Elves

Artwork by Llyn Hunter

The enigmatic elves, cold and distant, care little for life other than their own. Once they were bound by oaths that prevented their arcane studies, but they have recently been freed; and with their freedom returned their bloodlust and xenophobia. Living in the dark somber Alothian forest, they research necromantic practices, and collect specimens for their use from the other races of the world. In order to fulfill their need, they began a war against many of the human kingdoms, tearing through their unwary guard and stealing away thousands of human soldiers to become undead servants of the elves.

Elves are short-lived and rarely have more than a span of thirty short years on the world before their bodies collapse into ash and bone. To prevent this, they use necromantic techniques that give them a new and nearly immortal life. Only one Elf in thousands is capable of this transcendence; all struggle toward it. Despite their own short lifespans, Elves have no compassion for non-Elven life, and see other races as test subjects for their necromantic experiments.

Elven magic has had a thousand years to be researched; a thousand years of forbidden studies and covert practice. Extremely powerful magic-users, they have mastered the art of raising dead bodies for purposes of war. Their revenants, spirits, haunts and vampires feed on the living and provide the Elves with soldiers so that the Elves do not have to risk their own precious lives. Elven warfare consists of a series of attacks with their undead armies, followed by necromantic sorcery to raise the bodies of the fallen and return them to the fight. Their scouts, clever and quick, gather information on the enemy so that their powerful sorcerers can use distance spells or turn huge armies of the undead toward their foe.