Elf Race Packet
“Mastery of the Land. Mastery of the Self.”
Elves are the self-appointed greatest of Fortannis. No rational argument can prove them wrong after thousands of years of contemplation and mastery. No strength ofarms can challenge the might of those who can and will
wage war over several human lifetimes. Elves adapt to their surroundings over centuries to the point where everyone just assumes they have always lived there. Elves are the product of slow and laborious self-cultivation and training. They will always be right, or simply outlive those who dare to think them wrong.
Makeup, Prosthetics, and Role Play
Elves must wear prosthetic, pointed ears. Pointed ears are often used as evidence of a shared origin between several races of Fortannis. Elvenkind for its part is dubious of any connection to other races, as powerful and long-lived that those other races may be.
Racial Benefits
Elves have the ability to purchase the Resist Command ability. The Elven mastery over their own minds creates mental defenses shaped by pure willpower. It is not powered from a desire for freedom or mental abilities, but by the sheer audacity of someone or something trying to tell them what to do.
Elves pay half cost when purchasing the Archery skill. Archery is a near infinitely adaptable skill that is useful for hunting, self-defense or meditation, and Elves, naturally, are inclined to learn such a useful skill.
Racial Drawbacks
Elves have no mechanical drawbacks. Why sully perfection with such obvious disadvantages?
Lifespan
Elves reach adulthood at the same age as Humans though their total lifespan can extend for centuries or even a full millennia. This extended existence has left Elves with a very skewed perspective on shorter-lived races. Elves often look down upon them and consider them reckless, impulsive, or possessing a lack of (Elven) patience. Meanwhile shorter lived races often view Elves as fickle, frivolous, or outright lazy, which is not an adjective one should call an Elf to their face.
Life Is A Reflection Of Nature
The natural patterns of life are an eternal fascination to the Elves. While Elvenkind will always be devoted to their personal mastery, their societal, familial, and personal differences are as varied as the very land of Fortannis itself. Elves enjoy the challenge of adaptation and subsequent victory, over mountains, deserts, forests, and swamps. Even dense urban populations are merely just another terrain to master.
Time Rules All Things
Elves do not treat the concept of “forever” lightly. It is only under the most passionate of promises or most dire of threats that an Elf will use the word forever. Because to an Elf, forever can and will span centuries, outliving friends, enemies, loved ones, even cities and nations.
In matters of love, Elves will more often commit to vows of partnership that last for a fixed period of time – often until the shorter-lived partner passes away – rather than settling down with one mate for their whole lifespan. Any type of permanent bond is one that an Elf holds dearest of all, and can transcend those very same friends and family that will eventually be outlived.
In matters of hate, nothing worse can be inflicted on the enemies of Fortannis than the rage of an elf who has vowed to hunt someone forever. “Forever”, in this regard, often lasts until the subject of the elf’s rage has met a painful and final permanent death. Necromancy is the only crime and abomination that is guaranteed to draw enough of an Elf’s ire for them to swear violence forever against the would-be defiler of nature.
Greatness Will Come To Them All, Eventually
The Elven drive to success and mastery is one that spans centuries. The rest of Fortannis’s obsession with “legacy” and “greatness” and the desire to pursue that obsession at breakneck speeds leaves Elves expecting more from the rest of Fortannis. Through patience that borders on patronizing, Elvenkind seeks to shape the hearts and minds of the other races until all are influenced by Elven sensibility and reason. In other words, only through following the brilliant and self-disciplined path of Elven greatness can the rest of Fortannis find greatness as well.
