Baelnorn
Elves are known as the eldest race in Amaun, if not the Twin Worlds as a whole. What's more than that, is that they live much longer than most, and can see so much more in their time among the living.
There are some few, however, that have been alive that much longer, and have seen that much more than any other elf. This is possible for one reason: they are no longer among the living.
Basic Information
Anatomy
Baelnorns are undead beings, very similar to a lich. Like most other undead, they do not need to eat, sleep, or breathe. If injured, the magic that sustains them slowly closes their wounds, restoring them from any injury that does not destroy them outright.
Despite their similarities to liches, they do have several vital differences. Primarily, their soul still resides in their bodies. This means that their unlife need not be sustained with the souls of others, as a lich's is. Also, they do not possess a phylactery, but are destroyed as any other undead creature.
There are also minor physical differences. Primarily, all baelnorns are elves, although whether this is a necessity of the process that animates them, or a cultural quirk is unknown. In addition, their bodies do not rot away, as a lich's does. They are instead left desiccated, resembling a mummy.
Additional Information
Facial characteristics
The physical features of baelnorns are, of course, similar to what they were in life. The only differences are in regards to the desiccation that occurs after they're reanimated into their undead forms. This leaves their skin pale, and wrinkled, and their physiques more gaunt than those of living elves. The primary exception to this is their eyes, which remain just as clear and lively as they were before their transformation.
Many find the physical features of a baelnorn to be deeply unsettling, even to elves, who hold them in reverence and awe. Many baelnorns even hold their own appearance in contempt, leading many to wear intricate masks.
Civilization and Culture
History
In the wake of the First Imperial War and the First Rising, many of the eldest elves of the Ancient Elven Empire were killed, leaving their wisdom lost to elvenkind forever. This led the ancient elves to devise a ritual to preserve some of the best and brightest among them.
Some were horrified by this idea. They feared that the greatest among them would become nothing more than corrupted mockeries of their former selves. They worried they would be forced to slay the monsters that used to be their elders, and everything they sought to preserve would still be lost.
Still the fear that they would lose the wisdom of the elders won out, and the first of them underwent the ritual and rose beyond death. It was a complete success, and the fears of corruption proved to be unfounded. The baelnorns could guide their people for all eternity.
From then on, it was among the responsibilities of the Grand Cabal to perform the ritual on any they felt deserved that rare honor. This lasted until the end of the Second Imperial War, when the Grand Cabal went into hiding. Thus, the knowledge to create more was lost forever.
Today, baelnorns are unimaginably rare creatures. One by one, most died. Some were slain by adventurers mistaking them for liches. Others could not see a world where their empire no longer reigned supreme, or could not take the roll of ages and took their own lives. Yet more simply disppeared without a trace.
Interspecies Relations and Assumptions
Most baelnorns rarely even associate with living elves, let alone other races. Most simply choose to spend their unlives entirely alone. Those who do spend their lives around others, guide elven society much as they did in life.
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