Dark Elves
Basic Information
Anatomy
Their bodies are wiry and athletic, while their faces are chiseled and attractive, though they are shorter and thinner than other elven sub-races. Due to a process of selective breeding that lasted for several generations, the Dark Elves (especially nobles) look attractive even in comparison to other elven subraces. Though their alluring appearance can be used for seduction, it was more often utilized to instill fear. The beauty standards of the surface races makes them prone to turn a blind eye to the deeds of the Dark Elves, showing them greater leniency and acceptance.
Reports vary on the physical differences between the Dark Elven sexes. Some purport that females are generally bigger and stronger than males, while others claim the males have superior strength.
Initial exposure to sunlight is dangerous for a Dark Elf and cause of heavy sunburns. Even after getting used to the sunlight, Dark Elves have a strong tendency to cover their skin and head when exposed.
Genetics and Reproduction
The Dark Elves are believed to be more fecund than other elves, though in truth, they simply have a higher readiness to birth as many children as possible during their lifespan.
Ecology and Habitats
Dark Elves prefer to live in areas that fulfilled certain criteria.
Dietary Needs and Habits
Dark Elves like to eat live animals because they believe the meat has a better flavor.
Behaviour
Compared to other sentient beings, Dark Elves are notably intelligent, as having an analytical mindset and being observant at all times is needed to survive in their society. Intellect, along with force of personality, are mental traits that have been ruthlessly selected for in their socially darwinian civilization over several generations.
The Dark Elves (fittingly for the dark perversions of the elves they were) are decadent and hedonistic beings with a love for what they consider beautiful and a desire to surround themselves with it, generally without paying attention to the cost of acquiring it. For example, they are often lecherous, with a tendency to take lovers at their leisure and discard them at their whim. However, the Dark Elven are able to (or at least try to) hide some of their more heinous traits behind a veneer of sophistication.
Additional Information
Domestication
Bats: The Dark Elves are fond of bats of all kinds (including both carnivore or herbivore varieties), and commonly keep them as pets. Bats of all sizes and breeds are used by the Dark Elves for various purposes, including as spies, scouts, alarms, fighting animals, and messengers (like carrier pigeons).
Lizards: Subterranean lizards of various types have uses among the Dark Elves, and such creatures are the animals they most often domesticated. Some are even bred for specific purposes; the sticky pads of those used as mounts or pack animals are selected traits. The larger and slower breeds are used as beasts of burden, pack lizards being a key example. The steady gait, balance, and wall-walking abilities of riding lizards make them ideal mounts for patrols. Notable individuals, like particularly capable warriors or nobles, as well as mercenaries, use them as steeds. Most Houses have at least a handful and the larger ones have entire squadrons of lizard cavalry, although unlike human knights, they creep unnoticed across the ceilings of caves to pepper the enemy with crossbow bolts rather than valiantly charge into battle. By the time the enemy realize what is happenening, most have been rendered unconscious. They also have a keen sense of smell and are trained to follow silent directions, mitigating their inability to see in the dark, and can move without leaving obvious and readable heat prints. The slimy, skink-like spitting crawlers are favorites among male Dark Elves, highly prized and commonly used by wizards as familiars and otherwise used as pets. Given that their acid is incredibly potent and extremely irritating even if only slightly exposed, they are unsuitable for children or very vain Dark Elves.
Snakes: Snakes are common Dark Elves companions, including both constrictors and venomous serpents. Dark Elves torturers enjoy extracting the venom of their pets to increase the agony of their victims. Younger Dark Elves, particularly priestesses-in-training, sometimes have small consrictors as pets, and often feed them flesh carved from living slaves to "train" them. Spitting snakes are placed in cages on high shelves so that they can spew venom at intruders. Both poisonous and spitting snakes are also used as familiars by Dark Elves wizards.
Spiders: Spiders are the animals most closely associated with the Dark Elves, and they have a variety of roles in a Dark Elves community depending on their size. Very small ones are kept as pets by children in lairs made of metal and glass, while those big enough to kill mice serve as familiars or roam the streets acting as pest controllers. Those of dog-size sometimes serve as temple guards, while those of horse-size are used as steeds.
Facial characteristics
Dark Elves eyes can be of any color, with bright red being the most common. Pale shades that appear nearly white of blue, lilac, pink, or silver are also frequent. Dark Elves with green, brown, black, amber, or rose-hued eyes exist, but they are rare. Purple or blue eyes indicat human ancestry. The color of a Dark Elves's eyes can also be indicative of their current mental or physical state; Dark Elves eyes reddened when they are angry, and turned yellow when they are sick, poisoned, or under some negative magical influence.
Dark Elven hair can be stark white, pale yellow and, more rarely, silver or copper in color. It thinnes and changes color with age, turning pale yellow for women, and silver or grey for men. Dark Elves generally keep their hair long, and decorated it with pins and webbing made of precious metals. They are incapable of growing proper beards, but some males manag to grow long sideburns or even tufts of wispy hair on the cheek or chin.
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
Dark Elven eyes are sensitive to heat, possessing infravision up to a range of 37 meters. Formal education or much practice is needed to "read" heat hues, as the Dark Elves have no innate ability to discern the meaning of the various patterns from birth. Cold objects appear grey, while heat is seen, in ascending order of intensity, as blue, purple, red, and warm yellow. They also have darkvision up to the same range, but not the low-light vision characteristic of other elves.
Dark Elven have excellent hearing, a trait developed by necessity given the paramount importance of foreseeing rock shifts, collapses, and other hazards. It is also the primary means by which they find water, by listening to the dripping sound it makes. They have long, slender fingers and a keen tactile sense, to the point of being able to read subtle markings on stone as if they were Braille. On the other hand, Dark Elves have a human-like sense of smell, far less keen than in their other senses.
Civilization and Culture
Gender Ideals
Female Dark Elves are recognized as being more valuable than males, who are considered worthless. This gives female Dark Elves absolute power over males, and meant they are less likely to be sacrificed. It would be easy to imagine, therefore, that females, have it much easier compared to males, but this is merely an illusion. In Dark Elven society, where rank is power and power is everything, a prestigious position came at a high cost. Dark Elves ambition combined with the other teachings means that the competition between female Dark Elves, particularly those who belonged to powerful houses, is violent, aggressive, and lethal in a way that males don't have to deal with. It is even worse for those women who search power outside, for they have to compete both with other females and oppressed and resentful men.
Still, males who hope to find any place of power often resort to ends as treacherous as the women that rule the Dark Elven. Men generally try currying favors with women, attempting to advance their station by attaching themselves to them.
Courtship Ideals
Dark Elven "courting" is the domain of women in their society, and for a male to try initiate a relationship is a form of insubordination and a reason for execution by torture and sacrifice. In general, Dark Elven women choose their partners as animals will be chosen for breeding purposes, with males expected not to resist the other's affections. Males have no input on when the relationship will start or end, while females can do so at their leisure, at least in theory.
A working long-term relationship between Dark Elves is likely not the result of love, but due to tangible reasons, like complementary careers, political influence, attractiveness, or the male having a history of fathering many female offspring. Any actual affection is usually the result of the male being attractive, servile, and never embarrassing the female. The best "normal" romantic relationship between two Dark Elves is similar to the one between a spoiled brat and her well trained, obedient dog, with the owner having the right to put the dog down for any reason.
Relationship Ideals
The Dark Elves hold some respect towards races capable of resisting their aggressions, and can perceive certain races as at least possible equals (though never superiors) with whom they have mutual gain or non-aggression pacts. However, contracts with "lesser races" are not seen as actually binding, and are readily broken as soon as they stop being beneficial to the Dark Elven party. As a result, the other races learn to anticipate betrayal and always have counters to the treachery prepared. Normally the Dark Elven have poor opinions of even their erstwhile allies, and view other races, at best, as merely laughable or contemptible.
Major Language Groups and Dialects
Human Language, Elfara, Dark Elven Dialect
Common Dress Code
The majority of Dark Elven wear a piwafwi, a fire-resistant, protective cloak, footwear that functioned as boots of elvenkind, and a Dark Elven house insignia. The latter shows the House or merchant clan to which a Dark Elf belongs, be it as a member or servant.
Noble Dark Elves wear clothes and equipment of superior quality (except, of course, when they don't want to attract attention).
Interspecies Relations and Assumptions
Demon: Demons have an odd relationship with the Dark Elves. The Dark Elves don't fear demons the same way most mortals do, respecting their power. As long as both sides get what they wanted, these arrangements concluded without incident.
Dwarves: Dwarves are among the traditional enemies of the Darl Elves. Dark Elves craftwork pales in comparison to dwarven constructions, not due to any inherently inferior ability to create, but rather because of the style-over-substance, short-sightedness of the Dark Elves. When present with similar situations, Dwarves will create a reliable structure able to last for eons where the Dark Elves will create something aesthetically pleasing but vulnerable and potentially dangerous to the occupants. Both Dark Elves and Dwarves are similar in that neither have high birthrates, both are often rich, and both are territorial, but their similarities are more a source of conflict and competition that common ground. Both compet for the same riches, veins and lodes of pure metallic ore and gemstones, and each party is willing to steal from the other. Dark Elves prefer to leave the difficult and dirty mining to the Dwarves before arriving on the scene taking the land, while Dwarven raiding parties are known to "liberate" mineral deposits unearthed by Dark Elves magic. Persistent Dark Both sides enlist various allies (including mercenaries using their vast wealth), developed new magic, and try to manipulate the earth to best defeat the ancient foe.
Humans: Humans are among the Dark Elven's traditional enemies, but one the Dark Elves lacka unified stance on, finding them the only species as unpredictable as themselves. While their short lifespans and lack of innate abilities will incline the Dark Elves to view them as weak, the Dark Elves also have to recognize that they have greater adaptability to other environments and circumstances compared to other humanoids. Humans can be dangerous when they posses martial or magical skill, and the Dark Elves consider them a young race, which meant the potential to become old. They fear what Humans can accomplish if given the time and experience of longer-lived races, and their solution to this problem is to destroy or enslave them before such a future can come upon them.
Genetic Ancestor(s)
Genetic Descendants
Origin/Ancestry
The Light Forest, The Unknown Lands
Lifespan
750 years
Average Height
1.40‒1.70 m
Average Weight
Female: 37‒68.9 kg
Male: 39‒71.2 kg
Body Tint, Colouring and Marking
Dark Elves skin tones rangfrom dark grey, jet-black, and obsidian, (with various shades of blue), the albino Dark Elves being an exception. Dark Elves have white, black, or purple teeth, while their gums, tongues, and throats can be red, pink, or purple.
Geographic Distribution
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