Norien

Outwardly, there is very little to distinguish the Norien race from any other Elven race. They are normally a beautiful people with glossy black hair, narrow faces, and arched brows, and swarthy complexions. They are taller than humans, but very slender. Generally 6” taller Than a human of similar build.
Noriens have two visible nonhuman traits – their pupils are slitted vertically, like a cat’s, and their hands each have six long fingers, each with an extra joint. Noriens tend to prefer rich but somber clothing after the human fashion. They do not bear arms unless preparing for battle or while on a dangerous journey.
Its uncommon for a member of the Norien race to not be competent in several forms of magic. Those that aren’t magically inclined are sterilized through castration for men and something much more vile for females. Afterwards they serve as expensive servants. They’re generally well treated and in fact highly sought after. A very expensive slave thats treated like a pet. They’re often over sexualized in appearance and rarely have more clothes than sheer silks. Whether this translates to risk free bedroom activities is only speculated. Norien sexuality is not understood or shared. Despite their opulent and extreme narcissism in the world, they seem rather offended when their own reproductive needs are brought up. Its a social taboo to show physical affection in public.
As far as society, they’re very solitary as far as outsiders can tell. Its only recently that they’ve begun to work together. For thousands of years they weren’t even able to establish villages, let alone cities outside of their capital city Lilith, which they named after the world to spite other races they fed off. For thousands of years they simply lived among the other races disguised as humans or elves, feeding carefully on those that wouldn’t be missed. Their capital city was considered unholy land and so far removed from the primary land masses that even the most learned scholars were unfamiliar with their existence, let alone the capital city. It was only discovered as far as the rest of the world was concerned during a mass exodus from the cities they inhabited in secret. Almost 300 years ago, all known Noriens made a pilgrimage north and were followed by a clan of crusaders mistook them for a coven of vampires. When they arrived at the city, the small contingent of would be vampire slayers were horrified at the sheer size of the city, most fled back south. Those that remained fought a severely under prepared and short-lived battle against hordes of undead that were the untold number of victims that had been collected over thousands of years and “stored.” What ended up being even more strange is that few of the warriors were killed. The majority were detained and brought to The Norien leader at the time and told to prepare the world for their impending conquest. This set the stage for the most prolific and world changing conflict Lilith has seen in an age.
Since the beginning of their outward expansion, The Norien Empire has employed biological and spiritual warfare. Specifically seeking magically inclined individuals and turning them against their brethren with what can only be described as horrific transformative magic. Using a subject’s own magical aptitude, powerful magic was used to drive mages berserk. Sometimes this was only in personality, sometimes it manifested physically and legendary beasts were born of the most powerful mages. Terrible perversions of natural beasts or mutated horrors that barely resemble their previous humanoid form. This eventually lead to a mass scale witch hunt outside of The Norien Empire. Between Norien capture and local persecution, mages were hunted to near extinction until the free world’s highest authorities realized that magic was their only way to prevent further destruction, and thus the Dominion of the Arcane was formed and a way to prevent Norien perversion was found, though it requires great sacrifice of the magic user. Little is understood of the process to the outside world, and only those of highest rank in the Dominion know how to complete the rituals. The implication for the outside world is that all who are found to be magically inclined are taken by the Dominion, trained, and eventually released wearing an enchanted necklace, referred to as an Ohm Tether. It prevents the wearer from experiencing heightened emotions and blocks most attempts to pervert their magic to the will of The Norien Flesh Mages. Most Ohm Tethers look and operate the same, a simple necklace that appears to be silver, however, they can be attuned to the wearer in a way that focuses it and channels the “correction” as it is referred to, as well as decorated further.
This “advancement” only occurred in the last century. The Noriens have made significant progress with their domination of the world, amassing huge armies of undead and other horrors, as well as other unmentionable beasts. They have been focused on the primary continent but do control outposts and even whole countries everywhere else, except those areas believed by most to be unoccupied by sentient races and the entire continent of Tack. Even The Noriens have enough sense to leave The Dragon Council alone.