Elf Tribes around Chrailis and the Wild Elf Tribes Far to the West
Rural Elves would be those on the outskirts of the city to about 50 miles out. They still have regular contact with the city, its inhabitants, and parts of their population make regular journeys toward the city. Most are village dwellers along the river, some live in villages in the jungle north and south of Chrailis. These probably conform closest to the listed Core Rulebook Elf. They still depend on the Rangers some for protection and enjoy the relative peaceful lifestyle associated with being near the city.
Regional Elves would be elves from about 50 miles out to probably 150 to 200 miles out. They still exist in the sphere of influence of Si’Nassa. They know of Chrailis. These elves will start seeing a more homogenized society, forming tighter tribes and not the open villages seen closer to the city. Various members of their society will likely have made journeys to Chrailis, however such travel isn’t common. Technology is still similar to the Rural Elves. With the Rangers influence not spreading out very far, it is up to individual tribes to offer more of their protection. Again north of the river is safer than south of the river as that begins to stretch into marsh lands and the threats associated there. Especially south, contact with the lizard folk can become more of a problem. Each stays to itself, but conflicts occur and old animosities between groups are hard to ignore at times. They will have and be aware of the concept of a monetary system, however out here it will just be a small part of their economy. While these elves typically conform to the Core Rulebook, due to the more rugged lifestyle, the majority just get a +2 to Dex with a +1 to intelligence, no penalties to constitution and a -1 to Cha when dealing with non-elves.
Beyond the 200 mile range, we start seeing elves who barely know of Chrailis except through tales and stories. Only a limited number of adventurous members have ever made the trek to the city, and usually they never return. These elves are definitely tribal in nature – forming tribes of 15 to 100 members. Due to the dangerous nature of their environs – both plant and animal hazards, they tend to live higher off the ground, especially closer to the river (if upriver) as it will flood. Storms are more severe out here now that Si’Nassa isn’t influencing the weather. The base concept for how these elves live is going to be comparable to the American Indian of the Northwest (yes, they will have totem poles uses as signposts and information for traveling elf hunting parties – ‘You are now on our land’ ‘Beware – Flowering Rope Tree nearby’, ‘This area prone to spawning plant folk’. Lizards are still one of their main competitors for resources, and while they choose to live in burrows, their social level is similar and their culture will also find similarities to that of Indians – however those of more Everglades/Mississippi Delta variety. The technology of these elves at first glance will seem primitive, however, it is more adaptive to the environment. Metal and rock is a scarce resource. Most tools are made from wood, however a little magic can easily harden wood to where it is tougher than diamond (after all – a tree isn’t much more than a tower of carbon – slight molecular rearrangement via magic and you can have diamond hard implements). These magics are exclusive to the wood warpers and druids.
The rest of this article is on the wild elves far to the west of Chrailis. At such a far distance out, Chrailis really is but a story and a myth. Few if any have ever made that journey. In fact, they are far enough out, where tails of another Dragon Domain exist far to the west where the lands rise out of the ground like great rocks.
Out this far, the only indigenous good races would likely be Elves (e. g. no humans, dwarves, gnomes, halflings). Traveling groups of humans are occasionally seen, and while treated with suspicion, are usually welcomed in their respective lands, if not into their actual tree villages.
The harshness of these elves has caused some adaptations. The standard elf of these tribes gets different starting stats. They get the +2 dex, however, they don’t get any bonus to intelligence, a +2 on constitution, and a -2 on cha when dealing with any non-elf due to living in such small segregated societies. (this penalty applies when dealing with the Urban or Rural elves also, as their distaste and suspicion are hard to hide. )
Lizards, Troglodytes, and Gripplies live to the south. The southlands, while south of the river, aren’t marshy like around Chrailis, though spots of marshlands exist. To the north is unknown at this time. For certain however, there are a variety of ape/sasquatch type men and there is the occasional troll running around. To the far west, ogres and giants are more common.
The elven wild tribes are interlaced with small congresses of tengu, especially the further west one goes.
The main threat this far out is the megafauna and flora. With trees nearing 300’ in height, there is also magical vegetation to be wary of. The aforementioned Flowering Rope Tree is one example. It is a tree nearing 50’ in height with branches spreading out as wide as the tree is tall. It is sparsely leafed. Growing out from the base are long bone white vines stretching out almost 75 feet hiding just under the leaves. Each vine is will quickly wrap around anything that moves and will start constricting. Each vine is also covered in tiny hollow thorns. The whole purpose of the vines is to capture prey and bleed it out as they hold it over the root system near the surface of the ground. Around the tree can be seen several drying and decaying carcasses. The leaves themselves, when they fall, are slightly acidic and if they fall on a corpse, the will react in a way to start dissolving the corpse slowly over the course of weeks. The Flowering part comes from the sweet lavender-like aroma the tree produces. The flowers are collected occasionally as the scent is known to slightly decrease inhibitions. Fortunately, these trees are far and few between, how they propagate is unknown.
Other known threats are the banshee spiders to the south, various packs of velociraptor like creatures running around, occasional T-Rex walking through the woods, etc. The animals grow big.
While the trees are massive, they let quite a lot of light through to the ground, creating quite a bit of ground cover at the times. This along with the heavy fruit and nut-bearing capacity of some of the trees allows for a dense population of smaller lizards and mammals which provide the base layer of the carnivorous cycle. There are also several edible fungi growing in and around the jungle floor.
As it rains almost every other day (sun or rain, it seems) and a single day can see several thunderstorms followed by several periods of bright sunlight, there are also several streams and small ponds providing additional food sources.
All told, the elves could easily live solely off of a vegetarian diet or choose to live off a diet consisting of nothing more than small animals and fish. However, each of their cultures has become somewhat of a hunter society of the big animals. Some tribes specialize more than others. To hunt these, they might range 100 miles from home just to track a mega animal down. When they succeed, there is usually a big feast, and neighboring tribes will be invited. While not practical, this may be more a form of defense which has developed by keeping the predatorial content of their homelands under tighter control. Especially considered a baby T-Rex can go from hatching from a hutch of 50 watermelon size eggs to a 20’ tall monstrosity in as little as 5 years (like a fish, they metabolize more than 80% of what they actually eat, be it vegetable or animal. Food goes in, not much comes out)
A final word on culture – their society exists with multiple ritual ceremonies. It is a form of group spellcasting for some of these ceremonies. There are ceremonies for healing, for weather control, coming of age, funeral, birth, marrying, purification, etc. These ceremonies are different from tribe to tribe, but all have powerful effects.
The purification ceremony is worth mentioning. There is a noticeable taint on anyone who lives more than a week or so under the influence of Si’Nassa. It is only noticeable to the Shaman, druids, and sorcerers of the tribes. Whether it has a bad effect, unknown. Generally speaking, anyone tainted is not allowed in any of the other rituals or ceremonies and will often not be allowed into the tribe's actual living area. The actual ceremony, if practiced, varies greatly from tribe to tribe. It is used for other types of purification, so the lack of visitors from Chrailis doesn’t hinder it being conducted on a regular basis.
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