Elf
Spirits of the Mountain
Traits
+2 Dexterity, -2 Constitution, +2 Intelligence
Medium: Elves are Medium creatures and receive no bonuses or penalties due to their size.
Normal Speed: Elves have a base speed of 30 feet.
Low-Light Vision: Elves can see twice as far as humans in conditions of dim light.
Elven Immunities: Elves are immune to magic sleep effects and gain a +2 racial saving throw bonus against enchantment spells and effects.
Elven Magic: Elves receive a +2 racial bonus on caster level checks made to overcome spell resistance. In addition, elves receive a +2 racial bonus on Spellcraft skill checks made to identify the properties of magic items.
Keen Senses: Elves receive a +2 racial bonus on Perception checks.
Weapon Familiarity: Elves are proficient with longbows (including composite longbows), longswords, rapiers, and shortbows (including composite shortbows), and treat any weapon with the word “elven” in its name as a martial weapon.
Known languages: Common, Fa'lain (Elven)
Bonus Languages: Harpin (Harpy), Minosh (Easterling Human).
Basic Information
Biological Traits
Like most sentient species of Elohey, elves have a bilaterally symmetrical, upright bipedal structure, with two legs and two arms, two feet and two hands, ten toes and ten fingers. They are mammalian. They breathe air which includes oxygen and they give off carbon dioxide. They bleed red.
They have very fine, translucent body hair, even in comparison to humans.
Elves are similar to human height, standing between 5 1/2 and 6 feet tall with slim features. On the average most elves tend more to be closer to five foot ten. Typically they weigh between 115 and 130 pounds with elven men being the same height and only slightly heavier build than the women.
Dietary Needs and Habits
Biologically they are designed to be omnivores, though most choose to eat significantly more vegetables than a typical human or orc especially in late spring through mid-fall, and some elves make the personal choice to be pescetarian or vegetarian as part of their chosen identity for an adult life cycle.
Additional Information
Facial characteristics
Like most sentient species of Elohey, elves have two eyes facing forward (no eye stalks!), a nose and a mouth, in roughly the same placement as everyone else. Elves tend to have very little facial hair, and what does exist is fine, translucent, and might be sparse; those who can grow beards may do so in the winter, but a Dwarf would probably believe she sees bare skin.
Eyes are round, slightly larger than the typical human with colors tending towards either hazel, blue, gray or green. They do have pointed ears, the better to hear in the thinner air of the altitudes, but the points are easily covered by headclothes or the right hairstyle.
Noses tend to be long and narrow, to give plenty of surface area for warming up and moistening the indrawn breath.
Civilization and Culture
Naming Traditions
Examples of female elven personal names:
Julienne, Tashi, Disha, Sohni, Dorje, Niruerra, Molshalee
Examples of male elven personal names:
Tsering, Wong, Yonten, Chodak, Kalsang, Omaril, Durinyon
Examples of nonbinary elven personal names:
Viceyl, Geldaste, Jyoti, Suman, Nishat, Dechen
mn
For Elven infants, there are two main sources for personal names: they either come from their parents, or from a holy person. However, it is not uncommon for parents to request names for their children from a great hero or holy person.
In requesting a name, the holy person or hero will write the name on a piece of blessed thread. When the thread is woven into the blanket for the newborn, it is considered christening the newborn with their name. If the parents choose the name themselves, they obtain a piece of blessed thread from the local temple and write the name themselves. Once done, they sew the name into the blanket as if the thread and name had come directly from the holy person. Either way, it is felt that the action of sewing the name into one of the first garments the newborn will use conveys a special protection and blessing upon the child that will follow them through their days.
An elf's name will change at different "life cycles", and the generation of the new name is usually a very personal, very private event. The new name is connected to the new cycle of that person's life, which they often will announce subtly by introducing themselves anew on the first encounter -- this is always done as if reminding a respected-but-busy connection of one's identity. For example, when his career as an independent jewelsmith begins, the one who was Tsering might greet the ore traders at market with, "I am Szorvayas, I met you last summer during the Festival of the Mists."
A default elven lifespan probably includes a childhood name; a name used from late adolescence through the years of learning one's first profession; the name of a mature participant in society; and the name of the venerable emeritus/dowager whose life's work is essentially concluded. However! In many cases, if not the majority, an elven adult will have other significant life events which signal the end of one life cycle (and name), and the start of a new one:
- mastery of a skill beyond that necessary to replicate what has been done before;
- the discovery of new knowledge;
- invention of a truly new technique or design;
- achievement of a specific goal set forth by one of the Gods;
- elevation to a new career path;
- merging of two life paths into a conjoined one going forward (which not all marriages are meant to do
- or survival of a major life-changing event.
In the records of a major historical account such as a battle or a rockslide, scholars will often take pains to note the known former name(s) of the survivors in a single line with the current name, as in, "Survived: Tsering of the lost village Enhataesi, once named Tanion Silkyoak, henceforth Szorvayas of Silflona." cl However, the context of written records and verbal references in the elven language of Fa'lain are such that a native speaker normally understands, this name now in use refers to a different life cycle of the same person previously known by that name mentioned earlier. Again: the emotional context of the name is readily understood subtext for any other elf who has any reason to know about the person being discussed.
In general, Elves do not normally have or use "family names" as do dwarves, humans, halflings and so on. For instance, the Grindhewer family would all have the last name "Grindhewer". The first name may change, such as Titas, Alexia, or Marstis, but their last name would be "Grindhewer". In an elven family, the first and last names of all members might be different, and some might not have a "last name" at all. The family might consist of Tenzin Farwalker, Darson, Wong, and Chodak Tearsong.
In most cases an elf would introduce themselves with only one of their names, such as "I am Darson". In more formal occasions, they might use their full name and a portion of their lineage, such as "I am Darson Wong, son of Tashi Sinjin and Kesh Fon". Or they might use their personal name and their place of residence, or even their profession, such as, "I am Darson of Fasthyr," or "I am Darson the glazier."
Common Customs, Traditions and Rituals
History
It has been written in the oldest elven records, that their people were born of the mountain, when Zla Lngan Ma and Dkar Po looked down from their heights and longed to hear more than the wind blow among the rocks, snows and mountain trees. From that desire, the Storm Mother and Father Shepherd drew up the first elves from the slate and snow of the mountaintops. The ancient writings say those first five groups, or clans, were sent out into the mountains and then later the forests at the root of the mountains: in this way, Zla Lngan Ma, Dkar Po and their children could hear more than just the cold winds blowing across the snow.
Armed with that belief, elves set forth from their ancestral mountain home and slowly spread through the forests at the foot of their mountains. Over time the tribes, through trade or a need of mutual defense against the ravages of humans to the East or the warring Dwarven clans to the North, formed an alliance which grew into the kingdom of Samakar.
To this day, the elven holy leaders dye symbols representing each of the original clans onto brightly colored prayer flags, with a winged elk in the middle of each prayer flag. The flags are hung at the most wind-whipped point on a temple's roof or near the entrance of a home. It is said that the devotion in the prayer becomes a spirit elk to match the winged image in the center of the flag; the spirit elk will carry the words to the Holy Family of the Mountains. The flags themselves are made out of whatever materials are available in abundance over the course of the year: animal hair, plant fibers, recycled cloth to weave the flag; berry juice, tannin from leatherworking, and ash from fires to dye the symbols. In times of gratitude, many good strong flags are made. The Holy Family of the Mountains have much to hear from the Spirits of the Mountain which they set forth.
In lean times, little can be spared to make a flag. If the spirit elk can even muster the strength from its makers' devotions to reach the Holy Family, its burden will be an isolated discord in the wash of snowdrift.
mn (( Useful sources for elven names:
- Drow Language random roll chart of names on drowcampaign.roleplaynexus.com is derived from an article in Dragon Magazine
- [url]http://www.eilistraee.com/chosen/language.php?page=drow lists a huge number of words invented for Ilythiiri, the drow language used for the Drizzt books. A lot of these words were created by Julienne_Noquar back in the late nineties and early oughties, especially if there are entries for multiple tenses of a verb, so we might as well make use of them when it makes life easier.
- From Behind the Name, try Nepali and Tibetan and Bengali as inspiration for elven character names. ))
cl This tends to drive Dwarves to tear entire tufts of hair out of their beards, because the Dwarf sees an entire people being casual about new legal identities to the point that the only way for an outsider to get all the names listed together is to destroy a town How are civilized people supposed to respect contract law when one of the contractors discards their identity?!?
Back to Names
Average Height
5'6" to 6' tall
Average Weight
between 115 and 130 pounds
Body Tint, Colouring and Marking
Either long or short, their hair colors range from a blue so pale it looks silver; black; reddish purple like the calderiana flower; blond; and mountain pine brown.
Their skin tone also varies. The colors range from slate blue (#737CA1) lightening to blue gray (#98AFC7), from dark slate gray (#25383C) through granite (#83737C) lightening to light slate gray (#6D7B8D), or occasionally sandstone (#786D5F) that warms up in summertime to dark goldenrod (#AF7817).
Contents:
- Traits
- Appearance
- Names
- Holidays, Special Events
- History
- Footnotes: mn cl
Elves are adapted to high altitude living. They are extremely prone to develop pneumonia at sea level if the air is humid. An elf suffering from "lowlands sickness" will flush dark colors, have difficulty understanding noises, develop headaches, wheeze, grow exceptionally irritable, have difficulty breathing, and eventually pass out.
