Deathless

Living Aereni elves worship the honored Deathless of Aerenal. Aereni who accomplished great feats for the elven race are called to Shae Mordai by the Undying Court and emerge as Deathless.
There are currently 1058 Deathless, 377 of whom sit on the Undying Court. The rest are great warriors, poets, and teachers of the elven people who choose to live in Shae Mordai or at their ancestoral homes in Aerenal and guide the next generation of elves.
To an outsider they may appear as undead with bulging eyes and dry sallow skin stretched over their bones, but making such comparison is heresity to the elves that worship them. The Undying Court strictly prohibits necromancy. The Deathless claim that, unlike the undead who prolong their existance unnaturally, they have rejected the gift of mortality to serve their people in eternity. They demand destruction of all undead creatures, who they claim are a mockery of all the Deathless represent.
Despite death being seen as a natural part of life and preached as gift, many elves dedicate their lives to performing great feats for their people in the hopes of being called to Shae Mordai. The selection criteria of the Undying Court are mysterious as well. Many great elves are never summoned and most accept their mortality with grace and pass from this world naturally. A few, unwilling to accept what they see as an unjust decision, commit the cardinal sin, turning to undeath in their dejection and become known as The Scorned.

Aereni elves have many ways of showing their devotion to the deathless. An elf might wear an elaborate death mask, tattoo his face in the image of a skull, or use magic to make his flesh mimic that of the deathless.

Genetic Ancestor(s)

• Elves