Elves occupy a unique place among the sapient races of Arcadia. They are at once feared and loved; both admired and reviled. The only thing which is certain about the Elves is that no one understands them.

Elven Racial Template [90 points]

Characteristics [25 points]

Elves have +1 DX [20] and Perception +1 [5].

Elves are very similar in appearance to humans, and can often pass for them, though they have noticably upswept ears. Many Elves living among Humankind have studied the magic of Transformation in order to move in Human lands unnoticed and unmolested.

Advantages [65 points]

Elves have the advantage of a Racial Memory [15], and can meditate on past lives or the lives of others to learn new skills. Elves have a keen distance vision, granting them the effects of Telescopic Vision +1 [5]. All Elves are Mages [10], and they more easily manipulate magical forces than Humans. Treat this as +2 IQ (-80% only for calculating mana) [8], and +3 on the Recover Energy spell [6].

All elves have Fast Reflexes [15] and Combat Veteran [5]. Deep Sleeper [1] represents their meditative state. Elves also have the features of Unaging [0] and Early Maturation [0].

History and Culture

Elves are said to be the first beings created by the Eldar in Arcadia; they walked the world when humans, dwarves, saurians, and others were but gleams in the minds of the Eldar. They are highly individualistic, even to the point of anarchy. They make no cities or towns upon the earth, they do not bind themselves into tribes, and they do not make families by marriage. They do not even reproduce as such, though new members of their race do enter the world from time to time. Their first memory for each is invariably that of walking in the wide woods east of the human kingdoms; in their belief they are created when a part of the world itself decides that it wishes to live as one of them. They come in to the world fully grown, and a have a kind of racial memory for the skills they need to live in the world.

They do not, as a rule, live among humans as they once did. In this latter day they are rarely seen and are passing into legend, which is their intent. There are two main categories of Elves that spend their time exclusively in human lands, and there are other Elves who choose to live amongst Humans independently.

Taltharim Kal-Barad (Willow-Host of the Shining Tower)

The Elves of the Taltharim Kal-Barad have banded together for the good of the Eldar. Not content to leave the problem of the Eldar in Human hands, they act openly to aid the Eldar in their escape. They have imitated humankind and formed a hierarchy, the Taltharim Kal-Barad. Kal-Barad, the Shining Tower, is the seat of their power and its location is a secret known only to a few.

These Elves move through human lands and beyond, seeking information about the Eldar. In this cause they work closely with the Rangers of Verda, a god of earlier days.

Tarelda Morendi (Their Eyes Shine Not)

For some Elves, the problem of the Eldar has become so consuming that they have turned aside from their peaceful ways and will seek to free the eldar by any means necessary. The condition of the Eldar, that of imprisonment in the world, is so repugnant to these Elves that they will literally do anything that brings an Eldar closer to freedom.