allowing them to appear virtually anywhere in the west. They're virtually unknown in the east however.

Society
Shadow Elf society resembles equal part religious order and collegiate institution in which the aquirement of both spiritual and intellectual knowledge and wisdom is highly prized. Much like the Anubians of the Plains of the Sun, they seek to understand the nature of death and the afterlife however many still do so to meet darker ends, to either cure themselves of their miserable states or seek out another way to aquire that immortality they had been robbed of once before. Theres is a class society separated by chronological age in which the youthful carry out more physically demanding deeds or those needing a certain degree of passion behind their efforts while the elderly resign themselves to their libraries and archives to translate text, study manuscripts and expand their knowledge so that they may pass it down to the next generation.

Species Relations
All species have reason to fear and distrust the Shadow Elves and in the modern age only those of the Unseelie Court have any real desire to be associated with them due to their very select talents. The fact that the Dark Lord Varagoss was born from their blood also makes any real allies scarce. For reasons unknown, despite having very similar natures, goals and ideals, Shadow Elves refuse to deal with the Bodach.

Gender Relations/Roles
The only real distinct difference between the genders apart from biology is that females tend to be able to hold onto their youthful passions longer and control them better than males of the species. As such while males and females will fight side by side in their youth, its the females who are to be favored as warriors who would apply such passion in battle longer while men are prepared from an early age for more "distinguished" roles as researchers, mages and historians. Despite the need for a warrior class, those in power tend to see bloodshed as vulgar and unnecessary in the grand scheme of things.

Love/Courtship
The idea of courtly love is a concept long forgotten by the Shadow Elves, although many desperately try to recapture such emotions in their youths, enjoying it as long as they can before their hearts grow cold and dead. However any such feelings are merely a mockery of the true thing at best, as they try to pretend best they can that the feelings they have are real. In the exceedingly rare case that a Shadow Elf does actually feel true love, it is all the more tragic knowing it will die out just like anything else as they grow older.

Sex
For Shadow Elves, sexual pleasure is the closest thing they will ever experience to "true" passion as if they were fully alive, however it is a completely biological response for them rarely with any true affection behind their efforts. Many tend to draw on their more sadistic tendencies, being dominant lovers who will both pleasure and punish their partner to feed that sadism or possibly to punish them for making them feel such strange and confusing sensations. Shadow Elves are incapable of breeding with one another and as such have to aquire breeding stock from other Elf races, usually common elves but are not above aquiring those of the other sub races if it is so desired. Being exceedingly long lived, the need to procreate is rare and great care is taken in locating, examining and approving a potential mate. It is not uncommon for a Shadow Elf to aquire a particularly appealing slave as a sex toy and source of nourishment (any race that peaks their interest) that they may keep for the duration of the slaves entire life in which they become broken mentally and cannot comprehend an existence not in the service of their keeper.

Birthrights



 * Leechfinger: Shadow Elves don't need to eat or drink but rather have a vampiric ability to drain "life essence" through physical contact with other fae. Most will take just enough from a target to satiate themselves and leave their victim fatigued or in a deep sleep while others are not quite as lucky.

Favored Class
Mages are easily the most powerful of the Shadow Elf classes and virtually all schools of study are explored although Necromancers, Heirophants and Oracles are the most highly prized. Those in the warrior class are trained Soldiers and Rogues among them are the deadliest of assassins and spies.

Combat
Shadow Elf swordsman are among the deadliest ever witnessed parrying and thrusting with a dramatic fencing style, rarely fighting as a group but each trained in such a way that group tactics are rarely needed. When a conflict needs to be avoided or extinguished quickly however, magic is always the great equalizer.

Development
Shadow Elves came to be when I came up with an idea for a secondary aggressor in the past who were the source of the Dark Lord Varagoss that now took a backseat to the primary threats of House Ravenbane having been dishonored and humiliated. The idea of wanting to introduce undead aspects like vampires had always been an interest of mine and after coming up with the idea of an undead curse, the two ideas just kind of clicked.