Alfen Ancestors

Shhh...

"How old is this place?" Geary asked, his eyes following the precise cuts of stone. The temple was perfectly, uncomfortably symmetrical. Even the walls appeared unphased by the natural settling of the earth beneath its foundation. Every piece of stone that went into the temple's construction was carved with calculated complexity. Dattiny noticed the lack of curvature, how angular the geometry was, stepping lightly across the floor. The floor made them dizzy if they stared to long, paved with perfect hexagonal stones. The stones were packed so tightly, fit together so perfectly, that the lines between each stone was almost undetectable.
"It predates Ozlith., so at least a thousand years," she replied, "Alfen in origin."
"Elven ruins? How can you tell?" Geary asked, turning to an empty hall with high ceilings and strange glowing green symbols lining massisve pillars.
"The symmetry," she said, "The Alfen despise asymmetry. Look at these pillars, each carved in a single massive slab of stone. The old elves were said to build cities by carving into mountains."

They came upon a chamber that made then feel small. The glowing symbols on the wall were brighter here. Lining the room, from the floor to the highest point of the temple many hundred of meters up, were crystalline spheres, each several meters high, and with a strange silhouette inside. Geary turned his attention to the center if the chamber, where a mass of crystal formations butter from a much larger sphere. He stepped forward to get a closer look...

The Alfen of yore were a far cry from their decedents. The elves today are civil, and their eldritch nature is muffled in comparison. The ancestors were taller, almost devoid of emotion, and their genetic meddling gave the individual a wide assortment of unique biological qualities. Their value in symmetry is reflected all around them. Their buildings were measured perfectly. Their bodies were carefully altered to match and their arcane mastery pushed well beyond that of the other races to the point where it drove most of their technological invention.
Alfen ancestors are nothing more than remnants of what the race once was. Millennia have passed since their empire fell, and they managed to survive. This didn't happen by luck or force of will. The ancestors that walk the world today are the product of machinations set in motion before the empire fell. They were preserved in Tombshrines, kept alive until the time was right... and some are starting to wake up.

A Ripe Old Age

Ancestors are exceptionally rare, and only found in Alfen ruins unless they happen to make their shrines fully operational. In the past 200 years, only two ruins were explored. The first explored was a Tombshrine in Estoya called Yeseresey, which rested in The Harrows. The ruins were damaged beyond repair, the alfen within having died some time before.
In The Freeholds, another ruin was explored. It was also a tombshrine named Roylyor, and it activated during the exploration. Their were no survivors and within a few months, the ancestors within poured out, leaving a trail of death in their wake as the tombshrine hovered across the battlefield. If matchlock weapons weren't in use, the alfen could have taken the entire region.

Arcane Genetics

The Alfen practiced a rather liberal manipulation of their gene pool through their mastery of magic. The Alfen knew more of The Arcane and the World of Magic than anyone else, even the gods were unable to rival their skill. They had deep connections to arcane laws that are now lost to time.

This manipulation is why there are so many radically different species of the Alfen. It is said there were hundreds of them, each designed for a specific task in the empire. Eventually they created The Hive Elves, who rebelled. The hive elves are now extinct, but no one really understands how the empire and the hive elves wiped each other out.

The genetic tampering was more than experiments on others. They often altered themselves with their power, adding a great many distinct features that made each Alfen unique among the race.