The Pallid Elves
Echoes of the Noc’dourr
The pallid elves are all that remain of the once grand conclave Noc’dourr. Forced from their homes by the Acroshian expansion, they fled underground and turned to demonic pacts to stay alive. No match for the herds of centaurs or the stalking thunderbirds above, the elves only emerge from their caves at night, if at all. All outsiders are anathema to the pallid elves, seen as invaders, their resentment runs deep. Any pallid elf seen to mix with outsiders, whether centaur, townsfolk or even elves of other conclaves risks being shunned as a traitor to their own kind.
Beast Siphoning
The pallid elves still possess traditions of their ancient druidic necromancy that allows them to feed on the life force of beasts. Despite the name, there is no physical transference involved. Instead, the ritual involves practices of dance, violence and chemically induced mania for both beast and elf that somehow create a connection to the beast’s spirit itself. When taken to the extreme these practices can be deadly for either party. Through extensive use of these abilities on the giant bats who live alongside them, they have developed mild chiropteran features including large, crenelated ears, sharp fangs and very mild ability to echolocate giving them exceptional short range senses. They have also developed a gland to produce bioluminescent mucus by studying and siphoning the abilities of glow worms that inhabit their caves. Advanced rituals invoking the hypnotic properties of a particular rare snail venom, or the semi-translucent camouflage of glass-lizards even give some pallid elves the ability to put creatures to sleep or turn invisible.
Hunters: Noc’venourr, Noc’chirourr
The pallid elves live in small family units which form a complex broader network that is difficult to break down, but we shall attempt to anyway. The first broad category is the Hunters. This includes subcategories such as the Noc’venourr, who are a loose collection of families whose main subsistence strategy relies on nocturnal surface hunting. They sleep in caves in the day and come out at night to kill large animals such as giant boar, dragging it back to their caves before dawn. These hunters use enchanted spears made from ivory ritually imbued with the strength of the animal from which it came and coated in scorpion venom. They often train bats to perform as scouts to locate prey.
Another group are the Noc’chirourr, who in contrast actually hunt the giant bats and other cave dwelling creatures. These pallid elves have incredible senses since they cannot rely on moonlight to see. They have perfected their ability to siphon the bats and take advantage of the incredible hearing this affords them.
Cannibals: Noc’fajourr, Noc’rapourr
From a desperate and wounded history come desperate and vengeful practices. Among the Noc’venourr are those who come out at night not to hunt beasts, but to creep past unwitting sentries and steal away with more sentient prey. The Noc’fajourr see this as their right. It is ancestral revenge against the invaders of their land, the destroyers of their home. But there are still darker factions within the tunnels, the Noc’rapourr. Those elves still pacted either with Garandor (known as Vindic’ar which translates as Vengeance in common) or Cimeora (known as Maera which translates as Mourning). Many among them have taken their ancient siphoning practices to the extreme and believe they can inherit the strength of any creature they kill. Some even slay their own kind and feed upon them, while others focus their effort on bringing despair to those in the lands above. There are some among the pallid elves who revile these practices, while a majority are either unwitting or agnostic.
The Family Unit and Lac’riar: the Festival of Rain
Life in small tunnels and caves prohibits large gatherings and food is too scarce to support groups of a dozen or more in one area, so the pallid elves live in small family units headed by a matriarch or patriarch. They generally only interact with a few neighboring families so it is difficult to describe any larger structure to their society. The exception to this is during the peak of the wet season when the caves become too dangerous due to flooding. During this month, the pallid elves travel to the remains of one of the ancient pyramids built by the Noc’dourr. Everyone must bring as much food as they can carry and a great feast is had. This is where all the trade, politics and romantic pursuit happens for the year, with occasionally a young son or daughter leaving as part of a different family unit. The journey is perilous, however, and many an elf is carried away in the talons of a thunderbird.
Ancient Ruins The Pyramid of the Sun: Dias’dourren
In the days of the ancient forest, both sun and carved stone were a rare sight indeed. The great pyramid, an enormous structure taller even than the redwood trees, is now mostly buried. The pyramid stands at a fraction of its original height but still serves the pallid elves today as the site of their annual rain festival. What the pyramid might contain is a mystery lost to time to the extent that most believe it to simply be solid stone. What is known, however, is that during the golden age of the Noc’dourr a great oracle lived atop the pyramid whose fame stretched beyond borders and attracted many pilgrims to the pyramid looking for knowledge.
The Lesser Pyramids
Ancient records in Seth from the time of the Acroshian Expansion document the locations of six smaller pyramids in the area all close to the borders of the ancestral Noc’dourr territory and arranged in roughly a circle. One scroll contains an arcanists musings that a 7th must also exist, accompanied by a diagram explaining his theory as to their usage. The unnamed scholar notes that within the territories, those able to detect magic discover faint omnipresent auras of different schools of magic which each correspond to the location of a pyramid as shown, with divination coming from Dias’dourren. The author posits the existence of the 7th pyramid corresponding to the illusion school, though no evidence has yet been found of its existence.
The names of the pyramids in the native tongue in clockwise order from the top are:
Vocanti - The rituals carved into this pyramid seem to mark it as an ancient house of healing.
Noc’teura - Ancient burial site, there appear to be crypts beneath the extent to which is unknown.
Elokta - Powerful relics have been plundered here: magical weapons of ivory, sinew and bone.
Tsila - Site containing several large altars with art work depicting rituals involving the slaying of enormous beasts.
Arantis - Ancient wards and sigils lie seemingly deliberately broken and defaced.
Cor’ela - Seems to be the site of some grand ancient summoning ritual, the surrounding area is very rich in sulfur and plants are still unable to grow.
One particular document on the pyramids, though unverified, tells an interesting tale as to their origin. Before Acroshia invaded these lands, the story goes, a tribe of humans led by a group of powerful wizards that objected to the five kings came to the Noc’dourr, warning them of Acroshia’s ambitions and asking for the elves to help against their common enemy. The Noc’dourr promised to use their siphoning powers in a grand ritual to imbue the humans with bestial powers, the strength, coordination and armour of the giant ants that inhabited the forest and the ability to command the insects to form an army. Unbeknownst to the wizards, however, the ritual was designed for another purpose, to instill the obedience of the ants into the humans’ minds, and make them see an elven druid by the name of Gynevrr, as their queen. The humans were all transformed into strange insectoid hybrids loyal to the Noc’dourr through the likewise transfigured Gynevrr. They were commanded to weave powerful monuments around the land to enable a system of navigation within the domain by ritual detection of magic, and the elves later constructed pyramids around their creations to protect and mark their locations.
Cults of the Greater Nine
Cult of Vindic’ar
Long ago, Garandor gave the elves of Noc’dourr what no other god or power could. Vengeance against the Acroshian invaders.For this act, he has earnt eternal favour with these people, though most fall short of outright worship. The leader of Garandor’s devout, Sa’vash, is a muscular and imposing woman, a stark contrast to the thin and hunched figures more common in the pallid elves. She teaches her followers that their divine mandate is clear in the world around them: survival of the fittest. The cult therefore kill whoever they can, using any means available in what is called the Great Culling. Where possible, they capture their victims alive in order to perform the ancient rituals of the Noc’dourr: the siphoning of a creature's physical strengths into its killer.
Cult of Maera
When you fall to the pits of desperation and sink yet further into the abyss of despair, Cimeora finds you. So it was with the Noc’dourr. Their great cities destroyed, their ancient lines slain, their altars shattered, their great forest burned by their own hands; consigned to a life in the shadows of their war-trenches, sleeping among their dead. In these dank caves, misery fomented and fermented, weaving its hyphae into the minds of the elves. There are three Cimeora has chosen to lead her thralls, fraternal triplets Porrta, Shiita and E’noc wield weird fungal abilities, using spores and potions they are able to enhance senses and emotions, to render someone easily suggestible, elicit truth or hallucination. Their followers practice the siphoning arts to drain the spiritual and mental strength of their victims. The cultists are sent out to kidnap other elves, centaurs, or nearby settlers alike for the triplets to practice their art. Uncovering your secrets, enhancing your pains both physical and mental, inducing tormenting visions and layering suggestions into your mind, these elves will meticulously dismantle the delusions that protect your soul as an act of devotion to their mistress. It is not lies and insanity that break you to their will, but all too much of the truth. Once the minds of their victims are shattered to the point of true sanity, once they see clearly the world for what it is, they are sent back to their loved ones to bring Cimeora’s truth to them as well.
The pallid elves are all that remain of the once grand conclave Noc’dourr. Forced from their homes by the Acroshian expansion, they fled underground and turned to demonic pacts to stay alive. No match for the herds of centaurs or the stalking thunderbirds above, the elves only emerge from their caves at night, if at all. All outsiders are anathema to the pallid elves, seen as invaders, their resentment runs deep. Any pallid elf seen to mix with outsiders, whether centaur, townsfolk or even elves of other conclaves risks being shunned as a traitor to their own kind.
Beast Siphoning
The pallid elves still possess traditions of their ancient druidic necromancy that allows them to feed on the life force of beasts. Despite the name, there is no physical transference involved. Instead, the ritual involves practices of dance, violence and chemically induced mania for both beast and elf that somehow create a connection to the beast’s spirit itself. When taken to the extreme these practices can be deadly for either party. Through extensive use of these abilities on the giant bats who live alongside them, they have developed mild chiropteran features including large, crenelated ears, sharp fangs and very mild ability to echolocate giving them exceptional short range senses. They have also developed a gland to produce bioluminescent mucus by studying and siphoning the abilities of glow worms that inhabit their caves. Advanced rituals invoking the hypnotic properties of a particular rare snail venom, or the semi-translucent camouflage of glass-lizards even give some pallid elves the ability to put creatures to sleep or turn invisible.
Hunters: Noc’venourr, Noc’chirourr
The pallid elves live in small family units which form a complex broader network that is difficult to break down, but we shall attempt to anyway. The first broad category is the Hunters. This includes subcategories such as the Noc’venourr, who are a loose collection of families whose main subsistence strategy relies on nocturnal surface hunting. They sleep in caves in the day and come out at night to kill large animals such as giant boar, dragging it back to their caves before dawn. These hunters use enchanted spears made from ivory ritually imbued with the strength of the animal from which it came and coated in scorpion venom. They often train bats to perform as scouts to locate prey.
Another group are the Noc’chirourr, who in contrast actually hunt the giant bats and other cave dwelling creatures. These pallid elves have incredible senses since they cannot rely on moonlight to see. They have perfected their ability to siphon the bats and take advantage of the incredible hearing this affords them.
Cannibals: Noc’fajourr, Noc’rapourr
From a desperate and wounded history come desperate and vengeful practices. Among the Noc’venourr are those who come out at night not to hunt beasts, but to creep past unwitting sentries and steal away with more sentient prey. The Noc’fajourr see this as their right. It is ancestral revenge against the invaders of their land, the destroyers of their home. But there are still darker factions within the tunnels, the Noc’rapourr. Those elves still pacted either with Garandor (known as Vindic’ar which translates as Vengeance in common) or Cimeora (known as Maera which translates as Mourning). Many among them have taken their ancient siphoning practices to the extreme and believe they can inherit the strength of any creature they kill. Some even slay their own kind and feed upon them, while others focus their effort on bringing despair to those in the lands above. There are some among the pallid elves who revile these practices, while a majority are either unwitting or agnostic.
The Family Unit and Lac’riar: the Festival of Rain
Life in small tunnels and caves prohibits large gatherings and food is too scarce to support groups of a dozen or more in one area, so the pallid elves live in small family units headed by a matriarch or patriarch. They generally only interact with a few neighboring families so it is difficult to describe any larger structure to their society. The exception to this is during the peak of the wet season when the caves become too dangerous due to flooding. During this month, the pallid elves travel to the remains of one of the ancient pyramids built by the Noc’dourr. Everyone must bring as much food as they can carry and a great feast is had. This is where all the trade, politics and romantic pursuit happens for the year, with occasionally a young son or daughter leaving as part of a different family unit. The journey is perilous, however, and many an elf is carried away in the talons of a thunderbird.
Ancient Ruins The Pyramid of the Sun: Dias’dourren
In the days of the ancient forest, both sun and carved stone were a rare sight indeed. The great pyramid, an enormous structure taller even than the redwood trees, is now mostly buried. The pyramid stands at a fraction of its original height but still serves the pallid elves today as the site of their annual rain festival. What the pyramid might contain is a mystery lost to time to the extent that most believe it to simply be solid stone. What is known, however, is that during the golden age of the Noc’dourr a great oracle lived atop the pyramid whose fame stretched beyond borders and attracted many pilgrims to the pyramid looking for knowledge.
The Lesser Pyramids
Ancient records in Seth from the time of the Acroshian Expansion document the locations of six smaller pyramids in the area all close to the borders of the ancestral Noc’dourr territory and arranged in roughly a circle. One scroll contains an arcanists musings that a 7th must also exist, accompanied by a diagram explaining his theory as to their usage. The unnamed scholar notes that within the territories, those able to detect magic discover faint omnipresent auras of different schools of magic which each correspond to the location of a pyramid as shown, with divination coming from Dias’dourren. The author posits the existence of the 7th pyramid corresponding to the illusion school, though no evidence has yet been found of its existence.
The names of the pyramids in the native tongue in clockwise order from the top are:
Vocanti - The rituals carved into this pyramid seem to mark it as an ancient house of healing.
Noc’teura - Ancient burial site, there appear to be crypts beneath the extent to which is unknown.
Elokta - Powerful relics have been plundered here: magical weapons of ivory, sinew and bone.
Tsila - Site containing several large altars with art work depicting rituals involving the slaying of enormous beasts.
Arantis - Ancient wards and sigils lie seemingly deliberately broken and defaced.
Cor’ela - Seems to be the site of some grand ancient summoning ritual, the surrounding area is very rich in sulfur and plants are still unable to grow.
One particular document on the pyramids, though unverified, tells an interesting tale as to their origin. Before Acroshia invaded these lands, the story goes, a tribe of humans led by a group of powerful wizards that objected to the five kings came to the Noc’dourr, warning them of Acroshia’s ambitions and asking for the elves to help against their common enemy. The Noc’dourr promised to use their siphoning powers in a grand ritual to imbue the humans with bestial powers, the strength, coordination and armour of the giant ants that inhabited the forest and the ability to command the insects to form an army. Unbeknownst to the wizards, however, the ritual was designed for another purpose, to instill the obedience of the ants into the humans’ minds, and make them see an elven druid by the name of Gynevrr, as their queen. The humans were all transformed into strange insectoid hybrids loyal to the Noc’dourr through the likewise transfigured Gynevrr. They were commanded to weave powerful monuments around the land to enable a system of navigation within the domain by ritual detection of magic, and the elves later constructed pyramids around their creations to protect and mark their locations.
Cults of the Greater Nine
Cult of Vindic’ar
Long ago, Garandor gave the elves of Noc’dourr what no other god or power could. Vengeance against the Acroshian invaders.For this act, he has earnt eternal favour with these people, though most fall short of outright worship. The leader of Garandor’s devout, Sa’vash, is a muscular and imposing woman, a stark contrast to the thin and hunched figures more common in the pallid elves. She teaches her followers that their divine mandate is clear in the world around them: survival of the fittest. The cult therefore kill whoever they can, using any means available in what is called the Great Culling. Where possible, they capture their victims alive in order to perform the ancient rituals of the Noc’dourr: the siphoning of a creature's physical strengths into its killer.
Cult of Maera
When you fall to the pits of desperation and sink yet further into the abyss of despair, Cimeora finds you. So it was with the Noc’dourr. Their great cities destroyed, their ancient lines slain, their altars shattered, their great forest burned by their own hands; consigned to a life in the shadows of their war-trenches, sleeping among their dead. In these dank caves, misery fomented and fermented, weaving its hyphae into the minds of the elves. There are three Cimeora has chosen to lead her thralls, fraternal triplets Porrta, Shiita and E’noc wield weird fungal abilities, using spores and potions they are able to enhance senses and emotions, to render someone easily suggestible, elicit truth or hallucination. Their followers practice the siphoning arts to drain the spiritual and mental strength of their victims. The cultists are sent out to kidnap other elves, centaurs, or nearby settlers alike for the triplets to practice their art. Uncovering your secrets, enhancing your pains both physical and mental, inducing tormenting visions and layering suggestions into your mind, these elves will meticulously dismantle the delusions that protect your soul as an act of devotion to their mistress. It is not lies and insanity that break you to their will, but all too much of the truth. Once the minds of their victims are shattered to the point of true sanity, once they see clearly the world for what it is, they are sent back to their loved ones to bring Cimeora’s truth to them as well.
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