Elf, Mored (Dark Elf)

Posted by EarthDragon on 22nd August 2015.

All elven races are related, though it may be a distant relationship. Once, all elves were of one race, many thousands of years prior to the emergence of humans, when they were a slave race to mysterious and dark masters of whom they do not willingly speak. Over the aeons of their bondage, they splintered into sub-racial groups, which further split after the events leading to the disappearance of their masters and the breaking of their slavery (events in which the elves took no part, and have no more knowledge of than any other race). All elves have an innate ability to recognise another elf, and identify which sub-type they belong to. This applies even when an elf has not encountered a particular sub-type for centuries (or, indeed, ever). This ability is an instant recognition that works even if an elf is masquerading as another sub-type through disguise or other non-magical means. This ability even has a chance to pierce magical disguises (such as illusions, and polymorph, though not shapechange). The elf who sees another elf under any form of magical disguise makes a Will saving throw against a DC of 15 + caster level of the magical disguise effect, less their Intelligence modifier.

One must delve deep into elvish history to trace the origin of this splinter race of elvenkind. The mored are evil cousins of the other elven races. Driven beneath the surface or into the deep mountain forests long ago by the light-loving elves, these dark and generally twisted cousins of the elves have made their home in what they refer to as the Underdark (if underground), or the Darkling (if in the deepest, darkest forests). Originally the mored were, like all other land-dwelling branches of the elves, members of the basic elven race. In time, however, many of these elves united to pursue the lost power, might and mastery of the long dead race that had enslaved all the elves, and grew estranged from their brethren. Elves do not speak of the crime that truly sundered the mored from the other elven tribes, though legends suggest that it started when the dark elves began their genocide campaign against the so-called “mad elves” (the garat) many thousands of years past. Even to this day members of the mored race and the garat race (such as can be found) harbour a deep and abiding hatred for each other. The campaign against the garat resulted in the other elven tribes casting out the mored and declaring war upon them. Since that time, the mored have driven themselves further down the dark path they have chosen. In spite of their dark and twisted natures, mored craftsmanship is a marvel to behold, wrought with strange and intricate designs. Unfortunately, their works are rarely able to survive outside mored claimed lands (unless actually in the hands of a mored the whole time), and the items tend to disintegrate, albeit slowly, when away from the homelands of the mored. Many theories have arisen to account for this, the most widely accepted is that the nature of the power sought by the mored is such that the dark force behind it emits a magical radiation which permeates their lands and holdings, imbuing them with special powers and abilities and protecting their works from destruction. There is perhaps some veracity to this belief as the mored, alone of all the races found in or near The Unification, worship a dark Power of unknown character known only as “The Nameless”.

   Personality

Mored society is usually matriarchal, with the females holding the majority of the power. Males are entrusted with the relatively unimportant jobs of swordplay and some sorcery. Females on the other hand command the important positions in their society. They are the priestesses of the dark force served by the mored in their thirst for power. These females wield their power mercilessly. Using the threat of intense punishment, they keep the males cowed and submissive, save for the few males who themselves attain priestly powers, and save for the most powerful of the male mages. In spite of their rigidly matriarchal society, they are well aware of the situation in other nations and are not prone to underestimating males of other races or nations (those few mored encountered make references to nations outside The Unification, which are not overrun by The Fallen). Mored generally display a lust for power, and a penchant for treachery, so they are not popular with Imir. There are some few exceptions to this, even some who have so far strayed from the dark path of their brethren that they have once more become elves of other tribes and left behind their mored heritage. Those who have returned to the elves work tirelessly to bring salvation to their mored cousins and return them to the elves, even though the elves themselves are now a splintered people.

   Physical Description

Mored display the same variation in appearance as any other species of elf, but the most common colouration is either dark hair and pale white skin, or pale white hair and dark skin. Those mored with dark skin tend to live in the depths of the earth where the strange radiations of the Underdark taint their skins. The paler strains of mored tend to live in the depths of the deepest forests located deep within rugged and virtually inaccessible mountains (the Darkling), where the lack of sunlight results in little skin pigmentation. In spite of the general colouration tendencies, any colouration possible for an elf of any land-based species can occur among the mored, just as typical mored colouration may occur in any other land-based species of elf. In spite of this, any elf can instantly determine the species of another elf simply by looking at them. An elf can always tell what tribe another elf belongs to on sight. There is never any racial confusion among elves, though quite often racial prejudice.

   Relations

Most intelligent creatures shun the mored; who have generally become twisted in their pursuit of long lost power and mastery. In general the mored hate all other races and regard them as inferior and irrelevant. They will not hesitate to betray or destroy members of any race they encounter, even if their interests and alignments are compatible, though they do not do so foolishly or needlessly. Those few who have thrown of the mores of their culture and returned to the world of the light mistrust other races, but they no longer hate them (generally speaking).

   Alignment

Most mored, in their lust for power, are of an evil bent, though they may be lawful or chaotic as their personality dictates. Some few mored who pursue power and might are of a good or neutral alignment and can be recognised as such by a member of any elven strain. Even fewer mored have completely abandoned the dark path of their race and returned to the other elven species.

   Mored Lands

Most mored live deep beneath the earth in a region known as The Underdark. This Underdark consists of the niche they have brutally carved for themselves in the underground caverns of the earth. Some few mored live in the deepest depths of the darkest forests, far from any other race, in lands collectively known as The Darkling.

   Mored Racial Traits